Jeffrey Clos
Bio
I am a lifelong inhabitant of Michigan. I decided to do something therapeutic and write a blogging website. www.inyerself.com
I touch on all subjects but my focus will be on Life Experiences, Technology, Home and Self Improvement.
Stories (33/0)
It's Time For a Change and a New Home!
All of the stars aligned on this housing opportunity, and the consensus was this house worked for our family. It was located within the same school system. It had the room we needed, albeit a little more space than we needed. The three-car garage, larger kitchen, and bedrooms were non-negotiable needs. This house met all of our needs, but could we land this house. We had a leg up on the competition as we were the first to view this property. Indeed, if we let this hit the market, it would become a bidding war, and we could kiss this opportunity goodbye.
By Jeffrey Clos7 months ago in Humans
It's Time For a Change and a New Home!
Our realtor secured us a private viewing of this existing build. It was a charming house, and it checked off quite a few of our wants and needs. The location of this neighborhood was a huge selling feature. You enter the community just off a well-paved road into an area of cul-de-sacs. The community is situated as a tree-like branching subdivision with only one road in and out access. Each home has quite a bit of property with a certain amount of privacy. Some more than others, with each house having an "estate-like" feel to them. As we drove into this subdivision, it was interesting to observe we were going into a somewhat elevated area. Given the majority of this city was located on previous flat farmland, it was surprising this particular area was situated in a high hilly area.
By Jeffrey Clos7 months ago in Humans
It's Time for a Change and a New Home!
In our quest to upsize our current living situation, we had seen quite a few homes and developed a list of things we did not want. I became accustomed to having a side-facing garage. Many new builds seemed to favor front-facing garages, thereby sacrificing quite a bit of privacy, and let's face it, your neighbors don't need to see your disorganization. Enormous bathtubs in the master bathroom seemed to be commonplace. This was a feature my wife and I were not very fond of. A closed-off floor plan on the main floor was off-putting to my wife especially. Many of the houses we saw seemed to have many segmented rooms rather than an open feeling space. These small compartmentalized spaces broke up the flow of the general level of the house.
By Jeffrey Clos7 months ago in Humans
My Introduction to the “Color Tour”
I was a man in my late 30's before I had even heard mention of "Color Tour." For those who are not in the know, a color tour is a daily or even weekend excursion to travel to areas known for a large amount of color-changing trees. A diverse collection of trees is an incredible landscape to experience a color tour. Michigan is home to a tremendous amount of trees in both the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. This is not to say tree coverage is non-existent in other states. I have seen countless articles calling out the best places to see the Fall color changes. Many maps focus on the northern part of the United States, spanning East to West.
By Jeffrey Clos7 months ago in Wander
Everyone Has That "Friend"
We all have friends who have developed or exhibited some habit or trait to which we assign our friend's name directly. Often it has some negative connotation to it. Let me give you an example. You just pulled a "Josh," or that is so "Karen," as it has become quite popular nowadays. "Karen" seems to be getting all of the press nowadays as this describes someone who is generally a middle-aged white woman exhibiting obnoxious, often entitled, angry, racist behavior (and not in that order). If your name is Karen, you have taken a beating in the press over the last few years. Karen just happened to be my mother's name (I wonder how she would feel about that, but I digress).
By Jeffrey Clos7 months ago in Humans
I Used Five Words in a Relationship I Wish I Could Rescind
"You are not marriage material" were the words I used at the moment. These five simple words had a tremendous amount of impact. These are probably some of the most destructive words anyone can use when in a relationship. I think back to the time I used them and to whom they were directed, and I admit this was not my best moment.
By Jeffrey Clos7 months ago in Confessions
It's Time For a Change and a New Home!
My family and I had wanted to upsize for many years, but my wife and our neighbor had a verbal agreement that neither family could move, given how "tight" both families were. Countless friends and family preached against upsizing as it meant we would collect more junk. Try as a might; I could not convince my wife to consider moving away from our neighbor as she would not break the agreement. However, as everyone knows, the pandemic has taken every minor issue and exacerbated it, leading to our neighbor opting out of the informal deal and deciding to move to a new home. The reasons were many but originated with the disappointment with the elementary school system and the homeowner's associations' disdain for any shed additions to our houses. While my wife was upset at first, we both quickly realized it was all for the better. We would now be free to begin the next phase of our lives.
By Jeffrey Clos7 months ago in Confessions
We Lost Her to a Thief Name COVID!
As we understood it, COVID affects everyone differently. How else can you explain why some people can contract it, and it barely even registers? Some people contract it and days later are dead. The pandemic hit especially hard at home as recently as September of 2021. The news and government touted the promise of a "normal" summer, provided people got vaccinated. To think "normal" was even something one could advertise seems quite laughable regarding a pandemic.
By Jeffrey Clos7 months ago in Families
I Had to Learn Who I Was Before Subjecting Anyone Else to Me!
How many times had I heard the question, "Why haven't you settled down yet?" Don't you want to have kids? We were programmed at very young ages to believe in marriage, yearn for a lovely house, have a few kids. All the more, I could hear my Dad saying, "Don't ever get married." You see, my model for marriage consisted of my Mother and Father and their tumultuous marriage. They hit all of the lows and missed all of the highs. This dynamic pair should have divorced many years ago.
By Jeffrey Clos7 months ago in Confessions
