The next step

First of all, I am panicked at having to learn how to adult. Yes it is also a verb. My daughter told her then fiancée that I am a 16 year old in a 70 year old body. About right.

I have, ever since I was forced into this world, been told where to go, what to do, what I was going to eat, when to go to bed, all the stuff a good parent tells his kids. Only rarely did I have to decide my schedule and meals, but someone always came home and got me back on her schedule. I will miss that.

Well, the Kimsey family seems to have accepted my bid for a house in a very depressed part of Sherman, Texas. The son sort of worked on it for a few years and kinda screwed up a bunch of stuff. He probably thought that no one would notice the shitty tape and bed job in the living room if he put enough texture over it. Nope, I saw it as I walked into the room. The mud job on the walls in the master bedroom is also extremely amateurish. Way too many bubbles in the skip trowel pattern.

They set 8x8 tiles OVER 8x8 tiles in the kitchen. 'Nuf said. The backsplash in the kitchen is black tile with black outlets and black outlet covers. See? No you can't. The countertops are dirt ugly. The choices in paint colors are a little hillbilly weird. No insulation to speak of in the attic. Outside will need new paint soon, maybe next year. The air conditioner is small. There are multiple splices in the wires from the thermostat to the furnace. The thermostat itself is one of those old mercury and bimetal spring models made by Honeywell.

They left a plastic storage locker in the back yard. The garage is filled with the hoarding of the guy next door, who just happens to be the father of the guy selling the house. The next door side yard is filled with old building debris from years of collecting trash. Harvey had quadruple bypass surgery several years ago and doesn't get around so well. His wife Linda has macular degeneration. Neither of them move too fast. I have no idea how they are going to get all that stuff out by the closing date. Or where they are going to put it all. It is a 20x20 garage.

Oh, and there is no tile on the floor in the master half-bath. Or mirror.

I have been agonizing over appliances. There is neither a range or a refrigerator in the kitchen. I will probably move the refrigerator from this house, but I have been shopping for a new range. Tom at our Home Depot helped me talk it through. I do not need all the bells and whistles of a $1600 range. I will probably get the white on white GE unit with a smooth glass top. About 600 after delivery and cord added. I will fight for my military discount, however.

There is a back yard for the dogs to poop and pee. Got some work to do there as well. Last folks have a short chain link fence and a sand-over-tarp pool underlayment. Fence goes, tarp and sand go, will seed and fertilize until grass takes hold.

Got a lot of shit to do.

And no one to tell me what's next.