Our celebratory lunch at Chipotle.

This morning, we met with a new mortgage company regarding our house.  Yesterday, Wells Fargo FINALLY gave us the results of the appraisal review that was supposed to take 24-48 hours.  I don't know how many hours are in a week, but that is how long it actually took before we heard back from them.  As soon as they called us and told us that they were standing by the appraisal, we hung up the phone and called a new mortgage company.  This company is highly recommended by our real estate agent, who has been in the business for 35ish years and does all the real estating for Mercedes Benz employees.  In other words, he knows his stuff and has an excellent reputation.  We trust that his mortgage guy is good.

So, we met with this mortgage guy, Craig, who actually talked to us (never happened at Wells Fargo) and could answer the detailed questions Brad asked him.  Brad started out in the mortgage industry years ago, so he knows more about the processes and regulations than the average home buyer.  It was beyond frustrating for him to deal with the Wells Fargo flunkies who didn't know the basic lending guidelines for a conventional loan.  So, it was a relief to sit face-to-face with a man who knows the business and was motivated to get this loan done ASAP.

Basically, our loan is ready to go except for a new appraisal.  That will take 5-8 business days, so we are only waiting on that.  As soon as that comes back, our file will be sent to underwriting and we should hopefully close by Sept. 14.

Cross your fingers for us.

So, a couple of nights ago, we went to Denny's for dinner (oh yeah, we're living it up).  While we waited for our meals to come, I picked through the menus/ads/brochures at our table by the salt and pepper shakers. 

As I casually perused the marketing materials, this "Build Your Own Shake" form caught my eye.

Look under Step 2: Mix in your Mix-in.  Do you see anything that doesn't belong?  I had to look twice to be sure that Diced Bacon was really on the list.  SERIOUSLY?  Diced bacon IN A SHAKE?

I am aghast.

I don't watch much TV in the summer, but there is one show I live for - So You Think You Can Dance.  I started this season while we were still in Berlin, downloading it and watching it at my convenience on our AppleTV.  In Utah, my parents and in-laws DVRed it for me, so I'd watch it whenever I had some time to devote to it, watching bits at a time and skipping all the ads.

Now that we're in a hotel, I have to watch the show when it is actually broadcast, commercials and all.  I gotta say, I am strangely loving this return to traditional TV viewing.  There is something about making a "date" with a show that makes it that much more enjoyable.  And knowing that I can't rewind and watch my favorite parts makes me concentrate on every single second.  I even like the commercials - mostly because it gives me a few minutes here and there to get a Diet Coke, put on my PJ's, or brush my teeth.  I hurry through my little commercial-break task so I can be comfortably seated in front of the TV again when the program comes back on.

Tonight, all the SYTYCD stars aligned to bring an unusually fantastic show.  Some of my all-time favorite All Stars were there to dance with the contestants: Alex Freaking Wong, Twitch, Ryan, Melanie, and Allison.  Alex F. Wong even danced to the song I was obsessed with, "Somebody That I Used to Know", although weirdly, it fell flat.  Jonathan Roberts (LOVE him!) choreographed a quickstep to a Caro Emerald song (LOVE her!), and Chehon danced a KILLER Argentine Tango.  There was much squealing at the TV on my part.

As a little cherry-on-top, this guy was the guest judge.  He is absolutely my favorite guest judge ever!  He doesn't even pretend to be a dance expert, but he is a genuine fan of the show and gives some great feedback.  Basically, I tune out when Creepy Uncle Nigel and the obnoxious Mary Murphy yammer on in their critiques, but I hang on JTF's every word.  He is, in a word, delightful.

Today is the first day of school, and since we are not in our house yet, I had to snap the requisite photos in the hotel parking lot.

Lukie's elementary school starts at 7:30 a.m., so it felt like he left to start his day at the crack of dawn.  He's starting 1st grade and couldn't be more excited.

 Adam - 6th grade

Pepper - 8th grade

Jess refused to pose for a First Day of School Pic, but I did get a shot of her stumbling across the parking lot in a state of extreme misery.  It is too heartbreaking to post. 

This is the text she sent me half-way through the day:

Also heartbreaking.  I wish there was some way I could make this move easier for her.

School starts tomorrow, so today we did some last minute shopping.  We went to a nearby mall, and while the boys and I were waiting for Jess to finish her shopping, we hung out in the food court.  There was a super-de-dooper candy store with all these cool displays of different colored candies, but it was the giant gum-ball machine that had my boys most entranced.

They thought I was the coolest mom in the world when I reached for my purse and gave them each a quarter to get a giant gum-ball.  Obviously, Adam's and Pepper's were blue.

Today is a black day.

I woke up this morning feeling sure I was going to throw up.  So while the rest of the family was at church, I tossed and turned in my bed at the hotel.  All day, I just felt mooky and sad.

I think my mookiness is due to the stress we are under with our home loan.  Last Tuesday, we found out that the appraisel for our new mortgage came in $40,000 less than our agreed-upon sales price, so we wouldn't be able to get a loan for that amount.  The problem is, when we saw the appraisel, there were some things seriously wrong.  The other properties used to compare prices didn't match up with our house very well.  One was a foreclosure, which everyone knows is going to have a much, much lower sales price than otherwise.  Another house had been on the market for over a year, so obviously there was an issue that made it undesireable.  The most glaring error was that the house ACROSS THE STREET that sold LAST MONTH was not even used as a comparable. 

So, we asked that the mortgage company (Well Fargo - I just want everyone to know that they SUCK) to do another appraisel based on our concerns.  They refused, but did agree to send the original appraisel to review.  Both our real estate agent and the sellers' real estate agent sent in suggested comparables in the hope that we could get a more fair appraisel.  As of today, we haven't heard anything from Wells Fargo (who SUCKS) about the review.  But, it is safe to assume that even if they come back with a higher appraised value, this will delay our closing by a week or more.

The thing that makes us furious is that this appraisal was done on August 9, yet we didn't hear about it until August 21.  Well Fargo (SUCKS) had to know that this was going to drag out the loan process, yet they didn't bother to tell us about it until a week before our scheduled closing.  And this week, it has been like pulling teeth to get anyone at Wells Fargo (SUCKS) to even talk to us.  The loan officer who is supposedly handling our file, has not even bothered to call us about this, and even after we have called him repeatedly, we have yet to hear from him.  We occasionally will hear from his processor, who is just some poor high school graduate who doesn't really know what is going on.  Brad has called the manager, who sheepishly promised to personally handle our file from now on, but even he now appears to have disappeared.

In the meantime, we are spinning our wheels here at the hotel, paying money for every day that this thing drags out.  The poor sellers of our house are also in a state of panic.  They moved out last Wednesday, and now they don't even know if their house is sold.  This whole appraisal discrepancy is a deal breaker - if they don't agree to sell the house for the appraised value, we won't get the house.  We want the house, and we think our offer was a fair price, but if Wells Fargo (SUCKS) doesn't change the appraisal, we have no house.  And, the sellers will have to relist the house that they thought was sold a month ago.

Anyway, I'm grumpy, in case you can't tell.  I hate this waiting (and paying as we wait) game.

When we went into downtown Fort Worth today for lunch, we all had flashbacks of Berlin.  The narrow streets and general architecture just kind of reminded us of the streets of Berlin.  Of course, the pick-up trucks everywhere severely detracted from the Berlin-ness.

My glamourous Friday Night.

So, after I lugged a week's worth of laundry to this laundromat, I discovered that our hotel has a washing machine and clothes dryer available for guests.  Two doors down from our room.  Huh.

I guess the glass-half-full way of looking at this is that when I use the above laundromat, I can do six loads of laundry in about an hour and a half.  There is only one washer at the hotel, so it will take significantly longer to do the same amount of laundry.  Also, going to the laundromat BY MYSELF was strangely therapeutic after this many days in close hotel quarters with my family.

Even so, I'm pretty sure convenience of location will win out.  Hotel laundry it is.

Lukie at his Meet The Teacher night.  He was thrilled to finally be able to walk around his school and look around.  He's not nervous at all.

As for me, I can't believe he is old enough for first grade...blah, blah, blah...

(I know I'm supposed to say that, since he's my baby and all, but honestly, I can't believe I still have a kid this young.)

Life in a hotel is really boring.  Like, really, REALLY boring.

Basically, all I can take pictures of are me reading the Kindle, Jess texting friends on her phone, Pepper wrapped in his blanket, Adam playing something engrossing on his iPod, and Lukie watching TV.  If I really wanted to stir things up, I could snap a picture of us in the car going to some wretched fast-food place for lunch.  I can no longer eat an entire value meal.  I'm grossed out before I even unwrap it.

So, you are getting a photo of Luke watching TV.  He is doing it upside-down, so that is something.  I guess.

When we registered the boys for school last week, we learned that we had to have current doctor's orders for Pepper's diabetes so the school could help him during school hours.  That meant we had to scramble to find him an endochronologist ASAP.  We'd heard that Cook Children's hospital had a good clinic, and we were lucky enough to get him an appointment this morning.

I must admit, I was dreading this appointment so much that I woke up last night around 2 a.m. and tossed and turned, stewing about it until nearly 4:30 in the morning.  Let's just say, I don't love doctor visits, and after three years of German doctors and hospitals, my apprehension knows no bounds.  I still get a stomach ache when I think of the five days I spent in the hospital with Pepper when he was diagnosed in February.  That wins the Worst Week of My Life award with no contest.

So, coming from three years of having to gird up my loins in preparation for an unpleasant experience every time I ventured into the medical community, I pulled up to Cook Children's Hospital this morning with my loins severely girded.  And, I was pleasantly - sooooo pleasantly - surprised!

First of all, there was free valet parking, so I walked about 10 feet from my car to the building and didn't have to worry about finding a parking spot.  Inside, a smiling woman greeted me and led me to a touch-screen computer, where with her help I registered Pepper in about 2 minutes instead of filling out a pile of forms.  From there, she directed me to the clinic waiting room where there were lots of comfy chairs, TV screens, and video games.  I had a little disc that lit up when it was our turn to meet the doctor, so I didn't have to sit and watch the door, waiting for someone to call our name (which I never hear - it's embarassing).

Here is the center courtyard of Cook Children's hospital.  I much prefer this fairy castle aesthetic to the spooky Hogworts feel of the German hospital that will forever haunt my memory of Pepper's diabetic diagnosis.

Once in the doctor's suite, a nice nurse introduced herself and cheerfully weighed and measured Pepper, chatting with him the whole time.  From there, we met with a rather silly diabetic educator for 30 minutes or so (she thought she was much funnier than she really was, but I appreciated her efforts), then a sweet, completely non-intimidating doctor came in and saw Pepper in a bright, happy room with a purple and blue floor.  It. Was. Awesome.

Seriously. 

When it was all done and I was sitting in my car that had been brought to me by a free valet, I just sat and blinked at the difference between what we had just experienced, and what we had come to expect at the doctor's in Germany.  Today, I didn't have to come super early so I'd be able to hopefully parallel park my huge car in a tiny space a mile away from the office, and no receptionist glared at me over her glasses because I didn't understand what she was asking me.  I actually had a scheduled appointment, so I didn't have to sit on a metal chair and wait my turn for the doctor to see me during his 4 hour office time, in which patients just showed up and were seen on a first-come-first-served basis.  Nobody gestured to a cold chair in the hallway and then left me to wait there, wondering if I was in the right place and if somebody was going to come get me sometime.  And I certainly wasn't expected to share a hospital room with a screaming toddler with diarrhea.

Don't get me wrong - I really believe that from a medical standpoint, we got good care in Germany.  But, the overall environment was scary, bleak, and impersonal.  Compared to that, going to the doctor here felt like Disneyland.

This is the post where I start out by saying something about how I can't believe my baby girl is turning 16 today.

Well, she is, and I can't.

Since our lives are in limbo right now, the best we could do as far as a Sweet Sixteen party was to have Jess's friend G come join us at the hotel for a couple of days.  It has been a delight to have these two silly girls to hang out with - it makes me feel 16 all over again, too.

Jess chose to go to Red Lobster for her birthday dinner.  We all had a good laugh when the waitress brought these giant furry lobster claws for Jess to model while the restaurant sang Happy Birthday to her.  I thought she'd refuse to stand on the chair and be the center of attention, but she hopped right up and loved it!

Happy Birthday Wom!

 I haven't been on a German computer for two months now, and I updated my Facebook profile weeks ago to make my home city Fort Worth, TX.  Yet, I'm still getting all the German ads on the side of my Facebook home page.  So, I'm curious - how long is it going to take Facebook to figure out I'm not in Germany any more? 

Today we finally got to walk through our soon-to-be house.  Brad found it when the rest of us were in UT for the summer, so for the third time in a row, he alone has picked out our house.  He did so in Michigan, in Berlin, and now here. 

 Brad is three for three.  It's a great house.

After swimming in the hotel pool, Jess impressed us all by demonstrating how many grapes she could get into her mouth at once. 

 I snapped this picture at nine.

Jess is staying with her friend G for a few days, and for some reason she sent me this photo of the two of them "sleeping".  I don't really get it.

The goal today was to register all three boys for school.  Unfortunately, when we arrived at our first stop, Lukie's elementary school, I found that my TX driver's license was not in my wallet.  The poor receptionist had to watch me empty my pig-sty purse all over her counter and slide one inch away from full-fledged panic.  Let's not forget how much "fun" it was to get that driver's license back in June, and I was NOT liking the thought of repeating all that.

Before the lost driver's license drama, though, I was loving the Texas-ness of the elementary school office.

I'm pretty sure that someone went to the cowboy section of a home decor store and bought every single accessory.  Not only were we admonished to "Cowboy Up" (advice I should have heeded rather than melting down over the lost license), but we learned that "If you climb in the saddle, be ready for the ride."  Words to live by.

We're certainly not in Germany anymore.

PS:  After a couple of stress-filled hours, we found the lost license in Brad's wallet.  I must have asked him to hold it for me, though neither of us remember doing it.  It sucks to be old.

Today, we met with Jessica's high school counselor to see how her classes from Germany would transfer into the high school requirements here.  I must say, we were pleasantly surprised.  Most of her classes will transfer straight across, and I think she'll find that she's a little ahead.  Although, it was a blow to learn that driver's education is no longer offered in the high school, so we'll have to find a private driving school for her ASAP.

With the Scary School Meeting behind her, Jess was free to be a little goofy in the hotel pool:

Today, we spent most of the day driving around, acquainting ourselves with the area where we'll be living.  We drove by our house, but couldn't do much besides look at it from the car.  Then, we went by each of the kids' schools, going inside and getting a feel for them.  The kids' reactions were as follows:

Luke:  Ecstatic

Adam: Loved all the trophies in the lobby and can't wait to try out for everything.

Pepper:  Overwhelmed and speechless

Jessica:  Her exact words were, "I think I'm going to throw up."

This is going to be a long couple of weeks.

Well, we're here.  After two LONG days of driving, we have arrived in our new hometown.  Since we won't close on our house for a couple of weeks yet, we're living in a hotel for now.

This is what I saw when I rushed into our hotel room bathroom upon arriving and...um...sat down:

I might have prefered a welcome basket of fruit, or even muffins, but I'll take what I can get.

Albuquerque, NM.

This is the view from our hotel room window.  Are you as depressed as I am?

Tonight, Brad and I went to dinner at Tepanyaki with Mark, Zach, and Kim.  It's one of our favorite restaurants, so we couldn't leave UT without going. 

Afterwards, I went upstairs to the room where we've been staying with Brad's folks and had to face the fact that our Utah summer is over.  As I packed a few last-minute things in preparation for our long drive tomorrow, I could hear all the family downstairs watching the Olympics.

Here are the Bitner Family Olympic Fans as seen from the balcony upstairs. 

I surely will miss this view.

A few random shots around the cabin before we packed up to leave this afternoon:

After dragging the whole world down to the beach on Monday, we decided today we'd do Beach Lite. We just grabbed a few chairs and some snacks and spent a couple of hours at Ideal Beach playing frisbee, mini-golfing, and enjoying the playground.  It was probably my favorite day all week.

 

  

Yes, this was definitely my favorite day all week.  We finished off the day with a trip to Pickleville Playhouse again, this time to see "Forever Plaid".

I forced Jess to pose for this picture because during play the dark-haired actor was "flirting" with Jess during a lovey-dovey song.  I'm sure he picks somebody at every performance to wave and make eyes at, but it was so funny to see Jess blush while he wooed her tonight.

Today's big event was the traditional painting of the Bear Lake shirts.

 

I had to get a picture of poor little Erik.  He was happily painting his shirt until somehow something didn't turn out like he wanted.  He had a breakdown, which resulted in his mother sending him down the deck stairs to get himself together.  I went to spy on him, and found him stewing in his juices and mumbling to himself.  I could just imagine him telling himself how bad we'd all feel if he went blind.

 After a little therapy session with his mom and grandma, Erik came to terms with his less-than-perfect shirt, and all was well.

Looking good!