9-21-11 Wednesday (Quizzes)

It's been a busy week. 

Wednesday was our closing.  It went OK but of course I have some complaints.  Please reserve your gasps for the end.  The lawyer that did the closing seemed like an idiot.  Plain and simple.  Jim found more mistakes on the documents than he did.  The lawyer didn't do the standard "this document basically says this that or the other thing, please sign here."  He was more of a "sign here" type of guy.  If it wasn't for this being Jim and I's 3rd home purchase together, we'd be baffled.  I assure you, the lawyer didn't know any of this.  Jim questioned a $33 entry on the HUD, the lawyer said "yeah, weird" then finally figured it out and later made a strange comment that we almost cancelled closing over $35.  Jim and I both ignored it and assumed it was his terrible attempt at humor.  I know for sure that it was weird because after the closing I said to Jim, "I wasn't sure how to take that guy.  When he started talking about..." and Jim finished my sentenced.

After we closed, the woman at the NACA desk gave Jim a verbal pop quiz.  She treated us like we were kids and was testing what we've learned.  Then she said some more ridiculous stuff and whipped out voter registration cards to make sure we changed our address AND are registered to vote.  Odd.  She then immediately schedules us for our volunteer session (part of the NACA deal) for late October to tell other people how great they are.  Wacky. 

Our realtor, Donna, was there for closing.  Afterwards, she opened her trunk, grabbed a cooler and gave us champagne and OJ for Mimosas!  Very sweet, but since we weren't going home but rather to our new abode with no refrigerator just yet, we had to decline our gift, pending Donna's delivery for Saturday.  We're high maintenance.  I know.  Prior to the closing, we had loaded up the vehicles with a few things such as paper towels, toilet paper, hand soap, dishtowels, sponge, etc, etc. 

We then headed out for lunch then to the U-Haul place for one of those big double axle trailers.  Yes, we'll get a regular truck later in the week.  We headed to the rental and emptied out the attic storage of Halloween and Christmas decor boxes.  It pretty much filled up the trailer, give or take.  We have way too much.  Up and down the steps at the rental, over and over, rinse and repeat, made me realize that 1- I'm out of shape.  2- I'm old.  3- Stairs suck.  It wasn't fun. 

We got it loaded up and arrived at the new house where Jim cut a hole in the wall.  Huh?  Well, during construction, the space under the stairs was going to be covered up.  Jim eye-balled it as being the perfect place for heavy Christmas stuff that we'd rather not schlep up steps.  Why not use the space instead of the intended waste?  Prior to drywall installation, Jim measured and mapped out where the studs, electrical and what not would be.  With tools in hand, Jim cut a hole in the garage drywall.  He did manage to saw right through the cord, creating a pretty spark.  Oy.  He'll later frame it and add a door.  I'd like a secret bookcase wall.  You know, where you have to pull a candle for it to open?  Well, maybe it won't be so much of a secret if I blog about it, huh?

Above: Whoops

Above/Below: 2 piles of Christmas and Halloween.  Most of which will fit in the space under the stairs.

Above: Our pretty wall.

We've been asked why we didn't have the builder do it.  Well, finances.  Who knows what they would have charged.  Also we were at the maximum price that the builder would let us do without paying for anything else up front.