IT'S OFFICIAL!!!

I got the house! Mom and I went to look at it today. It's a little dated (dark wooden paneling on the walls and hideous carpet) but I can work with it all. I have so much furniture and so many nick-nacks that I'm sure the "hello-I-was-built-in-1976" atmosphere will not be noticed. Plus, money is a major issue for me (since I have none) and I'm renting this place for next to nothing. I already knew that the rent, water, and electricity was cheap, but then today my Landlady told me that she and her husband have decided to include that water bill in the already-cheap rent payment... Hallelujah! It's been sitting empty without the air running for four months, so it's dusty and there are spider webs here and there. But, there are no rat droppings, so that's a plus. What would I do if I saw a rat?!?!?!?!?

She gave me the keys today so that I can start cleaning as soon as possible, and she's not going to charge me rent for the remainder of this month. Of course, there is no way I'll be able to stay there this month anyways... Also, apparently she feels kind of bad about me having to clean, so she's knocking off half of the first month's rent. How awesome is that??? I'm so pumped that I'm ready to move in tomorrow! But I do manage to slow my mind down enough to think through it logically. The cabinet space in the kitchen is twice what my mom has in hers. The laundry room has a ton of storage space, and so does the closet in the bathroom.

The drier doesn't work, and I'm thinking something is wrong with the washer too. But I think I have the hook-up on those. And my dad got me a hook-up on a fridge. I'm gonna stick with my old TV and VCR, but I definitely need a new DVD player, vacuum and microwave. Also, I need new pots and pans, but I can wait until Christmas on those. And, much to Roommate's pleasure, Landlady is an avid cat-lover, so Trouble gets to move with me! Step-daughter seems to be coming to terms with this idea, albeit ever so slowly.

The only down-side to the whole thing is that I'm going to miss Roommate so terribly!!! I'll be less than 10 minutes away, but we all know how "life" takes over, and I can't hardly stand to think about us not being able to hang out like we do now. As it is, we see each other in passing and only hit the high points with each other through the week, but we have a little Saturday morning pow-wow in which we catch up on everything. The only thing that makes me feel better about loosing that is knowing that I'll still be visiting her house every week to catch up on what Tivo has waiting for me. Hahaha... You think I'm kidding about that???