Sadness And Happiness

I took Gabriel's little tank down last night before I went to bed.  Every time I walked into the kitchen, I caught myself looking into it to talk to him, like I used to do.

Why talk to a fish?  They can't answer back.

But Gabriel did.  He is the one who insisted upon being named Gabriel.  I was going to call him Fishy, or something equally as witty and clever.  Then when I found out Group Leader Fernando's middle name is Gabriel, and I wanted to change my fish's name, he insisted I not give up on my friend. 

"He's not a bad sort," my Gabriel told me.  "He's just a little lost."

And when I was getting stressed and overwhelmed from house hunting, and wishing I had someone to lean on, it was Gabriel who said, "You have me."

Only now I don't have him any more.  Just a big empty spot where his tank used to be.

The good news is, I found a house!  It's small, but it's in the right area.  Not too far from where I live now.  The sellers are only asking $69 for it, and my realtor says we can probably talk them down to around $65.  The best part is, I just got off the phone with the loan officer at the bank.  They are going to approve my mortgage, even before I sell my trailer house!  I can go ahead and make an offer on it.

Of course, I'm still going to sell my trailer.  I just think it'll be easier to sell with me already moved out of it.  By the way, the person who said she was going to come look at it never showed, so I'm just going to turn the whole thing over to my realtor.  She is coming out tomorrow afternoon to take pictures and have me sign the papers.

Now, the moment you've all been waiting on:  Pictures!!

This is the living room.  It seemed kind of small, but really, it's about the same size as my living room in this house.

It's bigger than this picture shows, but because I don't know how to work a phone, I had my camera set to take square photos. 

This is the kitchen.  Not too fond of the yellow, but painting is easy. I will eventually replace all the cabinets, too. 

The door leads to a very large laundry room.  I will probably have some cabinets or shelves put in there, too. 

This is the dining area.  It has a separate door, so I'm thinking it used to have a wall between it and the kitchen.  That black thing is a wood burning heater.  I'm more than likely going to make this into a little sitting area instead of a dining room.  I'll do all my eating at the bar in the kitchen. 

I can just see myself on cold winter nights spinning or knitting by the fire. 

The main bathroom. 

The master bedroom.  The strange thing about this is that the moment I walked in, I felt like I was back in my Mammaw's house.

I don't know exactly why, but I did.  I think that is what told me I was home.

The half bath in the master bedroom.

All I need is somewhere to pee in the middle of the night. 

This is one of the small bedrooms.  The other one looks just like it, but was being used for storage. 

I actually kind of like the sideways paneling.  It gives it that rustic, log cabin feel. 

I think the previous owners were remodeling it a little at a time.  This room had brand new carpet in it.  It still had that new carpet smell.  The laminate flooring in the living room was brand new, too. 

And this is what really sold me on the house.  This huge back yard.

It's twice as big as any of the other back yards I was looking at.  According to the disclosure, the property extends beyond that back fence.  I'm not sure how far it goes, though. 

The shop on the right comes with it.  I didn't look inside when I was there the first time, but from the outside, it looks pretty big. 

Behind the shop, it had chicken coops.  They still have chickens in them.  I wonder if they will throw them in, too? 

It's close to work, close to church, and far away from the donut shop.  When all the dust settles, the payments will actually be a little lower than what I'm paying for my trailer house. 

I'm really excited about this.  Y'all just pray that everything works out, okay?