I think this is really going to happen! eek!

 I finally started packing! It just sort of took over! It really helped that we I had already done so much organizing and purging early this fall. 

Living room. Done. Both bathrooms. Done. Master bedroom. Done. 

All the pictures throughout the WHOLE house are down. Nothing on the walls!

Yay! This is REALLY happening =D 

The homeowners decided to keep their bedroom set, but are offering both the TV's they are both 50 inch! A LOT bigger than we are used to! Haha! We don't even have a flat screen in the 3 TV's we now own. We will look at them tonight. The only reason we are interested is because the media center now holds one of the TV's so we need one anyway, the other one is already mounted on the master bedroom wall. Which I guess is expensive? 

Last night Scott and I were asking each other questions about what our first project was going to be in the new house? What are we most looking forward too, etc? It was such a nice evening. 

I LOVE my hubby =)

Well, guess I better get busy, Koko and I have been walking to the new house and back every day! It gets us out of the house, and exercising, up a HUGE hill, twice! I clocked it, it is 2 miles round trip and takes us between 50-60 minutes. 

First up the hallway closets, then walk, then spare bedroom. The kitchen will be the last room for the day and that will take care of the entire upstairs!

A week from closing...

Woohoo! Closing date is coming! Looks like we will be closing on our dream home FRIDAY! squeal! We spent a couple hours with the homeowners yesterday. They are both so sad to be leaving this house. but excited for us, and for themselves, they have big plans for their new house. We wandered through the yard and I learned what was planted, and how to take care of them. She has a gardener/landscaper that is a family friend that helps her a couple times a year so I got his name and phone number he was actually there helping them pack also. Scott learned about the care of the hot tub, and the chickens, although I will be the one taking care of the chickens... six chickens... a few got eaten by critters a couple weeks ago.
She told me when they bought the house she was reading the book Under the Tuscan Sun... and her dream was to make the property resemble that as much as possible, they call the property Edens Vale. We will not actually get the keys until Sunday night... they need a couple days to move out. My first order of business is to paint the guest bedroom, and have new carpet installed, and drain the hot tub and fill with fresh water ;)
You may be wondering why I have the picture of the bed posted... she is thinking of selling the bed, dresser and night stand... I may buy them depending on the price. I am soo ready to start buying things for this house, but don't want to move things twice! I can't wait to start decorating for Christmas! The end is in sight though! Can. Not. Wait!
Today I WILL pack some boxes! haha!

Current update on the cottage =)

 Things are moving along nicely, finally! Looks like a move in date of December 3, closing date of December 1. We had a chance to meet one of the homeowners, Lynn is a wonderful woman who is soo sad to be leaving her home. She explained to us, with tears in her eyes that with 9 grandchildren the house flow just wasn't working, so they needed to find something else.
She invited me over on Sunday afternoon to take a look at what she was selling. She GAVE us this media center... no, not the TV but the cabinet! (they didn't want to have to move it).

She also gave us the matching desk =)

 I was so happy to find out the bookcases in the loft are staying!

 I had a chance to meet the wife of the man who built them. She was very proud of the work her hubby had done, I don't blame her, I love them and am so glad they are staying.

I had originally gone to buy the candelabra, and the folding chairs I mentioned in an earlier post, but she decided to keep them! haha! I did buy these chairs though! All six of them! I decided my friends needed some nice chairs to sit in when they come craft with me ;) I also bought a little bench from her. We are going to meet with her and her hubby again to walk through the yard, he will teach me about the chickens... Koko will have 10 new sisters! He will teach Scott about maintaining the hot tub too. They are sad to be leaving their hot tub. She is leaving me ALL the potted plants outside, the large pot fountain by the front door and the lion fountain and small table and chairs in the courtyard =)

So as you can see the inspection went pretty well, we did have them fix or clean a few things, and we need to do a few things but all in all it went really well. We are still waiting for the fireplace inspection, the septic inspection (which we understand went well) and a window to be fixed. The appraisal we understand went great! The appraiser said "we got a smokin' deal". I guess that means I need to start packing! haha! I really don't want to pack, can you tell?

Things I will miss, things I won't....

There are things I am going to miss about our house we currently live in. 

*I will miss the wood fireplace. Yesterday afternoon I decided to light a fire, it will probably be the last one in this house. 

*I, of course, will miss the view from the front window, but we do have a peekaboo view in the cottage and hope to have an even better view when the house across the street sells. We are hoping the new owners are willing to limb a few of the trees. 

* I will miss our backyard and little pond, but will totally love the yard and ponds I am getting at the cottage.

The things I will not miss far out way the things I will! 

*As I was bringing the groceries up the stairs yesterday I realized in 3 weeks I will not have more than 3 steps to bring the groceries in!

*I will get to park in the garage for the first time in THREE houses with garages!

*I will have MORE than enough storage room, finally!

*I will not have to lug wood in from the woodpile to have a fire, just flip the switch to the gas fireplace, plus no wood/ash mess!

*I will not have the pine needles all over the floor that need vacuuming all fall, winter and spring, don't get me wrong I love all the green and living in the trees, but less mess will be nice =)

*I will not miss having to go downstairs with a huge pile of laundry in a basket and then remember to bring the laundry back upstairs after folding it all or ask the hubby to do it =) 

*I will not miss having to step over the bathtub to get in and out of the shower.

*I will not miss how cold the basement is, even in the summer.

*I will not miss the lack of parking for guests!

*I will not miss not having a guest bedroom (can't wait to get that room redecorated, wonder who the first guest(s) will be?)

*I will not miss ever moving again or at least 20+ years, this house will be perfect!

The cottage passed the home inspection, their were a couple minor concerns that we asked the homeowners to fix or have inspected and a couple we will do ourselves, they agreed to our terms. Next is the appraisal which I think may be happening tomorrow. As I stated in my other blog papperribbonandink we have a goal of putting the other house on the market January 15.

Walking back up to the house...

 This is the last post of my home tour, I have taken you through almost every inch of our new home. We cannot wait to get moved in. If you haven't been on a blog before, make sure you click "older posts" at the bottom of the page to take you to more. I took 181 pictures so there is lots to show you the tour begins at the driveway;)
I will let the pictures speak for themselves. As I walk back up to the house I take pictures of things I hope the homeowners leave. If not I will try my best to recreate!

 This mushroom near the first pond was huge!

Haha! I figured I should at least show a picture of the front door. As you can see I don't think it gets used, everyone seems to enter through the kitchen! Hope you enjoyed my home tour. I can't wait to start making a few changes ;) 

A walk through the yard...

 As we walk down to the front of the house we pass lots of plants. I am especially fond of the remains of the hydrangea.

 I can't even begin to tell you how many different varieties.

 Each one gorgeous though!

 Here we are below the deck... the area I mentioned in an earlier post. The vine growing are grapes. The current owners used this area for wine parties.

Way back near the bar area is the crawl space under the house that isn't really a crawl space. There is a storage area for all the yard equipment, and an area that the homeowners were planning on putting a wine cellar.

 Picture some white lights and cloth banners hanging from the ceiling, with the candelabra I mentioned earlier and the farmhouse table.

 Love the tall grasses planted in spots all over the property.

 This arbor has the white wisteria planted on it. Wouldn't it be a beautiful spot for a wedding? I would so love to rent the grounds out for weddings =)

 A little seating area

 Another glimpse at the garden, chicken coop and greenhouse.

 A peek at the lower grounds, with weeping willow trees.

 So fun to have all these little paths to walk, Koko will enjoy walking them everyday to look for critters. The neighborhood has 2 very large labs that come over daily to say Hi, not sure how Koko will handle that.

 This is the third pond on the property =)

 A glimpse back up at the house.

 The path on the lower grounds looking toward the second outdoor fire place.

Here we are at the fireplace on the lower grounds. =) Almost done with the tour! Last post up next!

Garden and chicken coop

 This is the beginning of the garden area... close here is the beginning of an english garden I believe, behind that is a pear tree on a vine, on the other side is the raised beds and then the chicken coop/greenhouse.

 On the other side of the white fence is a variety of fruit trees. I am negotiating to have the home owner take me on a tour to tell me about the property.

 We have also told them we are willing to keep the 10 chickens. Jessica, need fresh eggs? Free for you my friend!

 Hope these stay too ;)

Up next we will take a walk around the yard, it is 3/4 acre so we may do it in 2 posts! haha!