A word about mortgages

ING DIRECT. I guess that's two words. I already had two accounts with ING, and on the same day I found the listing for the house, I decided to apply for a mortgage. I remembered that ING had a special mortgage product with only $895 in closing fees. The application and approval took six minutes. And the $895 is the real deal; there were NO additional costs at our closing. The lawyer hired to represent ING (who had never represented them before) actually said, "Wow, most banks I represent tack on $4k to $5k just because they know they can." We were shocked.

ING rules. They make the closing process, which can be stressful, a breeze. Thanks to ING our close lasted 20 minutes and we saved over $5,000. Which went right into my brand new, 42,000 BTU, 60 burger capacity Weber grill.

Picnic

Our first dinner at the house...before we had furniture.

Trash

In the city we throw our trash down a chute in our apartment building. In the country we have a big blue bin.

Our favorite local restaurant: Pappardelle

There are only three restaurants in Sharon and this is our favorite. We love the owner, Tina Paradise, mostly because Linds loves her last name. They always remember us and they serve Monty Python beer.

Tina says friendly, non-city things like, "If you want coffee in the morning, just give us a call and come by and we'll put on a pot for you!"

The Virgin Homeowner

This is the book Evan bought Lindsey when she was freaking out about owning a home. We both loved it and learned more about septic tanks than any person should really know.

We officially became homeowners on June 20, 2007. Yippee!