Week 1 in our new home

OK so we're in...and we are all still alive. Life as a homeowner has certainly proved interesting thus far. I might end up re-interating stuff from the previous post so I apologize in advance if any of this is "old news"

So Friday, we get the key around 1 and we boot it to the house with our van full of stuff. Only when we get there we realize "Hey this key doesn't work!" We check it against the side door, the back door....nothing. So we call our lawyer. He gets the lock code from the previous owners and we are finally in. The remainder of the keys are promised to be there by the evening. It's been a week and still no keys. Our friends Marni and Dave let us use his work truck to bring lots of stuff over. Our friend Aaron comes to hook up our cable, internet and phone and then we end the day collapsing in our beds at the old house.

Saturday is moving day. We start out bright and early with the vans packed and the men off to get the moving van. Things run fairly smoothly with minimal injuries and little to no furniture damage. The carpets in the kids rooms are ripped up so they will be sleeping in our rooms until the new carpet goes in. We could not get our family room couch down the stairs so it currently resides in our good living room until we find someone who wants it.

Sunday, we got the kitchen together, unpacked and basically got the house as organized as we could at this point. Also sent Shawn out for a few things. The week continued with the painting of the kids rooms. Jenna's is lavender and Ethan's is a soft smoky green. Painted out their trim white. In the meantime they were still sleeping in our room which meant they would not fall asleep and Jenna snores when she does so it made for an interesting sleep this week. We got the gardens in relatively decent shape. My sister bought me a hydrangea. It's very cute. We also planted the things I brought from the old house. We got the pool up and running. On moving day it was green....yum! We also fixed the one kitchen cabinet that was broken, got rid of the lovely cat pee smell in the one closet, retiled said closet, got longer hoses so I could use my washer etc. On wednesday we had a locksmith come and re-key the locks and change those that were old and wrecked. We also discovered this week that our oven does not work so we are in the process of getting that one fixed. On Thursday the electricians came to change the crazy fuse box to the prettiest high tech panel you have ever seen. It looks so much safer than what we had before. We also put GFCI outlets in the bathrooms. Can't be too careful. I know what can happen when you don't have them. They also fixed some outlets in the basement. When they put them in they reversed the polarization in all them so that needed fixing. Can't wait to get that bill! On Friday the carpet guys came and the kids finally got to move into their rooms. It was a peaceful nights sleep for us! The rooms look great and I am so happy they are in there. Ethan will be getting new furniture, hopefully in the not too distant future so then it will look really great! I also got to work filling in holes in the kids playroom so we can paint it and the kids will have that back. Then that means I can go to work on the rest of the house and they will be occupied. We spent today running errands and puttering around the house. Shawn took the oven element into a store to see if it still works or is dead. If it's just the element we can replace that but if it's not than we are better off getting a new stove. More money! Just what we need! I went to work getting the bedrooms in better order and generally tidying. I called a Church with a pastor who takes furniture donations and I am hoping he calls back soon. The couch takes up a ton of room and makes it hard for us to get around. Plus it will go to either refugees or women escaping violence so that makes me happy. Now it's time to go and paint the kids room. If only we could afford to have someone do that for us! My back is killing me!

But through all the trials and tribulations we are so thrilled to be in our new home and we can't wait to be fully settled in. It's taken a long time to reach this point in our lives....I want to savour each moment. We've been incredibly blessed.

And of course we are again so thankful for those who have helped us this past week. We could not have done this week what we have without your help. You are the best family and friends we could ever hope for.

I hope to update you again soon and hopefully then I can have some pictures to show you.