A significant mark achieved...

I PASSED! Well after much waiting and anticipation I received the results to my CFP exam and I passed. What a huge sense of relief. Knowing that I won’t have to sit for the exam again and be studying for it on my cruise in November. Just all around good feelings.

It’s been awhile since my last post and I must admit that I have been very poor at this blogging thing. The reality is that I was never good at keeping a journal while growing up but I am a rather nostalgic person and I know the benefit of a journal and especially would love for my children to have the ability to read my thoughts so I will attempt to be much better at keeping tabs on life and reporting them.

In the last month we have almost completely remolded our kitchen and done it without the help of contractors. We have new appliances I have finished the countertops, minus the backsplash grouting, and will attempt to put the final touches on the kitchen this week. We moved our couch and kitchen table into the house last night and it was a thrill to actually have something to sit on! I also cleaned off the back deck of most of the material we have been cutting up over the last three weeks. We are attempting to make our home more of a home and less of a collection of stuff.

In an effort to accomplish this goal we are paying more attention to the details of what we decorate with. Instead of the hodgepodge of trinkets and collectables scattered around the house we are going to create themes and carry them throughout the house. Not something we hope to do inside of a day but over time acquire the right pieces and paintings that will put the finishing touches on the home. Some things will have to wait longer than others such as new blinds and draperies but, we will get there.

We went and visited some of our close college friends a couple of weekends ago and it was a grand ol time. Kevin and I had a blast solving the world’s problems and were upset that they were messed up again by morning. We also attended the Renaissance Fair in Purdy while we were in town. That was a lot of fun, too hot really but we still managed to have a good time drinking beer and Meade while listening to dirty bar songs.

There was a lot of talk about kids and how to’s with children and getting pregnant. Seems as if all our friends are at the point in life where they are planning for children. Which is great because that means all of our children will be roughly the same ages and should be able to play together assuming they get along which we are sure they will.


Well lunch break is over and its back to work, till next time

Cheers,
Jay

Home ownership

So as with any new purchase there comes a certain level of glee. We were so pleased to have our new home we have been painting away and getting it ready. Yesterday the appliances were delivered to the house and I was so excited to have them installed only to find out I now have yet another project. I guess it would be too good to be true if everything went according to my plan. As the saying goes life is what happens on the way to your plan. Well all was going swimmingly until the dishwasher had to be installed. Here is where I find out how stupid the previous owners were in there attempt to update the kitchen. They built the cabinets directly onto the sub-floor instead of on top of the wood floors. Which created a problem with the height of the hole for the dishwasher. They way they decided to fix the problem was to install the countertop after putting the dishwasher in making it impossible to remove the dishwasher without either removing the countertop or removing the wood floors…ARGH. This is not what I signed up for. I wanted a slight cosmetic fixer, i.e. paint the walls, and now you are ready to move in. BUT NO! So I had to remove all the tile work in the kitchen and we are doing new tile work Now the time comes to decide on whether I’m going to install it myself of will I leave the task to someone much more skilled than myself to do it for me. I lean to the latter but my pocket book says to do it myself…It remains to be decided. Then you through into the mix the thought of having slab work done for you. Now that makes me stop to think…slab granite…nice. Some people don’t care much for granite countertops, I on the other hand, am a really big fan. The only problem is the cost of those slabs.

Ah the joys of home ownership. I’m sure this is not the last of the challenges we will encounter in our attempt to make this new home our home.

Cheers,

Jay