The New House

After coming back from New Orleans for Christmas, I moved into my new house on January 10th.  That was the day I was getting the phone and cable/computer transferred so I figured that was as good a day as any to move both me and the cat.

I was worried about the cat.  I adopted him about in 1999 and he's only ever lived with me in the old house.  He was majorly freaked out for about the first half hour.  He got steadily better after that and is now pretty much an old hand at the place.

At the old house I had furniture I wanted to bring with me.  Then there's the furniture I no longer want and, in some cases, rather loathe.  The furniture I wanted was moved over on December 30th.  The remainder is still at the old place waiting to go to either The Salvation Army or the landfill.

I'm still bringing over small stuff.  I've gotten to the point over bringing over the awkward to haul stuff like pots and pans and things that don't fit well into boxes.  But I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel is a light and not a train.  I'm also hoping the I soon forget the annoyance of moving.

I did find one more fun thing about the new house.  Thanks to the park out back, there's the possibility of balloon landings.  I don't think this one actually landed, I think they just thought about it and decided to continue flying.

Papillon

New house - decisions, decisions

I've lived in my current house since 1992.  It's a small house on a large lot.  When I bought it, I contemplated doing lots of DIY on an admitted fixer-upper.

Over the years, I've discovered that I thoroughly dislike doing DIY.  I'd much rather pay someone to do the work for me.  I've also discovered that I have WAY, WAY, WAY more yard than I will ever utilize. 

In May of this year, I decided I wanted to reverse my situation with a bigger (not HUGE) house on a significantly smaller lot.  I called the realtor (Patricia) that I'd used to buy my current house.  She was a real sport and took me around to see a ton of houses.  There were a couple of houses that came close, but had factors that made me turn them down.  One backed up to commercial real estate space that hasn't been developed yet.  I decided I didn't want to buy the house only to have a McDonalds put in at a later date.

Finally, in late August I found a nice house that is spacious but is not a McMansion (keeping the McDonalds theme going).  It's on a much smaller lot, although I do have a 3-hole putting green in the backyard.

Now that I've closed, I've got lots of things to get done.  Utilities are on and in my name.  I do have to call a plumber.  When the gas company tech tried to start the water heater, the pilot light igniter didn't (ignite the pilot).  The tech said it's probably a problem with the wires and I'll probably need to have that small unit replaced.  No hurry so waiting for a Friday off to call the plumber.

One of the nice things is - I don't have to HURRY.  My current house is paid off and so I don't have to move NOW.  That said, I've decided to redo the flooring and paint before moving.  Much easier to do with an empty house.

I've called and met with folks to get estimates to me.  Waiting to get all the results back.  I plan on removing the wall-to-wall carpet (which I loathe) and put in laminate instead (much easier to clean up pet messes on laminate).  I spent some time at Lowe's yesterday and really like something called 'Galveston Oak' - brown with lots of blonde notes.

As to paint, I had been thinking a nice green (not emerald, more subdued).  Then I thought I might do a nice neutral brown.  The problem there happened when I noticed all the browns that I liked had a distinct pink undertone.  That could get really 'precious' very quickly.  Instead, I'm back to green.  It looked really good up against the 'Galveston Oak' (the brown looked blah).  I'm leaning toward 'Pale Pasture' - color for the walls but not TOO much.

It's the one on the left.

It'll be nice to get this all done so I can start moving stuff over.

Papillon

Big Decision

I've been thinking about this for a long time. 

When I bought my house 21 years ago (moved in 21 years ago this first weekend in May), I had plenty of room.  However, after all these years, I've acquired a bunch more stuff.  Granted, I could get rid of some of it, but most of it I want to keep.

That said, I've decided to buy a bigger house.  No, not a McMansion.  If you buy a big house, you also have to clean all that extra space.  Instead of 2 bedrooms/1 bath, which is what I've got now, I want 3 bedrooms/2 baths and about half again as much space. 

I want to be like Goldilocks.  It can't be too big or too small.  It needs to be just right.

This morning I went by the credit union and was pre-approved.  This afternoon I met with my real estate agent.  (She's the same one I used 21 years ago.)  We spent a bunch of time getting caught up on what's happened since then.  We've got an appointment set to look at houses on my next Friday off.

I'm feeling happy - a new house!  I'm feeling scared - I'm getting a new mortgage!

Papillon