On owning a home

Dean and I are approaching the three year anniversary of the day we became homeowners.  It's kind of surreal because on the one hand I can't believe it's already been three years, and on the other hand I feel like it's been an eternity instead of only three years.  Quite the paradox, isn't it?

I remember the day we closed on the sale and went in to sign the papers.  It was a day of excitement, obviously, but also one heavily laced with nerves.  We were supposed to sign the papers bright and early at 9 a.m., so we both took the day off work because our plan was to sign the papers, get the keys, then immediately start moving our stuff over to the new homestead.  Well, 9 a.m. turned into noon, which then turned into 2 p.m., which turned into us sitting around twiddling our thumbs all day and worrying that the whole thing was going to fall through and dissolve into oblivion.  By the time we got to the title agency and were told everything was finally ready to be made official we were both so ready to get the whole thing over with we could hardly sit still. 

But sit still we did, and a couple hours later we had the keys to our house.  Walking inside for the first time as the official owners was kind of a trip.  It was also a bit daunting because, as I have mentioned before on this blog, we had a log of work to do in order to bring the house up to date.  

And here we are, three years and about a million gallons of paint later, and I'm definitely amazed at how far we've come.  I would probably also be a bit faint if I knew exactly how much money we had spent over these three years, but thankfully I haven't been keeping track of those numbers too closely.  Trust me, it would probably do more harm than good.

One thing that people don't tell you as you're preparing to buy a house is how your interests and priorities will drastically change.  Honestly, it's kind of amazing.  For instance, here are just a few of the things I have noticed about myself and Dean:

1. HGTV and the DIY Network are your stations of choice any time of day.

2. Home Depot officially becomes your shopping mecca.

3. Saving up for remodel projects becomes priority numero uno.

4. After three years of non-stop practice, we could probably open up a professional painting business.  No seriously.  We know how to paint.
 

5. Shopping for kitchen appliances becomes WAY more exciting than shopping for any other electronics.

6. Seemingly overnight, things like tile, grout color, and trim styles become.....interesting.

7. You kind of start to get into gardening.  And lawn care.  And cutting down trees.  And putting down patio pavers.  Weird.

8. You notice EVERYTHING about other houses when you are out driving around.  Like windows and garage doors and shingles and front door styles.


There's probably more that could be added to this list, but at the moment it's everything that comes to mind.  Home ownership has really been great so far, and we have learned a lot along the way, discovering that we are actually capable of being pretty handy when we need to be.  And while it seems like we are always in the middle of some kind of home project, I hope that one of these days we can just sit back, relax, and know that there is nothing else to be done.

Ha!  I'm such a comedian.