The rest of the St. Louis trip...

So, we hit one more auction in the morning on Friday, June 5th. B even came with us to this one. I got another chair and a few other treasures including an old hardback copy of Gone With the Wind. Then we packed up the car to head back home. About an hour after we drove away, I realized I forgot my box of treasures from the auction that morning in Mindy's car. Boo. Friday night we stayed at B's parent's house, then got back on the road. Saturday night we stayed in a hotel about 5 hours from home. When we walked into our hotel room, I was excited, because it seemed we'd gotten the luxury suite (as luxurious as you can get for a cheap hotel...lol) because the room was about as big as some apartments I've lived in. But as the night went on we realized that we were not so lucky after all. For one, we were next to the stair well, and there was group of young people staying a few rooms down that stomped up and down the stairs several times throughout the night. Then we thought someone was knocking on the door, but when B got up to look through the peep hole, he said it was coming from the other side of the room. Yep, our neighbors headboard banging against our wall repeatedly. Lovely. A little later someone did come to our door but only knocked once and left. Then there was the train that pulled it's horn as it passed us. And at the butt crack of dawn, we got more knocking at the door, which this time, was the hotel security guard at the wrong room. Needless to say we got very little sleep, complained to the guy at the front desk, got our room for free, and two cranky folk continued on home. We were gone 36 days.
It was very quiet when we got back home. But only for a day. Monday, Jeremy and Mandy arrived and stayed with us for the week while they were down visiting.


The house stuff...
Before we left for the Missouri trip, I assure you, I had no intention of going up there and looking at houses. But while we were there I got to thinking about it. It all started with that first house that I came across that was in the location that I loved. We got serious about it and even got it inspected. The inspection found a few things that worried us, so we decided against it. And then I came across another house (in a completely different town) and fell in love with it. This one's a 120 year old farm house that has been added on to. The house needs some cosmetic work like painting and a new stove (it has an old antique one). But it looks to be well maintained and the outside was great. I loved the property just as much the house. It has a little log cabin, a garden shed, a really nice barn with horse stalls, a large fenced area for horses, a garden enclosed by a picket fence, a pool enclosed by a picket fence, a creek that ran along the property, and 7 acres of slightly rolling terrain surrounded by trees for privacy. It was absolutely beautiful! The owner said he was flexible on the price since he hasn't listed it with an agent yet and that he was willing to divide the property to make the price more afordable. So, Ben and Jenn suggested buying the other half that has the barn and horse corral on it and building a house, and we loved the idea. The owner also loved this idea because that meant he wouldn't have to pay to open up the road and move utilities around, thus making him even more flexible on the price and also willing to hold the house for us while we came back home and tried to sell our house. Though, Ben and Jenn have since found another place they love and are moving ahead on that one, we are continuing to get our house ready to sell. Yesterday, they delivered the materials for our new roof and they are coming tomorrow to put it on. It was damaged from the storm last year. And since the insurance people took so long, it looks like we'll have a new roof just in time for this year's storms. lol We're figuring on still moving, even if it's not to Missouri, because we're ready for a change. This is the longest I've ever lived in one place, so I'm getting antsy. So, even if it's just 10 minutes away, I'm ready to move on down, move on down the road!