Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Well, no garage conversion after all.

Turns out that with the city ordinances and where our house is actually located on the lot, converting the garage is not an option (unless you think losing most of the backyard is OK....we don't).  So,we're back to making the house sellable.  But, we've already knocked a couple of big things out.  The A/C has been replaced and the fence will be done within the next two weeks.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

I'm not the only one who keeps chaning my mind

So, a few posts ago, I mentioned that we are getting the house in sellable condition. That is still true! But, Dan still thinks it makes more sense (or thinks again that it makes more sense) to make the addition to the house. We are getting an estimate not just on the garage, but doing a little work on the kitchen as well. It certainly won't happen at the same time (unless we win the lottery, but then, we'd probably just move anyway).

Adding an extra living area would make this house more livable for us. But, I still don't like this house enough to call it my forever home. It just may be a few more years (lottery winning being the only exception I can see in the near future) before we actually find a new place. I will be much more picky about certain things that I didn't know I needed to be picky about. Not just the size of the kitchen, but the layout! Not just the size of the bedrooms, but where they are actually located!!! You get the picture.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Gah! The dogs are safe at home.

The lawn service guy left the gate open when he treated it for weeds and fed it.  They (the dogs) didn't notice at lunchtime, but they did while I was feeding Zach and Tom dinner this evening.  Thus, the "GAH!"  So, Dan came home a bit early and drove the neighborhood...found both dogs together, on some front porch about a block and a half away, whining at a door.  He put them both in the Jetta (that was probably really funny looking) and brought them home.

He also called the lawn service company, told them what happened and we are waiting for the branch manager to call back now.

Monday, March 9, 2009

I think he's gonna be the death of me. Part 2

Who knew that I'd already have a part 2 for this?  Come on, I know some of you were expecting it, even if you don't know about what happened already.

OK.  Tom took a tumble and ended up being taken to Children's in downtown Dallas.  He is fine!  Now, stop holding your breath and I'll tell you the whole thing.

Some backstory:  My loving husband purchased a series of massages for me for my birthday this year.  I was in the middle of one when it was interrupted by the receptionist.  There had been an emergency and Tom was taken to Children's.

Dan was changing a poopy dipe and Tom (like normal for him, mind you) decided to roll over and sit up.  He does this all the time; but this time, he was too far to one side (I imagine, since I was not there) and fell off instead.  He landed flat on his back.  Pause a moment, then cry.  Pretty expected.  Dan was soothing him when he had a seizure.  Call 911.  (Stupid phones aren't working properly, so they couldn't hear him...they sent fire, police, and ambulance, THANK GOD!)  EMTs look Tom over and decide to take him to Children's.  For those of you who know Dallas a bit, it's the one connected to Parkland.

Dan and I finally arrive at the ER and Tom seems relatively OK.  Very tired (past naptime, duh!) and a little listless.  Won't fall asleep...hmmmmmm.  Docs come in to talk to us to let us know what they have decided.  Very conservative approach...no CT scans or Xrays.  I'm very thankful for that.  They just want to observe him for a few hours.  He lost his lunch in two bouts and finally napped for about an hour.  When he woke up, he was thirsty enough to finally take a bottle of juice.  (Silly kid never did like bottles, but the hospital only had bottles or straws.  Weird, I know.)  And was acting hungry, so we got them to bring us some graham crackers.  Doc comes back in, we're hoping to leave (it's about 4:30 now) and are told that because he threw up that we have to stay a little longer to make sure he's keeping food and juice down.

Tom is flirting with EVERYONE who walks by.  So, instead of making us wait that long, they started the paperwork and once it was completed, let us take him home.  Told us to wake him every 4 hours to make sure he was still doing everything right (using both sides, acting like a baby).  I got home with him around 7.  Mom and Zach were sitting on the couch as I walk in with a wide-awake Tom.  Zach says, "Tom has a big owie."  (My heart just melted again.)  We get them both in bed and quiet and she goes home.

Fast-forward to today.  Tom is climbing and being his usual daredevil self again.  I'm gonna end up knowing the local ER docs and nurses by name as he gets older because I'm quite certain that we're going to find him with a broken bone or a cut that needs stitches relatively often.  But, the ped says he's fine and just to give him a few days before we try to get him back to his normal schedule and let him sleep when he wants and as long as he wants.  (Yikes!  That could make for some interesting evenings.)

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Making this house sellable

It's official. I finally got Dan to agree that our house is too small and that it is more economical for us to get this house ready to sell rather than converting the garage. I did a bit of research on http://www.realtor.com/ and discovered that we don't need to spend much more or move out to the boonies to get a house the right size. Yay!!!! So, for future reference, we will be completing projects around the house to make it ready to sell. That means that my office may be turned into a dining room again. Yikes! Of course, that would be one of the very last things to happen.

We're starting with the really big things:
  • replacing the windows that are original to the house
  • redoing the siding with hardyplank
  • having a new fence put in with metal posts instead of the wood ones that are leaning so far that I'm very glad our dogs aren't interested in leaving the back yard
  • a new A/C unit.
And we'll be doing some smaller things as time and money allows while those big things are getting done:
  • pulling down wallpaper and painting
  • refacing the fireplace (why did the brick get painted, why???)
  • replacing all the doorknobs in the house (they are mismatched, big time!)
  • replacing hardware on the kitchen cabinets (who painted over the hinges! Seriously, why do people do things like that????)
I'm sure there is more, but those are the things I know about. I'll probably post before and after pics of the inside stuff. And keep in mind that Zach decided that he'd pull at some of the wallpaper because it was already coming down. Turns out, they (the original owners) papered over older wallpaper. So, some of the "before" shots may look like work has actually started; but it was just a toddler being curious.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

It's a 1st Birthday Party!!!!

Yesterday, Tom's 1st birthday was celebrated at our house.  Poor little guy had a fever, but he sure was a trooper!  Here are some pics.