Don't sweat the small stuff

On Monday we were supposed to close the sale on a house.

USDA had foreclosed on the house and we had the high offer a month back. On the offer you need to disclose how you are going to pay for the house. I had filled in that we were paying with funds from a Line of credit. A bank officer had given me a letter and printout of the account to send to the USDA that the funds were available. On Monday my agent informed the USDA that I would be bringing a cashiers check to the closing. Well that stopped the sale right there. This is a no financing sale but the form says he is getting the money from a LOC but if he is bringing a check it is a cash sale. I don't think the USDA understands how a Line of Credit works. You can either transfer the funds to your checking account or if you have checking privileges on the LOC write a direct check. You write a check and the bank gives you a cashiers check. But the USDA was not taken in by that incomprehensible line of reasoning. I had changed where the money was originating from and they would have to back the closing off till Wednesday as they considered the astounding idea that the house would be paid for with, horrors of horrors, cash. (well, not really as the funds were coming from the line of credit as I had filled in on their form originally) I did begin to wonder why they cared as they were going to get the money. 

So on Monday afternoon I went down and put the sheet rock up where it had fallen in the house we

purchased 10 days earlier.

 

I hate screwing up sheet rock and mudding over my head, but it is done. On Tuesday I went back to that house and put the insulation back up in the attic where it had fallen through with the fallen sheet rock, and put the 2nd coat of mud on the new joints.

As I was driving through town on Tuesday I went past 1 of the 3 houses we have that have not had an inspection yet. I saw this flight of 4 steps down by the street. I thought , oh no, 4 flights means it needs a railing. I did not want to have an inspection get scheduled in January and find out I needed to get a railing on those steps when everything is frozen solid. I sent a picture to Harrison and he replied "No you're good." That was a real blessing. I didn't have to decide if I was going to try to drill holes in the concrete and attach a railing or dig post holes. Nope, job done with no work.

On Wednesday, they were ready to sign off on taking a check for the house. Except, wait a minute all the paperwork will need to be redone. The months and days on the forms are not all 2 numerals. How will anyone know it is September 7 if it just reads 9/7/2019 when the offer was made. No that all must be changed and all the paper work resubmitted with all dates 09/07/2019. Good grief, give me a break. Wednesday afternoon they signed off on the closing and I handed over the check. Went over to the house and first thing out was this lovely carpet. 

Then all the tools needed to be moved in.

The former owners had used drywall nails to hang pictures. This is the handful I pulled out of the walls of just 1 room. That is a lot of holes to fill with caulk before painting.

Needed to get the gas turned on and I wanted the "dead" gas lines removed before it was live. Removed 4 pipes going across the basement to previous gas appliances that were either gone or had been moved.

Gas on and furnace running we could get the water turned on. The house had been winterized but that does not mean that it was done before the pipes froze. It had not. First I found the leaks one at a time by cracking open the water line, fixing the leak and then crack it open again. When the leaks stopped, I checked the faucets. Yea a couple had no pressure. Galvanized pipes fill up over time, so new pex lines replaced most of the galvanized pipe. Fortunately just a couple of long runs were galvanized and most of the complicated turns and short runs were copper.

 

I was surprised when the water heater lit and fired up. I figured it would have problems as it was still full of water when I turned the water on. Yea, well as soon as the heat kicked in it blew a hole in the top of the water heater tank. The pressure from it freezing had weaken a seam. A new one was in the budget so no real loss.

I took all the partial cans of paint I had in our basement and started mixing them together. I was able to empty 9 buckets.

Painted the largest bedroom Friday afternoon.

See the part I missed while trimming around doors?

We did not get a key to the 2 padlocks on the doors on the back of the house. I took my universal key Saturday morning and removed the padlocks. My universal key is about 2 and a half foot long and has a curved end with claws. Yea, a crowbar removed both locks efficiently.

Painted over the lovely brown in the middle bedroom.

Micah started laying floor Saturday afternoon.

I started painting the kitchen. I know those are some lovely colors, but not really generic enough for a rental house.

Yea that might work better.

I got it covered with 2 coats.

I do hope the red and blue don't show through on Monday because I used all of the paint I mixed, except for enough to do touch up.

I was reminded this week that some people spend their time making sure all forms are filled out exactly so. I don't think they realize that they contribute nothing to society. The earth will not crumble if funds from a Line of Credit go through another bank account and show up as payment in the form of a check. It will make no difference if September is noted as 9 or 09. It just made a small minded person feel important to slow down a sale till all their petty demands were met. She could not see the forest for the trees. USDA did not get their money for 3 days so they lost interest possibilities on the cash and USDA had to pay 3 more days of Real estate taxes. She was looking at minutia and missed the things that matter. 

Once her demands were met we could begin to make some quick progress on the house and USDA stopped losing money on the property.  Sometimes we can all be like that. We cease being goal orientated and become process orientated. We can become bogged down in making things just so and forget that God calls us to love others first. We get caught up in the details of our daily life and don't think about the souls headed for eternity without God, yea going to Hell. As a church sometimes while we argue over the best Bible translation or if we are singing the right hymn, we do not share of the gospel.

I don't want to be like that. I want to be goal orientated. I want to not fret the small useless stuff and concentrate on building the kingdom of God. Starting with me and everyone I meet. Souls for eternity with God first everything else second.