A Whole New World

And several years later we are no longer kid-less.  In fact, we have a keeper of our very own.  I have taking another foray into the blogging world over here with our new adventures.  Originally I wanted to just take this one up again ... and really, I'm still torn, but since I went and started a new one (thanks to the Google takeover of Blogger, as far as I can tell), I might as well start a new chapter. 

Since that last post we've had 17 foster children come through.  Three of which were long term placements.  We always new that we wanted to have kids of our own, and frankly, we were tired of having our hearts broken.  So now we have a wonderful, beautiful, sparkling, real live Boy of our own for keeps.  We still keep in contact with Peanut, who is doing wonderfully, and also with Prancer - who was with us after Peanut.  We tried to keep in contact with Buddha, but his mom cut off contact.  We miss him dearly, and worry about him, and really, I try not to think too very much about him because I just tear up when I do.

So that's that.  On to a Whole New World of Mommy (that's K), Joi (that's me, a.k.a. Mama), and the Boy (and, well, that's our boy, who I really ought to come up with a new nickname for, but for now that'll do).

African Bath

When I went to Africa a couple of years ago, we either took cold showers or had to heat up water on the stove and bring it to the bathroom in a bucket where we would add cold water until it was the right temp, then you'd take a large cup and poor the warm water over you until you were thoroughly washed.

This is what we've been doing the last couple of days. The boiler seems to be non-functional currently. The first week we were in the house it would shut off about every 24 hours. This was bothersome because we had to go down and reset it every night if we wanted a warm shower in the morning. It was making me nervous because I thought, well, if it keeps turning off maybe there is really something wrong and it could be dangerous. I called the company listed on a sticker on it and they said that there was nothing to worry about - probably only needed to be adjusted and cleaned - unless it was powering off immediately. Then we should get it looked at right away because it could be dangerous. It was Friday morning when I made that call and I'm thinking, cool, we can wait a bit - as long as we get it done before it freezes - to get it fixed. But then that night, I went to reset it and it shut off immediately. So I left it and now we will need to call right away tomorrow morning to get this thing fixed. Thank heavens we have a home warranty!

In the meantime, it is African Baths for us.

Up to our eyes in boxes!

So we didn't actually get to sleep over at the house until three nights ago. We started moving things over immediately, but we had a very busy weekend, what with wedding season in full swing, followed by a very busy week with all kinds of evening activities. I will try to remember to take some photos of the maze that we are in right now and see if I can update this post later. Once we get things put into their proper places we will be living very zen - you know, lots of open space, very little furniture. But in the meantime it looks as if we are one of those hoarding families.

We've had some trip-ups. Like our box-spring does not fit through the stairwell. Thus we cannot get it up to the bedroom. Thus we are sleeping on the mattress on the floor and will need to buy a platform bed. The front door won't latch unless it is locked. Not such a big deal, and I think I can fix this pretty easily. I will also need to install a doorbell right away because we don't hear the knocking on the outer door at all. The basement door, on the other hand, is stuck shut and will not open unless you stick a screwdriver in the top to pry it so. This is inconvenient, but wouldn't be a problem if the boiler/water heater system didn't keep mysteriously keep shutting off, which requires that I go down and reset it so we can have hot water. This last thing is the only really concern. We've got to get it in order before winter.

Even with all of the mess and complication, though, we feel like we are on vacation! It is wonderful! No screaming and ranting upstairs neighbors at 6am. No dog barking incessantly. No constant traffic. No feeling like your on display when you go to your car or take the trash out. Aaaaah... And we get to be here for the foreseen future because we own this house!

We did it!!!

We are now the proud owners of this beautiful sight:


There is a lot of work to do (more than it appears), but we are ready for the challenge! We finally signed the papers last night around 7pm and got the keys this morning. After the signing we went over and just parked in OUR driveway for a little while gazing at the house. I am in the process of getting utilities changed over right now and then I'll go over and do some cleaning before we start MOVING IN!!

Oie!!

We were supposed to close at 2:30pm today (note that it is 4:45pm now). At the last minute the paperwork needed to be redone and things got pushed back, and then back again. So now we will meet with our lawyer at 6:45pm to sign the papers. We will not likely get the keys tonight, but instead will get them tomorrow morning. WE. ARE. SO. CLOSE! Only one more morning with Crazy Neighbor Lady!!! Happy, happy, happy!!

We're still awfully lonely around here. The grief comes in waves, though, and tonight was a doozy. It just hits sometimes. That sickening empty feeling that I could only imagine before is now very, very real. We wish she would come back to us, but we don't wish for the circumstances that would make that have to happen. I am going through the motions at work. Seems I'm getting the bare minimum done. The last couple of days have been a bit of a whirlwind, what with getting all of our finances - finally - in order to buy this house. Final walk-though on the house tomorrow. Close on Thursday. Very exciting. Very unreal.

Gone.

We packed her up and sent her on her way. I'm still crying. I don't know that I'll stop anytime soon.