These may just look like another ordinary set of keys, but my friends, these are the keys to our very first home! Woohoo!! Everything went great at closing, and we are now the proud owners of a real house with a real yard and a garden and 2.5 bathrooms and two fireplaces and an upstairs and a killer front porch! Our amazing realtor, who ensured I kept my sanity through this process and made sure every i was dotted and t was crossed, got us two rocking chairs as a house warming gift. So excited! Lucky for us, she's also going to be our neighbor, as she and her husband live about 1/2 mile away.

Now the craziness really begins... hardwoods start Thursday, new A/C installation begins Thursday, hardwoods finish Sunday, carpet starts Monday, and then we (and by we, I mean I) move next Thursday! Matt is going to be put to work the first weekend in the house, because I'm stuck doing all the heavy lifting during the week. Maybe I can just sit back with a beer and give orders? [wishful thinking] Oh well, I do what I gotta do. Hopefully we get all packed up this weekend, because apparently I may be making a work trip some time before then, too. Gotta love it!

In other news, there was no winner named at the Rib Off. Yeah, weird. People's ribs were finishing at different times, so everyone just ate. But, the real winner of the Rib Off was Caitlin's banana pudding. I'm also being talked into bottling my salsa. Matt, sadly, did not have the best ribs this year, and we are 100% convinced that the cut of the ribs is at least 75% of the battle.