If I say I want to move again within the next 5 years...slap me.

Part of me really likes moving. It helps me de-clutter my already de-cluttered living space because, frankly, I don't want to move 10,000 items from residence to residence. I also like living in smaller spaces because you can only fill it up with so much "stuff".

That being said, there are still plenty of problems to solve after having purchased a home...especially if that home was built in 1945.

When I bought my first home, it was a home my parents owned and I had already been living in it, so I was fully aware of all its little quirks. Then I moved into a newer apartment building, which came with only minor problems and even then, maintenance men were at your beck and call to fix them.

Now, I have moved to a home built in 1945 and I am slowly learning all the quirks. I had a total chick-flick night with myself this past weekend, and I watched one of my favorite movies, Under the Tuscan Sun. Diane Lane's character, Frances, goes through a painful divorce. To help her recovery, her friends decide to send her on a tour of Italy. While there, she makes a bold, last-second decision to buy a 300 yr old villa and remain in Italy for good. This was not going to be just a vacation. This was her new life.

As she sets out on the journey of renovating this crumbling house, she narrates that you "Pick one room and make it yours. Go slowly through the house. Be polite, introduce yourself so it can introduce itself to you."

And this is exactly what I am doing.

Like Frances, I did not do a lot of "thinking" before I bought the house. I saw it. I wanted it. I knew I couldn't go back to the old place. And I made an offer. And before I knew it, I was sitting on a little step ladder, covered in paint, looking around at the 4 walls that were going to protect me from the elements for the next several years. It was my job to make it more, and I am introducing myself to each room and trying to make that room completely how I want it before I move on to the next. This is taking some time because I change my mind a lot when decorating. A lot a lot.

I've had appointments with Seguin Electric, Centex, Time Warner and Beyer Boys Plumbing. Holes have been drilled, cables have been re-routed, faucets have been replaced, water lines have been reversed, water heater temps have been turned down from "boiling hot" to "normal hot", and invoices have been paid. Man oh man, have invoices been paid. Whether it's service connection fees added to my regular bills or the invoices from all the repairs, I am bleeding invoice pay at the moment.

We're to the point where I am currently praying that nothing goes wrong with anything else, including my truck, just so I can still keep my head above water. I still haven't asked anyone for help, haven't had to use any payment plans, and haven't put anything on a credit card. But this is where all the invoices need to stop, please:) We're good. We're set. We're broke. HomeMOANership can attack somebody else now.

My favorite repair has got to be when the plumbers replaced necessary faucets and hoses so I could wash clothes, and when I tried a load of laundry the HOT WATER option had no water coming out and the COLD WATER option had boiling hot water coming out. I mean like lava. Steam just started filling the room. Turns out the water lines were installed backwards, so I went ahead and had them reversed. And we turned down the temp on that water heater, which I'm pretty sure is a ticking time bomb, but that's a $1,500 cost for which I will obviously being saving up.

The German shepherd next door is taken indoors much more often now that I had to say, "Seriously?!" to my neighbors as they let their dog's barking just go on and on and on and on. I don't care how long they've owned that dog, they CANNOT be used to the decibels he's putting out. They need to Caesar Milan that thing. He can literally hear when I'm walking around on my wood floors since I still don't have all the furniture set up to lessen the echo, so he barks all.the.time. I swear I have the worst luck with barking dogs. I wanna be friends with those cool people who have their dogs trained military-style. They speak when their owners tell them it's allowed.

Not only did I purchase a house, but it also came with 100 Ziploc bags, 4 telephone books, 3 extra light bulbs, 2 outlet adapters (because every outlet is 2 prong, and every appliance I own is 3 prong of course), 1 gas dryer (because the utility space is lacking a 220), and 1 picnic table. I recycled the bags and books, have used all the bulbs and adapters, and just stand there and drool over the picnic table. Seriously, how cool is that to have your very own picnic table. Who leaves that behind? Their loss was definitely my gain. So adorable.

So it's been 9 days since the movers moved everything and I am just now getting my bearings straight. I haven't had buyer's remorse, but sometimes I do just sit there, staring at another unpainted wall, thinking "I cannot wait until everything is functional, decorated, and in order."

The only room that is pretty much done is the living room, because that's the first room you walk into. And when I get overwhelmed by the chaos of the other unfinished rooms, I run into the living room and breathe in the calm energy of that one space and give myself a pep talk that I can indeed work the same magic on all the other rooms.

Like bringing a new baby home, it's only exhausting in the beginning. A routine will be discovered and you'll soon amaze yourself at how many problems you now know how to head off.

But really, if I say I want to move again within the next 5 years...slap me.