Goodbye Augusta! Photo above shows Dustin all clean and dressed-up after he came back from the closing attorney's office... and me, in my cleaning/scrubbing/moving/dog-walking outfit!!
Since I last saw wrote, things have been completely crazy. Dustin decided it would be a good idea to go visit his parents before we left Augusta, so we did that, then came back to Augusta TWO days before the closing on our house. We had arranged for a friend of a friend to help us move our stuff into the U-Haul truck... and on the day, he never showed up!! So, when it came to the final walk-through before signing over the house, I was still scrubbing and sweeping and mopping frantically. In fact, I was still cleaning the house while Dustin was at the attorney's!! Of course, it all got done eventually, and at 8am on Friday morning (Friday the 13th!!), we left Augusta for the last time and headed off to Charlotte.
Being Friday the 13th, of course we had some challenges with our new house purchase in Charlotte. As we were driving, Dustin was on the phone the whole time with our real estate agent and our mortgage broker. Our closing was scheduled for 1pm on Friday, but come 4pm, it still hadn't happened. Among the problems were the fact that the bank didn't order an appraisal until THAT MORNING!! and even worse, the closing attorney couldn't leave his office because there was a crazed madman with a GUN running loose in his area. Can you believe all of this could happen? Meanwhile, we're sitting in the real estate agent's office with Bonnie, and all of our worldly possessions sitting in a U-Haul truck in the parking lot, and it's looking like we'll be homeless for three days until the house closing can go through on Monday. Luckily, the house seller was a really nice guy and he ended up agreeing to letting us move in that day and closing on Monday.
So, since then, we've been extremely busy trying to move in and make the house the way we want it. Dustin's dad and his best friend arrived on Saturday night, and spent the next three days working 14-hour days to build us a storage shed and a fence to keep Bonnie in. Since then, we've put up fans in every room and new light fixtures throughout the house. There have also been little things like trying to unpack!! Even though the house is still a complete mess with boxes and tools and half-completed projects in every room, it's slowly starting to feel like our home. Bonnie LOVES the fact that she now has a big back yard to relax in and has doggie neighbors on all sides, both of which are new developments for her.
Dustin started his first shift today, and in keeping with our current run of luck, has 6 overnight shifts in a row. Ugh. Since he's started working, I figured it's time for me to start looking for a job also, so I sent out a few applications today. I'm hoping that my job search won't be too long or depressing, so keep your fingers crossed for me. In the meantime, I think I'll apply to volunteer at the local art museum. Starting Saturday, there's an exhibit of couture (Chanel, Valentino, etc) which sounds like it would be amazing to see.
In between all the house renovations, we've also had to go to lots of social gatherings to meet Dustin's new coworkers. There have been some really fun events like whitewater rafting (this is where the US Olympic team trains), lake parties with water skiing, Symphony in the Park (just like back home in Adelaide!!) and lots of BBQs. The people here are all extremely friendly and take great care to make the spouses feel included in everything. So, let's hope that Charlotte will be much more enjoyable than stinky old stuck-up Augusta!(I just realised we don't have a photo of the new house! Will post one ASAP!)
