Hello, hello.
The first phone call after receiving the keys and clicking open the lock, was my lovely girlfriend Carol and she said "Is it as beautiful as your remember it to be?" and yes, yes it is. In fact it's even more beautiful, because when Dr. Handsome and I first did the view, bid and win - we had only seen the house for a total of about fifteen minutes in person.
Our city is probably one of the last mired in the up and up with respect to the hot housing market and bidding wars on weekends are still happening, fast and fierce. Between Dr. Handsome's work schedule, nap times, sitter availability and open house showings, we had only seen the house once, made a quick decision and with a nod of our collective heads, ended up a few days later, exhausted from a late night bidding war - as home owners.
That was months ago. When the city was buried under a blanket of snow.
So as quickly as we bought it, so began the ping-pong game of our possession date. Early. Now later. Nope early again. No, later. Then finally the phone rang, it was the lawyers office and the keys(!!!) were ready for pick up. Slinging a baby over each hip, we piled into the truck and drove down and fifteen minutes later, I was headed to the back door of our glorious new (old) house.
And with the key in the lock, one turn and a click, we were in.
And it was as I remembered it, and even better - because the previous home-owner was kind enough to have it thoroughly cleaned and sparkling (not something I can say about the last few home-owners of the last few houses we've been in. You know who you are. You know i'm looking at you). The wide open deck in the middle of a fairly beautiful yard. A patio. Grand oak trees sprouting brand new spring buds. A small perennial garden beginning to flower.
We were fortunate enough that the previous home-owner had spent a small fortune of time and money on restoring the previously painted oak woodwork throughout the house, to it's original state.
However, with all upsides, there are downsides. One of them was the scary second floor bedroom that will eventually be transformed into #3's toddler room.
I can't pin point what it was that made it scary - perhaps the bizarre former cut out in the ceiling or the oddly scented carpeting that ran from wall to wall that smelled something akin to the wet stuff you'd find in the bottom of a garbage can in the corner of a hoarder's garage. Or perhaps it is the slide lock on the bedroom door, perhaps from a previous inhabitant, to keep out people who might interrupt his late night gaming session or the cheap buzzing fluorescent fixture overhead that cast the room in tear inducing glow reminiscent of the lights in a high school gymnasium.
Regardless, the room sucked.
As does the Master.
We knew it sucked when we saw the house, but the suck was amplified once we were in the house and the previous owners's furniture was out, only to reveal the giant crack in the wall behind where his bed had been and the bizarre light fixtures that work only by unscrewing the bulbs. And the ceiling. Oh the ceiling. The sagging, yellowed, plaster ceiling, complete with old cigarette and water stains. Oh ceiling. You're right out of a Baltimore crack den. I have you on my radar. You will be my first target.
The photos are doing none of it justice - from the good and the bad. Because the good is great, but the bad is terrrible. And i'm not even going to get to the floors.
But in between the good and the bad and the very very ugly are things like the wide spanning covered front porch and the gorgeous brand new energy efficient and cost-a-fortune leaded glass windows that we don't even have to bat an eyelash at.
And so we go, with keys in one hand, a wall paper scraper in the other and a baby on each hip, begins my first attempt at making this house, our home.
<3
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