Houston, We Have a LEASE!!!

We have, in our grubby little paws, a signed lease agreement! The people we used to go to church with long ago came through. They are very excited to be moving into our house and we are very excited that things will all work out and we won't be living under a bridge. Even though we had the signed lease as of Wednesday, I didn't believe it was true until...

We got the MONEY! That's when I knew if was all for real. It means that indeed, it is not a mirage. I can see and hold the check in my hands. And put it right into the bank. Anyhow, we have a lease. That led to some relief, and also mass anxiety. Having a lease means that we are actually closing on Friday...less than a week away. We were stressing out because we had to do the following all in one week:

-Have the chimney and heater inspected, cleaned and certified
-Spackle and paint in every room
-Paint the laundry room
-Do a bunch of little and not-so-little repairs around the house
-Did I mention packing?
-Do all the work that our realtor is NOT doing
-Get the place inspected and acquire proper rental permits
-Bla, bla, bla....and oh, yeah! The kids still need to be loved and fed and read to and held and squeezed too.

Sounds like a rip-roaring good time, right? Yesterday, we had the chimney inspected and...hallelujah! The chimney passed. The guy said that 98% of chimneys FAIL. Thank the Lord ours didn't. I think I might have sat down and cried. The second fabulous thing that happened yesterday was that Mom came over and helped. We got my beloved lettuce bathroom (AKA Spider bathroom, Jenni :) painted, cleaned and ready to go. We also got quite a bit of stuff knocked out. The nice thing about having Mom around (actually there are lots of nice things) but one of the nicest is that the kids love her and she loves them. She can rock Katie to sleep and play with James, and they get a little extra TLC in the process. And the third great thing that happened yesterday, and brought my blood pressure down 200 points and added years to my life, was that the family who is moving it told me not to stress about getting the house ready by the first!!!! They said they haven't even begun to pack and won't be in here till mid-April. That was a huge relief, to say the least! I still want to get it ready ASAP, because I don't want to have to come back here and clean when I have painting, unpacking, etc. to do at the new house.

I realize that this has become one of the most rambling, boring posts ever. Who really comes here to read my to-do list anyway? I promise that soon enough I will stop blathering on about renters and chimney certifications and life will go back to normal. Now if only I could get my kid to stop saying 'Daddy live un-ner bidge, Mommy live un-ner bidge, Kee live un-ner bidge.' Note to self, don't say things when you're stressed out in front of your kids. They will repeat it incessantly and make you feel like an idiot.