What an adventure we are having. Some things are not working out, and others are working out beautifully. We drove by the Victorian house in Pleasantville on our way in and decided somebody has mastered the art of touching up digital photos - the house did not look anything near as nice as the pictures and I did not find Pleasantville to be pleasant at all!

On to Knoxville where we were to stay for the month. The large home we were renting a room in was in a state of disrepair as they are in process of updating. Our room was on the second floor, but they had torn apart the bathroom on the second floor, so there was a half bath on the first floor and a shower in the basement. The idea of lugging a 2 year old and 8 month old up and down huge flights of stairs just to use the restroom was overwhelming. Not to mention the "live in nanny" turned out to be a male friend who was helping them renovate the home. Of course, we didn't find this out until I had unloaded the van and carried everything upstairs. So I had to carry everything back out and we headed into Des Moines to a hotel for the night. (where I got to unpack the van yet again!)

Tuesday morning we looked at homes in Carlisle with our realtor, Jo. I absolutely love Carlisle. It is literally 2 minutes to the Des Moines bypass and is such a lovely little town. The homes are all well kept and seems to be full of families. The fourth home we looked at I fell in love with. I used to joke that I must be a redneck at heart after hearing Jeff Foxworthy's joke, "If the directions to your home include the phrase, turn off the paved road, you might be a redneck." Well, this house is off the paved road. It's on just under an acre, but there is nothing but fields and woods past our property. Yes, I said our property. The owner came by while we were there and he and I basically talked everything out so that I submitted the offer that night and it was signed off on in less than 2 hours. We are getting the new stainless steel refrigerator that wasn't included in the listing plus the leather living room furniture. Also we get to move in next Monday and pay no rent until the house closes on the 20th.

We met the one neighbor with the closest house to ours. They have five horses and just had a colt. They also have tons of fruit trees and a plethora of kittens which Trinity enjoyed chasing around. She (the neighbor) was telling us that the road gets plowed quickly in the winter b/c it is on the bus route. The school bus stops at the corner just down from our front door.

The house is small, but just what we need for now. We can always add on later when the girls are older and need more room. The masterbedroom is on the first floor next to the full bath. The upstairs is where the girls bedroom and playroom will be. It has a half bath with a child sized toilet and sink in it separating the two rooms. There are built in dressers and book shelves and closets just the right size for kids.

Today we drove around the bypass and figured out that we will be within 10 miles of a mall with theaters, a super Walmart, and just about any eating establishment and shopping need we might have. We are also only a couple miles from the Carlisle aquatic park and a little further to take out pizza. (these things are important to know!) I know the big question is - how much does all this cost? We are buying the home for $114,900 which is $3k less than the assessed value. :)

It's the perfect blend of country living with big city conveniences close by. We will be back there tomorrow morning for the inspection, so I will get more pictures posted tomorrow. But for now, here are some pics of the property.

This is the front of the house from the street.

This is looking down what I thought was the property line to the back. You can see the small fence which will be lovely with some sort of flowery vine growing on it as soon as I get the chance. It offers a little privacy to the back porch from the neighbors.