It's true, we did. We bought a little fixer upper, right down the street. For the longest time Fr. and I have wanted to get a little property outside of town to do some homesteading. So, last year we started the hunt. We just couldn't find what we were looking for, or to rephrase it, all the stuff we liked was out of our price range. So, we figured we'd wait awhile and save some more.
Then, one day I was coming home from the grocery store and I noticed this little house for sale down the street. We live in a college town so many of the homes close to the university are rented. This house was being rented too, and remains for the moment, to be rented to a gaggle of musicians. There is no way of knowing how many live there. When we did the walk through, there were clothes, mattresses and whiskey bottles all over the place. Nice.
Anyhow, the price was right and now we own a home.
Oh yeah, and I can assure you that the bathrooms have never been cleaned. Let me just put it this way. The bathrooms are so nasty that we can't tell if they are a complete gut or not. There is a pretty good chance that they are. But, it will take a couple bottles of bleach before we'll be able to know for sure.
Nonetheless, we will have the keys from our renters on September 1st and the work begins. I know, I know where are the pictures. I don't have any, if you can believe that. I will get them soon though. And don't worry, we'll most definately have before and after pics.
I love the house. It's very charming and has loads of potential. It was built in 1958 and has those charming nuances that old houses often have. Nonetheless, we have two bathrooms to gut, a kitchen to love on, ceilings to scrape, hardwood floors to sand and stain and lots of paint to slap on-and this is just the inside. Other than that, it's beautiful. ;)
Oh yeah, and one really great thing is the cute little cottage tucked in the back yard. We will be renting it out for a few years before it becomes a guest cottage for you all to come and visit and stay in. This will help to offset the constant stream of Home Depot visits I see in the near future.
So, here are ten things I love about my new home:
1) Two bathrooms.
2) Fenced in back yard.
3) Huge walk in closets everywhere! In the master bedroom we have two huge walk in closets with two sides to each closet-crazy! What in the world am I going to put in all those closets? I've lived without closet space for so long!
4) A separate office. This is going to be amazing.
5) No more foot traffic in my bedroom. In our current home our back door goes out our bedroom. Constant stream of traffic.
6) Two huge living rooms. One of these will be our family room/library/homeschool room. Yippee!
7) Windows everywhere!
8) A fireplace! Fr. Justin and I have always wanted a fireplace!
9) The price we paid and the generosity of our parish and dear friends. Thank you Lord!
10) The fact that the church will now have more room to grow. We live in the rectory which is above the church. When we move the church will use the upstairs for coffee hour room and class rooms. Very exciting!
So, I'm sure you'll be hearing all the joys and sorrows of home ownership over the next couple of months. Titles to posts such as: "What did we get ourselves into?" Perhaps I'll add one of those "Donate here" buttons on the side bar of my blog. Just kidding. It can't be that bad can it? Don't answer that question.
