Theft & car problems

Yesterday Jen was feeling under the weather so I stayed home during the morning to help out. Since I was home I decided to make a nice breakfast for the family. I had ordered a bunch of stuff for my Winder Farms delivery, which included donuts and thick sliced honey cured bacon. (Very yummy.) But when I collected my delivery, I found that the donuts and bacon was missing. I knew my driver is a very effective driver and normally does not miss items on my delivery. I later found out that 2 kids run through our neighborhood on our delivery day and look for homes with Winder coolers on their porch. Which they then use to collect their food.

As a customer and an employee of the company. I felt very angry over the theft. The driver told me that he has lost over 20 customers because of the theft. With the economy that way it is, our company is trying everything to survive, just like everyone else is. Having someone steal from our customers causing them to cancel their service is very detrimental to our company and to me. It is bad enough that these kids steal from one person, but to steal from multiple people greatly increases our troubles.

In the afternoon I got into my car to go to work for the remainder of the day. But my car would not start. That made life even more interesting. Since we are new to the neighborhood, I have no idea where car repair places are and which ones are the good ones. I found one and with Progressive's help, got my car towed to the shop and hopefully they can fix it without causing me to seek a bailout from the government.

Settled in

This weekend is dedicated to getting unpacked and settled in. We started in the kitchen where we unpacked all our dishes and then washed them all. Then we moved to the bathrooms and our closet. I really wanted to be able to park my car in the garage as I was sick of scraping my windows each morning while we lived at the apartment. So I spent Saturday afternoon by breaking downing boxes and clearing out any remaining items we had in the garage. Once we were done, it was time to put the kids down for a nap and to take a break ourselves. It feels good to get all these things done. But we still have a large amount of boxes in the basement and I need to figure out how to use the security system, the water softener and how to change the code for the garage door opener. Things are progressing and the more we get done, the more comfortable I feel in our new home.

Today I did something I was looking forward to since our offer was accepted on the home. I was able to use our jetted tub. It was very relaxing and enjoyable. The only problem was that our water heater is not big enough to fill the tub with hot water. But I will enjoy this part of our house very much. If we ever have guest, I will recommend they try it out.

This is not my actual tub, but it does have windows by it and a nice view.

It's finally over

A 10 month process has finally come to a close yesterday. We moved into our new home and I'm planning on staying for the next 20+ years. We closed last Thursday, had all the painting done Saturday-Monday. New carpet installed on Tuesday. Packing and cleaning of the apartment happened during this same time. We hired movers and moved in on Wednesday. Now we are all moved in.

We still have a lot of boxes all over the place and so will have a lot of unpacking to do. But to finally be at the end of our selling and buying process makes me feel wonderful and relieved. The home is great and as I walk around it, I still cannot believe that it is ours. We have so much space now. Our sectional sofa even fits in our family room.

After we get unpacked and settled in. We will certainly have some events so we can have friends and family come see where we live. We want everyone one to know where we live so they can come visit whenever they are in the area. Even though we now live in a completely different area of the valley. We want to keep all our friends.

I HATE BUYING A HOME!!!

So we closed on our home on Monday and when we did they asked us to sign all the documents with our full names, including our middle names. We did so and then waited for everything to be final so we could then clean up the home and move in. But then yesterday we learned that our lending company had set up all their documents with just our first and last names but not the middle names. Since we signed with our middle names, they would not accept those documents.

Furious beyond words, we found ourselves stuck in the middle of a blame fest as the title company and our lender spent half of the day blaming each other for the error, instead of working on the solution. Thankfully our Realtor was able to get both of them to stop blaming and start working on fixing the issue. Now we are told that we can re-sign today and then if the planets align just right. We will have possession of our new home on Friday.

If we are fortunate to get possession of our home on Friday, we will then start the painters on Saturday, carpet on Tuesday and then moving in on Wednesday.

I cannot believe all the problems we have experienced with buying any home. When we bought our first home we had to go close 3 times before they finally got it right. Why are we always the ones to get the horror experiences with buying homes. When we get done with this home purchase, I will not be doing this again for at least 20 years. (I hope)

Moving, my 325,961st favorite thing to do.

Today was settlement day, meaning that we sign our name over and over again. But even though we now own the home, we cannot take possession of the home until the sale is recorded with the county. Since we are dealing with a bank that is based in Pennsylvania, we should not expect to receive the keys to the home until Thursday. Because we want to get new carpet and painting done before we move in, we will have to delay our moving until Tuesday the 20th. So if you do not have to work on Tuesday and do not want to be bored to death watching the inauguration on the television( and will be the only thing on the TV.) Then you are welcome to come give us a hand.

To anyone who was planning to help us move on Saturday. Thank you very much. But you can now find some other activity to occupy your Saturday, unless you want to help us clean our new place. But that does not sound to fun does it? I had promised tickets to the Utes basketball game that Saturday to a few people and would still like to give it to them. So please come enjoy the game on me.

Were number 1...I mean 4...or maybe 2

So the final rankings came out for college football. I expected the Utes to end up 3 or 4 in the rankings. They did get 4th in the coaches poll, but I was thoroughly surprised to see the Utes ranks 2nd in the AP poll. These two rankings are the best the Utes have ever received and they were less than 100 votes from obtaining the number 1 ranking. But I am happy with the results and having 1 other MWC team in the top 10 and 3 in the top 25. For many of us who feel that a playoff is what is needed in college football. This season provided the strongest evidence for the need for a playoff.

We are now a week away from moving day. I will be taking this next week off of work to prepare for the move. But I just can't wait to get it all done and start our life in our new home. We have much to do, with packing up our apartment, getting our new house cleaned, close on the home, get new carpet and all walls painted in time for us to move in on Saturday. Words cannot describe how much I look forward to getting this all done. Once it is, we can finally relax in our new home. Yea!

Moving on up

Our closing date is now officially set for this coming Monday the 12th. But because we are buying a repo, we cannot take possession of the home until all the money has been transferred. So we expect to have possession of our new home on Wednesday the 14th. Then we will try like crazy to get all the walls repainted, new carpet installed, everything cleaned, the driveway snowblowed so our pod can be delivered and a new stove and dishwasher installed. Hopefully all this can be done by Saturday morning as we will then move into the home on Saturday the 17th.

I was hoping to take possession of the home earlier so we could have more time to get everything done. But I am so anxious to get into our new home and I've decided to move in on Saturday the 17th whether the home is ready or not. So if your available and/or bored this next Saturday. We would love to have your help in moving. The move will not be very hard. We will already have the majority of our stuff there waiting to unload in our pod. The only things we need to load up will be what is in our apartment, which is not much. So I anticipate that we will be all moved in by 1pm if not sooner.

If you need an incentive to give us a hand, I won 4 tickets to the Utah Utes basket ball game for that Saturday at 4pm. The first 4 volunteers to let me know they can give me a hand have first pick of the tickets. If that does not work, then I will try to give you a guilt trip until you agree to help. :)

Hope to see you on Saturday the 17th.

Sweet Victory!!!

I had prepared myself for a possible loss last night. All the experts, polls, predictions and sports announcers all said that Alabama was headed to a easy victory and that Utah was going to repeat Hawaii's disappointing showing from last year. Then the first quarter started.

We were very happy to watch the game with our good friends the Herrera family and many other ute fans. At the end of the 1st quarter, we had scored 3 touchdowns and Alabama could not run an offensive campaign to save their life. Things were looking good for the Utes, but with 3 more quarters to go, victory was not certain. But at half time they were still winning and it was enjoyable to see the commentators try to correct their earlier predictions of a dominate Alabama victory.

When there was less than 5 minutes left in the game, it was certain that Utah was going to win and win big. I was on such a high that I could not sleep until after 1am. The perfect season 13-0. It was nice to see commentators finally acknowledge that not only did Utah belong in the BCS but also deserved a chance at the national title. Now being the only undefeated team, how can they not be considered championship worthy.

This is a great day for Utah, all other MWC schools and all other non-BCS schools. A team from a non BCS conference can compete and should not be shut out of the national title picture ever again. Of course the BCS supporters are already making their excuses for the Alabama loss and for why they should not allow in future non BCS teams or consider a playoff. But now less people believe them and change is on the horizon. All thanks to the Utes going 13-0.

I am proud that I was able to enjoy this season and even be a part of it by attending the TCU game and charging the field at the end. I only wish I could have been there in New Orleans as well. Maybe next time. We seem to visit the BCS every 5 years.

Go Utes!!!

Tonight is the night. After a month and a half without any Utah football to watch, we finally get to see their final game of the season and it is a big one. Making their second appearance in a BCS bowl, they will play Alabama in the Sugar bowl. This will be the toughest game for the Utes and even if they just keep the game close, I will be happy.

I have been reading some of the comment sections of many sports websites and many Alabama fans seem very unhappy to be playing in the Sugar bowl rather than the BCS championship. They vent their frustrations on any Utah fans they can find by belittling our team and telling us how unworthy we are to be there. I am OK with this. The last team to be unhappy to play us in a bowl and belittled us was Georgia Tech in the San Francisco bowl. Then we showed them how to play on the field and walked away with the victory. I see a possible repeat here.

We will be enjoying the game at a friends house and have been looking forward to it very much. Win or lose, I will still look back on this season as the best season the Utes had ever had. 2004 was great, but all those games were blowouts. This season the games were close and the spectators were sitting on the edge of their seats. That is why this season is the best ever!