Next steps in the home-buying process

Here's the latest schedule in my home-buying adventure:

Today: Meet with insurance agent, sign and pay for policy; contact Credit Union and talk about what I need to do to get a Certified Check; get information on "how much" and "made out to whom" from lawyer's office

Memorial Day Weekend: Get addresses and phone numbers of all utilities from my aunt, who currently owns the house; buy sledgehammer, small hammer for use with stone chisel, chisel appropriate for trimming concrete, several bags of concrete mix, rural-style mailbox and mailbox post (for temporary future use); begin staging first wave of move-in items (kitchen table, chairs, several thousand pounds of books); contact Lee Valley / Veritas and request gardening catalog, woodworking catalog, and hardware catalog be sent to new address

Tuesday: Get Certified Check drawn from my life savings in Credit Union; call utilities and have them switched over (or do I have to wait until I officially own the house?); panic

Wednesday: Take day off from work; drive aunt to lawyer's office, meet with mortgage broker, sign papers, hand over check, close on house; place label with name on it on front porch mailbox (to avoid mail confusion); begin moving in non-critical first wave of move-in items

Within 30 days of purchase (required by insurance company): Repair or replace front porch (will need to temporarily relocate mailbox); paint front porch and steps; scrape and repaint wrought-iron fence; replace cracked kitchen window and broken garage window; paint garage; repair "retaining wall" (I assume they mean the base of the grapevine - this is what I need the sledgehammer and chisel for)); fix "holes in sidewalk" (I assume they mean the brick and concrete walkway along the grapevine; unaware of any holes, but I'll make it nice and purty)

Then: Paint, rewire, do minor interior repairs, refurnish, completely move in (I have the luxury of not needing to vacate my current residence immediately.)

Then: Lay out gardens, rebuild grapevine arbor (design it to last another 70 years), install clothespoles and clothesline

That "within 30 days" bit will be a trick. I hope we have a dry June. And I hope some of my friends will be available to lend a hand. I'm thinking of writing up a release form for my cousin's Summer Pre-School/Camp for an outdoor class/activity involving painting. Yes, the kids will be able to point to my wrought-iron fence for years to come and say "I did that!" What a great experience for them! What a sense of accomplishment!