Grad School: You're an English Major!

Congratulations! You've been accepted to an English Masters program. 

Have you done your research? That's a loaded question. Let me break it down for you. 

• What do you know about the program overall? (program requirements, required courses/what will transfer)
• Can you specialize in what you like?
• What do the professors specialize in? For real, this is a big one even though it might not seem like it. Think about the future. Who might you want to do an independent study with, and who might you want to have on your Thesis committee. Who can you learn from, and who can challenge you?
• What courses did they offer (at least) in the last two semesters? This can give you a good idea as to how they rotate courses/professors. 
• Do they offer dorms or housing assistance?
• What about Graduate Assistant programs?
• How involved do you want to be with campus activities/Greek life/clubs, etc.?

General Tips Before You Start:

• Find a planner/agenda you like AND WILL USE. Spare no expense. Seriously. Because if you don't want to use a planner/calendar/agenda, your life will be overwhelming and disorganized. Make sure you look at it AT LEAST once a week so you aren't surprised with due dates. 
• Once you register for courses, set aside time at least every other day to work on school work only, without any distractions. 
• SCHEDULE "ME" TIME. No homework, no distractions, no interruptions. Who cares if it is just an hour-long bubble bath, watching a movie with a glass of wine, going for a walk, whatever. It gives you something non-school related and can act as a reward, and will also keep you sane. 
• Start reading your books as soon as you get them. I normally start based on publication dates, from past to present if I don't know the reading schedule. Even if they don't start with that book, it saves your time later on.
• When you read, take notes. Whether it is in Google Docs, on post-it notes, in the book itself, whatever. It will help you. Use a funky color to help your notes stand out from the text. 
• Figure out where you work best. Home? School? Music? Silence? Make your workspace your own. I generally work best at school, but at home I've made my own little corner at the dinette dedicated to everything I might need for class that week. Every Sunday I make sure my weekly books are there, my computer is charged, the charger is near the outlet, and any pertinent notes are there as well.  If I'm at school, I just try and find a quiet area or empty room. Also, if you like listening to music but get distracted: try listening to film scores - they apparently help improve concentration. 
• Bookmark OWL Purdue on your computer.

Once You Get Your Syllabi:

• Add everything to your planner - both daily and monthly. And wherever/however else it will help you. Set your own deadlines for breaking up long papers. 
• Add your professor's contact information to your planner with their office hours. Email them about meeting face-to-face at least twice during the semester, and follow through with it. 

What Helps Me During the Semester:

• Read your papers out loud as a way to edit. And if you don't feel like you can drop the mic at the end of your conclusion, it isn't strong enough. 

• Underline passive voice when you edit, and you can easily identify when it happens and if it is acceptable in that context. 
• MEET WITH YOUR PROFESSORS. Get to know their expectations, let them read drafts, and email them if you have a question or comment. If they see you making an effort to communicate, usually they will be more willing to work with you if something ever were to happen.

• Take it day by day. It isn't CRAZY overwhelming unless you make it that way.
• Do you need a smile? Go on Pinterest or Google and search "English Major Armadillo"
• Know that they wouldn't have accepted you if they didn't think you can do it. YOU CAN DO IT. Make a support system and make time to build a valuable relationship with your advisor. 
• Use Zotero as a reference point and online partially annotated bibliography if I am doing research at multiple locations.

What It's REALLY Like:

Well, each program and school will be different. And it will be a lot. I'll copy-paste some of my reading lists & work for 3 courses for your reading pleasure. Also know that these come from my graduate courses at the College of Charleston. Keep in mind too, that most graduate level programs are not 12 credit hours/semester. 3 classes are considered full-time because of the work load. So pretend that you have to do all three of these courses at once, and you'll get a good idea as to what it is like. 

EN 529: American Fiction After 1945

Books:

• Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
• Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985)
• Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (1990)
• Norman Mailer, The Executioner’s Song (1979)
• Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (1977)
• Louise Erdrich, Tracks (1988)
• Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres (1991)
• Art Spiegelman, Maus I and II (1986; 1991)
• Alison Bechdel, Fun Home (2006)
• David Foster Wallace, “The Suffering Channel” from the collection Oblivion (2004)
• Jess Walter, The Zero (2006)
• Selected essays by Tom Wolfe and Joan Didion (1973; 1979)—available on the class website

Work:

Critical Reception Paper (25%):  

Early in the semester, you will choose (or be assigned) one of the fictional works on the syllabus.  Your first paper will analyze the critical reception of this work.  You will be required to present your research findings to the class as well.  The written portion of this assignment counts for 20% of the final course grade.  The presentation counts for 5%.

Proposal Presentation (5%):

In week 11 of the course, you will present to the class a proposal for a final research paper.

Readers' Reports (10%):

An 8-10 page draft of your final research paper will be due in the 13th week of class.  Each draft will be read by two classmates who will prepare detailed readers’ reports that make suggestions for revision. Each student in the class will be responsible for serving as readers  on two other students’ drafts.

Research Paper (50%):

The final version of the research paper should be 15-20 pages long and use MLA citation format.  It will be due at the end of the semester.

Class Blog (10%):

In addition to the two major written assignments (the critical reception paper and the research paper), I will ask you to respond to the class blog 8 times throughout the semester.   For every day that we have assigned readings in the course, I will provide a prompt to get you started thinking.  You may respond to the prompt if you like, but you may also respond to other students’ comments, or to anything else that interests you in the assigned material for the day.  Blog posts must be at least 200 words to receive full credit for the day, and they must be posted before class discussion for the day.  Blog posts will not receive letter grades, but you will receive credit for the number of comments you post, with 8 posts equaling 100%.

EN 525: Eighteenth Century Novel:

Books:

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (Penguin) Aphra Behn, Oroonoko (Norton)
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (Oxford UP) 
Henry Fielding “Shamela” (OAKS)
Henry Fielding, Tom Jones (Oxford UP)
Miscellaneous primary texts and scholarly articles & book chapters (OAKS) 
Samuel Richardson, Pamela (Penguin)
Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (Bedford)
Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (Hackett) 
Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto (Oxford UP)

Work:

Exams: There will be a midterm and a final exam.
Papers: You are required to do three short papers: a two-page response paper, a three-to-four-page summary of a scholarly article, and a four-to-five-page paper on a topic that pertains to any of our primary texts. You are also required to do a research paper (around 15 pages).

EN 504: Time, Narrative, and the English Renaissance Lyric:
Here, I'll copy-paste the course work and the reading schedule just because the poetry books were anthologies and much shorter works.
Work:

Participation
Class time will be split between presentations, lecture, and discussion, with discussion taking top priority and the other elements serving primarily to enrich it. Discussion provides you the crucial opportunity to share your ideas, to test and develop them in dialogue, and to actively think through the course texts. Participation simply means seizing that opportunity. It isn’t a matter of speaking more than or even as much as others. It’s a matter of carefully and thoughtfully completing the assigned reading and coming to class with questions to ask and ideas to share. Our course will only be as good as the curiosity and enthusiasm we bring to it, so do your part -- that is, participate.
Presentation
On the first day of class you will select a scholarly monograph to read and review in a 20-30 minute formal presentation. The goal of these presentations is to provide you with two experiences that are essential to English studies, namely, working through a complete monograph and presenting in a conference-like setting. The presentations will have the added benefit, collectively, of providing us all with a grounding in the secondary or critical literature on our topic: time, historiography, and Renaissance literature. We will discuss this assignment in detail in our first class meeting, and a handout will be provided. Dates for individual presentations are listed, by book, on the course calendar below.
Proposal
Before class on 3/14 you will submit a 6-8 pp. formal proposal for your final paper. It will feature a brief introduction to your topic, a statement of the viability and value of your proposed research on that topic, and, most substantially, a narrative review of the relevant secondary or critical literature. The proposal will thus give you a head start on the all- important work of formulating your argument in a critical context in anticipation of the final paper. As with the presentation, we will discuss this assignment in detail in class (on 2/14), and a handout and model will be provided.
Final Paper
Before class on 4/18 you will submit a 10-15 pp. research paper advancing an original and persuasive analytical argument on a topic of your choice pertaining to the Renaissance lyric. Again, detailed discussion, handout, and model are to come -- as well as, I hope, many fruitful discussions over email and in office hours.
Final Exam
A take-home exam will be posted on OAKS on 4/18 and due shortly thereafter.

Course Calendar
A = The New Oxford Book of Sixteenth-Century VerseB = Seventeenth-Century British PoetryOAKS = readings posted to the content section of our OAKS site

JANUARY 10
Introduction

JANUARY 17
Petrarch and the Romans
Horace, Odes 1.4, 1.23, OAKS; Catullus 5, OAKS; Ausonius, “De rosis nascentibus,” OAKS;Ovid, selections from the Metamorphoses and Ars Amatoria, OAKS; Propertius 2.15, OAKS;Petrarch, Rime sparse 1, 7, 16, 34, 100, 125-26, 134, 142, 188, 191-92, 211, 264, 269, 284, 298, 319, 336, 355, 365; “Letter to Posterity”; “The Ascent of Mount Ventoux,” OAKS.
Presentations: Peter Burke, The Renaissance Sense of the Past (1969)
Erwin Panofsky, Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (1969)

JANUARY 24
Early Tudor Poetry
Sir Thomas Wyatt, “Whoso list to hunt,” A.76; “Farewell, Love,” A.76; “They flee from me,”A.80; “Quondam was I,” A.82-83; “Who list his wealth and ease retain,” A.83-4; “In mourning wise,” A.84-85; “Lucks, my fair falcon,” A.87; “Mine own John Poyntz,” A.89-92;Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, “The soote season,” A.102-3; “Alas, so all things now do hold their peace,” A.103-4; “So cruel prison,” A.109-11; “Th’Assyrians’ king,” A.112; selections from Tottel’s Miscellany, OAKS.
Presentation: Frederick Turner, Shakespeare and the Nature of Time (1971)

JANUARY 31
Elizabethan Poetry I
Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, “The lively lark stretched forth her wing,” A.157; Queen Elizabeth I, “The doubt of future foes,” A.183-84; Isabella Whitney, selection from “The Will and Testament,” A.192-96; Sir Philip Sidney, selections from Astrophil and Stella,A.303-320; Christopher Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to his Love,” A.483; Sir Walter Ralegh, “If all the world and love were young,” A.368-69; “Sir Walter Ralegh to his son,”A.369; “The Lie,” A.371-73; “What is our life?” A.390.

Presentation: Ricardo Quinones, The Renaissance Discovery of Time (1972)

FEBRUARY 7Elizabethan Poetry II
Edmund Spenser, selections from The Shepheardes Calendar and Amoretti, OAKS; Samuel Daniel, selections from Delia, A.508-11; Michael Drayton, selections from Idea, A.540-41.
Presentation: Gary F. Waller, The Strong Necessity of Time (1976)

FEBRUARY 14: INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH PROJECTShakespeare
William Shakespeare, selections from Sonnets, A.581-600 and OAKS.
Presentation: Wylie Sypher, The Ethic of Time (1976)

FEBRUARY 21Donne I
John Donne, “The Good-Morrow,” B.23; “The Sun Rising,” B.25-26; “The Canonization,”B.26-27; “Air and Angels,” B.28; “A Valediction: Of Weeping,” B.31-32; “A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy’s Day,” B.33-35; “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” B.36-37; ”The Blossom,B.40-41; “The Relic,” B.41-42; “A Lecture upon the Shadow,” B.44-45; selection from “First Anniversary,” B.63-69.
Presentation: Achsah Guibbory, The Map of Time (1986)

FEBRUARY 28Donne II
John Donne, “Satire III,” B.53-55; Holy Sonnets, B.69-75; “Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward,” B.75-76.
Presentation: Margarita Stocker, Apocalyptic Marvell (1986)

MARCH 7
Jonson, Lanyer, and Wroth
Ben Jonson, “On My First Daughter,” B.85; “On My First Son,” B.85-86; “Inviting a Friend to Supper,” B.89; “To Penshurst,” B.97-100; “To Sir Robert Wroth,” B.100-102; “Song: To Celia,” B.104-5; “Song: To Celia,” B.107; “The Hourglass,” B.132; “My Picture Left in

Scotland,” B.132-33; “An Epistle Answering to One That Asked to Be Sealed to the Tribe of Ben,” B.137-39; “To the Immortal Memory and Friendship of That Noble Pair, Sir Lucius Cary and Sir H. Morison,” B.140-43; Aemelia Lanyer, “The Description of Cookham,”B.14-19; Lady Mary Wroth, Pamphilia to Amphilanthus, 7 (Song), 24, 26, 99, & 103,B.169-76.
Presentation: Richard Helgerson, Self-Crowned Laureates (1983)

MARCH 14: RESEARCH PROPOSALS DUE
Critical Writing Seminar
Alison Chapman, “The Politics of Time in Edmund Spenser’s English Calendar,” OAKS Presentation: Leah Marcus, The Politics of Mirth (1986)

MARCH 21: SPRING BREAK

 MARCH 28Herbert and Vaughan
George Herbert, “Redemption,” B.237; “Easter [I],” B.238; “Easter [II],” B.239; “Easter- wings [I],” B.239; “Easter-wings [II],” B.240; “Affliction [I],” B.241-43; “Jordan [I],” B.247; “Church-monuments,” B.251; “Sunday,” B.253-54; ”Virtue,” B.258-59; “Life,” B.262-63; ”Jordan [II],” B.264; “The Collar,” B.276-77; “The Forerunners,” B.284; “The Church Militant,” OAKS; Henry Vaughan, “Vanity of Spirit,” B.594-95; [“They are all gone into the world of light!”] B.604-5.
Presentation: Angus Fletcher, Time, Space, and Motion in the Age of Shakespeare (2009)

APRIL 4
Herrick
Robert Herrick, “The Argument of His Book,” B.181; “When He Would Have His Verses Read,” B.181-82; “Delight in Disorder,” B.185; “The Definition of Beauty,” B.186; “To Anthea Lying in Bed,” B.186; “The Hourglass,” B.187; “His Farewell to Sack,” B.187-88; “Corinna’s Going A-Maying,” B.189-91; “The Welcome to Sack,” B.192-94; “To Live Merrily, and to Trust to Good Verses,” B.194; “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,”B.195-96; “The Hock-Cart,” B.197-98; “To Daffodils,” B.205; “Upon Master Ben Jonson,”B.205-6; “To Blossoms,” B.207; “The Night-Piece, To Julia,” B.209; “Upon Julia’s Clothes,”B.214; “The Amber Bead,” B.215; Thomas Carew, “The Spring,” B.295; “Song: Persuasions to Enjoy,” B.297-98; Richard Lovelace, “Love Made in the First Age. To Chloris,” B.503-4.
Presentation: David H. Wood, Time, Narrative, and Emotion in Early Modern England (2016)

APRIL 11
Milton
John Milton, “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” B.379-86; “On Time,” B.387; “L’Allegro” and “Il Penseroso,” B.388-96; “Sonnet 7,” B.396; “Lycidas,” B.398-403; “Sonnet 19,”B.406; “Sonnet 23,” B.407-08.
Presentation: J. K. Barret, Untold Futures (2016)

APRIL 18: FINAL PAPER DUERestoration, Conclusion
Sir John Denham, “Cooper’s Hill,” B.479-87; Edmund Waller, “To the King, on His Navy,”B.361; Andrew Marvell, “Bermudas,” B.538-39; “To His Coy Mistress,” B.543-44; “An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland,” B.556-59; “Upon Appleton House,”B.559-81; John Dryden, Astrea Redux, B.643-50; Katherine Philips, “Upon the Double Murder of K. Charles I,” B.655; “Arion on a Dolphin,” B.656-57; “On the Third of September, 1651,” B.657-58.
Presentation: Tina Skouen, The Value of Time in Early Modern English Literature (2017)

Are we never allowed to have free time? You can do it!!! Believe in yourself. 

Packing, Downsizing, and Moving Efficiently

We've been downsizing our four bedroom home for about 9 months now, and boy has it been a process! We've learned what works best for us, and how to get stuff done.  Hopefully this post helps you with any questions about the process, what it's like, and how to decide what goes and what stays.  If I don't cover what you want to know, comment below or shoot me an email! 

GETTING RID OF THINGS:

STEP 1:  Garage Sale
We started by going through the house, and getting whatever we wanted to get rid of, and putting it in the garage.  Then, we applied for a garage sale permit, which cost a whopping $5 (check with your town or village clerk to see if this is necessary, it varies! And sometimes there are free weekends where you don't need to pay a fee!). 

We ended up having two garage sales.  We paid for a weekend, and our village had a free garage sale weekend a month after where we were able to sell what was left over from the first garage sale.  We advertised for the first one by making flyers with our address, the time of the sale, and some of the major ticket items we were getting rid of.  We also had two pretty darn cute kids showing off some of the merchandise! The second sale was advertised in the Pennysaver because it was Village-wide and listed every house that was participating, so we didn't do anything for that.  We had some fun during the sales and were happy to begin our "letting go" journey.  We weren't sure if we were going the apartment route or Travel Trailer/Motorhome route, but we knew we had to downsize. 

STEP 2: Sort It Out! 

If you have more than a few months before your move, this will be ongoing.  Letting go of things can be emotional.  It can also be liberating. 

Clothes: Before you begin the sorting process, know what you can realistically be able to bring with you or how much you want to get rid of.  Set a goal for yourself.  For me, it was to go through my dressers & closet every week and to get rid of at least one item that I didn't wear or use.  Some weeks, I would only put in a shirt or a pair of shorts in the donate bag.  Other weeks, I would fill an entire garbage bag.  Small progress is still progress! 

Every time you do a load of laundry, dump it on the bed/floor/folding table.  Decide what you want to keep and what you can donate or throw out. Then worry about folding what you are keeping.  Don't bother holding on to socks with holes unless you actually do use them consistently.  Don't bother keeping those clothes with holes, stains that won't come out, etc. unless you actually will continue to wear them.  

All other items: It's kind of hard to dump kitchen items all over the place and everything in the bathroom closets on a bed, especially if it can leak.  So let's make a plan.  Let's clear off that kitchen table.  Go through one room of your house.  Put anything you find that you can donate on the table, and anything you can throw out in a garbage bag.  If you find anything that you can give to a friend or family member, text or call them as soon as you are done cleaning out that room! Don't procrastinate - it will just sit around.  Congratulations! You've accomplished a MAJOR thing! Reward yourself with a cup of tea or a relaxing bath.  NOT by buying something for yourself (unless it's something you need or a pedi/mani type deal).  Now let's do the same thing next week in another room.  Or, if you don't have time, do as much as you can until you have to stop.  Repeat until you are downsized to where you want to be.  

STEP 3: Get rid of it! 

- Make a run to donate the things you've collected.  Be sure to get a receipt - you can include that when you do your tax returns if you want! If you have items that are too heavy to move or you don't have a truck to get rid of something big, like a bed frame, check out the Salvation Army! They have a truck that comes to pick up your donations.  Just check out their website before you set aside items for them, as they have limitations to what they can take.  We've also donated to Goodwill and Savers.  

- Give any items to friends and/or family! 

- Make sure to remember to get your garbage out to the curb (or in the dumpster/down the chute/whatever your situation is).  Out of sight, out of mind! 

***For things you really have to keep but don't have room for, consider renting out a storage unit.  They come in many different sizes and can be climate controlled if needed.  I STRONGLY recommend stopping by a few different places to see for yourself what the units look like and bring along a measuring tape.  I made the mistake of renting a unit that is advertised as 5x5 and reassured by the workers without measuring.  I knew the space looked small, but hey, I'm not in the storage unit business.  But my piano that is 4 feet 8 inches doesn't fit flush against a wall.  It has to be diagonal in the unit, decreasing the amount of space we have to put boxes in with it.  PLEASE don't make this mistake if you have something sizable.  

PACKING & CLEANING:

Supplies:

Boxes

Duct Tape

Markers

Newspaper/bubble wrap

Garbage bags

Optional: Glass of wine, music

Tips that helped us:

- Set up two boxes at a time, so as you go through your things you can put fragile things in one, and everything else in the other.  

- As you go finish a cupboard in the kitchen or bathroom, vacuum & wipe it out! This will save you time later on. 

- Contacts holders make great places to keep two pairs of earrings! 

- Label the side of the box with where it is supposed to end up, like "Kitchen" or "Bathroom" or "RV" or "Storage" and on the top, list what is inside.  If the box contains fragile items, write that on the side as well, so people helping you know not to put anything on top of the box or to be careless handling it.  

- Put clothes in bags if you can! You can even keep them on the hangers.  Use it like a garment bag!  You can also put any sheets/other bedding in bags as well.  Just make sure that the bags are a different color from the garbage bags! 

- If you can, try and move things to the new place before the official "move in" date. It doesn't hurt to ask! I was able to do this when I bought the house (everything just stayed in the garage until the move in date), and we are doing it now with the motorhome.  Anything that doesn't have to be climate controlled, we are moving.  

- Think positive.  Your mindset is half the battle. 

I'm sure I've forgotten some things, but I hope this helped even just a little bit.  We're hoping to be out of the house unofficially in about a week.  We're still not sure when the closing date is, so that's TBD. Fingers crossed that things can work out! 

Thanks for reading! Let me know of any good packing ideas that you have - we still have a little more to go! Also any good organization ideas for an RV? I've been scanning Pinterest.... Decisions!  

Homeownership: From Great to Really Ugly

Howdy! What a day.  First day back to school after mid-semester break! ALREADY. Where has the time gone?? 

ANYWAY. 

I wanted to talk about the great things about being a home owner, and some of the bad things, that no one really talks about specifically.I've always heard, "It's a lot of work."  Sure, yeah, I know.  TRUST ME.  I know. 

Today after running some errands, hubby & I found that the sump pump wasn't working, and we have about 2 or more inches of water in the pump room downstairs, and it's starting to come out into the main basement area.  I'm sitting here waiting for the emergency plumber to come bail us out {shoutout to McAllister's Plumbing: THE BEST people in town, coming out here after business hours and the MOST reasonable.}

The joys of homeownership.  There are many pros and cons, and for me, obviously the pros outweigh the cons. {Hey, we own a home!}

Things people don't tell you, and instead replace it by "It's a lot of work":

- ALWAYS. ALWAYS. ALWAYS. Have an emergency house fund.  You never know what will happen! Is your tub going to get clogged, is your sump pump not going to work? Do you need a patch in the roof? Did you accidentally break a window? You never know!

- Don't sweat the cosmetic stuff! A solid house will always win out over having a pretty interior.  I want my home to be safe, accessible, and in good working order.  Not a death trap that looks pretty. 

- Take care of the big issues ASAP.  (New roof, foundation, heating, damaged windows, etc.)  The longer you put them off, the more dangerous the house is, and the more expensive it will become on the market.  GET LOTS OF OPINIONS!!! DO NOT JUST GO WITH THE COMPANY THAT LOOKS GOOD AND SOUNDS GOOD!!! Do your research. Look at Angie's List.  Get recommendations from other friends and family.

- Seriously. You have to get out of bed and cut the grass at least once a month.  Go do it. Otherwise people will start to ask if they can come hunt in your yard.  Not that this has happened, Alex and I just joke about this happening.

- Know that all repairs do not always happen overnight.  Have patience.

- Think of the small nuisance things.  Like if your home gets invaded by flies or bees, and you need to get rid of them.  Or remembering to shampoo your carpets every once in a while so they don't look terrible. Power washing the house.  

- For all the bad, always remember the GOOD, the reason why you bought the house to begin with.  My reasons just off the top of my head?

 > One of the few school districts left in the area that really focus on personal growth and responsibility of the student (in my opinion)

> Great, SAFE location; not on a main road and NOT IN THE CITY. Don't get me wrong, nearly every city is great to visit (especially NYC!!!) and I always enjoy myself when I'm there, I just know that it's not for me 24/7, 365.  

> In the village, walking distance to nearly everything except the produce stands at the local farms.  It's an old railroad town, and we can appreciate it as such.  A strong history, even with it's own Civil War officers building some of the victorian homes around the village!

> Great neighbors!

> The small things: the octagon window in our front hall.  The "closet" we use next to our bedroom.  The heat lamp in the upstairs bathroom.  Heck, the entire upstairs bathroom.  First floor en suite with walk in closet for guests.  Big windows.  Great yard with a safe backyard that bumps up to the school's soccer & baseball fields. 4 bedrooms.  The ability to customize the interior.  The way we have this great little piano area. The original hardwood floors from the turn of the century. The way we can have 4 cooks in the kitchen doing different things and not run into each other constantly. I could go on! I'm sure you get the picture. 

> I'm not paying rent. (What I see as just putting money in the landlord's pocket and the bare minimum of garbage disposal and lawn maintenance, but heck, I had a balcony.  I didn't have a lawn! :P )

REMEMBER, it's important to LOVE your home!!

REMEMBER, no matter how big or small a repair might be, it is one less thing you have to worry about fixing within the next five to ten years. 

What was some of the best homeowner advice you've ever received?? 

xoxoxo