odds and ends
In no particular order, things that have been happening around here lately:
-We gave L the boot from our bedroom. Yesterday morning, she woke me up 57 too many times after I had gone to bed very, very late. I had begun to suspect that my proximity to her (her twin bed pushed up against my side of our bed) was actually encouraging her to wake up rather than sleep through the night. Actually, it may have been more than my personal proximity. It may have been that our bed is much much more comfortable because it has a tempurpedic mattress pad and her bed is hecka uncomfortable. As a result, she was constantly stealing my spot and leaving me to sleep in the twin. As of yesterday, we moved her twin into M’s room (now known as M’s old room, L and M’s new room, or as I said repeatedly yesterday and today: the room with TWO! BIG! GIRL! BEDS! YAY!!! CLAP!! CLAP!!) So far, so good. Who knows, maybe one of these days I will even get to get lucky on my tempurpedic mattress instead of the fold-out couch. A girl can dream, cant’ she?
-I have concocted a new scheme that requires us to sell our house and live in a much crappier house for several years. On some level, I think I can not bear to live in this house now that it is all fixed up and ready to sell. My theory is we should sell, buy a new crappy house in the neighborhood (3 blocks over) we want to live in FOREVER, then when we have enough dough in 4-5 years, do a full-gut renovation and add an addition to double the size of the imaginary house. I have already had my hopes dashed on two different houses: one was already in contract, the other is apparently full of exposed asbestos. It would actually make the most sense to wait until spring to move forward with this plan, but I can’t stop obsessively searching browsing the MLS listing. I am aware this scheme is a bit wacky. I lived through my parents building a house when I was in high school. That was when I witnessed the biggest argument in the history of their entire relationship, which was about bathroom fixures. And seriously, do you think that my dad gave a rat’s ass about bathroom fixtures? Building/remodeling can make people crazy. You would think I would know better.
-Did I mention that we are going on vacation with my parents, sister and niece in a few weeks? Given the recent tensions over the church thing, this may be the perfect setting for a lovely knock-down drag out argument. It might end up being like high school all over again.
-Mr. A just walked in the door from work at 11:42 pm, so I am going to go visit with him for a few minutes before bed. They seriously do not pay him enough to work such insane hours.
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:20 am
Hope you had a good visit with the poor hard working big pants lawyer.
Anyway… I didn’t comment in the previous post, so here it goes — I hope the storm is not that bad, and I guess the sooner you get this telling your mom what you don’t want out of the way the better, right? I just hope it doesn’t completely ruin your vacation…
As for your idea to sell the house, it’s interesting, to say the least. We may have to sell ours too.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:16 am
“Building/remodeling can make people crazy” - One of our biggest fights was over paint color…we started fighting in Home Depot, continued in the car, and by the time we got to the house I almost packed my stuff and left. That was the first time around.
Because apparently I’m a slow learner…the second time around was also about paint color which ended in a burgundy room (color was chosen randomly after some infantile comment like “I don’t give a rat’s azz what color you choose”).
This third time is only small stuff (we are currently doing the kitchen cabinet’s) and we didn’t fight…I guess it takes 3 attempts and 14 years later for us not to got “crazy” when we have to remodel or fix a house….then again…we are not done yet!LOL
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Just reading about your plan to buy a crappy house and fix it up has raised my blood pressure with anxiety on your behalf. And I don’t even know you.
I spent my entire childhood (well, from age 7 to age 18) living in a farmhouse that was built in 1901 that my parents were going to “completely renovate and make fabulous.”) (Once, one night when it was too hot to sleep, they took sledgehammers to a wall in order to create a “great room”. Sledgehammers. To a wall. At 3:00 AM. That is the kind of insanity that can ensue.)
I am now 36 years old. My parents have been living in the 1901 farmhouse for twenty-nine years. TWENTY. NINE. YEARS.
It still isn’t finished. No, I’m not kidding. It will never be finished. It has many fabulous and interesting little touches that you would never find in any other house, but, sweet jeebus, it has taken 29 years and there is still one more bathroom to remodel. (There was no shower in the house until after I went to college. There was an awesome and amazing and deep and fabulous claw-foot tub in which we all bathed, until such a time as my brothers got big enough to become really smelly, and a tub just didn’t cut it after muddy football practice, and then they rigged some kind of crazy shower system to the claw foot tub, which eventually caused a leak in the floor, and part of the living room ceiling caved in, and the whole bathroom and living room had to be torn apart. Again.)
Where am I going with this? Um…childhood…fixer-upper home…yes. Please don’t do that to your girls. Seriously, I was constantly embarrassed to bring people to my house in high school because there was always a table saw in the kitchen or a hole in the floor in the guest bathroom where the sink was being put in…I could go on, but, my point is, fixing up a house can make you into an eccentric crazy person, and cause such residual trauma in your child that she may grow up and beg strangers on the internet not to subject their children to the insanity that is a complete home remodel…
I live in a brand new house for the reason that the idea of home repair causes me so much anxiety that I feel like throwing up.
Go rent “The Money Pit” with Shelley Long before you decide to do this. Seriously, THAT was my childhood. (Well, minus the racoons.)
Gretchen
July 4th, 2008 at 3:24 am
We are in the 3rd year of construction on our addition to double the size of our house (no gut renovation though).
I don’t have a blog, but if I did, it would have provided a lot of material. The time the tarps where the roof was removed became displaced, so that water was funneled into the wall instead of outside, entering through a hole in the wall that had a couple of live electric wires. Several similar flood stories. “Kitchen” = refrigerator + microwave (no stove, no oven) for 8 months. Architect deciding to hide in his house (really) for months (he owed the contractor money so wouldn’t talk to him).
Can’t say whether it was worthwhile as it still isn’t over.
Have I discouraged you ?