All Settled...

I haven't written since we closed on the house. We've been real busy trying to settle in. There is so much to do, it's all a bit overwhelming. Our lovely garage is half full of stuff, we haven’t had the strength or time to organize and find places for. The move was pretty awful (as moving usually is). We wanted to hire movers, as we hope this will be the last move for a LONG time, but unfortunately we just couldn't justify it financially. So we paid a couple of Alex's friends to help us, and rented a Uhaul.

     Moving out to the country has been a great experience so far.  We made it a point to bake some muffins and cookies and go introduce ourselves to our neighbors. They are all very nice seeming people. They were friendly and thanked us. A couple of them joked, that they thought they should be the ones bringing us treats. One neighbor ( I forget most of their names! ), invited us in to her granddaughters birthday party. It was awkward, but nice nonetheless. Some person secretly dropped off a nice hubbard squash, which we cooked up for dinner one night. And Sharon (the one name I do remember) sent her husband over to check on us when the power went out.
     Within a couple weeks of us moving in we lost electricity, water (we have a pump), heat, and our woodstove wouldn't light. It was a cold, cold night. And we started to wonder if we'd made the wrong decision. Then within a few weeks of that, the group home for the disabled we both work at, started (& still is) having funding issues. Apparently the State of Maine is trying to switch to an online, automated billing system, and the accountants up there have messed it all up. Anyways, we waited weeks to receive enough money to do a payroll. Finally (knock on wood) we have received it, and should be paid tomorrow or Monday. The state continues to have real issues with their new system, and we will continue the battle to keep the facility funded and open. Anyways, all of these things have conspired to make for a very worrying move into our first home. But we are hopeful, that we are making good decisions. I told Alex that we are getting the hard times out of the way early.
     We hosted our very first Thanksgiving dinner! It was so much fun and so much work. I cooked my very first turkey, and it came out spectacularly, beautiful golden brown skin, and quite moist meat. I am very proud, especially since it was over 20lbs! I also made a delicious Boston Market style sweet potato casserole. Yum! I will definitely make that one again. We had 21 family members over, and used the opportunity to show guests all around the house, and it was made into a house-warming party as well. Got some very nice things. Including a couple of lovely lamps, gift certificates to HD, and of course, money. Yay! We managed to fit all 21 people into our dining room, by putting 3 tables together. I bought placemats, chargers, and napkins at the Christmas Tree Shop. We had a lovely fire going in our woodstove. I love the woodstove so much! Especially because it’s kind of fancy and has a glass front. Thanksgiving was a great success, with everyone having a good time, no arguing, and great conversation. A lot of people met our kitty cats for the first time, and they loved them as well. My little baby cousin tried to ride my 6lb cat, Schmooky, but thankfully thought better of it.
     With Christmas coming, we’ve decided we’re going to do a much smaller tree trimming party. Alex’s brother, sister, and brother-in-law will be coming over from England, and will, of course, be invited. We’re so excited to see them and show them the house. I’ll have to write another more detailed post with party plans. But I can tell you we’re planning on having a smaller Christmas tree in the dining room (in front of the picture window) and a larger tree in the living room/sunroom. We’ll have the dining room tree all decorated, and the other tree setup with just the lights hung. We also want to do a big Christmas fish & lobster chowder, we are in Maine after all. J

So, all in all living in the country is going great. I’m excited for spring though, and winter hasn’t but just begun. We'll see how driving in the snow and ice goes.

We're officially homeowners!!

We closed on the house today! Everything went very smoothly. The seller's were a very nice older couple who had recently moved to Virginia, and are taking a Mediterranean cruise to celebrate retirement. They gave us the names of all our neighbors, who they loved & plan on coming back to visit. It was nice to buy a house from such nice people, I'm sure the house will be filled with lots of positive energy. They're even paying to have have some carpets replaced because they had a few stains... sweet! It wasn't even in the contract. Anyways, Alex & I are really happy, excited, and nervous. This is a huge step in life... God willing we're headed in the right direction.

Packing & Moving

So we haven't officially closed on the house yet. But so far everything is looking good. The loan has been approved, we've bought home insurance (through Progressive), and we've sent in all documentation they've asked for thus far. Now it's getting down to the time when we should start packing right?? God I HATE moving! It is so awful. I'm hoping though that since we're moving into a ranch it won't be as bad. The last time we moved everything had to go down 2 flights of stairs and then up another 3. It was terrible!
Any moving tips would be much appreciated.
We're planning on renting a uhaul and hiring a few strong & good friends. They're gonna hate us, this is the 4th time we've moved in the last 4 years. Sorry guys! Wish we could afford movers but we really need to save every penny for home repairs and a safety net. At least we won't be moving in the winter. February in Maine is not when you wanna move, trust me. :-)
Well I've rambled long enough, better try and get some sleep.

Technicalities - (Some of the household machines I know nothing about)

These are some pictures of machinery in our house that I have very little interest in, but in trying to be a responsible homeowner, I figured I should keep them.

Other pictures & house video

Here are some other pictures of the house. Still missing some of the basement, livingroom, and the bedrooms.

Bathroom. Tub on other side.

Skylight in bathroom

Alex and the garage

Washer and ancient dryer. There is also great cabinet space and a folding counter next to the washer.

Video of the house

Sunroom Pictures

Here are some pictures of the sunroom. Alex thought that a warm terracotta color tile might be nice in this room. We particularly love the woodstove. It is also heated through vents so we're probably going to use this room as a livingroom, and make the livingroom into a diningroom. Thanks to Jenny & Syl who had the foresight to take pictures! :-)

Stairs lead into kitchen. The cabinent is a fixed structure.

The windows look into the woods. The small bottom window and window to the very right open.

Looking into the sunroom

Woodstove

Here is a video Jenny (Alex's mum) took of the sunroom. Thanks Jenny!

Pictures of the kitchen

Kitchen

Ancient stove

Dishwasher

Kitchen with sunroom on left

Kitchen Ideas

The kitchen cupboards are currently a honey oak color... ick. I'd like to paint them a shade of white but Alex likes the look of wood. So we'll probably compromise and use a darker stain. Here are some idea I like:
Note: I've found a bunch of stuff online, if I've forgotten to credit your pictures please let me know & I'll be happy to!

I like the light color walls with the darker wood.

Love the idea of tile! (Taken from Lela's Nest)

These kitchens have the same metal fixtures. I like the blue paint too. (taken from: apugglesmom)

Here are some pictures of white cupboard kitchens:

I LOVE this kitchen. So light & clean looking.

Another nice white kitchen. I like the linoleum floor too. (Taken from: Myst33)

Pictures of our probable house.

We haven't closed yet on the house, but everything is looking pretty good. So I thought I'd post a few listing pictures. I don't have any of the inside yet, but hopefully I'll be able to get some this week when we go for the inspection. This whole process has been really exciting and really stressful.

Front of the house. There are a lot of trees, we may have to cut some down.

This is the back of the house. The sunroom is really nice with a great woodstove.

Another shot of the outside of the heated sunroom. It looks out into the woods.

Love the garage. It's 900sqft with a loft with stairs going up to it.

Garden Shed. There are also two raised garden beds.