New House Resolutions

After a loooooong time of looking, two failed offers, and a last minute bidding war, Richie and I have finally secured a contract on a house! The last two times we have bought a home, the process was painless, simple, quick. This time...well, let's just say that hasn't been the case. Thanks to our sweet and savvy Realtor and good friend, Linnet, our offer was accepted on the PERFECT house for us! Now that we have started the packing process, I am faced with the reality of how desperately I need to change some of my domestic habits. I pride myself on being extremely organized and efficient at work. My office is always immaculate and every piece of paper that crosses my desk is meticulously scrutinized and filed in the most appropriate place. Once I get home, all that organization and attention to detail just flies out the window...or gets buried under a hairball. NO MORE! With this move, I want to turn over a new leaf. So with that in mind, here are my New House Resolutions...

1. Learn how to wash clothes with bleach. I know my mother is burying her head in her hands on this one. What can I say...I've always been too intimidated to use bleach. I am going to google it if I have to. Clorox is about to be my new best friend.
2. Don't keep things I don't really need. You know, like the electric bill stubs I still have from 9 years ago, owner's manuals to cell phones from the Zach Morris era, you get the picture.
3. Create a place for every thing. I have gone to our neighborhood Family Dollar and purchased an assortment of plastic totes and my favorite gizmo ever, a label maker! I now have perfectly labeled bins for Owen's art supplies, our office supplies, stationery, photos (that's an organization project I'm not quite ready to tackle), and my sewing gear. Our new house has the most pimped out closets I have ever seen in my life. I intend to utilitze every shelf, rack and drawer to its fullest potential!
4. Start fixing the house up from Day 1. Our last 2 homes, we waited until we were ready to sell to make some last minute improvements. We asked ourselves each time why we waited so long to try these quick and inexpensive projects. Going into this house, I want to make changes that we will appreciate early on rather than right at the bitter end.
5. Decorate in a way that really reflects our taste. We have sold several items on Craigslist and set aside that money for our New Furniture fund. Our decor needs a facelift, and we have decided that by selling what we don't like we will be forced to replace it.
6. Invite our friends and family to come enjoy our new home! The last couple of years, we have felt so uncomfortable having people come over. The ultra narrow kitchen and compartmentalized layout of our rental home make it a weird flow for entertaining. Plus, with all the excess junk we've been toting around, the room we intended to be the guest bedroom wound up being the pet/empty box/clothes that don't fit catch-all room. We are excited to entertain and actually host people in our new house without forcing them to sleep on a futon mattress on the floor.
7. Meet our neighbors. This one sounds really dumb...and that's because it is. We have only had a couple of conversations in passing with the neighbor to our left and we've only even laid eyes on the neighbor on the right about 3 times. With our house in Jackson and our Greenwood Ave house, we were lucky to have really sweet neighbors...the kind that aren't always in your business but are always around if you need a hand. The Carroll's actually left us some homemade moonshine for a welcome present! I doubt we'll ever have neighbors that cool again, but we won't find out unless we go knocking on some doors.

So there we have it...a short list of things I will be thrilled if to accomplish even half of. Once we get moved in and settled, I will have to post a picture of all my beautifully labeled totes. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of our new place! We close on June 18th...you're welcome for a visit any ole time!

Front of the house

Isn't this front porch just begging for a WELL SECURED swing?!