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.

The Perfect Tank

While, I am sure you are all anxious for my finding, let's start this blog by talking about the cami.

The camisole is, I believe, the female equivalent of a man's white undershirt. (At this point I should warn the men in my life, you may not enjoy the detailed review of the cami.) More importantly, when you are a large chested lady (like myself), it's a necessity for deep-v necklines or lighter sweaters.

But the cami is not designed for those who are curvy. It has a tiny straps, which barely cover my grandma-like bra straps. "But they have a built in bra?" my small-chested friends comment to themselves. Silly ladies, that shelf bra doesn't hold up anything substantial. In fact, the shelf bra is more trouble than it's worth. It only pulls the camisole down, showing off everything one is trying to cover up.

And so, I have been on the hunt for a tank made of the smooth cami-like fabric, but with the coverage of a good ole' fashioned tank top.

Today, I found it! After an entire summer of searching, I found a collection of exactly what I wanted at Target... of course. It's the best $7.99 I've spent in a long time.

Leaving town

Tonight I am packing for my final NY trip of the year. I enjoy the tradeshows, and I am very lucky to work with a group of people I enjoy spending nine, 12-hour days with; but we are all feeling a little overwhelmed with this trip.

Not only is there a lot going on IN the office (for those of you who don't know we are launching Dunder Mifflin Infinity and I'm on the party planning committee), but there's a lot coming up all over the place.

My manager, and tradeshow compatriot, is getting married the weekend after the show. Yeah, she's got balls (slash crazy). This not only means she is leaving me a little early this show (which, in case she reads this and feels guilty, SHE SHOULD), but she is also leaving me in charge for the two weeks following the show during her honeymoon.

Our darling second cousin (though, I still think Aunt Annie sounds the best) is due the first week of the month. This, of course, means I will be preparing ample meals upon my return, so I can barter for baby time. (note: please no baby until August 22. Then, go for it!)

We close on our house in late September and still have finalized paint colors. What do you think... Nantucket Fog or Blue Arrow for the guest room?

And, I want to take a nap.

Photo montage

Do you ever have a moment when you realize how awesome your childhood was? Or how scary your parents really looked in the 80s? Or, how much money people wasted on developing film?

I had such an evening. In preparation for our big move, I suggested that we organize the basement and get rid of as much as possible. The hubs wanted to start by scanning in all of our family photos. As anyone who has gone through a parent's things can tell you, parents take a lot of photographs. We have boxes and boxes. Tonight we decided to tackle one box. That small box took us over an hour to flip through (at a really fast pace).

Overwhelmingly, the verdict was things that seemed important, are not. For instance, for three years in a row we went to Disney Land at Christmas. Each year, someone (possibly the small child who begged for the camera) decided it was imperative to take a photo (usually blurry) of every single float in the holiday parade. That's approximately eight rolls of blurry floats so precious that they have survived five moves and two decades.

Another example of something we experienced was the notion that you should send those relatives you do not frequently see entire rolls. Here's a picture of your cousin picking up an Easter egg in 1991. Here's another. Another.

We have decided to tackle a different box each night until we are threw then all. Eventually, we will have them all scanned in and available on DVD. Something for all family and friends to look forward to.