First Re-arrange

We are moving the bedroom to the front of the house today. It's an intricate step-by-step plan consisting of (a) buying enough storage for all the clothes we have (don't forget we had a walk-in closet in the old place) (b) building above-mentioned storage (which now covers the other front door we had - floor plans and pictures to follow) and (c) playing that game where you shuffle large pieces of furniture from one room to another without jamming yourself up in the process with only a small room as a buffer.

We are in the midst of step (b). Mike is assembling a decent looking Ikea closet thing which I think will be the best solution for the space we have. It's easy to move and switch around and is fairly well built unlike the crappy Ikea things out there. It is also customisable which is very important. My work clothes and personal clothes are so different and I have to wear so many work clothes each time cos of my aversion to being cold. Plus sizing down from that walk-in closet has really been difficult for both of us.

Once we put up this closet thingy, I'm moving all our clothes into it and tossing out the old chest of drawers we bought from Craigslist and these cube things we bought from Target. This (is supposed to) lead us to moving the bed into the front and then moving the dining table into the back. Then the little furniture items are not going to be do tough to do. While this process sounds neat in theory, the reality is like moving all over again - things strewn everywhere and little things getting lost in the mix.

I'll let you know how it turns out...

First mortgage payment

Just wrote a check for our first mortgage payment this month. It wasn't much more than our rent so I don't feel the pinch so much. I was away for the last 10 days so haven't been nesting as much as the Grays have upstairs - something that is quite evident when you walk into their apartment and ours. Especially since we have houseguests and then we go away for Thanksgiving so there's even less time and inclination to do anything.

I don't really mind. I want to just get used to living in a new location first, and I don't want to make any rash buying decisions the way I did when we first moved to the rental place. I bought everything in sight then and regretted it later.

The lack of light still bothers me a lot, especially when I go upstairs and their apartment is soaked in glorious light. I miss our old apartment in that sense. We also have ants in the kitchen which is annoying. Everything is old and not working properly and the Malaysian in me just wants new construction (especially kitchen & bathroom) but I have to counsel myself to be patient even when I just want to rip everything out and just replace it. I also tend to bury that feeling when I'm working so much since I then feel that I'm saving money towards a brand new kitchen and it's ok.

We did move the washer/dryer but it left a big hole in the wall which we have yet to patch. I will repurpose that big space into a pantry (once I have time). A guy at work is making me shelves for the pantry so hopefully it all happens at the same time.

Week 2

It takes some getting used to - being at a new place...I miss the light we used to get at the top floor but I don't miss the freezing days I would spend there. It's the curse of being on the top floor that you freeze in the winter and roast in the summer. In our old rental place, we didn't have control over the heat (cos the landlord paid for it) and he never turned on the heat during the day so I had an electric radiator I used in case it really was intolerable. I think that's why I always escaped back to Malaysia in January and didn't return till March!

Mike's been home improving up a storm. I never have to nag or push him to do anything - he's up and at 'em from the word 'go'. It's pretty incredible. He says he just feels different cos we now own the place. I guess I should have realised that he really cherishes the things he owns - that Ipod I gave him 5 years ago which now only lasts 20mins on that battery still looks as new as the day I bought it - meanwhile I've already lost one and am enroute to destroying another.

We still have some boxes to open and store but my kitchen still needs to be re-jigged. We are moving the washer/dryer downstairs to the basement and once that happens, I will have a pantry and much more space. In that sense, my kitchen is a little bit of a downgrade. The walk-in closet is also severely missed.

But we have some ideas of moving things around and knocking down walls. I want to ponder these ideas for at least a year to see how the sunlight travels through the space and to also save up some money and settle in to see how we really feel.

Mike's brother & sister in law come this weekend which will be exciting. I just weeded our little yard in the front which was really fulfilling (and tiring) and planted a dwarf burning bush. The backyard is going to be tackled in the Spring. In the meantime, I'm looking at composting options.

We have a 2nd room that we are using as a study/guest room which is exciting cos we get our first houseguests at the end of the month! The Trittos are visiting from SF and it's going to be fun to see them as well as show them the 'new' old place.

I will have pictures up shortly