a serious...

been up since 6:45...and am on a killer caffeine high. since getting up, i've only had black tea...coffee...and pillsbury brownies. i am this close to an eye twitch...and that's in my good eye ;)

we're finally having a relaxing morning. last saturday, we had a total of 16 people who came to the open house...and two couples were interested. by sunday, we had an offer...which we countered w/ half the difference. and by monday night, the house went under contract with a young couple from fort collins. we're still stunned that our house would sell so quickly. in fact, we close at the end of the month and will be in texas by the 3rd or 4th...a full five weeks earlier than expected!

it was really promising to hear (after the open house) that the prospective buyers walked in and loved the house. the story is the couple (i'll call them BA) had been looking at houses in the wash park area all afternoon and decided to finally call it quits before heading to lunch at 3PM. as they drove down 6th, the wife saw the signs and begged her husband to stop at one more. at first, he commented that they probably couldn't afford it (right...an engineer and lawyer) but relented anyway.

well the second he walked in, he exclaimed, "This is the one!" and proceeded to wander around the house like a lost kid in a candy store. he even got the ladder out of the garage and climbed up into the attic...where he swooned about the size and potential of it. you see our attic is 1200 sq. ft. of space that just needs to be reinforced and finished. if they have the time and money to do it, BA could easily make the house 3600 sq. ft. and probably command $700-$800K down the road (mebbe in 10 years).

anyway, we've been keeping the house spotless (another factor in their loving it) and just riding it out. although i do have to admit that it has been hard to cook minimally, leave w/ the dog for hours at a time, and generally change my slobbish ways for the sake of the house...it's like you're living in a museum and can't touch anything.

today, we've got another busy day ahead. in a couple minutes, we're off to the box store to get plastic wrap and specialty sized boxes for frames and the huge mirror we have hanging over the fireplace. at 2:00, a plumber is coming over to scope the sewer (a good sign that the soon-to-be owners are serious and the contract won't fall through). and after that, bobby, a financial planner who lives two doors down (and has been a great friend for more than 15 years) is coming over to help us w/ our money stuff. guess we're not cooking again ;)

more later...have a great day!