It’s all ours!

Spencer and I went to closing on our first home Friday and had the keys later that afternoon, which means . . . we’re homeowners! It’s still a little surreal, even after spending the entire weekend there scrubbing and vacuuming and Lysoling everything within sight.

Though the house is in great shape overall, like all homes that have been vacant for a while . . . well, it needed airing out.

And by “airing out,” I mean cleaning from top to bottom.

Cleaning. So much cleaning. I don’t think I’ve ever vacuumed so much in life. I knew the house was, um, bigger than our condo, but I didn’t have any concept of how much bigger until I was on my hands and knees wiping down baseboards, walls and floors.

And wiping out entire spider colonies. I . . . yeah.

My entire weekend, in fact, looked like this:

With a hefty amount of this:

And though my arms are aching and my head is fuzzy this morning, I can’t believe how much progress we’ve made in just a few days. Friends came by Sunday to see the place and kindly offered to cut the grass as a housewarming gift (we have no lawn mower yet), and I was so grateful I could have cried! The grass was already about two feet high, and several new neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves and gently inquire about it.

Already with the grass wars. But it’s all right.

I’m still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that it’s “our” house — I just don’t feel old enough? grown up enough? “wealthy” enough? to own property, but I guess that will fade with time. We certainly signed our lives away on Friday, so this baby is all ours.

There is so, so much to do — but I already feel better for having started the process. Spence is so handy, excited and on top of things, so I know all the basics will be covered.

In case you’re curious (and for posterity), some things we tackled this weekend:

• Scrubbed and power-washed exterior of house
• Took broken window in for repair
• Mopped kitchen and bathroom floors
• Scrubbed out all kitchen cabinets and drawers, plus sink
• Swept porch and deck
• Vacuumed all floors (can’t unsee that dirt and dust)
• Bissell-cleaned carpeting throughout house (ditto dirt)
• Cleaned two of four bathrooms (hadn’t the strength for others)
• Fixed wiring in office light fixture
• Moved a few boxes from condo, packed a few others

Not bad for two days’ work!

Thankfully the weather was gorgeous — mid-60s both days with plenty of sunshine, so we could open all the windows and let lots of fresh air in. Cleaning is also far more pleasant when you’re not sweating to death, and the temperate breezes kept Spence and I both happy. (Though we were still sweating. Kind of unavoidable.)

As much as I enjoyed whipping open all the windows, cleaning and daydreaming about our new space, I’ll admit to being a little relieved to go back to work this morning. Some sense of normalcy, you know?

And I don’t have to vacuum there. Already a huge plus.