Whoo hoo!

I just realized that I've been posting to my myspace blog, but not this one.  Guess it's time to catch you up.  When I say "you," I mean the one person who reads this.  Hi!

My house is officially, completely, contracts-signed, and inspections-done sold.  We close on Thursday, and I get to stay here till July 31st.

I went to Florida with my mother and nephew a couple weeks ago to find a place to live there.  I now have a sweet little house under contract, just waiting for my current house to close to really get the ball rolling. It's about 25 miles south of Tallahassee in a very small town with dirt roads, and we'll be only 15 minutes from the ocean, and a beach covered in tiny little sand crabs.  It's a lovely little yellow house, with three bedrooms and a screened front porch with a ceiling fan- necessary for Florida.  And (amazingly) it's brand-new construction.  No one has ever lived there before, and when all is said and done, it will cost about $200 a month less than my current mortgage, even though the purchase price is much higher.  And Eric and I will each have our own bathrooms. And a kitchen pantry (not a pantry each, silly)!  And steel appliances, and enough counter space that I won't have to move the coffee maker to cut up some chicken.  I'm really, really excited about this wonderful little house.  Even though I'll be out in a rural area, I can be at school in about 35 minutes. The only things about the house that need fixing are that it needs a fence in the back (that'll be done, like, immediately), and it doesn't have a back door.  Isn't that bizarre? The only door is the front door.  But putting in a back door really won't be all that difficult or expensive. I expect to have it by Christmas.

We got the house found and under contract in about 4 days, and then we took my nephew to Busch Gardens in Tampa.  Turns out for the same price as one-day admission, you can have unlimited entry till Dec. 31.  So all three of us now have passes.  I upgraded mine for an additional charge, and now I get free parking and 10% off food and souvenir purchases.  It's already almost paid for itself.  Busch Gardens is a GREAT park.  My nephew said he likes it more than any of the Disney parks, except maybe Epcot.  He thought Epcot might be a tie.  And, thanks to some well-placed plexiglass, I got to put my face within an inch of a sleeping tiger's face.  I can't even begin to tell you how amazing that was. They're impressive when you're 10 feet away.  Being 2 inches away will take your breath.

So that's the news from here.  We haven't even started packing yet.  It's just too daunting.  If I weren't selling the house to good friends, I'd just leave some crap behind.  That would be rude to do to strangers, and extremely rude to do to friends!  We've got to pare down, though.  The new house is 200 sq ft smaller, and doesn't have a basement.  My house in TN is FULL- and so is the basement.

Hope all is well with you and yours.  If the Wondrous Chain of Events continues, I should own a new lovely home in Crawfordville, FL in about 3 weeks.  Cross your fingers!