Home Ownership Year 1...Part 2

One of the biggest things I've learned is that there is a constant list of things that need to get done. And if anything is going to get done you have to do it yourself. There's no landlord you can call and no maintenance guy that's going to come do it. I personally like that. I've been waiting for a long time to start doing the things I watched my dad do growing up. I just didn't realize how long the list would be. Since we own the place, we can do whatever we want. So all those times I walk around thinking, "Gee, I really wish we had xxxx," means anything item just got added to the list. We didn't have a water spigot on the outside of the house. 1 trip to TrueValue, some masonry work, some copper pipe work, and several hours of sweaty work later we do. We don't like the size of our bedroom closet, that's on the list. No electrical outlet outside? List it. We don't like where the attic entrance is and the fact that we don't have a linen closet. List it. Cable TV wiring upstairs sucks. List it. The soundproofing b/t us and the neighbors isn't as good as we'd like. List it. The front and back yards don't look so good. List it. It just goes on and on like that. All the time. It's great that I get to do home improvement projects, I just wish the list wasn't growing so quickly. I just can't keep up. Granted I'm not the most motivated home improver you'll ever meet, so it's not like I'm killing myself everything weekend to knock things off the list. I like to use my weekend to relax, not busting my hump building closets over the stairwell.
I also suddenly feel like I'm a part of the community instead of just living somewhere. I want to get to know the neighbors. I follow the local town news. I make wild claims of becoming a fan of the high school football team (which I will do this coming fall!). I know stores and buildings and can notice when subtle things change and comment on it to myself. I'm not in the 'have you seen what they did to the old Davidson place' league yet, but maybe someday.
But all in all it's been great. It was just a great feeling to sign those papers and take those keys to your first house. It's a crushing blow when I look at the monthly mortgage statement and actually think about the number on it. It's big and it's only gets a wee bit less big every month.
Hmmm...this didn't end as insightful and memorable as I hoped it would. Oh well. Besides, I should probably get Hayley to help me label the circuit breakers while she's home and not doing anything work-related. Aka, cross something off of my list.
Done and done.