Creeping Normalcy

Whew. What a couple of weeks.

Things are finally getting to what I would consider normal around here. We've been in the new house for a little over a week with all of our stuff. Our stuff made the trek in spectacular fashion thanks to Mitch and Ryan of Merchant's Moving and Storage of Racine, WI. My best move bar none. The guys were total pros all the way around. (Even if I did have to make them do some creative backing to get the trailer down to our new house. ;-)  )

The new appliances we ordered were not so lucky. The dryer to match our new washer was broken in half on its way to the house, so I've got half a laundry set. The replacement unit is supposed to be here tomorrow. That will be nice. The ability to not have to hang out with the N.O. denizens who slop up the local Laundromat.

I've paid off my car, started a mutual fund account, and am contributing the max allowable by the feds to my 401k to build it back up. Even with that, my long-term checking account balance is going positive. It's weird, instead of fighting to break even, the balance is going up. I don't believe it yet, but it looks positive at first glance.

I mowed the yard for the first time yesterday. It looks pretty good after it cleans up. Although, I have to get rid of a few of the trees. It's almost like racing a slalom course to get the damned thing mowed.

Got to sweat a copper fitting for the first time yesterday. The little valve for the refrigerator icemaker broke when the previous owner's were removing their stuff. I tried to unscrew it, but the original unit was hard soldered rather than threaded, so it snapped at the joint. It had to cut out the wall and attach a new fitting to the pipe. Wasn't too difficult. I've seen enough of my mechanics do it and watched it on TV that it really was pretty simple. Now the new valve is threaded and completely replaceable without making a mess. Unfortunately, someone touring our old house played with the icemaker in our fridge and it no longer works. Now I have to troubleshoot that. Oh well. One thing at a time.

While I was unpacking the garage stuff Saturday and Sunday morning last weekend, I was thinking about the property taxes we don't pay here. (The yearly taxes on this property are about $350/year.) Which is great considering it includes two-day per week trash pickup. I did come to the conclusion that the local fire service, however, consists of whoever shows up to rubberneck your burning abode usually bringing a keg with them and then pissing the fire out.

We're going to spend Thanksgiving with our friends in Dallas. (Since, given the rebuilding going on down here, the dining room set we ordered has a six week lead time.)

Where does the time go. It's almost Christmas again. The holiday season of 2004 was a downer for a few reasons, check the archives if you're interested. This year, we will start anew.

I think we’re finally out of the tunnel.