Sunday, March 18, 2007

So, what does "broom clean" REALLY mean???

Apparently, for the people we bought the house from, it means "leave it as if you were fleeing a natural disaster after not having cleaned for the better part of a decade". In the first 36 hours since taking ownership, we have changed all the locks, wiped down every room, disinfected every bathroom (and made plans to demolish and redo each), had the carpets professionally cleaned, cleaned out the oven and stove (and had to strongly resist the urge to take a sledgehammer to the range hood...it was that nasty), cleaned out and painted the laundry room (after patching holes and cleaning out the layer of dust and muck that was under where their washer and dryer used to be), took possesion of our NEW washer and dryer (and thanked God that they didn't leave theirs!), picked up and installed our new refrigerator (again, so glad they didn't leave theirs), painted one of the 5 bedrooms, painted half of another, and scoured the master bath shower which we can now allow the children to use without worry. Ohh, and we're going to redo the whole kitchen (JEREMY - WE NEED YOUR HELP - SEROUSLY, CALL US!!!) - it's dated, but also sort of falling apart. They didn't seem to think it relevant to tell us that a few of the cabinet doors were broken (as in, you pull on the handle and half the door comes off). Matthew thought it was pretty cool once he realized we weren't mad at him for breaking it. And, as if to emphasize that point, he is actually running around with half a cabinet door right now with Todd chasing him saying, "Give me that!"....

But, this house does have great potential and is structurally sound with some really neat features. The school the kids go to is really good, we are pretty close to any store we need to go to, there's an Olympic length indoor pool a short drive away, and the church is only about 1/2 mile away. So, although we will be doing a lot of work for awhile, it will still all turn out good.

Our housing shipment gets here in 2 more days, and we are surviving the camping out. Since the kitchen is now clean, we can cook again (with our one pot and pan!) Note to self: Next time, bring more than one pot and one pan, and maybe a slow cooker, and some utensils, and hot pads!

We'll have some pictures when we get the housing shipment....

Hi Briana, Claire, Jake, Ella, Julia, and like everyone - this is Allison - I miss you!
Hi Meridian - this is Julia - it was nice to talk to you yesterday! Have a great week and say hi to Mrs. Bourgeois!
Hi Sam and Molly - this is Amanda - hi guys! How are you doing? I'm doing fine. Call me when you can :)
Hi Daniel - this is Matthew - I still keep asking mom, "Daniel?" every time I see another little boy running around. I just can't figure out where you went!!!

Have a great week everyone :)

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