Our "new" house is 86 years old. The backyard has a lovely garden of weeds and the bushes out front are overgrown. There's not much closet space. The bedroom doors don't quite shut all the way, and the floors creek ever so loudly charmingly. The kitchen windows need to be replaced and counter space is lacking. The chimney is in dire need of repair and the deck is on it's last legs. There is no central air and it's equipped with it's original asbestos wrapped boiler. We are in loooove.
I love that I am surrounded by beautiful windows. I'm in love with the sound of rustling leaves from the old boulevard trees canopying over our street. I adore the gorgeous staircase in the center of everything, and the light that beams into the house at sunset makes my heart go a flutter. The neighbors are so very neighborly, going out of their way to greet us and make us feel at home. There are block parties and bike parades, an ice cream shop, a deli, a bookstore with free-roaming chickens and a friendly cat, and even a trolley! And then there's Norah and Clark's new school... well, I just want to be best friends with everyone there :)
I was afraid that Norah would have a hard time with the move. That she would be scared to sleep in a new room and ask when we would be going home. I thought that she would hate being the new girl at a new school and that we'd have heartbreaking drop-offs every morning for a while. I thought there would be weeks of amplified whining and the need for time-outs. I thought wrong. Instead she has slept in her own room better than she ever has! She never asks about the old house unless it's to make sure we won't be going back there (it wasn't that bad!). She's excited to go to school every morning and we hear from her teachers that she is quite the chatter-bug and loves to check on her little brother. Often. :)
This house is our miracle on 41st street. We have been wanting to move for long time, but couldn't sell our town home, so we spent that time saving up for a down payment. The house had been on the market for a year, and just when we discovered we probably had enough saved up to start looking, it came down into our price range. We looked at a few other houses before this one (besides the hundreds I had checked out over the last few years!); one was too small, one didn't have the bedrooms all on one floor, and the other was not in the right neighborhood. We went to see this one on a Friday afternoon... and bought it on Sunday! We weren't planning on buying so quickly, but when we were told there were two other offers that were coming in after the open house we knew we couldn't stand to lose it! We were more nervous than we had ever been, but everything was falling into place so perfectly that I choose to think someone up above was just giving us a little push.
