ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Today, as I was sitting there, in the third hour of our last 'big' meeting with our construction manager Jeff, I remembered precisely why I had weaseled out of all the previous meetings. This meeting was scheduled for three hours, which required me to skip half a day of potential money-making at the clinic. I could not figure out why it would take three hours, considering all we had to do was walk around and point out all the nit-picky mess-ups that need to be fixed prior to closing, and sign a few papers.

I was right. There was about an hour's worth of stuff to do. It only took three hours because Jeff likes to include stories about other homes he has built, his cousins, his ex-wife, his boss, and just about anything else you can think of NOT related to closing on our house. About an hour into it, I felt like I was on a bad blind date, just hoping someone...anyone...from the clinic would call with some sort of emergency that needed my urgent attention so I could bail. The call never came. I would have felt bad leaving Nancy, yet again, alone to fend for herself in a meeting anyway. If this is what those other meetings were like, I owe her like 742 foot rubs.

Our independent inspection went well...and the inspector (who calls himself Sherlock Homes) was very impressed with the quality of our house. There are no major problems...just a few minor cosmetic things...that need repair.

Part of our meeting today consisted of us walking around the entire house putting blue tape on every paint nick, smudge, or scratch in the wall. Nancy thought this was great fun, of course.

The Fitz really did turn out well, and we are very excited about finally moving in next week. Well, not necessarily excited about the moving part. At least Nancy's one-legged status gives me an excuse to hire movers, cuz she wouldn't be much help moving a couch. And I decided long ago that I would never ask any of my friends to help me move.

In exactly one week, if all goes as planned, we will be closing. Then the real fun begins: moving all our junk, cleaning our current house, sodding the back yard, getting all our furniture delivered, etc. At least things have worked out so that we do not have to be out of our house until June 15th, so we have a little extra time to get all that done.

This past weekend was busy. We went to Lorena to wish Logan a happy 5th birthday (I can't believe he is 5 already!) and shower him with the requisite Star Wars gifts. We also got to see Brynna and Makinley (who has doubled in size since the last time we saw her). Then we drove back to Houston, and since DD had flown into town, we went to an Astros game and went back to his sister's place for some beer and grilling. All in all a fun weekend. Then we spent all day Monday trying to track down a refrigerator and a tv for our bedroom. Just remember this about Best Buy: Just because they are displaying the tv (or refrigerator) you want in their store and advertising it in their ads, does not mean they actually have the tv or can even get it for you.

Speaking of Star Wars...our nephew Logan is so obsessed with Star Wars that it's insane. He carries his little action figures with him everywhere he goes...to take a bath, to the outfield while playing t-ball, to sleep...everywhere. We found a replacement for Walrus Man on e-bay, since he had somehow misplaced the orginal Walrus Man. According to Carrie, he hasn't let go of it yet. To tell you how crazy this kid is about Star Wars...evidently last week he began carrying around a picture of Brynna with him everywhere he went. My parents and Carrie thought it was so sweet that he wanted to have a picture of his baby sister with him everywhere he went. AFter like 4 days of carrying the picture around, Carrie asked him why he was so intent on having it with him at all times. It turns out that, although he does love his baby sister very much, the real reason he was carrying the picture around was that, in the background of the photo, there were several Star Wars action figures on the table. He was really carrying around a picture of his Star Wars "men".

Almost every time we go to visit, the first thing Logan does is make me go out to my parents' back yard shed, where my old Star Wars toys are stored, so he can pick out one of my old action figures ("his men") to play with. A few months ago, upon me walking into the house, Logan comes running up to me, grabs my hand and yells, "Randy, I need a man!" Everyone about peed their pants.

I don't have much new in the way of pictures of The Fitz. I'll post some new ones once we are all moved in.