November

I have three drafts of started posts in my blog queue (it's so fun when I can use that word) but I've been too lazy/busy/noncommittal to finish them up and post. At least one of them is kind of a crabby rant, and now I'm in a better mood so it seems useless to button it up.

Wow, where to start? My Nonna passed away on October 28th. I was able to spend some time with her before she left us, although she was not responsive. I was honored to eulogize her at the funeral, and I plan to post it here soon, but it's a little too intense still. Her funeral mass was on Nov. 2nd, but she was buried just yesterday (her remains were flown to Italy - her wishes were to be buried beside her husband). My mom called today to tell me the funeral mass in Italy was beautiful. It has been a long couple weeks for my dad, and I'm heartbroken that he had to go through the pain of his mother's funeral twice.

I just finished up some hot cocoa and I have that awful 'milk nausea'. I'm not lactose intolerant...for some reason though, hot cocoa, though I LOVE IT, leaves me with a nasty over-full tummy feeling. I always want to vomit after cocoa. But I don't. And I still drink it...this really doesn't bode well for any sort of long term 'lifestyle' changes, does it? Wow - that food is bad for me AND makes me nauseous? Bring me more!!

Rambling. So, I was rather busy for a few days surrounding her passing. Then, when I returned to work, I had 81 e-mails and 18 voice mails. And I had been doing some work here and there from home! I'm still behind on projects, but at least I'm treading water with day-to-day business.

The following week, one of my advisees died unexpectedly. Very shocking and sad. She was a wonderful student. There's a memorial for her at 5 tomorrow, and I'd like to go...we'll see how the day goes and if Sam seems willing after I pick him up from preschool.

The next shocker was that good friends of ours are divorcing. I won't go into details. They seemed perfectly happy. They have a 3 year old daughter who is friends with Sam. Anyway, they had apparently had some problems but were working on them and progressing - or so the husband thought. The wife was apparently seeing someone recently, and he found out in an unfortunate way, and it just imploded from there. I have lots and lots to say about all of it, or rather, about such situations, but, that's another post.

The house is a little crazy, especially this week. Our projects are underway, and I am trying VERY hard to stay calm during the inevitable craziness that is construction. So far, I'm doing ok, because I know it will all come together and be great...it's just the timing that worries me. To summarize, large furniture won't clear the spiral stairs, so we haven't been able to set up our bedroom in the great-room upstairs. To solve this, we opted to have the window on one end of the great-room closed up, and replaced with a lovely door and small balcony. We will then have an egress from the second floor, as well as an easier way of getting large pieces up there.

Secondly, the window we take out will actually go into use as well: One of the bedrooms downstairs, which is our temporary master bedroom, and slated to be Sam's room, has a small and high casement window - it will be replaced with the larger window we are taking out from upstairs. Ta-da! This will brighten the room and also provide a good fire safety feature (true second egress), which makes me feel better about moving Sam into that room.

Thirdly, the plumbing in the main bath shower is done weird - so we are having that tweaked.

Fourthly, we are purchasing a storage shed from the architecture class at the college where we work. This is great, but kind of pricey (although a much better value than buying a kit from Home Depot or something like that). Because we are contributing to an educational endeavor, I am hoping that it will be tax deductible (I have to confirm this with the College Foundation). It's 8x12, with full floor, workbench, windows, bi-fold barn doors, architechtural shingles, siding, etc. So anyway, Tim has been working hard to prep and level the area where it will sit. He's moved a lot of dirt. Poor guy.

Finally, Tim has taken down 2 dead trees on the property so far. While this is a big money-saver, it scares the heck out of me. Bless his brave heart. It also makes a mess.

So, all this is great but, this is what happens in the meantime, and how my new and wonderful home goes from high-end to virtually trashtastic in just a few short days:

*Plywood in the second floor window hole. Street view. Classy.

*Carpet upstairs is pulled up and rolled back in the work area. The plumber is coming to move a heat register that would be in the way of the new door. Fun. Cause you know, it can't ever be EASY.

*Trim and molding is missing all around window in our bedroom. When Tim needs to sleep during the day, he usually props pillows in the windows for darkness. Because there's nothing to hold the pillows now, he's tacked old towels there. Oh joy.

*Same wall is marked up for cuts to fit the new window.

*Our nightstands are in the living room.

*Front porch is littered with contractor stuff. And a door. And a window.

*Tree bark and bits of branches are everywhere from aforementioned downed trees.

*A section of our fabulous fencing is down due to falling of one tree. It's not broken, but he has to do more cutting before he can put it back together. In the meantime, however, it looks broken and trashy.

*Sheetrock in my entryway is cut so plumber can access and re-work plumbing to the bathroom.

All this magic is scheduled to be finished in time for Thanksgiving, when I have 4 family house-guests arriving. We shall see. We shall see.

VIP Access

The closing did finally happen, but not until 4pm Friday afternoon! It went very smoothly. It was in Cooperstown, so afterwards we walked around a bit, and decided to celebrate with dinner at Alex & Ika. I heard it was very good, and we were not disappointed. It was also reasonably priced which I needed after my meal in Manhattan on Wednesday - we blew our whole per-diem and then some on dinner. Anyway, one of Alex and Ika's signature sides is fingerling potato fries - how cool is that? They take whole fingerlings, smash them flat, and fry them. Yum! Sam had their house mac and cheese with black forest ham, and I think next time I might order that for myself. It was smooth, smokey, creamy, and probably the best mac and cheese I've ever had. Really.

These pictures are late, I know. Today is a little overcast, but I'm taking some shots of the inside. I'm not ready to post much on FB yet because things are still kinda messy: Smallish clutter allover because I'm still figuring out the best way to organize the byproducts of every day life into an open plan, a few lingering boxes, some pieces of furniture are only in temporary locations, and the upstairs is still a small explosion.

But you guys are special because you know that it's only temporary, and you know that my goal is always neatness and good-lookingness, so I think you can make the jump from today's pics. You are VIPs.

Close it up, shut it down

We have a new date for closing on our old house - a week from today, 10/22. Send all your good stuff this way that it will not be delayed again, and will just happen and be DONE!!

Next week I have to travel for work Wednesday and Thursday - then I'm taking Friday off to attend the closing. The traveling part might normally be not-so-fun, but I'm helping our program recruiter (who happens to be a great person that I get along well with) work a popular (meaning really, really busy) career fair in the city. Refer to this post if you don't know what city I mean.
Anyway, we plan to leave mid-day Wednesday to avoid the worst traffic going in. We'll check in, have our vehicle parked, and set up our display the night before (LOVE when venues let you do this!). Then we'll shop a bit and scope out a good spot for dinner. The event doesn't start until 9:30 the next morning, so it will be great to have ample time for primping and, of course, for sipping overpriced coffee.

Soon, my pretties

A somewhat brief update: The move started smoothly, but in the days following, things quickly fell apart - maybe not so much in terms of 'stuff' but in emotional and physical exhaustion.

We closed last Thursday. It was raining steadily, and sometimes heavily, all day. The moving truck and the help of family was set for the next day, so after closing we brought over one car and one truck load. We were soaked.

Friday's complications arose mainly out of our local UHaul place and the rain again. As for UHaul, they didn't call us back as promised, and in the meantime, rented the truck we needed. So, Tim had to pick up another truck 40 minutes away. We didn't get started with moving furniture until 11am. As for the rain, it had washed out local roads, so Sam's school was closed that morning, and he was home unplanned. This meant that we were down my mom because she watched and entertained him all day instead of being able to help. This left Tim, my dad, and my brother for the heavy lifting. My brother's girlfriend and I concentrated on boxes and drawers and smaller items. One friend showed up for about an hour on her way through town. It was a Friday, so I expected that people that would normally help were working.

We unloaded, and not long after that it started to get dark. The truck needed to be back, and my folks needed to get home, so we called it a day. THere was still so much at the house...

Saturday was fairly productive as the rain had let up temporarily, but with Sam and only 2 vehicles, we were limited as to how much we could really do. Plus, Tim had to nap because he was scheduled to work Saturday night. Consequently, he had to sleep Sunday, went back in Sunday night, and slept again on Monday. I had Sam at home, so I concentrated on keeping him quiet and organizing the chaos in the new house.

On Monday morning, I was supposed to work, but we learned that closing on our old house would be Friday, so the pressure was on to get things out. Fast. I didn't want to waste the opportunity of having Sam back in school and Tim being available for a few hours before he would need to crash and sleep. So I dropped him off in Delhi in the morning, and headed over to the old house where I met Tim. We made another truck and car load. Oh, did I mention it's POURING RAIN again? Yes, another cold,soaked day. Tim slept 2 hours. That evening, I went into my office to do some of the work I was sorely behind on. I don't remember much of Tuesday. Tim worked that evening. Wednesday we both worked during the day, then, Wednesday night, I had a class to teach. By the way, I've had a nasty cold this whole time. My head finally started to clear yesterday.

Wednesday night, after I got back from class, I helped Tim heave our gigantic desk up the stairs...it was very, very precarious and we could only lift it one step at a time. At one point, it seemed to be stuck, and I had a small meltdown, stuck behind the desk on my staircase. Tim just stared at me. I think he wasn't sure about what would happen to me next. Thankfully the desk wasn't really stuck and we were able to place it. I let out some tears and whining, then I was ok. And the desk looks really good.

I worked yesterday and Tim had to work an evening shift once again. We also learned that now, we won't be able to close on Friday (today). The deal is not in jeopardy - apparently our purchasers are ready and clear, but their purchaser's bank has bumped clearing their loan (which is just a straight-forward home equity loan) to next week because they needed to get all the FHA loans done by 9/30 for the tax-credit deadline. Whatever. So, fine...next week. At least it takes some of the pressure off.

There's only a few things left at the house now: The treadmill (approx 300 lbs.), tool chest, and some odds and ends. Tim is meeting a buddy this afternoon to get that out, and our purchasers are trying to coordinate pre-possession of our garage to move some stuff in today. Our attorney is requiring them to sign an addendum relieving us of any responsibility for their personal property, and she's making them get their homeowner's insurance early, and naming us as insureds until closing. She shuts-it-down. I like her :)

Beyond the boxes and the disarray, we love the new house. Sam seems to be settling in fine, the commute is better (although we've driven hundreds of miles looping 2 counties this past hellish week)and we are just giddy about the property and all the nice touches.

As I mentioned, work has been relentless for us both. To top it all off, my office was moved this week too! I have a bigger office with a huge window, which is great, but it was a struggle for me to not have an organized, neat spot to retreat to anywhere! My phone was moved a day early, so I was working out of 2 spots, and I really felt like my brain was messy and disorganized.

Our cable/tv/internet should be in order this weekend, and I am really looking forward to the good weather, and the chance to get things situated. I will take some pictures and post them soon, hopefully by Monday! Stay tuned.

Don't mean to hurt your felines...

The other night I wished a pox upon our cat. By the way, I'm home today because I didn't sleep a wink last night, and consequently felt like total crap this morning. Yep, I battled with the no-sleep demons until nearly 4am, then my alarm went of at 5:55...so I opted to stay home and rest insted of pushing it, and consequently getting sick for the next 2 busy weeks ahead.

Back to the kitty. She has periods when she's absolutely horrendous - unprovoked attacks, and she has bitten me hard enough to puncture the little meaty part near my thumb. This means she's the devil. So that one night, I kind of vented on Facebook, and I fear now the public might thing I'm going to kill, or at least severely maim, a cat before the end of 2010. No, no, no, I won't. But I will imagine what it would be like to hurl one off a skyscraper. Would it land on its feet? Aw, too bad.

She has cute moments. I think she read my Facebook status though, and realized she's on probation. The past 2 days she has been treating me like...well, like I'm the special kitty (she's smart!). She's all rubby and purry and following me around constantly and chattering at me like she's saying, "OMG LOVE your hair today! Where'd you get those cute shoes? Can I have a treat?"

So we are on speaking terms once more. I am considering having her declawed...yea, I'm well aware that it's not as accepted anymore and even considered cruel, but we've already sterilized her against her will even though the chances of her getting preggers were pretty much zero...so...you know...whatever. Besides, declawing her would increase her chances of survival as a serf in my kingdom. If she ruins a couch, then she can kiss my hospitality goodbye. Taking action to prevent such an unpleasant turn of events is actually kind, right?

Sweet deals

We were up by 5:30 this morning to finish set up. Sam was up too - he usually sleeps until at least 6:30, sometimes 7, but of course when you need to catch an hour's break...well, that's how it goes. It was particularly frustrating because the night before, he didn't fall asleep until after 9. We thought surely he'd sleep in a bit. Clearly, we are still total greenhorns at this parenting thing.

Anyway, we did have some early birds. Good thing the ammunition was for sale. Ha. Not that I'd know the first thing about loading it.

Tim was out hanging signs early, and brought home some Munchkins, which we Munched on all morning. Sam on a sugar high = Sell Sell Sell. Kidding. But we really did have a great turnout, and sold about three fourths of what we had out there, totaling just over $600. Yeah! And the coolest thing - very little haggling, so I guess that means our pricing was quite fair.

We had a battery operated doorbell which we never installed. Sam discovered it and rang it continuously for about an hour, and asked each person that arrived, "Do you have a doorbell?" So when he finally found someone that was indeed looking for a doorbell (yea, for real) he sold it, and he got to keep the $2.

Our friend Carl and his daughter Lily came by and hung out for a while, as well as our friend Allison. They were great because they helped to keep Sam distracted when it got particularly busy. Love my friends.

Some very random things sold: A big box of obsolete roofing nails. Chicken fencing. A 50+ year old jack stand (it was in the barn since we moved here). Ammo...uh, yeah, those two guys were...well, I think they have a bunker somewhere. Ironing board, to the woman that stopped by only because she lived in our house 40 years ago and had to tell us, and made it a point to say "I don't do yard sales." Ha! Well apparently now you do...Iron on, m'am. Books sold...books! Those never sell at yard sales. Five for a dollar worked really well.

We still have a couple of boxes worth of odds and ends that didn't sell, as well as some bigger ticket items (namely furniture) to find buyers for, but at least one large piece is already spoken for. So overall, we are in excellent shape.

Yard sale

We're planning to have a modest yard sale this Saturday. The forecast is fabulous (low 60s and sunny) and of course, it's a holiday weekend, so I'm hoping these translate to a good turnout.

We thought we would have soooo many things to sell - but once we started organizing and tossing crappy stuff, we found that it wasn't as much of a wildly humongous pile as we'd imagined. A lot of it was baby gear and toys. We are still undecided on a second baby, so I've kept some key items (breast pump! haha!) but I'm thinking #2 will be Streamlined Baby (that will be his or her legal name), and anything we must replace, we will find second-hand when the time comes. Anyway, I was able to get rid of almost all the baby stuff in one quick and cheap sale a few nights ago. That was a big relief - I wasn't really into the thought of haggling over teething rings at a yard sale.

We also got rid of a big ladder we won't need, as well as an older air compressor, and the extra sump pump - the two former items were sold to friends needing them, so that was great.

We have some larger furniture pieces to sell off, but most can't be part of the yard sale because we don't want to get rid of the pieces so soon, then be without for weeks until closing - but we have prospective buyers for those already (more friends - yay!). So a few unnecessary pieces will go out on Saturday.

I have a lot of kitchen items going out, as well as curtains and linens, a few electronics, some artwork and decor, and odds and ends from all areas of the house. We are also hoping to sell a weight bench and bar w/olympic weights, a baby sandbox, and oh, I dunno...other stuff too.

I've had 2 previous yard sales since we've been here, and those were both successful, but in part because we participated in the community yard sale day, so the traffic was a given. For this one, we will advertise in the local paper, as well as craigslist (and facebook!) and hope for the best...or at least hoping that 6 hours outside will yield a worthwhile profit.

The big update

Wow, so the deal is actually materializing. We are moving out, and up, and closer to work and to a residential area. Check, check and check. Verbal agreement turned into paper, turned into verbal acceptance of counter offer, along with sale of their own home actually happening which turns into this deal actually being for real. Now we wait for a few initials here and there, and it's all set into motion.

Of course I am too superstitious to throw a party just yet - appraisers and attorneys and banks all have to do their things without encountering any serious obstacles first...then, once we have identified both closing dates, we can get silly.

Here's how I foresee it (hopefully) happening: we close on the new house approximately end of September, then about 3 weeks later, we close on this house. This allows a nice chunk of time to make the move less stressful, as well as the enormous relief that we won't be carrying 2 mortgages until who-knows-when.

And now, a pictorial summary of our housing since we were married in 2002:

Our apartment in Oneonta (formerly Tim's icky bachelor pad) is now seasonal rentals for the local summer tourist attractions - I was so happy to find this site because the only snapshots I have of the place were pre-digital and I am waaaaay too lazy to scan. It's the same landlord, and I am pleased to see she kept some of the same colors we painted. It's looking cute (despite those window treatments). Ah, those were fun days. We really got that place spruced up. Rent was cheap. The place had issues, but for the time, it was great. We had the downstairs apartment(pictured first).

On December 30, 2003, we closed on our first and current home. It used to look like this on the outside, and we shan't speak of the wallpaper and other horrors inside:

We have re-done every thing since - every room inside, and everything outside, and in between. I'm not exaggerating one bit:



And soon, we will be living here - in a brand new, cape-cod style (love), open plan custom contemporary with wrap around deck on a gated 1 acre lot. Gated, as in enclosed with fence all around, with gates and stone entry pillars and sidewalks. And a gazebo. With power. I'm sorry, what? No, that's right. You read that right (I'm talking to myself here too - I have to say that over and over and I still hardly believe it). Some of the features are insanely custom (= quirky), but the finish quality of it all more than makes up for it. And have I mentioned we are getting a very good deal?

Note there are a few steps down and more sidewalk right where Tim and Sam are standing (they're not actually giants compared to the house). The building to the right is the garage, and the gazebo is behind the house. Yes, the garage has its own little matching deck. A little strange, but cute. That's the sort of thing I mean with insanely custom - I would have just opted for a bigger garage. Who knows. Might be a good spot for a band though. You can also make out a small section of white fencing to the left, behind the house.
Well, I'm exhausted. Tim is at a poker game. Sam finally fell asleep (he took a long nap at preschool so he was bound to be a late bird tonight).
Keep us in your thoughts in the coming week, in hopes that everything will continue to go somewhat smoothly...

Running from stress

I'm seriously trying to just look the other way, not dwell too much, and not get myself so nervous that my daily activities become nearly impossible to focus on. Cause I do this whenever we have a big 'thing' to deal with, good or bad.

So the 90 day window to sell our house was about to run out. We have had decent activity, have been 'runners up' too many times, had a couple offers, but no deals. We were proactive and decided that we could a) ask the sellers of the other house for an extension, or b) move forward w/ a cash offer, taking on the risk of not having sold our home, but asking if they would then take less than our original bid. We decided to do b because 1) they could easily say no to a, or ask for more money to agree to a, and 2) because some positives come out of negotiating a better deal and holding both homes for a short period of time...a lot of that being less packing and moving stress. They agreed to b, and we negotiated a better deal.

Now, the pressure is on to sell our house. Lo and behold, a week later, someone (let's call them The Family) that had made a previous low-ball joke of an offer came back with a more reasonable offer. They sold their home and they are ready to buy. Long and agonizing story short, we are finally about 8K apart and it looks good - with one exception, which I just learned about today: the inspection on The Family's home might be problematic, and their deal might fall through, which might make any deal we'd strike with The Family fall through - or drag on .Either way, we'd be back to the possibility of holding 2 mortgages with no guarantee of when we'd close the deal with The Family, and with Winter approaching. We haven't had a showing in 2 weeks and counting, and the 'buying season' is coming to a close.

So, needless to say, I'm kinda scared - and upset - because we are sooo close to having this all work out so well. Stupid inspections. That's all for now. I'll keep you posted.

The mid-month boring post

I have lots going on but I don't have a fun way of framing it into a good post for you, so I'm just using this a little check-in. Besides, you can keep up with me on Facebook most days.

I wonder if there's a way to list all your status messages ever. I'd like to see that. It might be frightening.

Upcoming Highlights:

Weekend trip with friends to Toledo, Ohio area for wedding reception. No kids. No men. Yes shopping. Yes poolside. Yes dancing and acting a fool. And there's a big ass lake there or something.

Week off at the end of the month with quick trip to the city. Taking Sam to the Met. He's really interested in seeing this, and we've been talking about it a lot. He's also intersted in this, but he's not sure he's brave enough because he has formed a Halloween-icized image of mummies. I'm working on breaking that in time for our visit.

My house going under contract. It hasn't happened yet, but it's gonna. And soon.

Getting into some old pants. I've been eating well and getting exercise and I'm looking forward to dropping a size or so by the end of summer. Booya.

Read my late night thoughts

I'm having some trouble falling asleep tonight. We've had a busy couple days, and I have to work in the morning, so I'm anxious about getting to sleep, but at the same time, I hate waiting in bed for sleep to come.

My throat has been feeling funny all day. I think I'm coming down with Something. I'm not surprised, as I haven't been taking very good care of myself recently - I can blame it on a number of things, but, well...you know.

It's not all bad though. We've had some recent activity in trying to sell our home. No offers yet, but spirits are high at the moment, and in my opinion, you gotta ride the waves, or it's no fun at all.

As I was drying the tub tonight, I realized that I might be a little crazy. After all, I'm drying the tub in preparation for another house showing. Got that? Bone-dry: We all took showers. I went last. Afterward, I stood inside the tub and dried the whole thing with a microfiber towel thingie. It's shiny. Maybe I've seen too many episodes of "Sell This House." Maybe my true calling is home staging.

Here's the way I see it: The market is slow. Buyers can be fickle right now. They don't have a sense of urgency and so they have time to be more critical. There are things about our home we can't control, such as location, age, and size. We can, however, control how it presents itself. I try to put myself in the buyer's shoes. If I'm looking at several homes, with comparable amenities and price points, I'm more likely to form some kind of attachment to the one that seems most cared for, most well-appointed, and clean. And if all things are equal? I'll take the one with the shiniest tub.

So, besides the obvious cleaning, de-cluttering, and de-personalizing, here's some details I have focused on since our house went on the market - you decide if I am indeed crazy:

-All sinks and fixtures shiny and...you guessed it - dry.

-I also waxed our tub. With car wax. It helps it stay cleaner longer.

-Paint on scuffed walls has been retouched.

-Asked my realtor do the hotel-style toilet paper fold, because I forgot

-Dish rack and sponge and dish soap stashed away (sparse counter top)

-Fresh cut flowers (from the property)

-Lemons and green grapes, arranged in a bowl for the kitchen table

-Perfect towel folding

-Handles, knobs, and hinges polished

-"Where's their TV?" Mwahahaha. What TV? We only read, mostly from the Western canon. OK, OK maybe not so much...I'm just closing the doors of the armoire. But it was enough to make a visitor wonder where the TV was.

-I go through every room and ask, "Might someone mistake this for Pottery Barn?"
Clearly, we are far from it, but it's a good guiding question. I'm not even trying to make you laugh.

-My good friend is pet-sitting the kitty. Traces of our feline pet are obliterated.

-I don't just make the beds - I style them.

-Toys are a fact. We have a child. I won't disrupt his life. But, they are clean, organized and contained in one area of the family room, and in his room. No toy migration is tolerated during this period.

-Plants are perfectly angled to maximize their planty goodness. I don't know what this really means, but I know it when it's right.

-I asked my husband to cut some wood, randomly, on his table saw, because it makes the basement smell good and crafty. As in craft-oriented.

-I looked up some articles on the psychology of colors and home staging. Yellow is cheerful and supposedly puts people in a shopping-positive mood. I have potted marigolds, as suggested.

Finally, this may be determining piece of evidence in my crazy trial: Someone of the Catholic faith, Superstitious Italian Sector, (and not in my family!) told me that St. Joseph is supposed to be the go-to Saint for home selling. Don't you love how there's a Saint for every problem? You're supposed to place a St. Joseph statue in your home or on your property. I put my mom on the case. She produced for me her very own St. Joseph figurine. Of course she did. He is nestled discreetly on my bookshelf near the front entrance. Should I put on my own restraints, or are you sending someone?

Encouraged

Our house was shown to a prospective buyer this morning, on its 12th day on the market, and the feedback from our realtor (as well the buyer's) was very good. They would like to come back next week to see it again! We're feeling optimistic for now, so we'll try to enjoy it.

It has been a tough and exhausting week, but the house is spotless and in the most perfect condition it has ever been. We'll have to continue living in museum-like perfection for a while, but I don't mind.

Today was a slow work day - a welcome break as the Spring semester closes. Tomorrow is Commencement, so I do have to come to work on a Saturday, which always sucks. So I thought I might take advantage of the slow day and take a long lunch w/ pedicure. My poor footsies have really taken a beating lately, and I've neglected them. I thought the pedi would be relaxing and rewarding. I called four salons in this dinky little town, and there were no appointments available - not because they're booked, but because apparently they all share a traveling manicurist that rotates through every other week or something insanely inadequate like that. Maybe I'll try my luck this weekend in O-town. They really are a mess.

But back to the house - send positive vibes this direction that these buyers put in a sound offer, and very soon - the quicker we can secure this, the quicker we can solidify the contract we have on the dream home....

xoxo to my peeps

It all changes

Much has changed since we bought our first home nearly 7 years ago. Not only has the physical appearance of our house changed, but we've changed too - we're clearly older, but also wiser (we hope), and stronger - as individuals, as a couple, and as parents. Oh, yea we added a whole new human being to the mix in that time too. We both got promotions, and have worked hard to lead the life we envisioned.

It's no secret that my chief complaint about our lifestyle has been the location of our home - of course back then we didn't know we'd feel this way, but I suppose that's where that hindsight thing comes from, right?

While I have generally been more dissatisifed than Tim, recently he has started to consider my position very seriously. We work on the same campus - about a 35 minute drive from our house. Because of his 2 overnight shifts on Saturday and Sunday, we can only commute in together 3 days a week, and it totals that between the 2 of us, we are traveling back and forth 6 out of 7 days in the week. This equals 7+ hours a week in the car (and 6 for Sam), and you can do the math on the mileage. The commute is vast and winding with a big mountain in between - pretty, yes...however the winter is treacherous. Tim is tired of it now too.

As far as our son goes, I think it's better for him to grow up connected to a community than off of a 55mph state highway. Sidewalks, neighborhoods, proximity to other children, parks, talking walks - these are all things that come to mind when I think of the ideal childhood. It's not necessarily city vs. country, but more like community vs. isolation. I'm all about community, but Tim has also felt strongly about privacy and a little bit of land. Best of both worlds requested, please.

So we decided that we'd open ourselves up to the scary real estate market and see what was out there in our budget, but with firm conditions: If we couldn't substantially cut or eliminate the commute, then we'd stay put...again, we love our home, so it had to be right. If the house wasn't newer and in great condition, then we'd stay put...we've worked our butts off to get this old farmhouse in shape, and we are reluctant to do it allover again. Been there, done that...ha ha ha.

Without even having a chance to talk to the bank about a pre-qualification (so we could run around viewing properties with credibility as serious buyers), a true gem came up. A custom-built cape in the village limits, about 15 miles from campus (18 minute drive, which cuts the commute almost in half...oh, and it's a straight shot with no mountain) on 1.18 acres of gated property, built in 2007. Yea. There's more. It has amenitites around every corner. Seriously. Open floor plan, slate floors with radiant heat, gourmet kitchen, maintenance free wrap around porch, copper gutters, amazingly well appointed interior (move-in ready is an understatement, if that's possible). There's a back story as to why it's available, and why it is now at an affordable price, but that's another post. It's amazing in person and we love it. It just feels right, so we're going for it.

We suspect that we will only pre-qualify for the mortgage contingent on selling our home. We have some equity, and have poured a lot of money into it, and it looks like we might be able to recoop most of it on sale. After paying the bank what we owe, we'd have a good chunk of change to put down on the dream.

Tonight we officially signed with a realtor to put our house on the market and wrote out a solid offer for the other home. They have until 8pm Tuesday to get back to us.

I'm nervous and excited, but also realistic in that there is a chance that it won't happen. If that's the case, we will keep a look out, but we won't rush. We're only jumping on this because essentially, it's a home that seems to be built for us....not to mention there's over 400K put into building the home, and it has dropped to almost half that price. It's like you were going out to buy a gently used Honda, and you noticed that they're selling a brand new Lexus, fully equipped, for half price. What do you do?

Well, I'll let you know how it turns out. Our listing should be up and running tomorrow, so stay tuned.

If nothing else, this is the kick in the pants we needed to finally button up some of those 98% of the way finished projects, and that's always a good thing!

Spring to Summer

Though it's a bit of an awkward shape and has some 'old house' issues, I love our living room. Last Sunday, I spent the morning dusting and swapping out some wintery stuff (like heavy drapes) for lighter, more summery accessories. My m-i-l gave us a big conch which works very well for this. I don't have a lot of tchotchkes because I was never much of a collector, and I don't have a lot of larger decorative items because generally speaking, I'm too cheap to buy them - instead I spend a lot of time rotating what I do have and trying to make them coordinate in different ways. It's like a fun decorating puzzle.

I added semi-sheer light cotton drapes for the season (Target). I think they lift the room and make it feel pretty and more seasonally appropriate:



Two summers ago we had some loose stones in our chimney reset, and we are lucky that the mason who originally created it 20 years ago lives a few houses up the road. He's retired and aging, but very skilled. For a ridiculously low hourly rate (as long as my husband agreed to do the heavier lifting and dealing with the scaffolding...which was fine by me - the dude is like 150 years old and the thought of him teetering near our rooftop was rather unsettling) he fixed the chimney and re-did our crumbling back steps to match. The same stone work surrounds our pellet stove inside - our mason friend told us it all came from the mountain behind our house. Even cooler.

Here's the chimney (before we re-did the deck). You can see the newer mortar is much brighter...all those stones had to be taken down, cleaned, and re-set.
Here's the back steps. The walkway (which is done now, but in progress here) is new too...there was old rotting decking there before, which we removed, and Tim added the pavers. He's so awesome. He really really is, and I adore him. Even though he doesn't clean up after his messy projects. He just figures things out and does them - from plumbing to carpentry to electrical stuff. If I were on my own with house issues such as we've had, I'd either a) moved into a condo, b) called my daddy and cried, or c) put a tarp down and called it a day. Permanently.


I'm proud to announce that I did some minimal weeding today (I hate yard work). I think maybe if I get really cute gardening gloves, possibly with matching gardening clogs, I might do it more often. We'll see. Anyway, in the scheme of all the overdue landscaping that needs tending to around this place, it's nothing, but it was satisfying. I also trimmed and tacked to perfect length the new drapes pictured above. Even more satisfying. Here's some cute floral pruning gauntlets. Yes. I think if I could ask, "Now where are my linen pruning gauntlets?" I might find myself doing yard work more often.


I let Sam play outside for about half an hour with no sunblock so he could make some vitamin D for the week - they really overdo the sunblock at preschool even though I wrote "only as needed" in his file...perhaps I should have been more specific: Allow him to be outside without sunblock for the first 5-10 minutes, then apply, and only May-September months. I suppose with multiple pre-schoolers to track, my request might be kinda picky. Then again, considering the tuition, they should be feeding him caviar...

He's finally more interested in non-scribble coloring and writing letters now too - all in all, he's slowly getting to the 'capable of entertaining self for extended periods of time' stage, which I've been waiting for, it seems, my whole life. One of these weekends I'm gonna count how many times I hear "Mommy". Just for kicks.

Hopefully his more consistent independence will allow us to actually do a little more outside this summer (ok, that was a lame excuse...whatever). Last year's garden was an epic fail, but I have high hopes for this summer. Not that I fret - if something doesn't do well, I don't try to slueth it out (is that even a legit term? Again - whatever. You know what I mean). No, I can't deal with trying to mitigate pests and diseases...I'm just not interested. My mantra is that if a plant can't survive under my basic care (water and sun), it just wasn't meant to be. I will really relish my 2 tomato crop...I'll let you know the day they are picked.

Before and after tour: Part 3

The office - before we moved in, it was a bedroom that belonged to 2 little girls. I thought about the fact that I am posting pictures from before the house was ours...this was taken with the former owner's permission while we were considering putting in an offer...but it's our room now, and my camera and my jpeg. So there. Here it was in 2003.

In Feb 2004 I went out of town on a conference for work, and when I got home, Tim had a surprise for me:

He did good.

Before and after tour: Part 2

Dining room before - wallpaper and carpet. In my opinion, it was the least offensive wallpaper in the house:

Dining room in progress:

Don't have a good current shot of the whole dining room, so here's another cute picture. Sam is about 20 months here:

Before and after tour: Part 1

This was the way the master bedroom looked before we moved in (above). It was one of the first rooms we changed.


We painted it a muted blue and replaced the carpet, switched out the old-fashioned sconces, and changed the layout.


I may be off on the order in which we renovated the rest of the rooms, but does it really matter? Next up we have the kitchen and family room area, which is one large space with two different levels. This is how it looked shortly after we moved in:

We painted, mostly, and added better lighting in the kitchen, but it made a huge difference:


A couple years later we fixed more stuff in the kitchen - namely, we replaced the crappy counter top and backsplash, which was a big project - the one below is before Tim got cracking on the tiling. I can't find a good shot of the whole thing, so I'm using a crowd-pleasing little baby Sam having a bath, and you can see the counter top, with molded sink, and cool tiles:


That's all for Part 1. Part 2 will include the living room and dining room, which have both changed dramatically. I'm actually having fun posting these - it's often easy to forget how much we've done in such a short time, and hard to not focus on everything that still needs to be done. I'm also incredibly thankful and proud to have such a smart and handy husband who, despite the never-ending setbacks that come with having a 150 year old house, always figures it out and always makes it look good. I can't even begin to count the money we've saved by doing so much ourselves, and even if it's not all perfect, it doesn't matter because it's really 'ours' and I just love it. Now if I could just pick up the house and move it a few miles...

Bathroom affairs

We have two bathrooms in the house. Our upstairs bath generally gets the most use because we shower and get all pretty/handsome in there. When we moved in (January 2004), both baths needed serious remodeling, and we got them done pretty quickly.
Because the downstairs bath would see the most 'guests' we logically spent more money and effort to spruce that one up. I still love it - here's a picture:


Unfortunately, we didn't think to take a before picture (we started doing so for subsequent renovations). It had a rose pink tub and surround, matching rose sink in a big country-fied vanity, fake grey wall tiles, and was really, really ugly.

The upstairs bath had flowery granny wallpaper, stick-on vinyl tiles, and one of those mirrors with the row of 'ball' light bulbs on top. I don't know what they are called, but they remind me of backstage dressing room mirrors. We spent much less money and effort on this renovation, but it still made a big improvement.
We replaced the floor with a solid piece of vinyl, stripped the wallpaper, and added a new mirror and lights. Here's a picture of it right after. You may not be able to tell (unless, of course, you know because you've been here), but this bathroom has 2 doors - one to the hallway and one into the guest room, which is where this shot was taken from:

Now, you might think that color is wild. It kind of is. It's called Pottery Red, and was not originally one of my choices - in fact, we were heading toward a more earth tone palette, when Tim came home with this chip. I resisted at first, but then I didn't care because we had a lot of other things going on at the time.

Fast forward 5 years - the toilet hasn't been working properly (beyond fixing), the paint is tired and chipped, the floor has seen better days, and, oh, did I mention? That door there on the right? It hits the toilet when you open it - it always has, and it has always been annoying. And classy. We finally decided that we needed to step up our renovation efforts a little more with this room.

Tim took out the door between the guestroom and the bath and sealed it up. This increases the visual space a lot. He also moved that other toilet door down about 6 inches and reversed the hinges, so now the door doesn't hit the toilet when you open it.

We got a new toilet. One that works. Thoroughly. And with much less noise and general scariness. This gave us the opportunity to sneak in a new floor, and clearly, we had to paint. We still have much to do, but so far, the floor and the toilet are both in. Tim painted behind the toilet area before he put the new one in (wow that makes things easy!)

First up, the new floor. We went with vinyl again, because down the road, we plan to 'gut' this bathroom and do tile and so on, but for now, we just wanted instant improvement on the cheap. There's a great remnants flooring place in town, and we got this piece of Armstrong (in the highest gauge they make) for a fraction of its retail cost. $65 for a generous piece that Tim was able to cut perfectly:

Here's a close up - the leaves are embossed. It's very simple and neutral.
And of course, the piece de resistance:

The lighting in this shot does nothing for it, but the paint we chose is a really soft grey which complements (but does not 'match') the floor. I know, grey is brave, but we definitely don't fear color. I think it's going to give the bathroom a more modern and fresh feel.

Of course, I want a new vanity, a new tub, new hardware and all that jazz, but we'll have to live with this for a while. As you can see, we have to finish painting and add the trims and cosmetics back.

Though it hasn't been long enough for us to forget it was back there, it was still fun to see our' mark' from 2004 behind the mirror - and look at that, exactly 5 years ago - aren't we adorable:

So tonight I started to shop around a bit for a new shower curtain and accessories. With a neutral/khaki/light greyish floor, dove grey walls, and bone fixtures, I think I want to go in a black/white or cream/black direction but nothing busy. There's a lot of options out there, and then there's Tim, of course, the great Style Blocker. It's going to be a compromise.

This entry makes me want to do a big Before and After entry of each room we've redone since we moved in. It will be fun. Stay tuned!

Sew me a river

Finding drapes, curtains, window treatments, or whatever you prefer to call them, for the living room has been a complete irritation. Factor 1: Tim is too involved in these kinds of choices, and thereby has shot down dozens of possibilities over the past five years. Factor 2: I can't decide on a basic style. Factor 3: Like shoes, the drapes that do catch my eye turn out to be outrageously expensive (sigh, a sign of naturally refined taste), and we need six panels. Factor 4: I cycle through spirited determination and complete avoidance. Factor 5: The length we need is not standard, so whatever we get, I'd have to adjust, which means facing my sewing machine. So I go back to the second part of Factor 4.
We finally agreed on a style. I don't love them, but, considering the reasonable price and quality, I'm satisfied. They're from Target, the color is Buffalo Plaid, and consist of big squares in shades of burgundy, gold, and olive. They're on the country side of the fence for sure, which is a little out of my comfort zone. I was pleased with the weight of the fabric though. I'd seen similar patterns in other stores, but the fabric was much thinner, like sheers. Not that I don't like sheers, by all means (refer to Factor 1). Anyway, these are substantial feeling and look more expensive than they are.
Of course they needed to be trimmed. The freak length our windows require is about 88.5 inches, so I ordered 95. That was my project tonight. Three windows, six panels, a lot of fabric. I hung them all up, then pinned the bottoms.
I used to be a little wiz with a sewing machine. Then I stopped making scrunchies and girl boxer shorts in 1992 (yea, you know you sported them with your Keds). Later I went to college and didn't have easy access to a sewing machine for years. Then one day Tim bought me a sewing machine, a newfangled Singer. But I'm an absolute nincompoop with this thing. The instruction manual is baffling and useless. You know those directions that you read three times over, and you're still like, "Whaaaat?"

Tonight I had to wind a bobbin, and I documented it for you. It was either that, or throw the machine through the dining room window.


You might have guessed that the bobbin on the left is the one I wound. Sadly, you would be correct. Compare that to the ready-wound bobbin (several came in a little kit with the machine). Mine looks like it's having a really bad hair day. My second bobbin was better.

I like to think I have a modicum of artistic flair, but I'm not inclined toward the traditional crafting skills. If it involves repetitive crafty tasks like detailing, gluing, stamping, and so on, I'm only in it if there's wine and good company. On my own, I'd rather poke my eyes out. Sewing is sort of a grey area for me because while it can be repetitive and sort of planned like a craft, there's an element of...drama in it. Hard to explain, but bottom line is that when I'm feeling motivated, and not reduced to tears by the technology of the sewing machine, I like sewing. But, I'm shockingly lazy when it comes to the peripherals: I know some of you get prepared for a crafty project - you take out and arrange all the tools and materials you'll need, and you may even have special tools for specific things. Not me. I like to live on the edge and see what alternatives I can come up with in a pinch: Out of hot glue? Maybe screws will do. Do you have to locate the exacto knife when you can probably use your manicure set? The possibilities are exciting, endless, and most importantly, totally convenient.

I bite off the threads because I forget to get scissors and I don't want to go back upstairs and dig out appropriate sewing scissors. It's unlikely I'd find them anyway. When I finally admit that my front teeth kind of hurt from grinding them over the thread, I go for the nearest pair of scissors - the massive kitchen shears, which I use to cut everything from flower stems to chicken parts. Perfect for dainty sewing. Thanks, KitchenAid!
You might not believe it, but the curtains turned out well. Just don't look at the new hems too closely, ok?

They're still sort of poofy from being ironed (after an unsuccessful attempt to de-wrinkle them in the dryer). Oh, don't get me started on ironing...I had to iron out the folds from the packaging. Why can't curtains come rolled on tubes, like wrapping paper?
So after the panels 'relax' from being hung, I think they'll be ok. I'm going to be re-arranging pictures, hanging some new ones, and moving furniture for the holidays and the tree and so on, so I'll put up a new pic when that's all done.

Progress is good

The house project is just about done. The outside work (siding, roof, framing out front porch) is complete. We are putting off the new patio until Spring, so there's a sort of temporary gravel pit in the back, but with winter coming, I don't mind it for now. Inside work is about half way there - we took on some of the finish work to save on costs, but since Tim is so busy, the progress is slow. Essentially we need to paint trim and finish some cosmetic stuff. Here is a before & after.


We finally moved the treadmill back out to the porch! I'm so happy about this - having it in the living room was claustrophobic and un-motivating. I had the worst workouts in the living room - the first day I was back out on the porch, I had a great run, which further convinces me that a big part of fitness is a head game. I'm a creature of habit when it comes to working out too - I have a hard time incorporating new routines, and no matter what they are I never feel like it's a 'real' workout unless there's running involved. I know that's silly. Some of you will understand.

Notice the TV on the articulated arm. Tim started running last spring and decided we (he) needed a TV in front of the treadmill. We've had this treadmill for five years, and all that time I was the only one that used it. Did he ever think to ask me if I wanted a TV? Negative. In fact, I never thought of one. I was quite happy with my portable CD player back in the day, and later my MP3 player - but now I have to have all sorts of sensory stimulation: 70 channels, 200 music files, and the scenery too. The remote is velcroed (is that a verb?) on to the controls. It's not state-of-the-art but it sure beats paying gym fees.

You can also see that we still have some painting to do around the windows and such. When the wider end of the porch is finished and cleaned up, I plan to move a few pieces of furniture back in and create a sunny sitting area. It is a sun porch, after all. It will be a great place to have tea. But I don't drink tea. It will be a great place for coffee.

It's a hot mess on that side though, so no picture until it's all cute and fab.