Busy Week

Well, we did close after all on Monday night. I got a call later in the day on Monday, and since the title office Bank of America works with has an office on Omaha, they were able to send a closer directly to our house. So, indeed, we signed all the papers Monday night, and the loan officially disbursed yesterday (there is a 3 day waiting period if we had changed our mind). So, that's a huge load off my shoulders to know that our mortgage is now tucked in and put to bed. Phew. Now, we just have to wait for our old mortgage to settle out and refund back a huge chunk of money that had been sitting in escrow. That will be a good feeling since I really had to drain our emergency fund in the meantime.

I also need to submit our taxes in the next week or two. I've got everything entered into the program and it's all ready to go, mostly. I do have to re-tweak some of capital losses, but otherwise, it's ready to go. We do owe money to federal, but will get most of that back with a state refund, so in the end, it's a wash.

Running has gone well this week. I'm at 21.1 miles this week so far, and actually did my long run today. I did another 7 miles on the treadmill at the gym since it was cool and rainy outside. I seem to have worked through most of my pain issues once again, and everything continues to click well. The Lincoln Half Marathon is now just 8 weeks away. I feel fairly confident that I should be able to do this, especially since I've still got 8 weeks to continue to increase my mileage. Ideally, I'd like to get to about an 11 mile long run in that time, and the remaining 2 miles on race day should be powered mostly by adrenaline. My 7th grade daughter is also starting track this coming week. While she's never really done any athletics because of her back, she's excited about the opportunity. We'll see how she feels after the first week. Ha.

I did a great geocache run yesterday, driving about 500 miles round trip to check off a few counties in the Nebraska 93 County Challenge. It was an awesome day with sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s. Geocaching is very interesting, mostly that it usually takes me to places that I wouldn't otherwise go, and I often learn interesting tidbits of history along the way. Plus, it's just a fun way to kill some time, although I certainly have enough at home to keep me busy.

I am so ready for spring to arrive. Tonight, we actually "spring" forward, and set the clocks ahead one hour. The grass and trees still are dormant, although the buds on the trees are welling up more and more. I expect it will be another week or two before things begin to wake up, although, while out geocaching in south central Nebraska yesterday, I did see a few yards that were already starting to green up. I need to get the mower tuned up and do have some necessary yard work, but progressively warmer temperatures will be nice. It will also help to get outside more and more for my runs.