December 20, 2012: It's Official!

Today marks a big milestone in the life of the Washington Walton Clan: it's the first time my wife and I have ever bought a house. Hooray! No more renting, no more landlords, no more wondering if our rent payments will go up at the end of the lease, and no more wondering what we can and can't do with the yard, house, rooms, etc. It's something we've been wanting for years, but there were times when I never thought it would actually happen. But I'm getting ahead of myself; let's start with the quick rundown of the day.

The morning was spent catching up on email and such, as usual, but I also checked in with Alex (realtor), Dallon (bank loan officer/2nd counselor), and Edith (escrow agent). At the start of the day, things were starting to feel a bit iffy as far as whether we could close today or if it wouldn't be until tomorrow. Apparently there was a $100 discrepancy between what the escrow company had on their papers and what the lending bank had on theirs, so naturally that had to get worked out, and who knows how long that would take!

What's more, I've been struggling to get motivated on the last stages of packing -- things like my office are a mess, and I have been waiting to just start taking computers and laptops and such to the new house. Hearing we might not close just takes even more energy out of you. Then around 12:30PM, Alex actually dropped by to get us to sign a one-day extension of the closing date, "just in case". Arrrgh! He commented something like, "Yeah, I'm not sure we'll be able to close today, but we'll close by tomorrow for sure." I responded, "No way -- think positive! We will close today!" What really stinks is that the house is empty, Alex can drop by the county to get the keys, but we can't claim the house until it's registered at the county. So we wait, and try to get motivated.

Around 2:30PM, Alex dropped by to give me the keys, but we were still waiting for the final say on when we'd close. But, now things were looking better -- apparently the discrepancy was worked out. Alex gave me the keys to the house, but we still had to wait to go over. (Technically, I think he's not supposed to give us the keys, but what are we going to do? Start moving in while the listing agent is at the house cleaning up a few things?) Around 3:00PM, we were told that we would definitely be closing, though, which was awesome -- we just had to wait until the papers were officially filed with the county, which would be around 4:30PM, and that's basically what happened.

Unbeknownst to Becky, I had made plans for the evening as well. We were going to go check the house out, measure, and maybe even start painting the rooms that need work. But I also wanted to celebrate, so I called my friend Tom Nelson for advice on the best Thai food in town (Becky and I went to a Thai restaurant as one of our first dates ever, so I thought it would be a great way to celebrate); Tom recommended the Lemon Grass Cafe, and I had heard good things about the place but had never been there. I also arranged babysitting so we could go "work" at the new house. Of course, Becky had to ruin the surprise a bit by talking about dinner for the kids and babysitter, and I had to say, "We're going out" so that she wouldn't fix food for the two of us as well. But she didn't know where we were going at least!

Long story short, Sarah came by to babysit, we went out to dinner, and then we had dessert and checked out our home. We got the yellow curry with chicken (always a good bet -- and I liked the sweet potatoes added to the mix!) and something called Seven Flavor Beef, which was also really yummy with lots of sprouts. For dessert, we decided to go use our "O Card" (discount card from Olympia High School) and hit Dairy Queen for Blizzards. Then we went to the house and started looking for all the stuff we needed to buy/fix/change/etc. There are about 20 lights that need replacing, the toilets all have at least some minor issue (two have leaky gaskets and the master bedroom doesn't have the valve inside the top tank), nearly all of the curtain rods are gone (plus the ones that are there look like crap), the back screen door needs to be replaced, and there are some seriously nasty spots on the carpet in a couple rooms. We already knew all of this, but just going through and checking everything out to make our to do list, you quickly realize how much there is to buy! The refrigerator needs serious cleaning, three of the outdoor light fixtures need to be replaced, and there's still all the painting. Whew!

We didn't actually do any shopping/cleaning/work however, as Caleb and Corbin were both apparently unhappy (mostly Caleb) and Sarah needed some help. So after taking measurements and writing down most of our list, we headed home and called it a night. I finished off with some reading as usual, this time much of the concluding chapters of Alma where Moroni gets the Lamanites drunk and arms the prisoners so that they take over without any loss of life; and meanwhile, the heart of the Nephite lands is going to hell in a handbasket and singing merrily all the way. Moroni writes a letter, and says some things that I think many of us would do well to apply to our lives and society:

Alma 60: 11: "Behold, could ye suppose that ye could sit upon your thrones, and because of the exceeding goodness of God ye could do nothing and he would deliver you? Behold, if ye have supposed this ye have supposed in vain." (Book of Mormon, pp. 359) Or to paraphrase: "Do you think you can sit back and relax and take it easy and life will go well? That you can have everything you need and desire and all you need to do is ask for it? If that's the type of attitude you have, you're living a lie."

Daily Check Up:
1) Scripture study: Yes (15 pages/day through the end of the year: Alma 55-60, pp. 346-361)
2) Morning and evening prayers: Yes
3) 15+ minutes good book: No
4) 15 minutes of parenting/relationships/children book: No
5) Exercise for 30 minutes or more: No
6) One doTERRA blog post: Yes (From Treating Sickness to Promoting Wellness)
7) Use doTERRA oils for something: Yes
8) doTERRA Leadership and Mentor calls (Mon-Fri): Yes
9) Talk to two people about doTERRA: No
10) Contact doTERRA front line: Yes
11) 15 minutes organizing office area: Yes
12) Solid 8 hours (M-F) working at my job: No - moving week.
13) Early to bed, early to rise: No (1:30AM to 8:00AM)
14) One AnandTech pipeline or article: No