Pet Peeves

It's a new day and were still playing "truth or truth", because dares are kind of stupid in a blog.

It's Mandy's turn.

Question #6: What are your top three pet peeves?

Mandy:

1. Southern Accents -- the dialectical equivalent of nails on a chalk board
2. Internet shorthand -- You is spelled Y-O-U not "u". ur, l8r, and any1 aren't words either. This is particularly annoying in e-mail. And don't say roflmao unless you're actually doing that!
3. People who fill in the gaps in their life with their cell phone -- Just because you can walk through the mall, drink coffee, get your nails done, and talk on your Bluetooth headset doesn't mean you have to call me. I'm not interested in the play-by-play of your life! Can you hear me now?

I couldn't resist adding my own...

SunFyre:

1. People who assume that because you're Republican you're automatically a radical pro-lifer, fundamentalist Christian, NRA gun toting, anti-environment capitalist. I'm only a couple of these things!
2. Mothers who smack their kid on the head for staring at me. I'm interesting. Everyone should stare. Mothers should get smacked in the head occasionally.
3. Creationists -- Just because you choose creation over evolution doesn't mean that all science is complete bunk. Yes, global warming is real.
4. Smokers, fat people, and alcoholics who complain about the price of health insurance.

Sorry, I can never stop at three...

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday cake only had nine candles this year. I think the only reason I got candles at all was because Ainsley wanted to help me blow them out. Kristen found a lightly use box left over from the twins' birthday party last month.

I'm 35 today.

It was a quiet birthday. I slept a little later than normal this morning. The kids had been up for an hour making cards out of construction paper and stickers. They sang "Happy Birthday" and we had chocolate cake for breakfast together. I normally don't eat breakfast, but I make exception when there is chocolate cake.

I worked until lunchtime, then ate lunch while watching Attack of the Show, which has become my daily retreat into geekdom. I wasn't feeling well, so I took a nap and a rather large poop, both of which helped.

This evening Kristen took me to the Terrapin Cantina, a Mexican Restaurant about 30 minutes up the road.

It was quiet, but important. Today was day one of the next 17 years. I measure my life in blocks of 17 years. The first 17 were lived for my parents. The second 17 were lived for myself. The current 17 will be dedicated to my children.

It isn't arbitrary. Perhaps tomorrow night I'll explain. It's getting late, and I'm trying to digest my Mexican food.

Goodnight,

SunFyre

House for Sale by Owner

You could own your own home! Actually, you could own my home. Just imagine the value of owning the birthplace of SunFyre!

This adorable Cape Cod style home is for sale. As you probably read a few days ago, Kristen and I bought a new home closer to her family. We are moving the last week in April.

It occurred to me that I better sell the old house pretty soon. It's hard, I love this house, but who couldn't use an extra $117,500.

This 1 1/2 story house is located at 621 Byram Street in the Mount Penn area of Reading, PA.

We are about 45 minutes from the Philadelphia suburbs and an hour from Center City. Within about 150 miles radius you can visit New York City, Atlantic City, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Harrisburg.

It's located in a quiet neighborhood built in the '40s, in an era before cul-de-sac housing developments. Lots of mature trees.

The neighborhood is minutes from shopping areas including a Wal-Mart, video stores, fast food and groceries. The nearest supermarket is within walking distance.

The lot itself is small, but you have a nice front yard and small back yard. Friendly neighbors with elementary age children live nearby.

We chose this house for the kitchen, in photo two. It's truly a gourmet kitchen, designed for someone who loved to cook. Incredible counter space, including a lower serving bar. It is perfect for that wheelchair user who likes to cook. The attached dining room is huge, larger than most separated dining rooms.

The living room, in photo three, has recently refurbished hardwood floors. They'd been carpeted since the house was built. We removed the carpet to find beautiful wood in perfect condition. They'd never even been finished.

Photo four shows our kids room. It's on the first four, just off the kitchen. It is small, and was used by the original owner as storage. We carpeted the room and fixed it up when the Kristen was pregnant.

This master bedroom has conceived twins, so obviously it is in complete working order.

Finally, the Green Room, Sunfyre's Office, where Sunfyre Magazine was conceived, among other business and creative ventures. In the original house, this was the kitchen. In the '70s the original owner added the huge kitchen addition, but never removed the old kitchen. They used it as a laundry room. We gutted the room completely down to the studs, and turned it into my office. The green paint seemed a little much at first, but now I find it invigorating. I spend up to twelve hours a day in this room without going insane. We added tons of outlets, literally four to six plugs on every wall. It also has a private entrance for those times when you are doing private business.

For the right price, I'll even throw in my crappy office furniture numerous collections of my personal belongings. You can have these things to create your personal SunFyre Museum! Just imagine the income potential!

Ok, your probably wondering about square footage, taxes, acreage, bathroomsThe house actually isn't for sale by owner. We are using a realtor.

Buying a New Home

Sorry, I've been busy with a new project. Kristen and I had been seriously considering buying a new home. We've been house hunting on and off for about a year, then got real serious in January. We weren't finding any houses that met our criteria, at least not that we could afford.

We needed four bedrooms. My father visits from Kentucky several times each year, and we needed a guest room or guest house.

I need an office. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to work at home with two three-year-olds, and no door on my office.

It had to be a wheelchair accessible home, either a very large ranch-style, or two floors with an elevator. We considered building a nice two story until we found out that good elevators add $20,000 to construction without increasing the value of a new house.

Finally, a realtor pointed out a huge ranch home. It had four bedrooms, an office space, a large yard, and a swimming pool. We made an appointment for the next Friday.

Thursday night at 9:30 the realtor called to say another couple made an offer. They were holding the offer until the next day, so we could see it.

We went to the showing, and knew it was ideal. In seven hours we toured the home, secured financing and a pre-approval letter, and made an offer. Twelve hours later, our offer was accepted... then mild panic set in.

If you ever make a quick decision to spend a quarter of a million dollars, mild panic is natural. Major panic is natural. But, life is good.

Over the next couple days, I'll fill you in on details, with complete tutorials including:

• How to buy a house in seven hours

• How to secure financing with no income and no assets

• How to fire your realtor

• How to get mortgage companies competing for your business

• How to go hopelessly in debt and still have an excellent credit score

Meanwhile... here's photos of our new home.

Holy Crap...we bought a HOUSE!!

Buying a new home wasn't on our agenda for last weekend, but that's what we did. We had been shopping for a new house, and even considered building, but weren't finding anything large enough without breaking the budget.

Here's lots of photos of the new house. You'll see plenty of interior photos. Enjoy.

Northumberland is along PA Route 11 coming 50 miles north from Harrisburg. The house is 4 miles north of Northumberland, just off PA Route 11.

Here's a little closer view of Northumberland. Our house is directly under the red star.

The front

The view of our new house from the driveway, toward the front door. The house has a narrow stone sidewalk over gravel. We will have to build a gradual ramp from the driveway to the front door (behind that tree).

We like the interesting windows and roof line. They also angled the siding on the gabled parts of the house.

Standing in front of the front door, you can see a nice porch and the garage.

This gate is on the left end of the house and leads to the backyard. The front yard is nice and large sloping toward the house. The backyard slopes away allowing for a walkout basement. We have over 8/10 of an acre. A nice big yard for two kids!

The living room

Coming in the front door is the little entry hall. To the right (out of view) is the hallway to the bedrooms. Straight ahead is a dining room, which we will use as a family room.

To the left of the entry is a huge 34 x 13 room. We will use this as living room and dining room.

Here's the family room again. The French doors open out onto a deck balcony.

The kitchen and dining room

The kitchen is large and absolutely beautiful. It's electric cooking, but that is the only negative thing. Lots of cupboard space and a nice pantry.

Next to the kitchen is a breakfast area with a nice large window. A great place to eat your Cherrios. Beyond the dinette you can see the doorway to the office.

The kitchen exits into the living room at the far end. Currently, there is a banister separating the living room into two smaller rooms. They used this for a dining room. We will probably use it for dining too, but might remove the banister.

Jason's office

Jason's office is large with laminate flooring. (the red rug is an area rug, that the owner's will take). He loves the office, except for the small window. He's already dreaming of a giant glass wall.

The office has a half-bath with laundry hook-ups. We may move the laundry to the basement and Jason can use it for storage. We know Jason has lots to store!

There is also an exit from the office into the garage. We will have to ramp it, so Jason will have two exits. The basement door also exits from the office.

Beds and Baths

Ainsley gets her own room with a big window and pink carpeting.

Jason gets one too, in green. We honestly don't envision them sleeping in separate rooms for a while, but at least we now have a place to say, "Go to your room!" that they can't continue to fight with each other.

This is the very small guest room. We hope very small guests come to visit.

This is a very big master bedroom!

There are several bathrooms, but this one will be called "Kristen's sanctuary". This should make up for not owning a bathtub for the past five years. It has a whirlpool tub, walk-in closet, a shower stall and a lock on the door; everything a mommy needs to relax.

Backyard

Come out the family room doors onto the deck. As we said, the ground falls away behind the house so the deck is almost a story up.

Looking off the deck to the right is a large fenced backyard. The fences are split rail, but have wire to keep dogs and kids in. (Kristie says "what dogs?!")

To the left of the deck is another lower deck and the swimming pool. It looks a little chilly now, but it will be great this Spring. Pool parties will be every Tuesday and the third Saturday of each month, BYOB (Bring your own burgers).

Here's a couple more views of the pool and deck as seen from Jason's office window. The house in the background is 40 Manor Drive and listed at $280,000 in case any of you want to become neighbors.

Two days after we bought the house, Kristie exclaimed, "Holy crap! We have a pool!" Thus, the naming of this page.

Basement

Finally, we have a full basement. Lots of storage (shelves and stuff). And a big place for kids to play.

One of the great features of our house is a ground level walk out basement, so Jason can even get downstairs. He literally can get everywhere in the house!!! His wife and children haven't decided for certain if this is a blessing. The little room to the right is the facilities management department, with water heater, water softener, furnace, sump pump, breaker boxes and even a toilet. You can come in from the backyard. Please keep the P out of the OOL!

Kristen, Jason Andrew, Ainsley Grace and I feel so blessed. This house, this home, will truly be a place that we can make memories and live comfortably for many years to come. We hope it becomes a welcoming happy place, not only to live in, but also to visit.

Happy Birthday Grandma

My Great Grandma is turning 80 tomorrow. I'm going to her party tonight. It's not a surprise party, at 80 years old it might be a surprise coronary!

In other news... we bought a house! I'll post pictures this weekend.

In other news... I've been offered an opportunity with a new client that could be huge. I've been spending my evening hours writing proposals rather than blog entries. Sorry.

Finally, my kids gave up their binkies... big news in our house. Next week I'll teach you how to wean your kids the Wrong Way.

The Year of Legacy -- January 1, 2005

Kristen and I want to build a house. We spent New Year's weekend driving around central Pennsylvania, looking at pieces of land. We saw a wide variety, from developments to farm land to building plots along rural routes. We found one situated directly beneath massive power lines, one next to a freeway overpass and one on a hill so steep all I could do was envision Homer Simpson bouncing down it yelling "doh, doh, DOH". Needless to say, it was a frustrating weekend.

But, seven hours being a passenger gives you time to think, coincidentally one of my favorite things to do on January 1st. I had time to reflect, and time to focus on the important things in my life.

Last year I made the resolution to make fewer resolutions and more results. This year I'm just making one:

2005 will be The Year of Legacy

Most people don't think about legacy at my age, but I'm 34 now and have lived three decades past my life expectancy. I'm not planning to exit any time soon, but I have a unique understanding that time is borrowed, all time for all people. So, I think of legacy.

I'll make this The Year of Legacy in four ways:

First, I will build a magnificent house. It doesn't have to be huge, or outrageously expensive, or even bizarre. But it will be a house that when people drive by, they poke the person next to them and say "check out that house."

Second, I will create financial stability for my family like we've never had before. I intend to grow my business by 66% and double my personal income.

Third, I will create legacy within my children. I'll create memories of times that will be the things of their earliest memories. When someone asks "what is your first memory" my children will smile.

Finally, I will dedicate more time to SunFyre. This little blog has become big over the past several years. I think it has the capability to do more, and to do more good. It will be my sole philanthropy project.

As I begin my year, I encourage you to make resolutions or set goals or define your action steps. Whatever you call them, create purpose and mission for your life. Don't get bogged down by "lose weight", "pay off credit cards", or "give more to charity". While these are all easy-to-say, hard-to-do resolutions, they aren't at the heart of what you want to do. Make resolutions that are at the heart of your being. Be healthy, create goodness, create security, embrace life, or perhaps establish a legacy.

Happy New Year!