Vacation pictures, Hoye-Crest MD (3)

These are from Hoye-Crest, MD and the road leading up to it. Hoye-Crest is the highest point in Maryland. We had some false leads on the map getting there and ended up in a field. But then we found it. You pull off the highway 219 just after leaving Maryland and you see a wooden sign the size of a license plate nailed to a tree that says "Highest Point in Maryland." Ditch the car, walk uphill over rocks for a mile and a half, wonder why you ever thought of this, and get to an excellent view. Oh, and trails marked "moderate" mean moderate for people who routinely hike. It's a good thing the other summits had parking and access roads, or this would have been our only stop. But for all that, it was gorgeous. We had a picnic lunch on the summit, and coming down was a lot easier than going up. Then we went on to Blackwater Falls.

Vacation pictures, Hoye-Crest MD (2)

Vacation pictures, Hoye-Crest MD

Vacation pictures, Blackwater Falls WV (2)

This is Blackwater Falls. We stopped here right after Hoye-Crest. There was probably more to the park, but we were so tired that just the falls made us happy. The water actually is a red-brown-black color from the tannic acid the pine needles make.

Vacation pictures, Blackwater Falls WV

Vacation pictures, Seneca Rocks WV

Seneca Rocks we found by mistake on our way to Spruce Knob. There were actually people climbing on it. I also had a view of it from the highway, but I was too busy trying not to fly off into the gorge to notice. That was a steep, steep highway. We had lunch on a balcony to stop and look at the rocks before going on to Spruce Knob.

Vacation pictures, Spruce Knob WV (4)

So, this is Spruce Knob, WV. We went on Thursday. It was hard to pick just this many pictures, because it was just so gorgeous up there. And really, really hard to get to. We drove up a 12-mile access road that looked like goats would hesitate to use. But it was all worth it at the top.

Vacation pictures, Spruce Knob WV (3)

Vacation pictures, Spruce Knob WV (2)

Vacation pictures, Spruce Knob WV

The New Baby

This is my nephew Corey Edward. :) 6lbs 15 0z, 20 inches. Born 9/11/09 at 7:01 PM.

And Corey with his big brother Eli, and with his mom.

Home

Well, living in our new house is fabulous. We have tons of boxes and a little work to do, but everything is so much better I can't even compare. As soon as I find our camera, I'll post some "done" pictures of rooms... and as soon as more rooms are "done." Did I mention tons of boxes? Anyhow, watch this space for pictures.

Moving Progress

We have the truck and the first truckload in the house! Today will be busy busy busy prepping the rest of the house to be moved. And the rest of the house includes the computers. I'll be offline until at least Tuesday when the cable guy comes out, so emails won't be reaching me. If you need me, I'll have my cell phone on!

Small Happies

I got a mailbox. For my mail at my new house. :) And I have flowers on my porch. And two chairs inside now with my boxes of stuff. This all makes me super happy, even though we're not even close to moved in enough to sleep there yet. But after all the buying stress, small happies are acceptable.

Moving In

Well, we haven't started serious moving yet. I've been cleaning and organizing our old place to make packing faster, and we've been taking carloads of attic stuff while we set up the new place. We have tons of ideas for decorating, landscape, and layout. It's starting to feel more like home, even if it doesn't have furniture inside yet. And, we're making faster progress in the attic than I thought we would. We may actually get it all moved without getting rid of anything more. Then we move all the real things in one marathon weekend with a truck, and get to live there!

Woo!

It's official. I am a homeowner. With keys and everything. I feel very relieved.

Everybody Limbo...

So. I'm told I close today. But the conversation doesn't stay that simple. It's more like
"So, it's all set, we'll see you at two to close."
"But, are all the papers in and approved?"
"Nope! See you at two!"
"...Don't we need all the papers to close?"
"Sure do. See you then. Bye!"
"..."

So, I'm pretty sure my head will explode just a teeny bit at some point today. I smell toast.

!!

I just got an email with a pdf showing my loan approval after not being able to get any answers all week! Hooray! We'll be setting a closing date ASAP, and I'll let everyone know how it goes. We're gonna have a house!

More waiting

No one's giving me a clear closing date so far. Hopefully it's not long from now. We went out to see if the storms made the basement wet, and were surprised to be let in and shown around. The daughter selling the house has scrubbed everything top to bottom! It's so much nicer than I could have hope she'd be. She even planted new flowers in the porch boxes and left any sort of amenity that could make living there easier, like drapes. I just can't believe how nice she's being, since I've also seen people strip the lightbulbs and fixtures before leaving.

Waiting

Well, I signed a ton of papers today. Now it's a waiting game to be sure we get approved, see if any of this pushes back our closing, and if any other problems can possibly come up. I'm hoping none do. This is way more stressful than the wedding was. But, my loan officer seemed confident that we'd get it, which helps. And at the end of all this, we will own a house. Until then, waiting.

One down, two to go

Well, the house inspection went well. There were problems, but minor problems that I was expecting to hear. All houses have problems. Now I need to get the loan and the insurance... one down, two to go.

Thanks.

Thanks to everyone who's emailed me about the house. I'm cautiously excited so far. Buying a house is pretty stressful. Next week we should have the inspection and then the loan, so we'll know if anything is going to go grandly wrong. Provided nothing does, we just have to get through until the end of June before we get keys. I can't wait until we get to move in! I'll try and keep everyone posted here if there's news.

:)

We were looking for a house, but didn't expect to find one so very quickly. IF nothing goes wrong on the inspection, insurance, and loan, then this is our new house. It's just outside of Latrobe and in a very quiet neighborhood. The house is small, but it's in great shape and is going to actually save us a lot of money while being all our own. Here's some pictures of the interior. A 93-year-old woman owned and built the house and kept it in grand shape. We'll have to change a few things, but it's a cute house.