the sympathetic vibration

I finally have internet at home. It’s like entering the 21st century. I would say that I think I was reading a lot more while I was un-WWW-connected, but such is life. I’m still getting a daily paper at the house - I figure it’s an order from the previous owners that hasn’t been cancelled. I’m thinking I might look into the cost and possibly keep the order going - I really love reading the actual paper, the Waco Trib is pretty low commitment since it’s barely 3 skinny sections long, and it gives some structure to my morning that doesn’t involve staring at the wall while I wait for the coffee to kick in. The only drawback is all the trash it creates. Blah.

I’m working on planning my housewarming party for November 9th (also my mother’s birthday). Theoretically, the link to the evite should be here, but I don’t really trust the evite URL system. In any case, it’s an open house for most of the afternoon/evening. If you’re in the central Texas area (hahaha!) please come!

I’m thinking the first installment of my regular monthly party (2nd Fridays) is going to be a fire pit party. S’mores and other yummies and sitting out under the stars with a few beers and some friends. I’ve been working to try to clean up the backyard so it’s not embarrassing. Honestly, the whole thing needs a really good raking. I should probably rent a dumpster or something since there’s quite a bit of junk back there, but perhaps I’ll just keep trying to cut things up smaller and fit the mini dumpster in the alley each week in anticipation of Wednesday trash day. Also… maybe I should keep some of the wood for the fire pit.

I’m pretty lonely. I need work on the housemate project as well. So much to do… so little time.

Anyway, I’m all moved in to my new house! Boxes still abound and the ‘to-do’ list keeps growing, but I have these amazing parents who are here all week helping with things. It’s incredible, really!

Today, I’m back at work reluctantly…. and have no internet at home yet.

Pictures soon!

So, seriously, buying a house is so much more stressful and ridiculous than I ever would have imagined. Even getting all the utilities in my name seems to be a) expensive b) tedious and c) more difficult than it possibly should be.

The biggest issue with the purchase has been confirming the closing and move-out day with the sellers. I wanted to be flexible (since they had some changes to their plans), but I couldn’t really since I had made plans to have my parents in town to help me get settled. When it came down to it, I was willing to give them 2 extra days, only to find out that moving the closing date would mean losing my mortgage, which um… I’m not about to do with the credit market the way it is right now.

Now in our follow up walk-through with the inspector this afternoon, there appear to be things that I requested to get fixed (and they agreed to resolve) that were still, in fact, non-functional. Chances are that the service providers they paid to do the work just didn’t do it well, but I’m tired of fighting about it, and just want the whole thing done.

Today I worked on getting the electric in my name. It’s so expensive. I wish, if I’m going to be spending this much, that at least my money is going toward renewable energy (mostly wind in Texas), but I hear that the companies that offer wind energy are not very reliable. I feel so dumb about the whole thing, as I have ZERO experience with this, even at the age of 32. The other times when I’ve rented, there weren’t any choices… we just started getting the bills that our landlord put in our names! Texas has a million different electric provider choices, and it’s all just so muddy.

It’s hard to believe that I started the summer with $25,000 in my savings account, and after I finish the purchase of this home, I’ll have about $3,500 left. Granted, I bought a car, moved twice, lived without an income for 3 months, and now I’m buying a house with 5% downpayment, but still… I never would have imagined I could have spent that much money that quickly. So much for having lots of extra money to furnish the house… I think I’m going to be done after I pay for the washer and dryer and get a TV.

Once I get settled, I’m going to start a habit of regular social gatherings at my home. Hopefully each 2nd Friday of the month… starting with a housewarming party, then Christmas, then my birthday, then Valentine’s Day.. then… who knows. I’m excited about this because I hope it will give me a chance to connect with some of the people I’ve met in Waco that I want to get to know better, but don’t feel confident enough with to just ask out to lunch. Party invites are way less of a commitment than one-on-one time invites (in my mind anyway).

Gas is $2.58 here in Waco now. What the heck happened? (Not that I’m complaining.. just sortof dumbfounded).

I’m changing my phone number to 254.709.9856. Update your records.

And lastly…. had a great weekend in Glen Rose, TX with Mom and Day this past weekend. It was good to get away, and we explored some of the Dallas area as well. Remind me sometime soon to write about the ridiculous driving patterns of rural central Texas. I think I almost died about 4 times.

Happy Monday!