Carpentology

The Hustle and Bustle of the Holiday Season

(Did I spell that right? I tried “business” and that did not seem right.)

It is our first Christmas Eve as a family that we were not on leave. This may not mean anything to many people, but it means a lot to us. For all of our married life, we have been traveling on the Holidays. The only time we spent a holiday at home was when we had no choice. Last year we could not travel because Beth was pregnant with Tony for Thanksgiving, and she had just given birth three days before Christmas.

We standardly took three weeks of leave in December. This was just about the only time of year that we were afforded the opportunity, but it worked out well as we were able to spend the Christmas and New Year’s Eve/Day with friends and family. This was a break in our lives, and we were really able to enjoy the Holidays.

This year is a change. We are not traveling. We are not even on vacation being that we both started (relatively) new jobs, and are now the low people on the totem poles and therefore will miss out on all the prime vacation time. We are not able to “take a break” to enjoy the the Season. All of the special events will occur in the midst of our routine. We have been so busy that we have not even wrapped the boys presents, although I think that it would be an appropriate tradition for me and Beth to standardly wrap the presents on Christmas Eve.

Today begins with a visit from my Grandpa. He has never been to our new place, so I am excited to show him out first home (that we owned.) I am glad that he will be busy around the Holidays. There is something to be said about being busy for this reason. His visit will be followed with a visit to my step-father-in-law’s mother house. (Did you all get that?) This will quickly be followed by the first of two church services that Beth and I will be participating in this evening. We are looking to get home a little after midnight tonight, and I am sure that the boys will be up early tomorrow morning.

I am glad that we are so busy. We are involved because there are people that we care about and people that care about us.

Merry Christmas and may your Holiday Season be busy, and filled with joy!

Happy Birthday, Jill

My little sister turned twenty-six today!

WordPress.com

My mother has a new wordpress.com web log. Thanks, Matt!

Condo Hunting

I think that we have given up looking for single family home for the time being. Instead, we are looking at condos.

After looking at nearly fifty houses, and not seeing any we liked, we started looking at condos. As my wife and I have never lived in anything other than apartments since we have been dating, I cannot see why this would be a big change for us other that slightly higher monthly payments, and some equity.

The major factor in our decision to relocate is that we need a third bedroom. RJ will sleep by himself. Tony will sleep by himself. Neither will sleep if they are together. From RJ climbing into Tony’s crib, to Tony crying in the middle of the night and waking RJ up, our decision to put the boys in the same room has been a trial since we moved to Ohio.

Now that we have switched gears, we are actually seeing homes that we like. For the first time we finally found a place that we actually want to get more information about!

House Hunting

Our search for a house is back on. I think that there is just a lack of security when you live in a multifamily dwelling. We are not worried about a break-in or anything, although we do take the necessary precautions, we just want to own something.

I am looking for 3+ bedroom, 1.5+ bath and a full basement if the house is less than 1500 square feet on the north or west side of Columbus. NO SPLIT LEVEL HOUSES. I think that they are ugly and deceptively small.

Does anybody have a house that they are trying to get rid of?