At Loooooooong Last!!!!!!!!!!

The day I truly thought would NEVER come. The day I will no longer have to look at my darling little house from inside the moldy, rundown dump we've been stuck in for over 15 years but can move myself in. The first night I will be sleeping in my bed in MY HOUSE!!!!!!!! All of our stuff is not moved in yet (for instance, my computer that I'm typing this on, but that will be moving over shortly) but the vast majority is -- everything in the main bedroom, all our clothes, just about everything that was in the kitchen except the refrigerator (which will be kept in the utility room as a 2nd refrigerator) and some old dishes, pots, etc. that are going to the thrift store.

This day would have actually happened over Memorial Day weekend which has just passed, but hubby and I were fighting colds for several days. His was at its worst Friday and Saturday, so he didn't feel up to doing any moving on those days, and I told him to keep his strength up since he was scheduled to start his new job yesterday. He felt better by Sunday, while I got worse. He left for work yesterday, and I initially panicked when I saw him drive back here 1/2 hour later. But he said, don't worry, my start date was moved to Wednesday, since the owner is boarding more dogs than usual because of the holiday and won't have time to train me till then. Phew!! And it worked out better since it gave him two full days to move things. In the meantime, I was mostly resting, hoping to feel well enough to go to work this a.m. But I didn't feel up to it, and I also didn't feel my coworkers would appreciate hearing my hacking cough every few minutes. The extra rest did help, and I felt well enough to bring the rest of my clothes into OUR HOUSE this afternoon.

I still can't believe this is really happening; that I will actually be sleeping in OUR HOUSE tonight. It was well into the 80s and muggy today, but it felt naturally air-conditioned in OUR HOUSE even though we don't have air conditioning, because of the excellent insulation. It will be incredible to be in there this coming weekend and set up my kitchen and my sitting room, etc. Thank you, God, for FINALLY making my dream a reality!!

Since the purpose of this blog was a home planning chronicle, and we are finally near the end of this arduous journey, I will soon stop posting on this particular blog (except for adding some updated pictures as soon as I can), but I also plan to start a new general purpose blog where I will post messages on whatever is significant to me at the time, including the crochet project(s) I am working on or have completed, happenings at church and work (my "day job" as well as my Watkins business), etc. I'm undecided at the moment as to whether that will be another blogger.com blog or at the blogging space provided at hisholyspace.com, a Christian alternative to "MySpace", where I have a page. I was leaning toward the latter but am now leaning toward the former. Whichever I decide, when I start my new blog, the URL will be listed here. Thanks to all who rooted, prayed and sent good thoughts toward my being able, at looooooong last, to having an (almost) completed section on my site entitled "My Dream Realized"!!

Inching Forward...........

We are not in our home yet -- but it now looks like it should be a matter of days. Hubby has continued to work at gradually getting our stuff (everything except last-minute everyday stuff) moved over, and he was able to get a couple more pieces of furniture at great prices from the large local variety store where he has two book booths. It's amazing how much stuff can be accumulated in 15 years in only 672 sq. ft. (especially with a hubby who's a packrat....). We had, and seem to have overcome, a couple of setbacks since I posted last. We failed an inspection due to our pump giving up the ghost after all these years. The pump was replaced last week and Rex reinstalled it himself, and that is supposed to be reinspected in the coming days. He was also unexpectedly let go from the full-time job he had been at only 4 weeks, when the company decided to send overseas what they hired him to do, to save a few bucks. I've had a lot of people praying he would find something else quickly, since we definitely need his full-time income now, and he will be starting next Monday (Memorial Day; they're open 7 days a week) helping out at an area dog kennel. This also means he can concentrate this week on getting the old dump emptied out and out of our lives, so we can get our occupancy permit!! Continued prayers and good thoughts that it will (FINALLY) be smooth sailing the rest of the way are always welcome. And I hope to have more pics of my house to post here soon! Between working full-time and moving stuff in after work and on weekends, I haven't even had the time to take more pics!

(By the way, regarding the cute new dishes I bought several months ago and posted a pic of waaaaay down on this page, hubby hasn't been able to find them! But I had already decided I wanted something with more of a cream background anyway. I found an incredible buy on eBay on a 52-piece set of a classic pattern, Franciscan Apple. The set even includes a gravy boat! I don't have a pic of the entire set, but all you have to do is Google "Franciscan Apple" to find dozens of pics of the pattern. This pattern has been around since 1940 and probably always will be, so it will also make it easy to add on or replace pieces!)

It Really Is Happening..........!!!!!!!!!!

Last Thursday, with the gutters the only work to still be done, Dave brought our house keys over that evening and said we could start moving our stuff into our house!! So we began the process Friday after work and continued through most of the weekend. At this point most of our groceries, clothes, toiletries, my new bathroom towels and accessories, much of my new and existing kitchen stuff, my collection of sheep statues and the two tall curio cabinets they go in, a couple other pieces of furniture, most of my yarn and craft supplies, my exercise machines, one of my small bookshelves and its contents, and a few other miscellaneous things have been moved in. Yet, I look around and there is still SO much stuff left in here. That's what happens when you live in a place 15 years (and your husband is a packrat...). We will keep chipping away at it after work the next few nights, and then make a huge dent next weekend. Rex is going to call our pastor and see if he can suggest a man to come over and help move some of the bigger pieces of furniture (not that we have a ton of furniture in our current 672 sq. ft., but there are a few items like the secretary handed down from his folks that I would not be able to help him lift).

It's so totally night and day to walk into our darling house and then back into this dump. Our house has that new house smell (which hopefully will stay for awhile despite our dogs), is SO spacious, and the carpet is so clean and plush. I can't believe I will soon get to live there and what I've had to endure all these years will just be a bad memory. I want to take more pictures soon, having found the manual for another little film camera I'd set aside, but with the priority needed for moving our belongings in, I just haven't had the chance, but will soon!!