Not in the same house yet, but in the same apartment complex.

I was working on a big old blog post but it was becoming way too verbose and taking me way too long so here’s some quick hits on what has been going on with us since we landed in Indiana and both families settled in across the courtyard from one another in our temporary apartment digs. There’s lots of interesting news on the house and land, so look for another post yet this week.

Saturday was a really good day. Tom and I went and played nine holes of golf in the morning. We played at 7AM and walked. There’s a cheap nine-hole course at the north end of town – ten bucks a piece. OK course. We didn’t keep score. Of course, we couldn’t find anywhere to get a bloody Mary at 9AM, which is a problem. After that we got a couple errands done while waiting for Sarah and Gretchen to return from the farmer’s market with the kids. Then we had lunch and Sarah took Grace to Conner Prairie (www.connorprairie.org) while the rest of us went to the pool for a little while. Then I brought Frederick and Frankie back to our apartment and let them spend some time on the computer while I folded laundry and prepped dinner while the World Cup was on. (note about the World Cup. You know the old fridge light thing? Does it really shut off when you close the door? That’s how the World Cup has been at our apartment. The minute Sarah leaves the apartment I turn it on, then shut it off before she gets home. What can I say. Plus I think the vuvuzelas help relax the kids in some Zen-African kind of way). Anyway, we had a great dinner. We had some chicken and green beans to go with our first good farmer’s market corn-on-the-cob of the year. Then for dessert a blueberry pie Gretchen baked with homemade ice cream. (the girls and the kids went blueberry picking Friday morning) Super good. A really good day and a typical day lately.

Meals together. I assumed we would eat some meals together but I didn’t know how much. The answer is – lots. Pretty much every dinner. Most lunches. And the occasional breakfast. This has been pleasantly surprising. The meal itself is a bit frenetic – we don’t have the table or the room to hold us all, and the kids are so young it’s just a lot. And Kid A wants to sit by Parent A but Kid B wants to sit by Kid C and Parent B and … seriously. But after the meal we realize new benefits. Two of us clear the table, put away any leftovers (not many with 9 of us) and do the dishes while the other two entertain the children. You end up only having dishes at your house every other night and the dishes get done before the kids are down, not after. Big difference. (Lots of you with young children are nodding your heads right now, eh?)

Date night. When Sarah and I made the move, Tom and Gretchen said “you two are going to dinner tomorrow night on us” and we said “great!” Since then Friday night has been date night. We alternate nights – Sarah and I go out one week and Tom and Gretchen cook for the kids, then we reverse it the next Friday. We make homemade pizzas with the kids, which is a pretty surefire meal with not too much cleanup. This has been great. Wonderful. Sarah and I knew we weren’t doing this enough in MN. Though we won’t be going to a nice sit-down dinner every time (I think Tom and Gretch are playing tennis this Friday – exercise and more in-budget) it will be great to have a standing date. This kicks ass.

There is a pool. Our apartment complex has an outdoor swimming pool. It’s a nice pool. Children + apartments + hot summer = high need for pool. It’s been great. We might need to get one of these with our house (not in the budget, but maybe someday. J)

Shirtless men. Sarah thinks men should only have their shirts off in public for the following reasons – you are at the beach or a public pool, you are jogging or playing basketball, you are roofing a house and it is above ninety degrees. In fact, she thinks you should follow these rules around the house too. She thinks it’s strange when men have their shirt off, say, walking around a neighborhood or grilling in the backyard. She thinks it’s REALLY strange for you to be driving your car or truck without a shirt on. There hasn’t been a lot of people driving around without a shirt on, but it only takes one or two now doesn’t it?

Food and finances. We recently opened a checking and savings account…and a checking and savings account…and a checking and savings account. I have now coined the term “uber-savings” and “uber-checking” accounts as the term “joint-checking/savings” describes an account between you and your spouse and doesn’t fully encompass an account that all four of us can access. We opened these right away for two reasons – 1) we’re already writing checks for the property (architect, surveyor) and thus want to establish the uber savings, and 2) as we are having meals together we want to start managing a single food budget. The food budget is interesting as though we are eating most of our meals together we have two separate apartments. We’ll keep you updated as to how this is working out. Oh, and we started using an online organizer thingy called www.cozi.com. It allows us to develop a “master calendar” that all of us can access. Sarah and Gretch have the app on their iPhone. Gretch is using it for menu planning and I’m trying to put my travel schedule in there. Grace is already in some camps (horse, soccer) and those are in there as well. We’ll let you know how it’s working as well.

Autos. We’ve been talking a bit about autos. Between the two families we have two vans and two beaters. Tom also has a motorcycle. Each family has a minivan, and Tom and I coincidentally enough drive the cars our wives drove when we first met them (and now would prefer not to drive). But we’ve been talking about what we need – both now and once we’re in one house. I could see us driving these beaters until they die and once both have left us we just buy one used car to share. I’ve been biking to the library to work and Tom drives his motorcycle to work quite a bit, so I think dropping a car is pretty reasonable. Tom would probably lobby for a truck, but I would really like an old El Camino – that way I could drive around with my shirt off. Sarah doesn’t think that’s funny. Except when I suggested it would be weird if both Tom and I were in the El Camino with our shirts off. She thought that was funny in an uncomfortable kind of way.

An active lifestyle. One of the things I really wanted to do when moving to Indy is to live a more active lifestyle. It’s not just about exercising, though Tom and I have joined a gym and are (trying to) work out. But I want to make sure the kids grow up in an environment where exercise and activity are a part of their lifestyle. This – despite the scorching weather – has been a pleasant surprise. Tom and Gretchen are good about planning activity into our days. Bike rides and walks, trips to parks, swimming, ball in the yard. We went to a great state park on Saturday and did some serious hiking. This has been great and I hope it continues.

Apartment living. Great to be back in an apartment! (sarcasm noted) It hasn’t been too bad, but just a little weird. It’s also a good exercise in reminding you what you do/don’t want in the home you are building (for instance, I like sinks that I can actually get a pot under the faucet. I know, I’m totally high-maintenance.) We have ants. (carpeting in the dining room is great!) I already locked up the garbage disposal. Our dishwasher is worthless (wait, so was the one in our house that we paid like $900 for). And then there is the recycling, or may I say the lack thereof…(Dan steps back, pours the rest of his beer into his glass, pushes up his sleeves and prepares to rant) OK, this isn’t an Indiana vs. Minnesota thing, because I’m sure this goes on in MN as well. I think it’s an apartment building thing. They don’t recycle. How can you not recycle? Haven’t we made this move as a society? Are people really not recycling still? It’s like when you get in the car with another adult and they don’t put on their seatbelt. What are you doing? Put on your seatbelt. This isn’t 1978. We all wear our seatbelts now. It’s not square – it keeps you from being thrown from the vehicle and dying. Put your seatbelt on. Is recycling not there yet? Anyway, I’m sure it costs the apartment building like seven bucks a month per unit to recycle and they don’t think they could get it back in rent so they just don’t do it. This sucks. I’m writing a letter.

That’s it for now. More to come on the land itself. We are also seeing “pre-bids” on the house and will see if we are on-budget. Let us know if you have any questions about our living together planning and we’ll try to answer them.