Moving

Since I married Phil, we have moved the following times:

1. From his parents house to an apartment in Brockton. That was nice because it had an elevator. Not so nice because it was only a 1 bedroom and we have a lot of stuff.

2. From Brockton to an apartment in Bellingham. We didn’t have an elevator, but the place was really nice.

3. From Bellingham to Taiwan. Remember number 1. I mentioned that we have a lot of stuff. We decided to take all of the stuff we accumulated in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment and cram it into a 10X8X5 size storage unit. Not a fun move. We really appreciated Beth and Phil’s help at that move.

4. From our storage unit to Leominster. Not too bad, but it took us 2 months to figure out what we had because we had forgotten everything we owned when we stored it away for 1 year. It was like Christmas.

5. From Leominster to our Greendale apartment. That was not fun because we decided we wanted to live on the 3rd floor. We had to pull up our sofa and our bed over the balcony. (It wasn’t we as in Phil and me, but we as in Phil, his dad and his brother) Also add a portable dishwasher, a dryer and a washing machine. The last 2 luckily had to go to the basement.

6. From our last rental apartment to our house. We ended up closing on the 18th, so we were able to take most of the little things over in our cars. On the day we moved, my mom and I woke up early and took more stuff over. It was still a tiring day, but a lot easier because we had broken it up. It is a relief to be almost done. (We still have a few little things still over at the other apartment)

Through all of these moves, we really appreciated everyone’s help. Thanks mom, Beth, Phil, Matt, Brittany, Seth and Lucas. If I am missing anyone, I am sorry. Also, this is our last move for awhile.

In regards to renovations:
Phil turned in his application for a permit. He should hear back in the next week. We are just waiting at this point.

Stuff we want(ed) in a house

When Phil and I first started looking for a house, we sat down and wrote a list of stuff we both wanted in a house. Here is that list:

1. Single family homes in neighborhood
2. Not too close together
3. Close to highway
4. Close to stuff (Library)
5. 1/4+ acre
6. 1000 ft square of living space
7. Garage
8. 3 Bedrooms
9. 2 Bathrooms
10. Electric washer + dryer hookups (we have both of these already and didn’t want the extra expense)
11. Eat in kitchen/open concept
12. No homeowners association/ or one that isn’t too strict
13. Not too close to a main road (sound, child safety, privacy)
14. Good schools
15. Not on a hill, potential flood area
16. Basement
17. Utility room on the first floor
18. Type of heat (we really wanted gas heat)
19. Gas stove/ gas available

Phil and I had been trying to not talk about the house until we knew that we were getting the house. (Basically we have not thought about it until we closed on it.) Because of this, we haven’t talked too much about this list or even referred back to it until I was putting all of the papers for the house together. It is incredible to see what God did to get us to this point. Let me show you.

As of now, we did not get #8 or #9 which were 3 Bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Instead we got 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. But we do have the ability to add an additional 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom on the second floor. (More than before and reason for this blog)

We sort of have #11 or eat in kitchen, open concept. If we want, we can really do this by knocking down a wall and putting in a beam. Who knows, maybe a future post?

You could argue about #14 with good schools. But we are not pregnant, so we don’t have to worry about this right now or in the near future.

We are on a hill (#15), but we are at the top of the hill. We just have to worry about a flooded basement which, hopefully is easy to fix…

#17 The utility room is in the basement. I am fine with this, except for the possible flooding situation (See #15). Besides, I need the exercise that going up and down stairs offers. Can’t call me lazy now.

#19 We didn’t get a gas stove, but the stove seems like a really good stove. If we don’t like it, we can put gas in if we really want.

Most of the things we didn’t get are easily fixable. The only 2 things that are a bit difficult are the good schools and the utility room on the first floor. For a children story a few months ago, our pastor told the story of when he and his wife bought a house. I can’t remember the specifics, but they found a perfect home for them that was also situated on Cross St. He tells that he thought that was a perfect street name for a pastor and they put in an offer. A few days later, the deal fell through and they were really discouraged. They thought that that was were God wanted them. He says that when they finally settled on a house, God blessed them by having them live on Church Street. (and the house had more than the other one) Phil and I are pretty excited that we had a similar experience to this.

Did you notice that I get to live near a library?

We bought a House

When I was growing up, my parents loved to watch a tv show called This Old House with Bob Vila. All that I remember about it was that it was really boring and they seemed to never do anything on the show. Every week they would come back and the house was in the exact same shape that it was the week before except they had put a wall in a different place. All I wanted to watch was cartoons, but that is another story. I don’t remember the exact time but we got cable when I was either a high school student or starting college. Including in this was TLC and HGTV. These sites changed my idea of renovations, decorating and owning a home. I actually wanted to do some of the things I saw on these shows and they seemed to get things done by the end of the show. (I am certain that if I watched This Old House now, I would actually really like it, but my memories of childhood have plagued me)

The reason that I am giving you so much information is that Phil and I just bought our first home. We are extremely excited and we love what we got. We had a wish list in which we got most of the things on that list. (More on that in a later blog post.) One of the biggest things we didn’t get was that we wanted 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Instead we got 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. The house is a cape with a large attic space and is big enough to put an additional 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. What does that mean? Another tv show that Phil and I have loved to watch is called Renovation Realities on DIY. It has been fun questioning the homeowners who think they can redo their kitchen in 3 days with a budget of nothing, but now, Phil and I are going to be doing exactly that. For this house we are going to be part Renovation Realities and part This Old House. Renovation Realities because we actually think we can do this. This Old House because we have been told that there is no end in site when it comes to home renovations. What we hope is that we are like the successful people on Renovation Realities and that we get to the season finale of this old house.

Welcome to this site.

Project: Convert our attic space into an additional 2 bedrooms and 1 bath among other mini projects around the house

Budget: How much we can save this coming year along with some money left over from buying the home

Time: 1 year (we would prefer before Christmas, but we have seen too many renovation projects)