It's Official: We're Homeowners

Yesterday we closed on our new home. The closing went smoothly and was spectacularly fast (1:30). Our attorney explained every piece of paper we had to sign and after it was all finished we got the keys and garage door openers to our new home :) Bill joked that the garage door openers would work from the moon, because they were so huge they must be powerful. Turns out they barely work from the end of the driveway...They are probably the size of two decks of cards...maybe bigger. They are sexy. 

We had our cars packed to the brims when we went to the closing so we promptly unloaded a full load into the garage of our new home and returned to the condo with a gusto to pack our cars again. This time it seemed less fun, more time consuming...and when we tried to drive back to the home, there was an accident (and rush hour) so we had to detour. By the time we got back "home" to the new house, most of my adrenaline had worn off and I was ready to be done. The great news is those four car loads total were ALL of the boxes we had packed.

As soon as we unloaded the last box and shut the door to the house, a shelf which held about four twelve foot florescent light bulbs wiggled just enough to let those light bulbs free...to roll off...right onto the ground...and shatter to a trillion pieces in our garage. That's when we learned we needed a push broom. We decided to leave that for another day and went back to the condo, where we have a couch.

After some yummy thai food, Bill went off to a meeting at church and I took a few moments to unwind. Once I had my second wind I packed up all of our Le Creuset pots/pans in a few boxes, trying to spread their weight evenly so the boxes weren't too heavy for me to manage alone. Of course, they were to heavy. Trying to roll them down the stairs of the condo building in the dolly cart, I lost my balance and the cart was too top heavy. Bang, bang, bang! There go our Le Creusets. Thankfully, nothing was damaged. Miracles are real.

Bill met me at the house and unloaded all of the stupid, heavy boxes for me. We did one more tour of the house just to "make sure it's still there" and gush about how much we love it. We were halfway around the block en route back to the condo and Bill goes "Did the garage door shut?" I thought silently for a second and said, "I have no idea. Did you push the button?"

Our garage door is black, so it's difficult to go back in your mind and think "Yes, I definitely saw it close." because at night, you can't see it at all. (*Note: JESS PROJECT! = PAINT THE GARAGE DOOR) Even in broad daylight when we were "stalking" our house before we moved in, we would come around the turn and say "They left the garage door open!?" when in fact, it was closed.

Looping back around the block, I steered us to the house and slowed in front of the driveway. Sure enough, garage door was wide open, ready for any of the neighborhood to come in and take the Vespa or a few boxes of anything they wanted.

This transition from condo to homeowner will definitely be an adjustment in responsibilities for both of us. We can't even remember to close the garage door yet.