A New Chapter

Tomorrow at 5:00 pm, my family and I will begin a new chapter. A chapter that we have wanted to begin for a LONG time. At 5 o'clock, Matt and I will become homeowners!

We started this journey on April 27, 2011. Do you find it strange that I can remember the exact date we began looking for a house? It really isn't. And if you live in Alabama, you recognize that date as well. That is the day the horrible tornadoes ripped across our state. Our realtor called us to say he had the keys to the first house we wanted to look at, right at the moment our power went out, and the first tornadoes were hitting Cullman.

After that first day, we probably saw 15 - 18 houses, but none of them were "home" We saw big houses, little house, houses with huge yards and large amounts of land, and houses with no yard. Brand new houses and old historic houses. Houses that had swimming pools and houses that had koi ponds. We fussed over one house in particular - Matt and Davis both really loved it (It had a swimming pool) but I had to be the voice of reason (it only had one bedroom!)

Over our almost 14 years of marriage Matt and I have lived in ALL kinds of homes. Tiny, big, old, newer, brand new, townhouses, you name it! So we kind of knew what we wanted in home....I was armed with a list (for those of you that REALLY know me - that comes as no surprise!) I had some things I was NOT willing to budge on and some things I could do without.

Well after about two weeks of looking - we found our home! It is actually a home that I looked at on the internet while we were still living in West Virginia. We know the family that is currently in the home, and we actually lived two doors up from this house the first time we lived in Oneonta. This house was built in the 1940's. ( I LOVE an older home with lots of character!) The man that built this home built the first Oneonta High School. There is so much character in this house - the original (refinished - thank you Jesus) hardwood floors, the original iron doorknobs, built-in bookcases, two old fashioned doorbells, etc. But the family we are buying the house from has done some improvements - totally updated the electrical wiring and plugs, updated the plumbing (again - thank you Jesus) a new garage door, new deck on the back, etc. There is still some work we would like to do - paint, hang crown moulding, rip up the linoleum in kitchen to expose the hardwood floors and then refinish them, etc.

I do not scrapbook. I am too much of a perfectionist. I tried once upon a time, but could never get the pages to look exactly as I wanted them, and I was constantly starting over on the same page. So - that is the reason I blog. This is our digital scrapbook. I can document the "days of our lives" - good and bad - for Davis to look back on one day and remember. SO - as we move into our new home, i will be documenting our journey. The befores and afters of this new chapter. Let me warn you, we are a one income family and we plan to be in this house for many years to come, so this journey will be a long one. Lots of home improvement posts will be in our future -so sit back and enjoy!

So without further delay - here is the first picture of our new home!!!!!