Circus life

No, I’m not talking about aerial arts, though we have, somehow, continued to make space for aerial silks here and there.  Rather, life feels like a many-ringed circus these days: house purchase, house remodel, buying a [new-to-us] car, selling our car, my school work, and figuring out where G will go to school in the fall — just to name the big things!

The House
While the house has “good bones” — basically every contractor who comes in to give us an estimate mentions this, “Oh, this place has great bones,” which is nice, good bones are important, but if I hear it one more time, I might scream, because right now I’m ready for a house that’s liveable — it needs a number of updates.

Many of these we planned on and figured into the up front cost of the house, but it’s still a lot of work and a lot of decisions, figuring out who to call, getting multiple bids, getting providers to follow-up with us (because, spring! the most popular time for construction work, and evidently everyone is swamped).  The biggest project is the kitchen, and there is a certain order of operations for that work, so while our cabinets should arrive in a week, we are not nearly ready to install them.

Matthew and I are putting every ounce of our [public health] project management skills into coordinating all of these moving pieces.  If we don’t get a few key commitments this week, we may push back our move date a bit.

We are getting lots of wonderful support, in various forms, from our parents, for which I am so grateful.  My dad made the trip from Iowa to spend a couple of intense days working on the house, and Matthew’s dad has put in untold hours on various projects.

The Car(s)
Just in case we needed something else on our plates, we had the limited-time opportunity to upgrade our automobile by purchasing my MIL’s “old” car (a 2011 Camry, making it brand-spanking-new next to our 2002 Corolla).  While the timing is FAR from ideal, the alternative, not doing this now, when we have the chance, seems somewhat foolish.

With a little luck, we might have the car circus wrapped up by the end of the week, though adding a trailer hitch to the Camry has created an additional plot twist.  Said car went in to U-Haul for the hitch installation with cruise control working, and emerged with cruise control mysteriously NOT working.  Grrr!

School
I can see the light at the end-of-semester tunnel!  Just a few more weeks, and I’ll have another semester under my belt.  I am taking one online class over the summer, but it doesn’t start until July 11, so I’ll have some down time time to pack! and paint! and move!

Of course, the house purchase and subsequent money we’re funneling into the house is making me question the wisdom of being in school (another big expense) vs. working right now.  When I went back to school in August, the chances of us finding a house to buy anytime soon seemed rather slim.  In fact, I’d rather started to think that we would have to relocate to find (and afford) the house we wanted, and that my pursuing a career in dietetics and nutrition might make it easier to find a job elsewhere, thus facilitating that future relocation.

With the house purchase, our future is very much here in StL.  I will not change my current path without some serious reflection, but the idea of a paycheck, a real paycheck, and not just the ≤8 hours/week that I’m pulling now, plus not incurring additional school debt, is rather attractive with the expenses piling up.

Anyhow, I have more calls to make and class work to do before two house appointments this afternoon, squeezed in before my class.  Circus, indeed!

P.S. My recent posts have been more words and less images, but there are photos if you hop over to Instagram. I hope to share some house photos there soon, but everything looks yucky right now!