steph's stuff

Keeping our chins up

We still don't know what's going on with the house we're buying. The sellers have been out of town so the negotiations have basically been stopped since last Thursday. We're hoping to start the negotiating again today and tomorrow and come to some type of agreement over the failing septic system. The problem is that it technically passed the county's inspection. However, it passed with a note saying that it had a significant problem and was in the early stages of failure. All the sellers are focusing on is that it passed. And, of course, we're focusing on the fine print. We'll see how it goes. We have to be out of our current house in two weeks so we're getting down to the wire.

In an effort to keep our chins up, we decided to take the weekend off of packing or anything else related to moving and it really helped. We played all day Saturday and then had a date night on Saturday night at our favorite restaurant. And then we spent the rest of our weekend talking about and daydreaming about how we want to decorate a new house. Tom also built a new compost tumbler yesterday and it's cool! I'll have photos of that tomorrow. I can't wait to garden and grow our own food. I'm really ready to move our family away from processed foods. :)

Here are some of our inspiration rooms. These are shamelessly stolen from realtor.com so I don't have any photo credits. But I thank all of the realtors out there who take great photos of their clients' homes. :)

Sometimes a bad photo is a great photo

   
 
This photo is one of my favorites of all time. Technically, it's a horrid photo but that has nothing to do with the value of the photo. It was taken when Andrew was only about 30 minutes old and it's the first photo I have of all of my kids. But it also shows all 3 kids truly as they really are. Their real personalities are not yet covered up with worry about how they look or that pre-teen attitude.

Emily, of course, is happy being the center of attention and the one in charge. She's the one who gets to hold the baby and be the star. And her smile is cheesy but it's a very genuine Emily smile - she is glowing because she loves being the big sister.

And Libby's quieter nature is perfectly portrayed here, too. She has to think about a situation before she's truly comfortable with it. She's much more reserved and clinging to Emily a bit - and that is exactly what she still does to this day. If Mommy is not there, Emily is the next best thing in her mind.

And Andrew - just a sweet sleeping newborn in this photo - oblivious to all the fuss. And that hasn't changed. He's just a happy kid as long as he's with his family.

I am so glad that I have this bad photo. :)

He keeps us laughing

 

This little dude is the happiest, most easy-going child you could ever be lucky enough to meet. He loves everyone, he wants to play with every child he meets, and hugs all of his friends constantly. He doesn't care if we move, he doesn't care if we stay, he doesn't care if we change schools or if we stay at the current school - he says that as long as he has someone to play with, he doesn't care where he is. And he's funny! So funny!!!

Overheard lately:

He was in our bedroom one morning and Emily wandered in wearing a t-shirt and underwear. Andrew got up, looked at her bare legs and underwear and muttered, "Awkwarrrrrd," on his way out the door. LOL!!!

He's been falling asleep with his feet on his pillow and I have to turn him around and cover him up every night when I go to bed. I finally asked him why he was doing that and he said he could think better with his head upside down. :)

He tells me I'm beautiful and soft and he loves me so much but that I have a big butt.

We've been planning a birthday party for him. Yesterday, he came home from school and said, "Mom, I don't want to invite the 1st grade boys to my party anymore. I just want all the ladies to come." ROFL!!!!

The future vs. today

"The future belongs to those 
who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Today needs to be a better day and I'm going to have to make it happen because it has not been happening on its own. The negotiations on both houses has truly taken its toll on me. Both deals have become very complicated and I haven't slept through the night for weeks now and am battling migraines almost daily. However, the good news is that our house has sold. We haven't closed yet but the negotiations are done and the time has passed for the buyers to respond to the inspection reports so we're basically done except for the packing and moving out. It has not been easy or peaceful but it's done.

The new house might be falling through. It kills me to say that. But we can't buy a house with significant defects and, if they refuse to fix the problems, we're going to walk away from it. If that happens, I just have to believe that it will be for the best, that that house was not meant to be, and that there is another house out there that will be better for us. In the meantime, I'll find us an extended-stay hotel or even an apartment to move into.

Today, I'm going to just do things that need to be done and try not to think too much - I'll finish some paperwork for our financing that was messed up, clean up the house a bit, and get a haircut. I'm just going to stop worrying about the new house. And I'm going to just believe in dreams and listen to Eleanor today. ;)

It's Monday - take a deep breath!

Thank you all so much for all the comments and emails on my last post about doing the right thing. I've read them over and over and showed them to my husband and we appreciate every single one of them. :) And, if it's any indication, when I emailed the director asking her to call me (I only had her email, not her phone number) to talk about Emily when she had a free moment, instead of calling me, she emailed me her phone number and told me to call her instead. Wellll......okay then. I don't know how everyone does it, but if I received a message asking me to call someone to talk about a child, I would simply call them. Not tell them that it was their job to make the call. My gut was right. I'll be making that call this morning.

So.........onto other matters. It's Monday and that means more negotiations on the house, more packing, and more craziness.

But, in order to keep my sanity, I dream about decorating the new house. And the darn office is still driving me nuts. I've virtually certain that I'll be painting all that wood a very crisp white. The walls might be a soft chocolate or gray - not sure yet. The family room will probably be yellow so either of those would work. And the french doors leading into it from the living room are a crisp white.

  

But the second door is driving me nuts. You can see it in the photo below. The current owners just added that door - it had always been just a doorway. But, the door covers up part of the built-ins and I hate that.

 

I'd really love to have a pocket door right there but I imagine that's pretty pricey to put into a house after the house is built. So, what to do with that door? Just get rid of it?

Speaking of getting rid of things - I can't wait to get rid of all the brass fixtures and light switches in the house. I love this foyer but the brass light and light switch have got to go!

 
  

Doing the right thing

We have just made a really tough decision about Emily's involvement in a local play and it's really bothering me. I hope we're doing the right thing. I think we're doing the right thing. But, I'm struggling with the reaction that is going to come our way.

Emily loves theater. She loves her drama class, was the top performer in her grade for her school's speech team, feels totally at home being on stage, and has absolutely no nerves about public speaking. She's an independent, eloquent, self-confident kid on stage and loves to perform in any way. Not only does she enjoy being the center of attention but she also loves being back stage. Last year, she was the stage manager for her school play and this year she was the assistant director. (Photo above taken a couple of weeks ago at her play's final performance)

So, when an opportunity arose for her to try out for the local civic theatre's rendition of "Suessical! The Musical" about 6 weeks ago, she jumped all over it. She was called back for all 3 lead roles and the production staff spoke very highly of her. She did not get any of the leads but was given not just one supporting role, but three supporting roles. We were all excited and very proud of her.

However, the first rehearsal resulted in more tears than I've ever seen her shed. She was totally miserable, overwhelmed, and scared of the production staff. She begged for us to allow her to quit. We wouldn't even consider it. We feel very strongly that if you make a committment, you stick with it. I told her that, gave her lots of hugs and told her that it would get better. She cried herself to sleep that night.

Fast forward to today. She is six weeks into rehearsals and is still crying herself to sleep almost every single night about going to rehearsals. I've never seen her this unhappy. She's had a few run-ins with the director over missing rehearsals when she was sick and, frankly, I've been quite unhappy with some of the communications with the director, as well. And I'm worried that she's forgetting that Emily is only in 6th grade and just turned 12 - most of the girls that are in Em's group are older and teenagers. I won't go into all the details but I've had just a few hairs on the back of my neck stand up with some interactions with this director. And I think I understand why Emily is scared of her. Em feels singled out and picked on and I tend to believe that this director might do that.

And Emily's reaction is simply totally out of character. She loves to perform, she doesn't shy away from long hours and hard work and this is not like her at all. I'm been struggling horribly with forcing a child to do something that makes her cry herself to sleep every night. This was supposed to be a fun experience and it's turned out to be just the opposite.

So, after weeks of thinking about this, we decided to pull her out of the production. We are not going to make any friends with the theatre company by doing this and it could come back to haunt both Emily and me in the future in a small town. Her absence is going to cause them more work and they're going to be angry with us. And Emily will most likely be in class with some of her now-former castmates at her new school next year.

But, I feel as though I have to stand up for her right now. And, while others are going to be angry that I'm not doing the right thing for the production staff by pulling her out, I can only hope that standing up for my kid is truly the right thing to do. 

No one can escape change right now

No one is safe from change in our house right now. It's all around us all the time and you can't hide from it. Sawyer thought he was immune.

  

But he was wrong.

 

Way wrong.

 
  (photo taken this morning with my cell phone - he's a bit confused)

Chaos reigns

 

There is so much chaos around my life right now that I'm not even sure what day it is.

We have been knee-deep in home inspections on each house - there's 8 inspections done on each house and reports and emails have been flying back and forth between the inspectors, the realtors, the buyers of our current house, and the sellers of the new house.

We need to replace windows in this house and there's problems with the septic and furnace in the new house. So, all of that requires MORE inspectors and more reports and more negotiations over money. I am so ready for all of this to be done. I never want to move again.  

In the midst of all of this, I'm dealing with a long-haired shaggy dog, the muddy season, and a husband who is having to work around the clock right now which leaves me to do most of this myself.

I don't know how people can stand to move more often. It's just crazy. It should all be over in a month, though, and that's what I'm holding onto. And if I ever decide to move again, please yell at me. Seriously.

Would you paint this?

 

For some reason, Tom thinks that the office in the new house is his. Hahahaha! It will be shared. :)

This is the only room in the house that has stained wood wainscoting or trim. Every other room has white crown molding and trim.

Would you paint this? Paint part of it? Or just leave it as is.

P.S. I hope to be back to a regular blogging schedule but I'm knee-deep in Em's play rehearsals, performances, mortgage paperwork, and packing.  

When a bathroom = a closet

In our current house, we have a master bathroom. Well, not really. We have a bathroom in our bedroom. It is definitely not a master. The entire bathroom is 4 x 6. And it's a full bath. Not a powder room. Although that's a very typical size for a powder room. Tom and I can't be in there at the same time. Nor can you sit straight on the toilet without your knees hitting the toilet paper holder on the wall in front of you. It gives tiny a new meaning.

Wanna see for yourself? This is the entire bathroom. When I took this picture, I was standing right at the threshhold. The sink is to my right and the door and wall is to my left. That's it. The whole darn thing.

 

I am, however, very proud of this bathroom. A few years ago, Tom gutted it. Down to the studs and plumbing. And we re-did the entire thing by ourselves - including the shower, tile and all. It was a ton of fun. And probably what gave me the confidence to do the home reno project this fall.

Anyway, in the new house, we're going to have just a little bit more room. In fact, we each have walk-in closets in the master bathroom. And they are each as big as our entire master bathroom in this house.

Can you say giddy? :)