Drumroll Please!!

I've been meaning to post about this for two weeks, but haven't found the time or the words. Or maybe I was just afraid that if I put it out on the World Wide Web, I would wake up to find it had just been a dream...
Hubby and I put down earnest money on a new house!!!!!!!!!!!! After looking at houses for months and months and convincing myself we would never actually move, I am shocked at how quickly a decision was made when the right house came along. We are going with the builder/home/neighborhood I eluded to before. We both loved the layout of the house, the garage is to die for and the backyard might be big enough for a new HUGE garden for me and just maybe a pool. Apparently Cervelle Homes has not been hit by the housing recession I keep hearing about in the news...they've got so many houses on order they won't even be starting ours until NOVEMBER!!! They said their process takes about 5 months to complete a house, so we won't get to actually move into our new home until next spring, likely in March or April. But STILL! We're getting a new house!!! A great big, beautiful, brand new home! I am so thrilled I can barely stand myself.
I am also thankful that we've got some time before the house will be ready. Our current home is STILL suffering from damage caused by hurricane Ike. TWIA is still refusing to pay for the proper repairs. Even once we get a new roof, Hubby and I want to replace some, if not all, of the siding and repaint this house. So, though I desperately want to move like yesterday, it is good that the new Butler abode will not be ready for a while. Not to mention that the new place is quite literally more than twice the size of our current house, so I think Hubby and I are going to need to do some shopping. :-)

Our new home!!!
You'll have to excuse the following mess. I was having a very hard time downloading the floorplan off the builder's website...

Upstairs
Half the downstairs...
The other half...don't ask me, I don't know why it did that...

Hubby is beside himself with excitement over the new garage. It's four cars with a "barn" style room over the entire area and a porte cochere (covered parking for wifey who refuses to park in the garage). You have the option of having the room above the garage finished out or trying to do it yourself. Hubby and I actually somewhat enjoy house projects, so we've opted to finish it out ourselves. We're thinking ginormous guest suite. There's almost 1200 square feet above the garage which is not that much smaller than our current house!

So that's the good news! I'm sure I will bore you with ad nauseam talk of furniture and cabinet/counter/tile choices over the next few months. On the plus side, maybe I'll shut up about my garden. ;-) Actually, I wonder where the graph paper is...I want to start laying out the veggie garden for the new place... ;-)

closing note: I tried one of the spicy bread and butter pickles before it went into the canner. YUM-O!!! I am so terribly impressed with myself. If you're a fan of bread and butter pickles and want to give them a shot, lemme know!! :-)