LOOK WHAT SANTA BROUGHT ME FOR CHRISTMAS!!

A new house !! We put in our offer on Dec. 10 - and we closed yesterday - in just 3 weeks. We get the keys tomorrow. We are so excited. We've been living in the country - on a great property - but in a very small house. It was built in 1920, when there was no electricity out here - and the kitchen is not arranged to have a fridge - so our fridge has lived in my studio - which is just off the kitchen so it is not that inconvenient, but it sure takes up a lot of my studio space. Also - our small upright freezer is in there - taking up more space. And we only had 14 INCHES of counter space, making food preparation a trial, to say the least. I've learned to balance things on the toaster, in the dish drainer and all sorts of fun places when trying to prepare a meal.


This new house has 3 bedrooms plus a den - formal dining room, living room,


2 full baths, one with an oversize jetted tub and such a big kitchen -


tons of cupboards (we have 4 cupboards in the old house), lots and lots of counter space plus an island, with two levels, one for food prep and one for eating at, with bar stools. I won't know what to do with all that space.



The laundry room in the old house is for acrobats - with cupboards so close to the washer and dryer - yet on the opposite wall, that you have to bend backwards a little, over the washer and dryer, to open the cupboard doors - nearly breaks your back - and in the new house - a good sized laundry room that has a big pantry cupboard in it, and room for another plus room for the freezer, and the cat's bed. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee we are going to have fun!! And look at that pretty washer and dryer!!!!


The sellers left the swingset at our request, and our grandsons will have so much fun there. Jahn hasn't seen it yet, but Ben was there one day and said - Grammy I can't wait to get a look at that". He is only three and is so cute when he talks. We have a storage shed - and pretty trees on the property - plus public land across from us so we have trees on three sides.

I'll have a full size studio - one of the bedrooms has built in shelves, and Don will have his own den. He collects baseball memorabilia from his chlildhood in Milwaukee, he even has one of the old stadium seats from the original ballpark. He can fit his treadmill in his den, with space for bookshelves and all his collection of baseball gloves and photos - he even has an autographed photo of Hank Aaron, his childhood hero.

The other bedroom will be our guest/music/toy room - I'm planning for a piano. We will keep the grandson's toys in there when we don't have guests. It will be so nice to have a guest room - I can display quilts on the bed in there.

As you can tell, we are very excited about this - we move in on Jan 12 - and then have until Jan 20 to finish cleaning the old house and getting it ready to turn over on the 20th. That gives us plenty of time to get the cleaning finished.