House Hunting Sucks
As I've said many times before, I hate to shop. And house hunting, I now know, is the worst kind of shopping. Plus, a house is the most expensive thing you're ever likely to buy, and there's essentially no return policy.
From the start, Arnon and I agreed, despite his dad's warnings, that we were going to find a house as quickly as possible. In fact, we did find a house on the first day of house hunting but our offer was rejected.
At the outset, we determined that we wanted to live in either Sunnyvale or Santa Clara and that we would look for a house in the $550k to $850k range. We quickly learned that houses under $650k in the areas we were willing to live were horrible.
One house smelled, as Arnon later described, like a giant cat's bladder had exploded in it. Another was owned by a man who bought it from his mother shortly before she died several decades ago. Everything in the house was left exactly the way his mother had it at the time of the sale, from furniture to funk. Creepy!
Yet another house boasted a handful of room extensions that looked like they were constructed by a blind construction crew.
One house in downtown Sunnyvale, that was not on our list but I was curious about, was about a hundred years old, had just under 800 square feet and looked like it should be condemned, but had a $1.3 million price tag. I realize that the postage-size plot of land the house sits on commands the bulk of the price, but come on. That's just crazy.
Anyway, I'm glad that our search for Casa de Chung is over and that our suffering was limited to only a couple days.
Home Repair
So this is it. Our new house, located in Santa Clara near Saratoga and Pruneridge, divides its cozy 1100 square feet among three bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, kitchen and dining room.
With its new roof, freshly painted exterior and interior, and refinished hardwood floors, the house is in move-in condition, but Arnon and I want to make some changes.
No matter what, we need to upgrade the electrical wiring in the house before moving in. We also plan to knock out the wall between the kitchen and dining room to create a large kitchen space.
My in-laws don't like the two large windows in the front and have suggested we replace them with smaller ones. Since we plan on replacing all of the old windows with double-pane windows anyway, we might consider their suggestion.
Whereas my list involves building and creating within the house, Arnon's list consists of destruction. He wants to knock out some closets, tear down the deck and patio cover in the back, and kill the hedges in the front.
I feel uneasy about Arnon wielding a sledgehammer. What is it with men and demolition?
House Search
In early January, Arnon finally convinced me that the time had come to buy a house. He's been wanting a house because he's tired of dealing with unresponsive property managers at the complex we live in. Plus we received notice in December that our rent will increase from $1576 to $2548 in early March.
So Lea, Arnon's mom, introduced us to Chaya, a realtor who was a colonel in the Israeli Defense Force until a few years ago. We were assured that she would be efficient, aggressive, punctual, and highly responsive, and she was.
We met up with Chaya two Saturdays ago and saw twenty houses in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara. The following day, we made an offer on a house but didn't get it.
Last Saturday, we saw thirteen more houses and decided that we liked two of them. We were going to bid on both houses but Lea really loved only one of them, so we decided to forget the other one.
There was an open house scheduled for the next day and Lea was worried that there would be a lot of competition, so she suggested that Chaya contact the seller's realtor immediately to place an early offer. As we were standing in front of the house discussing this, the seller's realtor pulled into the driveway and we were able to talk with her right away. What luck!
That night, we submitted a formal offer, which the seller accepted the next morning, prompting her to cancel the open house.
On Monday, which thankfully was a holiday for us, we spent the day getting the house inspection taken care of and secured financing. We also spent some time with Lea and Arye (Arnon's dad) to talk about repairs and upgrades we need to make to the house.
So as of today, we're just passing time until escrow closes on February 5th and we get the keys to our new home. I can't believe that it's only been five days since we first saw the house. Arye was afraid that we were being too impatient, but when he saw the house, he knew it was right for us.
I'm so grateful to Chaya and Lea for all the hours they spent helping us with our house search.
See-Through Refrigerator
Check out this see-through refrigerator. I simply love it.
I can see how people wouldn't like it because they would feel pressured to keep their refrigerator organized, but I think the benefit of being able to see everything you have at a glance without the fuss of opening doors or moving things around to see what's in the back outweighs the negatives.
Or perhaps I'm swayed by the orange juice containers with cute smiley faces on them.
Now that I think about it, this fridge may not be good for me. If you saw a snapshot of our fridge, you'd probably think it belonged in a bachelor pad or frat house. We only have beer, vodka, some condiments, and a bag of frozen peas, which Arnon uses to nurse his hockey wounds.
On the other hand, if people could readily see the contents of my fridge, perhaps I would be more inclined to fill the fridge with regular food like vegetables, meat, and bread to promote the image of normalcy.
Then again, having regular food doesn't necessarily mean I'll eat it, so guests would probably see decomposing vegetables, meat, and bread. Yick! That's not the image I want to promote.
Not long ago, I misplaced my wallet. Following a frustrating search, I found it on the top shelf of the fridge. Had I had the see-through fridge, I may have found the wallet more quickly.
Then again, the fridge is not the first place that comes to mind when I'm looking for a misplaced wallet.
Black Tuesday
Someone at work noticed the other day that a large number of us were wearing black tops and blue jeans and thought we should take a picture to remember the day as "Black Tuesday".
A black top and blue jeans comprises my daily uniform so every day for me is black. I'm suddenly reminded of some lyrics by Nine Inch Nails:
Head like a hole, black as your soul.
I'd rather die, than give you control.
God, I love that song!
Photo credit: Andrew N.
Parental Concern
I used to worry a great deal about my sister. I was always afraid she'd get lost somewhere or would need my help and I wouldn't be able to get to her in time. Then she got married and my fears subsided. It had nothing to do with who she married. Rather, I simply felt calmer knowing that someone was there to keep an eye on her and make sure she was safe.
My parents expressed similar feelings. They were under the impression that my sister's husband loved her more than she did him and thus she would be well taken care of. Strange reasoning but it calmed their nerves.
Lately, my dad has been worrying about me. He believes that without a house or children to bind us, my marriage to Arnon is unstable. At first I was upset that he had so little faith in us, but it turns out that his feelings stem less from a lack of faith in our marriage and more from fear that he might lose Arnon. How cute.
As I've mentioned before, Arnon and I are planning a home in Mendocino, to which my dad is opposed. Recently, my dad brought up the topic of kids again and Arnon told him that I was more inclined to have children in Mendocino. My dad screamed, "Hurry up and move to Mendocino! I'll move there with you and babysit!"
Oy vay.
Couch Potatoes
For the first time since late last spring, Arnon and I had the weekend all to ourselves and it was wonderful. We totally bummed out on our couch, feasted on potato chips, honey-mustard pretzels, chocolate-covered almonds, and shortbread cookies, and watched a bunch of movies we've been wanting to see for a while.
One of my resolutions for the new year was to slow down and I succeeded this past weekend. Unfortunately, we don't think we'll have another relaxing weekend together until mid-summer. Such is life.
Hope you all had an equally relaxing weekend.
Friends
I read this post in which the author writes:
One of the mantras of networking (and the many social networking sites that people are flocking to) is that it matters who you know. The goal of having a thousand or more friends online is that you're well known. Connected. A click away.
I wonder if there's a more useful measure: who trusts you?
Interesting. I know a few people who love to gloat about how many friends they have, but they don't seem to know any of them very well. Perhaps they like to keep things casual with the people they know, or perhaps my definition of a friend is too rigid. I suppose I just prefer to have fewer friends that I know well and love.
Arnon's best friend, Beast, once told me that having one Arnon in his life was worth a hundred lesser friends. I was touched to hear it. Beast moved to Texas a couple years ago but in some ways it's as though he never left because he knows everything that's going on with us. At the same time, we feel like we're in Texas with him because we share in all of his experiences. It's a good thing.
I can count on one hand the number of people I trust implicitly. Some may think the number small and consider me unfortunate, but I'm profoundly grateful to have such wonderful friends in my life.
Out of Commission
My laptop died today. I think I know what the problem is so I've already ordered a replacement part and hopefully I'll get it working again in a few days.
Until then, no new posts.
Walmart Cake
Walmart Employee: Hello. Dis Walmarts, how can I helps you?
Customer: I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.
Walmart Employee: Whatz jou want on dee cake?
Customer: "Best Wishes Suzanne" and underneath that "We will miss you".
Credit: Sean
Brrr
Is it just me or is this winter particularly cold? I've always said that I prefer cold weather over hot because you can add more layers for warmth but only take off so much to get cooler, but I've changed my mind. I loathe the cold.
In fact, we've been so cold lately that we actually turned on the heat for the first time ever. After about half an hour, the temperature in our apartment dropped by two degrees. What a lousy heating
system. So we turned off the heat and each put on another layer of clothing.
Hell must have frozen over for my normally sun-hating self to be saying this, but I want the sun to blaze
above us and toast up our shivering bones.
A New Year
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful time last night, surrounded by good friends and loved ones. Hopefully, none of you are hurting today from over-partying, but if you are, I'm sure it was worth it.
Have you made your resolutions for the new year? I didn't stick to any of my resolutions from last year, or from any of the years before that, so I thought I would forgo making them this year. But then I felt like I was succumbing to negativity by not making any, so I decided to make them after all. Here's my list:
- Improve health
- Slow down
- Sleep more
- Waste less
- Overcome Hello Kitty addiction
- Wash car at least twice this year
- Stay on top of paperwork
- Cut hair at least twice this year
I think I'll struggle most with overcoming my Hello Kitty addiction, but I'm sure Arnon will be more than happy to help me with it.
What are yours?