We Did It!

Today's the day we bought our new house in The Villages! Oh my! We're uber-excited that this is our new permanent home! Honestly, off and on all day I've had goose bumps of amazement, and shed tears of happiness. This belongs to us and is where we'll live! It's a beautiful house, a wonderful city, an amazing lifestyle, and... everything is so awesome! Goodness! I continue to pinch myself to believe this is all really happening!

Here we are in front of our brand new house, just before our walk-around with the home-builder. During the walk-around we learned how the house functions with new-to-us features like: block and stucco construction; AC/heat vented from the ceiling; low-E windows; gutters only on the front of the house; fans vented to the outside; irrigation system using reclaimed water; convection oven; and a Zoysia grass lawn, among other great amenities.

It was suggested that we get a picture of him carrying me over the threshold! He said he'd rather not throw out his back.

 The entry, from the inside. So pretty!

Following the walk-around we went to the closing. The Villages bank makes buying a house so darned slick and effortless. Guess that happens when you sell a couple dozen houses every day. We received lots of helpful information about living here - like the proper way to drive through a roundabout - received our gate passes, and had our photos taken for permanent ID cards. That was another goose-bumps moment. It's official! We're Villagers!

We returned to our rental to get Hogan so he could see the new house we bought for him.

Like me, he already loves that front bedroom. Since that bay window might be his new favorite spot, I'd like to put a cushy bench there so he can have something to lay on and get a better view of the activities on the street.

I'm chomping at the bit to begin making this bedroom my sewing space. I've already purchased a couple pieces from Ikea in Tampa, and will be sharing how I set it up. I can't wait!

The entire past week has been one exciting thing after another - shopping for furniture, buying new things. When it came time to choose a golf cart, selecting colors was a struggle - we had more than 300 paint color options! We went with these beachy colors, but now it's gonna be hard to wait for the cart to arrive in early July.

Call me crazy, but when I learned that it's costly to purchase and have a palm tree planted, I did a Google search to find out how to germinate a palm tree seed. That's because I nearly stumbled on them while at one of the city squares, Sumter Landing. The seeds had fallen from a 25-foot tall Queen Palm, so I picked them up. Following online instructions for germinating Queen Palm seeds, I first soaked them in water.

Then, I removed the outer covering to release each seed (on the right). Now they are to be soaked for a week before putting them in perlite or peat moss. Though I'm skeptical that I can make them germinate, it will be fun trying. At the worst, nothing will happen. But at best, I might have a nice palm to put on our 9' X 26' lanai. My Grandma, the ultimate gardener, would be proud that I'm giving it a go.

Until we move into our new house, we've been doing what we can to make this our hometown. We've been looking for a church and have attended four different churches of different denominations. Everyone has been super-friendly. As much as I'd like to belong to a church that's near our house, the fact is that the area we're moving into is so new that not many churches or even retail businesses are in that area... yet! It's anticipated that in the next few years there will be much more growth as houses continue to be built and more people populate the area. Currently, The Villages population is 87,000.

Each of the two quilting chapters I've recently visited has been more than welcoming, and I sure appreciate that. I've already met some super-nice people - aren't all quilters? - and seen some very pretty quilts.

Twice I've attended Happy Stitchers, a group that meets every Wednesday afternoon to work on whatever anyone wants: counted cross-stitch, knitting, crocheting, English paper-piecing, hand-applique and the like. Look what was waiting for me when I attended yesterday. Yep, it's my official, you-belong-to-Happy-Stitchers-in-The-Villages name tag. Info on it tells which village I live in, and where I'm from. Eeks! Another exciting moment.

While stitching with Happy Stitchers, I completed another embroidered snowman in my on-going Snowmen A to Zzzz project. With "R" done, only four more blocks remain to be stitched.

Even though I'm stitching, boy am I missing a sewing machine! But the fact is, in a little more than a week I'll have all my quilting supplies and fabrics in my new house.

After we take delivery of some new furniture, we're heading back to Kansas City to retrieve our belongings from our daughter's garage, and hug and kiss the grandchildren one more time. In a week, we'll return to The Villages where our Tampa son and family will meet us at our new house to help us unload and begin to get settled. We very grateful for their willingness to help us move in and begin to get settled. What a blessing to have kids who have been helpful through our transition. Our daughter has been an amazing long distance designer, helping me make selections for master bedroom, living room, and breakfast nook furniture. Thank goodness for the Internet so we could shop through furniture options online, and Skype at the same time!

Though it's been nearly 23 years since we've bought/sold a house, or moved, these past six weeks have been incredibly wonderful. Overwhelming too. Throughout it, I'm extremely thankful to God for how He has safely led us through this big change. Praise Him! Linda