FINALLY!

It wasn't easy, but it finally happened. We closed on Monday at 4pm and I have to say that the best part is not even having the house, it's having all these morons and so called 'professionals' out of my life and my personal business. Closing was a bit FROSTY since the sellers are in the middle of a divorce. The best decision we made (other than the house), was our choice of realtor. He was my saving grace at the end. He was the one who kept reminding me that we loved this house, he believed when I had completely given up hope that things would work out. He was the one who fought for us to the end, and in the end, he sat quietly at the table for 75 minutes and said not a word while we signed our names over and over and over and over.....he is my hero.

The house is coming along. Three rooms are now painted. The master is dark turquoise blue, the guest room is green, and my work room is what I thought was plum, but my daughter calls it "toddlers and tiaras" as it looks rather hot lavendar going on the walls. It's clean, it's fresh and I'll love it.

Merry Maids on Wednesday did a great job getting the place de-greased and made it almost spic and span.

We had the carpets cleaned by Brad Woo, owner of Steam Master and he is simply a magician. They look brand spanking new!!! THANK YOU BRAD! You will hear from me again, and everyone I know will hear what a wonderful job you did.

I worked in the kitchen loading cabinets after washing dishes, taking plenty of breaks to look out the window at the geese on the lake and the blue heron I've seen at least three times this week.

My next door neighbor Beth works in structural cell and biology at UIUC and we know many of the same people. We had a wonderful chat already and I look forward to many more.

It will be a race to the finish to get everything packed (all the furniture emptied and boxed) so we can get the movers in here in the next week or so and finally call Mermaid Lake our home.