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Our loan was approved, despite my failed attempts to provide evidence of accounts on my credit being paid in full. We close this Friday at 1:15pm. We did the initial home walk-through on Monday, and we have the final walk-through tomorrow.

"Joel":http://www.hijinksensue.com/ hooked us up with a nice discount on Whirlpool refrigerators, getting us the "ED5GHEXNQ":http://www.insideadvantage.com/inside/product.phtml?sku=ED5GHEXN" for $678 (that's cost, tax, delivery, and installation). It normally goes for $900 or more before tax and delivery.

My Mom and Dad offered to buy our washer and dryer. We decided to go with a GE 3.5 cuft. "washer":http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=SEARS&pid=02603222000&sid=I0008300030000100085 and matching GE 7.0 cuft. "dryer":http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_SessionID=@@@@0873173598.1093465004@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccedadcmggijgiicehgcemgdffmdflk.0&vertical=APPL&pid=02604772000. Lowes has the best price on both of them, plus we get 10% off, which will save them a little money. We haven't bought these yet, but probably will this weekend.

We're trying to decide what to do with the windows. The builder works with a guy that installs Faux-Wood blinds with 2″ slats. Our house would cost about $1200 to have all the windows with these blinds. That price includes installation. Not knowing the exact window sizes, it's hard for me to guess, at this point, how much it would cost to buy them and hang them myself. A rough estimate leads me to believe that they would run about $200 *more* at Lowes (prior to 10% discount) and that doesn't include installation. However, we're not really sure we want Faux-Wood, and, even if we did, we're not sure we want them in every room. By my estimates, we could take the cheapest route possible and cover every window with plastic mini-blinds for about $200. But… then we have plastic mini-blinds. So… I really don't know what to do.

I thought we could get DSL at this new place but, apparently we can't. So I called the only cable provider that offers service, Cebridge. They have a package, which the sales person assures me is very, very fast, that offers a whopping 512kbps down… yes, down… for $30/mo. I guess it's better than nothing, for now. The only unfortunate thing is that Jess and I are very happy with our VoIP service from "Vonage":http://vonage.com/. Unfortunately, TiVo won't work through it as TiVo requires a 56k connection, which you can't get inside of Vonage. Supposedly, people with newer firmwares and different hardware than me are making it work, so it *might* be an option. But I won't know until the day of installation which is too much of a gamble for me. So it looks like we'll have to get a land line. At $10ish/mo (for measured rate service) that's not too bad. That bumps our phone costs up to about $37/mo. With the same services and same amount of calls on a regular landline, our bill would be somewhere around $80/mo. Still it makes me upset to have to spend $10/mo for nothing. Especially when the TiVo has a fully capable USB port that supports USB ethernet… if only it were enabled.

We're not anywhere near prepared to move in this weekend, and, even if we did, we won't get a refrigerator until the 7th of September, so it would be difficult. The next weekend, my Dad (who has offered to help us move) will be out of town so, if we'd like his help, we'll have to wait until the weekend after that. That works out pretty well since that Sunday is the day the DirecTv (thanks again, Joel) installer will be there and, that way, we can ensure that someone will be there to make sure everything gets hooked up.

So, yeah. There's good news and bad news.

So… here's the tentative plan for the next month of so.

This weekend, we'll deal with stuff that needs to be changed right away. We need to seal the ceramic tile, and run a second strand (or more) of CAT5 to each of the rooms and get the face plates functioning correctly. I also need to drop a second line of COAX into the living room for the TiVo. I might run additional COAX to certain other rooms to allow them to choose between a Satellite signal, and whatever is being sent out by the TiVo. Additionally, I may also run a piece of CAT5 out to the Phone Box to allow me to plug the VoIP line into the house wiring without bypassing the RJ31X for the alarm system. That all depends, really, on if I want the alarm to run over the landline. If I decide to keep the landline, then I can just unhook "Line 2″ at the Phone Box and power the internal phones by connection the VoIP adapter directly into the wall (because phones are wired in parallel). I also need to talk to one of the cement contractors about pouring us a bigger slab out back. If I have time, I might also borrow my Dad's truck and go buy and install the washer and dryer. That'll make for a full enough weekend.

Then, Monday of next week, the Cable and Phone people will be there to install their respective services. Throughout the week, we'll pack the seldomly used things and make a trip or two up to drop those boxes off. We'll also plan what we're going to do for window treatments… at least in the rooms that we'll need them in right away (master bedroom, master bathroom, entry way, maybe living and dining room). Hopefully, we'll have it all planned out and bought so that we can install them this weekend. And Sunday is Jess' birthday!

The week after that we'll get everything else packed up, slowly but surely. The refrigerator will be installed that Tuesday, so, someone will have to be at the house that day. Again, we'll bring a load up whenever we feel we can without having a need for the things in those boxes. If all goes as planned, we'll have everything packed by that Friday. That Saturday we're celebrating Jess' birthday and my sister's birthday at my parent's house. The next day, Sunday, will be the big moving day. We're renting a truck from Budget and, hopefully, we'll be able to fit everything in one load. I'm guessing 3 hours to load, 30 mins to drive, and 1 hour to unload. Maybe I'm too conservative. And the DirecTV install guy will be there.

Throughout that next week we'll unpack. That Monday is Morgan's birthday! That weekend, we'll go back to the apartment, clean it out well, and drop off the keys and such.

Brad, Morgan and Zoe will be in town sometime during this time frame for somewhere between 3 and 12 days. They're not quite sure yet. Hopefully, amidst all the packing and moving and unpacking and stressing, we'll have some time to enjoy their company.

And… we'll… that's our life for the next month or so. Wanna help or just keep us company? Let me know. Have any advice on a better way to do this, or how to get it all done without killing myself? I'd love to hear it.

Despite all the stress… I'm very excited.

Oh… also… does anyone know when I'm supposed to switch gas, water, trash, electricity, etc into my name? I haven't heard anything from anyone about doing this.