6 November 2012

 For some people today is Election Day and they are waiting in long lines to cast their vote (the guy at Starbucks this morning said he waited over two hours two weeks ago here in Katy), for others it is just an ordinary Tuesday in November.

For Team Bolen? It is the day that we purchased our first house!

Yup, I am writing this post while standing at the counter of our new home while AT&T hooks up our Internet. This place sure is echo-ey without any furniture, rugs or stuff in it. J.E.B. asked me what it felt like to walk through the place now knowing that it was in fact ours, and let me tell you, it feels great! A little daunting yes (now all repairs/fix-its are up to us not some landlord!!) but pretty freaking cool!

As many of you know, J.E.B. is still away in Canada and I have been doing to finishing touches to the home ownership process on my own. I was rather stressed for the Home Demonstration Walkthrough yesterday since J.E.B. would be thinking about things that wouldn't even occur to me. But I think I did pretty well in trying to fill both of our shoes. What was expected to be a quick 45-minute walk-through to learn where stuff is, instead became a 3-hr walkthrough/inspection as I went through the house to make sure that any mistakes/issues/discrepancies were addressed and taken care of. The guy with me had a roll of bright orange masking tape to mark such discrepancies and I am serious when I say I used about half that roll. Most of it was minor paint touch-ups but I was adamant that I would not be rushed, nor would I lower my standards to make the appointment go faster.

This morning was the closing and it went ok, in that I did indeed sign for the house and completed the process. I only say ok since apparently the mortgage company did not forward along the rather important information that this would be a Power of Attorney signing/closing. So I ended up waiting about 30 minutes or so for the mortgage company to send over revised POA paperwork. Once that happened, everything else went smoothly. I had to basically write a paragraph every time I had to sign J.E.B.'s name but my hand surprisingly did not fall off and I was able to get everything done. And, the drive into Houston was fairly easy! So a win overall!

So now I'm standing in our new home since there is no furniture here yet and thinking about our future. Is this the house we'll be in when V learns to ride a bike? Or learns to drive? Yikes, that thought already scares me! Will I eventually get around to painting each room the colors I want, for instance a nice sunny yellow for the kitchen maybe? Or a soothing light blue for our bedroom? Are we going to utilize the dog park that was just put in down the street from us or will I just walk Atlas around the miles of sidewalks through the subdivision? Will I make it habit to walk to the lake or just stay on the streets and meander along what way? What is our neighborhood like?

Ahh, the possibilities the future holds! I can't wait!

No one was there to capture the first picture of me entering our home for the first time....so I did it myself!