Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

I'm taking a break from blogging about book reviews to blog a little bit about my first time being a homeowner.  Expect to see more entries about the joys and trials of homeownership now and again on my blog (I figured it would break up the monotony of only reading book reviews).

For those who know, or may not know, my husband and I bought our first house in March.  While we were extremely happy and excited, we also knew that it was going to be a lot of work - and it has been.  But before I get into that, here are some facts about our house.  It's a tri-level, 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house on a corner lot.  While the size of the house is fairly modest (1600 square feet), the lot itself is a decent size (almost a quarter acre).  The ground floor consists of a living room, dining area, and kitchen.  There are two bedrooms, including the master, and a bathroom upstairs, and a bedroom and bathroom downstairs.  There's also an extra room downstairs that is perfect for a family room or can be converted eventually to be a fourth bedroom (my husband has currently claimed it as his man cave).  We also have a tiny pool in the backyard that will be perfect for lounging during a hot summer day.

Now, I've come to realize that moving at any time is stressful, but moving into a new house is a lot like moving in together for the first time for a couple.  We have had to adjust and re-learn how to live together in a new place, plus there's a lot of decisions we had to make about the yard, the furniture, furniture placement, etc.  It hasn't been easy, and it hasn't always been fun, but it's definitely a learning experience.

Much of our yard currently looks likes this!

Besides getting the place ready to be moved in and all the aforementioned decisions we've had to make, I would say the biggest trials so far have been the yard and the dishwasher.  We had leaky valves, leaky pipes, and broken pipes all over our backyard.  My husband and his father had to dig up almost all the pipes to repair them, but they've succeeded!  It's beginning to be too hot us to plant any grass though, so we'll have to wait until the fall for a nice, green yard.

Our poor, sad dishwasher

The second biggest trial has been our dishwasher.  Fortunately, our house came with all of the appliances.  Unfortunately, they were not new appliances and we were forced to sign an "as-is" addendum when we bought the house.  Most of the appliances work well, luckily.  The stove has burner that doesn't work, but that should be an easy fix.  The dishwasher, however, has been one long headache, and after many weeks of trying to fix it, we've determined that it is kaput.  We're currently in the process of buying a new one.

There have been a lot of little quirks about the house that have annoyed me, but for the most part, I'm ecstatic to have gotten such a great house. It was overwhelming at first, but it's slowly starting to look like a home.  It's the perfect location, and the perfect size for us, and we couldn't be happier!

Click on the pictures to enlarge. No pictures of the bedrooms or bathroom yet - they're still a mess!