Before and After

I'm thinking a lot lately about before and after. Maybe that has a lot to do with the fact that we've just bought a home and I spent a good portion of last night scrubbing my new cooktop trying to get it clean.

They had to have cooked bacon on the thing without a pan to get it that dirty. I don't know what these people did, but there was grease and burnt on food just caked around all of the burners. Sadly, I spent most of my cleaning time thinking about whether or not these people did this on purpose or if that was just the way they lived... was it malicious because they were losing the house?

So, last night I conquered the stove while Aaron defeated the bathroom scum, and then Aaron cleaned up the hood while I cleaned out cabinets and drawers. I was also victorious over a questionable blob of gunked on goop in the pantry. It was gross, but I showed it who was boss.

In other good news, I found out we're getting a nice chunk of change back from what we put up for closing costs, and I finally got to see the appraisal report - our house is actually worth more than what we paid for it. Now let's just hope it stays that way in this shaky market...

Anyway, I'll post a good before and after pic once I can get back over to the house and snap one. Today our cable, phone, and internet are being installed, tomorrow the tile and carpets are being cleaned, and Saturday we move in! Yay!