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The joys of home ownership, part 27
Sep. 12th, 2007 07:55 pmSo I have to say upfront that I didn't want to buy a house. My people are apartment dwellers, nomadic and living more or less lightly upon the cityscape. But my beloved comes from a long line of settlers, folks who put their roots down in the soil and stay put. And I was prevailed upon.
The house is question is an antique structure in the lovely southern Minneapple. Not merely antique but in fact the survivor of a fairly hard life. We are in a state of continual remodel and fix up eight years later. Our realtor, a sensible lady from the wilds of western Minnesota, tried to persuade us to pick something less labor intensive. We, on the other hand, really liked the fact that we could afford it and the light from the many windows (back to these in a moment) and the way it danced over the decaying mustard yellow carpeting and the possibly 200,000 nails in every surface of the rotting gold textured wallpaper. And since our realtor had recently been introduced to the notion that "Homosexuals fix things" (one gets this alot in the Minneapple), she allowed as we could make something of it.
Which leads to last Friday night when the window salesguy, who was dressed as an American flag, dropped by for 3 solid hours. We said yes, probably due to battle fatigue, then Jana chatted up her dad the contractor and we canceled on the grounds that it was way too much window for us. I'm glossing over the agonizing, the trips out to the BBB website, the trip to the suburbs to cancel and the realization that, yes, we really do need to replace the windows. Sigh. Added to giant list of things to deal with soon.
The kitchen is coming along slowly but steadily. We are, at my insistence, turning it into a giant lemon. Every oddly painted room is due to some moment of eccentricity that I had at the paint store. The areas people hang out in are all amiable dull tans and creams. The closet is magenta, my office is Easter egg purple and now the kitchen is becoming a giant lemon. I probably shouldn't be allowed near color strips but I do like the weird combinations.
And tonight when we out for a walk, a hummingbird came down to check our hostas about a foot away from where we were standing. Which completely made up for the garage (newly repainted by Baptist missionaries -a true story!) getting egged last night. There's also a small flock of what appear to be escaped parakeets in our trees. No idea where they came from but I suspect we'll be trying to come up with ways to keep them going this winter if possible.
The house is question is an antique structure in the lovely southern Minneapple. Not merely antique but in fact the survivor of a fairly hard life. We are in a state of continual remodel and fix up eight years later. Our realtor, a sensible lady from the wilds of western Minnesota, tried to persuade us to pick something less labor intensive. We, on the other hand, really liked the fact that we could afford it and the light from the many windows (back to these in a moment) and the way it danced over the decaying mustard yellow carpeting and the possibly 200,000 nails in every surface of the rotting gold textured wallpaper. And since our realtor had recently been introduced to the notion that "Homosexuals fix things" (one gets this alot in the Minneapple), she allowed as we could make something of it.
Which leads to last Friday night when the window salesguy, who was dressed as an American flag, dropped by for 3 solid hours. We said yes, probably due to battle fatigue, then Jana chatted up her dad the contractor and we canceled on the grounds that it was way too much window for us. I'm glossing over the agonizing, the trips out to the BBB website, the trip to the suburbs to cancel and the realization that, yes, we really do need to replace the windows. Sigh. Added to giant list of things to deal with soon.
The kitchen is coming along slowly but steadily. We are, at my insistence, turning it into a giant lemon. Every oddly painted room is due to some moment of eccentricity that I had at the paint store. The areas people hang out in are all amiable dull tans and creams. The closet is magenta, my office is Easter egg purple and now the kitchen is becoming a giant lemon. I probably shouldn't be allowed near color strips but I do like the weird combinations.
And tonight when we out for a walk, a hummingbird came down to check our hostas about a foot away from where we were standing. Which completely made up for the garage (newly repainted by Baptist missionaries -a true story!) getting egged last night. There's also a small flock of what appear to be escaped parakeets in our trees. No idea where they came from but I suspect we'll be trying to come up with ways to keep them going this winter if possible.