BruceHartman.net

At some point I’d like to write a narrative of the whole home buying experience, but in the meantime, let me just get a few things down to satisfy those interested in how things are going.

• For the most part, I’m moved in and settled. There’s still a bunch of stuff in my office that needs to be dealt with, but the major areas of the house are coming together nicely. Mom and Ginny did a hell of job on the kitchen today laying shelf liners and arranging my cabinets. The joke is that I’ll have to call them to figure out where everything is, but I expect it won’t be that hard. I know they’ve put everything where it should go.
• Dad & David made a valiant effort at getting the thermostat installed, but after an hour or so conceded defeat in favor of seeking some advice from a pro. We did get the vanity lights installed in both bathrooms, and they look magnificent. Of course, the bathrooms really need some attention now, but I’ll get to that when I can. Mom suggested blue in the downstairs bathroom to go with the sun & moon theme that’s been carried over from the apartment.
• After working all day I cooked dinner for Mom, Dad, Ginny, & David. Nothing special, just burgers and veggies on the grill. The best part by far was the company. Everyone really got a long and I couldn’t have been happier to see my most favorite people having such a good time together.

It’s amazing to think of where I was even a week ago. The worries over whether this was even going to happen loomed large. Now, it’s all done and I’m in my own house building a home.

Thank you to everyone who’s put up with my worrying and whining over the last few weeks.

I’ve basically accepted the fact that this house isn’t going to be mine. I don’t expect anything to happen today, and I have to do something by tomorrow. I’m going to the post office near where I work today and getting a PO Box to change my mail over once again.

As to storage, I think I’ll PODS today to see if they can get me a container to my apartment by Friday. If so, that’ll work out well because then I still only have to move my stuff once. Sure, I’ll pay a little more for it, but the convenience factor is valuable to me right now. The only downside I see is that once I have them pick up the unit to take it back to their warehouse for storage I won’t have instant access to my stuff. So, I’ll have to figure out what I need and make sure to keep it out.

I don’t expect I’ll make any unsolicited calls to Paul or my attorney today. They know the score, or should, by now.

I am not looking forward to living in limbo for the next month.

Yesterday afternoon I packed a bag and took off for Mom & Dad’s house to get away. It was a great day. Dad cooked chicken on the grill and my middle brother came over by himself to have dinner with us. Dad and I started on the wine while he cooked and I was fully pickled by the time dinner hit the table. I drink very rarely… in fact, it seems that the only times I’ve gotten drunk in the last three years have been at Mom & Dad’s. Bryan doesn’t drink wine, but by 8:00 or so he decided to make a run to the liquor store for a bottle of Jim Beam.

Of course, he hit it pretty hard in an effort to catch up with Dad and I and eventually surpassed us. I know my limits and stopped shortly after he started; mainly because anymore would have been too much for me, but also because Bryan was starting to get a little out of hand… I took it on myself to keep him under control. I wasn’t happy about it. I mean, I was enjoying my buzz and if anyone should have been allowed to get wide open it should have been me considering all the shit I’ve put up with this week. That’s me, I guess, Mr. Responsible. I won’t let him forget it.

Mom and I finally went through all the Father’s Day pictures this morning and came up with quantities for me to print. At first count, the bill is going to be up over $80 at mpix. I checked Costco’s print prices and I think we’ll be able to knock it down by a third.

I left around noon and made it home by 2:00. I took a nap, did a load of laundry, and then finished watching The Aviator. DiCaprio did well, and overall I enjoyed the film.

Tomorrow it’s back to waiting. I’ll go in to work with the hope that by noon I’ll be able to leave to go to closing at the lawyer’s office. That’s probably a bit overly optimistic. Hopefully I’ll at least get some idea what’s happening pretty early so I can figure out if I’m going to be homeless by next weekend or not. I have to call the power company tomorrow and change the cutoff day for the apartment since having them cut the power on Wednesday won’t allow me to clean up here with all the delays I’ve had to deal with. If I get moved in before the weekend, Mom and Dad are planning to come up Saturday to help get me settled in. I’ll get Dad to help me install the thermostat, vanity lights, and maybe even start roughing out the closets for bi fold doors. Hopefully it’ll all work out.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

There’s no telling what’s going to happen. Right now, there’s an issue with the title and the seller’s attorney won’t return any phone calls. I feel like I’ve been pulled through the ringer about seven thousand times. I’m exhausted, and I don’t ever want to do this again. The last three days have been the worst of my life. Apparently I’ve pissed someone off, which means it’s open season on my nutsack.

If I haven’t heard anything positive in an hour or so I think I’m going to go to Mom and Dad’s for the weekend, that is, after I unpack my truck. This morning I packed a bunch of boxes with the expectation that I’d be able to start moving in today. That was incredibly optimistic.

It may happen, it may not. Nobody knows… not my realtor, not my attorney, not the seller’s agent.

I just want this to be over.

*&^%!

11:00 AM and I still don’t know if I’ll close today.

Wonder if I’m pissed?