big boy and big girl times

are there definitive milestones that bring you from childhood to adulthood?  i use to think it was marriage, but if you spend any amount of time with me and husband, you'll soon realize, these two are not adults. they are children playing as adults! but husband and i have embarked on a no-turning-back adventure of sorts. we finally agreed to let momma chiang buy a house in arlington (for us - sort of - mostly - for now??).    (oh the emotional tax consequences that will result from this!!!)  (mom put down the down payment and we'll help with the mortgage, but no, we did not buy it ourselves/at all (even though this will cost me what's left of my mental health)...yeah did you see my post about law school debt?)

isn't our soon to be new (temporary) home lovely? very anne of green gables no? on monday, it became official -  now our future home will undergo extensive renovations because the insides need some major love and tlc.  once it's all done, we'll move in until momma chiang moves down to retire and then the carlsons will begin a whole new adventure.

on tuesday, hubs and i signed a contract with a renovations contractor and the design and permitting process begins today! stay tuned for updates and befores and afters. and of course, please make plans to come visit us.  you'll now have a guest room instead of an aerobed in our living room.  as exciting as this is, it's a little sad to think that in a few months' time, husband and i will be packing up our things and moving out of our starter home, where so much laughter and yelling took place - where our marriage was birthed if you will, through traumatic labor and unfathomable joy!  slamming your bedroom door has significantly higher dramatic value when there is only one bedroom door to slam. soon there will be three or four doors to choose from and then, well, you can see how it becomes a little less effective. because once you slam one of the four doors, there are surely three others that will remain open to the hubs. on the upside, can't wait to grow a little older with husband, passing time away on that porch!

p.s. there are some fabulous cabinets, stove/oven, granite and fridge that will be up for grabs so if you know anyone who wants these, please let me know! we can arrange a time for pick up!

p.p.s. may the LJ greatly bless this home for His Church.  of course it's wonderful to have a nice, comfortable home to live in (and oh the gourmet kitchen that i have in mind for all those cakes i will never bake!) but hopefully we will not lose sight of Him and we consecrate this home to Him.  may He use it as He wills.

p.p.p.s. the house is only two blocks from the clarendon metro so now there are no excuses not to come and play with the carlsons!

confucius say wha??

husband and i have been talking, for some time now, about "settling down", going back and forth between buying a house or staying put in our 1 BR condo starter home. momma chiang, first introduced here, has been an active participant in these discussions. i can't and won't go into the details of how this all came about mainly because it's only 9:40 a.m. and i'm pretty sure it's still frowned upon to consume alcohol at this time of day. and i honestly can't talk about it without some liquid courage/ frazzled nerves soother.

last night momma chiang called at 8:12 pm to discuss a house we had recently checked out. i don't want to bore you with the details so i'll just give you the highlights. around minute 42 of our phone call momma chiang asked, "what does the property look like?" no, not the house, the actual land. she said, "I need to know what the land looks like. Is it wide in the front and tapers into a more narrow back, like a reverse triangle? or is it narrow in the front and then widens as you go back?" for all you realtors out there, have you ever gotten such a question? momma offered an explanation. and here, i am going to try my best to give you a word-for-word replay. "you want to know why i ask? i'll tell you. because in chinese culture, and this is true 100% of the time, if you have a wide front yard and then a narrow back yard, that means you can't manage money and all the money you have coming in, there's no depth, so you can't hold on to it. you'll always be poor. but if you have a narrower front yard and a wider back property that means you can amass your wealth." so now i've finally cracked the code on the cause of all our financial woes. it can all be traced back to the fact that we just don't have a wide enough back yard. if only we had lived in a place that had a narrow front yard and a wide back yard, david and i could have avoided all our law school and credit card debt. NOW she tells us. clearly she has been holding out on us, never before telling us of this undeniable truth. did i mention that my mother has a masters in engineering? yes folks, she is intellectually brilliant, so you can see how the logic she just presented was flawless. when it comes down to it, can you even argue with such impenetrable logic [read INSANITY]??

during the course of the conversation, whenever we tried to bring up the fact that we cannot/do not want to be encumbered with a sizable mortgage, momma chiang responded with: "david, gracie, you have to do the math and tighten your belly. you don't have to starve yourselves, but you must tighten your belly." it's things like this that make me smile. it reminds me of the days when momma would take big brother and i sneaker shopping - back in the day when we insisted on reeboks, and she kindly suggested la gear, you know, the french sneakers, not the california ones. =) these are the wonderful joys of growing up in a not entirely english speaking household.

the last golden nugget of our phone call  came after the hubs suggested looking for a cheaper house farther out from the district (my soul life died a little after he uttered those words). my mom quickly said that of course that was an option, but then started listing research and statistics about how long commutes are bad for your health. here's the kicker, again, i'm making an effort to give you a word-for-word replay, "david, i'm ok with this as long as it is a good school district. but long commutes to work are bad for your health. so you have to consider, if gracie is the one who will be carrying a baby during pregnancy, it may be hard for her to have a long commute." can someone explain to me an alternate scenario? ladies and gentlemen, my mother, the (mad) scientist.

i'd like to conclude by saying: asian parents, when they are not being crazy (it's rare, but it happens), can be pretty awesome. they view it as their duty to help their children - even their fully able, productive adult children. (of course in asian culture, i'm not entirely sure you're allowed to have or acknowledge children who aren't successful and productive). so truth be told, the hubs and i are really grateful for momma's offer. she's crazy, but she's a keeper.