It’s Christmas Day and, as usual for us, we’re just hanging around the house enjoying the lack of activity. Several years ago my family started doing the big celebration on Christmas Eve (mostly to allow for my brother and sister-in-law to make the rounds of her family on Christmas Day), so we had them over last night for the big dinner and present-opening, etc.
Of course, things weren’t going quite as smoothly as I had hoped, when the scene both in the house and the garage was looking a bit like this…
Both in the garage…
…and inside the house!
Which necessitate a call to these guys…
Because doesn’t everyone want to call a plumber on Christmas Eve?!
Luckily, though, the prancing and pawing of the plumber and his snake on the roof led to the clearing of the clog that was causing the water to back up, and he was gone about 15 minutes before the first of my family showed up. Timing is everything, folks!
On Monday I finally found enough holiday spirit to actually put up our holiday decorations. We had plenty of pretty cards from friends and family to decorate the pass-through, flanked by our Nick and Nora Build-a-Bear sock monkeys.
We continued to use our tomato-cage “trees” again this year, along with our “drunken monkey” ornament theme. Will we ever get tired of them? Highly doubtful.
Of course, this year we had an extra special addition to the ornaments: a “Happily Ever After” ornament complete with mouse ears and our wedding date, courtesy of a friend and wedding guest.
The way things are going, though, next year we might have room again for a full-sized tree!
This past week has been a bit of a whirl-wind. On Tuesday I found the house I was pining for in my last post, and on Friday I got some of the most grown-up news I’ve every gotten: pre-approval for a mortgage! So Saturday, as we toured the 1910 Victorian, we made the decision to put in an offer and decided to see if they’d accept almost 10K under list price. Imagine our surprise when they accepted it within a day without a counteroffer! Todd now thinks we could have offered less, but I think we’re still getting an amazing deal on a house this size.
After walking through it (and under it, in Todd’s case), we felt comfortable with the amount of work it would need to update parts and pretty-up others. The original house is in amazing shape–some cracks in the plaster from 103 years of settling, but still very sturdy and solid from what we could tell. The outside looks a little shabby, but that’s just peeling paint; the clapboards are still solid and strong. The 1970ish addition, though, that’s where the most work will be needed, including ripping out the kitchen floor and maybe a wall in the hallway extension.
The back of the house, showing the add-on upstairs bathroom, and the kitchen/bath/laundry update from the 70s. Yes, the laundry room does look tilted–that’s something we’re going to have to address.
Of course, we’re not pros, so a lot will be determined by the formal inspection still to come. We’re hoping nothing new and drastic pops up from that process, but as long as his or her findings square with ours, we’ll continue on with the home-buying process. Our offer is contingent on a satisfactory inspection, and we have until January 15, to complete our Due Diligence and pull out of the deal without any repercussions. I really hope it doesn’t come to that–we’re looking forward to a move next year!
If all goes well, closing is set for the end of February, which would give us a 5-month overlap between taking possession and our lease being up in our current rental. Plenty of weekends to spend up in Thomasville doing the basics, getting the home ready for us to move in without the last-minute scramble we had in our last move.
But that’s enough house-talk for now. I think it’s time to raid the leftovers for tonight’s supper!
However you’ve spend your holiday, I hope it was a happy one. And if you have celebrations still to come, I hope you have fun 🙂