*contented sigh*

Yesterday, I left work an hour early and went home to collect the dog, and a couple boxes of stuff for the new place. (The important stuff; toilet paper, paper towels, kleenex, hand soap, hand lotion, dish soap, stuff like that, and one little surprise for the husband.) Mike met me here shortly after, and we headed out. We stopped at Tim's on the way, so I could grab a coffee. Mike went in, since it was at one of the drive-thru-less ones in the city, and hopped back in the van with my coffee and a bag of...something.

We got to the house, and parked in OUR driveway. Unlocking that door for the first time was really liberating. I haven't lived in a house for...sixteen, maybe seventeen years. I can't wait to have a yard, and a walls I can put my photos on, and a workbench in the garage, and a run for the dog. And it's bigger than I remember, which was quite the nice surprise.

We wandered around a bit, took it all in, and came back into the kitchen. Mike opened up the Timmy's bag, and there were two small celebration cakes. I opened a box I had, and pulled out a small bottle of Ice Wine and Brandy. We had a toast, and a bit of cake. It was pretty sweet.

(ok, *barf*, I'm done being sappy now.)

Mike's mom came down to drop off some stuff she had for us, like our very first shovel, some garbage bins, and a lawnmower. The dogs had a run in the yard, and we packed it in and came home.

We went over again tonight, right after work. Brought a few more things, but went mostly to meet my brother and his family, my dad and his wife, and a couple we hang with regularly so they could all check out the place. My brother is doing all of our renovations for us. (Knocking down some walls, building a closet in the basement, helping with the floors, and some of the other finer details.)

My nephews ran around the house like elephants, but I think they liked it there. The oldest one says he's going to come back and visit very often.

I was pretty convinced that our dining room area was really small, but we had a table in there with two leaves in it, and eight people milling around the kitchen, and it really wasn't too crowded. Busy, yes, but I can deal with that. I'm really looking forward to having company, and dinner guests again. I haven't entertained in years.

Now, it's late. I can't wipe the smile off my face. I haven't slept properly in over a week (partially due to excitement, partially due to the killer cold I've had), so I'm turning in.

I'm sure I'll be relatively sparse around here for the next month, and when I do update, I'm sure it will be house-related. So, uh, thanks in advance for your patience while I'm on this one-track subject. :)

Ah, if you were here, I'd hug you all. I'm in *that* good of a mood.