I closed on the house a week ago yes­ter­day. — Some­how I am still bleed­ing cash. All the sim­ple essen­tials really add up: lawn mower, weed eater, gar­den hose, gro­ceries (satel­lite, home net­work, huge bar-b-q grill…)

The room­mates and their dogs (lab and weimaraner) are moved in, the util­i­ties are on, and food is in the fridge. It is cool hav­ing pup­pies around — I have been with­out a dog since I left for college.

I am enjoy­ing the free­dom to do what ever I want to the place I live. When you live in an apart­ment, it can be aggra­vat­ing to wait for a main­te­nance guy to fix any­thing — espe­cially for an aspir­ing handy­man. I installed a dig­i­tal ther­mo­stat last night. Believe it or not it works and I didn’t short any­thing out, no sparks and no fires (knock on wood).

I think the best part so far is being able to mow my own lawn. There is instant grat­i­fi­ca­tion in cut­ting grass; you imme­di­ately get to see the result of your work, it doesn’t really require much thought, and you get to be outside.

I am already start­ing a men­tal list of projects. Paint­ing, floor­ing (wood if i can afford it) land­scap­ing, wiring, build­ing fur­ni­ture and adding light­ing are all on the list. I think my Sat­ur­days will prob­a­bly be busy for a while.