Jenga!

Nobody else wanted to play Jenga, so it was just Lon, Bailey, Kip and me... We played until I finally lost a game, ha ha. Lon didn't like any of the pictures I took of him, so here's Bailey and Kip, and me.

Summer Vacation 2009

Here we are once again at Marla's in Wilmington, NC. This year we were joined by her son Jesse and his wife Colleen, who has a 3-month-old baby bump! We spent several absolutely perfect days at Wrightsville Beach, and one at Topsail Beach. We've never had this many days of gorgeous weather in a row, and totally cool water conditions too. It's going to be really hard to wait another whole year to do this again!

Ouch!

Our friends Susie & Eric came over last night with their two daughters. Haleigh is Kip's age and Delaney is 2 years older. They used to live across from us in the townhouses in Manassas, but moved to a house locally several years ago. Anyway, they brought pizza and we showed them our new house. Kip took the girls down to his camp, and Delaney stepped on a plank with nails pointed up (of course). A nail went right through her flip-flop, and probably at least an inch into her foot! She hobbled back up to the house and we sat her on the edge of the tub and cleaned & peroxided her foot, then bandaged it up. I hope she'll be okay! She didn't want to leave though, so she lounged on the couch while the men watched Orioles baseball and the other women hung out at the dining room table with the fruit tray and cheeses & crackers (and wine).

Here is Delaney after the injury, Eric & Lon watching the game, and Susie and Haleigh at the table. You can tell by the guys' expressions that the O's lost...

14th Birthday

Kip turned 14, and he didn't want any kind of party or special day... I was a little disappointed, and maybe just a tad concerned at first. But we settled for having a friend over to spend the night. Lon took off work yesterday, and he & Kip went to the mall, where he bought a new PS2 game, Dirge of Cerberus. Then they went to the movies and saw Ice Age 3 - Dawn of the Dinosaurs. This morning I gave him my gift, the hair straightener he's been wanting! Lon thought it was a gag gift, but no, I don't spend that much on a joke. Here are before and after pictures. Did I ever mention he hates his curls?!
Before we picked up his friend Anthony, we drove to the Guitar Center in Fairfax and finally bought the guitar Kip has waited for so patiently. It wasn't a birthday present though; Lon had promised it to him if he brought his grades up to A's. Kip's final report card for 8th grade was all A's except for one B+! So he got his new Epiphone G400 SG and all the accessories, which he paid for himself: a hard case, floor stand, and glass slide with which to play "Free Bird". He can't wait till his next guitar lesson!

Cleaning off the roof

The first big thunderstorm in our new house had Niagara Falls coming off the carport roof. So Lon & Kip had to get up there and clean off the roof, find out where the gutter covers failed, and snake out a downspout. It's great when your child is old enough and big enough to help with adult chores. I think he kind of had fun, walking on the roof...

Moved in!

The house is finally ours, and we're 90% moved in. Moving day was the day from HELL. It took Marla, Kip, Lon and me, plus the two men I hired, twelve hours to load the truck up, drive two exits west on the highway, and unload. Even then, there was still stuff on the truck, but we were so exhausted, we had to get up the next morning and finish up so I could take the UHaul back in time to avoid being charged for a second day. We never even got to the storage unit...have to do that another day.

Here's a few pictures. Everything is not all the way unpacked yet, and things will be moved around and re-arranged. But we're not living out of boxes any more! Looking from the breakfast room through the kitchen to the dining room. The living room needs a centerpiece for the mantel, and I have just the thing -- if I can only find which box it's in... Kip & I cleaned out his camp, and he's looking forward to having his friends over to hang out. Meanwhile, Lon & I are almost ready to have our friends over to hang out on the deck. Blizzard is happy to be able to chase deer right from the back door!

For Sale, Part 4

I need to record all this somewhere, and this seems to be a good outlet. Sorry it's going to be long-winded, , and no pictures.
Since the last post about the house, where closing was set for Friday, June 19th, a lot has happened. First, the appraisal on our TH came back $5000 lower than our selling price. Our buyer's lender will only finance up to the appraisal price, so we had to lower our price. Second, in all the mountain of papers we had to go through and sign, somehow Lon & I neglected to lock in our rate, and it went up enough to make our monthly payment beyond our means. We all were devastated! That was already our house, in our minds! So we wiped our tears and started looking again, half-heartedly. Then John & Vicki went around to everyone involved and got them all to kick in a little here and a little there, and by golly, we'll be able to swing it after all! YAY!! Closing was moved to Tuesday, June 23rd.
Marla had originally planned to come help us move, and then take Kip back to NC with her on Saturday, but when things changed, we decided she could come on Monday and take Kip on Wednesday. I got on the phone and re-scheduled the UHaul, the mover helpers, all the utilities being turned off at the TH and turned on at the new house...
Then Verizon calls and tells me that the "bundle" of services I had ordered won't work because they don't provide high-speed internet at the new address. Sigh. I call Comcast, and they don't either. Try Cox Cable. I call Cox, they don't service Prince William County at all. That's Verizon and Comcast. Ha ha ha! (crazy laugh) Now I start googling satellite companies and getting rates and information. The other possibility is an "air card" through AT&T. We decide to wait and see what the neighbors use and how they feel about it. Can I go a week or more with no internet at home?! Gasp! Pant! Sweat! (Yes, I am addicted... mostly to Facebook.)
Monday came and we got a phone call from our realtors, Vicki & John. Our buyer's lenders again. Something about some paperwork... blah blah blah... closing will be delayed till Wednesday or Thursday. Okay, I need to know which day! I can't schedule anything for "maybe this day or that day". So they set it for Thursday. This was a problem for Lon, since his office was moving to a new building at the end of the week and he needed to be there! I assured him that if I could pull off that surprise party for him, and take care of scheduling and rescheduling this whole move, then I could certainly direct a couple of guys to load up some furniture & boxes, and then unload them at the destination. Go to work and feel confident that all is well.
All wasn't well. Wednesday we get another call. Seems that someone at the lender's office dropped the ball. Paperwork still isn't completed, signed off on, reviewed, whatever... They need 3 days. Friday, Monday, Tuesday. Closing will be Wednesday, July 1st at the earliest. In fact, they aren't real sure about that, but it can't be any later than Thursday, July 2nd, because that's when our contract on the house runs out! The owner can then decide whether to wait on us or not. Most likely he will, since he won't want to start all over again, putting the place back on the market, but it's entirely up to him. Well, let's make it for Thursday then, the last possible day. I get back on the phone and call everyone again: the movers, UHaul, Verizon, NOVEC, Washington Gas, PWCSA, Dominion Power, Direct TV... did I forget anyone? I hope not, or else something might get shut off before we want it to, and it had better not be the air-conditioning!
Now, if closing does go off as scheduled this time, we'll be trying to get everything moved on Thursday, unpack the essentials on Friday, and then leave it all half done so we can meet family & friends in WV for the rest of what was supposed to be a long holiday weekend! Plus, Marla will be bringing Kip back on Wednesday, and at some point he has to pack for Boy Scout camp, to which we have to drive him on Sunday. Is this crazy, or what?! My stomach is all in knots. Lon & I have been hearing horror stories from everyone about nightmare experiences like ours, and even worse than ours. I wouldn't wish this stress on my worst enemy, if I had one!