Home Ownership is Hard

Since Amy bought a house and we moved in, uh, 4 days ago, I've learned a lot. There's no landlord. Suddenly the city, the neighbors, and God see us as responsible for a lot of things. Like, shoveling snow. Theoretically, the city comes through and plows the street (this actually happens in my new neighborhood...not so much in the old one.) But the driveway and sidewalk? All me. Or Amy. So when the weatherman said we were going to get a foot of snow (a baby foot, but I guess some feet are that small...), Amy took me to Home Depot and made me pick out a shovel. I played with them all, found one I liked (it's pretty and green and not too expensive so hopefully will break before I have to shovel too much), and we bought it. Then we waited and waited for the snow. It never really showed up, so I didn't have to use the shovel, but some day, we will have to shovel not only our driveway but also the sidewalk in front of our house. I'll let you know and expect you to all come walk down it to appreciate it.

Home repairs are also our responsiblity now. The phone hasn't been switched over yet. It'll ring every once in a while and when I answer it here's how it goes:

Me: Hello?
Them: Is Jim there?
Me: No, you have the wrong number.
Them: Is this 555-1234?*
Me: Um, I'm not really sure. I just moved here and I'm not sure what the number is.
Them: silence....Is this the Smiths?**
Me: Oh, no, they used to live here but they moved. Do you want me to take a message and I'll give it to them when they call later?

*not the real number
**not their real name

So I take a message, and Jim calls later that night for his messages. We've all called Verizon 100 million times. They finally said they'd come by to fix it. We made an appointment Wednesday (today) between noon and 4:30. I told them it had to be before 4:30 because I had a doctors appointment. They agreed. They called last night to confirm. This morning I was getting ready for school and the doorbell rang. I was hoping that maybe it was one of the neighbors who saw my car was started and decided to stop by with some Krispy Kreme. It was Verizon. at 8 am. NOT BETWEEN NOON AND 4:30!