House Grouse: I am getting a rapid education in home-ownership. It seems like everything you want to do requires you to do at least two other things first, each of which requires you to be available in a four hour window for delivery or else requires extensive trial and error shuttling to the hardware store.
I'm finding all the little things I didn't see on inspection. A scratch here. A hole there. A door knob that needs to be replaced. A loose shelf. I'm building a laundry list of annoyances.
Speaking of laundry, after waiting in vain for the guy to come and hook up my gas dryer, I did it myself. Took a little trial and error. I guess we'll know if it worked by whether or not I inadvertently take the gas pipe.
The business of having well water and a septic tank instead of city water and sewer is going to be, um, interesting.
A friend of mine pointed out that buying a home is the point in your life where you first get comfortable with thinking of costs in multiples of a thousand.
(Actually I've owned my condo for many years now, but the dollars involved have been on a much smaller scale.)
And how do you know what furniture to buy? Seriously I have absolutely no eye for that sort of thing. None whatsoever. So I try to get opinions of others who seem to know. I'll point out something that seems attractive and get subtle responses like "You like that, eh?" or "Well, that's interesting, isn't it?" or "Does it remind you of your dorm room?" and so forth.
So I guess the lessons of home ownership are "you're gonna have to be patient" and "you can't please everyone." That, and to memorize the phrase "It's only money." You'll need it.
