Where Else Can I Brag?

I know it's not cool to brag too much about your kid, but I am so impressed my 20 month old can count to 10! It's not 100% reliable, but he does it about 75% of the time!! Ok, so since I know almost nothing about child development maybe he's way behind, but I am freaking impressed if you can't tell by all my exclamation points!! (!!!)

I'm also depressed by the fact that I used the phrase "he'll be 2 in June" instead of "he's 20 months" the other day. Where the heck did this last year go? Why has time suddenly accelerated? Is science looking into this phenomenon?

So, that other news. We're house hunting! We have decided to rent out our current house and buy another one. We listed our current place on craigslist and people were tripping all over themselves to rent it, we literally had 3 people ready to apply for the lease and had to cancel on a dozen more. So we did what any good business person would do, we didn't rent it to any of them. Ha. We're actually going to put it back up in a couple of weeks for $100 more/month. I am confident we'll be able to rent the place one way or another. Which is awesome, because I am so excited to move. Well, not excited to actually do the moving part, but to be in a space that is more suited to our needs. I'm drooling over kitchens and yards and bathrooms, while Chris is drooling over garages and sheds. We're aiming to have it all...

Not much to say this month

We've had a good month, a little on the expensive side:

as this was the view out of our front door for a day. It was almost worth the $2000 price tag - Eliot has never been so excited. It was our sewer - again. We've now had that side of the yard ripped up twice, and we got out cheap at $2000 because it wasn't done correctly 4 years ago. You live and you learn. But, we keep on smiling even when we have egg on our face.

Our house goes on the market tomorrow - TOMORROW! It's crazy. I'm nervous and excited and anxious. I'm worried it won't sell, I'm worried it will sell fast. I'm worried about emptying my bank account to get out of here. Sigh. But we're doing it!

Eliot is still not officially walking. But he is doing this

and this

and lots of this

The kid is part fish, and all about wheels. Wonder where he came from. I'm still enjoying keeping him close to me

And I think he enjoys it too. He's a mess, this guy

But we're loving every minute. Wish us luck on house selling, I know I've got my fingers crossed!

Mid-July recap

I just don't know how to NOT post today. I am, however, sick of labelling my post in months but I will sneak it in rightherehe's13monthsok?

This last month has been great! Stressful! Crazy! But super great! Eliot has continued to blind everyone with his cuteness. He loves to play in the water, which is great because we suddenly live in the jungle up here in Minne-snow-ta. 117 heat index today and humidity so thick you could cut it with a knife - I think this is the hottest weather I've ever seen. Wait, there was that insanely hot vacation we took to Florida 2 years ago this June. I actually walked around all day in heat like this - I think that still wins.

 His birthday party was a hit - although it rained the whole day, and he ate his cake like nobody's business. The cake eating prompted a mini-crisis in my head because I work so damn hard trying to fill this kid up with good foods and then we set an entire cake in front of him. Customs are weird. Chris got to open up his gifts, and Eliot threw a bit of a fit towards the beginning so Chris got to open up his gifts while Eliot wasn't even there. Ha! Awkward!

We had planned to stay up for fireworks for the 4th, but Eliot's grandma watched him for the day and he was so excited that he decided to forego napping for the entire day! Which meant he went to bed even earlier than usually and no fireworks for us. But that's ok. Next year he's going to love it.

We're still working on selling our house. We have 2 projects left to finish and we're ready. Early August there should be a for sale sign up in front of this beast. That is just part of the crazy that I'm feeling right now. Changes! They are a-brewing!

A life update

Seems like all the talk around here is about that one guy...what's his name again? Oh yea, my son, Eliot. I can't get enough of that guy.But! I do have other things that I do. Really! The world keeps turning even though I'm a mom and totally infatuated with my firstborn...and in denial about the fact that he's going to be one in approximately a month's time.
The cat. He came this close (imagine really close fingers here) to joining that big litter box in the sky. Traxx turned 10 on the first (HOLYSHIT - Chris and I bought that cat together, as a kitten - and he's 10! I am old.) and he went downhill fast. There was a lot of losing weight, peeing gratuitously on everything, and me thinking that I don't want a cat who pees on everything while mourning the fact of - my cat! My first fur-baby! But it turns out it was a UTI, amongst other things. He's....well....he's got a diagnosis that means he has a limited amount of time left with us. A few years at best, but he's back in action just in time to longingly stare out the windows at the birds nesting in our gutters. Stupid birds.
The dog. He's doing awesome. I was so proud of us for "fixing" his leg issues but it turns out that he's just been so well rested that they fixed themselves! That's right! We never take the poor guy anywhere! So when the vet came over and told us he's 103 pounds of beastly furriness, I about fell off my chair (he should be around 80-90). I really thought what the vet called his love handles were his ribs. I should probably stop telling myself that when I look in a mirror too. Daly is now on a diet and a strict exercise regimen (where strict = when we can get out of the house he comes with). He hates the diet, loves the exercise, and he's already looking svelter (is that even a word? Blogger is accepting it). If I could just keep him out from under the high chair.
We're actively pursuing selling our house. So this does have something to do with our progeny, because these little people take up about 10 times the room of a normal sized person, but we knew we wouldn't be there forever either. In talking to a realtor we're close to breaking even (SOB - after 6 years of payments and tens of thousands of dollars invested into the place), but that's a good thing. It could be worse. We're painting the outside and we bought the stuff to start projects and it is sitting in corners collecting dust are doing a few minor updates, but may even list this fall. If not, we'll list next spring. Although we do have to list without our awesome winery rain barrel. We forgot about the barrel while wiping a poopy butt didn't winterize it properly and the bottom basically exploded. I am so looking forward to house shopping because THE DEALS! Even though we have to come up with another down payment, we'll get into our forever house for a really great price.
Chris and I? We're hanging in there. I basically rely on Chris to be superhuman, and he nearly always lives up to my expectations. But seriously I am sometimes surprised when he goes to take a nap or something - I forget how much I ask of him. I'm sometimes overwhelmed - with work, babies, animals, houses, but I'm happy. Who wouldn't be waking up to this guy every morning?

Just this side of nothing

I started this post on Earth Day...I'm finishing it in June. I've been just a little busy, although I think it's funny that every time people ask me what I've been up to all I can come up with is oh, nothing. So here is my nothing.

Ignore the fuzzy thing at the bottom of the picture. I was simply too lazy to crop it out. It's a miracle I'm even updating this blog really.

Something for the spirit of Earth Day! Chris and I went out and bought ourselves a rain barrel. Chris headed up this effort almost all by himself, and I was thoroughly impressed. Our adventure started by driving in circles around a port-a-potty graveyard looking for a lady from craigslist who said she had wine barrels. Silly us, we had been looking for an office of some sort but she was stationed out of a giant cage. We got to pick out our own wine barrel from about 80 of them, and you can't imagine the smell! It was a little much. We picked a Cabernet Sauvignon from some region in France, which happens to be my favorite wine, but really it was the best barrel there. We drove home praying not to get pulled over while smelling like a winery....and Chris set it up after only one trip to Home Depot (and that was an earth day miracle people). It rained the next day, and not very much, and the barrel was half full! Then it rained for real and we got to see the overflow spout work. It was very dry for about 2 months, and we watered all of our plants with this, and still didn't run out (it's a 55 gallon barrel). For about the first month though all of the water that came out was slightly red and smelled like cabernet, which may be a marketing ploy because I find myself craving red wine. Or else Jesus is in our barrel. I figure we will have the best tomatoes ever because they've been watered by wine. I'll let you know in a month or two.

Mi Casa

I was kind of depressed about money this week. We talked to someone about refinancing and decided not to do it, mostly because not much, if any, equity has built into our house. We're not totally sure about that because of all the updates we've done, but we'd have to spend some money to save the money and it probably just isn't worth the risk (or do I mean heartbreak?) of having it appraised. So anyways.....

I walked out the door to get my paper this morning and realized that I had been taking it for granted lately that it would still be there. Over the last four years living in our house my paper has always been on the front stoop on Sunday mornings. A little thing, but it wasn't always this way.

Chris and I lived in apartments for a little over four years before moving into our house. We started getting the Sunday paper not long after we moved out of our parent's houses but getting the paper (or anything, really) delivered to an apartment was kind of like an easter egg hunt. Deliveries, and the papers, were always left in the communal area that was also unlocked to the public so whoever got there first got the best stuff. I'm not saying this happened constantly, normally our paper would be there. I'm an early riser, so that definitely helped. But there were many mornings when the paper just wouldn't be there. So we'd have to call the Star Tribune and they would come out and bring us one personally before noon. They never complained, even though I'm sure they delivered that first paper. I think one of my favorite mornings was when someone had taken my paper but left the bill for it on the top of my mailbox (our paper bill comes with our paper). Thoughtful! Oh, and the time Chris went down and found a drunk using our paper as his pillow....we decided to pass on the paper that day.

I think I wanted to write this because of all the press about declining home values and maybe it's not the investment it used to be. Truthfully, I don't believe that home values will decline forever. Everything will reach balance again, it has to (nature abhors a vacuum, right?). I really do hate doomsayers. But what I'm really trying to say is that owning a home is, well, priceless. To us anyways. It's about the afternoons in our backyard on OUR deck grilling out, or being able to paint (and paint and paint again) our walls any color we damn well want. It's about having a garage and not worrying about our cars being towed for the apartments own snow emergency in the morning. It's about not hearing the people in the apartment above you express their love....or their hate. It's also about personal responsibility. The shoveling, the mowing, the upkeep of EVERYTHING, the remodeling, the bills, and of course the savings account that is there just in case something goes wrong with the house. But it's on our terms, and it's our space. It means something to us and we've made it ours.

I love our house and I love our neighbors. It may not be a perfect house, it's small, it needs another main floor bedroom, we'd love a two car garage, and of course it has it's cracks and quirks, but with anything one loves, those things don't become it's defining qualities, they become part of it's character, or at worse, part of the background noise. But I'm happy here and I have no regrets.

Our backyard in the early spring