Temperatures Rising

We went to 104 here yesterday with a low of 74. Yes, the oven door is open and it looks like the heat is here to stay until probably October. Ugh!

We are having a hard time watching the days go by with nothing being done to prepare for our move. This is something we never counted on and had no reason to believe would happen. With a date of June 12 to be totally out of our space here and having the fifth wheel in the storage unit and covered, it looks like it might be a marathon move from here to the house. Add in another wasted day today, and it really hurts.

With the temperature expected to be near 110 today, it looks like a day to hunker down, stay cool and try to keep things in perspective, knowing that the end is in sight - somewhere, sometime...

First Houseguests

We ended up meeting Debby at the house at 11 AM yesterday. She arrived with Brian, Amy and David and Jason shortly after Josie and I arrived. We spent about 45 minutes at the house and everybody got a good feel for what we are about to do. Of course, the house is still empty so it may be hard to visualize how it all will turn out once we get moved in.

There is no further word on the close date except that it will be next week. It is painful for us to waste these days by not getting anything packed and ready. There is just no place to put anything until we officially get the keys to the house. It is heating up outside and we expect to go to about 106 today and 109 tomorrow. In case anybody is interested, it is going to be 72 in Jackson, WY today. Great hiking weather.

I have been given the numbers to call to schedule my Ultra-Sound of my liver and bladder and also for a GI Doctor that I need to call to get started in figuring out what the problem is that is causing my illnesses which have been coming on about once a week. I'm in the itching phase of my latest attack and hope there is some relief soon for the symptoms I have had. We can't figure out what might be causing these reactions but the answer may be close at hand...

No Word Yet

We decided to become proactive yesterday morning and try to help speed up the process of putting everything together to close on our house. As far as we knew, they were waiting on tax transcripts from IRS to complete the package. Evidently, the recent hacking incident at the IRS has impacted our schedule as the web site that produces these tax transcripts was shut down for security purposes. Rather than wait for the US Mail to provide these items, I drove to the local IRS office in Glendale and picked them up personally, and delivered them to the mortgage company by 10:30 AM. I heard nothing else for the rest of the day. We need to hear something today as everything is on hold pending a close date.

I will try to get our realtor to request that we be allowed to place some things in the garage until we close as we have to get out of our storage unit by the end of the day on Monday, June 1, or we have to pay another full month's rent on the space. That is, if we can reschedule the movers for Monday. We are also getting dangerously close to having to make another decision on extending our space here at the Resort.

I do want t mention that Josie's Biopsies were negative and she is good to go. That is always good news.

We plan to meet our niece, Debby, today at the house this afternoon. Josie will leave work about an hour early and meet us there at around 2:30 PM. We are definitely looking forward to that visit and is a bright spot in all of this mess...

Still Stewing

We still have no idea when our closing will take place. There was zero communications between the mortgage company and us yesterday and we didn't hear anything from our realtor. They both know that we are stewing over the delay and we all know that there is absolutely no excuse for not getting it done on time. It is costing us more money for each day it is delayed and there better be more than just "we're sorry" at the end of this delay. I'm losing two work days - today and tomorrow - while anticipating the close. Josie decided to go to work today and tomorrow but it is much easier for her to change her schedule. Not to mention additional charges at our storage unit, and potential extensions to our resort space here at Lake Pleasant. If we had known that buying a house was going to be such a roller coaster ride, we probably would not go through the process again.

It looks like there is nothing else to do except wait on the word from our mortgage company and the title company that the docs are ready...

Bumped

We had a bit of bad news yesterday AM when the mortgage company called and said that they still have not received the docs from underwriting as a result of their not receiving documents from their providers in time. It appears that the closing now will be next week assuming that the link can be closed and they get everything they need. I spent the morning stewing since they had enough time to get all this stuff together. Also, it is costing us more money with each delay. I have to call the movers this AM and cancel the move for Friday. Worse, I can't give them another date at this point. Also, we have work days to reschedule off, deliveries to revise and other appointments that are affected by this delay. It is not an anticipated event.

We still have access to the house though, and we can still have the planned visit by our family on Friday AM. That visit by our niece Debby is one that we look forward to having and even though the house will be empty, she can at least get an idea of how it will be when we eventually get moved-in.

I will work today, as will Josie. I had tomorrow and Friday scheduled off and will most likely keep that schedule. I will have to figure out the work schedule for next week when I get a better feel for the new closing date and when everything else might be scheduled. Nobody said this would be easy, but now it is becoming more complicated than it needs to be...

Memorial Day Break

We took advantage of the last day off for the weekend to just act like we were retired so we didn't do a whole lot. We did take a drive to the house to take another couple measurements though, and while there we took a couple shots of the reentrance to the subdivision. This one is taken of the fountain as you turn into the development from Glendale Ave:

and this one of the stadium as seen from the entrance to our subdivision:

We are located less than a mile from the stadium.

We drove around the area a little bit and stopped at the Fry's grocery store where we most likely will be doing our grocery shopping. That is only about a half mile away and is very convenient.

We expect to get all of the final details today for times and locations for our closing. Papers will be signed tomorrow AM and the actual closing will take place on Thursday AM. We made it to the closing just in time to see the temperatures go over 100 degrees and remain there, at least for the entire weekend we plan to move. We'll take it, though...

Race Day

We both were excited to watch the pageantry and excitement surrounding the Indianapolis 500 yesterday. That is one place that we would like to visit someday. It turns out that it is only about a 2.5 hour drive from Patty's house in Naperville so we are talking about a possible visit down the road to Patty's which would include tickets to the Indianapolis 500. Hmm. Next year is the 100th running of the race. The race was exciting, as always, and the finish, as always, made the race. There were four drivers with a chance to win and the driver that won - Pablo Montoya - was in last place during the early stages of the race and moved all the way to the front with just a few laps to go. Amazing.

We also did some outside packing around the gazebo and the shed where we had some loose items that needed to be consolidated. We are getting anxious to get things in boxes and ready to move. There were tons of cars parked behind us which means that the lake was full of boats yesterday. The resort is also full and there were parties all over the place. It will be the last big holiday this summer- except for July 4 - which the resort will enjoy with a full house. By tomorrow, it will once again look like a ghost town.

Our final day off this holiday weekend is today and we will then be facing the stretch run to the big day on Thursday. I'm sure we will figure out something that we could do that will get us closer to having the move go a bit easier...

Walkthrough

We met Ron, our realtor, at the house a few minute before 10 AM yesterday and did our walk-through. Basically, the house looks terrific with the repairs done and the cleaning done. We discovered a few cosmetic changes that we will have to make as we couldn't see everything in the house while the tenants were still living there. Nothing is major, and we should be able to handle them easily. Below are a few shots we took of the house yesterday:

Starting with the back yard:

and this shot of the kitchen:

We spent about an hour at the house before leaving to make our stops at Spencer's Appliances and The Roomstore to finalize our purchases and to schedule deliveries. That ate up most of the rest of the day as we added a few items to each of those invoices for delivery. The refrigerator that was left behind by the owners is a smaller one that we decided to keep in the garage as a spare, so we purchased a new one at Spencer's yesterday which will be delivered along with our TV and other items.

There will be some things, of course, that will be changed out over time. The carpets are a priority and some of the appliances will be changed out in the near term. But for right now, it is ready to move into and we are ready to go...

Back to the Doctor

I was putting together some last minute documents for our mortgage company when I received another call from the medical assistant at our doctor's office. My doctor wanted me to return to give another urine sample and to have more blood taken for additional tests. She also indicated that the doctor wanted to schedule a liver and bladder ultra sound in about two weeks. Evidently, the sickness I have been experiencing off and on over the last few weeks is more than any reaction to medication. At this point it appears that it is only precautionary which is fine with me. You know what they say - it is better to be certain than to have surprises down the road sometime.

Following that little visit, I came home to finish up on the paperwork for the mortgage and to get the final figures for our mortgage payment. The rates are rising and we are fortunate to get our mortgage before they go higher. It's just over 4% which is a far cry from our last mortgage that was in the 8% range years ago before the downturn.

Our plan today for our first day off this weekend is to meet our realtor at the new house to confirm all of the repairs that were made and to see our house empty for the first time. There are some things that we want to confirm as far as where cabinets are located so the visit should be beneficial. We will then go to The Roomstore and confirm our furniture purchase and to schedule the delivery. We will also stop at Spencer's Appliances and schedule the delivery of our new TV which we are buying from them and to also schedule that delivery. We are coming down the stretch and the excitement is building...

Doctors Visits

It was a morning filled with visits to the doctor's office and, in Josie' case, The Women's Center at the Banner Del Webb Hospital for her procedure. She had an appointment, I did not.

Josie's procedure went smoothly and she had her biopsy's done and a mammogram done by the time I stopped in our family doctor's office. I had to give a blood sample and a urine sample so that the doctor could zero in on what my recent problems have been all about. Without knowing the detailed results, my doctors suspects that I have had an overload on my liver from all the medications and over the counter drugs I have been taking. I guess that will change. I also was given some medication for the severe itching I have been experiencing. Based on last nights' sleep - or lack thereof - it doesn't work real well. I still lost sleep the entire night as a result of the itching.

Josie will hear in about a week about her results and we believe that everything will be fine on her side.

I went to work yesterday afternoon and will have the next 6 days off which should give me some good opportunities to get some preparations made for our move. Both of us have the weekend off which is very nice for a change. We will meet our realtor at the house tomorrow to check out the repairs and to make sure everything has been cleaned. It's all downhill from here with only 5 days to go before closing...

All Over But the Waiting

With the delivery yesterday of all the remaining requests by the mortgage underwriters, all that is left is the waiting for the close which will be next Thursday. There are definitely more hoops to jump through today to buy a house than there were ten years ago. I guess the industry has finally established some strict guidelines to eliminate the kind of implosion of the market that occurred in 2008. At least it seems that way to us.

Josie is off today and will have her breast procedure that she has been putting off for a couple months. They will take a needle biopsy of a small disturbance that was spotted last year. I will go with her for that and then I have to work this afternoon at 2:30 when we return.

My itchiness has returned and that throws a wrench into all of the theories I had before about medications causing this kind of reaction. I guess I will contact my doctor and try to find out what the deal is with the itching. Maybe I can get that done while Josie is having her two hour procedure. At any rate, it is driving me crazy and I need to get to the bottom of the cause...

Late Start

Sorry for the delay today on the entry for the blog. Josie and I went to dinner last night at Macayo's Mexican Restaurant and this morning was occupied with handling some of the aftereffects of the meal. We tried something different by ordering appetizers at happy hour prices instead of a main course and we were sorry we did that. The food was very rich and not the best choices and we paid the price for that mistake.

Also, I had to go to the Mortgage Officer's location this morning to review the conditions for our loan. They are very simple and there are only a few that we need to be concerned with before wrapping it up. I will take care of those items this afternoon and we should be set to go.

We will do a walk through at the house on Saturday AM. It will be the first opportunity to see everything cleaned and the house empty. Only five more working days before closing, so we are really getting excited at this point...

Move Date Set

The date for our move from the storage unit in Surprise to our new home is set - May 29th. Our close on the 28th will make it close as we are counting on getting the keys at the closing. Actually, I recall that the keys aren't turned over to the new owners until after the recording of the deeds and closing which should occur the same day. Anyway, we will finally get rid of that monthly expense and also get to introduce ourselves to our belongings for the first time in seven years. We have spent a lot of money during that time on the storage fees, but there are many pieces and items that have sentimental value and memories that would be impossible to part with. We will use a company called Soft Touch Moving which I found on Angie's List and is highly recommended for this area. Almost all of the reviews were very positive.

I also heard that we received our approval to move forward with the mortgage yesterday and today I will discuss the options we have for packaging the loan. We have some conditions which are always attached to a mortgage approval and I will receive that list today. So, it looks like this is going to happen. The work has progressed at the house and I understand that yesterday the tile was cleaned and I believe all that is left for that list to be completed is to perform the repairs to three roof tiles that were discovered cracked during the inspection.

The only potential problem for us now is coordinating our days off from work to get everything done. It's a shame that we have to deal with that problem at all, but that's how it goes...

Getting Antsi

We started our morning yesterday with a nice breakfast at Denny's down the street. It has been a while since we have done that and since I didn't start work until 1:30 PM, it was a chance to spend some time at home together. We are so anxious to get the move over with.  Once we get into the house, we are going to take a serious look at our work schedules and try to coordinate our days off so that they match up. The next time we will have the same days off will be over the Memorial Day weekend. By then, we will know for sure that everything is on track to close on the 28th and we can begin to zero in on exact timing for the transition.

We talked a lot about our long range plans yesterday morning and the fact that, after almost seven years of living our RV lifestyle, do we want to get back into the regimentation of permanent living in the same location, doing the same things day in and day out and seeing the same people everyday in the same jobs. I know one thing though, once my job at Sam's Club begins to feel like a full time job, I am out of there. I already plan to apply at Cabela's down the street from our new house so we'll see what happens.

Every time we think of all the friends we've made over the last seven years in all of the great places we've worked and stayed, it gives us some second thoughts. However, the main reasons we want to do this are to get our money working for us again and also to have a place where our family can stay with us when they visit- so the pluses and minuses will sort themselves out over the next several years...

Almost Normal

I worked the full day yesterday at Sam's Club without incident. It was amazing to me how many of my fellow employees knew about my illness on Thursday and asked how I was doing. They all heard about it as I set off an alarm at the rear exit when I left work that day and the management crew watched me walk to my car on the parking lot security camera and sit in my car for awhile before driving off. I explained the circumstances in detail to them and they all understood but were concerned about my ability to drive and make it home safely as I was definitely disoriented. It made me feel good that so many people cared.

During my first break yesterday, I picked up some Benadryl at the Club Pharmacy to see if it would help with my itching. It seems to have made a difference as I slept well last night and had very little "itching" during the night. I don't have to go into work until 1:30 PM today, so I should be just about at 100%.

Josie has started packing some boxes in the fifth wheel for our move and you might say she is super anxious. We aren't closing on the house for eleven more days, but she feels like she has to begin getting things together. The problem I have with getting an early start on packing is that there really isn't any place in the fifth wheel - or outside, for that matter - to store any packed boxes even on a temporary basis.

Both of us are chomping-at-the-bit to get things going and these last couple weeks are really killing us. I know that once the closing occurs, the floodgates will open and we will be rushing to get things done...

New Theory

I don't believe now that the illness I have been struggling with the last couple days is a result of the ice cream/Listeria scare. The more research that I did on that illness, the less I believe that is what I had - although the symptoms are similar. The effects of Listeria take a period of incubation and I felt the symptoms the following day. I am now leaning toward a new medication that I started less than 30 days ago following my physical  It is a cholesterol lowering drug - Lipitor - which also has the same symptoms as possible side effects, including all of the itching that I have all over my body. I spent another sleepless night last night while suffering from the itchiness. I didn't do the research on that drug until after I took my daily dose yesterday so now I have to stop the medication and wait and see if that is the problem. If there is no improvement by Monday, I will call my doctor.

Today begins a stretch of three straight days working at Sam's Club so I hope there are no further complications. All three of those days are long ones. Josie works today but is off tomorrow.

The last word on our house is that the mortgage process is going forward and we expect to wrap it up early next week. Right now, it still looks like the 28th is a valid date for closing and we will - tentatively - move our goods from storage to the house on the 1st or 2nd of June...

Tough Day Physically

I was fine until it became time to leave for work at 6 AM yesterday. I developed a stomach ache that seemed to be getting worse, and along with a fever. Of course, I had to go into work as there is nobody else that would available to do the early shift at Sam's Club. I felt progressively worse as the morning continued, and by 9 AM I spoke with my manager and asked if he couldn't get a replacement for me. There was no way that I could make it until 3:15 PM. To make a long story short, it wasn't until 11:15 before somebody was able to cover my shift for me and I went home. I ate absolutely nothing all day as I had no appetite and finally the fever broke last evening.

A couple weeks ago there was a recall on Blue Bell Ice Cream and we had just purchased a half gallon before the recall. We kept the ice cream thinking that we were far away from the outbreak of Listeria (Texas and Oklahoma) and we also purchased it about a week before the recall. I suspect that maybe I got a dose of Listeria yesterday as I had all the symptoms and we had some of that ice cream before going to bed on Wednesday night. That was a foolish thing to do as we would have gotten a refund on the ice cream if we had taken it back. Listeria is not anything to fool around with, especially for young kids and older people. I guess I fall into the latter category.

I'm feeling much better this morning except my whole body is itching. I have no idea what may have caused that. Poor Josie had a day off yesterday and spent it doing laundry and catering to my ills. Bless her. She works today and tomorrow then has Sunday off while I work three days in a row through Monday. Maybe we will make some adjustments in our work schedule after we get into the house and get settled...

Major Step Completed

We received the results yesterday for the appraisal on our new home. It came in right on target - actually, $1K over the price - so we are one major step closer to wrapping it up. We also heard from the seller's agent that the repairs are nearly done and the cleaning is all that remains. The tenants are moved out of the house now and from the looks of the photos on the appraisal, just about everything is emptied from the rooms. All that remains now is the final word on our mortgage which should be any day now. We locked in our interest rate yesterday as the rates are expected to begin rising now.

We are paid through June 12 at our space at the resort so everything better happen on schedule. The office at the resort has some homework to do to make sure that the couple that wants our space, gets it on the 13th of June They are expected to buy everything on our site except the furniture and the shed. That is a huge help for not only our move, but our pocketbook also. Even though we discounted everything a huge amount, it beats tearing everything up, moving it and figuring out how to use everything at the new home. The gazebo would definitely be out as they are not allowed at the new house.

I leave for work at 6 AM this morning as Josie has the day off. I get off at 3:15, so it isn't too bad. I guess I will get everything together now and get my day started...

Progress Made

I changed over the homeowners insurance to the new house yesterday - for the third time in the last 60 days. Our insurance agent must think we are nuts having three different addresses in such a short time. It is what it is, and hopefully this will be the last change. That information is required by the escrow officer at the title company before we can close.

I also stopped into the resort office to speak with the manager about our plans and have extended our stay here until June 12. On that date, we will close up the fifth wheel and move it to the on site storage here for who knows how long. I have a cover for it and plan to get it totally ready by that time. I will make the one month extension payment today as our annual anniversary has arrived. Ordinarily, we would be leaving today for Jackson, Wyoming.

We both worked yesterday so not much else was done. My schedule picks up dramatically over the next week as I work tomorrow and again on Saturday Sunday and Monday. We may have some time off together over Memorial Day weekend which we hope to use to our advantage to tie up some loose ends on the new house...

No House News

It was a day that we (hopefully) can say that no news is good news. We had no word from anybody associated with our house. The only news we really expected to hear about was the appraisal which supposedly was done yesterday. We do understand that it takes a couple days following the actual appraisal to get any results as comps have to be researched and recent sales have to be researched. Honestly, we expect it to come in right on target at our sales price.

The gentleman (Marcus) who is suppose to take over our space here at the resort and also purchase our grass, pavers, carpets and fence, was by yesterday and informed us that he and his wife were planning to go forward and buy all of those items. We still have no deposit from him, so we are taking him at his word and will not pull everything up when we leave. He also hinted that he might be interested in our fifth wheel which would be a bonus for us. The problem with that though, is that we have a few problems that should be fixed before marketing the unit. We couldn't get what it is worth without performing those repairs. We'll wait and see on that.

Both of us work today as Josie is spending much of her days - yesterday and today - doing replacement arrangements which is normal following any holiday. My hours today are 9:30 to 3 PM, so I expect to be home about the same time as Josie or maybe a little before. She is closing in on 60 hours of work this week in her pay period and that is before today. It's good timing for a nice paycheck...

Coordinating Schedules

I hope all the mothers had a great day yesterday. Josie had to work, albeit, she did get off at around 3 PM and was home while I worked until 6:30 PM. She is being placed on full time status and will get a regular schedule once the girl she is replacing on full time leaves the shop at the end of the month. Whatever her schedule becomes, I will try to get the same schedule at Sam's Club. Her shop is always closed on Sunday which is a guaranteed day off, but Sam's Club likes to schedule me just about every Sunday. That will change once we know Josie's permanent schedule. Right now, I am likely to be scheduled any day of the week, any hours during the day. That is the one big negative to my job.

These next few days will be critical to our setting up some kind of schedule for our move. Until we know for sure what day we will close, nothing else can be scheduled. Once that date is known, everything else can be set up on a firm basis. We are both very anxious to get into the house.

Along with scheduling everything to move, we need to get a firm commitment from the folks here at the resort that are interested in buying all of our outside amenities with the exception of our shed and furniture. I really don't want to have to pull up the pavers and the artificial grass to move to the new house, and those folks are suppose to move into our space here at the resort. Also, the gazebo does us no good at the house. Maybe everything will all come together in the next couple days and we can begin to relax a little bit...

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day for Josie is always just the end to the long hours leading up to the day. I always joked that If I were to give her flowers on Mother's Day that she would throw them at me. As a result of both of us working a long day today, we kind of celebrated Mother's Day last night when she came home from another 12 hour day. I gave her a card, of course, and some decorated chocolate covered strawberries which is a bit different. We will really celebrate Mother's Day later this week when she gets a day off from work.

My hours today are from 10 AM until 6:30 PM. I don't mind working the full day as it gives a chance for one of the mothers to enjoy the day since Josie is working anyway. There is at least one that I work with that will enjoy the day with her family.

It is really difficult planning any moving activities until we get a 100% assurance that we will be closing on the 28th. I hope to be getting that assurance later this week. I have to give 15 days notice at the storage unit when we are going to vacate, so the 15th (Friday) is the latest I can wait to tell them we will be vacating on the 1st of June which is the date I have targeted. It is important to know for sure for other schedules that need to be set. All of the ducks should be lined up in a row by the time we get to the closing date. I researched the trailer rental aspect yesterday and we will rent a U-Haul trailer for at least two days to get things moved from the fifth wheel to the house. Which two days is all that remains to be set.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers...

Marathon Continues

The main story from yesterday was another marathon working day for Josie. She put in almost 13 hours yesterday following the 12 hours on Thursday. It will be about the same today before hitting the holiday tomorrow. She will not have a day off until Thursday this coming week. That's the way the floral business goes.

I did more prep for our move by calling one of our sources for new furniture to have the delivery date moved back to early June. I also researched movers again and have identified one we will use - C2 Moving - that was highly recommended on Angie's List. I haven't called them yet to schedule the move and will wait until at least next week to make sure the dates are solid. I also started the change of address list. Most of the changes can be handled online, but there are a few that will still require phone calls.

Not much else is happening to report. Josie has her final marathon day today and has to report to work by 6:30 AM again. She is obviously go to be one happy camper after tomorrow is over. As it turns out, I go back to work at Sam's Club tomorrow so we will both celebrate Mother's Day at our respective jobs...

Overdue Car Servicing

We have been so busy and paying attention to all of the housing stuff that we have neglected to service our vehicles. That is one thing we hate to forget and that is to service the cars after every 3K or 4K miles. Especially here in AZ where the temperatures get so high, it is especially important.

I went to the Meineke car servicing location in Surprise which is where we always had our oil changes done in the past. They were booked and had no openings when I arrived at 11 AM, but after I told him how far I came to get service - from Lake Pleasant - he changed his tune and said he would try to squeeze us in around lunchtime. I went to the Sam's Club up the street to get a few things and then returned at near noon. While I went across the street to get some lunch at the local Subway, they pulled the Escape into the bay and had the oil change done by 1 PM. I used to go to Jiffy Lube, or the dealership for this service, but prices have risen so much at those places we decided to switch to Meineke years ago. They do a great job and have very good reviews for around $30 including tax.

Josie is really working hard now at the flower shop. She worked 12 hours yesterday and has to be into work by 6:30 AM today to pull runs for the drivers. Normally, I would be helping out over the Mother's Day weekend but this year I have so many things to take care of with the house, I had to keep my days open to respond to any issues. Maybe next year.

I stopped in the office yesterday to inform them of our move, and got all the info on extending our stay for another month along with getting the storage information. They were surprised that we were not going to renew for another year and they will have our space to lease to another Rv'er around the middle of June. Now, I need to schedule a mover for our goods that are in storage. I hope to take care of that today...

Ready For Stretch Run

There are now 3 weeks left before we close on our new house. I finished up on all the paperwork yesterday - until they discover there are some forms I missed - and we are heading down the stretch. Although we don't anticipate any hiccups, you never know. The appraisal was done yesterday and we should know the results of that by tomorrow or early next week. As long as it comes in at the sales price or higher, we should be OK.

The thought of coordinating all the stuff that needs to be done is making me a little nervous. We need to notify the resort of the date we are leaving and also extend our stay from May 13. Also, we need to schedule the movers to move our stuff out of storage to the house and cancel the storage space (after almost 7 years), schedule the (new) furniture delivery date, and the rental dates for our utility trailer to move everything from our fifth wheel to the house and pick up our bedroom furniture that we are getting from George and Cheryl. We also have to get somebody to move the fifth wheel into the storage location here at the resort and place our new cover on that for protection. Starting up the utilities is another job along with the mail service - informing our folks in FL that we are establishing a permanent address in Glendale, AZ for forwarding our mail, and eventually cancelling that service. There are many more little things that will require attention that I haven't even thought of as yet.

Deciding what should remain in the fifth wheel is no small task either. We don't know if we will be using it again before we can sell it, so some things may have to stay in storage with the unit. We are - right now, at least - still not ruling out Wyoming for next summer. We'll have to see how this next year goes before making that decision. With Josie being placed on full time status, it might make it difficult to get the summer off for her. My goodness, I don't want to start thinking about that just yet...

Documents Overflow

I went crazy yesterday with all of the paperwork I had to fill out, scan into the computer and email back to the mortgage company, the title company and to our realtor. There are still a couple forms that need to be completed and some paperwork that needs to be sent back this morning. I also deposited the earnest money that we were returned from the previous failed home purchase. There are only a few weeks to go, so after the appraisal is done - which should be today or tomorrow - we are set to go and should only have minor situations to respond to.

Josie is in her marathon schedule for Mother's Day and will be working from 8 AM until 6 PM everyday from now through Mother's Day. She has officially been notified that she will be classified as full time following Mother's Day. Of course, the summer months can become slow and her hours will be somewhat less by about 5 hours per week. It is still nice that she can fill the gap left by our not working in Wyoming this summer and I have the Sam's Club job to help.

I have to begin scheduling movers and all the other activities involved with getting into the new house. I will try to figure out the dates either today or tomorrow once I get the assurance that everything will happen on time. It doesn't seem real that we are once again diving into home ownership. We only hope it turns out to be a good move for us...

Inspection Done

Our flight arrived at the airport about 15 minutes early and that was a welcome sign. We had our bags picked up and we were out the door to catch the airport shuttle at 1:35. Our arrival at the house was at 2:05 PM and we only missed the roof inspection. The entire inspection had much better results than the house we just lost to a lien problem. There are several minor fixes, but nothing that would kill the deal or create heartburn for the owner. The inspector gave us a discount as this was his second inspection for us and we were then on our way at 3:30 PM.

Everything was OK at the fifth wheel and we started to unpack everything but decided to wait until today. The real good news was that our deposit from the home up the street was in the mail.

It's marathon work for Josie while I follow up on to-do- items for the house. We are still on schedule to close on the 28th. Below is a shot of Josie in front of our house before we left:

The folks that are renting the home are still inside, so we couldn't get any shots of the interior. We'll catch up on those very soon...

Visit Ends in Naperville

The boys were out with friends most of the day and in the afternoon the rain started. Austin returned last night from his visit to Wisconsin to visit his friend. We did get to spend a little bit of time outside before the weather started to sour and got a couple last minute shots.

This is a shot of the porch where we spent much of our time reading and where we always visit with the family when the weather cooperates:

This final shot is from the rear porch where there are more trees in bloom and a nice view:

Patty and Mark arrived home around midnight and they had a real nice time in Cabo. We will go with Patty this morning and head to the airport after she drops the boys off at school. Our flight isn't until 11:30, but it is always better to arrive early than to rush and take a chance on missing the flight.

We will arrive in Phoenix at 1:05 and immediately go to our new house where we are to meet the realtor and the inspector to begin the final phases of the purchase. Let's hope there are no major problems with the inspection today...

Game Day

The major activity of yesterday was the boys baseball game. They were picked up by their coach at 11:45 and the game started at 1:15 PM. We arrived a little late for the game - 1:30 - as we had to stop at the store to pick up a couple of Gatorade's and some "ranch" seeds for the boys. By the time we arrived, the score was 1-0 ( Naperville, the boys' team) and that turned out to be the final score. They beat the first place and previously undefeated team for their first win of the season. Brandon pitched the shutout and was dominant the whole game. Jordan played shortstop for their team. I did get a few shots of the game. This one is of Brandon pitching and Jordan playing shortstop (to the right of Brandon):

They are a big part of the team.

This one shows Jordan at the plate:

And this shows Brandon:

It was a fantastic day to do anything outside - sunny and 73 - and we enjoyed the game and watching the boys play.

We came home following the game and watched the Kentucky Derby. It didn't have the drama that last year's race had, but it is always exciting to watch. It has a special meaning to us now that we have been to Churchill Downs and can better appreciate the history of this race. It was a three horse race all the way with the favored American Pharoah winning by one length.

Our final day of our stay is today and we have no activities planned. It is a free day, and the boys can do pretty much anything they want. We will be ready to drive them someplace if they need a ride. The week has sped by and we are expecting Patty and Mark to arrive home tonight - very late. Our flight isn't until 11:30 tomorrow AM, so we don't expect to be rushed.

Finally, a shot of Oakley sadly missing Mom and Dad:

Final Trip to School

There will be no more trips taking the boys to their private school. At least not by us. They will graduate in a couple weeks and go on to high school in the Fall. It was a short day of classes as they were out by 11:15 AM. They stayed in town for awhile and called us to pick them up around 1 PM.

They went fishing in the afternoon and Josie and I got some much needed exercise by walking around the loop in their neighborhood which amounts to over a mile in distance. The Spring colors were bursting out all over and we got some shots of some of the different colors.

Starting with these trees that were lining the golf course:

And the neighborhood trees that were beautiful:

Plus the landscaping including daffodils and tulips:

Just about everybody that lives in the development has a landscaping service and it shows with all the very green grass and lack of weeds on all the lawns.

Last night was Prom night and there several parties in the neighborhood, including this one at a house just down the street:

Cars were lined up on both sides of the street as far as we could see.

Our weekend starts with a baseball game today. The boys will be picked up at 11:15 by their coach and we will go to the game at around 1 PM to watch. There really isn't much else planned for the weekend, so we will have to figure out something to keep them busy if they can't find friends or activities to do themselves. Brandon just got a new fishing pole, so maybe some more fishing is in the picture...

Closing Out the Week

All went according to the schedule yesterday. The boys had a full day at school, Austin was out and about with his friends and we kept Oakley company at the house. Jordan and Brandon had baseball practice last evening and that finished the day's activities.

Patty had told us about a couple of ducks that frequent her back porch. They know where to come for handouts and they arrived late yesterday afternoon for their usual treat. We did not disappoint them:

They only hung around long enough to grab a bite and they were gone.

Today is a short day for the boys at school as they get out at 11:15. They will most likely want to stay in town and visit with their friends so the schedule is not clear at this moment. One thing is certain though - this will be our final day to transport them to the private school. The next time we visit they will be students at Waubonsie Valley High School where Austin attended. They will ride the bus at that time, so our chauffeuring to school days will be over. That will be their first exposure to public schools, so we hope the adjustment is a smooth one.

The days are running out as Patty and Mark are expected home late Sunday night. We will leave on Monday morning, so time is rapidly growing short for our visit...