Aside from the usual end-of-quarter/end-of-fiscal-year crunch at work (along with it being the busiest time of year for us), Ann and I also made some major changes over the past few weeks which have had me incredibly busy outside of work too.

I wrote a few months ago about plans to buy the house I grew up in from my parents.  That plan came to fruition on the 18th when – at 8am – movers showed up at our (old) house prepared to move us to our (new) house. We’ve named the house Chateau Whelan.  Yes – we are dorks.

The move itself was horrendous – I highly recommend avoiding Two Men and a Truck if you can (trust me, you can… and should). Initially we were quoted 4.5 hours – it took 12 hours.  That’s an awful big discrepancy when you’re being charged by the hour.  I will save the tale of horror for another day, however – look for it soon.

We’ve spent the past week (minus a brief trip to Florida for Christmas) unpacking and getting settled.  This is a significant undertaking – one we’re still struggling through.   It seems like every box we get through unpacking is replaced by three more just like it.  I’m beginning to wonder how we got all of this “stuff” to begin with.  I’ve found myself wanting to purge large portions of the items I have accumulated.   The prevailing mentality has been “I’ve not used this for two years.  I’ve not even THOUGHT about it for two years. Pitch it!”  I will feel much better when the volume of “stuff” diminishes dramatically.

As I mentioned above – we did take a break from unpacking and work – to go to Florida.   After we got married we decided that – until we have kids – we will alternate major holidays (thanksgiving, Christmas) between families.  Last year we did Thanksgiving with my family and Christmas with Ann’s family.  This year we had Thanksgiving at Ann’s family – leaving Christmas for my family.  That meant flying down to Florida for a couple of days with my parents – away from snow, unpacking, and work.  It was wonderful!  Being able to sit back and just relax after multiple weeks of the high pressure stress of constantly having people working on the house,   work to do for my job, and packing/moving/unpacking was such a huge relief.  My only regret is that it wasn’t able to be a longer trip!

And with that I leave you.  Go forth and have a Happy New Year – I may or may not write more this year.

[the image above is of one of my favorite parts of the new house - the wet bar in our dining room.  Forgive the quality, it was taken with a cell phone.]

When I bought the house it was everything I wanted in a house for this stage in my life, and it still is.   I had almost no furnishings to put inside,   no TV, no bed, and no things like towels,  sheets, napkins, placemats,  kitchen stuff, etc.     I had no lawnmower, no weed whacker, no grill, no silverware,  no home office trappings (desk, filing cabinet, etc)…. I essentially had none of the things I needed for a house.

Over the course of the past year I’ve made lots of progress (much of it with the help of my lovely soon-to-be wife, Ann).   I have furniture,  an entertainment center, a well-put-together kitchen,  a very sweet home office, two lawnmowers (it was necessary…), weed whacker, wheelbarrow, etc   In short – I’ve spent the past year turning this house I bought, into a home.   And not a moment too soon, as in the very near future my house is going to become the home Ann and I will share.

Yesterday after work I stopped off at the grocery store and picked up ingredients to make barbecue cheddar burgers (turned out amazing, btw), then went home and spent the evening out in the yard mowing the lawn and finishing the tilling for the garden.   Tonight I plan on pulling out unwanted plants (mostly things growing because birds dropped seeds in my planters ) and planting some flowers.  I’m determined to get a handle on my landscaping this year.

I’d like to grill some chicken tonight, with a side of vegetables and perhaps some form of bread (rolls or something).  That sounds yummy.  Later this week it’d be nice to have spaghetti with a nice meat sauce, or something.    Maybe that’ll be for Wednesday.  I might see if I can find a nice red wine to go with it.