Still with the House Hunting

The GeekGrl is doing a fine job of keeping everyone posted on the ongoing drama of our house hunting so I really don’t have much to say on the matter except that in this family I am the money guy, I handle all aspects of our financial affairs and while I refer to myself as cheap the GeekGrl generously calls me “thrifty.”

I come by the miserliness honestly though, both my grandparents were products of the Great Depression and my Dad, despite making a good living, always had me concerned that us kids were going to be shipped off to work a farm while he and my mom moved in to a cardboard box.

The thing about this house situation is that the mortgage guy has run the numbers and we should be ok. Of course in typical style I had him run the numbers using only my income, figuring it at the highest price we have gotten the sellers to come down to and figuring that we would not sell our current home and STILL we qualify…but it freaks me out. Large numbers freak me out and by any measure I seem to run across my idea of large numbers is kind of pathetic.

We went back to look at the house again today and I told the GeekGrl that the house has all the updates and custom touches that I would want but would be too cheap to pay for and too unskilled to accomplish on my own. I am pretty good at landscaping if you like a natural look. As a matter of fact our last home I had registered as a backyard wildlife habitat but when it comes to home interiors, mechanical systems, carpentry etc…I like to tell people that my Dad never really taught me that stuff, he taught me how to make enough money so I can pay others to do it for me. The problem is, well, I don’t pay anyone to do much of anything.

I think today I have come to recognize that I do have to work harder to invest in our happiness in a little different way. I think that for whatever reason we kind of need this house if only because from the moment we saw it it already felt like home.

Oh, can’t forget, Ironman Arizona in two weeks. It will be interesting.