Toying With An Idea

So my buddy Mike Davis and his dog have been living with Desiree and me for awhile now.  I don't know the exact dates.  It was hot out when he moved in.  I know that much.

It's worked out pretty good.  I think we managed to not get on each other's nerves too much.

As many of you know, Mike bought a fixer-upper down the block from me, and has been doing just that for the last couple of months... fixing it up.  But now that he's redone the floors and the walls and installed all new kitchen cabinets, i think he's going to be moving out of our house and into his own.  Probably pretty soon.  I don't know.  We haven't discussed dates at all.

Mike moving out gives me the following reliving feelings:

1. Our dog and cats don't play nice with his dog, so her being gone is probably good for all the animals.
2. Not that I buy a ton of groceries, but it will be nice to get the other half of the fridge back.
3. Hopes of the gas/electric/water costs decreasing by 1/3rd.
4. Hopes of the garbage/dishes/animal crap decreasing, too.
5. We'll have another room in our house to do something with... that's kinda neat!

Mike moving out gave me the following uneasy feelings:

1. Dez and I spend most of our time working to pay for the house we spend the minority of our time in.  Mike being in it kinda made it feel less "wasted."  Honestly, 2 people who own a 3-bedroom house that is used for pretty much sleeping... that just seems like a pretty expensive thing to own and not USE constantly.
2. Mike had an unusual rent system worked out with Desiree and me.  Basically, rather then him pay us money and I hire people to fix stuff around the house, Mike just fixed stuff around the house.  I don't know how (nor want) to fix anything, nor pay for anything to be fixed.  Not sure how stuff is getting fixed, going forward.
3. Mike and I have been great friends since 1st grade, but we don't have much in common besides "hanging out."  We haven't really hung out much lately, and we LIVE together.  I imagine a real effort will need to be made to hang out once he moves... and that's with him moving down the street.

So here is the idea I was toying with... and I briefly ran it past Dez the other day (in case your wondering if I'm blogging this before talking to her)...

We get a new roommate.

Here's the thing.  We're not desperate for one.  It would be nice to collect a little rent on part of a house we have to pay mortgage on anyways, but I'm sure we'd enjoy NOT having a typical roommate more then HAVING one, so it would have to be a PERFECT fit.

What would the perfect fit be?

1. Someone we trust with access to all of our things.  That's the kicker.
2. Someone who knows how to use tools... just in case I attempt to fix something and need help.
3. Someone without pets, OR a pet that plays nice with ours and doesn't damage our property.
4. Someone with reliable income... at least a little.  We wouldn't charge much.
5. Someone that keeps the place kinda clean... not super clean, but isn't driven crazy that we don't always keep things super clean.  We're trying to keep the house clean, and we don't completely suck at it, but we need someone who is just like us, i guess.  Maybe a little cleaner then us wouldn't hurt.
6. Someone who doesn't care that our loud-ass rock band practices in the basement twice a week
7. Someone who can comfortably live out of a small bedroom

Yeah, so this describes a pretty specific scenario, and we understand that we'll probably never come across the perfect roommate... but that's OK, because not having a roommate would be nice, too.