Decisions, Decisions

We make so many decisions each day. Some of them are so small such as what clothes we'll wear or what we'll eat for breakfast. Others are far more significant, and many fall somewhere in between. Earlier this year we decided not to extend my time share for another 25 years. Time will tell if we end up thinking that was a wise choice or not. We know that we will need to replace our roof at some point in the not so distant future because most of our neighbors have already replaced theirs, and our homes were built around the same time. Knowing exactly when we should replace it is something we haven't figured out yet. The Amish roofer who gave us an estimate last fall suggested we should replace it this year, but Paul thinks we can put it off a bit longer. The garage doors have been cracked for awhile, but the door I use has been really having issues in the last couple of weeks so we have decided that now is the time to replace the garage doors. Having never purchased a garage door before, I had absolutely no idea how many decisions would be involved in that purchase. Long panel or short panel? With windows or without windows? Carriage house style or raised panel? With decorative hardware or without? Colonial or spear hardware? What color? How much insulation? When I discussed it with Paul last night, he suggested I digitally edit a photo of the front of the house to change the color of the garage doors as a way of helping us decide. One of our neighbors has a dark green garage door, and I think it looks really nice. However, when I edited a photo this morning to see what it would look like with two green garage doors, I had to agree with the opinion of everyone I asked. Nope! I chose medium oak, which is very similar to the color of our front door. Nadia preferred the cedar, but I preferred the medium oak. Paul, Ian, Oliver, and I all leaned toward evergreen for a time, but Nadia never liked that color at all. I will darken the front door a bit if that seems necessary for it to match the new garage door. The other decision we made yesterday regarding the garage doors was to select 9.0 R-Value for the insulation. This particular salesman had suggested one that was 6.5, but that seems too low considering we have an attached garage and Nadia's bedroom is directly above part of the garage. We could have gone as high as 18.4, but that would have added another $210 to the project. I am thankful we have put this particular decision to rest, and I hope that we like our new garage doors once they are installed! Our current doors lasted 21 years, and these new doors are supposed to last much longer so this might be the only time I purchase garage doors in my lifetime. The two other things around the house that I assume we will need to replace over the next few years are the roof and the oven. We've already replaced the furnace, AC, hot water heater, dishwasher, refrigerator, washer, and dryer over the past 10 years.

Another decision Paul and I discussed this week was when we would get Nadia her first phone. She'd be thrilled to have her own phone now, but that's not going to happen. Actually at the moment we're requiring her to take a break from the iPad, my phone, and the laptop through the end of the month. Yvonne shared how they let their kids get a phone when they turn thirteen, but they start them out with a phone that only can be used with Wi-Fi, and they also don't immediately tell their teen the phone's passcode. If a teen starts driving, I think he/she should definitely have a phone at that point. But considering Nadia would like a phone now, it seemed a bit too long to require her to wait four more years. When I was at the pool yesterday, my friend was telling me that her 10 year old granddaughter already has her own phone. The trend seems to be to give kids a cell phone at a younger age. Paul and I decided that we'd get Nadia a phone when she turns 14 since that is when she'd be entering 9th grade. The decision would be easier if phones were just used for talking, but considering they give your child access to the Internet which has some awful stuff, it's a different story. It's tricky knowing which social media apps to allow her to use. She had been using Instagram (she's never posted anything but just uses it to follow some of her friends), Messenger Kids, text messaging, Marco Polo, Skype, FaceTime, and House Party. I deleted the House Party app yesterday after doing more research.