Category Archives: House Stuff

how I rock Friday nights these days

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This morning we had an appointment with our mortgage lender. We were already pre-qualified for our mortgage, but there was a lot of paperwork we needed to sign to make our application official. I woke up early and headed to the bathroom to start putting on my make-up (a process that is so. much. easier. without toddler interference).

Suddenly, the door opened and there was Catie, with her hair in her eyes, and whining, “Mommy, milk pwease!” This made me realize two things: 1) she is getting really efficient with opening doors (a relatively new trick; must remember to lock doors in situations that demand privacy, if you know what I’m talking about and I think you do), and 2) she’s figured out that she can climb out of her big-girl bed. Crap. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

It took a while, but eventually we all got out the door and over to the mortgage lender’s office. I felt bad for Catie, because I know that not much in life could be more boring for her, but I had brought a bag full of distractions: toys, books, Color Wonder markers & paper. Overall she was pretty good; she got a little whiny, but she did way better than I expected. Toward the end of the appointment, the guy left the room to photocopy all of the paperwork so we’d have copies for our records. While he was gone, I put Catie in one of the swivel chairs in his office and spun her around. She laughed and laughed, and thought it was so much fun. At least, she did for a while, until she got dizzy and took a flying leap out of the chair, and face-planted on the floor. Ouch. I had to carry her outside to calm her down, and the secretary brought her some M&M’s, which was very sweet.

Since Catie had been so good at the mortgage appointment, afterward we went to McDonald’s and let her have some chicken McNuggets and play in the indoor (read: air-conditioned) playground. She had an absolute blast running all over the place, I think we were there for about an hour. On the way home, both Dave and Catie fell asleep in the car. It was only maybe 10 or 15 minutes, but unfortunately, that meant that when we got home, Catie was all refreshed and ready to go. No more nap. Oof. Somebody kill me now.

So, this afternoon has mostly been comprised of whining and meltdowns (on Catie’s part, not mine, although believe me I was tempted). I gave her a bath around 4 p.m., then we came downstairs and had an early dinner. She asked for “milk and book” afterward, which is our bedtime routine: I lie down with her in her big-girl bed, and we read books together while she has her sippy cup of milk. Honestly, that’s like my favorite part of the day, even if it does mean that I can now recite “The Cat in the Hat” from memory. Tonight, though, Catie fell asleep while I was still reading to her. She was officially out before 6 p.m. Hell yeah. Mommy FTW!

So, since I am old and lame, I am going to bed early for the first time in weeks. And I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about that. I know it’s Friday night, and the Cindy from 10 years ago would not even recognize this version of myself. But honestly? I don’t care. I am so looking forward to sleep, glorious sleep.

Now, let’s just hope that Catie stays in her bed all night. Fingers crossed!

moving on

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When we moved from Seattle to North Carolina last year, it made sense to rent a house. We didn’t know the area very well, and we wanted time to explore and figure out where we wanted to live. Also, we didn’t exactly make money on the sale of our house, so we needed some time to come up with something that would approximate a down payment on a new place.

And here we are, ten months later. Our lease is going to expire in 60 days. Our landlady wants to know if we’re going to renew our lease for another year or if we’re going to move out. We have a little money that might be enough for a down payment. Our credit is just ok – it’s certainly not bad, but it’s not great either; we’re pretty firmly in the “average” range – and we weren’t sure if we would qualify for a mortgage or not. Sure, it’d be nice to take advantage of house prices being so low, but if banks are being stingy about handing out loans, we weren’t sure if we could work it or not.

(Incidentally, our pain-in-the-butt landlady is one of the primary reasons that I want to move. Everything is a headache with her, and everytime I talk to her, she’s always rude and snippy. Can’t. Stand. Her.)

I decided to contact our realtor here and ask if she knew someone we could ask about a loan. She gave me a referral, and it turns out that, lo & behold, we actually did get pre-approved for a mortgage! Which is really exciting, but now we just have to, you know, find a house to buy. No big deal, right?

So that’s going to be taking up a lot of my brainspace between now and August 1st. I’m much less stressed out about it this time than I was last year – moving across town versus cross-country? Yeah, not much of a comparison there. Of course moving sucks, and it’ll be a huge headache, and I’m sure I’ll bitch and moan through the whole process, but it’ll be nothing compared to our last move.

Plus, when it’s all said & done, we’ll have a place that’s really ours. This place has always felt like a house where we’ve just set up camp. We have our books in stacks on the dining room floor, because why bother buying new bookcases? It’ll just be more furniture to move later. This has never felt like a house where we could have people over for parties or anything; I would love to be in a house where I could have people over and not be embarassed about the visible litter box or the boxes that are still in the sunroom that we haven’t unpacked after ten bloody months. I especially can’t wait to get settled in a house that we can make changes to, so we won’t have to live with hideous wallpaper anymore.

Catie & her Daddy
Exhibit A: ugly fruit-oriented wallpaper in our kitchen. And I swear some of those figs look like testicles. It’s all I ever see when I look at the walls.

I’m worried about Catie, because I know that our last move was really hard on her. I expect this one will be easier; the people who are in her life now (her cousin Elizabeth, her friend Kiersten at daycare) will still be part of her normal routine after we move. But I also know she will be heartbroken to leave her friend McKenzie (and vice versa, really; McKenzie knocks on the door every single day to see if Catie can play). So it’ll be rough, but we’ll manage it.

whee!!

Plus, you know, an added benefit of home ownership is that we might be able to get a playset for the backyard. And judging by how much she loved playing on Elizabeth’s yesterday, I think that might be a pretty big selling point for her.

Now, off to find that perfect dream house…

random stuff

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1. My sister’s plane gets here tomorrow evening! Yay! She’ll be here in time for the March for Babies on Saturday, which is so cool, I’m really excited that she’ll be able to join us. The downside: the house is a mess, which I cannot deal with when we’re expecting company. So I need to get a-cleaning, and fast.

2. This house that we live in has a dual air-conditioning system, one for each floor. (It’s actually an energy saver; the A/C doesn’t have to work as hard when there’s two of them.) On Sunday, I went to get Catie up from her nap, and I heard a weird tap-tap-tap sound in her room. It was water leaking from her light fixture. Guess what’s above Catie’s bedroom? The attic. More specifically: the HVAC system in the attic. We had a guy come out here, who told us that the system is basically rotted and dying and we need a new one, and oh yeah we’ll probably need to replace the whole ceiling because the sheet rock has gotten wet, and we don’t want our asthmatic child to be breathing black mold in her bedroom. Fabulous.

Point being: yes, this sucks and all, but oh man, thank GOD we rent this place. I cannot imagine having to deal with that expense right now.

3. The eye test I was supposed to have that involved the plastic thingy on the surface of my eyeball? Well, it was supposed to happen last Thursday, but then I got sick, so I postponed it until today. Then they called me this morning and said that my eye doctor is sick, so now it’s been rescheduled for next Thursday. Which is fine by me, it’s not like I’m looking forward to this thing. (Incidentally, my eye doctor also has a baby. Want to bet that he gave her the exact same cold that Catie gave me? I wouldn’t doubt it.)

4. Random cute Catie things:
4a. Her newest song (to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle”):
Ringo Ringo Ringo Starr
How I wonder what you are?

4b. Catie really loves to play in the car, specifically in the front seat. Witness:
Catie driving
Exhibit A.

The problem, of course, is that this isn’t exactly legal, what with those pesky child restraint laws and everything. (Damn government! Interfering with my right to endanger my child!) So, although she’s usually pretty good in the car, she does have occasional screamfests about the fact that she wants to be in the front seat with us. Yesterday, we went to the grocery store and stopped for gas on the way home. I let Catie get in the front with me while Dave pumped the gas, then we decided we’d let her hang out in the front seat while we went through the car wash.

In case you were wondering? That has got to be the best way to make a toddler’s day, EVER. She loved it. “Car have baff? Get all cwean?” I’m not sure if it was the car wash itself or the thrill of riding shotgun (in Dave’s lap), but either way, I’ll have to make a mental note to do that again sometime, because it was so much fun.

And it felt totally rebellious in a “breakin’ the law, breakin’ the law” kind of way, even though we weren’t moving inside the car wash, and as soon as it was done and we exited the car wash, I pulled over & Dave buckled her back into her seat. Still. It felt sort of naughty and fun. (Sad that this is my idea of excitement these days, no?)

4c. This is what bathtime looks like at our house lately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8f_PLMF0HU
We usually end up with more water on the floor than in the tub, but whatever. You’re only 2 years old once, might as well let her enjoy some of this silly stuff before she’s too cool for it.

RABIES!!

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I thought we’d escaped the critters when we left the boonies, but I’m starting to think that our family is cursed and our critter-related woes will follow us until the end of time. Last week, we heard a story on the news that a raccoon with rabies was found less than two miles from our house. According to the news story, it seemed to be more of a threat to pets than people, and our cats are now indoor-only. So no big worry, right?

Yeah. Today I was talking with my next-door neighbor, and she said that in our very own neighborhood, a squirrel attacked some kid this past weekend. They didn’t catch the squirrel, so there’s no way of knowing if it’s rabid or not (most likely it is, since squirrels don’t generally attack teenagers who are chatting on their cell phones in their parents’ garage), so the poor kid has to get rabies shots just to be safe.

So, I think the days of Catie and I taking walks through our neighborhood greenway have come to an end. At least until I buy a baseball bat to bring along as a walking stick/rabid squirrel defense mechanism.

pretty girl on an unusually warm day
Hmm, think this stick is big enough to bash in a rabid rodent’s head? No? Ok, I’ll keep looking.

Catie throwing rocks in the creek
How about this rock? Still no?

Sorry, baby girl. This is why your mommy doesn’t like nature.

have a holly jolly early-November

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When we lived out in the boonies, we never put decorations on the outside of our house during the holidays. What would be the point? We lived on a remote, dead-end street. Barely anyone would’ve ever seen it other than us. So we never bothered.

Halloween was our first holiday in the suburbs, and our first experience seeing just how nuts the people around here go with their decorations. I was a little embarassed that we didn’t do anything. Well, ok, I put a pumpkin on the front stoop as sort of an autumn-type decoration, but I didn’t carve it or even draw on a jack o’lantern face with a Sharpie, because I suck horribly at all things that require even a teeny-tiny bit of artistic talent.

So, we’ve come to the conclusion that we’re going to have to step things up quite a bit for Christmas. A couple of our neighbors have informed me that everyone puts their Christmas lights up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Um, ok? Seems a bit ridiculous to me since it’s going to be up for a month, but sure, whatever.

To be honest, I’m a little excited at the idea of getting the outside of the house all spiffed up for Christmas, because my parents never did that. My mom would hang up a wreath on the front door, and since our front porch had white columns on it, she’d take a wide red ribbon and spiral it up the columns to make them look like candy canes. But we never had lights outside or anything. I’d really like to get in the habit of decorating the house for Christmas, I think Cate will really get into it as she gets older.

Today, Cate and I met up with Cat, Tony, e-baby, and Tony’s sister Diana to do a little pre-Christmas shopping. We hit a couple of stores to check out their selection of Christmas decorations. I didn’t buy anything today, I was just trying to get some ideas. Lowe’s hardware store has some great stuff – Cate and e-baby both loved all of the animatronic dancing, singing toys – but let’s get real, I’m not going to drop $200 on a giant inflatable Santa and stable (with a stall for each reindeer, labeled Donner, Blitzen, etc.). We also went to Big Lots (or as Cat calls it, Poverty Barn), and they had tons of stuff, which was pretty cheap, so I’ll probably end up heading back there to pick up some stuff. And I noticed that the dollar store near our house has Christmas decorations, so I think I’ll definitely be able to find sufficient supplies for the house that won’t hurt our bank account too much. I haven’t decided how extensive we’re going to get with the decor, though. I’ll have to balance my ambition with my hatred of working in the yard when it’s cold outside.

What about y’all? Anyone else go crazy with Christmas decorations, do you boycott them altogether, or do you find a happy medium?

first weekend in the new place

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Today, we had several people come over to help us unpack: Cat, Tony, e-baby (ok, she was mostly there to play with her cousin Cate) and their friends Dan and Jess. We got SO MUCH done, it’s amazing. It’s starting to feel like “a proper house,” as Dave says, rather than just a mess of boxes. Granted, it’s still a very messy house, but it’s starting to feel more and more manageable.

The living room is basically done, we just need to put books on the shelves and hang some pictures. And the kitchen was an unbelievably big job that’s now probably 90% done. (It would be more, but the shelves are broken in the cabinet where I want to put my pots and pans. The landlord will be repairing that soon.) Cate’s room is finished too, except for putting away all of the clothes from her suitcase that I took on our trip.

That leaves us with the dining room, my office, Dave’s office, and our bedroom. Oh, and the garage, where the movers dumped a whole mess o’ crap that really has no business being in the garage. It’s a lot, but not quite as overwhelming as when I first walked in the door on Thursday afternoon.

The downside of doing so much is that I am now in unbelievable pain. My shoulders ache from carrying so much, and my calves are killing me from running up and down the stairs a thousand times. It sucks, but I’ll live.

And you know, Cat and Tony are family, so it kind of makes sense that they’d come over to help, since I’d totally do the same thing for them. But we’d only met Dan and Jess once before, so the fact that they volunteered to help us out just amazes me. They both seem like really great, fun people, and I look forward to getting to spend more time with them.

P.S. One thing I need to vent about: we had our cable installed yesterday, and Dave and I went through it last night to set up all of our DVR timers. That’s when I found out that Time Warner in Raleigh doesn’t carry Bravo. That means no more Project Runway for me. I am pissed, y’all. I’ll be calling them first thing Monday morning to complain. I’ll be ok next season after they move the show to Lifetime, but I wanted to see how this season turned out. My mom has promised to record the shows for me and burn them to DVD, which she’ll then mail to me. It’s very sweet of her, but it’s not the same. Hmph.

blogging from our new house

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We made it to North Carolina. The flight was relatively easy and uneventful, which is always a good thing. Cate was so happy to see Dave at the airport that when he picked her up, she buried her face in his neck and didn’t move for several minutes. Poor kiddo, I think she had decided that Daddy guy was gone for good. We’ve never seen her like that, it was sort of heartbreaking.

The house is super-cute and I love the neighborhood, so I’m really happy with our choice. But of course, it’s a rental so there are a few maintenance issues: the A/C works downstairs but not upstairs (a real problem, since it’s hot and upstairs is where we sleep), the garbage disposal is broken, the dryer took over three hours to dry one load of clothes, etc. So there are lots of little things. And the house doesn’t feel very clean to me, which I suppose is because the previous tenants had teenage boys. It’s not horrible by any stretch of the imagination, just maybe not quite as perfect as you’d expect a house to be that you’re moving into for the first time. I’m looking forward to getting unpacked and doing a really thorough scrub-down of the whole house. It’s sort of impossible to do right now with boxes everywhere.

Speaking of the boxes: my general rule for moving is to get the beds and bathrooms unpacked first, then you can take a shower, go to bed, and deal with everything else the next day. Makes sense, right? Well, I consider it a huge victory that among the hundreds of boxes in our house, I was able to find the boxes with our bedding in them (crib bedding too! different box!) and get everything fixed up with a very agitated 18 month-old running around demanding our constant attention. Score one for teamwork: Dave kept Cate distracted while I got the beds made.

The cats were delivered this afternoon, and the poor kitties are totally freaked out, but very happy to see us. Cate missed her little buddy so much, she and Beaumont have basically been making out for hours (lots of full-on face nuzzles). Teenie is so happy to see us that she’s even been letting Cate pet her, which is kind of a huge deal for her. And Teenie is usually the skittish one who hides under our bed all the time, but she’s been exploring both upstairs and downstairs of the house, so that’s great. She hisses at Beaumont when he gets too close to her personal space, but otherwise they’re both fine.

Cate didn’t go into her crib easily tonight, which I was kind of expecting, since it’s her same crib but in a totally foreign room. She freaked when I put her down, and I didn’t have the heart to make her cry it out on her first night, so I brought her into our bed until she fell asleep (which took about three minutes tops – baby girl was worn slap out), then I moved her to her crib. I’m wondering if I’m going to get a 3 a.m. wake-up call or not. Fingers crossed that we all sleep well this first night.