Friday 15 June 2012

Settlement Day and the 6 month milestone

Friday 15th June

6 months of living in USA has now scooted past and we marked the milestone by finally spending some of that money from our house sale in UK (although slightly more than we bargained for by bringing it to USA just as the exchange rate hot rock bottom). We have now become property (part)owners again. Settlement was at 3pm and, unlike in UK, everyone fronts up together to meet the notary, sign all the paperwork and exchange checks (as they are called locally). After some confusion about who should actually be named as the new owner due to a msimatch of paperwork, the whole deal was done and dusted only 6 short weeks after we first viewed the house. Much like before we have purchased a doer upper but it has a lovely garden (yard) backing onto conservation land. Unlike before we now have a swimming pool - I am thinking positively and hoping that this will distract me from not having a kitchen or functioning bathrooms shortly - we will wait to see if this pans out. I will miss my weekly slots with the relator house hunting. I am hoping that the architect will step in as a new found friend.

So what have been the highlights? We are enjoying the wildlife - chip munks, ground hogs, and deer are regular visitors to our garden (along with squirrels and rabbits). The birds are also all very colourful with cardinals and blue wood peckers popping in and out of the bird feeder. The mini adventures to explore PA, New York and other local states have been exciting and the skiing (although now seems a distant memory) was great fun. Local league softball also brought lots of new friends. And of course we have enjoyed seeing those of you who have ventured to visit us. We have even managed to eventually to persuade a bank to give us a credit card. We are looking forward to getting settled in our new house, a front loading washing machine and more adventures to come, but I still am not sure about those supermarkets or stop signs.

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