Two posts a week

That's the challenge issued to me by my sister, who is both competitive and currently bored. It's okay. I like blogging. It makes me feel important and validated, like the whole whole world is the audience and I'm center stage. Never mind that a large chunk of the world does not have access to the internet. Or that the rest of the world that does have access to the internet doesn't care and just wants to be left alone and not bothered by my blog blathering. There is an atom of humanity that reads my blog (okay it's a hydrogen atom) and it makes me feel important and validated.

Now onto the subject that I need to feel validated about. My house remodel. It's extremely messy and disruptive. Not to mention costly. The plaguing question is: Will, in the end, I consider the money spent to be worth the extra space (the remodel in question is refinishing of basement and attic)? Or will, in the end, I consider that I should have just dealt with my small space for the 3-4 years we will live here and saved a bundle of money? Factor in the consideration that this house only cost 77K and my mortgage is only 300 per month. (There are some advantages to living in a rural area!) So the extra money not being spent in a large mortgage is being spent on a remodel instead of being saved. And the homebuyer tax credit will be spent on the remodel instead of being saved. Grant is all for the remodel because he likes to do that stuff and because he doesn't care how much money we spend on anything. I'm the tightwad around here and my tightwad cells are cringing right now. Of course, we bought so cheaply precisely because we calculated that we could expand our space for less money than buying a larger house. But after moving in I start to think, Hey, this isn't so bad. We can live in a two bedroom house for a few years and save X amount of money! Okay, I know you hydrogen atoms are shocked that I am cramming my family of 7 into a two bedroom house, but that's the addiction I have to saving money! But, this week, we have crossed the point of no return. A wall has been torn out, a structural beam is replacing it, and now we are down to one bedroom and Grant and I are sleeping in the living room. We may, occasionally have a privacy issue with that and so the remodel will go forth. And I will spend the next few months in a constant state of cringe at the money exiting the bank accounts.

But, Grant has given up Coke as a New Year's resolution (again) so I have a partner in misery. At least for a few weeks.