- I thought our dear old camera was dead, but it turns out that the problem was that the battery was uncharged and the cable wasn't working. My dear husband K touched it for the first time last Thursday (the day before we left for MA) and then it came back to life!! Yay!! Now I can take pictures again! We had returned the cheap one K got me for my birthday anyway, and were camera-less, always forgetting to order a new camera online.
- The desire to charge said camera caused a problem in the electric part of our car. Kelvin found this old DC to AC car adapter (something like this) and after they plugged it, the car charger, as well as the radio and CD player stopped working!! That meant that we did the trip to Massachusetts without music and DVD players, as well as cell phone chargers (and we had not taken our outlet pluggable chargers too...). Oh well. It made more lots of conversations and guessing games.
- Two trips to Massachusetts, one for K's workshop, another to visit family, do not make me feel like we had any real vacation trips. Too bad, because these are the only summer trips (discounting the trip to Brazil) we're having!
- The ongoing mess and unfinished rooms awaiting work from friends who are too busy to come for weeks on end is making me positively unhappy. And
a bit, ok, a lot, whiny, and negative. Poor K can hardly stand me these days...
- I hope to resume posting photos soon, now that our camera is working again. Maybe even to the completely neglected "Project 365+1" blog. Yeah, I can't stand unfinished projects. That's the only reason why I ever finished, defended and submitted my dissertation. I have confidence in myself that I will be able to catch up on THREE FULL MONTHS of a photo a day. You can laugh now.
- I haven't been posting here much because I'm undergoing training to "teach" (it's a different kind of teaching, that's for sure) here. One good advantage: not being without affiliation. I may (or may not) write more about this as things unfold. Feel free to email, if I decide not to share more. (I don't know why I shouldn't, but still, I may not). Oh, I remembered why I'd feel uncomfortable blogging this -- it's unwise to blog about one's employer/employment.
- Going to stores has gone obsolete for almost everything one needs. Really. (you already knew that, of course -- it was just me who was still trying to shop in stores). I think that there's nothing that cannot be bought much cheaper online. I may already have told you this, but I bought our new appliances online (built-in oven, dishwasher, smooth top range). Even the faucet for our bathroom is much cheaper online. Of course building materials such as tiles and other heavy stuff still have to be bought at the store...
- This will have its own post later (hopefully), but I have to tell you that I'm the happiest camper, OK, cook, or, eater, around these parts because of our organic CSA share food. And the farmer's market. And the farm stand a mile from the house. And my lovely tomato garden. Yeah, I'm blissfully happy!! Yummy produce!! Local!! Organic (some of it)!! YEAH!!!
- We, all right, K can't stop making calculations so we can decide whether it would be best selling the house now or keeping it for one year or more. There are pros and cons for both decisions. I'm still nervous to be spending money I don't have to do the renovations, though. The only consolation is that we wouldn't have it whether we were to keep or sell the house. These things need to be done whether we have the money or not, whether we want to keep the house or sell. Sorry for the circular thoughts.
- Actually, and this does merit its own post, we've been wondering why can't we just decide that we want to live here, PERIOD, and try to find jobs around here. We're nearing forty, we have two kids, we're tired of not ever settling down. You already know all that. But we need real jobs, so we can have this very real (and costly) house. So, the doubt, the anguish, and the circular thoughts continue.
Oh!! I almost forgot, will you please remind me (I'm already writing this to remind myself) to write about our semi-disastrous trip to the beach (Jersey shore) yesterday? And K's nightmare that has to do with the home renovations?
Have you guys considered talking with someone at Consumer Credit Counseling, some other nonprofit organization, or a financial planner? They might be able to come up with some ideas, or at least give you a perspective on whether it's better in this market to try to hang onto the house or sell.
ReplyDeleteHi Anjali,
ReplyDeleteThe short answer is: my husband did call one of those non-profit organizations and it wasn't helpful at all. We already know our budget, what we make and what we should be making to afford this house. (all they did was calculate a budget with K). We're at least 1,400 short of meeting the budget, actually perhaps a bit more. Now... I feel stupid for not even advertising myself to all universities and colleges around Philly as a prospective adjunct. Call me lazy, but I haven't yet had the courage to do it because it stresses me out to no end. that's another story, of course.
Selling in this market is obviously bad. But our neighborhood is awesome and not that many homes go for sale here, really. So, it might sell OK. But we'd still loose quite a bit of money. One of the problems is that we're not near finished with the renovation to be in a position to put it in the market yet. Sigh. So we can't even try that yet. We're keeping all doors open, looking into all possibilities...
ouch, i feel for you. those circles sound very familiar to me. should we do this? should we do that? it WILL settle down. Just concentrate on this: what is most important to you and to K? use the answer as a measuring stick for answering all the other questions.
ReplyDelete