MN to NC: The Big Day Is Finally Here!

Today is a BIG day, y’all! Like a huge day!

Today was the day we closed on our house!!!!

And maybe let’s just talk about today.

We could just skip the craziness of everything leading up to today.

Let’s not talk about the fact that we were supposed to close Thursday, leaving us a four day weekend to tackle the house and get it ready to for us to move in… but ah, sweet, unpredictable reality.

Let’s not talk about Saturday morning when Derek and I got so focused on getting him out the door to get the U-Haul to head over to TN to pick up our stuff from storage that we totally forgot to make sure he took along the keys to the storage unit and PO Box. Soooo… after a phone call from my sweet hubby which he began with the request that I not kill him (and really I don’t know why… I’m the absolute picture of patience and grace in every trying situation… like for reals) I had to pack up the kids and drive an hour over the mountain to meet him with the keys, pick up a random lunch at the only gas station nearby and drive right on back.

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Oh, and I’ll not go into what it was like to navigate Lowe’s, trying desperately to figure out what in the world we needed, while three little boys bounced from the small cart, to the big cart, behind a shelving unit or two and back again. The last time we bought a house all we had was sweet, compliant little Ryan. Well… four years and two boys later and our conversations consisted basically of:

“Yeah, I think we need about three—“

“Sit down, please!

“Ok, so I like that one, but what do you—“

“Guys, what are you doing?? [Big loud noise from whatever fell.]

“Wait, what were we even looking at?”

“If you guys don’t quiet down, I’ll… I’m gonna.. yeah, that’s right, I will.”

“You know what? I don’t even care anymore. Let’s just buy stuff and get out of here!”

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Oh, and let’s definitely take a pass on discussing my trip to Walmart last night for cleaning supplies and food so we’d be prepared to scrub the house from top to bottom and feed anyone who might help. I went ALONE. It was going to be so peaceful, so quiet, so chill. Till a torrential downpour began and continued to the point that I had to sprint with the cart across the parking lot to the truck. I was soaked. My shoes were soaked. The cart was soaked. The groceries were soaked. But hey, no soaking wet little boys for the win!

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Nope, let’s not talk about all that. Let’s just talk about today! We finally signed the paperwork and closed on our little red brick ranch in the valley!

Our closing appointment was like something out of a movie. We walked into this fancy little downtown building, and were quickly ushered back into an old fashioned law office akin to something off of on of those 80’s murder mystery shows.

We were soon joined by our lawyer who had to be at least 95 years old give or take a few years.

He was in no hurry whatsoever. I guess he’s lived enough life to know that most things can wait. While Derek and I were bursting to finally have this done with and get going on renovating and unloading our gigantic U-haul that’s costing us by the day, this gentleman was happy to thoroughly explain every piece of paperwork (which is, of course, the best idea anyway), and explain why or why not he thought it was, and I quote, “stupid”. In between each set of paperwork, he’d tell stories of the good old days and how much Obama and Covid have messed everything up (Although he kept saying he refused to talk politics). He told us about being five years old at a picnic with his parents when they all began shouting and celebrating and handed him (yes, a five year old) a pistol to fire into the air. It was D-Day and everyone was (understandably) over the moon and celebrating big! Story after story, signature after signature, and finally we were through! But not before he saw a picture of my boys and showed me one of his grandkids. Honestly, by the end, I’d gone from being kind of annoyed and rushed to thoroughly enjoying myself. The changes our elderly have seen in their lifetime are more drastic than any generation before them and I think we need to be more willing to listen and learn.

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When we finally did make it over to the house, a sweet family from our new church was already there, ready and waiting to help! At church yesterday morning, the moment we mentioned we were closing and needing help, multiple hands reached out, to the point that one of the small groups offered to come help in place of their weekly meeting together. How cool is that???

Oh, and we bought this house from a church. They left us a dining set, a hutch and a gift basket! So that was a blessing!

Still, there is much to be done. The house isn’t awful and has lots of potential, but it’s not exactly move in ready. There are a few rooms in need of a little (ok, a lot of) love before we fully make it home. Some things we’ll do now, some things we’ll do later.

Right away though… y’all… some things need to go.

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Yep… some grody carpeting and dark paneling. I know dark paneling used to be a thing. Everyone and their mother had some dark, depressing, dungeon like paneling. But ya know, sometimes I wonder what trends we just love now that our grandkids will look back at and wonder why?

“Grandma, what’s with all the fake wood floors like, everywhere??”

“Grandma, what in the world is shiplap? And why would you decorate with rotting wood??”

“Grandma, why did y’all paint everything… so white??”

“Grandma, why was “farmhouse” such a big thing??”

“Grandma, what’s… um… boho?”

Have y’all ever thought about the fact the teal and grey will one day be viewed the way we see all things yellow and green from the 70’s?

Yeah, I don’t care either. I was just curious.

Anywho, even with the updates needed, we are beyond grateful to finally have a home to call our own and can’t wait to give it some love! We have big plans but we’ll see how and when it all pans out.

I hope y’all will keep joining us in the journey!

So, anywho, there’s ya a sneak peak of what we’re dealing with now and I’m hoping to be able to share some BIG improvements in next weeks blog!

Stay tuned, folks, it’s just getting good!