And the rest of the news ....

So yeah, the philosopher's job was the BIG news.  Here are a few highlights (and a sad) from the rest of the first half of 2015....

Of course, we moved into our new (old) house in February.  The first major renovation was the bathroom.  We ripped the floral wallpaper off and painted everything a lovely chocolate brown.  Yay!  The kitchen is our next big task, but we'll have to wait until we've saved up enough to do it.

The sad bit of news is that we lost sweet Julian kitty.  She was 16, and had a long happy life.  

As spring moved forward, we discovered some lovely things growing in our new yard.

An enormous Lady Banks rose.

Clematis by the front walk.

And Nannie's roses happily took root and bloomed.

We also managed to get in some hiking.  We're closer to the mountains now, and all sorts of opportunities have presented themselves, both near and far.

At Sewanee.

And Fiery Gizzard Trail.

And the Pinhoti Trail.

And the Walls of Jericho.

So that's a quick recap!  It's still woefully inadequate for the amount I used to post, and the lovely prose that accompanied it (::snort::), but I feel less guilty now.  ::GRIN::

News Flash

It's the end of August.

The summer break has come and gone, in a flash, it seems.

Fall semester has started already.

Football season begins in two weeks.

And I have news I haven't shared with the two of you who still read my woefully un-updated blog.

So....

In the pic below, on the left is a ridiculously expensive bottle of wine.
On the right is the newest Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the college where we work.

Yes, indeed.  Prayers have been answered, in abundance.  After nearly eight years of part-time teaching, the philosopher now has a tenure-track position.  We are settled into our new home, and are reveling in the joy of being where we're supposed to be.

It is a good thing, indeed.

(BTW, don't tell him I posted his pic.  He'll be embarrassed.)

Introducing... the Redneck Victorian!

So, most of you have heard the wretched saga of our first attempt to purchase a house near Rome, Georgia.  (If you haven't, and your address book has an address on Sunset for us, you should erase it!)  Yes, the Hobbit house is no longer a thing.  I'm trying not to harbor ill will for what happened, so I won't recount it again.

But...

In the midst of the insanity, we started over.  And went looking at houses on January 16.  We were living in a camper, so our rule was "if the house isn't worth a month in the camper in January, we aren't interested!"

On January 19, we made an offer.  We close... tomorrow.  Yes. That is TWO WEEKS from offer to closing *with* a mortgage.  Yes, that is totally unheard of!  Anyway, we received the HUD and the final closing approval yesterday, so even me, with my "HB-PTSD" (that's Home-Buyer's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is pretty sure this one is going to close and the sellers aren't going to walk away from the deal.

So, friends and family, I present to you:

The REDNECK VICTORIAN!

I know, I know.  We said we wanted to restore a Craftsman.  But, really, this is the best of both worlds.  It has Victorian detail both inside and out, but because it was built in 1876 it's moving away from the fussy Queen Anne Victorian and more to the simple, solid style of the Arts and Crafts movement born at the turn of the century.

Here are some interior pics (obviously we don't close until tomorrow, so we haven't moved in yet!)

This is the living room.  Zoom in and you'll see the door knob on the closet. Yeah.  How cool is that?

This is the guest bedroom.  (It backs up to the living room, so there's a back to back fireplace.  More about that later.)

This is the library.  Yes.  Built-in bookshelves. Through that door you see is the study.   It also has built-in cabinets.

So that's the Victorian part. 11 foot ceilings. Medallions on the doors. Old hardware. Iron chandeliers. 130-year-old hardwoods. Huge windows. :ahhhhhhh::

So, you may ask why we call it the "Redneck Victorian"?

Because the front half of the house is *all* Victorian, and the back half is... a little bit Redneck.

The bathroom is the "transitional" room.

 When you walk through that door you see on the left (from the dining room - I know, right?) there is a cast-iron clawfoot bathtub and a pedestal sink. Then you turn to the right, pass through this bizarro narrow passage and... boom.  Cheesy 80s shower stall with *another* sink.  And a ceiling fan.  And a window AC.

Then you move to the kitchen.

Lovely laminate flooring.  Crappy pre-fab cabinets.  And wretched wallpaper.

Then there's the dining area. The wallpaper is that woven grass stuff.  Painted.  And yes, that's an AC built into the wall.  It vents into the sunporch.

Which also has an AC unit.  Where I come from, we call this "redneck engineering".

You walk through the kitchen down a little hallway.  On one side is a large closet, which we will be turning into the master closet.

On the other side of the hall is the laundry room.

Yes.  That wallpaper says "I hate Laundry Rooms".  o.0

At the end of the hall is the master bedroom.  A converted garage.  Also with that terrible grass wallpaper.  Painted.

And a gas stove.  Because even though the house has central heat, they didn't connect this room.

Oh, remember the back to back fireplaces I mentioned in the old part of the house?  They removed the chimneys at some point.  So the fireplaces don't actually work.

But then you move to the backyard, and there are SO MANY possibilities.  Can you say "cottage garden"??

It just needs some love!

We never dreamed we'd own a house in a historic district, never mind one that shows up on a historic tour. (The gingerbreading on the eaves is original.)  So this is our next project.  First on the to-do list?  Install central heat and air!

No it's not a Hobbit house.  It doesn't have a barn and a shop and a guest house.  But we are within walking distance from downtown and the river, and still just ten minutes from work.

We've got a guest room (and soon it will not be pink) so we hope you come to visit!