...bought a house!

It's all mine! All 1,600 square feet, which at the moment is a hot mess. The crotchety old woman who lived there (hoo boy, she was grouchy at closing) must have smoked from the minute she moved in, until the minute she moved out. And never cleaned a minute in between. And so now, the cleaning has begun.

Up first: we tamed the jungle in the yard. It had been mowed, but not a single thing else in the four months the house sat empty. Then it was on to scrubbing the yellow stains off the "almond" appliances (seriously, who chooses "almond" or "biscuit" these days? Why do they even still offer it?). It literally took two days to clean the just the fridge and stove, but they're now sparkling clean, although still almond. :(

Next on the list: washing down the kitchen cabinets and all walls, ceilings, doors, trim, etc.; and ripping up the one bedroom with carpet laid over beautiful hardwood floors. Unfortunately that's the only room where the floors will be restored -- the previous owner covered all the other beautiful hardwoods with linoleum and "simulated wood", which is in too good a condition to tear up to see what's underneath. Then it's on to priming, painting, changing all the light switches and power outlets, changing out lights, ceiling fans, and on and on and on...

At the moment, it's a little overwhelming. Thank god for amazing parents to help with all the dirty work!