Mom's Visit

This week my mom visited mainland USA for the first time since... 2004?  She's been resisting a visit for a long time, claiming she doesn't want to fly.  It's understandable, but she hasn't seen Jason or Nathan, or their families, since her last visit.  She has two grandkids she's never met.  Jason and Nathan won't travel, so I often ask mom to visit.  This time, she finally agreed to, but only if it was during Golden Week.  Well, her Golden Week happen to start only a few days after I moved into my new place, on April 28th.  After the movers came, I only had a few days to get things tidied up around the house before she arrived.  Even then quite a few things were in boxes, and I had to spend the first couple days of her visit running errands to get things ready for the rest of my family, who was coming in a few days.

Once Jason and Nathan's families arrived, things were a little less stressful because we actually started doing some fun things.  First day was a bit of a disaster though, with an attempt to go to the zoo and DC an utter failure with our inability to find parking for either (we also sat in traffic on top of all that).  We ended up coming back West, end headed to Reston Zoo for a bit.  Reston Zoo is a privately owned petting zoo.  It's much smaller than the DC zoo and is more expensive ($13 per adult), but it is also more interactive.  You can touch and feed the animals, and there are some unusual species you don't see at your typical zoo.  We were there only an hour and a half, but everyone seemed to have a really good time.

The next day no one wanted to go far so we visited the Udvar-Hazy Center, which is pretty close to my new home.  That was also a fun day out without being a long day.  The last day was spent in DC.  This time I looked up the location of a pay garage near downtown and we parked there, so travel went a lot more smoothly this time.  We walked around the Tidal Basin to the WWII Memorial, and then to American History museum and Natural History museum.  It was a gorgeous day to be out seeing the memorials so we had a good time walking around.  The museums were quite over crowded though, and I didn't really enjoy walking around it.  I kinda wish that they would start charging admission to keep out people who are there just because it's free so people who are really interested can enjoy their experience.  (Plus, it would help with the national deficit/debt.)

Overall, I think my mom had a good time.  I feel bad about the first few days since I was on edge trying to get things ready for everyone's visit and didn't have time to do anything fun with her.  After everyone else showed up though, she seemed really happy to see her grandkids, especially the younger ones she's not seen before.  She seemed quite smitten with Nikko, the youngest and only boy.

This morning I took her to the airport for her return flight home.  It was a bit sad once Mom left, but in a way having the place to myself again was a relief.  I was left with a huge mess to clean up around the house so that's what I did all day.  Poor Millie hasn't been getting very good walks lately since I have been so busy.  Since I will have more visitors next week (Dad and cousin), it will be a while longer before I can truly relax.  I think next time, we will all meet at one of my brothers' house, or on a vacation somewhere.

 

House #2

Last Thursday I finally moved into my new home in Ashburn after 2 months in a hotel.  After getting outbid twice on other places, this townhome wasn't my first choice, but I'm glad I ended up with this place and not the others.  It's 3BR/4BA - 2 masters on the 3rd floor, 1 bedroom and living space on second, and kitchen and sitting area on first.  The main downside is that the house was cheaply built (as most are these days), and furnished with cheap things (e.g. appliances, etc.).  The previous owners also were a bit dirty, so I even after getting maid service for initial cleaning, I am still finding things to clean.  What I really like most about the place though is that there is a pond right behind the house.  I call it my "water" view.   I wanted a water view in Alaska, and I didn't get it there, but now I have one here.  Not exactly the same, but it will do.  

So far I am still in unpack mode and the house also needs to be painted on the inside.  This past week I had a bit of a break with family in town (it was quite stressful trying to get the place presentable enough for their visit), and today I spend the day cleaning up all the mess they left behind.  I'm starting to remember how much effort it takes to own your home (if you want it to be nice), but I think I will be happy once things are settled.  I didn't like being at the mercy of my landlord when I was living in Alaska.  I swore after I bought the last house I'd never buy again, but I think I'm a changed person.  I'm starting to want a nice place to call home.  It doesn't mean the travel bug and wandering soul has left me, but ideally I would have a place I could always return to.  With current interest rates and housing market on the mend, I thought if I was going to buy a place I should do it now.  

The downside of all of this is that I am now half a million dollars in debt between this new house and the mortgage on the other house (now an investment property).  It sounds pretty crazy when you say it like that. The other house is now on 15 year mortgage though, so I should have at least one house paid off by retirement... or so I hope.  Although it seems like a good time to buy, it's also a scary time to buy with all that's going on with government sequestration.  There are huge cut backs going on all across the federal government.  There's yet again a proposal to slash the job I was just hired to do.  I will stay optimistic though, and assume that I am going to stay at this job and in this house for a while.

This bunny keeps visiting to feed on the grass in my yard.