Back from Kentucky

Well, we just got back Monday from a nice trip to Meredith's parents' for Christmas. It was a nice week...we got to see a lot of Meredith's family, and just had a good time with everyone. We got wonderful gifts from our families, and had fun getting them gifts as well, even though we weren't able to spend as much on gifts this year, having spent a lot of money on gifts for ourselves (or our house).

I suppose I should mention one new item I got. Several months after preordering, I picked up my Xbox 360 at EB Games on Tuesday morning and quickly set it up. I have for the most part been a pretty big slacker when it comes to setting up our AV equipment, but getting in a new toy inspired me. I have 2 games for it right now, which are Call of Duty 2 and Perfect Dark Zero. They're both way fun games...I've spent way too much time on them over the past couple of days. I really like the new controller...I got used to it really quickly. It's kinda funny though...I sold my old Xbox about a month and a half ago in anticipation of getting the Xbox 360 in, and so my fingers are going through some sort of callousing period, as they reacclimate themselves to gameplaying.

We've gotten quite a few rooms close to finality now. Since I have this week off, I've been working hard on the house, and have gotten several projects done. Soon we'll be down to cleaning, which will be a relief.

Well, I guess I'll post some sort of 2005 retrospective here in a couple of days.

Until then...
Steve

EDIT: I thought I'd add my gamercard to this, for all of my Xbox playing friends:

Homeownership! Ugh...I mean yay!

Well, I reported in our last post that we were about to get the keys to our new house...we got 'em! And ever since, our lives have been changed from before. I've had many new experiences...for one, I shoveled the driveway for the first time in my life. Having grown up in Florida and then living in apartments in the snow belt, I'd never raised a snow shovel before. Isn't it exciting? I don't think so.

Well, to chronicle my experience, here are the projects so far:

1) Painted the den, living room, and both bathrooms. It wasn't that bad, but the perfectionist in me still cringes at the imperfections in our painting. I don't think anyone else would ever notice unless looking closely, but it still bugs me.

2) Put up new cabinets in the bathrooms. This was pretty easy.

3) New blinds/shades in the kitchen. Again, not bad.

4) Bought like a zillion things. I love the house, but it has to have lightbulbs, smoke detectors, rugs...tons of stuff.

5) Put together a lot of things. Computer desk and shelves, quilt rack...again, I like getting new things, but if I don't have to use another allen wrench for a long time, it won't hurt my feelings. By the way, if anyone needs one of the allen wrenches that come with furniture, let me know. I have about 10 of them now.

Looking back on my list, it looks pretty small. We've done a lot though...nearly every day I come home and work on something. We're also getting pretty close to starting to put stuff up on the walls...I think once we reach that milestone, it'll feel even more like home.

I used to read Dave Barry's books about moving and home repairs and laugh and laugh...now I see that his commentary was not as funny as I originally thought. Still funny...just in a different way.

Well, that's about it. I have my final exam tomorrow morning...I'm scared to death, but that's nothing new. My hw partner and I have done very well on the homework, but it's open book, which often makes it even harder. Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading!
Steve