Welcome to homeownership

We have had an exhausting and emotional day today--it was moving day, plumbing day, appliance delivery day, and cleaning/unpacking day. Jason and I spent almost all day at the house and we actually got a lot done. Now we have more empty boxes than full ones! And so far, all of our stuff is accounted for.
We had a traumatic welcome to homeownership. Last night when we were at the house unloading boxes, we noticed a leak from the ceiling into the middle of the great room--a pretty steady leak. We turned off the water, poked a hole in the bubble that had formed, and forced all of the water out, then went home to cross our fingers until morning. This morning, our plumber told us that the only way to a) diagnose the problem and b) fix it, would be to rip open the ceiling to get to the pipe. My jaw dropped. I was afraid to even think how expensive that would be. But after turning on all the faucets and flushing all the toilets, the bubble wouldn't leak at all, so the plumber recommended that we just forget about it until it happens again. Then he went in the crawl space and found $1200 worth of repairs, including a broken regulator and a cracked pipe that was spraying water everywhere.
After he did his work, he came back to look at the bubble some more. It still wasn't leaking, and he went outside to look at the side of the house. He noticed that the dryer vent had pulled away from the siding of the house and that it was directly across from the bubble in the ceiling inside. So, it looks like probably the problem came from water leaking into the gap between the vent and the house and seeping into the ceiling. That is very, very good news, because we just have to silicone seal around the vent and hopefully that will be the end of it. I hope it is
My computer is being really weird now

The first of the pictures!

Yesterday our loan/sale of the house was finally finalized and so we went over last night to pick up our keys and do a little cleaning before moving day. I took the opportunity to take just a few pictures--more to come!

Helena in her very own big girl room! Kind of a boring picture, but we are planning on painting the walls green, so I will post "after" pictures later.

The view of the fireplace in the living room. Here are some of my favorite features: the round, lead-glass window, the corner windowseat, the tile on the fireplace hood, and the sunken living room (you can see the steps in the left corner). This is the room with the ginormous mirror and the high ceilings. It's a blah cream color now, but we want to someday paint it, probably a nice warm brown.

Another view of the front of the living room--that's the front door.

My favorite room in the house! This is the great room. At the other end is the kitchen and dining area (I'll take some pictures of those areas tonight). Isn't the brick wall gorgeous? And yes, that is another fireplace! In this picture you can kind of see the end of the windowseat--it's about 8 feet long. And I wish the hardwood floor showed up better. I will try to get a picture that does it justice. It is a distressed hardwood floor--dinged and banged up, but very artfully! The walls are kind of an olive green, which doesn't sound nice, but it's a really nice color.

We spent a few hours over there last night. After being vacant for a year, there were plenty of flies and plenty of dust for us to clean up. There was also the dead bird in the crawlspace that we had to get rid of, of course, and the old owner left us treats all over the house: cutting boards in the kitchen cabinets, cabin themed shower hooks in the linen closet, a string of really cool dragonfly lights (they're going in Helena's room), an old red suitcase in the crawl space, assorted half empty cleaners, two gallons of Ranchero Red paint (unopened!), and a giant granite slab desk in the garage. Score!

Jason is a homeowner!

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned our house recently. We thought that we would be closing in early January and moved in by now, but obviously, that hasn't happened yet.
Getting our loan approved took a lot longer than we thought it would--it didn't help that just as soon as we turned in our application, interest rates dropped and the underwriters were bombarded with people refinancing! But eventually, the loan was approved, and our loan officer was actually able to get us an even lower interest rate. 4.875%, baby! That's like paying no interest at all.
So, today Jason closed on the house. He is officially a homeowner! I say Jason and not "we" because I am not on the loan and I am not on the title, either (yet). My credit rating is 0, so we just put Jason on the loan. I hope that he puts me on the title soon so that he can't kick me out of the house.
We hope to record and take possession tomorrow; moving day is Saturday. Hopefully we will have some "before" pictures to post tomorrow night!

What I really want to do before I am 30, but am afraid will never happen:

Write a children's book.

Bad things come in threes

1. Pell Grant problems
2. Busted computer
3. No more second car
Could be worse....

Tempe and Giraffe

Tempe pushing Giraffe in a stroller, leans down to his level: What's that, Grashie? Yeah?
Picks him up: It's ok, Grashie. They nice doggies! Points to dogs a few houses away.
Hugs Giraffe: I hold you, Grashie. It's ok. It's ok.

She carried him until we were past the house with the dogs, murmuring "It's ok" all the way.

How could you not love this kid??

that mean boy

Today I took Tempe and Helena to Arctic Circle for an ice cream and so that Tempe could play on the indoor playground. It was crowded, but we managed to find a table to sit at in the corner. Tempe ran off to play while Helena and I ate our ice cream.
Tempe isn't at all shy, of adults or of other kids, and so it was perfectly natural for her to see a boy a few years older than she was by the slides and go say hi to him. I could see that she was smiling at him and saying something, but I don't know what they were talking about. The next thing I know, "that mean boy" pushed her away, and then put his hand on her head and pushed it down so that it hit against the side of the playground. I, of course, got up and rushed over and he scampered off when he saw me coming. Poor Tempe was crying pretty hard, and I could tell it was more because her feelings were hurt than anything. She was trying to be nice to him and make friends and he reacted like that? I would be hurt, too!
So I comforted her, all the while scanning the room, trying to figure out who that bratty boy belonged to. Nobody got up to apologize, even though we were very conspicuous because she was crying so hard. I finally figured out who he belonged to. An elderly man who was sitting inside the restaurant, not by the playground, and who was completely ignoring his obviously disturbed grandson. I saw the same little boy push another kid and stand in front of the slide, blocking it from Tempe and another girl. That time I went over, tapped him on the shoulder, and said "You let them play. And don't push anyone again!" It scared him.
I wish parents/grandparents wouldn't allow their children to treat others like that. It's not fair to the kids who do play nice.

How BYU is ruining my life

This is going to be a long post, and I may start crying in the middle of it, so bear with me. Well, I guess none of you can tell if I'm crying or not, so that doesn't matter too much, but it is still going to be long.
I am in the Bachelor of General Studies program. That means I can take all independent study classes to finish my bachelor's degree. Since I am officially in the program, I am also eligible for federal financial aid. So last year I filled out my FAFSA and at the end of the summer was awarded around $2300 in Pell Grant funds.
Most students just receive a check from their Pell Grant; well, as a BGS student, I have other requirements. I must pay for my classes up front and then after I finish 25% of the coursework, I am sent 25% of the Pell Grant funds I am eligible up to that point (depending on the number of credits I am enrolled in); after I finish 75%, I receive the rest of the Pell Grant money. So I followed the requirements very carefully, and in November was sent a check for $592 after completing 25% of my coursework. When I completed 75%, I again contacted BYU to let them know, and they told me that $592 was the maximum amount awarded for 5 credits, which is what I was currently taken. Basically, instead of sending me the amount in two parts, they sent it to me all at once.
So no big deal. I used the money to pay for more credits and got to work on them. Then, towards the end of November, I noticed that all of a sudden my student account at BYU showed $1183 in it; I didn't know why, so I called and found out that it was mistakenly posted to my account and would be removed the next day. I was advised to tear up and throw away any check that I might receive in the mail, which I did.
Still no big deal.
Until two weeks ago, when I noticed there is a hold on my record for a past due balance of $592!! I called to talk to someone about it. The first person I talked to told me it must be because I tore up the check for $1183 instead of sending it back (even though I was told to tear it up...) She told me she would email me a form to fill out and then the hold and past due balance would be removed. I waited a week, and didn't receive a form, so I called again. This time it took me 45 minutes to get through to anyone, and the girl I talked to told me she would have to talk to a processor and call me back. She said she thought I was supposed to receive two payments of $592 for fall semester, and instead, I essentially received three (because $592 x 2 = $1183). She said since I tore up the check and didn't cash it, they would just do a stop payment and it would get sorted out. I told her just as long as I don't have to pay the initial $592 back, because I already spent it. It took her a week to get back to me, and when she did, I missed the call and she just left a message saying that she was very sorry because she knew I said I had already spent the money, but I would have to pay back the $1183. !!!!!!!!!! Remember, when I got the check for $592, I spent it on more classes; when I got the check for $1183, I tore it up and didn't cash it.
So. I called back. It took me 20 minutes to get through to someone else. He listened very carefully and told me he would have to call me back. Of course.
When he called back, he told me he had talked to someone that had checked to see that the check had not cleared the bank yet. He was going to have a stop payment put on it, but that person didn't come in until after his shift had ended, so he would just leave a message for him and then get back to me on Monday. He told me that even though BYU thought I owed them $1183, the "system" had $592 in it and that's why the past due amount was for $592 instead of $1183. I don't believe him. I don't think he knows what he is talking about.
So. You can all understand why I am freaking out here. I guess the very worst thing could happen would be that they are all idiots and I would have to pay back $592; but really, that's pretty bad, isn't it?

If anyone reading this blog has experience with stupid financial aid people, I hope you can help me. They are all either unwilling or incapable of helping me themselves.