The movers have come and gone, though the boxes aren't quite unpacked. The cats have begun to explore and sniff. Chet has christened the new house with the first ceremonial throwing up of the dinner (and booyeah for tile floors.) Dante spent a good twenty minutes in the living room last night before retreating back to his bunker of pillows in the spare room.

It'll feel like home in a few days, but right now... the quiet! For the last two years, I've lived about fifteen feet from a freeway and now? Trees and leaves and quiet. And lemme just say, after two years of trains and automobiles all night long? Quiet is a bit, um, scary. Seriously, last night was a series of moments of me, sitting straight up from a dead sleep, with an expression of, "What was that??!" You'd think that I'd be able to sleep through noise, but apparently I need a steady stream. Now every house creak and shift, cat thumping down off the couch, or leaf floating gracefully to the front porch makes me bolt upright.

At one point, around 2 AM, I heard a thumping I still can't explain, but which my sleep-addled brain decided was a ghost. I lay awake for twenty minutes contemplating the good or badness of buying a haunted house. 'If it's a bad ghost, it'll appear in the bathroom mirror when I'm brushing my teeth and make me choke on my toothbrush. But if it's good, maybe it will feed the cats at 5 AM...'

All my stuff is here, my cats are here, I am here - in the little house that is mine. Fantastic!

Moving day looms closer and closer and all I have left is packing. Oh, and I still need to buy a stove. And curtains. Ohhh, curtains.

One of the unexpected expenses of buying a house is buying all the things I've never had to own as a renter. Like a stove, and a fridge, and a ladder. And curtains. Most apartments come with the basic mini-blinds, and they stay after you leave. My house? Nothing on the windows. At all. So I went over last night and measured all the windows. Came home and poked about online for a bit pricing curtains.

I found some nice ones at Bed Bath and Beyond for $20 each. Which doesn't seem bad compared to others at up to $150 each. So twenty for each curtain, five for a rod to hang them on. Not too bad, really. Until I realized that I have seventeen windows in the house. Yes, that works out to $425 in curtains - assuming I skimp and use one panel per window. To do it correctly adds another $340 to the mix.

Now I understand people who hand sheets over their windows...

New house photos complete with new paint on the walls are on Flickr.

Painting the house before the hardwood floors are refinished was the best idea EVER. Dropcloths? No need really, as they're sanding the floors down in a few days anyway.

Tomorrow, appliances begin to arrive. This weekend? Boxes to pack. After a few weeks of hectic scheduling and haggling and losing my mind trying to remember the details, it's nice to be able to exhale for a change.

In other news, I dragged Keith to see the Lights of 37th Street this weekend. I first walked the street a few years ago and fell for the uniquely Austin take on a traditional Christmas home lighting. If you live in the area and you've never been, I highly recommend you choose an evening to visit. Live music, wacky lighting, and a volcano - what more do you need for the Christmas spirit!?

One hour worth of signing my name over and over and over and I am officially in more debt than I ever considered taking on.

But I have the house to show for it. :)