It's good to have friends

Just before my vacation, my daughter's friend's mother contacted me. D is a casual friend of mine, brought together about 4-5 years ago when our daughters became friends at school. She asked me if I could hem some uniform pants for her this month, and maybe sew on some patches of some sort. I told her to catch me as soon as I got back, and over last weekend we arranged for her to come over tonight.

Her first husband died of cancer, not too long after their divorce. She remarried soon after we met, and her now-husband is a casual friend of my ex, an older brother of a friend/classmate. So as with most of 'our' friends, I have been unsure whether I would still be supported since the split.

It's always tough to know who gets to keep the friends. The divorce papers usually don't specify that.

But after I posted about my leaking roof on Facebook, she told me her husband volunteered to take a look at it. He works in construction and had helped us replace a window or two last summer, to get us going on that process. And once he saw the picture of the ceiling damage, he wanted to stop by as soon as possible. The gusting-up-to-80-mph winds blowing the heavy rains were the culprit, but I think he was worried that delays may result in even more issues.

So he came along to pick up their daughter on Tuesday. And he brought his ladder and climbed up on my roof to identify the problem. He commented that he'd need to find some matching shingles, which I just happened to have in my garage, left by the previous owners. That comment told me that he wasn't just checking it out for me... he was actually planning to fix it. And then he volunteered to do the work in exchange for my sewing work for his wife. I think he intends to start tonight when she brings over the sewing.

Really? I can sew stuff in exchange for a roofing repair? How is this ANY sort of fair on his side? I obviously got the friend discount.

Sign me relieved. :)

The joys of home ownership

While I was at work yesterday, a storm went through. It wasn't bad at work... the lights flickered a time or two, and I heard some thunder. But it wasn't enough to get people to stand around, looking out the window or anything.

At home was apparently a different story.

The neighbor's car had 5 large hail-dents in the roof. A friend a few miles away talked about the devastation outside her subdivision. One road over had numerous trees down, and even more with the tops ripped off. It looked like a tornado went over the area but didn't quite touch down.

And my house? It was basically untouched... a few more tree branches to pick up but nothing major. I thought. While we let the kittens roam the house last night, a few of them began playing with some white paper on the floor of the front entry.

I vaguely began to wonder where they found it. Then I looked up and realized how it got on the floor.


So yeah. See that tube skylight just past the seam that came apart due to the water coming in? I have five of them. Two are just up the slope from this seam. My guess is that one of them leaks.

And that home warranty that the sellers provided with the house? That they paid $345 for? It doesn't cover anything structural. It covers the plumbing and a few appliances. What a waste of money... I'm just glad that I didn't pay for it!

A productive weekend

I finally have my library!!!

I've been stocking up on furniture. A few weeks ago I found a futon at a garage sale for Blondie to take to college, and late last week, the new mattress cover came in the mail. About the same time, I picked up MY futon at Sam's Club, so the library got stuffed with both futons. I picked up an old black trunk at a resale shop that seemed like the perfect "coffee table" for a library, and added that too.

My brother and sister-in-law and their kids came out for the day on Saturday. My SIL and I cleaned the library... washed all the shelves, cabinets, walls, and ceiling. We swept the area rug thoroughly, and washed the floor around the edge of the rug. The musty mildew smell is gone, as is all of the sticky tape adhesive we found all over the walls.

When we finished the cleaning on the shelves, we began unpacking boxes. I think I unpacked around a dozen boxes of books. I know there are a few more boxes to go, but finding some of these books was a bit like Christmas to me.

I'd still like to paint the window & door trim, and the closet doors, but Blondie thinks is new room is cozy and likes the current dark colors, so it's going to be low on my priority list. For now, I'm just glad to have my library! Even if it does have to double as Blondie's bedroom when he comes to visit.

Ack! (a stream-of-consciousness panic attack)

This morning I almost had a minor panic attack when I realized that I hadn't contacted any utility companies to start service at my new house.  (I would sort of like to have electricity, water, etc when I move in!) Fortunately this is easily remedied, though not speedily.

I spent most of the morning on the phone, and I just realized that I am not certain that I have set up electric service yet. My utility company provides both gas and electric service at my current location, but I am pretty sure that they only provide gas to my new location... at least my confirmation email only mentions gas.  So I am busily trying to figure out who I contact for electricity.  Why is it so hard to find that out?  And why isn't my Realtor waiting by her phone to answer my questions?  Isn't that why she gets paid so much?

And I have to run over to my new town to pay a deposit for water and sewer.  And make another phone call to find out about trash pickup, and maybe curbside recycling... I think that is available at the new place.  But I had the cable tv and internet appointment set up for several days already (gotta keep my priorities straight, right?!)

What am I forgetting? 

PS:  My Realtor contacted me and verified the electric issue, which is now taken care of.  Garbage pickup and curbside recycling questions have been asked and answered.  The settlement check on my current house has been picked up and deposited, so the money is available for my closing on Friday.  I think I'm all set except for paying the deposit on the water & sewer, and getting the bank check for my closing once the Realtor sends the closing statement.   *whew*

On Schedule!

My lawyer finally emailed... at around 9 pm Friday night... to let me know that he would have the draft of the financial settlement to me by this coming Wednesday.  This means I'm still on schedule for closing on the 15th, and getting possession on the 17th.

Even better... I found the draft in my email yesterday evening!  I need to make a few corrections, but it looked pretty good to me.  So tonight I'll be running it by the stbx and we should have it signed & to the bank shortly!

Is it safe to get excited yet?