We bought a house.

So here we are, first blog post ever. Well... for this blog anyway. I have a long track record of starting blogs, then never keeping up with them. I just keep saying "I'll get to it, I'll get to it..." and I never do. It starts as procrastination, and ends in failure. Don't judge me.

This time is going to be different -- because this time I have something more to write about than my cats, as interesting as they are.

Sean and I bought a house.

I did an amazing job not posting about the house search/application process on Facebook... as much as I wanted to. I figured it would probably be best to wait until it was ours. That way, if something went wrong, we wouldn't have to keep explaining ourselves.

Searching for a house is a long and frustrating process. If you are about to do it, it goes kind of like this:

Call realtor about house you saw on the internet. Make appointment to see house. Drive all the way over there. Sometimes, before going inside, know immediately it's not the one. Look at house anyway for 20 minutes to be polite. Other times, LOVE everything about the house, but find out there's just one thing that is a no-can-do. (For example, there were two houses we liked, but as soon as we stepped out on the porch we could hear a TON of racetrack noise from the New Lebanon Speedway. Ugh. Not what I want to hear every Saturday afternoon for the whole summer.) Tell the realtor "sorry... it's just... not... um... what we're looking for. 'Kthanksbye." Repeat.

Repeat.

Bang head against wall.

Repeat.

The realtor insisted our search was not unusual -- "everybody takes a while to find what they're looking for!"

It's disappointing. You get pretty discouraged.

We looked at a lot of houses before we found this one. Probably like, 25. It seemed like a million.

Just when we were about to give up, we came to see this house.

It's small. It's rural. It sits on almost two acres of land. It has a full, dry basement. It has a nice view. It has a brand new roof and a brand new furnace.

What's not to love?

So, we made an offer, and waited, and argued, and waited. Offer accepted. More waiting. Bank stuff. More waiting. Waiting. More waiting. Appraisal. More waiting. Inspections. More waiting. Negotiations. More waiting. I am not patient; it was painful. Then...

We closed. Yesterday. 

It's ours!

So today I went up -- no realtors, no sellers, no inspectors -- and took some pictures, measured some stuff, and daydreamed for a while.

I'm going to plant my gardens in the side of this hill:

We own a little ways into those woods -- and the seller said there's a 10-pointer hanging around. Yes, please.

I'm going to give this kitchen a serious makeover.

Then I'm going to cook, and bake, and can a lot of stuff in it.

Check out this sweet hatch over the basement steps:

It drops down so we can use that space as a pantry.

Notice the cat door? Jacques may be too fat to fit through it.

The previous owners REALLY liked this color:

So this living room is going to need a serious makeover, too.

And speaking of makeovers...

Ew.

Here's small bedroom #1:

And small bedroom #2 (more... blue):

We'll probably turn this one into an office for now... I can picture it full of math posters.

And the master bedroom:

Our waiting and patience paid off. It may not be huge, but it's the perfect spot to start. There are plenty of little DIY projects to do without there being anything structurally wrong with it. 

Oh, and there's plenty of space outside for a dog and for backyard chickens -- so Sean's excuses for me to wait to get them are coming to an end. Ah, sweet victory.

This weekend, Sean's parents and my dad and his girlfriend are coming to help us do some painting. 

I don't think I've ever been so excited to move!