Unadulterated Chaos

Do me a favor. Next time I decide to buy a house, plan a move, rent out another house, plan a wedding and work full time all at once, someone please punch me square in the neck. Seriously.

To anyone else contemplating the same series of moves, let me give you one piece of advice… DON’T.

The last week has been absolutely insane and we’re still just ramping up. We met with the home inspectors at the house one day then, met out there with the builders superintendent another. That was all part of the process of getting the new house all squared away and fixing all the little items wrong (caulking issues, wall dings, etc.). We were, however, able to completely redesign to our specifications the built-in TV cabinet, which was cool. The new design will fit a 52″ widescreen, should I ever have a couple of grand burning a hole in my pocket.

Square in the middle of that, Wednesday we met with our wedding photographer to go over our engagement/”love story” photos that we’re part of the wedding package we got. We somehow got sold some overly expensive photos of ourselves. I think we were both in a weakened state and easily suggestible. We also had to meet with the folks at the Linen Building on Thursday to go over some details for the big day upcoming. Oh yeah, we’ve also been working on getting the invitations finalized and ordered, which is happening today.

Thursday, we went out and ordered our appliances. We needed a fridge and washer/dryer for the place, so we have been spending spare time (HA!) researching what we wanted and reading reviews. We decided on a GE Profile Stainless Steel fridge (french doors, bottom freezer) and Maytag Epic Z washer/dryer (front load, super efficient). The best part, is Jess haggled Lowe’s down almost $900 off of what the fridge was priced at Home Depot. Sweeet. Everything should be delivered on Monday the 19th. So, we’ll have a couple of days with no cold beers and dirty clothes. We will take charity those interim days… beer, not laundry.

On the rental front, we’ve been totally stressing about getting our current house rented ever since we made the offer on the new house. It’s not that we couldn’t afford to carry that mortgage, it’s just that we don’t WANT to. Fortunately, with minimal effort we were able to find a renter who will take it with a 6 month lease. Now, we’re just in the process of figuring out a lease agreement and all that jazz. Jess is a true hero with all that. Of course, he can move in June 1, which is great, but now we have to figure out getting a deep clean done to the place, either doing it ourselves or paying someone.

In the midst of all this, the packing has begun in earnest, since we close this Friday and the movers are scheduled for first thing Saturday morning. This weekend we began filling up boxes with unimportant stuff that we won’t need in the coming week. Most of our clothes, kitchen stuff (I’m done cooking until after… its sandwiches and restaurants for us this week) and all the decorative stuff. Today I think we’re starting the more ruthless packing phase… everything that’s gotta go. The very last things will be dismantling the entertainment stuff (TV’s and computers and whatnot) because I think we’ll need a few respites from work. On top of that, we still gotta spend endless hours on the phone to get all of the “services” moved, DirecTV (which we had to submit in writing to the HOA that we were getting a satellite dish and we gotta schedule the install), phone, power, gas, water, etc etc etc.

Of course, social lives haven’t taken a break either. I had drinks with a buddy on Wed and Jess, for some reason, decided to punish her body by running in the Race for the Cure on Saturday. Not to mention the twin Mother’s Day celebrations we attended on Sunday. I made cinnamon rolls that turned out poorly for brunch with my family (the damn dough wouldn’t rise) and I marinated chicken breasts and grilled those up for dinner with Jess’ fams. This coming week, we have a 2 year old’s birthday party and Jess’ sister’s graduation BBQ, both on Friday, and another party on Saturday evening. If we make anything more than a token appearance at all of them I will be amazed.

Today, we have the “final” walkthrough at the house before we go and sign the papers on Thursday. Of course, not everything will be done since the floors are being refinished tomorrow and Wed, and the new cabinetry won’t be installed until next week sometime. We also need to get an additional garage door opener installed since the house has 2 separate doors but only 1 opener. Oh yeah, we’re looking at getting a water softener which the house is already plumbed for. Anyone know how hard it is to install one of those bad boys?

Of course, at work I have a project that is due this Friday. No pressure there.

To say we’re a bit stressed would be the understatement of all understatements. We’re both constantly exhausted. In the book I’m reading, which I pickup when I lay down in bed, if I get more than a page or two read before I pass out it’s a miracle. The book is 1000+ pages, so at this rate, I will be finished with it sometime in the fall of 2011.

My brain is faltering. I can’t seem to remember anything anymore. My feet are killing me. My forearms are already sore from lifting boxes and that process has only just begun. Top that off with some allergies kicking my ass.

If you run across Jess or I in the coming days, please offer a kind smile and a pat on the back. Please don’t ask for anything else, because we’ve got nothing else to give.

We just keep telling ourselves, “It’s all gonna be worth it… It’s all gonna be worth it…”

Why can’t it be Maui Time right now?