final wisconsin move - day 3 - the close

thursday morning was here and matt had not been to sleep at all; i had only slept about 2 hours total.  there was still a lot to load onto the truck, straps to buy at home depot, a few runs to goodwill to make with the truck, and get the kids and our sleeping stuff out of the house.  not to mention that it was snowing and there were a few inches in the driveway already.

matt showered and got to home depot when they opened.  i showered around 6am (i think) and started deflating matt's mattresses.  mason woke up next and i got him dressed, gave him a bagel, and then started packing up all the linens and mattresses from their room (since madelyn was asleep on my mattress in the other room).  the whole time i was trying not to panic about how much was still in the house and in the garage - aka not on the truck!  next came madelyn who ate a bagel before she would get dressed.  and last was maddux who i fed, dressed, and loaded into his carseat carrier. 

matt came back from home depot and started making trips to goodwill with the truck.  goodwill wasn't open yet, but we couldn't wait because we needed to get the stuff up there so that we could finish loading the truck.  goodwill was open by the time he made the last trip so everything didn't sit in the snow too long.  after he got back home with the truck again, we put all the kids into the van and loaded it up.  we then parked it across the street, running, with a movie playing for the kids.

now things were just crazy.  i was in a medium weight turtleneck sweater and jeans without a coat, hat, or gloves.  it was under 20 degrees outside.  my job was to get everything out of the house and into the garage so that we could see what we had left to deal with getting into the truck and van.  the snow was a major bummer because i kept tracking it into the house.  i did have some old t-shirts that we used as rags left in the house and was trying to use them to mop up the puddles.  i wasn't going to have time to wipe everything down or vacuum, but i didn't want to leave the place totally trashed.

since matt and i were both running on little to no sleep we were just piling things on the truck and hauling trash out to the curb.  i would run across the street every so often to check on the kids.  at 9:20am matt was still loading the truck and we needed to leave at 9:30 to have any chance of getting to the closing on time. 

i am not sure what all we left in the garage in the end.  i know that matt left the lawn mower, weed wacker, edger, and some tools.  we left our grill and patio furniture on the deck (they were under at least 6-10 inches of snow and we wouldn't have had room for them on the truck anyway).  i also remembered once we got back to ohio that we left a pair of snow pants and a set of wooden hangers in the front closet.  but we were done and the house was locked up by us for the last time.  i ran up to mcdonalds for large coffees and some food for matt (the kids and i ate cold bagels) before heading over for the closing.

 our house as i was driving away to go to the close.

i had really wanted a picture of the family in front of the house since all three kids had been 'born there', but there just wasn't time.  we were lucky to leave in time for the closing at all.

the plan was for matt to run in and find out how long it was going to take and if we could take turns so that we wouldn't have to haul out the kids.  we could tag-team.  matt went in first while i sat in the van with the kids.  the closing started a little late because the road conditions made it difficult for everyone to get there on time.  i think matt took a half hour or so and then it was my turn.  my signing went quicker because matt had already signed everything so i didn't need much explanation - just where to sign.  it did take a while for the bank to okay them handing over our checks.  the agent suggested that i might try seeing if the buyers had any questions while we waited so that they wouldn't try to catch me on the way out.  great idea!  i really wanted to apologize for the condition of the house so that they knew we didn't do it on purpose to be mean or anything.

they seemed very nice and very excited about the house.  i wished them happiness there and told them that they would love the neighborhood.  they even seemed understanding about how we were leaving the house (and the items we left behind).  i really do wish them the best.  they got a great house - at a great deal!

about an hour and a half later i was free to leave and we could finally get some lunch!  matt had to drive around for most of the time i was inside because maddux was crying to be fed and does better when the car is moving.

the house is officially sold!  hooray!  it wasn't pretty, but we had done it and were on our way to our new life in ohio!  love.