We are homeowners

This was quite a roller coaster of a day. We woke up excited to close on our house late this morning. Mike headed off to work for a few hours, while I was going to get some extra sleep and head to the bank to get a check for our closing costs.

As of last night, our attorney still had not received our final closing costs from the title company, so first thing this morning, I called to follow up. We were closing at 11, and as of 9 a.m. we still didn't have anything.

At 10:05 I received a call and was quoted closing costs more than 5 times what we were expecting. This poses a really cash problem when you are supposed to sign on the dotted line in less than an hour. After the seconds of stunned silence, I asked "WHAT?! WHY?"

Apparently, the title company had decided (this morning) we needed to pay indemnity insurance (two or three times your property taxes - for those of you who don't know, like I didn't until today) even though we already set up an escrow account for our property taxes. All seemed fishy, and I called the lender, who called the title company and told them they couldn't do that and to take it off. At this point I went from crying because we didn't have enough cash to close today, to feeling nervous.

About this time, Mike rolled into the driveway and we headed out to the Title Company office for closing. After circling in around for a while (Google Maps failed us today), we finally found the office, headed up and checked in. "You're not closing here today. You must have the wrong office." We promptly held up our meeting notice provided by the attorney, only to find out we had been scheduled at their other office. Oh, of course, how silly of us to have come to the wrong one.

We arrived, only to find out lender pointing out more and more mistakes to the HUD-1 (form with what we have to pay), then the attorney showed up and pointed out more and more mistakes. All told, they printed four copies of this document before they got it right. The seller's attorney was quite a site as well. This fly-by-night man of law (I assume that's what he would want to be called) was wearing a fancy black t-shirt and had a number of hand written documents for our attorney (who got a kick out of the whole thing - until he started to get annoyed) to review.

Two hours later... we were down to less than a third of the closing costs we expected to pay. We left with more money that we ever expected (Can you say New Sofa? Seriously, someone ask my husband.) and brand new keys.

But wait, there's more! We started work on the house this afternoon. We collected trash and pulled up carpet in two of the bedroom. We snapped a few pictures... please enjoy!

Life is beautiful

After anxiously waiting, the newest member of our extended family arrived last night.

It was a long, difficult haul for Mom. I won't steal her thunder, but feel free to read about her superwoman experience here.

We are very lucky to be the closest family, and spent the afternoon (not so) patiently in the waiting room. We did enjoy some good people watching. Our favorite was Brody Lane's grandfather watching Nascar on You Tube, while eating Doritos and drink Mountain Dew. (I realize this is about 25 stereotypes rolled into one, but I promise it's an accurate picture.)

All of the waiting and phone calls was worth it when we got to meet little Zachary Marshall. He is a healthy little man full of snuggly noises and the beautiful scent of a baby.

Small accomplishments

Many of you know that I am an anal retentive list maker. I like neat rows and small boxes next to each item. I find great joy in swiping my pen across a line or slicing a check through one of my boxes.

The last few weeks have been full of big tasks. Tasks that leave you exhausted at the end of the day, but with no great sense of accomplishment. It's the way you feel when packing up a house. 10 boxes may seem like a lot of work, but it's only a bookcase or three kitchen cabinets.

Today, I had a press-ok at our printer around noon. Lucky for me, the printer is right by my house, and so I decided to take the afternoon off and come home. I am still doing some work and answer emails; but it has been a completely satisfying afternoon. Check. Check. Check. I have spent the afternoon enjoying the joy that comes with cleaning a toilet and swapping out laundry.

Some of you might be surprised to know this feeling is generally unrelated to the forum in which something is completed. For instance, I can spend three hours on a challenging business problem and feel just as good as when I finish a batch of cookies.

A true peak into my psyche... my level of satisfaction is directly related to the number of people who are affected by my work. This is the only reason dusting is not quiet as great as making a birthday cake. This also may have some baring on my obsession with planning rockin' events.

In any event, today I am feeling good (and my house is feeling clean), so stop by and I'll make you a cake...

What are the little things that make you happy?

Knife skills

A few months ago, I signed up to volunteer for an after school program called Common Threads. For those who have never heard of it (which is nearly everyone I know), it's a program that teaches inner city children how to cook within the context of cultural education (food from a different country each week) and nutrition.

The program was founded by Art Smith - Oprah's former private chef. Many of you may know about it from Top Chef Chicago.

Food and cooking for others is a really important part of my life. I also love kids and have been looking for a way to get more involved now that we seem to be settling in to life in Chicago(land area).

Due to its Bravo publicity, I had to go through an interview, get fingerprinted and wait my turn for a new round of classes to begin. (Good news... I passed!)

With classes starting in a couple of weeks, it was time for our training session. The majority of the session was spent going over curriculum, expectations and rules. However, the most interesting portion was knife skills. I LOVE to chop and know how to do it correctly, so that part of the lesson was review. However, when we got to the "how to handle knives around inner city kids" portion, I started paying attention.

Before I go any further, these are 8- and 9-year-old children. They signed up for the program because they want to. The biggest concern is that they don't chop off their own fingers.

However, there were some things I, being from a small farm town, wouldn't have necessarily considered. For instance, these kids get nervous when they see other kids with knives. So it's a class rule to announce that you have a knife if you are behind someone (I imagine it to be similar to riding on the bike path; except you yell "knife back here," rather than "passing left.") The second thing is that, under no circumstances, are the kids ever to take the knife away from the cutting board or hold it up in the air.

I am assured that nothing has ever happened. And I don't, in any way, feel threatened. My husband, however, is convinced I am going to get "knifed" and put pepper spray in my purse.