Vacation last year (L-R): Noah, Grace, Tom, Charlie, Gretchen, Frankie, Dan, Frederick (Sarah is photographer)
Getting Ice Cream on Vacation (L-R):
Grace, Gretchen, Noah, Tom, Charlie, Frederick, Sarah, Frankie
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Packing and Moving… and Moving … and Moving
This past weekend Sarah and I really started to get serious about packing. We’re closing on our house on the 30th, so the clock is certainly ticking. We’ve only been in this house a bit over three years but have certainly done what we could to fill the house with all kinds of things in that time.
But the real challenge is our living arrangements over the next 6-8 months. Here’s what that looks like:
- April 30th move out of our house on 4th Ave in Minneapolis
- April 30th – June 9th in a furnished apartment on 13th Ave
- June 9th – Fall 2010 in an apartment in Brownsburg, Indiana
- Fall 2010 move into new house in Brownsburg
So four homes in 2010. I believe the term “constant transition” is relevant here. I hope we don’t forget one of the kids during a move.
Packing is one thing, but the big challenge is what stuff goes where? What will we need for six weeks in the furnished apartment? What will we need for five or six months in the Brownsburg apartment this summer? What goes into storage to wait until we get into the house? How much is Frederick going to grow in the next six months? Can we pack away winter coats? (the answer is “no” if we were staying in Minnesota, but we should be good in Indiana, eh?) Should we take the rice cooker to 13th Ave or ship it to Indy? How many floor puzzles will we really need over the next six-weeks-to-five-months? If we pack all the pie pans until the fall, doesn’t that mean no strawberry-rhubarb pie this year? Oh the horror!
Not to get too introspective about it, but this is basically an exercise in looking at every item you own and saying “when will I really need this?” or “do I really need this at all?” (or, more pointedly, “what is all this shit”?) Books, clothing, furniture, toys, housewares – it’s all scrutinized with a new lens. (For me, that lens is “I’m probably going to have to pick up this thing and move it about 2-5 times over the next eight months. Is the corresponding back pain worth it?” also known as the “Ibuprofin Corollary”)
Anyway – if we’re on your Christmas card list good luck tracking us down. I’m sure the USPS is going to assume we’re on the lam this summer. And if you drive by our house in the next week and see a futon with the word “free” taped to it, knock yourself out.
But the real challenge is our living arrangements over the next 6-8 months. Here’s what that looks like:
- April 30th move out of our house on 4th Ave in Minneapolis
- April 30th – June 9th in a furnished apartment on 13th Ave
- June 9th – Fall 2010 in an apartment in Brownsburg, Indiana
- Fall 2010 move into new house in Brownsburg
So four homes in 2010. I believe the term “constant transition” is relevant here. I hope we don’t forget one of the kids during a move.
Packing is one thing, but the big challenge is what stuff goes where? What will we need for six weeks in the furnished apartment? What will we need for five or six months in the Brownsburg apartment this summer? What goes into storage to wait until we get into the house? How much is Frederick going to grow in the next six months? Can we pack away winter coats? (the answer is “no” if we were staying in Minnesota, but we should be good in Indiana, eh?) Should we take the rice cooker to 13th Ave or ship it to Indy? How many floor puzzles will we really need over the next six-weeks-to-five-months? If we pack all the pie pans until the fall, doesn’t that mean no strawberry-rhubarb pie this year? Oh the horror!
Not to get too introspective about it, but this is basically an exercise in looking at every item you own and saying “when will I really need this?” or “do I really need this at all?” (or, more pointedly, “what is all this shit”?) Books, clothing, furniture, toys, housewares – it’s all scrutinized with a new lens. (For me, that lens is “I’m probably going to have to pick up this thing and move it about 2-5 times over the next eight months. Is the corresponding back pain worth it?” also known as the “Ibuprofin Corollary”)
Anyway – if we’re on your Christmas card list good luck tracking us down. I’m sure the USPS is going to assume we’re on the lam this summer. And if you drive by our house in the next week and see a futon with the word “free” taped to it, knock yourself out.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
What's in a name?
Ok, Dan. Love the Blogging...hate the name. As I took Charlie for our nightly walk I thought and thought of some (shall I say better?) options. How about 'The Common House'. If that doesn't pass I'll keep thinking because 'All of You ? In One House?', though funny, has to go.
Aside from that, we started our packing today. Let me rephrase that, Tom started the packing, Noah, Charlie and I "helped". I love it! Today made it all feel much closer and like it's actually happening. Our garage is full of boxes, two piles, one for storage and one to fit into our little 2 bedroom apartment that we'll be calling home for the next 8+ months. We can't wait!!
As for new home daydreaming, much was done today along the sub zero kitchen lines....ahhh.
Aside from that, we started our packing today. Let me rephrase that, Tom started the packing, Noah, Charlie and I "helped". I love it! Today made it all feel much closer and like it's actually happening. Our garage is full of boxes, two piles, one for storage and one to fit into our little 2 bedroom apartment that we'll be calling home for the next 8+ months. We can't wait!!
As for new home daydreaming, much was done today along the sub zero kitchen lines....ahhh.
Building "One Big House"
So just to articulate what the plan is - we are going to build one big house that all of us can live in. "All of us" is quite a bit - Sarah and I have three kids age 6, 4 and 2. Tom and Gretchen have two kids - 3 and 1. And both families are discussing having more. So it's a lot.
This week we had some fun discussions regarding the house plan. Next Friday Sarah is flying to Indianapolis to join Tom and Gretchen at our builder's office to try and develop a floor plan. So our back-and-forth culminated into a two-plus-hour conference call where we discussed what exactly we are looking for in a floor plan. It was actually pretty fun.
Some key tenets of our floor plan:
- We want to organize the family sleeping areas into two "pods" with family bedrooms close together. So we're talking about a master suite, two kid bedrooms, a bathroom and a sitting area for each family. We landed on a pretty good strategy - our family upstairs and their family in a "wing" on one side of the first floor. Tom suggested an approach where you would enter their wing through opague french doors into the sitting area then continue on to a hallway with the bedrooms. I think this will also help enable our exit strategy as this wing could easily be converted into a mother-in-law apartment of sorts.
- The kitchen is the most important room in the house. I think this is the room that we go a little wild in. We want something that isn't luxury for the sake of being luxury, but is a big, highly functional, semi-professional kitchen. I used words like "Sub-Zero" and "Wolf" and Sarah couldn't believe they were coming out of my mouth.
- We talked Tom out of one story.
- We're probably looking at 3,500+ square feet above ground and a 1,000+ sqft unfinished basement
- Two laundry areas, one upstairs and one on the first floor
- Large great room, large dining room, eat-in kitchen
- 3-car garage and a screened-in porch
- Also, I work from home, so we'll try to find a spot to stash a small home office. That "bonus room" above the garage is a possibility. I'm open to this and will be fine roughing a room in the basement if need be.
I think we can build a pretty functional home for the (gulp) nine of us. We were debating whether we add another room to the first floor but felt like the basement will give us plenty of room for expansion. Tom is all about the basement, and I think we might even push that to 1,500 sqft as it's cheap to build now and will give us potential for later. (I have my heart set on building a home gym down there)
I'm really excited to see what the other three come up with next Friday when they meet with the builder. I think a floor plan will make this feel that much closer to real.
This week we had some fun discussions regarding the house plan. Next Friday Sarah is flying to Indianapolis to join Tom and Gretchen at our builder's office to try and develop a floor plan. So our back-and-forth culminated into a two-plus-hour conference call where we discussed what exactly we are looking for in a floor plan. It was actually pretty fun.
Some key tenets of our floor plan:
- We want to organize the family sleeping areas into two "pods" with family bedrooms close together. So we're talking about a master suite, two kid bedrooms, a bathroom and a sitting area for each family. We landed on a pretty good strategy - our family upstairs and their family in a "wing" on one side of the first floor. Tom suggested an approach where you would enter their wing through opague french doors into the sitting area then continue on to a hallway with the bedrooms. I think this will also help enable our exit strategy as this wing could easily be converted into a mother-in-law apartment of sorts.
- The kitchen is the most important room in the house. I think this is the room that we go a little wild in. We want something that isn't luxury for the sake of being luxury, but is a big, highly functional, semi-professional kitchen. I used words like "Sub-Zero" and "Wolf" and Sarah couldn't believe they were coming out of my mouth.
- We talked Tom out of one story.
- We're probably looking at 3,500+ square feet above ground and a 1,000+ sqft unfinished basement
- Two laundry areas, one upstairs and one on the first floor
- Large great room, large dining room, eat-in kitchen
- 3-car garage and a screened-in porch
- Also, I work from home, so we'll try to find a spot to stash a small home office. That "bonus room" above the garage is a possibility. I'm open to this and will be fine roughing a room in the basement if need be.
I think we can build a pretty functional home for the (gulp) nine of us. We were debating whether we add another room to the first floor but felt like the basement will give us plenty of room for expansion. Tom is all about the basement, and I think we might even push that to 1,500 sqft as it's cheap to build now and will give us potential for later. (I have my heart set on building a home gym down there)
I'm really excited to see what the other three come up with next Friday when they meet with the builder. I think a floor plan will make this feel that much closer to real.
We Finally Have Land!
This week was especially productive. After we were outbid for a property in Avon a couple weeks ago, we really felt back at square one. But we bounced back surprisingly quickly. I think the fact that we've been looking for a few months helped us quickly find our new course.
Anyway, after coming to the conclusion that we wanted to build - and build one house - we moved pretty fast. It's about 5 acres of farmland north of Brownsburg. Probably closer to Zionsville than Brownsburg, but Brownsburg schools. It's on a county road and we'll have neighbors, but it's 5 acres. I mean, it's 5 acres. Looking at it as a flat lot with no house, it doesn't look all that big. But I'm really excited by the possibilities.
It's great to finally have something we can plan around. Even though we have a lot of work in front of us, it's exciting to know this is where home will be.
Anyway, after coming to the conclusion that we wanted to build - and build one house - we moved pretty fast. It's about 5 acres of farmland north of Brownsburg. Probably closer to Zionsville than Brownsburg, but Brownsburg schools. It's on a county road and we'll have neighbors, but it's 5 acres. I mean, it's 5 acres. Looking at it as a flat lot with no house, it doesn't look all that big. But I'm really excited by the possibilities.
It's great to finally have something we can plan around. Even though we have a lot of work in front of us, it's exciting to know this is where home will be.
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