Well, we had quite the weekend! On Friday, we went to an auction for a house we were interested in here in Waukomis. We didn't think our chances were very good for winning it, but nevertheless, we pre-qualified for a loan and made preparations, just in case. This house is sitting on 1.4 acres of land and surrounded by the remaining 78.6 owned by this family. They took bids for the house & that 1.4 acres. Then they took bids for the 78.6 acres alone. They added those two winning bids together and then took bids on the whole property. They wanted to sell it in the way that would bring the most money, obviously, so it would be sold either the two tracts separately or the whole property as one. We actually won the bid for the house alone, which made us hopeful, but we lost as soon as the first bid on the entire property came in. :) We were disappointed. But then ... the man who was in the lead bidding on the whole thing approached us and asked if we'd be interested in buying the house from him! He only wanted the land, I guess, but had to buy the house to get it. So we happily agreed and now are trying to let it sink in that we will soon have a new home!

This house is significantly bigger than where we are right now. It's brick and set off a good ways from the road. Inside, it has 1783 square feet, plus a very large 2-car garage and a huge storm shelter under the garage -- indoor access! There are three BIG bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, one with a tub & shower, one with just a shower. But wow, more than one person could shower at the same time?!? There's a fireplace, lots of windows (which I love) and a great-sized kitchen with plenty of cabinet space and a built-in dishwasher. The kitchen and dining room are basically one big room, and there is a bay window in the dining area. Oh, there is also a built-in china hutch! It's not too big, but imagine that: I can display my nice dishes! The hutch part is above a shelf-like surface that has drawers underneath for silverware, I guess. I could be wrong about it being built-in, but I don't think it was a movable piece of furniture. Off of the south end of the kitchen/dining room is a little hallway leading to the garage. The washer and dryer go there (I can't remember if it's an indention or an actual laundry closet you can close), and there's even a little open closet area right across for all the necessary supplies! The living room and kitchen are parallel to each other and the bedrooms are off of a hallway at the north end of the living room. In the living room, there are built-in bookcases or knick-knack shelves flanking the fireplace. Pretty cool! The fireplace is a modest size, which is perfect for us. It closes all the way up, too, and has blowers to get the air out. Safer for the kids, so I'm happy about that!

The front porch is pretty big, actually long would probably describe it better. There are flower beds already bordered all along the sidewalk that Greg and the girls will enjoy replanting, I'm sure! There are two especially pretty trees (no idea what kind) in the front and several others scattered around the yard. There's a good-sized patio in the back and doors to get ouside from the garage and the house. Won't that be nice! Right now we have to go through the garage to get into the back yard. There is a tiny shed in the back, but Greg will miss the nice one he and his dad built here. He is planning to transplant our swingset, which will be a lot of work. But he will put it in cement there, which will be nice.

This house was built in the mid-80's, if I remember correctly. It's not perfect, but close enough for me! We are already thinking about how we might actually want to invite people over now. We close on May 19th, but I doubt we'll be moving in right away. Whenever they give us access to the house, we want to paint the rooms before we bring anything over. That's something we always talked about doing here but never got around to. It's so much work to move everything out and back in!! As for our current house, our friend and neighbor, Tricia, has been looking for a home to rent for her daycare and location-wise, you just can't beat the house right across the street! So that's the plan for now.

I'll try to post some pictures for your viewing pleasure. :) Thanks for reading my blog. This is great! I can rattle on and on and not feel like I'm driving anyone crazy. If you don't want to hear it, you can just stop reading and I'll never know! I don't have to feel guilty at all for talking excessively -- as long as I don't put the housework off too long :)