Home Ownership

As of last Monday, DH2U and I are officially home owners! Four months after the process started, we have landed in a home that is well suited for us. It actually was the very first home we looked at. The others were not nearly as nice.

The night we closed, we went to the house to find out that our fabulous real estate agent, Steve, had provided us with a welcome home surprise: There were really thoughtful gifts everywhere. Here was our stove top.

And this is what he wrote on the ramen – one of my guilty pleasures.

There were tons of canning jars for me, and there were surprises all throughout the house, including paper towels and toilet paper in the linen closet, and fun things in the kitchen cabinets.

There was even an ice cream scoop in the freezer!

Of course buying the house is not the end of the adventure. Since it is in California, next up was the appointment with the termite tent. The poor critters didn’t know I’d signed their death warrant the week before. The extermination team took the tent down earlier than I thought they would, so I didn’t get a picture, but I did get a shot of our permission to re-enter the premises.

Next up is fixing our shower – fixing the poor initial installation – tearing out a make-shift room built in the garage, and arranging to get the window coverings and a new HVAC system.

We want to get as much done as we can before moving in, at least the messy stuff. Fortunately, one of the few benefits of buying a home in December is that it is typically pretty slow for contractors around this time.

The fun part will be when we get to start gardening in the terraces in our backyard.

After such an up and down year, I’m looking forward to starting the new year in a home of our own.