Real (estate) discussions

Following on the meeting yesterday with the painters, we’re continuing to dip our toe into the whole idea that we’re going to have to move. (Can you tell I really don’t want to accept this concept?) For today’s toe-in-the-water, we had a meeting with a real estate agent.

I started the discussion on a shallow, low commitment email via Zillow to a real estate agent who has had a number of sales in our area. I blatantly said we’re not selling right now, but we know we’re going to have to sell in the next two years and to that end, we want a professional to take a look at our place and let us know where to focus our energies. And, when we are ready to sell, well, you’ll have first dibs if we all like each other.

I’m not home (stupid work) when she arrives, but she walks around the house with the Bald One taking looks at the outside first. There’s nail pops on the siding, trim work that needs painting, gutters need cleaning and the patio is gorgeous. The yard looks low maintenance but well done. The front porch needs an overhaul (already scheduled). Then she steps in the house, and asks how many cats we have (three). We really need to clear out the cats and all the odor related to them to not make people leave the second they walk in. Part of that would be removing the remaining carpets and checking the duct work through the house, which were both planned in the next two years. Oddly, she loved the flooring we have replaced and had no idea that it was laminate. Next on her hit list were some easy, understood things: we have too much stuff, and too much personal stuff on the walls. When we take it all down, we’ll likely want to paint the entire place. The rustic-feel of the exposed bricks and the laminate are lovely and charming, but the kitchen needs a bit of work with an updated dishwasher and hinges. The master bath vanity should be redone, which unfortunately means the flooring needs to be done.

The good news is almost everything she mentioned is something we were planning on dealing with ourselves in the next 18 months or so. Now we just have to do it, figure out what we want in a new house, and begin the paring down of all the things. Wish us luck, please.

Paint Shop Boys

I live in a quirky house. I love my quirky house. It’s older (30+ years), it has character, it isn’t a standard square and it has a lovely arrangement of rooms that don’t allow for a single baby gate. There are stairs all over the place, a master bedroom that is sort of public, but sort of private. The room we originally used as a nursery was at the top of the stairs and we’d just see Gummi Bear peaking out of her crib at us when we’d come to the bottom of the stairs. With the backyard patio we’ve added, the landscaping that has been done and the plants coming into bloom in the spring it is a lovely getaway from the world. Add to the fact that we are within walking distance of two decent parks, a quiet neighborhood and minutes away from shopping or downtown and you’d think we have an ideal place.

Then we had a second child. If we had stopped at the first one, we might have been okay. But we wanted two kids, and thus we outgrew our house. At least we can toss the older one in the backyard to run around, but since Buddy Roo has issues with self-preservation we can’t throw them both outside to play. Add to that the amount of rain we’ve had of late and it gets a little confining.

Because of this, the Bald One and I have realized that we need to look at getting ready to sell. See how I eased myself into that thinking? We’re not really there yet, are we…it’s just, to better position ourselves we need to do a few things. And who says we can’t enjoy it while we have it? Like the back patio, it needed to be fixed or replaced and now it is a lovely place to sit and read or have dinner with friends. The flooring that was also done last spring feels great, cleans up well and was a lovely change from the evil Berber carpet. The next logical outdoor step is painting, maybe. And since we have no idea what we’re doing there, maybe we should talk to someone about what that entails.

Enter a bright-eyed college junior running a small business under a larger umbrella. He comes into our kitchen, talks with us about options and finds out who we are and what we’re looking for. He walks around and talks about what he sees (peeling spots here, not much of an issue there, bare untreated wood that will need two coats) and goes off to crunch numbers. We decide painting really isn’t the priority compared to a few other things (like getting our HVAC to behave), but the bare wood really should be painted to fit in with everything else. He breaks it down for us, and he gets a check with the promise to visit in a few months to go over specifics of color and schedule with the hopes of being able to get us to sign on for painting the rest of the house.

But that feels like a commitment. A step towards an unknown future house for us and different owners for this quirky little place. Hopefully they’ll love it too.

#100DaysofRA! D12-17 / 0420-25

Look! Another batch update on my crazy life.

One of the big things over the last week that has been fantastic and terrible has been the great purging that is happening. We have so many storage corners scattered around the building that it makes it easy to become a hoarder. Add to the high turnover in some roles and you have either people dumping entire desks of materials into a corner to never be seen again or (my favorite) the purchasing of office supplies that nobody knows are in existence. Add to that the complete disinterest in something so un-sexy as archiving and purging and you have overflowing closets of stuff. Some of the calls were very easy to make (look – a thing to be used in front of customers with wrong logos! pitch!) while others were very complicated (these files that nobody knows about? what about these slides? or these VHS tapes? what about the actual slide projector?). It was dirty, sweaty, dusty work that ate up about a third of my work week. The only thrill is that we cleared out so many racks of stuff and found other places to store the actual stuff we need to keep by throwing out more stuff. Now I just need to clean out my desk.

On the household front, I got to be indignant on the invisible girl problem. Black Widow kicks butt, and yet she gets dropped from clothes and toys. Sabine & Hera is missing from some of the associated toy lines for Star Wars Rebels. The only bright spot is the launch of the DC SuperHeroes stuff that will be focusing on the girls. Gummi Bear loves the super hero movies and watches Once Upon a Time for the girls, so it would be nice if she could express her geek-love without having to go to fan-developed merchandisers

There were two other big-deal things this week that we tackled around the place: dryer repair and registration for a 5k. First, the boring part: I lucked out and married a guy who knows his way around a power drill. There are many things I am perfectly capable of doing as a girl, but usually when electricity gets involved, I get a little out of my comfort zone. The Bald One however took apart the dryer, discovered what wasn’t working and replaced it, before discovering something else also wasn’t working and replaced that as well. We now have dry clothing again and life is good. The 5k I picked is part of the Color Run and I have until October to get to the point I won’t make a fool of myself. Part of the allure of this race in particular is the fact that it is set right near my office. This means that I can practice the route before the big day. I’m actually looking forward to getting covered in color and glitter, it should be a blast.

#100DaysofRA! D5-11 / 0413-19

My accountability kinda sorta sucks. I’d like to blame everything from day job and small people to the world in general, but I know part of it is I can find five minutes to do just about anything except the sitting and writing of doing things. So what have I been doing? getting grey hairs, mostly.

Buddy Roo is at that age where he is hellbent on self-destruction. You can say it is second child syndrome, you can say it is life with a boy, but the reality of the situation is that we have a boy who has no fear of gravity, blood or injury. He started this week by climbing out of his crib. A crib that is already on the lowest setting. This was facilitated by the stuffies hanging out in his crib, so those may be leaving.

The next part of the week was spent getting ready for the invasion of the grandparents. They were coming into town to see Gummi Bear’s gymnastics class. That was entertaining, since they’d never seen her do what she does. In our usual strange relationship, I can’t quite understand what happens but my mother loves to do her research about what her daughter or grandchildren are up to by asking friends and describing how someone else is better.

The weekend started with a bang as Buddy Roo dealt with his congestion (likely from allergies) by projectile puking over my bed. He didn’t feel any better hours later, so off to the doctor we went. It was deemed likely allergies, given a dosing amount and sent on our way. Luckily the girlie was entertained by her grandparents taking her to movies and to shopping and then we all introduced them to Menchies for frozen yogurt. The next day, they headed out and I spent the day binge watching Game of Thrones.

The big fun of the week was taking advantage of Michael’s framing to frame up the Doctor Who Squares I acquired at WizardCon. Not that I know where those are going. Or if they’re even going up any time soon, but that’s a whole different story.

Weekend Workings

Yesterday, I baked a cake. Today, I helped my girl make a kaleidoscope. Such is the crafty work of a mom on a weekend.

I got a phone call from one of my cousins early on Thursday, asking if they could stop by on Saturday. We turned that into an impromptu birthday party. I owed my girl a cake, since her mid-week birthday kinda didn’t allow for it. This also meant that we really did have to clean our downstairs, a task we had planned on doing but hadn’t really committed to doing because “eh, we’ll get there.” Amazingly, the cake was finished frosting (barely) and the house was clean before folks showed up. Granted, it wasn’t SFZ level clean, but I don’t think that will happen until I can get a housekeeper, kids to stop making messes at every chance or the kids to actually help with the cleanup. It was presentable if not perfect, everyone was outside for most of it anyway and the kids had a great time.

I remembered that I hadn’t done a write up. I had done one in my head (and taken the picture) on Friday, but needed to get that posted.

Today’s project was a little more fun, and a bit belated and a bit overdue. My parent’s bought Gummi Bear a kaleidoscope kit when they were at the Northern shore. After being babied by the Kiwi Crate kits that contain everything you may need, I forgot I might need things to put this together. It took a few attempts to remember to get out the glue before Buddy Roo had his nap, but once we did, it was easy peasy to put it together. The finished result was fantastic and now a precious little thing for the girl. I forgot how fun kaleidoscopes were to make. The last time I made one was in high school, for my geometry class. It was a last minute mess, but it was fun. I still have mine in my craft closet.

The spring being sprung has been lovely for feeling creative and getting back to basics. Last weekend we planted seeds in pots and now there are small pumpkin sprouts and bean sprouts peeking out of the dirt. Soon tomatoes, peas, carrots and peppers will follow. Small measures of home, like the cleaning downstairs and friends being over, provide a nice foundation for the future.

A few more little things to hang and a few more dead plants to remove and we’ll be in a good foundation for what comes next.

Demo & Delivery

When I went to visit family in February, my parents incentivized both my brother and myself to stop waiting on projects or trying to get their (willing but less physically able as years pass) help at major home projects. For us, it was our patio screening. We’ve been talking about getting it done, and maybe adding a deck or a patio to the yard along with a bunch of other little things that all add up. With their financial push, we’re finally getting things accomplished.

In three little weeks, these guys came out and transformed that mess of timbers and ripped screening to a lovely brick patio with screened enclosure. The space doubled and we were able to add a beer garden table and a smaller seating area. Our 4×4′ garden that got added to the patio design has plants and we may even be making salsa this fall. And the deck warming was fabulous. I’ll have to convince my phone to show you.

Spring!

Modified bed rest is seriously depressing after a while. However, this week we hit the “full term” label and I breathed a sigh of relief. With that full term status, I was also able to look out my living room window (while reading a book on the couch) and stare at the green grass, our day lilies coming up and sigh at Spring finally showing up in the Carolinas after this ridiculous winter.

Right now, it’s in the mid seventies outside. My SIL called this morning and told the Bald One she has snow. Based on that, I couldn’t sit inside any longer. I planned to do one tiny patch of garden – the peonies and iris patch – and just wanted to de-leaf and trim out the dead growth that hadn’t been completely removed after last fall. It took over an hour as I did take a few breaks to talk with the Bald One (and sit) or stare blankly at the squirrels frolicking. But at the end of that time, I was ready to sit in the shade, drink some water and enjoy the fact that this tiny patch was cleared. The thyme ground cover we have in the patch is cleared up a bit and smells delicious, the peonies now look stunning and the iris is ready to grow and bloom free of last year’s leaves. It is a tiny patch (compared to the raking the Bald One has done for the hostas and the front yard, the fact that he mowed and the large mess that is our backyard), but I feel like I did something. My nails have dirt in them. The knees of my jeans have mulch and dirt embedded into them. But most importantly, I have a tiny patch of spring ready.

Water, water everywhere…

Outside, we’re watching the weekend’s snow melt. Inside, we have a dehumidifier running.

Our water heater seems to have died…with a rather soggy result. The Bald One called our homeowner’s insurance and found out that they’ll be taking care of the water damage and we’ll pay the deductible. So we’ve had fans running mostly full-time since early Wednesday. With the snow storm and both of us stuck in the house (day three), the fans have only been running at night and for fits during the day. We’re down to the decimal level of moisture in the baseboards and some spots on the 2×4’s in the storage closet.

The water heater seems to have sprung a leak internally, it’s drained into our dining room and a little into the kitchen. The carpet in the dining room likely has to go. The cabinets that lined the wall have been moved and will need some TLC. The walls, miraculously, are safe. In the kitchen, they popped off the floor kick-plates and it didn’t damage the cabinets. Once the storage shed is completely dry, the insulation and gypsum will be replaced. The tricky thing right now is the carpet.

The downstairs carpet is a solid piece of oatmeal berber throughout the living room and dining room. If the carpet cannot be cleaned in the dining room, then the practice for the insurance company is to replace the carpet. Unknown at this time is if they’ll be able to clean the carpet and if not, how are they planning on replacing the carpet? If they have to do it and they feel they have to replace it exactly then they have to go through the living room. Our living room has four bookcases, a large CD rack and a DVD rack as well as the usual couch, coffee table, chair, television and entertainment system. I’m not sure I want to think about having to move those things. We should know tomorrow though.

Home stretch

Today, other than being the Bald One’s birthday, is also the end of my second trimester with Gummi Bear. That means now I have to actually start thinking about the fact that soon (all too soon) I’ll need a place for her to sleep, things to feed her and clothe her and probably all kinds of other things that I’ve never even dreamed of being involved with baby-life.

With the Bald One still unemployed, the normal housework stuff we’d try to do on weekends is getting done during the week. This leaves weekends for me to stare at our house and try to figure out just what we can realistically accomplish. Deck? no. Hallway tiling? also likely no. But getting the nursery ready should be possible.

We did finally get around to playing at the registry and I did get a dear friend of mine to proof it for us to tell me what I was missing. The thing that she pointed out that was horribly lacking is a glider / rocker thingy. There’s some other photos on Flickr of the room. There’s some things we need to clear off (like all that stuff on the shelves), some things we need to paint (like the changing table/dresser), some things that need to find a new home somehow (like my desk) and just basic fussing stuff in the room. I’m hoping to get a dent before my mother shows up in early February to go shopping for the crib and any other necessities. I also have to work on a guest list for the aforementioned friend who’s a saint and is hosting a shower for us.

But it’s all slowly becoming real now. Scary.

Jessamine: woody, high-climbing vine

When I first bought our jessamine, I was excited. I love the plant and I loved seeing them at work on the trellises as you walked the garden or up to the back entrance. I figured, having that at home couldn’t be too hard – I never saw anyone taking care of it and it obviously liked being in the Carolinas. So home we took our little potted plant and I hung it in a basket on our front porch.