Our New Old House

Until recently, I never understood blogs. Or people who blogged. It always struck me as self-indulgent and self-important. Why would anyone want to put their private thoughts out there for the entire Internet to read? Does anyone, even friends and family, really want to read these things? I doubted it. Then a couple of things happened and two blogs in particular changed my mind.

First, I've been keeping tabs on my friend Rachel's little boy, Liam, through her blog. They live more than a thousand miles away and I've watched him learn to crawl, take his first steps, eat cake on his first birthday and discover how to climb in and out of the doggie door. That's pretty cool.

Oddly, the other blog that caught my attention is McCain Blogette, by Meghan McCain (daughter of John). Her inane accounts of life on the campaign trail are actually fascinating and funny. I love that she uses photos to tell stories, lists her favorite songs, posts photos of weird design-y objects that catch her eye, and regularly pokes fun at the campaign staff. I'm not a fan of her father's politics, but she's someone I'd like to have lunch with.

So, now I kinda like blogs. And we finally bought a house. Combine the two and, suddenly, I have all of this stuff I want to tell people. Through a blog. For instance, I am terrible at painting and awesome at scraping wallpaper. Jason is a maniac when he gets inside a Lowes and has very strong feelings about insulation. But, telling just isn't enough. I want people to be able to see what we're doing. Especially my mom. The lady wants every detail! And I can't possibly articulate for her over the phone the difference between the two shades of green I'm debating on for the living room.

Of course, it doesn't end with paint. We've got a massive project ahead of us. We have four notebook pages filled with things we want to do to the house. Jason is talking about stripping the trim with a heat gun, removing plaster walls, and redoing all of the electrical wiring. And that's just on the short list. I thought we'd be in good shape if we replaced the kitchen floor.

We're planning to do the majority of the work ourselves and the only tools we own are a hammer and a screwdriver. Documenting our cluelessness seems like a great idea. Or a really bad one. Regardless, it'll be fun to watch the place evolve.