Long Overdue Update

Okay, exceedingly clever twin sister (and your ambiguously last-initialed friend Matt), here's a brief recount to tide you over until photos are available. First, some noteworthy details:

1. The house is officially ours. The deed is filed, we have keys, we check the mail, and we've even gotten the first electric bill.

2. The house is also officially a mess. We spent the first weekend of home ownership cleaning it up, taking out carpets, filling a dumpster with garbage left behind by the somewhat notorious previous owners (at least that's what we gather from talking to the neighbors), and completely gutting the kitchen. By the end of that weekend, it actually looked halfway not disgusting. A week later, it's back to being a hub of chaos. There's now a bathtub in one bedroom, a stove in the entryway, paint splatters all over the floors, and still (despite regular and frequent sweeping), lots of dead bugs. But, hey, they're dead.

3. Projects currently underway include the bathroom renovation (thanks to Cousin Bill). John installed the toilet himself (and the flush is completely not even close to being as intimidating as I would have liked, but I suppose less water usage makes the environment happy). He also decided to go out on his own and buy a vanity. It's a perfectly attractive looking thing, but it's huge in our little bathroom. Let's put it this way, no one who needs a wheelchair or a walker or who needs to bathe a child will ever be buying this house. The kitchen is gutted and I'm off to Ikea tonight to order our new cabinets. The deck has been temporarily renovated to expose a little more driveway (previously the oversized deck made driving into the garage a near impossible feat). I know, I know, you're thinking why didn't anyone scoop up this gem sooner??? We have a brand new hot water heater, and freshly primed walls.

4. John finally got a chance last night to sit on his deck with a bottle of wine and a cigar, which made him very happy. I, meanwhile, was priming walls.

5. I have lots of calluses on my hands; John probably has a bit of a hangover.

6. Now we are trying to tap into our inner architects to figure out how to make a completely non-sensical layout flow in a logical way. At this point, I can't even give a straight answer when someone asks how many bedrooms it has. We honestly don't know. It's just straight up funky.

7. The plan is to be in by Thanksgiving, and hopefully to have photos up at least by then...