Congratulations, Julie! It's quite a relief to be the owner of just one house, isn't it? LOL

Julie - I'm so happy for you! Hopefully you'll settle in soon enough and find your other plates too. Please continue to stop by here and share your insights. I think with all the different things you went through in both buying and selling you have a lot to offer others.

Julie -- reminds me of an offer we made that was rejected by the seller because the offer was contingent upon them removing the dog run and cleaning up all the dog poo in the yard. Our realtor told us to put it in the contract if we wanted it removed, and it insulted the sellers and they didn't even counter!! I've since learned that there are "pet waste removal" firms that will do the dirty deed if you can't stomach it.

Glad you're closed and moved -- congrats !!!

Julie, I'm very happy to read this. Hopefully the plates will show up and you won't miss something else that was packed and can't be found.

How's your little one liking the house? Is he (IIRC it's a boy) settling in to his new room?

Sellers had a tiny dog and a dog run with over run grass with enough poop to cover the entire 7 years they lived here. I SHOULD have made cleaning this part of my initial offer, but I felt a bit silly with the lowball offer I made. I mentioned to their realtor during the inspection and he made it sound like they would, BUT they DIDN'T!! Cleaning that up was the grossest thing I've ever done (and I'm a mother!!), we weedwacked and mowed and then showered since we felt like we were covered in "poop dust."

Some people shouldn't own pets. When I had a dog, I made sure I went out every day to pick up. If the soil is lower where the run is, you might think to get some top soil to throw there so that you know everything is under dirt. Hopefully you can keep the little one from playing there until the yard is "poop safe".

God does give out happy endings, after all! ;+)

I still believe that everything happens for a reason. Right now I'm thankful we haven't sold and am actually hoping that it waits until spring when the new house is finished. My hubby was injured last week so I'm on my own with a lot, bad back & all.

Cordovamom, yes, I think it was your story that gave me the idea for the contingency in the first place! But I chickened out in the end. I've seen the waste removal services, but when I was half way into it, it was kinda like "no stopping now, might as well get it done." Live and learn!!

Roselvr, I know the plates are here, just haven't gotten to that box yet (murphy's law says it will be the last box I unpack! LOL). The only thing we forgot were DH's vitamins and prescriptions (I never go in that cupboard and thought he grabbed them himself). As we drove to the old house to pick them up, my DS started crying, "No, new house! Wanna go new house!" So needless to say, he loves our new house too, and the very kid friendly back yard has to be his favorite (complete with some pretty roses to replace my old!). He settled into his room right away, even with the cold he started on moving day!

Our dog is another story, he's still pacing a lot and whining when I leave. We had to pull his crate out of storage so he'd feel like he had a "safe spot" in the chaos. He's not too thrilled about the dog run yet. We let him go in the main yard the first 3 days until we got the run cleaned, but I'm sure smells remain. I might have to topsoil it afterall. Thankfully, it's gated off, so our DS doesn't have access.

Hope things work out well for you as well and your DH feels better soon. I agree, everything happens for a reason and certainly feel completely satisfied with the way our "adventure" this past year ended up. :+)

Congratulations! Enjoy the holidays at your new house! (you'll find the plates by Thanksgiving, right?) :-)