I can keep in my excitement NO LONGER! Are you ready?
I'M GOING TO BE A HOME OWNER!!!
I am so freaking excited. My house still has to pass inspection, but my offer was accepted so I have to tell all my blogging buddies because it's pretty much all I can think about, and the reason I haven't been posting about anything else. It is the cutest little house built in the 1940s in a great old neighborhood. It was totally the most random luckiest thing that my mom and I saw it. I literally said, "I think I want to start looking for a house" and the next day I was making an offer, crazy. Here is the front:
I am so in love with it. Everything about it. Okay so technically it's 1066 square feet. That's the main floor. Some pictures of that:
Cute little dining room with cute little cupboards (yes cute is my main adjective for this house).
A montage of the kitchen. I'm just going to repaint for now, some day big kitchen up grade. I have a big backyard so I can always add on.
My dad on the deck. So what you didn't see is a living room with a fireplace, two bedrooms and a tiny bathroom. Well anyway the day that I got shown the house (Thursday, ya how have I kept it a secret this long, I don't know) I went down into the basement and was shocked, it's huge! Like the same size as the main floor.
This is the main room you go in. May look crappy now, but I'm going to put a bathroom down here and fix up this room:
For a renter. Behind where I am standing to take this picture is a big cellar that I am going to make into a walk in closet for the renter. Trust me when I say this will rock. Plus in this heat the basement is an oasis. 
My dad in the attached garage, he can't believe the condition, no sagging roof, no tilted floors, awesome. But the shock of the house came when I went into one of the bedrooms. I thought it was odd that it had a walk in closet, you don't see that much in older houses. So I go in there and look up, there is a huge hole in the ceiling, and a ladder leading up into the attic:
HELLO?!? What? This thing is huge! 12x34 plus a big dormer (future adorable window seat reading nook). I don't know why this was never finished, it's totally tall enough. This was the deal breaker for me. I envision a super AWESOME studio space.
Okay so all this comes at a price. I mean the $200 rent I'm paying now at my mom's isn't really making a huge dent in my pocket book, but this will. So much so that I'm in the process of looking for a second job to supplement my Ribbon Jar income (which is still very small). And that wonderful attic? Well I won't be able to finish it this summer. I'm going to start with the basement, where I will house Ribbon Jar and (hopefully) a renter. But I am determined. The house is just so me, and I've so longed for a place for all my things to be together ever since my parents separated about a dozen years ago. My own space, painting it however I like. Before I had this blog I rented a couple of places, both of which I did a lot of work on, just because that's how I am. I like things clean and fresh. But it was so disappointing to never be rewarded for that, and not even get my full deposits back (bastards). So I'm scared and happy and everything all at once. And if for some reason the inspection fails expect me to whine and cry and sulk for a very long time. So that's what I've been up to, what do you think?
*And an update on the swap. We've got 10 people signed up so far, whoo hoo. We've got two non bloggers, and two internationals ("There's a lot of cool stuff to be found in Paris, I assure you.") Don't forget to e-mail me and then send back the confirmation e-mail after you fill it out.