We're Homeowners!

Well...we did it!  Hubby Blue and I officially became homeowners yesterday. :)

Even though it felt a little surreal after the closing was over and we were standing in our new house together, this has also been a long time coming.  More than three years ago, before we were even married, I had really, really wanted to buy a house.  I thought that's just what you were supposed to do. But our lives were in such a state of flux that it really wasn't the wisest idea at the time.  So we waited.  And rented.  And rented again.  And rented for a third year.  It was really hard watching all my friends buy houses just before they'd get married, knowing that financially we could be buying a house too, but we just weren't settled enough in careers and whatnot.  It was also just frustrating knowing that we had to move all the time.  Having to update our address over and over.  Never feeling like you could get really comfortable somewhere because it wasn't going to be forever.

But now...it is!  Or at least, it could be.  We could live in this house forever if we had to or wanted to, which is a pretty nice feeling.  And it's also a good feeling knowing that buying this house was a goal we worked towards together and accomplished together.  We've built this life together.  I like that.

So shall I tell you about the house???

Where to begin...?  Well, if you can picture the filthiest, dirtiest house you've ever seen, and then picture what would be worse...you might be able to get an idea of what we bought!  Yay!  Haha.  But seriously, it is filthy (I'll tell you what we were thinking in a second).  The scary part is, the first time we looked at it, Hubby Blue said he's actually seen worse when he's been on calls.  I just can't imagine anyone living that way.  Yuck.  Anyway, it's your typical two-story house, living room, dining room, kitchen, family room, laundry, two-car garage, three bedrooms upstairs, a first floor bathroom and two upstairs, and this great big beautiful loft that overlooks the family room.  We could actually turn that into a fourth bedroom someday, but I think we're going to leave it as it is right now.  But let's get back to the filth and disrepair, shall we?  There are several holes in the drywall in places...sometimes it looks just like someone kicked a hole in the wall.  The railings on the stairs are caked in black grime.  The kitchen cabinets and the stair risers look like someone took a water gun full of chocolate syrup and just went to town.  I'm pretty sure there is macaroni and cheese still left on the kitchen ceiling.  Half the kitchen floor has been ripped up.  One of the drawer fronts on the kitchen cabinets is missing.  There is creepy stuff written all over the walls of one of the bedrooms - when the termite inspector walked through the house he advised us to "get some clergy up in here" and promptly got himself outside!  We're missing window screens.  The basement is partially finished, but you wouldn't want to leave it the way it is anyway.  There are three rooms walled off that all lead into each other one after the next, and they look like the walls in A Beautiful Mind.  LOTS of weird writing there.  Ironically, the laundry room is probably the cleanest room in the house - probably because they never used it?

So, if you can picture this filthy, dirty house, hopefully you're assuming we got an amazing deal on it, because we did!  It was obviously a foreclosure, and we paid waaaaaaaaay under what the rest of the neighborhood is going for.  But, we chose to do it this way instead of buying something that was already livable because we wanted to be able to comfortably afford it (and be able to sell it if we had to) AND make things just the way we wanted them.  We're both willing to put our blood, sweat and tears into it (I'm hoping there will be more tears than blood...), and Hubby Blue and both our dads are pretty handy.  Plus I figure I'm pretty smart too.  I bet I can google how to fix drywall holes, right? :)  One of the sweetest parts was when Hubby Blue told me he never thought we'd be able to live in this town "because cops just can't afford to live there."  Stick with me, honey, I'll find us a bargain we can't pass up. :)

We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we're both excited.  For now.  Check back with me in a few weeks.  Ha.  Just kidding - sort of!  The plan for this weekend is to rip everything out - carpet, the rest of the kitchen floor, old doors, trim, kitchen cabinets, maybe some of that creepy drywall in the basement...we'll see what we have time for and how much we can fit in the dumpster I ordered!  I know I'll be grateful for all that overtime Hubby Blue has been working when he's able to take a couple Saturdays off here and there.  So thank you for your kind messages on my last blog post!  I'll check back in in a couple of days, and maybe even have a picture or two.  Wish us luck!