Finally! We closed on our house!! It took two full months, but it was worth it. Now we begin the renovations. And we didn't wait. After signed the bazillion closing documents, we checked out a fridge on Craigslist. On a neat side note, it was a young veteran who had medically retired. He worked on a bomb squad and lost an eye in the war. Now he was back in the states and married to a woman who he met in the military also. She's still active duty. I told him that we appreciate his service, and his reply was, "I loved it." I swear, for all this man went through, he had the best attitude and a friendlier demeanor than most people who haven't had to go through what he did. So we felt good about buying his fridge. :)
We headed over to the house after a quick dinner and trip to my parents, where we've been staying until the house closed. Then we took down the ornamental umbrella tree. I swear, it was about 20 feet in diameter. It was huge. Way too huge. So it came down. We trimmed up the buckeye tree in the front yard too. Also, we moved a few things from our storage container, and I finally got more clothes!! I've only had a suitcase and carry-on size bag, and I am ready for some more variety. (PS I know I'm spoiled... I do have plenty of clothes but it's nice to have my fall clothes and professional clothes now)
Saturday, today, was a big day. Justin and I were at the house about 8:30. He worked on pulling up staples and nails from the wood floor, where the carpet had been removed in 5 rooms of the house. I washed windows, inside and out. Mom came over for a little bit and swept. That might not sound like a big job, but it is!! About 11:30 we have to break because mom was sneezing, I had to go to the bank and get lunch, and Justin had to meet dad to get appliances. After all that, Justin and I went back to the house, but I left to get some supplies and flowers. I returned about an hour later and he was still working on floors, though he was closer to being done. I started working outside. I cleaned up the front flower bed the best that I could- there were tons of roots and dead weeds. On the left side of the house, where there is a deteriorating concrete slab, I tried to remove as many rocks as possible. Finally I was able to plant the mums and then clean up the area. I dumped about 4 wheelbarrows full of junk from the front of the house!! Then I swept and was done.
Oh, but I forgot that I worked on painted the front door too. I did one coat before I started the flowerbeds and one coat after. Meanwhile, dad had arrived and he and Justin worked on removing one set of cabinets, a six foot section with upper and lower cabinets. We saved the bottom portion, but the top is getting trashed. The removal was a little tough on the boys, but we won't talk about that... They took out the nasty railings from the front of the house too.
Also during this time, several neighbors came to say hello again and tell us how glad they were that we were taking care of things. Most of them we met last night, but it was great to know we have good neighbors. When I was putting on the second coat of paint, Bert said, "You're making me tired!" So I replied, "I'm making myself tired!" And I sure am. My fingers and back are sore. But it's a good sore too. We have been wanting to get started for so long, it is nice to actually do some work!
So that was the first two days. Here's some pics:
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