We're here...

Coming home from closing was such a weird experience...the house isn't really ours any more.  But no more time to focus on that.  We are grateful that we found the perfect buyer we always said we would need and timing was good (except for having to be out so quickly!), And we had already set this in motion earlier to make it all possible.  We said that if we wouldn't have gotten the apartment in May when we did plus the storage units, we would never have been able to get out on time.  So focusing on being grateful, not sad.

We had more things to pack and Jim had to make room in the shop for the buyer to use this weekend.  I packed lunches and plenty of Diet Coke and we hit the road.

It was a good day of driving - we weren't sure what to expect from the Labor Day holiday.  But although there was lots of traffic, there weren't any stoppages or issues.  I know it's hard for him to drive keeping one eye on me behind him, but all went well.  (More grateful thoughts!)

Jim at the rest stop in NY

It was a long day of driving though and we were beat when we got here about midnight.  Then we were treated with a thunderstorm as we were trying to get to sleep.

Today's a new day with lots to be done.  Kyle comes in on the bus around noon so well see what we can get done before that.

The deed is done.

Wow...it all comes down to this. We were at the title office at 10:00 this morning signing papers to transfer the deed of our gorgeous home. So very many emotions.     

The buyer was there in a separate room signing his papers. We gave him keys to the shop because he wanted to bring an ATV over. Which feels very weird too.  I know it's officially his now but we're still there and so is our stuff.  

But now it's onward and upward to our new adventures. We're heading home to finish packing up, make some lunches for the road, and then off we go into the wide blue yonder.

Sad day...

After being strong through this whole process - or maybe it's just been that I've been so busy that I haven't taken time to focus on the reality - things really hit me this morning.  Jim was showing me the molding he designed to finish off our master bedroom, and I just got all teary and sad.  Every room is getting empty now and it makes me so sad that we have to leave this house.  Every inch of it Jim built for us - how can we leave it? 

 

I love all the finishing touches that Jim is doing in the house - but someone else is going to get the pleasure of enjoying them.  I don't know - it was a tough morning and took me awhile to get as motivated as I needed to be.  I have truly loved living here and it's just really hard to fathom that come tomorrow, it won't be ours.  Before I start crying again...onto some pictures of the day.

 

Jim starting to finish the master bedroom closet

Wow - it's looking beautiful!  It seems so much bigger now - and look at how empty!

Jim really worked hard today, as every day - but since the buyer is coming around 5:00, Jim really wanted to have things finished up.  But mid afternoon, Jim and I got busy loading up the truck.  This truck load will be on its way to NY tomorrow!  So it's mostly books in the front and the boxes we've packed up.  Because the books are so heavy, Jim didn't want a lot of furniture on this load.  Plus this will be easy for us to manage to unload - and hopefully Kyle is going to join us in NY on Saturday.  We got a lot done by the time Bryan came over around 5:00.  He helped with the last little bit of stuff.

Then the buyer came over - minus his daughter.  We walked him through the house and showed him all the work Jim has done.  He asked if he could bring over an ATV to put in the pole barn.  Since the house is officially his tomorrow, Jim gave him a key.  Unbelievable!

There was still a little room on the truck, so after he left, Jim and Bryan went over to the storage unit and got a few more things to add to this truckload.  I'll be driving one of the 4Runners so we can put more fragile things - like pictures - in the back of it too.

We took Bryan and Cindy to Lagerheads for dinner to thank him for helping us with all the moving.  I think the plan is for him to go up with us next week when we have to be out to help us move the furniture up into the apartment.  That's going to be the tough part - those little stairs and that big furniture.  Not looking forward to that.

Okay - been a long and kind of emotional day.  Can't imagine that tomorrow is going to be any easier - plus after closing we have a 10 hour drive in front of us.  Better try and get some sleep.

 

Time's ticking...

Wednesday...and seems like so much to be done.  I feel really bad - Jim has all the weight on his shoulders to make all this happen.  I can only do so much at this point.  I'm busy packing away and have gotten to the nitty gritty stuff - going through medicine cabinets, utensil drawers.

 

Jim got up early this morning - wanted to get out and cut the grass before he started woodworking.  But the scattered showers that were predicted turned into an early morning torrential downpour.  So no cutting the grass.  But it's not like there is a lack of things to do around here!  Jim got some good things done - basement bathroom door on, water valve on the holding tank replaced, made moldings.  Plus Jim spent some time working on in my room...the bi-fold doors are really looking good.  Check them out...

The first door is up...

 

Gorgeous!! 



I told Jim that these doors look so beautiful in my room - I wish I would have gotten to enjoy them a bit more!  Although the shelving was perfect for my office - but these doors sure are pretty!

 

Bryan came over in the afternoon and they loaded some furniture from the downstairs into the truck to be put into the storage unit.  And that included my big chair from the library!  That's really sad.

 



My library chair gets loaded on the truck...sad

 

 

The storage unit where we are temporarily putting the furniture is close by - so things don't have to be packed real tight in the truck and it's easier to make a couple trips.  They got a good load in and unloaded it at the unit.

 

 

 

So all in all it was a good day - we did get info on closing from the title company - now our appointment is Friday at 11:00.  Hard to believe it's getting so close.  We got an email from the buyer that he wants to bring his daughter to see the house tomorrow evening.  Jim wants to have all the action items done by then.

 

More moving...more packing

We've been very busy doing the same things - the house is really looking different now.  Rooms are being emptied, the garage is full.

I rented yet another storage unit nearby - we will use this one for most of the furniture we moved from the upstairs.  Bryan is coming over today to help start that process.  We had planned on emptying out the truck this morning with a trip to the other tool storage unit - and then torrential downpours happened.  The sun is trying to come out now, or at least it isn't pouring, so Jim's going to make a trip before Bryan comes.

We've also been making all the calls that come along with this out-of-state move.  Newspapers stopped, services turned off in our names, and then setting up everything for closing on Friday.  Amazing the things that we have to pay for - title taxes?  Whoever heard of those?  But you certainly get nickel and dimed.

Jim's still working incredibly hard every day getting all the loose ends done here.  Today we had a mini celebration because he hopefully got the last piece of molding made!  Doors are all done and in the last stages of poly - the basement bathroom door is all hung.  So the giant to do list keeps getting smaller too.

Bryan came over late afternoon and helped Jim load up the truck and then unload it into the new storage unit I got on Monday.  He's coming over again this afternoon to repeat the process!  Then we'll have most of the furniture in there and can start loading the truck in anticipation of our trip to NY on Friday.

More stuff to put in more storage units!

Happy 80th Birthday, Mom!
We love you!!

 

Upstairs furniture moving day!

Today, bright and early, Jim and I worked together room by room upstairs taking desks, dressers, beds, and whatever else apart and ready to be brought downstairs and into the garage.  The house has started to look very different - railings are off the staircase, library shelves are sad, rooms being emptied.  Part of the process - but we are definitely entering the ugly phase of this move.

 

Be really careful coming down now!

Bedroom emptying out

Kind of hard to work in my office now!

 

Bryan came over and brought the lift gate for the truck that he fixed and made looking like new!  No more scary rust holes - thanks, Bryan!

 

Then it was off to work - starting to take all the furniture down.  It required strong backs and many trips up and down the stairs.

Now look at the garage - what in the world are we going to do with all of this stuff?  We are really starting to get stressed about the amount of STUFF we have accumulated and now have to move out of this house really quickly.  We've pretty much decided that we have to get yet another storage unit here to move furniture in.  Bryan offered to help again with that process this week. Hopefully Kyle can come this weekend and we will take a truck and one of the 4Runners to NY with a load.  Then it will be back to finish loading and moving all the rest of the stuff - namely all the downstairs!  Ugh!

Hutch leaving the dining room

 

Now that the furniture is gone from Jim's office, you can see the gorgeous closet doors all finished and hanging up.  Too bad we didn't get to enjoy how pretty they look for very long but at least they're done!

 

Wow...look at our bedroom now!  Very empty except for the mattress on the floor. Since we spent the first decade of our married life sleeping on a mattress on the floor, it won't be too hard to get used to!

Last day of work!!

It's hard to believe, but today was my last day of work in anticipation of the big move!  I've been with the schools for over 17 years so it's kind of crazy to think that I won't be setting the alarm clock Monday morning!

The staff and kids made it a fun day with lots of surprises all day long...including this amazing cake!

More packing...and planning

Today was a step towards building in NY.  Jim had a rep from a building supply company come out to talk about using their insulated concrete forms for the basement walls in the carriage house.  We had seen this product when we went to the home remodeling product show this winter.  It has a lot of advantages - and you kind of build it like Lego blocks!  There is also a good way of waterproofing it too.  This guy also told Jim about a new product called Magnaboard - which is used like drywall but is much more durable...which would be great in the shop.  Jim had some basic drawings to talk to and the guy went away to work on a quote.

A sample of the concrete forms

Meanwhile, I got back to packing up the library.  It's pretty close to being done now.  These sure are beautiful shelves but they look sad and lonely with no books on them.  And I have to admit it makes me sad to see it empty - I've loved every moment spent in this gorgeous room.

Now all my books are taking up residence in the garage awaiting a road trip.  Jim said that the weight of all the books is practically a truckload by itself!

Jim went back to work at the door factory.  He has to do a lot more manually - like putting the pegs in the doors.  But they look great and he's almost done with them!

Radon update...we are down to 2.8 now!!

Radon Be Gone!!

They came yesterday morning to install the radon mitigation system.  Jim talked to the guy quite a bit before he started - about placement and whether we would need a system for the crawl space too.  The guy didn't think so; in fact, he said if they couldn't get readings down with the one system, they would probably put another in the furnace room.

Although it was tough for Jim to watch someone else doing work on the house, he thought they did a good job.

They drill a hole through the basement floor until they reach the gravel underneath.  Then they install the pipe and seal it up.

The pipe goes out into the garage....

And up into the garage attic where the fan sits sucking up all the nasty gas...

And finally venting it outside.

One thing that was nice to see...when they made the hole in the basement and brought out the core, the guy remarked on how clean and dry everything was underneath.

The meter is now ticking away in the basement - but with this one, we can check the figures.  Thankfully, the numbers keep dropping. They'll come and get it on Thursday, I think, and make sure we are at safe levels.

Doug and Connor came over again  in the afternoon.  Jim was taking the railings down on the staircase and Doug wanted to watch that process so he would know how to put it back together.  It's just so nice to see how much they love the house.

He also had the realtor draw up some paperwork removing all the contingencies of inspections and appraisals...and gave us another week!  So we don't have to be out until September 7th!  That is such a gift.  Now we can make a trip to NY before we have to be out.

Weekend Update

It was a busy weekend and after hearing that Doug was okay with the radon problem, it was less worrying and more working.

I got probably 60 boxes packed in the library and today got them out to the garage awaiting packing on the truck.  I also got a few boxes of extra dishes packed up and then worked in our closet.  Jim needs to do some molding work in there so everything had to come off the floor and the lower clothes racks.

Jim has been very busy in the door factory.  Just check out the pics...

Tomorrow the radon guy comes to put in our system. I'm anxious about that and will be glad when it's done. Jim has done a little more research and has found that we may need a system in the crawl space also since it's on a different level than the basement.  We'll see what the guy says tomorrow - Jim tried calling him today but no answer. 

One other big of good news - someone from Time Warner called Jim today about our installation!  Jim had to go through the whole story about how we just want to talk to someone about getting cable so we can put it in with the electric. This guy seemed to understand and Jim has his cell phone number which is a big improvement. We did get the giant bill from National Grid to get the electric line so we should hear about a date for that sometime soon. Then Jim will have to dig the trench.  

Progress on all fronts!

Whew!!!

Okay - after the depressing news of yesterday's radon screening, we got up this morning only looking forward (well, except for me now obsessing what years of living here with such high radon levels have done to our health!).  I called one of the places that the realtor recommended.  He gave us two options for mitigating the radon - an internal and an external fix.  It will cost about $1000 and they are coming Tuesday morning to do it.  It's a guaranteed fix - they will keep working until the levels are where they are supposed to be.

Jim emailed Doug and has been very worried that we hadn't heard back from him.  Visions of torn up sales contracts flitting through our minds.  But around noon, he called as he was driving up from FL.  The realtor had called and told him - he apparently hadn't checked his emails.  He seemed fine with the fact that we would take care of the issue - no ripped contracts in sight.

In fact - he gave us some more good news - they aren't going to be able to move in until later than they thought - so he said we can have til the 5th of the month.  I told Jim that I'm still pressing like we have to be out, but it certainly gives us breathing room.  Plus it might allow us to make a trip to NY with apartment stuff and not have to rent another storage unit here like we were planning.

So - great news!  Whew!

Roadblock...

So it's the invisible things that'll get you, I guess.  I got home from work today and the inspector had been back to pick up his radon detector.  We failed - a big fail.  According to government rates, it has to be below 4 parts per something (great technical language there)...ours was 46!

I pride myself on being aware of health risks and trying to do the right things (well, except for that whole Diet Coke addiction) but radon was not even something I considered.  Now it sounds like we've been breathing pretty unhealthy air for a long time.  I feel kind of guilty about that.

But now we just have to turn to getting it fixed - no matter what.  Poor Jim is worried about what this will do to the sale - but it's a fixable issue.  He emailed the buyer but we didn't hear back.  Jim requested a quote from some place in Akron and the realtor gave us a couple names too.  I'll make calls tomorrow and get a fix going.

Onto happier thoughts, Jim has the other closet door done except for staining so he's making great progress.  I spent a lot of time in the library packing up more books and DVDs.

More good news!

Yesterday was sort of a new beginning...all the inspection fears are now behind us.  Sure there's a ton of work to be done in the next couple of weeks, but all those "what-ifs" are gone.

Jim got the final door, which will go on the basement bathroom closet, all cut and even started glueing and staining.  Bryan also came over and took the very rusty lift gate off the truck to do some repairs.  It developed a nice hole that would certainly cause some problems if it didn't get fixed.

When I got home, I started packing up the library.  It was kind of a reality check.  I packed up over 30 boxes and only cleared 3 sections of bookshelves!  What are we going to do with all of these in New York in an apartment?  Ugh!

Way too many books!

We had church tonight - a Holy Day - and we certainly had much to give thanks for.  When we got home there was yet another piece of good news...Doug forwarded the appraisal and it came back more than the selling price so that issue is all resolved too!

The only things that are questionable now - besides what we're going to do with all those books! - is the radon test.  The inspector comes back to pick that you at about 2:00 tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!

Inspection Day!!

Oh my gosh - the stress this thought of this day has caused in the May household!  Poor Jim hasn't slept in a week, I don't think!

House inspections are routine when you sell, of course.  But nothing was routine about this inspection.  When you build every square inch of the house, you take everything personal.  Jim wants to leave a perfect home for the buyer and was so worried about all the "what ifs." 

The inspector came before 2:00 and didn't leave til after 5:00!  Never have we seen or heard of such a thorough inspection.  The buyer was here for the majority of it too, which I'm sure led to part of that.  This man was very nice and had been doing inspections for 25 years + so he definitely knew his stuff. 

He turned on every light, every faucet, every appliance (including having me run the empty dishwasher through a cycle!), checked every outlet, opened every window, examined the electrical panel and sub panel by touching and inspecting every single circuit, and on and on and on.  Poor Jim was so nervous in the beginning but as things went on and were looking good, you could see him physically relax.  And the buyer got bored after awhile and just stayed in the kitchen talking to me!

It all ended up fantastically - he said he had probably inspected over 4000 homes and he said ours was in the top 5 of quality!  That's amazing!  Although not news to me, but still, for Jim to hear that from a professional was priceless.  He found just a couple piddly things - 2 electric boxes in the rafters in the basement didn't have covers on, hot water tank needed relief valve and a valve behind the water tank (which you can't see unless you crawl back there) wasn't leaking but had a little corrosion like it was maybe having condensation.  That's about it.  Incredible.

The health department also came to do water quality samples.  She said this particular area is high in nitrates (maybe left over farm use?) which don't cause issues for adults but infants under 6 months shouldn't drink.  When we first built and she inspected, we were at 9.1 - under 10 is okay.  So off a sample went to the lab and it won't be back for 10 days.

The inspector also left his radon detector humming away in the basement so fingers crossed that it comes back okay.    Otherwise, that's an $800 fix.  He'll pick it up on Friday and we'll see what happens.

But we were so incredibly happy when everyone was gone - the relief in Jim's whole demeanor was so evident.  Now we can move on without worrying about any more "what ifs."  The appraisal should come back today and we'll get these other test results soon.  But we did it - we sold our house!!

Now the panic for packing and moving is totally engrossing my every thought.  But we'll get through it!  We are so grateful to be at this point right now!!

One down...one to go

Yikes...when we get through this month, I think Jim and I will sleep for a week.  It's hard to even remember all that goes on in a day - I couldn't even begin to know how many hundreds of things Jim has gotten done lately.

Monday evening, the buyer came over to take some measurements and pictures.  He continues to say nice things about the house and they seem excited to move in.  Because he's a car fanatic, we took him to Gasoline Alley in Bath for dinner.  Some things made us slightly nervous...he said he had had some trouble with a home inspector before so he called and talked to the guy who is going to do ours.  He questioned his thoroughness so now we are afraid he might be out for bear when he comes tomorrow. 

Today was the appraiser.  Jim said it went really well - this guy seemed to really appreciate the quality of everything in the house.  He looked at everything, took lots of pictures, and told Jim that he would tell the story to reflect the house.  Also said he realized that comps wouldn't work, since our quality was so far above the normal house.  So that was a big relief and we feel pretty confident that things will come back okay.  Apparently the buyer is supposed to get a copy tomorrow - we don't get to see it.

But tomorrow is the BIG day - and poor Jim is a nervous wreck about it.  Inspection will happen tomorrow afternoon.  Jim is literally working his tail off trying to get so many things done.  I'm sure it will be fine - and I'm sure they can always find little things to be wrong - but Jim wants so much for things to pass and be able to move on.  We keep praying to St Joseph to help us too!

Weekend Update...

A chance to catch my breath and catch up on all the craziness around here.  It's kind of like Groundhog's Day...we are scrambling to get things done and pack. 

Jim has gotten the vents all done - that's a big checkmark.  Bi fold doors are almost done - just the final staining and then all the fitting and hanging.  Only one more door - the basement bathroom closet door - to go.


Bi fold doors

Panels stained

All assembled!

 

We decided to get another storage unit here - probably two.  We just don't have time to make a trip up/back to New York right now.  So we got a unit in Wadsworth that was a good deal.  Jim and I took our first load on Friday night - tools, scaffolding, shop misc.  We'll probably get one close by that we will use to store our furniture and start that process next week.  The plan will be to have everything out but a final truckload that we will take up to NY at the end of the month.  Then we'll have to make a couple trips back to get the rest of the stuff - after sleeping for days up there, of course!

All loaded and ready to go to the storage unit

 

We are a little nervous and will be glad when the next few days are over.  Tomorrow morning we are having the septic system pumped so that everything is good to go there - always one of those jobs that make you thankful that someone else does.  Tomorrow evening, the buyer is coming over to take some measurements and to go over a few things here.  We said we would go out to dinner - that will give us a chance to chat.  Then Tuesday bright and early the appraiser comes, followed by the inspections on Wednesday. 

Once those are done, we will feel ready to totally take the place apart and pack it up.  Right now, I haven't packed the library because it looks so nice with the books in it.  But I have been working hard to get other rooms going - the dining room is totally packed up and my office is all done with everything that I'm not going to be using.  I have a giant bag of clothes and misc to take to Goodwill tomorrow.

Bryan and Cindy are coming over in a bit - Jim wants to talk to Bryan about fixing the lift gate on the truck - has a major case of rust.  It will be good to see them and to sit!

 

 

 

8-6-2013

At the moment, my brain is kind of fried so thinking of a post title is officially not happening.  Today was the beginning of a new reality.  Although we've been preparing for this in our minds for a long time, after the dust settled last night, it's time to really get busy.  We have just about 3 1/2 weeks to finish everything in this house, pack and move to New York.  Right now it seems pretty impossible, but I know we'll get it done.

Jim did the finishing work on the stove top fan vent today while I was at work.  Can't imagine cutting a hole into our beautiful house but Jim has no fears.

Yikes - giant hole in the house!

Look at all those layers of insulation

Starting to put the vent together

 

Final product - looks great!

 

We've gotten a few other calls about the house, so figured we'd better get the sign down.  Still hard to believe it happened so quickly - the realtor said last night only 7 days on the MLS.  Crazy!

 

 

Taking the For Sale sign down!!

 

Mike came over today to act as inspector of our electric boxes and after that, he helped Jim take the steel table top off and get it into the truck.  Whew - thanks for your muscles, Mike!  Later on, Jim dismantled the rest of it.

And of course the door factory continues to operate.  These are the pieces for the bi fold doors for the closet in my room - they look so little compared to what I'm used to seeing!  I know they are going to look so good.  I feel bad for Jim because he's having to use his Mr. Woodwright skills since his drill press is gone that he used to use to make the mortises. 

Bi fold doors gluing up

 

While Jim was working outside, I figured I had to get really serious about packing.  Thankfully, we have so much cleared out already but there is still a ton left!  We kind of have a game plan - Jim is going to get the Z out of the garage and we will use that bay as our staging area for all the boxes.  We are looking into getting a short-term storage unit here that we can fill up now with boxes and Jim's tools that he's done with.  Then we want to take a truckload of furniture up to NY and get it unloaded at the apartment.  After that we hope to just have one final truckload that we will take up when we are out of here.  Of course, we'll have to come back to pick up what we have in the storage unit here, but that gives us time to catch our breath up there after what is going to be a crazy month.

 

So, I got busy and got the dining room pretty much all packed up - I just had the Depression glass left in the hutch but that takes a long time to pack.  I'll just keep at it everyday.  Unfortunately, these next 3 weeks are the craziest at school, especially with a new secretary.  But I'm trying to leave on time and not work extra like I normally do - just have to get things done here.