A day trip to Boston

Eve and I had an awesome day shopping on Boston yesterday. We aren’t big shoppers in general, but I was finally ready to buy new living room furniture and I couldn’t find anything perfect around here. We drove down to Ikea with a list and all the enthusiasm. We tested all of the couches and many of the chairs and tables at Ikea, both because we wanted to buy them and because my sciatic feels better when I sit down. LOL. So we did lots of chair testing while I waited for the meds to kick in. We got some little stuff and a BLÅHAJ (Swedish for “blue shark” and something Eve has been wanting for awhile), but didn’t love any of the couches.

Then we went to Starbucks (I needed a pick-me-up!) and Target for some clothes for Eve. She never asks for new clothes, so when she does I say YES! 😄

With caffeine, snacks, and meds in my body, we headed to Jordan’s Furniture, a store that is even bigger than Ikea and a true shopping experience. They even has an IMAX theater and an “Enchanted Village” thing and lots of other random “experiences,” plus furniture!! We explored for awhile, until we found the perfect couch!! It was soo soft and comfy and we both loved it. A nice sales guy from Southie came over and helped us getting it all ordered. It took awhile and I was running down, so I went out to the car to get our Starbucks beverages and buy a little snack at the fancy Jordan’s snack bar, while Eve stayed with the sales guy and discussed colors and end tables. She was an AMAZING partner in the furniture shopping process. She advocated for the practical when I wanted to luxurious, she was chatting with the guy and held her ground when the guy tried to upsell us on stuff, and she kept me going. Also, she’s just a fun person to have around!

We ended up buying two couches and two “cocktail ottomans,” which are the big, firm, padded ottomans that are popular these days. We didn’t find any end tables that we loved, so we’ll buy those somewhere else. We were going to get two chairs to put under the TV, instead of the couch that’s there now, but both of the couches we bought are bigger than what we currently have, so we decided to hold off and see how it all fits in our space first. Once we have the new couches and ottomans in place, we can decided what else we need. Jordan’s will deliver the furniture too us sometime in late February or early March. That will be a fun day! (hopefully the cat and dog don’t immediately “claim” them!)

When we finished furniture shopping at 7pm, we stopped by Petco to buy new (bigger) shells for the hermit crabs, then stopped at the Olive Garden for a little dinner. We got home at 11:30pm! We were both exhausted, but it was an awesome day. I can’t wait for the new furniture to arrive. :)

I’m lucky to have this girl in my life. <3

House update

Today was an exciting visit to the new house! Notice anything different?! :)

Walls!

We ran into a friend and his son, who is Eve’s friend, on the way over and they came along for the tour. I was surprised to see the green sheet rock, but he told me its a moisture resistant version. That makes sense.

Upstairs family room area

Same room, looking the other way, towards the stairs

 

Guess what’s in the garage?!

A solar panel power thingy! (very technical, I know!)

And a garage door! Whoo hoo!

We scheduled the closing date today. Mid-October. I can’t wait!!!

We also scheduled a tentative closing date for our current house. The inspection went well the other day and we are moving forward with the sale. It has been a little more turbulent of a process than the new house has, but I know we’ll get there and everything will work out well in the end. And, believe it or not, the end is near!

Emotional Ups and Downs

We signed a contract on our house today. The one we’re selling. It should be an awesome, exciting thing, but instead we are both frustrated and cranky. We like the buyer, don’t like the agent, don’t love the deal, but agree that it’s good. The buyer came to us first, we showed her the house, she made an offer, then brought in an agent. We have been going back and forth for a few weeks now. They want more, we want more, blah, blah, blah. We were *this close* to the deal, when I got a call yesterday morning from an agent asking if she could show our house to her buyers. I said sure. This morning we get a final updated contract from the buyer and a 7pm deadline for signing. I called the other agent to let her know and she said her buyers are very eager and would still like the house. Ok. Spent the afternoon cleaning the place spotless (ha!), which is good to do sometimes anyway, and they came to see the house. I loved the couple! They reminded me so much of me and Alan when we bought this house. They have a 1yr old and are pregnant with another one. Loved the neighborhood, etc. Sadly there wasn’t much time to think. We had a really nice meeting, then Alan and I had an hour to imagine we would get a counter offer – one that was more money and less frustration. It was a nice imaginary hour. Then the agent texted me and said the couple loved the house, but not the wide-open backyard. Bummer. Not much we can do about that. So we signed the contract with the other buyer. Alan was frustrated with the buyer’s agent’s attitude and the sudden deadline. It’s not the warm, happy feeling we were hoping for. It’s a business transaction, I keep reminding myself, and not personal. It will be ok. I have faith. But boy, I am mentally exhausted now! Before all this we spent the morning at school helping to run the kindergarten open house, then back home (late) to meet a town official who can close out a building permit for our basement.

I keep reminding myself, busy summer, busy summer, busy summer. It will all turn out ok in the end. It will.

I joined the C25K running program again and my body seems to have forgotten how to run in the few weeks I was on vacation. Yesterday I was feeling TOTALLY stressed out and my neighbor, who is also doing the program, texted to offer me a ride. I said I was so stressed and busy and wasn’t going to make it. She said ok, but then nicely/gently suggested that maybe fresh air and running would be helpful. Dang peer pressure! I went and, of course, it was good. The fresh air, running, and social interaction!

On Monday we went to the lake with some friends, who invited other friends, and I invited other friends, and it ended up being a very big group. You’d think that would be good, but really it was just a lot of trying to make decisions and brief interactions with lots of people. Not quite the long chat on the beach with a bestie that I was hoping for. After an hour there Eve settled in for a snooze on the blanket. What? That’s not like her. I gave her a nice sunscreen massage and she was burning up. Eek! We stayed for a little longer, then headed home to find a thermometer. She had a temp of 103.7°!! I gave her Tylenol and dragged her to the dentist (mean mommy!) where we discovered that she has a cavity and Lex needs two teeth pulled. Ugh. Then home again. She had a temp all night and all the next day, but it was slowly coming down. She was complaining of achy body and a lump in her throat. Last night I started Googling Lyme disease. Ugh. This morning she woke up and the fever was gone and the pain was gone. All better? I hope!

Here are a few pictures of other stuff going on.

A sick Eve and a very sweet friend cuddling her.

A sneak peek at my back to school bulletin board.

I started a new Instagram for school. @dbslibrary Feel free to follow if you just can’t get enough of me. :)

A view out my new kitchen window.

An excellent book! I’d highly recommend it if you’re into YA. :) Also, it’s number 26 on my list of 30. So close!

Tomorrow we only have two commitments, both of them at home (boiler inspection and piano pickup). We are all (except Alan who has to go to work — sorry Alan — thank you Alan!) looking forward to a calmer day. I might bake cookies and visit our neighbor’s brand new baby.

House update

Things are moving along fast with the house! We’ve got a garage framed, upstairs rooms framed, HVAC stuff in place, bathtubs in place, and the roof on. I got an email this morning from the builder saying the windows and doors have arrived and the cabinets and flooring are ordered. Eek! Coming along so quickly now!

We are still adding pictures almost daily to the Picasa Album.

We went over the other day with chalk and marked out beds, dressers, couches, and the kitchen table. I think it will all fit!!

Hello boys!

Eve, measuring out her bed.

Lex trying out the bed space.

The family room, looking into the upstairs bathroom.

Standing at the to of the stairs, looking in to Eve’s room, with Lex’s room in the background.

Ohh.. I hope we get to keep this little table. :)

On another day, while I spoke with the builders, Eve took some pictures and a video.

On the homefront (old homefront?) things are moving along as well. We are working on a contract to sell this house. It has been a frustrating process and we’re getting less $ than we had hoped for, but Alan and I keep running the numbers and still believe it’s the best option. Things will work out for the best. I’m sure of it. It’s going to be busy for the next few months!!

What I’m working on…

Life is busy.  So much for the lazy days of summer!  I’m working on:

  1. Getting our house ready to sell.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, we have four showings and one of them has already made an offer! I have spent the past few days cleaning, straightening, taking things down, filling holes, painting, sweeping, etc.  Our house is looking spic and span and sparse!
  2. Coordinating contractors.  The upstairs bathtub started leaking, through the floor and through the bedroom ceiling!  A project which wasn’t on any list suddenly jumped right to the top!  We have a contractor here now who is doing the work, very well, but very slowly!  I’m also trying to line up someone to hang drywall and someone to fix our bulkhead door.
  3. Keeping up with the new house.  They are behind schedule (of course!) because of all this dang rainy weather we’ve been having!  The foundation is pour and at this point they are planning to start framing on Monday. They are also hoping to pour the garage and pour concrete on Monday.  We have been eagerly awaiting that so we can try to put hand prints in fresh cement on the porch.  I started a shared Google album where I’m putting pictures of the house project.  I’d like to make it into a book when it’s all done. Feel free to check it out.  I’ll add photos as the house is built.
  4. Finishing up my two grad courses.  I have a project a week due and a big one due on Sunday.  I worked hard to get ahead of the assignments before leaving for California, but then was behind by the time I got back.  One more week and all the assignments will be due and done!  Then I get a break before the next round of courses start. :)
  5. Inventorying the library collection.  I got approval for summer work to conduct a full inventory of the library, which hasn’t been done in over ten years!  That was great news, however now I’m trying to get those hours in before heading to Franklin next week.  By the time I get back from Franklin they will cleaning the carpets in the school and very shortly after that we will be back at work!  Where is my summer going?!?
  6. I was trying to make a Snapfish book about our vacation because they had a great promotion running, but I missed that deadline so now I have a half finished book.  I’ll try to finish it soon so it’s ready for the next time they are running a special.  Also, this blog. :)  I think I’m a few blog posts behind.
  7. Ferrying kids back and forth to camp this week.  Ignoring the dog.  Ignoring all my healthy eating and exercise efforts.

Last week I got last minute tickets to see Beauty and the Beast, but put on by the theater company who is running Eve’s theater camp.  I took Eve and one of her classmates.  We had a great time!  It was a fun little break from the busy chaos.

Eve and her friend with Belle. Eve’s friend got all decked out in her pretty clothes and high heels. Eve grabbed a stuffie and flip-flops.

Also, Lex loves the cat.  I love Lex.

They are adorable. <3

And my fish at school had babies!  Surprise!  I was there doing inventory and a summer school teacher (they are using the library) came over and asked if the fish were mine.  Umm… who else’s would they be?!  He said, “Did you know you have babies in the tank?” Ummmm… nope!  I had five cichlids, one died (or was killed by the others) and the others are two mating pairs.  Surprise!  I didn’t even know the females were pregnant.  I don’t even know which ones are females!!  (You’d think as a librarian I would figure these things out, but really, who has time for that?!?)  So now there are lots of little babies swimming around.  I hope one or two survive to adulthood.  :)

Babies! Fries? :)

A yard work morning

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I know it’s a good day when I can get this guy out working!

We spent the morning outside doing yard work. I heavily cleared the berry patch of all thing not growing berries, Eve cleaned up sticks and picked berries, and Lex swept the porch and ran the weed whacker. It was a productive morning!

The mudroom

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New floors and sunshine!

Check out our beautiful new mudroom floor!  The light shining in is from the new screen door. Alan and Amanda worked so hard on this.  Eve helped too.   I love all the love that went into making this house beautiful. ❤

Happy Saturday!

For the first time in awhile we have a pretty low-key weekend on deck. I woke at 7:30am to find Eve carrying a tray (“the shiniest one,” she said) with oatmeal and hot tea on it. She was super excited to announce that she had made me breakfast in bed! She cuddled in the bed with me for awhile while I ate. She is super sweet!

Once we were all up Alan took Lex to karate while I took Eve to track practice. She is now running in the town rec program and a local AAU program. Next weekend is her first meet!

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Running the 200m

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Running the 400m

While Eve did her practice I spent nearly an hour and a half walking/running around the track as well! She wants to run in the CHaD 5K this year and wants me to run with her, so I gotta do some training myself!

Eve and I stopped at the Farmer’s Market on the way home and enjoyed cheese and jelly samples and a few purchased cookies. When I got home Alan told me that Mandy was on her way up and they were going to tear apart the mudroom. We have leaks and the floors are coming apart so they are tearing out the floor and starting over.

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My dining room for the next few days

While they were hard at work in the mudroom, Eve and I went for a walk to meet our new neighbors. They moved in last week. They have a girl in Eve’s grade, and two boys, one younger and one older than Lex. We took them on a walk around the neighborhood and introduced them to the children in the area. It turns out the older boy is totally into Legos and the First Robotics Lego League (he already signed up for next year’s team!). He brought some EV3s over and the boys are all upstairs building some EV3 battle bots! Eve, and two neighbor girls are upstairs in her room playing dolls.

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The girls

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The boys (the two new neighbors are not in the picture)

Somehow my house is under construction and I have seven kids in it, yet I am able to talk on the phone with my bestie for an hour and now write this blog post! How’s that for an awesome Saturday afternoon! I’m off now to order pizza because who can cook when there’s construction going on!? :)