{this is a long post…it really is about the last month-ish of our lives}

you have probably read my past posts and know that the last stage of us buying a house was waiting for approval from the USDA.  the loan i wanted was a 100% guaranteed loan that is supported by the USDA in rural areas.  although, i know the logic of not buying a house if you don’t have the money to put down…i also know the logic of paying more money for renting than you would for a house is just plain silly.

well, when we started this process, we thought it would take 15 days for the USDA to approve my loan; at least that was what the average time period was back in early march.  however, i didn’t occur to me that it was 15 BUSINESS days.  that is a whole ‘nother ballgame folks.

on april 4th we submitted my application to the USDA.  i was supposed to close on april 19 and be out of the apartment by april 28.  i was pretty nervous since this was a pretty tight turn around.

then, the average 15 days turned into an average of 20 days.  we wouldn’t even hear back from the USDA until the beginning of may – well past my planned closing AND past my move out date.

luckily, we were able to change the move out date, the seller didn’t decide to put the house back on the market and we waited.  and waited.  and waited.  man, april and the first few days of may were SO stressful.  i have not known continuous, stomach aching stress like that in a very long time.

as it was, the stress was worth it.  we found out first thing in the morning may 3rd that i was approved for the loan.  my mortgage officer and lending company, Justine Belle-Isle from PrimeLending Ventures, LLC was incredible.  they took what is typically a multi-day process and turned my paperwork around and had it to the Marilyn Hoglen at Republic Title in less than 6 hours.  what typically takes the title company a day to get prepared they had ready in less than 4 hours and had my closing set for 10am the next morning!  thank you  goodness!!

that was may 4th.

from there, our long, stressful wait turned into a marathon!  the movers were booked for several days so they agreed to move us on a sunday.  thank goodness for PM of Texas!  i got the uhaul rented, we rushed to finish packing the apartment, i took things up the the new house on saturday and then it was time for moving sunday.

stressful things happen in threes it seems…chris left for storage before the movers arrived so he could get everything out and ready to be loaded.  he called from the gate – our code wasn’t working and the office wasn’t open yet.

three guys showed up to move us, they were moving everything quickly…….and then the apartment started flooding.  when the movers had tried to unhook the washer from the water line, it broke and water started gushing through the walls.  several minutes later, the water was shut off, but the damage was done.  water was flooding outside, the carpets were getting wetter by the minute, water was leaking into my neighbors apartment and there was at least an inch of water on the laundry room floor.  oh geez.  i found dirty towels i had gotten ready to move, put them on the floor and hoped like mad we would still get our deposit back.

then, it was off to storage.  the office had opened, chris had gotten things out of storage so they could easily {and quickly} be loaded – we were paying by the hour, y’know?  we showed up, and i’m in the cab of the 26′ uhaul trying not to cry.  i look over and in the side mirror see chris walking up to my car with a pair of jumper cables.  it seems, my car battery died.  he had to be at work in an hour…we had to finish moving – again, we were paying by the hour…and there was my car, the only reliable transportation in our household and it was dead.

we left him there…after about 20 minutes of charging connected to another car, my car finally started.  whew.

the movers finished moving, i sat down to a unwinding lunch with my family & chris and then we returned the uhaul.

instead of unpacking at my new house, i spent the afternoon vacuuming up water at the apartment.  my amazing mom took allergy meds and came to the apartment with me {she is VERY allergic to my two kitties} to help pack things up, sop up water and load up the excursion.  we left the apartment to go recruit the kiddos and papa to help unload at the new place.

the evening was spent unloading, spreading fertilizer & bug stuff in the yard, getting to know my new neighbor, putting the bed together and working around the house.  nothing of significance really was done.

that was may 6th.

that following week {last week} was spent moving things out of the apartment – neither of us realized HOW MUCH CRAP was left.  we have too much crap.  as we go through boxes, my number 1 goal is to get rid of 75% of our stuff.  we don’t need it, we don’t use it…its spend at LEAST the last year in a box, quite possibly the last 3 or 4 or 5 years in boxes.  anyhow…we emptied and cleaned the apartment and said goodbye to apartment life forever!

lacey and the cats took well to the new house.  lacey was thrilled to have a backyard, and fell in love with our large living room – larger than we’ve ever had!  the cats were pretty intimidated the first several days and spent their time moving around the outside of all the rooms … and looking up at the 12′ high ceilings.  lexi disappeared the first day – she was hanging out on the window seat and left.  she finally turned up five or six days later.  she likes to do silly stuff like that.

and that brings us to saturday {may 12}.  i’ll leave this last week to another post.

conclusion:  we have our house!  i am SO excited.  i still can’t believe it…i can’t believe i’m a homeowner!  i can’t believe that we are out of an apartment and that we have so much SPACE.  i am so used to living in small spaces, i had convinced myself the house wasn’t all that big.  but once we got our stuff in there, i was pretty well amazed at its enormity…at least for us!

i find myself being extra gentle with everything, concerned about breaking or damaging the slightest thing.  that has been kind of comical.

i know i will feel better when i can find all my clothes, all my bathroom stuff and unpack the box that contains our cups.  i think i have spent less than 20 waking hours at my house since i purchased it.  its just been that kinda couple of weeks.

i can’t wait to spend an entire two days there at once, lol.  its the little things.

until next time, thanks for reading folks!  feel free to leave comments, questions or the whatnot below.