It’s been a very busy few days. After closing on Monday, October 30, we were in somewhat of a mad dash to pack up our remaining possessions and either move them into storage or move them to our temporary dwelling. During the new home renovations, which will ideally take between 4-6 months, we will be living with Sonya’s mother, Cindy (trying not to wear our our welcome in the meantime). In talks with our general contractor, they want to start the work sometime around the week of November 20th.

Vivian did have one last chance to canvas the neighborhood for candy on Halloween. She went as a unicorn and Dad, Meagan, and Savannah supervised her progress, eventually making a deal that if Dad helped, he would get all of the chocolate, which Vivian reluctantly agreed to.

Thursday, November 2 was possession-transfer day, and it was a flurry of activity that day: a van load here, a trailer load there, checking rooms, and of course, final cleanings. We were to be out of the house by 7:00 PM per our agreement. It was pretty crazy the amount of activity going on at any one time during the day. Then, at about 4:30 PM, we got a message from our realtor that the buyers would like to have possession at 6:00 PM, instead of 7 (something about them wanting to walk through the house before their kids went to bed). Well, sure! Why not? So, Sonya’s cleaning time was cut an hour short, but other than that, we were out of the house!

Oddly, after having spent seven years of our lives there in this house, none of us really felt the least bit melancholy. I think that when we moved into this house, we didn’t really feel like it was going to be a permanent house for us. It didn’t feel that way anyway. It was basically a tool that had served its purpose for this point in our lives and it was time to move on to the next exciting chapter in our lives.

But now, it’s time to shift our focus from the old to the new. As you’ll see, we jumped right into the demolition. Knowing that we were going to be redoing the walls in the living room we had a little fun. Sonya did the honors with her hammer, pounding the first hole in the drywall. I was also curious about the home’s insullation, so I checked the outside walls and the house looks like it’s well insullated with R-13 rated insullation. I also got the chance to install locks on the front and side doors, in addition to the locks installed on the detatched garage that I’d installed earlier. Living on a busy road, I’ll install security cameras eventually, but I think it’s about as secure as it can be for now.

We also did quite a bit of cleanup of the barn. Sonya, Seth, and Meagan worked hard sweeping out some residual hay that was on the second floor, as well as cleaning out some items that had been stored up there for who knows how long. In the end, the upper level looked really good!

There was also still quite a bit of stuff left by the previous owner that was supposed to have been cleaned out by that point. We were assured that day that it would be picked up soon, so we set it outside of the barn for him to pick up. Eventually it was gone, but there were still a lot of junk that would have to be hauled off at some point.

In order to have the renovation work done, permits needed to be filed with the county, along with drawings supplied by the general contractor. Having never done this before, I muddled my way through filling out the paperwork. I had called Christina at Johnson County Zoning & Planning and she was very helpful in walking me through the paperwork. There were still a lot of questions that I had for them, but I got as far as I could with the paperwork and on Wednesday, November 8th (Eli’s birthday!), I went into the county building, got my questions answered and filed the paperwork. There were two things that I was waiting for, after closing on the house, which I needed to file the permits: the deed to be transferred to us (which was completed on November 3), and the renovation plan drawings (which I got from the general contractor on November 6). So, in 7-10 business days from Wednesday, ideally, the permits will be filed and we’ll be on our way.

Living with Cindy has been wonderful so far! Historically, our dog Luna has had issues with getting along with other dogs, but she and Cindy’s dog, Ruby, have gotten along great (as they always have)! Cindy has been dealing with several health issues lately, so we were reluctant to ask her if we could move in with her during the renovations. But she was so gracious and understanding, also excited for our opportunity, and immediately agreed to open her home to us. We’re so greatful for her!