We Have a Winner!

Finally the great South Carolina house hunt is over! I found a house today that was pretty much exactly what we were looking for. I found it after looking at another four houses today. Some were good but others were not. This one is on Redglobe Court (click here as long as the link is active) in Simpsoneville. It is a very large 4 bedroom with 2 1/2 baths. It has a fenced yard and room for an office for Jane. The icing on the cake was when they told me they would be leaving the child's swing set and the surround sound system. It also comes with all appliances (including washer and natural gas dryer). The house is on a cul-de-sac and is in a subdivision with a pool, tennis courts, a beach volleyball court, soccer field, and a baseball field. The family that owns it is moving to Florida and I was the first to have a look at it. It turned out they were home so we negotiated the price and the details and came to an agreement right then and there. They were much like us and even had two rescued Labs. It really made me miss my Maggie. Click here for a map of the new area. It looks like Isabelle will have about 15 to 20 minutes to get to school when she eventually starts next year. I think there may only be a handful of traffic lights and few stop signs. As for me it's about 25 minutes or so, mainly on back roads. The other good news today is that I finally got mail. That may not seem like a big deal but for many organizations down here it means I exist. (It's not like I have a Social Security Number or anything, that's the real big one.) So I'm at the library and using my new library card for free Internet. It's great. I may even go wild and get a book out. I actually got two pieces of mail. First I got my new banking card from the bank. Secondly I received my first pay cheque. That will make things flow nicely around here since I've already had to drop lots on money on a few items like utilities (gas, electricity, water, and garbage pick-up). I will have to call back on the garbage pick-up because I didn't sign-up for recycling. I can't believe that a country this large and advanced doesn't have recycling at the curb everywhere. It sure is hard to get used to. I feel guilty every time I put a bottle in the trash. I also have some news for Maggie. I have a line on a real, honest-to-goodness dog park. There are lots of dogs here of all shapes and sizes but this will be one place that we should be able to get her out to once in a while. It's downtown in Cleveland park, near the zoo (I don't think it's related), but I hope to spend some time in town now and again on weekends. We will likely be going to the market I mentioned a few blogs back on Saturdays once in a while. Lastly I ate a wonderful little place near Simpsonville for lunch. It's called Two Chefs. It reminds me of the Italian Market in the Hydrostones back in Halifax. They do ready to cook food to take home a wonderful salads and sandwiches. In the one mini mall there was a Korean market, a Japanese restaurant, a Thai place, the Two Chefs, and a barbecue joint (pulled pork and everything!). It sure is going to be fun living down here at times!