dianaschnuth

Back in 2004, Aaron and I scoffed at the idea of a “starter home.” After all, if we didn’t want to live in a house until it was paid off and we owned it outright, why not just rent? Why take that risk?

And so it was that we purchased our first home together.

We’d been living together in a duplex apartment for a couple of years, since before we were married (but after we were engaged for about a year). Aaron had moved from part-time to full-time at work, and we just felt like it was time to stop putting money in someone else’s pocket. We could own our own home for the same amount as we were paying in rent every month — why not put that money to good use for ourselves, instead of paying someone else’s mortgage?

Back then, we had a list of requirements: three bedrooms (or two plus a den), attached garage (preferably two-car), dishwasher, central air, and a pleasant neighborhood (where we could safely take walks). In the end, we got the three bedrooms, an attached one-car garage, and a walkable neighborhood. As it turns out, our house stays fairly cool in the summer, so the lack of central air wasn’t disastrous… but the dishwasher’s absence has been keenly felt over the years, as has the two-car garage.

Like I said, we didn’t expect to move. Ever.

We also didn’t expect to have Connor, or receive an inheritance. We didn’t expect to have the reason or the means to buy another home.

But here we are.

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It’s a Sunday morning in the middle of a three-day weekend, and I’m relaxing on the couch in my yukata (Japanese summer robe), reading my final issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

I’m obviously not in their demographic, though, as their main stories this issue revolve around entertaining guests in the home during the summer months: garden parties, grill-outs, and the like. Don’t they know that most of my potential invitees have spouses, houses, children, and/or have much better things to do than hang out with me on a Saturday afternoon? Didn’t they get the memo that I’ve cancelled all future post-vacation parties, due to a lack of interest?

Hmph. Just as well that my subscription’s expiring, I suppose.

I’m fighting the urge to embark on too many projects at once. This is normal.

Would you believe that I still haven’t finished scrapbooking our honeymoon? From 2003? Or that I have 8mm videocamera footage from back in April 2000 that I never managed to edit together into a final montage? IKEA kitchen accessories purchased a year and a half ago, and never installed? Photos and art moved from our apartment back in 2004 that I still haven’t hung on the walls? Art that I’ve purchased, and photos that I’ve gotten enlarged, and haven’t yet framed?

I’m trying to make a concerted effort to finish these orphaned projects before I start on anything new. I’m also coming to terms with the fact that some things, like my three unfinished novels, may never be done.

I’m on Day Two of a new initiative to prioritize and get things done, and it’s going well. One chunk at a time, and nothing too overwhelming — that’s how everything will get done.

Maybe, someday, my desk will even be clean and organized.

Pshaw.