The deal is sealed

Today we closed on our land deal, so we are now happy new owners of some land. The day was a bit crazy, since we had a lot of trouble finding the location for the closing (the map published on their website was totally wrong). Also the lady helping with the closing seemed quite inexperienced, but eventually everything seemed to be correct. Our lot is located on the west side of Eagle Lake just a few miles from Willmar. We don't have any decent pictures of it, but will try to post some when we get a chance. We're hoping to get some house plans solidified over the winter, get some bids from builders, and if the budget and our finances are in check to start building next spring/summer. It may take us longer though to get into ideal financial shape prior to starting the building process, but we'll see what happens. Many thanks to my dad for helping with the real estate purchase and closing today!

Well it has been a hectic week, complete with a few frustrations but many blessings. First off, we are now moved into (and just about all settled into) our new place in Willmar. Unfortunately the home we are renting wasn't cleaned well at all before we moved in. It was very dirty, and when Laura showed up the night before our moving truck was coming with all of our stuff she found out just how bad it was. In stepped several members of the Hudson/Johnson families, who pitched in and cleaned for several hours. Thanks so much to all who helped.... we are extremely grateful. Aside from that the move went very well. We have never had the luxury of having someone else move us before, and it was REALLY nice.... a lot less stressful. The movers did a quick, but careful job. Between the extra cleaning and the unpacking (and a few plumbing issues), it took another 3 nights before we actually were able to stay here. Now we're in, and it's starting to feel like home. If you still need our new address just email me and I'll send it to you.

Second, our townhouse is sold! We ended up moving everything out of there rather than leave some furniture there for "staging." We were worried about how well the house would show to prospective buyers if it was completely empty, but it certainly was going to be more convenient to us to get everything moved in one shot. The person who is buying our place looked at it 3 days before we moved, and then came for a 2nd look 2 days after everything was out. She saw it both ways, so it worked out nicely. We aren't getting anywhere near what we were hoping to sell the place for, but we're actually quite close to our current listing price (after 2 price cuts). We're just thankful to not have to have the place heated and insured (not to mention paying the mortgage and taxes), but sitting empty over the winter. The closing will be in late September, assuming no big issues found in an upcoming home inspection.

Last, our land purchase looks like it's going to happen finally. The issues with the property boundaries have been resolved, and we're moving toward a closing this Friday. It'll be nice to have that settled, and to start thinking about house plans!

I start work on the 1st. It's hard to believe how quickly the summer flew by.

The move is set

Our big move to Willmar is now set. Our stuff is going to be packed up on Tuesday and Wednesday next week (8/18-19), and then it'll be moved on Thursday. It's hard to believe we only have a few days left in the cities. We're going to miss everyone here!

Surgery was a success!

I had my first post-op audiogram on Tuesday since my surgery on July 1st. I knew my hearing was better in the right ear now, but it's hard on your own to quantify it. It turns out the surgery was highly successful. My hearing is now basically normal in that ear. I still have some loss at the very high frequencies, but overall it is much better (I had about a 30 decibel hearing loss prior to the surgery). Here's the audiogram. The dark black line is "normal" hearing, anything below the line represents subnormal hearing at the specified frequency. It was a hard decision whether to go through with surgery or not, but now I can easily say that I'm glad I did. I have truly bionic hearing now! (Titanium of all things)

Our new home

I was in Willmar this week and signed the lease on the home we'll be renting there. Here's a couple pics of the place. It's older and somewhat small (not sure that it's even as big as our current townhouse, and has 2 more bedrooms crammed in the space!), but actually has a good-sized yard which we're very excited about since Azalea loves to be outside. I moved a few things in this week already when I was out there and met one of the neighbors who seemed very nice. The big move is not quite scheduled yet... we've gotten bids from 2 moving companies and will decide shortly on which to go with. Regardless it'll be the week of the 17th, and we'd probably move in sometime mid-week. It's with mixed emotions that we leave our current home. We're certainly going to miss our friends and family here, as well as the luxuries of the TC metro area, but we're looking forward to being with Laura's side of the family out in Willmar and returning to small-town living for a while.

View from the street. It's an older home, but pretty well maintained and in a nice neighborhood.

The backyard. It's fenced on the two sides, and goes up to that flowering plant or bush in the center of the picture. It's quite a nice yard for a place close to the main part of town. Also there is a fairly nice park just about 3 blocks from the house.

Smiles and kisses

The same day after our zoo visit, we got a few cute pictures of Naomi smiling... then Azalea giving her baby sister a kiss. Azalea now is very much into giving kisses. She has found out that she can butter up mommy and daddy with kisses and get what she wants more often!

Another trip to the zoo

We have a membership at the MN zoo again this year, and are trying to visit several times this summer before the big move out of town. We were there again early this week. This time we decided to try the giraffe feeding. Azalea was reluctant to give it the cracker so it would stick it's tongue out at her and lick her arm and chest. She laughed and squealed. I also got this on video, but it's a bit more tedious to upload the videos so here's a couple pics of the event.