First week at Flemington Court

Sunday, Jan 1st, 2017: We started the new year in a new house that we really loved. But there was work to do. The weather had turned colder, so Stana tried to sequester the kids in the basement play room so I could continue to unpack. Nelson and Zac went back to work on the old house all day again. Zac got stung by a wasp in a glove.

Monday, Jan 2nd: More of the same. Stana watched the kids and cleaned things while they were napping. I unpacked. Zac and Nelson worked on fixing up the old house. In the evening, I drove my parents to the airport, unable to thank them enough for all their help. The kids took their first bath in the garden tub in the master bathroom.

Tuesday, Jan 3rd: We all went back to work and school. Other teachers come back from winter break rested. I had graded 105 midterms, gone to Ohio, and moved houses. I was not rested. But I was happy for the distraction from the house....today was the last day of the upset bid period. When we made it past five o'clock, we felt a huge burden lift. We brought the cat from the old house to the new house (to live in the garage until she demonstrated that she remembered how to use a litter box).

Wednesday, Jan 4th: I took the day off work, since our closing was scheduled for noon. But we didn't actually know if it was going to happen or not (lawyer/seller dragging his feet on filing court documents) until I got the call at 11am that all court documents had been successfully recorded and we were able to sign. It was quite exciting as I rushed to the bank to get a check for the downpayment, picked up Zac outside his office, then rushed to the closing attorney's North Raleigh office to sign the paperwork.

The first thing we did after closing was to go eat lunch at Carolina Cafe at Cameron Village. Zac decided he needed a grilled cheese sandwich to celebrate.  The second thing we did was go to Home Depot to order a washer and dryer for the new house. We were a bit disappointed to learn it would take three weeks for them to be delivered. But oh well, we could use the old house as a laundromat until then. Zac would be spending weekends there anyway, fixing it up to sell.  While at Home Depot, we also bought a new grill and a cat door.

The kids took another bath.

Thursday, Jan 5th:  Lots of online shopping for stuff we needed at the new house.

Friday, Jan 6th: Zac and I spent our day at work changing our address on bank accounts, credit cards, utilities, etc. The cat had sufficiently demonstrated her litterbox competancy, and Zac had installed the cat door, so we brought her in the house. A big winter storm was supposed to come in that night, but it just rained.

Within the first week, we'd met several of the neighbors. Everyone was super friendly and nice. We were so excited to be living the cul-de-sac life, where there was more of a neighborly feel than our old neighborhood.