Not Complaining. Just Saying . . .

. . . this phase of our move has been a difficult one. But it's done.

The first thing that made it hard was the timeline. Since the buyers were paying cash - no lender involved - they wanted (and we foolishly agreed to) possession the same day we closed. That gave us less than a month to accomplish everything. Our realtor kept reminding us that it wasn't "over" until funds were disbursed, and that real estate deals could fall apart right up to closing. But, since we had to be out of the house the day of closing, we couldn't wait to pack, to sign an apartment lease, to have movers come and take away our goods for storage. I told our realtor that we'd simply be in very deep yogurt if the sale fell apart at the end. Thankfully, it didn't!

The second thing that made it difficult was that we found out, during the inspection, that we had major hail damage on our roof. Despite that tight timeline, we had to get the homeowner's insurance and the roofer to work together in getting estimates done, so we could repair the roof for the buyers. It all worked out, although we had to leave money in escrow for the repairs to happen after the buyers took possession.

The third thing that made it difficult was my bum knee. I was in a lot of pain, especially on the two days that we were actually moving things to our apartment. The apartment is on the 4th floor, which isn't much of an issue, because there is an elevator. But from the parking lot, there is a L-O-N-G sidewalk/breezeway that everything had to be transported down; then the elevator; and then another, equally long hall/breezeway to the apartment. Dan only had one friend helping him move, since the third one we had planned on wasn't able to come at the last minute. Those two, admittedly, did the bulk of the move, but I absolutely did my share, as well, and my knee is still not happy with me.

And the fourth thing that made this a difficult move was what happened on closing day. I backed my sweet little VW into a metal post at the apartment carport area and damaged the rear bumper. I cried for a solid hour over that. I feel sure I wouldn't have taken it so hard under normal circumstances, but this came at the end of the second day of moving. I was exhausted and stressed. I guess I'll just chalk up the repair costs to "moving expenses."

But this afternoon we are in our cozy little apartment. Most of the things are unpacked and put away, and, this evening, we will eat our first meal at home in over a week. We are TIRED of restaurant food, believe it or not. All of this work we've done, six months before we plan to leave NM, will make that big move much easier. Things are definitely looking up. And I'm still very grateful that our house sold as quickly as it did.

I'll try to post a couple pictures of our new, temporary home, tomorrow. It's going to be kind of fun being apartment-dwellers for awhile. It's such a different lifestyle.

Next on our agenda is Takashi and Yoko's visit. Since there is no place for them to sleep here at our little apartment, we will be putting them up at a nearby hotel at night. I hate that we can't provide for them here, but it is what it is. We'll spend every minute together, other than sleeping time.