Thoughts on Life – 7/1/2012 – Moving into a new house

So, we have done it.  We finally moved into our new house a week ago.  We had worked on the house for about a month and a half.  During that time, we had new flooring put in, had new insulation put in, installed new doors and door locks, refinished the kitchen, repainted the rooms, had fans installed in the upstairs bedrooms, reworked the outside flower beds, had our trees trimmed, and generally cleaned up the place.  We got the house for a good price with the idea of putting a bunch of money in up front to get it into the shape we wanted.  I’d say that we came within 85-90% of what we wanted upon moving in, with mostly money limitations keeping us from going further.  Still, we did a whole lot over that time.  We also, of course, worked to pack up our own stuff, so that we could be ready to move in.

Last Sunday, we made the move.  We called up the movers and had them start us out at 9am on Sunday.  They left right around 7pm, making two loads from our apartment to the house.  It went very smoothly overall, although there’s still quite a bit of stuff left at the apartment.  Luckily we don’t have to be out of there until the end of July, so we have time to finish up there.

My wife and mother-in-law did a lot of the work on the house.  I was preparing for teaching and then teaching through a lot of the time getting the house ready, so I had a more limited role.  Still, we all worked on it well throughout the time, and I think we did a good job.

Since moving in, we have been unpacking and continuing to clean/organize the house.  Our space has been increased by about 1000 square feet, so we can really stretch everything out well.  We have had some hiccups along the way.  We are still getting the kinks out in our cable/internet, but we seem to be a good way along the right path there.  We have had a number of plumbing issues, but we really knew that going into the place, and it has just been a matter of getting them taken care of.  We have also discovered that we are going to have to get a second air conditioner in upstairs at some point, as the one in the house is just not able to handle a large house.  Our electrical input to the house is also pretty rough, and we are going to have to get that taken care of.  We are prioritizing what needs to get done and deciding when to pull the trigger on the various things that are needed.

As of now, however, we are quite pleased with the set up of the house and what we have here.  It is a very nice place in a nice neighborhood.  I hope everything continues to go as smoothly.