12-17-2000

Richard's been working from home this week - three days, in fact. This meant, of course, that he got to drive out to the house during lunch and see it in all its glory and I had to be content with simple pictures that he would take and upload for me (Did I whine at him about it? Yes I did). I've got the latest house picture as my wallpaper on my computer at work. People are probably getting sick of me showing it to them. (Do I care? No).

So all this week I've been impatient for Saturday so I could see it myself. This morning we bought breakfast food and then we drove out to the house, tromped around, and sat on a pile of boards to eat breakfast in our soon-to-be breakfast nook (Go look at the house page if you want to see it. Yes - a picture of me in there. How amazing is that?).

Okay, so it's still just frames and no solid walls and no ceiling and no second floor, but at least we are getting a good idea of what it's going to look like, finally, and it was so incredibly cool to wander through, pointing out rooms to each other (like we really didn't know what they were). "Here's the laundry room! Check out the size of our dining room! Oh man, this breakfast nook is the *perfect* spot for gaming!" Ah, even in the midst of yuppyness the nerd stuff sneaks in...

We actually got to meet a neighbor, finally. He came over and introduced himself, then pointed at a few houses around us and noted who we are going to be living among. One of them owns several fast food restaurants. One of them owns a highly successful shutter company. He rattled off more impressive facts and Richard and I looked at each other and grinned. Even before this we'd already determined that in our new neighborhood, we're most likely going to be the youngest couple there, and our house will probably be the smallest (which, considering that it's a tad over 2100 square feet, is definitely not a problem!). But his comments indicated that we'll probably also be the least affluent people out there, and probably the most liberal. I think if we'd been out there prior to this past election, we'd have been the only ones with a 'Vote for Gore' sign in our front yard. This should make things fun, yes yes.

But all joking aside, nothing I've learned has made me any less excited to be building in that neighborhood. It's quiet and calm, and we've been there at all times of day or night. The people seem friendly. One night when we were there, we heard the faint sounds of the local high school band warming up and that brought back so many memories (yes, I was a band geek.). We've talked about occasionally walking down to take in a high school football game. We'll be able to sit in our back yard and watch the fireworks in the park that's right behind our fence on the 4th of July.

It's just a bit over three months left now, and I know we haven't even begun to deal with all the really complicated decisions (like trying to decide once and for all whether we want a fireplace in the master bedroom. We've been going back and forth on this one for a few months now). But it helps to go out there now and have something concrete to see. The subfloor was nice and everything but it was, well, just a floor. Now we've got rooms. I'm starting to get a picture of where our stuff might go. The piano will go against the wall where the stairs will be (well, when I get a piano that is. Someday. Sigh). We'll have couches around the fireplace. We need to find a round table for the breakfast nook (and because there's all those windows, there's no way we'll ever keep the cats off of it so I don't think we'll even try). We have to paint the bathroom walls and learn how to marble paint on walls. We're still figuring out which corner the TV will live, not that we ever watch it. Poor thing is probably feeling neglected.

It's getting closer and closer now. And sitting there on a pile of boards, squinting because the sun was really really bright this morning, looking around and actually *seeing* it somehow makes the wait a bit more manageable. Does this mean you don't have to listen to me whine about how long it's taking? Don't hold your breath. What it does mean is that our excitement is building and we know that this house is going to be beautiful and wonderful and perfect - just for us.