Long Time No Me!

Some ketchup:

1. Talked to architect & contractor, no decision yet
   
2. Signed lease on rental house, moving before May 1
3. Elissa and David Lee are healthy and happy
4. Financial relief courtesy of IRS
   

We talked to both an architect and a contractor to try and solidify our decision on whether to een use an independent architect. The answer: We don't know yet.

The basic decision boils back to the notion of the friendly animosity the architect would have with the contractor. Long story short, the architect will have a strong impression on what the eventual product should look like, and will work for us to make sure it happens. Not to say a contractor wouldn't, but there aren't a lot of contractors out there with experience building modern houses. That said, any of the contractors we contacted would monopolize the design/build decisions, and we'd run the risk of advocating for ourselves to get our final product completed to our expectations. We still have some time, because we can't really afford to pay anyone until the current house sells.

Number two. We signed a lease on an expensive, but awesome, rental. It's close to $1800/month, but we won't have to rent separate storage ($300/mo). I'm happy. It's less than 2 blocks from Green Lake, and they love dogs. We are in like Fred Gwynne with the landlords, and our deposit is already paid. Our 'move-in' date is April 15, but we're going to take our sweet time moving while the home-stretch renovations are getting done.

Number three. We went for another doctor's appointment yesterday and everything is honky donkey. The baby's heartbeat is like a chainsaw, and Eazy's doctor relieved a lot of my concerns with a potential genetic concern (Down's syndrome doesn't pass genetically, except in the rarest of cases). It'll be after my brother Charlie's wedding until we have an appointment that moves expectations beyond the "everything's OK" mode, but the lack of news is good news unto itself.

Number four. Good news and bad news.

Bad news: Out of almost $50k (fifty thousand dollars, whaaat?!?) in mortgage interest & taxes in 2006. Of that huge number, only $2200 went toward the principal of the loan. The rest was pissed into the bank's pot. Can you believe that?

Good news: Uncle Sam pretends like that $50k is money I never made, so I get back the tax money withheld from my paycheck. Unless they figure out I counted a deduction twice or something, I have $10k coming back to me in cold, dirty cash.

Not good news: The lack of the interest payments for the balance of 2007 will make all the money I make taxable. I'll need to remember to funk with my payroll department to withhold enough so I won't get a rude awakening next April.

That's it. Upcoming events are largely uneventful. We'll be moved by the end of the month and there will be more little kid stuff to report. 5 g's.