Pretty Pretty Bang Bang

Our high-speed Internet has returned! Now I can check my email regularly and actually keep up with blogging. Life is starting to feel normal.

The house is coming together quite well. We had our first party this last weekend and it was a success. It’s so nice to have room for people to move around and enjoy themselves. I did discover that having several levels means wearing heels is painful! I had no idea I’d do that much walking just to make sure everyone was having a good time! Next party, I’m in more comfortable shoes. The heels did make the outfit so I wasn’t willing to ditch them halfway through the event. I can’t sacrifice fashion for comfort, you know.

I spent Tuesday working in my new and improved studio. Super handyman Burl made me an awesome workbench out of solid wood doors. I now have plenty of room for my drill press, shear and tumbler. I do need more light, but I’m ok for now. Of course, I can’t find some things so I need to get back into the storage unit and bring home more boxes. I thought I had all the studio stuff unpacked except for enameling, but I’m missing some replacement drill bits and other items. At least it’s nothing that I need immediately.

Our next big event is Thanksgiving when we’ll have about 12 people here for dinner. My table seats eight comfortably, but I don’t think it will be a problem to extend it for 12. Thankfully, the dining room is large enough to do that and still have room to move around. Ralph and Blair will be our first overnight guests and the guest room is ready for them. I even prepared the loft for a couple of special little girls. I’m planning to get out my Little House books for the loft book shelves so we can sit up there and read. 

Life is good.

I’ve always had a fascination with true crime. I blame it on my mom who was reading In Cold Blood when she gave birth to me! Many years ago, I developed an interest in the Mafia. Mom and I saw The Godfather when it was re-released in the theaters and I instantly fell in love with the entire Mafia genre. Sure, they are cold-blooded killers, but they have rules, they have respect, they have a deep relationship with their families. I have to admit that I admire and respect them. Monday, I was at mom’s and mentioned I needed to take the day off to rest my back and I needed something to read. She mentioned a great book she’d just finished entitled Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mafia Boss. The book is about Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso who ran the Lucchese crime family in the 80s and 90s before turning on the family and ratting to the government. I loved it. By noon on Monday I’d finished a third of the book and had it about halfway done before bedtime. Last night, I finished it. What a read. Anthony was one of the most ruthless killers in the family, yet I had to like the guy. He was deeply in love with his wife, a devoted husband and father, always kept his word and was highly respected in the organization. Oh sure, there’s that little business of all the people he tortured and killed (or had killed) but it was still hard not to like him. The book is written by a former neighbor of Anthony’s so it is a bit one-sided, but still a great read.

Thanks mom, for sharing a great book and thanks for taking the time after the birth of your first child to read some true crime. Now I think I need to dig up my old copy of The Godfather and re-read it just for fun.

AT&T is on my list. They’ve messed up our DSL and now we’re waiting for the connection to happen so we can have normal Internet access. In the meantime, I’m sporadically checking email because I, quite frankly, don’t have the patience to wait for the connection!

We’re mostly settled and getting ready for the first big party in the house – the housewarming. I can’t wait to entertain because this house was just made for parties. Here are some of the fun (and funny) things we’ve discovered in the past two weeks:

• Leftovers from the previous owners. First it was a foot spa in the bathroom, then a partial set of dentures and finally a bra behind the washer.

• A hidden compartment in the wet-bar area. Previous drug stash? Who knows. It had leftover tile in it when Steve discovered it.

• When the house was being inspected for termites, the exterminator found a cow skull in the crawl space. A leftover from some tragic 1980s southwestern decor? Who knows!

• We have a really nice electric awning on the deck, however it doesn’t seem to cover anything significant. It should have been installed over the front deck. Instead it’s over the back door which doesn’t need protection from the sun. Weird.

• We had the place exterminated before we moved in and kept finding dead or half-dead wasps inside. Forget spiders, this place had wasps.

• An architect friend pointed out that all the flat ceilings are wood and all the slanted ceilings are “popcorn.” The structure of the house is set up so that all the angles are ones you’d find in a right triangle – 30/60/90. If you look out of the upstairs bathroom doorway, the lines of the window, ceiling and wall all line up. Very cool. During the day, the sunlight even follows these rules.

• We found the title abstract in a drawer which included a brochure for the subdivision. The area was developed in 1959. We’re still researching who might have designed this particular house.

• We keep finding weird yard ornaments around the house. First, it was two hanging pieces over the deck, then Steve uncovered some foam “stepping stones” by the downstairs patio yesterday. We have a lot of clean up to do next spring.

That’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure I’ll have more to add to the list. All in all, we feel like we’ve lived here for years. The old house seems like a distant memory. It’s amazing how all of our furniture and accessories just fit right in here. We’re truly blessed.

We’re officially moved and I’m exhausted. No, I didn’t get the entire house painted on Saturday, but I’m getting it done this week. Every day I work on something and every night Steve and I work together to get more done. Today we got our phone service back and now we have Internet even though AT&T screwed up the order and we’re not supposed to have it. I’m not complaining.

I have so much going on and new pictures of what we’ve done but I don’t have time to get them posted tonight. Steve’s changing clothes and we’re hanging pictures tonight. I do like to have things on the walls.

I do want to give a HUGE thanks to my mom for helping us on Friday and Saturday and for her painting help yesterday. Step-sis Cindy was another huge help with loading and unloading of all the boxes. Both of them made the biggest part of the move almost bearable! Another HUGE thanks to Carrie for coming to our rescue on Friday when mom had to leave and we had an hour to get the final bit of stuff out of the old house. Julie, our former neighbor, was a guardian angel who helped Steve corral Tidbit (who did not want to move) and let us dump stuff on her lawn to pick up later. Burl was our fabulous handyman on Saturday when we needed electrical help and our new locks installed. Thank goodness he was here because the lock installation seemed like quite a challenge. The Guccione family arrived to help load the trailer, unload more boxes, empty said boxes and bless the new house. Yep, we’re quite blessed with great friends and great family. Thanks to everyone who loves us enough to help with the dirty work!

We close on Friday and I’m getting excited. Sure, we have a lot of work to do both in moving and prepping the new house, but it’s exciting to think about living somewhere else. Our current neighborhood, Rountree, carries a certain prestige in the area. The homes are older, the streets are lined with mature trees, the elementary school is respected, we’re close to MSU and the atmosphere is family-friendly. But, I’m ready to move to another area. I’m tired of the excessive closeness of my neighbors, the busy street, college kids partying nearby and the size of my house. I never thought I’d want to leave, and I know I’ll miss walking to class, but I think it’s time for a change.

I met one of my new neighbors yesterday when I was at the house dealing with the exterminator. I think her name is Tracy and she lives across the street. She seems really nice, has kids and filled me in on the other neighbors. She offered to come over once we’re move in and tell us about the landscaping around our house. Most of it has died but she said many of the plants will return next year. She also told me that the yellow paint on the outside of the house is newer and the old color, which I thought was grey, was actually grey-blue – ick. I told her we’d be painting the house dark grey in the near future. At least, that’s the plan. Who knows what will actually happen once we’re settled! Knowing me, I’ll wait 5-7 years or whenever the old paint starts to peel before doing something about it.

Steve and I finished the painting on the outside of the house so all that’s left is the final packing and moving. I’m going to organize boxes today and take more stuff to the storage unit just so I can get it out of the way. Steve will be off the rest of the week so I’ll have his help tomorrow and Thursday. Tomorrow we move to Duane and Prudy’s basement bedroom so we can pack our bedding, towels, etc and get them out of here. I’m currently packing suitcases of first night necessities so we won’t have to dig through boxes to find our towels and sheets. Thursday we’re going to clean the new house so it will be move-in ready. I wish we could paint it before moving in the furniture, but that just can’t happen. Oh well, I told Steve to get ready to start on Saturday. I’m driven, baby!

A big shout out and thanks to Kevin for helping move boxes on Sunday and for cutting my l-shaped workbench in half. Also, a big thanks to Burl for loaning us the truck and trailer and the ladders and paint supplies. A huge thanks to mom for helping me pack and for supervising the movers on Friday so Steve and I can be at the closings. Her support has really meant a lot to me these past few months. Friends and family are making this all possible and keeping me out of the looney bin!

We received a very funny phone call from Duane and Prudy assuring us they had arrived in Cabo, were fine, were on their second (or was it third) margarita and that they missed us. Looks like the hurricane is going to miss them so they should have a very relaxing week. Duane said they’d pulled up two empty chairs and toasted to us. What a couple of great friends! Next year, if all goes well, we’ll be there too.

The hurricane has officially hit our house. It’s a disaster. Every time I begin to think I may have a handle on packing I take a break, look around and wonder how in the world I’ll get it all out of here. Steve’s outside finishing up the painting and I’m inside attempting to pack everything that isn’t absolutely necessary in the next week. Tidbit has been wandering around the house all upset about the commotion but he finally calmed down and is snoozing under the bed. Littles doesn’t seem too phased by it all as she’s sleeping on top of a stack of boxes in the back room. I’d like to think things will be better when we move, but it’s just going to be another few weeks of chaos. At least unpacking is more fun than packing!

Last year we planned a trip to Cabo with our friends Duane and Prudy. We bought plane tickets in May and were excited about the trip. Then Steve lost his job and our savings cushion deflated. We thought maybe we could still go, especially since we’d bought the tickets, but I knew that it would be too much of a financial stretch with the house buying. About three weeks ago we finally threw in the towel and told Duane and Prudy there was no way we could go. They understood and said we could plan a trip next year so no hard feelings. We knew they were disappointed, but they understood the situation. The plane tickets can be transferred to another trip so we’re hoping for Santa Fe or New York next fall. In the meantime, Cabo is in the path of Hurricane Norbert which means we’re praying for Duane and Prudy to have a safe trip. I don’t think I would be any good in a hurricane so I’m really glad we chose not to go this year. As mom always said, “Everything happens for a reason.” Just don’t tell her I listened!

In moving news we’re still waiting to hear from the appraiser who’s taking her sweet time getting back with us. We don’t anticipate any big problems, but whatever she wants fixed on the house we’re buying must be done before closing. Which is in a week. Seven days. Eek! I keep telling myself that this is all going to go through so I shouldn’t worry. Breathe, breathe.

Today is another exciting day of packing. I took down the studio on Wednesday which makes the basement feel weird and empty. This weekend Steve will be finishing up the outside painting, fix the cracks in the chimney and haul stuff to the storage unit. I can’t wait for this to be over and done!

Our house is already trashed due to all the packing we’ve been doing over the last week, but my sister knows how to add to the chaos. She arrived late Friday night to attend her HS reunion and stayed with us since mom and Burl were out of town. I always love spending time with my sister, but it’s amusing how such a small person can take up so much space. For example, here’s how our guest room floor looked during her visit (ok, the cowboys boots are mine, but everything else is hers):

Here’s what the bed looks like:

And because she tends to leave a trail, including Lydia’s socks she left in my car, here are her shoes in the hallway right outside the bathroom:

Finally, here’s the pile by the front door. Now, in her defense, I did put the beer there so she wouldn’t forget it. You know, priorities!

I look forward to her next visit when she can have her own room and bathroom in the new house. She’ll have plenty of space to spread out and leave things!

We officially leave this house in 13 days. It’s a bittersweet moment as I still love the house, but I’m ready for the next home adventure. My sister is here this weekend so I took her out to the new house today and she loved it. Of course, we both laughed at all the things about the new house my nieces will love: mainly the loft. Today Ralph and I spent some fun time shopping at the mall, attending the Oktoberfest beer tasting at Brown Derby and just hanging out chatting. She’s now at her 20th HS reunion and Steve and I are going out for Thai food before coming back here to veg.

Tomorrow Ralph leaves early so Steve and I are going to spend the whole day working frantically on packing. I think we’ll take a huge load of stuff to the storage unit. This week I only work Monday and Tuesday then I’m off until after the move. I’m getting excited!

My good friends Valerie and Kevin own two Volvos and are always joking that repairs cost either $300, $600, $800 or $1,000 regardless of how small. Still, they love the cars and wouldn’t drive anything else. I’m beginning to think we’re buying a Volvo of a house.

Today I received the estimate on the chimney which needs new [tuckpointing](http://www.maconline.org/tech/maintenance/point1/point1.html) and repair around the top. Why isn’t the seller paying for this, you might ask? Because he’s a crusty old fart who got mad when we bargained with him on the price and refuses to do any repairs. So we’re gathering up estimates for the big jobs and planning to do them one at a time in the near future (read: when we have money). The chimney repair wasn’t really that bad and wasn’t a surprise. Actually, none of the repairs are surprises. We looked at this house about six times before making an offer so we knew what we were getting in to. Still, I’m a little tired right now. I don’t really want a project, but I know this house will be worth the effort. In the end, we’ll have a gorgeous home that’s uniquely ours and we will have increased the value far more than the money and time we put into it. At least that’s the plan.