Are you ready?

WE GOT A HOUSE!!!! Yes, we got a fan-fuckin'-tastic house! A beautiful old Chicago-style red brick bungalow with lots of windows in the front, a wood-burning fireplace(!), newly-redone hardwood floors, perfect bathroom, fairly new kitchen, three bedrooms, nice yard, dry basement, and two-car garage!! Our house! Well, at least it will be once we get it inspected (and everything looks okay) and close the deal, which will be on December 17th. We'll be homeowners for Christmas, and that's a mighty nice early gift from Santa, yes?

I'm still reeling. That is why I'm still up at 12:45AM on a day when I have to work. I'll be hurting tomorrow, but you're only a first-time home buyer once, right?

Buying a house is a crazy thing. Once you've decided you want the place, there is a lot of fancy footwork you've got to learn on the fly. Watching our broker and the seller's broker matching wits made me light-headed. I could never sell real estate for a living. I kept looking over at C. during the whole process, and judging by the pale and stunned look on his face, neither could he. But in the end, we got it. We're only a few simple steps away from owning this amazing place.

How did we get so damned lucky?