Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Advice from a first grader

It's always the simple things in life that I end up musing over.

My six-year-old nephew called this week to tell me that he had miraculously found a four-leaf clover. After a very detailed discussion comparing the extent of clover patches in our yards (or lack of clover patches in my case), Gabriel decided to ask about other stuff.

And at the top of the list was my moving. He has been asking his mom on a regular basis when they can make the trip to come see our new house. So the question popped up, "Sherri, are you done unpacking... well it really shouldn't take you so long... all you have to do is move the boxes to the shed and you are done." FUNNY. I think I learned a secret about how my sister recently handled her move! Anyway, I can only assume that his mother told him they couldn't possibly make the 10-hour drive to see us because we were too busy to unpacking and moving in. So he was full of helpful suggestions.

So I've been thinking. Is this really an option. Should we move the boxes out and only move them in one at a time as we are ready for them. I can't imagine I would ever finish if this was my method. So for the meantime, the boxes will remain in the appropriate room.

Good night.

Owning a home

Well, I've been pondering our move over the last month. Thomas and I were really never planning on moving to "this side of town." But overall, I can't say I'm upset with our decision - which is probably really good thing.

It funny, because the drive to work reminds of Durham. I've lived here for more than four years and Tallahassee has never reminded me of Durham until now. But we made this move for several reasons:
1) Our immediate neigborhood is safe, stable and pleasant to live in
2) The house was one of a few in the city that was not outrageously priced
3) We have our own yard and more living space, and now are building equity
4) We will save approximately $250 in gas each month
5) From the time I cranked my car until the time I arrived home - was only 9 minutes tonight.

But its funny, ever since we moved, I have a sudden urge to see some economic development on this side of town. The area I drive through each day to and from work is severely plighted and I suddenly became worried about the social and human resources, business investment and such in this area. Go figure.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

New Things

I had all sorts of stuff I was going to post on when I was finally able to sit down and say something. And of course, now I'm not sure what any of it was. So I am going to gradually work myself (and you) through a few topics/days events.

First, let me congratulate Jenn - my best friend on the birth of her new baby boy. Little Raymond was born early, early this morning and is doing great. We are so excited that this day finally came and our friends have a healthy boy. And to top things off, they are moving to Orlando in a couple months - which is a whole lot closer to us than NC. It was great talking with Jenn today, she sounded older, relaxed, and more mature. Is that a normal side effect when you have your first child?

The house has been an adventure. We are finally here. Last night was the first evening I didn't have to go to the old place to clean or paint. And wow, what a relief. Unfortunately, I haven't had any time yet to start unpacking at our new place ... but the good news is that 100% of our deposit from our last home was returned to us. Guess that means all the hard work paid off.

I have been looking forward to this weekend so that I can finally have a good block of time to unpack. That was just ruined. I've learned I will be quite overloaded at work for the next week. I had to bring work home with me tonight and will spend most the weekend getting ready for a committee meeting next week.

Repairs are beginning to become a constant thought as we look to decide what to do first. Things that we thought we may want to replace fairly quickly - like appliances - are taking a back seat to other things. During our first 48 hours in the new house we noticed the pool filter hadn't cut off - so we schedule for a specialist to come give an estimate on pool repairs. We need a new filter and liner; so we've been chatting as to when we want to proceed and trying to figure out when it will be warm enough to even use.
The roof is also a priority. That needs to be scheduled for the next month. But I have one more estimate I want to get. It's just a matter of getting it done.
Painting and landscaping have also hit the top of the list. I need to decide on a total color scheme before I move forward with painting - so I need time to decide what I like and want to do. And landscaping may be too expensive to do much with at this point. We had the pool guy give us a guestimate at replacing the cement around the pool - it was a cheap $15 grand. Yikes!

So we are just moving forward one day at a time. Getting things done that need to be done as we can.

Josh is also in a whole new world. Not only did he move, but he got his license and a car all in the last week or two. I am sure he is enjoying his extra freedom. He's also learning quickly how much it costs to have a car. He's had a few bills pop up this last week that he wasn't expecting (like locking his keys in the car).

Hopefully I will have something more interesting to talk about next time.