in with the new

Day Seven in the New House

Our House In Progress

Here are photos of the house! It has been a tiring, fun, exciting week for us. We found a great shopping center with everything a new home owner could need: Lowes, Best Buy, Pet Smart, Target, Linens and Things, World Market (such a cool store!!!!). We've been to those stores four out of the last seven days!

We have met some nice neighbors. A father and daughter came from around the corner to greet us. They gave us banana bread that was still warm (so good!). We met our next door neighbors yesterday. Basher had a good time running around the yard with their dogs. And we have met a handful of people while taking Basher and Mason around the block for walks. People are friendly and open to standing and talking to their new neighbors.

We made sure Mason's room was livable on day one, so that he would be comfortable and feel  like he had his own place. We're still working on our room...

We found a couple of nice restaurants, a year-round farmers' market, a great organic grocery (Earth Fare), a nice regular grocery, a Little Gym, and swings. We are going to explore the NC Arboretum as soon as we can.

I hope to get some back entries up about Mason's 18th/19th month report and other fun stuff. I just need to hunker down and do it!

Where's My Stuff?

Mason did so well with the move yesterday! I took him to the zoo in the morning, and when we got back to the house, it was empty. Here he is in his room, asking me "Ah?" (or, Where's my stuff?).

LAST!

Last full day in our Florida house. And conveniently, last rolls of toilet paper in each bathroom. Last roll of paper towel. Last drop of dish soap. Last bit of shampoo. Last bit of toothpaste. Strange the way that worked out!

Habitat for Humanity picked up my grandma's dining room set and bedroom furniture this morning. It's bittersweet to let go of those things that belonged to her, but I don't need a piece of furniture to remember her. I have memories and pictures and special cards she wrote to me.

THREE DAYS!

...was the morning...

Oh, totally wrong Three Days. Three Days left until we are out of here! We have a pretty complex weekend of travel ahead of us. Will and Basher will part ways with Mason and me when the movers leave on Thursday. Will's going to drive to his parents with Basher. I'm going to get a rental car and drive to my parents with Mason. I'll spend the weekend. We'll get to see my grandma and possibly my aunt and uncle. On Friday, Will is going to leave Basher at his parents' and go to Charlotte, where his friend Tim lives. I'll fly to Charlotte on Sunday night, and then we'll head to a hotel in Asheville. We have Monday to roam around, walk through the house and measure things, buy appliances, walk around downtown. Then Tuesday is the closing!!!! YAYAY. Then our furniture will get there Wednesday!

SIX DAYS!

That's how many days until the movers come and fetch our junk!

We will save Mason's room until the very last. But we have packed things that are familiar to him, and he's noticed. We packed all wall hangings, and there are two that were significant to him. The first was the pirate map over his bed. He keeps saying, "ooooo, ooooo", like a boat, telling us that the boats were there. The second are two pictures from Barbados that were above his highchair. Every meal time, he says, "A-ya-ya", letting us know that Barbados used to be there. We tell him Barbados is away or Barbados is sleeping. Funny that he misses those things.

Packing!

Sorry about the lack of postage. I had to cut out something due to the busy-ness, and it seems that my weblog postage has suffered the most.

We've been packing here and there, random easy things, our china and glasses we don't use, our comics and books, some clothes, our craft closet, and Mason. Hee...

Right after I finished with the bin pictures, I turned away from Mason to put the camera down. In those 2 seconds, he tipped the bin over and fell into the desk by the front door. His little cheek has a red mark on it. Poor guy, bad mommy!

Everything is moving along with the move. Our buyers are getting everything in order, our realtor in NC is helping us get everything in order. We may close on this FL house in 16 days!!!! Yippee!

More Newity!

Our New House!

We are mooooooooving! I didn't want to type anything until the wheels were set in motion, and boy, are they ever!

We have had our house on the market for THIRTEEN months! Buyers found us in January, and we went to contract in early February. The market here is one of the worst in the country, and I feel so fortunate that we were able to sell. I also feel fortunate that we don't have to live through another Florida summer. Whew!

We spent all of last week in Asheville, NC house shopping. We found our new house (above!) on day 2 of the search. I am so excited, it's brand new! It's got a gorgeous kitchen, lots of space, a really nice master suite, a huge room that will double as  Mason's bedroom and playroom, and did I mention it's brand new? YAYAYAY!

We close in about a month on both houses. We have to get packing!

commute

My commute went from 1 hour and 15 minutes (even though I lived ON the Hudson, and the drive with no traffic was 20 minutes!)
to 15 minutes when we were in Union Square
to 25 minutes when we were on 96th street
to an hour and a half now. Now I take the LIRR. It is so great. It's way quieter than the bus, and the ride is so smooth. I can read, if I want. I can nap. I've napped for at least 20 minutes every morning this week. That RULES! Yay, train!

Here's a site that has pictures and links and information on why you SHOULDN'T like the LIRR! Funny.

closed! FINALLY!

What a busy weekend AND week we've had!

I'll start with Halloween, since that's where I left off. Will was Hansel from Zoolander. People who recognized his costume told him he was "so hot right now". He looked so great. Here's a picture from my phone:

We went to the parade (I have to get my pictures developed), and then to eat at The Cupping Room (it was ok) and then a fun party at Abaya. We ended the night in the Union Square apartment we used to live in with Josh. We hung out with him and his sweet girlfriend, Luciana, and Chris, whose room we lived in. It was a great way to end such a fun night.

Saturday we packed up our 96th street apartment. Our friend Melissa lent us her truck, so we could make one trip out of the city with it. (Thanks, friend!) We stayed in a hotel near the house, so we would be local for the walk through on Sunday.

Sunday we had our walk through. We got there early, and the movers for the sellers were still there. So we walked to the beach (just under 10 minutes!) and I took pictures. We live near this now:

After the walk through, we went back to NYC to return the truck. We hung out post-marathon for a while and then drove our car to the LI hotel. We had to be ready for our 1pm closing!

Monday we got up and went to the bank to get checks for the closing. Then we drove around for a while, checking out things in Home Depot, buying special "closing" pens in Staples and buying cleaning products for our home.

The closing was supposed to start at 1pm. The mortgage bank's "computers were down", so the lady at the law office asked us to give it an hour to see if we needed to reschedule. A FEDERAL BANK and all their computers were down all over the US. Riiiiight. I bet someone was behind in their paperwork. They couldn't email over the closing package. We waited until 2:30 and then amazingly they came "back up". We started the process and finished up around 4:30. THEN Will and I sat there with the sellers and their divorce lawyers. (Our lawyer had to leave for another closing, and we were done except...) The bank didn't wire the money! So we sat there while the husband's attorney yelled at the wife's attorney about how to calculate the split of the money. It was awful and LOUD. I was sure Will was going to get a migraine from it. We left and had dinner in Long Beach at Sutton Place and then we went to our HOUSE! Yay!

Tuesday I went to Waldbaums while we waited for the movers to get there. We have an AWESOME grocery store! Yippee! They got there and were SO great! I'd recommend Mayflower Movers to anyone! My funny husband labeled three boxes: "panties", "thongs/vibrators", and "bras". The movers loved that. Har har, Will! That night we unpacked essential kitchen stuff. And we went to Home Depot for paint and Lowes for a washer/dryer (they come on Saturday, clean clothes, YAY!).

Dining room and kitchen painting was Wednesday. The colors look so good. We also changed the light fixture in the dining room. The cable guy came, and we hooked up the computer. Internet access at home! Finally! Now I can see all the stuff I'm blocked from at work! Yay!

Thursday we painted the living room. It took a LONG ass time. We even went out and bought a 5' ladder so Will could comfortably reach the high places! I've never bought a ladder before! Something for the garage!

This morning we commuted for the first time. It went smoothly. I fell asleep on Will's shoulder. I hope the stranger that sits next to me on Monday doesn't mind me dozing on their shoulder! Hee! I'm tired today, and a little achy. But it's ALL worth it, and when we're all finished with the hard work, our house is going to look SO GREAT! I'll have a lot of before and after pictures later!

closer to closing!

It looks like we have a real live appointment for the closing on our house! Next Monday at 1pm, we start the process that will make that place ours! Yippee! I've been on the phone today with LIPA, Cablevision, and AT&T. Our power, cable and phone is all set! Yay! Monday can't come fast enough!