Day 3: Lowering the bar

My last Project 365 gradually grew from caption to paragraph to short story. An hour, sometimes two, would fly by each evening while the words poured from my fingertips. Meanwhile, I neglected things, like tidying up, ironing or making my lunch for the next day. I’ve noticed over the past month I’ve been more well rested, too, since I go to bed instead of write (sometimes). What was I thinking starting another Project 365 at the onset of being a homeowner? From what I hear, things are bound to get busier. Apparently, there’s always something to do with a house.

Some might say “Messy bed, messy head.” But Albert Einstein says “If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, does an empty desk sign?” He was the genius, right? I’ll put up with a little clutter just so long as I enjoy life. I love to write and this type of project challenges me to think creatively every day. Besides, there’s that other saying, “You only live once.”

Anyway, there I go rambling again. My goal was to let you know in a sentence or two that I’m going to try to keep majority of this Project 365 short and sweet, essentially lowering any bar set with the last one. Looks like I failed that one already.

On another note, I did manage to successfully accomplish a few things today, two of which were buyer-related. For one, I made a few calls to compare rates on inspections. And two, I finally settled on a mortgage lender. It boggles me to hear people say they didn’t do any comparisons from one lender to the next. After a week of comparing several options, I found fees to be significantly different from one place to the next, including interest rate variations by as much as half percent. Short term, I’m saving a couple hundred in out-of-pocket expenses that I can put toward purchases for my new home. And long term, I’m saving tens of thousands of dollars just by doing a little homework. Anyway, after staring at complicated sheets like these, I’m relieved to have this decision made. It was a close call between Bob Hein with Priority Mortgage and Jonathan Arnold at Arbor Mortgage, but Jonathan’s zeal, patience, commitment to customer satisfaction and ability to get me the best deal won me over.

Only 37 more days and a few more steps ’til I get to move in to my new place! I hope it flies by as fast as my hour of writing does. So much for that headline…