Home Sweet Home

I like this pic because it shows a portion of the good labor
force we managed to assemble on short notice!

We are in. Yes, we have unloaded the storage unit, we have removed our items from my parents house, garage, storage shed, shop, pullbarn, yard, and more. We have brought over the cats and we have even slept there 3 nights in a row!

It’s kinda surreal and a bit like Christmas as we were unpacking boxes on Saturday and Sunday. We started filling up our kitchen and started repositioning furniture and making beds and getting settled. There is that feeling of complete overwhelmedness of where do I start? How do I know? What’s wrong? What’s right? And what will I like? And then you start working…plates, glasses, logistics, pans, spices, but then you get goovy things, like your vintage breadbox? Like your fondue machine? Like your bread fancy forms? Things that you can’t imagine parting with but you don’t need under your face. How about your tortilla warmer? And then comes that other feeling? Where is ____? And it’s not like _____is a huge deal. Sure, you’d like it because once you have ____, XXX can go inside it and you keep finding more and more XXX but until you have _____ you don’t want to do anything with it. So you put XXX off to the side while you patiently open boxes to locate ____. But _____never shows up and then you think…..I wonder what else is in the box with ______ because if that box is missing and there are other things in it, what else am I missing and how many other things am I not aware of and once I find this hidden stash of boxes, WHERE AM I GOING TO PUT IT! I JUST WANT TO FIND ________.

And then you find _____ with 2 bunnies, a towel, and 2 margarita glasses while your husband is making a makeshift box into a table to position his beer. And you have a sense of relief.
The cats have spent some serious time exploring and seem to have found their way. TonyDanza appears to have deeply missed the couches as he has reclaimed his spot. He seems a bit clingy but both Matt and I agree that he appears better.

We are trying to unpack and settle as much as possible as we leave this week for St. Maarten and Matt appears to only have located one set of his swim trunks. We are unpacking to pack to come back and unpack and unpack.

But it’s a beautiful house. (the pics are from the main floor)

First meal in the house: hot dogs and salsa made by Greg (Matt’s boss). Best meal in the house so far: Greek seasoned pork chops, steamed broccoli, and guacamole.

Previously required information:
ALR uses phone for alarm everyday
ALR loses phone between 5:00 and 9:00
Upon searching, ALR gives us and says she will use MJR’s phone as an alarm.
In the dead of night:
Phone makes noise
ALR: What time is it?
MJR: It is well beyond out time.
ALR: $%#@ 
Grabs bathrobe, runs upstairs)
Sees microwave clock time: 3:31
ALR: #!@$
The next morning:
ALR: Why do you have to be a jerk?
MJR: What are you talking about?
ALR: It is well beyond our time?
MJR: What are you talking about?
ALR: sigh

Please Close, Please!

So here’s how it’s went down:

There is a buyer in Williston, who’s seller is buying our house and then we are buying in Bismarck. House 1 is Williston, House 2 is Dickinson, House 3 is Bismarck and this past week we did determine there is at least a House 4 in Arizona.

#1 was supposed to close on the 18th. They didn’t, Bank of America screwed up something. Then they rescheduled for the 26th, guess what….they screwed up again. Future home buyers, have we learned something yet? They said the next date was October 1 for House 1 and then Williston Abstract said, “Oh I’m sorry, dream on, we only work until 12:00 each day, find a new title company (Sentiments seem actual but it is pure speculation on Amanda’s part)”

So they did. So now Title Company #2 who is equally as “Fun” to work with demands that they close the same day we had planned to, but in the afternoon, rendering our time useless. So now there are at least 2 households completely pissed by the amount of time pissed away by all this “fun”. Glad we put a two-week cushion on house #1/#2. So #2 is closed in terms of all the paperwork….just needs to have the money for the deal to be complete. I’ve been told “WE ARE THE MERCY OF [house #1]” and I think “duh”…thank you for that sudden revelation. Welcome to my September.

So we get to the closing day. Things are going well. No bad news. I watch the time tick by and I think….we got this! And then I get a phone call. Yeah. No. No closing…and basically a whole, “who knows when it’ll get done” relayed back to us.

So we have waited and from that list, let’s build my ways to stress a marriage list:
1. Sell a condo
2. Try to work with real estate in the oil patch
3. Live with your parents as an adult during one of the worst springs/harvests ever.
4. Live with all your things in a storage unit.
5. Live with his hunting equipment in a storage unit.
6. Have a sick cat that has an anxiety/stress disorder

Biggest lessons learned…don’t get a loan with Bank of America and try to give as much of a cushion as feasibly possible when you have turnkey homes….sometimes 2 weeks with a truckload of hopes and dreams isn’t enough.

So a week goes by….with two or three more hiccups including Columbus Day, who ever thought Columbus Day would become a pain in the behind. But the biggest win was we sold the condo. Now, we just need to close on Cottonwood.

Best meal: Matt made pheasant chili for Eric coming and hunting and helping us. It’s one of the way I enjoy pheasant.

DMM and PM talking
DMM: How was I to know you where here at the house?
PM: Of course you knew I was home, both pickups were here.
PM: The semi was here.
PM: The tractors were all here.
PM: The payloader and the skidsteer were here.
PM: The spraying truck is here. 
MJR: One week.
ALR: I know.
PM: Both horses were here.
PM: The fourwheeler is here.
DMM: Get out of here!
PM: Uh, now my boots are in here....

Shots Fired

It’s fall and it’s getting cold. The wind is blowing the temps are dropping and the garden is in. The only thing that isn’t in is us – in our house. Yes, nothing has changed. A full update will be coming on that but why get into the messy painful details now.

We spent an unplanned weekend in Lansford. We had planned to go to the Firefighter’s Sporter’s Stag but because of the drama that’s going on with the house we couldn’t handle the 101 questions associated with that failure. So instead we got a win and headed north to spend time with Eric, who came back in time for hunting season. I’d say it was to see us, but I have my reservations. While it was obvious to us that Eric was “running” the show, we did manage to convince Randy that we would be honored if he would make his pizza for us.

We got Michele out of the afternoon too…was nice to pick out a few things for St Maarten and start planning the trip a bit. I’ve started looking at my list of things that we want to do and see. It’s like 2 weeks away.

Matt got to go out hunting and shot a few birds, he still has yet to use the Christmas blind…but I have high hopes that it’s coming soon…maybe when we get it out of storage the odds will improve.

Best meal: Randy’s pizza….it was crispy and perfect and wonderful. The only thing that could have made it better was more leftovers!

 

MJR: You’re making me get a flu shot.
ALR: Yes. This is for your own good.
MJR: Well I’ll be working late that night too.
ALR: Why?
MJR: Well I’m going to get sick after I get it, so I better put in some extra time, since I’ll be out on medical leave.
ALR: AHHHHHHHHHHH.
MJR: I’m just saying.
ALR: Did you tell your boss to text me?
MJR: He agrees with me.
ALR: I’m going to ask them to gauge the needle up.