16 days until we close. Time was going so slow a week ago and now I can see the finish line. I still have the little bit of anxiety about something falling through at the last minute but mostly I’m excited.

The thing I’m most excited about is we were able to change our closing date and we’re now moving on my 11 year anniversary of living in Chicago. I like when things work out like that. And it’s also Valentine’s Day. The best Valentine’s Day present ever, for sure! 

I’m still looking for a new obsession to focus all the house hunting energy into.. That’ll come naturally I’m sure.

Winter is still winter. Gray, snowy, really cold. The other night after freezing my ass off walking the dog I came in and got right on the computer and ordered some long underwear and proper gloves. Finally I’m warm for the first time all winter. It’s really nice.

Still feeling a little sad about leaving our apartment but I have to say I will not miss the outrageous heating bills and still being cold in the house. Right now I have thermal shirt, Patagonia thermal hoodie, long underwear bottoms, jeans, thermal socks, slipper boots and a hat on. The heat is at 75. Exposed brick looks pretty but it’s not very energy efficient at all. There is no insulation between the outside wall and the interior.

Only a couple more weeks and I’ll be basking in the warmth of radiator heat, yay!

This will be a really good test for me. Is it possible to stick to my guns and not buy anything made in China this year? Will I be able to resist the call of Target? I’m gonna try.

The thing that I think is the most challenging about it is the cost. Things from China are inexpensive. Whenever I move into a new place I always want to redecorate and get rid of the old, replace it with new things. 

I’ll just keep repeating the mantra “You don’t need more tchotchkes.” Eventually it’ll sink in.

I have to get better at thrifting, or at least make an effort to check out those places first before running out and buying new things. I’ve built up so much thrift store karma over the past few months I’m bound to find some great stuff.

My only issue with thrifting is my lack of patience. I’m working on that one though. It’s a process.

A couple things I found this week that I’m enjoying:

Reusable Produce Bags - from Qwerty O on Etsy

I ordered some of these and am looking forward to putting them to use.  I already have some really great nylon shopping bags that I use but it started bugging me that I was still bringing home a bunch of produce bags. The two were kind of canceling each other out. Etsy has a lot of different people selling reusable produce bags but these are the most inexpensive and the proceeds from the sales of the produce bags are going to help Susan’s (Qwerty O) daughter Kristen save some money for college.  A win win if you ask me!

Another Etsy find..

Hand Stamped Copper Pet Tags - from jmanigrossi

I’ve been looking for a new tag for Saul and thought these were really unique.

We got our apartment rented, yay! That’s a load off. It didn’t take long at all so that’s good.  Now we just have to sign the papers and get the keys.

I’m really excited about starting the new chapter but I’m also a little sad to leave this place.  We’re both getting nostalgic.. This was the place we lived in when we got married and bought our first piece of ‘grown up furniture’. It’s where we had our wedding party, and got our dog. If we owned this place I think we’d probably stay indefinitely but it’s time to take that big step.

So in less than a month we move in to the new place. We’ve gotten a lot done but there’s still so much to do. The biggest challenge is getting rid of stuff. I’m kind of a hoarder. Recovering hoarder. So it’s a little bit of a battle. I always have this little voice saying, maybe you’ll use that someday. I rarely ever do.

Working, packing, motivating, strategizing. Trying to spend more quality time with the hubby. 

I’m really excited for the move but a little nervous too. 

I’ve spent so much time and energy over the past couple years focusing on this goal of buying a house. Searching for properties, doing research on neighborhoods, getting our finances in order, all the hours spent on emails back and forth, going to see places etc. Now that we’re kind of done with everything I don’t really know what to do with myself. What’s the next all consuming obsession?

So I’m looking for a really time consuming hobby. I’ve started working on photography, but I think I need something else too. I’ll probably get back into baking and playing around with cheesemaking. I will make some cheddar this year!

2009 is going to be a really good year!