We've Gots the Keys!!

Well, let me amend that statement.  With HUD, they let you in the house, then take the keys away and destroy them.  It's up to you to change the locks.  So at 6:30 last night, Ben and our realtor went to the new house, the realtor let Ben in, and Ben, using the worst flashlight I've ever seen (my cell phone screen emits more light than this thing), put a new doorknob and deadbolt into the front door.  He decided to put the other handles on the other doors later. :)

I went this morning to plant some bulbs, so I actually WENT INSIDE THE HOUSE ON MY OWN, without a realtor, and took pictures of the front room for you, like I promised.

This is what it looks like from the front door if you look left:

Here's what it looks like from the dining room:

(With the stuff from the doorknob assembly all over the floor.)  These are south windows.

The west window:

 Looking at the entry way and one of the south windows (and Ben's mess):

Here's how the front of our house looks right now - I planted the rest of the shrubs we inherited, plus moved around some existing stuff:

 I was trying to figure out where to plant my bulbs, and I thought briefly of this area:

But I'd have to rake the leaves, take out all of that cheesy lava rock, dig out the woody remains of some bush or tree that had been there, and plant.  So I decided to plant my bulbs by my shrubs and ignore the lava rock area for now.

I brought my haul...

...but it's freakin' freezing out there, so I only planted three groupings.  Allium, daffodils, and one kind of tulip.  Maybe tomorrow it will be warmer and I can finish up.

As far as moving date, we're still not sure.  We just got the water turned on, and the utilities will be turned on today, so now we just have to get the leaky faucet in the kitchen fixed and sweep, mop, and vacuum before we can move in.  I'm thinking  maybe a few days?