We are in! Kinda...

We were waiting impatiently to get into our new place last week. I had to leave on Tuesday for a week-long Alpha Phi Convention so everything had to be packed before that. 90% of the house was completely packed before Tuesday. Each family member got one suitcase of clothes because we didn't know for sure that we would have access to our bureaus once they moved to the new house.

Mike actually got the keys a day early, on Thursday and was very excited to get in. He spent Thursday night working on cleaning up the miscellaneous garbage that was left by the previous owners. He also removed the wood newels in the entryway and started to pull out the paneling behind the bar. Friday he spent the whole day with his mom Anne to clean up the old house and prep some of the new house. He's been working until late at night all week. On Friday our painters started removing wallpaper and priming the walls.
 When the bar paneling came down Mike found an interesting note. Apparently the contractor disliked the job.

Early in the morning on Saturday Mike headed down to the UHaul office to pick up the 26' truck he'd reserved. The clerk told him that there were two reservations for the truck and said, "oh well, you're here first so I guess its yours." The early worm gets the truck I guess.

The truck was loaded up and lots of friends and family members came to help. Since I was gone we really appreciated how much help everyone gave us. We definitely could NOT have done it without assistance. All of our belongings are crammed into two of the three garage spaces and in the backyard. The fridge is outside defrosting because it has to sit up for a few days. Our couches are chilling out under the patio cover. Everything is stacked up high. One section of the garage is "free" for the painters to use although it has our dining room table in it.

Saturday and Monday the painters were busy continuing to retexture, prime and paint. The living room, dining room, kitchen, family room, hallway, entry way and upstairs kids' bedrooms will all be painted. The bar area had glue on it from the paneling and the painter had to grind it down before he can mud it and paint it. The wall with the water and electrical behind the bar actually has to be redrywalled because of damage left by the previous contractors in in November 1974. Once we do that we can call our painter back in to mud it and paint it.

Mike's dad has already changed the locks and helped disconnect the water and electrical from the bar. They managed to get the bar out in one piece. We were planning on keeping the bar in until we were ready to replace it but since it had to come out anyway to be painted we figured we would take it out and leave it out. We are actually planning to sell it so let us know if you know of anyone who wants a vintage 70s bar. We will also sell the vintage mirrors with gold details we took out of the dining room and the paneled back doors that were too big.

We have appointments all week for fence and carpet estimates. Nothing got done today since I had vertigo (thank you airplane travel). No work on the house again until Wednesday but hopefully I can purchase the carpets tomorrow so we can schedule that. As soon as the carpets and baseboards go in we can actually move in! Albeit slowly I'm sure.