Going to Closing to Open a Door

All the details (not really...you would be bored to tears!) on the home in San Antonio...but not today...we are exhausted!  I will type it all up tomorrow!

I decided to leave the above intro because it truly represented how I felt after the closing day for the house in San Antonio.  It was actually a long three days after all was said and done.  Here is what took place:

Friday...we woke up early and packed the rest of the things we wanted to take on our first trip into the van.  Then we headed out on our journey...we arrived at the title company just in time for our scheduled closing...then waited for AN HOUR (!!!!) because the closing before us went over.  While Michael and I signed our lives away (along with Zaira trying to sign on the dotted line!), the other children walked around the shopping center next door (I would find out later they raided the Super HEB that had sample displays throughout the store!  LOL).  I had told the children it would not take more than hour, so Amanda came in to check on us just as we were sitting down to start the process.  You can imagine her annoyance when we told her we still had an hour of signing!

Little did we know that it would be a lot longer than that hour!  We ended up not leaving the title company for TWO more hours!  Just before we had everything completed, we noticed the survey was wrong and we had to contact the surveyor for the correction.

All was good in the end and then we were told there were no keys!  Thankfully, our realtor was with us and he volunteered to go back to the house to obtain the key from the lock box.  Michael went with him and I took the children to the store to buy food for the weekend.  We had no furniture or refrigerator for food but we were all determined to live in the house right away...we brought along blankets and pillows and an ice chest!

The children were so excited...running around to all the rooms...looking for cubbies and hide outs.  Then they ran around the playground and some of the neighborhood...even meeting some children.  After a late dinner, they all fell asleep with little effort!  Michael had to go to work so I was left in a quiet house to ponder the plans for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday...Michael arrived home early in the morning with children watching for him at the gate!  They were off to the playground again!  Michael fell asleep and did not wake up as the boys and I unpacked the boxes (we needed the boxes to take back and pack more!)  Well...there was that one incident when I looked out and saw the dog covered in mud...Michael had to go out and find the hole that Hank dug up in the lawn!  Then there was the time when Amanda decided to try to disarm the alarm system (it tells you when a door is opened in the house and is quite loud...she just wanted to turn down the sound)...we did not know the code so we were given 30 seconds before the alarm went off (a far worse sound then the occasional reminder of a door opening!).  I worried that the police would be arriving to welcome us to the neighborhood...we called the realtor...after several minutes he was able to track down the code.  Thankfully, the alarm company was not activated so no friendly police officer arrived!

By this time (only because I woke Michael from his sound sleep!), Michael was up with us and helped when Hank decided to get his head stuck in the rod iron fence and moan to get free.  Actually, we would find out that he was not stuck but was moaning because he could not fit the rest of his body through the area.  LOL!

The girls and I decided to help Michael by taping off the rooms that needed painting.  I just could not stand the burnt orange living room (no it will not be painted maroon but it was tempting!) and the boys should probably not live in a pink and purple room.  AND...if anyone has looked at the pictures I sent out a few weeks ago...then you would know that the BRIGHT blue laundry room needed to be toned down!  We decided the best option was to paint while there were no children around and without the furniture to contend with.  Michael has a week to get this all done.

Another exhausting day for the children that included another run around the neighborhood a few times! Before they crashed, I read a story to the boys about Padre Pio as we would be heading to church for Holy Mass at the Padre Pio Shrine.  Michael had another night of work! SO...I enjoyed another quiet evening but I crashed hard myself!

Sunday...I woke up early and thought about how nice it would be to enjoy a cup of coffee out on our deck but I forgot to bring my coffee.  I decided to make a 'nice' breakfast in our make shift kitchen (only one pan and a small spatula!).  I had it all ready when every one woke up.  Then we hurried to get ready for church.  We arrived at the shrine just as the rain was coming down hard...it was nice to see someone ready with an umbrella for us.  We were still a little wet but it was a nice gesture from strangers!

Then I was showing the boys through the foyer and looking at the pictures and crosses...when a woman came up to me...she thought we had met and I told her that it was not likely as we had just moved to San Antonio.  Lo and behold...she was a homeschool mom...we had not met but we were able to talk about the very active group at the church and in San Antonio.  We also were introduced to others who arrived early and the priest.  They were very kind and wanted us to get involved.  We were even asked to take the gifts up for communion!

Although Zaira and I spent our time in Mass walking around the foyer (she has had way too much sleep the last few days!), I was able to participate because the foyer has multiple windows looking into the sanctuary and nice speakers fed the words of the Mass out to those of us who could not enter with loud children.  Zaira finally calmed down and fell asleep at the end of Mass so I was able to sit with the family for the special prayers at the end of Mass.

The message for the day was gratitude....citing from the story of the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus.  In the homily, everyone was asked to turn to their neighbor and tell something they were thankful for...the boys all said that they were thankful for the new house and each other!

After Mass, we stopped at the store to refill the 'frig' for Michael's week alone at the house.  Then I fixed a lasagna dinner...everyone insisted our first Sunday meal be lasagna!...Michael took the time to paint a swatch of the new paint on the wall to see if it would be able to cover the burnt orange.  That is when we discovered the walls in the kitchen were painted with flat paint!  Flat paint is so hard to clean, so he agreed to paint the walls in that room also.  His job just got bigger but it will be better in the end.

We then through empty boxes back into the van along with all the children and a wet dog!  We made it home just after dark and were glad to go right to sleep again in Lufkin!  We now have a week to pack up the remainder of our things for the moving van!  It is going to be a busy week!