So, we bought a house...
Hello faithful reader (i.e. Mom)! You may have noticed we haven't posted in a while. Mostly it's because we're lazy but we're blaming it on WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!
We also adopted a cat. Her name is Carly. She's very cute and distracting.
Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin
She has distracted us enough, back to the story. Packing was an ordeal. We had a lot of stuff in our tiny one bedroom apartment! Luckily, I was very good at labeling.
Luckily we have some awesome friends and family who helped us move it all. And it only took a 16-ft truck, an SUV, a cargo van, a pickup, a fully-loaded sedan, and two trips in a hatchback to get it all.
It was a little bit bittersweet when we finally cleaned everything up and closed everything out. I was there a month shy of 6 years, and it was a good little apartment. And of course, it was the place where I proposed.
Bigger and Better
With the new place we finally have a place for all our stuff! We went from 1 bed / 1 bath to a whopping 4 beds / 2 baths! We upgraded a carport and street parking for a garage and a driveway, and traded the shared basement space for a partially finished basement with plenty of storage. Oh and now we have a deck and our own back yard!
(And no, none of this is our furniture. I was busy and took them off of Zillow).
Where we are... and where we'll go
Those of you who know me know that I like to be prepared and don't really like any surprises, so I pretty much knew what we were getting ourselves into when we started the home-buying journey. I have to admit, though, that both the benefits and commitments of homeownership have surpassed my expectations so far. On the down side, there are so darn many things that need taken care of once you own property. I already had a pretty big list assigned for myself before we even closed on the house, but I still missed some crucial things. For instance, gas lantern mantles burn out. And that one light in the basement won't turn off. And two light switches were installed upside-down. And none of the smoke detectors had indications as to their age (when we replaced them they all expired... years ago). And the upstairs bath faucet sprays everywhere. And the fridge filter needs replaced. And the thermostat isn't programmable. And the lawnmower wheel broke. And so on and so on and so on.
The upside is, at least for now... fixing all that stuff has been a lot of fun! I've always liked working with my hands, but have never had a great outlet for it. I started getting into electronics again before we moved (and haven't really touched it since... the craft room / workshop is still, almost 5 months later, the least unpacked room of them all). Most of the fixes are simple, but there's something empowering about being able to mount your own TV on the wall gosh durnit! And of course the financial analyst side of me loves it when I can spend under 20 bucks to fix a faucet that a plumber would have charged $200 to fix. Some things are less fun (if I ever have to paint trim again it'll be too soon), but on the whole, it's been a very pleasant experience. And look at the results!
Well that's probably enough for now; I've got some more light bulbs to change. Until next time!
