I’m writing this blog entry locally on my comput…



I’m writing this blog entry locally on my computer, because I’m in the process of updating RedHat 9.0, and on a 56K modem, I can only do one thing at a time. Bummer.

Where to begin. A couple of weeks ago, Earl and I took a look at a house that was being built. To put it simply, we fell in love with the house. It was gorgeous and just what we were looking for. We made an offer to the builder. Unfortunately (for us, anyways), another couple made a higher offer and we didn’t get the house. However, the builder said that if we were interested in the spring, he would build us the same house on our property. (Earl and I own 33 acres).

Since we had been bit by the house buying bug, we talked about it and decided to put our house up for sale anyways. We figured that if by chance it did sell, we would simply move into an apartment until next summer when our house could be built. We figured it would take a while to sell the house, and to pass the time, we’d look at newer houses in the area that were for sale.

On Wednesday night, we listed the house with our real estate agent. The papers were signed, and the sign went up.

Friday morning, Earl received a call that we needed to scoot Friday night, two different parties were coming in to look at the house. We did just that by looking at a house that was only eight years old and in the general neighborhood. We then left for Philly on Saturday for a family wedding. We received word that one of the two couples was going to look at the house again Saturday afternoon.

Upon returning from Philly on Sunday, we had a message on our answering machine – they were coming back again to look at the house. As we were getting ready to leave, the real estate agent showed up and asked us to stay. We met with these house browsers and answered many questions.

Sunday night, they made an offer and we accepted it. On Monday, we looked at the house we had looked at on Friday, and decided to make an offer. The owners accepted.

So Earl and I are moving in the middle of November (after banks chat, lawyers chat, etc.) to our new house. To put it simply, it’s absolutely gorgeous. Huge! An above ground swimming pool. Oak hardwood floors throughout the house. Lots of space. Lots of potential. A cathedral ceiling in the family room. Just what we were looking for in a house.

It has been a busy time, to say the least. Am I sad that Earl and I are leaving the house we’ve lived in for the past six years. Admittedly, I am. This is where we’ve lived for the majority of our time together. But as we talked about it, I realized that this was a great place to start our relationship together. Earl and I are not handy when it comes to home repairs (by any stretch of the imagination), either that or we lack the motivation. In any case, there are tons of things we wanted to do to this house that we simply did not have the skill nor the money to do. The new house, while it does need some touch up paint and staining here and there, is pretty much what we are looking for. We are both very excited about the prospects.

I’m a little bit nervous about the whole affair, because everything is unsettled until the closing happens. I don’t like the uneasiness. Even back in my single (and somewhat transient) days, I always had to have the feeling of “home base”. I liked being able to say “This is where I live”, even if it was a rickety old mobile home in the path of a tornado. I wasn’t one that just popped in once in a while to take a shower or change my clothes between social engagements and work. I like to put down my roots. So this is a little unsettling for me, but I’ll get through it. Earl and I are both absolutely giddy with excitement about it.

I’ve often written in my blog about finding a place to make a “fresh start”, or to make changes in my life. I’m big on improving myself. Moving provides another opportunity for me to try to get my sh*t together. In the new house, we’ll have room for exercise equipment. We won’t really have room for my clock system hobby… not that it matters because while I’ve enjoyed putting the clock system together and getting it working, I’ve sort of dead-ended with the hobby. I have the clocks I want and they work. And we’ll have high speed internet through a cable modem! That alone is worth the trouble of moving! 🙂

In other exciting news, my Palm Pilot went for an unintentional swim. It fell off the kitchen counter and into the cat’s water dish. Sigh. I never realized how much I depended on it until it wasn’t available. After drying out for 24 hours, it came back on. Unfortunately, it’s a little messed up. Thinking it was dead, we went out and bought a new one, this time a Sony Clie, which I adore. But then my old one started up again, but after trying to use it for a couple of days, I’ve discovered it’s a little flaky. It turns on and off on it’s own, and it thinks there’s an expansion card in it when there isn’t. I think I’m going to move to the Clie permanently on Monday, once I take it to work to Hot-Sync it so all of my information is in it. I’ll try writing a blog entry in it this week to see how it does!