Houses and Homes

I've been thinking about houses lately. The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend, so I'm itching to do a bunch of stuff in my yard, part of my ongoing efforts to make my place look a little less like a rental. If I have any energy left, I'll turn my attention to the inside, where it's been a while since a vacuum passed over the floors.

My neighbor, who owns a remodeling business and has lots of connections, is coordinating the repair of my house's foundation, which cracked over the place where a sinkhole developed last summer due to leaky sewer pipes. He has been AWESOME and the relief I feel at having someone to turn to for these repairs (and not feeling like I might get taken advantage of) is huge. If I need something done, I send him an email and he either coordinates it or gives me the name of someone who he recommends.

And I found a person to do handyman-type stuff for me as well. He's a person who attends the Unitarian church I go to, so he comes with good moral credentials anyway. I'm waiting to accumulate a list that's worth calling someone in to attend to, but there always seems to be little somethings that I don't know how to fix or can only achieve a band-aid type of repair for.

My sister in law sent me an email and in it mentioned that her grandparents are moving out of their farmhouse to be closer to her parents in town. But get this: she said there's three generations of stuff in that house that they need to sort through. Three generations, so not only did her dad grow up there, but his dad (or mom, I'm not sure) did as well. Wow. Talk about rooted to a spot. Since moving out of my parent's home, the longest I've lived in one place is four years.

It certainly cuts down on the amount of trinkets I have, as every pending move results in a once-over and purge of accumulated stuff that is no longer needed or wanted. But if I was living in a house with no plans to ever move, I suspect I'd become more of a pack rat. Bits of this and that, you never know when you'll need one of those, that kind of thing.

I'm not there yet. I love this house, but will need larger digs when CB and I are able to live in the same city. Between us we have three kids, and this little two bedroom just isn't big enough for that. But for now, it's perfect for me and my kid.