Oh, how I like to see the little word "option" appear

As some of you have heard, and many of you haven't, Ryan and I began looking at houses this past weekend. As luck would have it, we fell in love with the third house we saw on our outing.
As potential non-luck would have it, there was an offer being made on the house so we had to move very quickly. And for first-time homebuyers - this was a little traumatic. Thankfully we had most of our ducks in a row so we were able to make an offer.

This morning we received written confirmation that our offer (counter-offer, whatever) has been accepted. So... pending inspections, appraisals and all the other things that could go wrong - we're going to be homeowners very soon!

We're very excited because the house is just so much more than we thought we were going to find. It's in our current neighborhood (which is especially nice because we already have friends here and know the lay of the land), it has more space than we were expecting, it has awesome perks (like new appliances and systems, a double lot fenced yard, three car garage, etc) and it's (in my opinion) a very nice, homey place.

Of course I realize much could still go wrong with the deal, but it's closer than we've ever been, so we're excited!

We'll try to keep everyone posted on our progress through the blog, but here are a few pictures to whet your appetite.

The progression of Tuesday

Tuesday has been doing pretty well and not causing as many problems as we had anticipated. It is annoying to have to have her on a leash at all times - it requires much more tag-teaming by me and Ryan. Also, because Tuesday is not allowed to jump up or down from the couch or bed, we've been trading off on sleeping on the floor (air mattress) with her. Probably a bit extreme, but we both get more sleep this way than if we had to listen to her cry in her crate all night. All in all, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. Of course, we're still in week one. Her stitches come out next week and then after that we can begin to allow her a bit more freedom and walking. The vet checked her out today and said the knee seems to be healing nicely though and she thinks she's going to be a quick healer. I would agree as she seems to not show any signs of pain at all and has no issues putting her full weight on that leg. Quite the trooper.

Keeping the injured leg elevated helps alleviate pain, Tuesday reasons.

It's hard to not feel sorry for her when she looks at you this way.

All tranqed up and sleeping soundly.

She finally got the soft cast off today and it was replaced with a nice e-collar to keep her from chewing her stitches. I'm not sure she appreciates the trade off.

The Incredible Pizza Company

It had been awhile since Lily and I had been able to have any quality aunt-niece time so Ryan and I turned in one of our visitation rights cards and took her to the Incredible Pizza Company last Friday. It was quite the place - kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese meets New Jersey boardwalk.

They have an extensive pizza/everything else under the sun buffet, 4 different style dining rooms (including one that's made up like a drive-in theater that airs full length movies), a pretty extensive arcade, a special area for the under 5 year-olds, bumper cars, mini-golf and go-karts. What more could you want?

I think Lily really enjoyed it - especially the moon-bounce and the merry-go-round that we could barely get her off of. I wasn't sure if she would like the go-karts because I know she's not always a fan of the "scarier" rides, but she loved it. Of course, we weren't going that fast, but she thought we were going top speed and she particularly enjoyed the fact that we were racing Ryan.

However, if you asked her what the best part was, she'd inform you it was getting a tiny plastic Care Bear in exchange for her 60 hard-earned tickets. Go figure. :-)

Lily riding the pony.

Peace.

We're going so fast the camera couldn't keep up with us.

The merry-go-round that wouldn't stop.

Send good, healing thoughts Tuesday's way today. She's currently recovering from surgery on her right hind knee to fix a luxating patella. Her surgeon says she had lots of "joint mice." (What a terrible name!) It sounds like she's doing pretty well though and the vet says the surgery was definitely needed - she couldn't even believe how bad it was.

Tuesday is such a happy girl you would never know she was in pain except for the way that leg was always just doing funny things.

We should get her back tomorrow night and then the real fun will begin - trying to keep her off her new improved leg so it can heal! (So maybe you could send some positive thoughts our way too!)