Home is Where the Dogs Live

Well, Dear Readers, here it is. Our house. Our cute, little, cape cod house in Connecticut. Isn’t it just the most adorable thing in the world? It’s like a little piece of heaven in Stratford, CT. Its a great house, but I had no idea how much you had to go through before buying a house.

Have you ever had that dream where you’re standing naked in front of a crowd of people? That’s pretty much what a mortgage approval feels like. You basically go to a bank, meet with the mortgage rep, and then proceed to pour your financial guts onto the table for God and everyone to see. They want salary amounts, debt amounts, loan amounts, credit reports, social security numbers, your grandmother’s birth date – everything. And then they take 48 hours to judge how much that says you are worth. I’d rather poke my eyeballs out with bamboo skewers than go through that again.

But through some miraculous twist of fate, they approved us. When our mortgage originator called us to tell us the good news, I couldn’t believe it. I almost said to her, “Did you see that Chris is in THEATER and I am in EDUCATION?” I mean, you know the real estate market is bad when the primary breadwinner is in EDUCATION and they can afford to buy!

We don’t officially own the house yet. We are still under contract, but our closing date is June 27. Mark your calendars because I will be posting one heck of a celebration post on June 27. Then I will most likely disappear for two weeks while we take care of important things like finding the right place for the tupperware and connecting the cable.

In addition to buying the house, I did manage to graduate this past weekend. My incredible and crazy family made it up to celebrate with us, which was so above and beyond because they will all fly up here in two weeks for Chris’ graduation, too.

My Dad, Chris, Me, My Mom, and My Sister, Ginny

Can you see the relief in my face?

My favorite study-buddy.

All in all, its been a pretty good month so far. We’ll celebrate Chris’ graduation and his getting a fantastic job in two weeks when everyone and their mother (literally) will be in town as he graduates from Yale Drama. But for now, I’m trying to allow myself to stay in the moment. To be excited about what I have accomplished with my masters degree, and to relish the fact that Chris and I are on the road to homeownership.

I am also allowing myself to think of all the hardwood floors that Molly will now be able to chew and scratch. It’s a beautiful house, but what were we thinking? We just bought a house made of wood for our giant, fat headed lab to destroy. What are you gonna do though? Home is where the dogs live.