House Hunting: Offer Accepted

Saturday morning. Pancakes with nutella for mum and dad, pancakes with sugar for Tara, and pancakes plain for Leo who wipes his face with them in an attempt at getting as much as possible into his mounth.
Also, one phone call from the agency to tell us that our offer has been accepted and that we are on our way to owning a house. YAY!


Well, YAY, says Jose. Tara seems to be saying OUCH, although why, we do not know. (Yes, Leo is wearing pink hand-me-down bibs from his sister. Ho doesn't mind, and now that we are looking forward to buying a new kitchen and a new bath along with the house I'm certainly not shopping around for blue. All Leo cares for is pancake.)

I've spent a week stressing over the great choice of solicitors (online somewhere in England, cheaper vs. local, more expensive but more direct and possibly faster), then agonised some more over mortgages (fixed rate? 5 years? 3 years? which provider?), and I've also made it back to the house to take detailed photos of every piece of furniture, floor, wall, and other pieces of equipment. I can't possibly post any of those interior pictures. They would give my father a heart attack. So here are just a few: Front room (note: 'SOLD' sign outside), back of house, and garden - currently lawnless, but that represents a huge improvement over the child-swallowing jungle of weeds it still was a week ago.

"SOLD" (subject to contract and excluding curtains and that arm chair!)

Bedroom, bedroom, (tiny) lean-to 'conservatory' , kitchen (left to right, top to bottom)

Garden: South-West facing. Aaaah, sunny!

We're about to grow roots in England, and this of all places. I'm thinking: My kids will possibly look back at this house later as the house they grew up in. They won't have any memories of living in any of the other houses, and living in England will be normal to them, 'home' and all they know. For me, it's totally weird. Possibly in a nice kind of way, but mostly bewildering and baffling.

All going well, we're on a 4-8 week countdown to getting the keys. It's weird.