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Dan Epley | Rachelle Epley
Friday, June 29, 2007
Our First Home
4-28-06— Rachelle
Well, we did it. We finally took the steps to become all growed up…and bought a house! If you would have told me 5 years ago that I was going to buy a house in a suburb of Minneapolis, I would have said you were full of it…for that matter, if you would have told me two years ago when we moved up here we would be buying a house, I would have said you were full of it! But the time felt right, we really like this area and we are sick of renting. So in February we started looking at houses…got bummed out a few times because other offers were taken over ours, or houses we liked were bought before we could put an offer down, but finally the stars aligned.
It's a cute tri-level (which, in case you didn't know is like a split level home, but with one additional level) in a really nice area. It only has a one car garage, but what sold us was the back yard. It's gorgeous! It backs up to a lake and has a lot of trees and bushes (I have lilacs!).
We do have a lot of work to do though…mainly because I married a drywaller who notices EVERYTHING! Dan hates “popcorn” ceilings, so all the ceilings have to be re-done before we can move in. Also, smooth walls are a must and “bad patch jobs” must be gotten rid of so we will end up painting the three bedrooms and the bathroom.
We got done with the closing and back to the house yesterday (4/28) about 2:30…and at 10:30 last night we finally went back to the apartment to go to bed! It was a long day. We had to cover all the floors in plastic, along with the walls in the living room, kitchen and dining area since we are not going to paint them. And while we were covering the floor in the main bedroom, Dan noticed a seam in the wall…which led us to find out that one of the walls in the bedroom had been wallpapered at one time – then painted over. So we tore all the wall paper off that one wall, and made more work for Dan to do!
Then there's the yard…I'm really upset that Mother Nature decided to make it rain all weekend. I had planned on fixing the yard while Dan was inside “mudding” the ceilings. For some reason the previous owner covered half of the yard in woodchips! So my first order of business in the backyard is raking up the woodchips and seeding some grass. Then there are the twigs all over the front yard, and the crab grass throughout. If any of you remember Winnie Warner – I just keep thinking she'd have a hay-day weeding my yard. J Anyways, we are going to need to do some weed control and major re-seeding this year. The good news is we have a “Cherry Blossom” tree (I don't know if that is the proper name for the tree, I just know everyone calls the red-ish pink flowers that are on the tree cherry blossoms). Our neighbors also told us that we will have lots of deer coming up to eat our crab apples – which is fine since I'll never eat them :-)
I also found out that we have 4 lilac bushes – which I absolutely love – and some day lilies and hostas. I have no idea what those are, but a green-thumb friend of ours assures me they are beautiful!
I've taken some pictures, so check out the photo album link. I'll try to keep it updated with the “renovations” we are doing, so check back every so often to see the progress. We are hoping to be moved in by the time we come back to Nebraska May 25 th . Hopefully Dan can work fast!
Our phone numbers are the same, so feel free to call and let us know when you are going to come see our new pad!
See the listing
Check out our Pictures
posted by Dan Epley @ 9:23 AM
