It's been a week.
First we had to scramble to get the rest of our down payment together for the new house -- it has to be a certified check, and the Home Equity check would have an 11-day hold placed on it before it could be converted to a certified check. Escrow closes next Wednesday, so what to do? I ended up selling off part of my IRA to get the money -- as long as I put it back within 60 days there is no penalty, since I am over 59.5 years old. If all the financial gods are smiling (Lakshmi! Be Nice!) the wire transfer will get to the escrow company juuuuuuust in time. Keeping fingers crossed...
We ended up ordering cabinets for the new house kitchen (did I mention that there aren't any? Stove, fridge, dishwasher, but no cabinets or countertops) from Sincere Hardware in Oakland Chinatown. They won't be nearly as nice as the lovely Kraft-Made cabinets we got for our old house -- no roll-out drawers, for instance -- but they can be delivered in two weeks instead of 6-8 weeks. The nice young man plugged our measurements into his nifty software package and presented us with pictures of what it will all look like. They will be delivered on Friday 09/02, which means we may get moved in before the end of September. Since as of next Wednesday we will be paying not only two mortgages but two sets of utility bills, time is of the essence.
Aaaaaand -- I was in a car accident yesterday. I am unhurt, but my poor little White Bird is grievously wounded and is a total insurance loss. AAA will pay me something for her, and I have gotten an estimate to get her running again anyway because I cannot afford to replace her (see mortgages, above). The other driver did not appear to be hurt and in fact, when I asked if he was ok, responded that he was fine. As soon as we had exchanged information and I drove away, he called for an ambulance and reported a back injury. Fortunately the Walnut Creek police are not citing me for leaving the scene of an injury accident, since I had no idea that anyone was hurt, but I smell a rat in there somewhere.
I am still not going in to work because my security clearance has not yet come through, although I am on the payroll. This means I have time to arrange all the new-house stuff such as phone service, power, water, getting the locks changed and the cabinets delivered, and doing high-finance to get the down payment taken care of. Plus packing -- did I mention packing? I'm feeling a bit frazzled around the sides and edges and last night ran out of steam about 9:30.
dog_father got me into bed and I feel rather better today...sorta. Why does everything have to happen AT ONCE??
(end of rant)