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We have had so much going on lately, to the point where putting in the effort to commit these things to writing seems monumental. I don't want to shortchange things but here it is in simple list form: grad school, Buick, fellowship, Francesca's, soccer, Zombieland, Chip, Buick, and invitations.

The heart of what's important: Cass and I are homeowners now. I didn't want to write about it before or post pictures because I didn't want to get too hopeful or jinx anything until the deal was done. The deal is done.
Here's the front of our house. It is a one story bungalow in the Norwood Park area. Notice how the first floor is actually raised a bit more than normal. That means our basement has full sized windows, which is awesome. Among the bushes in the front are a couple that Cass has already identified as invasive species that she has to get rid of in order to be able to sleep at night.

Here's the backyard facing the garage. This area will be known as Puppy Playland. Cass gave it the name. I wanted to go with The Danger Zone but Cass didn't think it was edgy enough.

Here's the back of the house. That awning will be coming down yesterday. You can see the basement windows here. The NFL fined me $5000 for the Captain Morgan pose.

Immediately behind the front door is a mirror that covers the entire wall of the front hallway. One of our first projects is figuring out how to remove it (whatever is holding it up is hidden away) without breaking it. If that can't be done we are breaking it.

Here's our living room facing the front window. The mint carpet is coming out in favor of the hardwood underneath. That is not Hal that Cass is leaning on. It's also not any number of other helper robot jokes I could make. It's a fireplace.

This is the upstairs bathroom. I'm guessing I will be relegated to the downstairs one pretty immediately after we move in.

This is the kitchen from the living room hallway. In the back is our massive six-burner oven with a side thing of purpose(s) unknown.

Here's the main bedroom. The closet to the left is sizable. Cass could do the same pose in there pretty easily. The carpet is coming out here too. The carpet is coming out everywhere except the basement.

Here's the middle bedroom. The wallpaper would be less outrageous if it were a magic eye image. That is coming down.

This is the back bedroom off of the kitchen. It gets good sun in the afternoons. There is currently no door on the room so we can't keep the bodies in here.

In the basement now and this is the laundry area and the happy homemaker. Just kidding. She's the sugar mama for a while.

This longview of the basement is from the bottom of the steps. Notice the awesome poker hall from the 60s chandelier toward the back.

Our second fireplace in the back of the basement can be operated by remote control. The couple who owned the house worked in the fireplace industry. That's no excuse for the wood paneling.

I'll close with a picture of my two favorite things in the house. Downstairs off the utility room is a massive cedar closet. How big is it?