Pausing to breathe...

We are thisclose to being finished with all the stuff that goes along with getting a mortgage! And by we, I am mostly referencing Me. :) What. a. pain! Never Ever buy a house around Christmas! Seriously! Everyone in careers associated with house buying takes two weeks vacation.

I think the worst headache was centered around getting the house appraised. I had a guy all lined up to come last Tuesday afternoon. Super nice guy. However, when I was talking to our Credit Union that morning (her first day back after 2 weeks off) she said no no no, that guy is not qualified to do the kind of appraisal we want. My jaw hit the floor. Scramble scramble scramble. Because our deadline was that Friday! Eek! So, I called guy number 1 back, and apologized profusely. He gave me a number for a fully certified appraiser, and told me the guy was the best :) I called, and left a message. no call back that day. We get to Wednesday afternoon and I still hadn't heard anything (eek!). I called back, and guy #2 was in the office (score!) I explained my situation, and he was SO nice! And showed up at my house 15 minutes later (eek!)! He was so nice. Great with the kids, very professional, and understanding. AND! He appraised the house bang on what the credit union asked for! Must remember to send a thank you card.

So, with that headache relieved, All I had to do was wait for the government to send me my 2006 notice of assessment for my taxes. HA! I stressed about checking the mailbox every day from the day I called to request it! It came Thursday :) I called our Lender, and set up the appointment to sign the final papers on Saturday!!

We went Saturday, and even took the kids! (eek!) but they were pretty well behaved (I took books and colouring stuff and toys :)) and our Lender had chocolate :) Yeah, she has kids too :) After that it was all signed, sealed and delivered!!!!!!!! AND! Rates went down, so our mortgage did too! By $25 a month!! sweet!

Next headache. Get an appointment with the lawyer. He has to do all the money transferring to pay off the loans and my Dad. And that appointment HAS to be this Friday at 10:30. And I have daycare kids that day. And I have to get there and back before it's time to get the kids picked up from school. And did I mention the lawyer is in another town...over an hour away? Yeah, that too. Eek! I called, and held my breath. And then the heavens parted again. Yes, he was available Friday. And yes, he has an opening at 10:30. And everything you need to bring is easy to get :)

And that's about all there is to it. I think. I hope.

Except that Al has all these grand plans for the house, now that it's ours, and we're going to have a little bit of extra money to put towards some upgrades and renos. So on top of organizing our lives and appointments and changing accounts to pay the utilities and convincing my Dad that we're going to be okay doing this, and running a daycare and doing school runs and keeping clean clothes on our backs and food (from my handy new menu plan that I think I might not be able to live without now) in our bellies, I need to decide on a stove, dishwasher, microwave, flooring for the living room, paint for the kitchen, the living room, the master bedroom and the boys room, and curtains and maybe a sofa or two no pressure OMG I can't breathe.

I can't wait for this to be over and done with. Except that I'm a homeowner now. I have a feeling that's not going to happen is it??