This morning, bright & early (ugh, just that alone!), we hopped in truck & crossed town, in morning traffice, to boot, just to arrive at our new house for the SECOND walk-thru, to make sure that it was no longer occupied.  No one wants a squatter, after all, do they.  And just what do you think we saw as we rounded the corner?  Oh, yeah.  Trailer, locked & loaded (we'd hoped), sitting in driveway.

We parked out front of the house  & peeped in what windows we could....it "appeared" to be empty, from all we could see, but really, that was only the front room & kitchen.  Isn't that a pitter?  Yeah, pitter's not what we said, either. 

When the realtor arrived (yup, as is customary), she appeared confident that he was out & just waiting till he actually got his money...said that's how it's done here, and he legally owns the house until then.  Oh well, time to move on & move in.  So we walked around inside, saw the rack missing from the microwave, found the icemaker in the fridge not working, stains on the guest room carpet we hadn't been able to see before, and the outdoor ceiling fans on the patio weren't working.  Well, too bad for us - they are now all our problems to deal with.  And the holes, Debbra?  The holes are gonna stay there till Jose gets 'em spackled & painted.  The really nice wrought iron curtain rods?  Gone with the wind.  Well, actually, gone with the sister, but that's a whole 'nother story.  (We found out at the closing that brother & sister had a falling-out - MAJOR- and she was ticked, so she took all her stuff, including the rods & curtains that were specifically listed in the contract as staying & left him to fill the holes & deal with us.  Maybe she's the one who took one of the 2 matching benches & plant urns, who knows!)

So we closed, no sweat on our part & no problems either.....except....our mortgage guy didn't wire the money as he'd promised, so they had to wait till he did.  A couple of phone calls later & it had been wired, but they weren't authorized to disburse it to the seller, 'cuz our bank hadn't finished checking all the paperwork.  Not my problem (finally!), we had keys & we were outta there.  We stopped back at the camper to pick up the puppy and headed out to the new house.  OUR new house.

WHEW!  Lucky for him, he somehow got his funds, got his trailer out of OUR driveway, and was gone.  Sooooooooooooooooo, oh, I forgot to tell you....you've seen tornado pics on tv?  You've seen those dark, dark funnel clouds??? Well, there was one hanging around the house when we got there, and JUST as soon as we got the truck partly backed into the garage (yeah, no, it doesn't fit), the bottom of that dark dark cloud fell out.  No thunder, no wind, no lightning, just dark dark cloud & heavy rain.  Downpour.

Didn't quite cancel out the beautiful rainbow we'd seen earlier this morning, over the camper, but it was enough to make us stop & watch for a while.  Flooded the yard, big time, too....now we know where all the low spots are 

We got everything (all the stuff we'd purchased yesterday) unloaded & into the garage or wherever we were gonna first need it.  Softscrub to the bathrooms, trash can to the kitchen, etc.  That was about 1 pm.  About 4 pm, we took a break.  I had finished cleaning the master bath; Dick had cleaned the fridge.  Yeah, it was THAT dirty.  And so was the bath.  Good thing he'd had the maid come in & clean just yesterday, or goodness knows HOW long it would have taken us to clean those 2 things!!!!!!

We played with Bailey out back - she does NOT like the 2 yappies next door, and she does NOT understand the concept of Frisbee.  Weird, 'cuz she's REAL good about fetching back her squeak when we throw it.  ????  We'll play tomorrow (Dick & I) and hope she wants to get involved.  She probably will, since we can't even hug or kiss without her jumping up to get her share of lovin' too. 

in the morning, we'll empty out our storage shed (where we've been putting all the stuff we've been buying in anticipation of home ownership - do you know how big & bulky 2 beds-in-a-bag are?  Add to that 4 sets of towels, silverware, coffeepot, desk, chair, rocking chair, fireplace screen, gas tank, firepit, big ole fence bookshelf, and I don't even remember what else.  Adds up to quite a closet full, lemme tell ya.  AND, we'll move my sewing machine cabinet & sewing machine into the house.  Seems *some*one's gonna be cleaning and painting, and I'll have nothing to do except wait around till it's time to clean the brushes.  Awwwww....poor me.  Actually, it's a good thing, as I just got another order for an owl towel tonight.  And, I have purchased the fabric for Theresa's purse.  Oops, wasn't supposed to spill the beans about that surprise.  Oh well.....yes, Theresa, it's bought & looks LOVELY.  It is SO you.

Well, speaking of sewing & cabinets.....I must go now, and put stuff in boxes....NOW...while I still have a bit of energy left.  Yes, I cleaned.  To the best of my ability.   And yes, I moved slow & not with the greatest of ease, but it got done.  And there's oh so much more for tomorrow.  Yes, gotta go.  Thanks for all your good wishes & prayers!!  Y'all be good!!  ~k