15 November 2009

A New Side of My Husband

Now that we're homeowners, I'm seeing a completely new side of my husband.

For the past several years, we've just been living in grad student mode in an apartment, spending most of our time watching movies, going out to eat, going shopping (V's obsessions are watches and shirts), going out with friends, etc. I've always thought of my husband as a "metrosexual," cerebral, intellectual kind of guy--not a do-it-yourselfer at all!

Now that we own our own home, my husband still wants to go shopping. But now, we're going shopping at Home Depot. Instead of ties, shirts, and shoes, we're buying tools, supplies, paint, and bags of concrete. Every time I think we've gotten what we need from the hardware store, there's something else that I didn't think of.

And furniture. We've been living for the past 4 3/4 years with used furniture and various random pieces of art and decor that we've collected. Now we're spending hours out of every day trying to find the perfect contemporary-style furniture, at the best possible price, bargaining down to avoid paying shipping, etc. It's been three weeks and we've managed to buy a dining set and an area rug.

Heating and water--forget it. In our rented apartment, we ran the heat and water as much as we wanted. But now that we're paying for it, V. is all about turning the heat completely off at night and when we're gone, no matter how cold it gets (low 60s!! Acckkkk!). I guess I should have expected this, after all the Marwari jokes he makes.

We've been together for almost 5 years now, and it's only since we've bought our own home that I've seen this side of my husband. I might get impatient with the never-ending jaunts to Home Depot, but I'm also enjoying seeing V. in a completely new light!

All that aside, we're both really enjoying settling into our own home. It's a place that we can grow into. We have room for Mummy to have her own space when she comes to stay; we have room for one or two babies to have their own rooms when the time comes; we have room to entertain or to cuddle up just the two of us. I'd have to say that the day we bought our house was one of the happiest days of my life.

9 comments:

nicki18229 said...

I'm so happy for the both of you, Owning your own home is great! If you have central heat and air you can just set to where you want it,tell V not to monkey with the thermostat to much cause if you have gas heat it cost more to do that, tell him it's cheaper to leave it at one place during the winter and now we keep it at I think 59 or maybe less when it gets cold enough the heat comes on. I have gas heat. Tell him LED lights save too. Home Dept never get boring nor shopping for things for the house and redecorating either. Now that the holidays are coming it will be exciting for you as well to decorate it as well. Best wishes to the both you.g

Ramit Grover said...

Yay you! I'm so so happy for you both. It's an amazing feeling to have your own house, isn't it? You own home.

I really like it that V turns down the heat at night too :-)

It's not a marwari thing D, it's the Indian thing. :P

D. Jain said...

Thanks you guys!

Huh, should have known another Indian man would agree with the keeping the house cold thing! Just kidding...;-) Yeah, it's thanks to V's thriftiness that we saved enough money and got to the point where we could buy such a nice house, so I shouldn't complain. I just hate being cold!

Nickelo, I have big plans for Christmas decorating! This year we could even get a taller tree (7-9 feet maybe?) because the living room has cathedral ceilings! And then I'd need more ornaments for such a big tree, right? Let's see how that goes over with V...

Ramit Grover said...

:-)

nicki18229 said...

WOW love those celings they are great. I'm just so happy for the both of you. Speaking of Christmas I have to start to decorate the outside when I'm off on Tuesday in case it get cold out after thanksgiving I don't have to worry all I will have to do after turkey day is just set the timer on the outside. I might start on the inside to not sure on that one. Do keep us posted. DO check out if them have them in your area are place called The Christmas Tree Shops the name is kind of miss leading the sell other things besides christmas it's whole house store and they have good prices as well.

Ramit hows it going

Wicked Witch of the West said...

Oh, so exciting, having your own home! Just a wonderful feeling to know that it is yours, and that it is actually worth doing things to it. Like a great big new toy to play with :D And so jealous that your husband can do all of that stuff too!

And, thinking that it is a man thing to turn down the heating...I was married to an Australian and he would turn every single thing off in the house even to go out for 1 hour...including tv and microwave at the wall...

Anonymous said...

"I was married to an Australian and he would turn every single thing off in the house even to go out for 1 hour...including tv and microwave at the wall..."

You crazy lady, it is the only sane thing to do when you go out: turn off the television, the air conditioner and what not.

Of course, you never paid for it; he did. And divorced? LoL!

D. Jain said...

I think what WWW meant by turning things off at the wall was not just turning the power off, but also unplugging them or turning off the power strip. Actually, you'd be surprised how much electricity a computer charger or cell phone charger can suck even if you're not charging anything! The same goes for TVs or VCRs, even if they are turned off but still plugged in.

I'm getting used to being a bit chilly at home...and when we're sleeping I don't even notice. So, I'm learning!

Jaclyn Harr said...

We use portable heaters in our house, 'cause heating a three-story townhouse with just two people living it seems rather excessive.