Ah, where do I begin?

For weeks, I have been hinting both here and on Facebook that "something" was happening in my life on July 30. Since that date has now passed, and the "something" is done, I feel comfortable sharing the news: CPM and I bought a new house! We are moving out of the city and into the burbs! Settlement was July 30.

First, I must share my insanity, my reason for being so reticent online about such wonderful news. I am superstitious. Insanely so. During the purchase process, I kept worrying that I would wake up one morning and the seller would have changed their mind, or the mortgage company would have laughed at us, and the deal would have fallen through. I convinced myself that if I said one word about the deal online, that it would crumble into dust. Hence, I stuck to hinting. And the deal was completed.

There were some typical stressful mortgage company antics in the days leading up to settlement, but since this was our second time going through the mortgage process, we were prepared for most of them. The most uncool antic was the call that I had to make to the IRS 20 minutes before our pre-settlement walk through. Immediately upon completing that call, I made CPM drive me right to the wine store.

You may be wondering what motivates us to move out of the city of Philadelphia, the city I have grown up in, a city that I often pretend to hate but actually love. It is just time. That's the best way I can put it. After 10 years living in and improving our current home, we are ready to move on to a new project. We are ready to sit in a yard instead of on a stoop, surrounded by trees and listening to crickets.

So, within hours of being handed the keys to our suburban abode, we began the renovation process. I'm documenting it here. The highlight of our first weekend at the house had to be the moment we found the first of two gigantic squirrel nests that were in our ceilings.



It made me glad that I was geared up like this for the demo process:



I keep expecting some squirrel commando unit to be waiting for us when we return to the house. So far, we've been safe. I also imagine that the squirrels may have hired some skunks to hit us or our dogs when we least expect it. Perhaps a raccoon assassin will make an appearance. (Note to readers: I'm currently copyrighting squirrel commando unit, skunk attack squads, raccoon assassins and any and all childrens books that result from these ideas.) Ah, country life. When I start complaining about cars exceeding the 25 mph speed limit, you'll know I've really gone over to the other side.

I have to take a moment now to officially thank all of the friends who made an appearance over our first demo weekend. Without them, we would not have made such incredible progress. I am so appreciative of their support and work. Demo is a thankless job, especially in the heat of summer. Luckily, we had perfect, non-humid summer weather all weekend. Even still, it was hot, hard work, and I commend anyone who performs such physical labor on a daily basis. As for me, I like my air-conditioned desk job. So, thank you friends, for sweating along with CPM and me.

CPM and I are now busy designing the new interior. I want to start getting excited for picking paint colors, tile, appliances, etc., but when your house looks like this



it's hard to think past the mess.