T-Minus 10 days

In 10 days, we will be living in New Orleans. Whoa! Um, yeah, we have a LOT of stuff. Even after three garage sales this year, donating a ton of things to charity, and selling over 20 different items on craigslist, we realize that we are not exactly nimble. Not to blame the kids, but they do have a large amount of belongings for people who can't even tie their own shoes. Ahem, grandparents.



So, here's the scoop on us the last couple weeks... We have been waiting (not so patiently) for our buyers to get their act together and do an inspection and appraisal. They finally did an inspection last Friday, which seemed to be fine. We are scheduled to close in 18 days and they haven't even scheduled an appraisal yet. Brilliant! Apparently their mortgage broker has "no control" over the process. I personally think he's out to increase my blood pressure just to see how high it will go. Breathe, just breathe. See the thing is, if the appraisal comes back lower than the contract price, then we have to go back into negotiation with the bank, and the closing will get pushed back, again. Anyway, enough ranting about stuff I can't control.

Small victory: I was able to convince our bank to release us from the debt of the short sale. Whew! Huge answer to prayer! I must say, a sternly worded letter can go a long way. We are extremely thankful for those of you who've been praying along with us. It helped!!

Work has been picking back up for me, just in time for me to leave. But it's really nice to be in the kitchen, and I'm starting to hold my own, which is nice. Still burned the heck out of my arm last week, but oh well. The scars make me part of "the gang" in the kitchen. I'll have to post something later on kithcen machismo. It's pretty funny stuff.

We are super thankful for Nick's brother, Andrew, and his girlfriend who are flying down to help us load up and drive from Miami to New Orleans. Andrew's girlfriend, Tara, and I share a birthday (Oct 15th, aka our moving day), so we'll definitely be popping that bottle of champagne we've been saving.

I must say it's surreal to be moving again, especially after we just moved to Miami less than three and a half years ago. I'll definitely miss the beach, all the palm trees, and how perfect the weather is from October-April. I'll miss our pool that I wish we could have lounged in even more than we did. I'll miss our church which helped us feel connected to the community, and our many good friends we've made through church. I'll miss the familiarity of driving around and knowing where I am and where I'm going. I'll miss the culture and flavors of Miami and its diverse population. I'll miss the house I've made a home.

However, I won't miss the following: mortgage payments, having to fix stuff on the house (and the associated trips to evil Home Depot), seeing friends for just five minutes at church and then not connecting again for a month or more, sitting home at night and wishing we had more friends and family around, lousy doctors offices (don't get sick in Miami), people assuming that I speak fluent Spanish because my last name is Montero, horrific drivers and traffic, and a total lack of good Asian food.




T-minus 10 days. Stay tuned for updates from the road!