2005-11-11 - 2:41 p.m.

And the second of two abandoned entries:

I scraped the shit out of my hands.

There were tiny knicks and cuts on both palms, there was dirt caked onto the legs of my brand new work pants, and there was dust powdering my hair, turning it prematurely gray.

My legs were cramped from crouching for a good ten minutes, my arms hurt from the tedious unscrewing and screwing in of a rusty bolt, and my eyes had gone cross from staring through murky halflight.

All of this...

All of this to learn how to replace the filters in my air conditioner. The air conditioner in the crawl space. The crawl space in my new house.

The house inspection went flawlessly. I'm moving into a sturdy, 25 year old house that already feels (remarkably) like home. I'm a little surprised at how easily I made the decision to buy. I mean, I can be the guy who sits at the T Bell window for 5 minutes trying to decide if I want extra cheese on my Mexi Melt. Yet one showing of the house, one walk-thru, and barely 6 hours of contemplation and the offer was made...and accepted.

And now the top 7 things that sold the house to me, in no particular order:

7) The downstairs room (which is already deemed "the music room") smells uncannily like my aunt and uncles house that I grew up in. The first time I walked through the house, I was drawn to this room and almost overwhelmed by the scent. It's a soft mix of detergent, potpourri, este lauder perfumes and southern cooking. What it's doing in the downstairs room of a Missouri home, I have no idea. But every trek thru the room conjures up images of a loving childhood spent in that house...

6) Hardwood floors in the dining room and kitchen. Not much more to say about this...

5) A fireplace in the dining room! Already I envision a Thanksgiving feast in the years to come where a Turkey is laid out on the table while the fire roars in the background. Or even better, Christmas cards featuring me, Pat, and mystery roomate number three, all of us wearing grossly oversized Christmas sweaters... mine would be a hideous bright red with a rudolph embroided into the chest, the red nose an actual red christmas light positioned strategically over a nipple... Pat's could be the obligatory bright green Christmas Tree sweater... we'd have goofy smiles, maybe even holding our dogs (oh yeah, see the next item) who are dressed up like reindeer.

4) A big fenced in backyard with a plethora of old shade trees = DOGS! Yes, finally I can realize my dream of owning a couple of dogs and giving them plenty of room to run around and frolic. I've always wanted to buy two puppies, a husky and a west highland white terrier, and name them Jack and Jose respectively. They would grow up together, and be the best of friends. Maybe they'd even go on an adventure with the neighbor's cat.

3) Lounging on my own couch in front of beautiful bay windows on Sunday afternoons watching football with Pat and scarfin pizza.

2) My own lil bathroom with sparkling clean countertops and a shower that I can pee in and not feel guilty.

1) A mailbox with my name inscribed on it. Something that tells the world, "Hi. I'm David. And this lil patchwork of land, from the sidewalk to the fence in the back is mine. I worked for this, I bought it, and I can be proud of it.

So keep your eyes peeled on your email and your snail mail for the official housewarming. Cheers.

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