Things that Begin with "L"

Luke sitting on the front steps of our new house way back in May

Liability-free stairs going up. Do you remember the cool boxy minimalist stairs in the other house we almost bought? These aren't as cool, but they're much safer.



Liability-free stairs going down. Julia has never fallen down our stairs yet. Of course we do have a door to the basement, which we usually leave closed.



Thses 'Liatrop' ikea units came with our house. It was a real selling point for Willy. Really.





My new LAMP. Isabella broke it. The day after I took it out of the box she snaped the pole right off the base. I was mad. But it's ikea... and I buy ikea stuff so my kids can break it. In theory.



Our new Dehumidifier. No it doesn't start with 'L'. Clever of you to notice.
Anyhow, without this little puppy our basement would smell like the morgue.





This is our Lazy Lawn. We own the awesome deck.  The common area beyond is practically our own private backyard that we don't have to mow! Awesome!



I always intented to plant Lilacs when we bought a house. And our new house already has lilacs! This place totally agrees with my goal follow the path of least resitance.



This is the Last box. It's still unpacked. We'll get to it soon.



Hives

Yesterday we did the final walk-though for the house. Willy was in his element flushing toilets, checking windows, inspecting everything. He hadn't seen the place since January. It was fun, until he stepped in a puddle.

Yep, the basement was flooded. Long story short: we didn't buy a house yesterday. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or relieved. Maybe a touch of both. Maybe more relieved, I was getting really cold feet.

This morning Willy broke out in hives, he's a little stressed. I say there's nothing to worry about, we've still got a month until we're out on the street.

The Month of April...and probably March

Some Notes:

• Isabella did a pitch perfect impersonation of me whining. It was hilarious!
• Luke is affraid of Zombies. I've explained that zombies can't climb stairs or open doors, but he still refuses to be left alone on any floor of our home.
• Julia stopped crying... except today. I think she's getting four more teeth.
• Most likely we're in for another crying jag. Just in time for our move. We close on our house in two days.
• I begin my new job at the farmers market this weekend. I'm going to make delicious crepes every other Saturday.
• Luke is having a birthday party in May. His actual birthday is in July. It's a long story, but this is going to be the best birthday party he's ever had. (And the only one too)
• My mom is coming to visit!
• It's late. I'm tired. AND I read somewhere it's a good idea to go to sleep with your spouse.

I had to change the title of this post because it generated unsavoury traffic! Backwards it read: yddaD pmiP

Are Those Your Grandpa's Shoes?



Did you know it takes 1000 years for a plastic bag to biodegrade?

Sometimes, I can stop myself before I do rude things. Below is a letter I never sent. I wrote it during that month that Julia cried and life seemed really really really hard. My journal is full of these little things. To me this letter is a source of pride and shame, so I thought I'd post it. Over the past few weeks I've started to acknowledge cracks in my character for which I have no real good excuse. I'm just flawed. And I think I'm okay with that. Mostly. In a Ether 12:27 kind of way.

Dear Music Teacher,
I like the theme of this year's musical: "It's Easy Being Green". It reminds me a lot the songs my daughter sang last year. You're probably aware that studies show a direct correlation between repetition and retention. In fact my daughter has been reminding me and her father to "turn off the light" among other things. She's learned the lyrics, if not the tunes. It's supposed to be calypso, right? Anyhow, I've been ignoring some of the bus stop complaints about 'indoctrination' and 'your earth-loving religion' but I am curious about these T-Shirts we have to buy. Don't you find it ironic that we're buying brand spanking new colour coordinated shirts for a mucial where our children are singing songs like "Reduce-Reuse-Recycle"? While I appreciate the logistical difficulties of getting 120 children to match, I have some ideas on how to manage the costumes in an earth friendly way. If you decide to go with a Green Theme next year, perhaps you'll have time address this issue.
Regards,
Grade One Mother

I love you. You're perfect. Now Change.

I really like this house. My favourite feature is the stairs. They're a leetle scary, and the carpet needs to go but they're cool . I'm excited to bankrupt our family updating this home. HA!

We close on May 1, after, the owner fixes up a few things. Thats a hole in the roof.

We move in June, after I fix a few things.

This is even more scary than the cool stairs. All the bedrooms have these locking knobs. Where is the key? I don't know either. Can you just imagine the nightmare these toys will become?

This bedroom vanity is not my favorite.  I think the owners purchased it from Home Depot for the purpose of selling their home. It's never been used, and there are two more just like it in this place. My idea is to unstick them from the wall and sell them to someone who does like them.  Willy doesn't like my idea. He thinks I just want to waste money. Maybe I do?

There is a secret lair under the stairs, alreay it's the favorite place for my kids to play. There happens to be a sump down there. It's plugged in a GFIC. When I did the home inspection we found an almost flooded basement because the pump had tripped.  The inspector says to change the GFIC to a regular outlet. My neighbor and father say: dont! Drown or Electricute my children? I have no idea what is best.

We're Grown Ups!!!

We're buying a house!

No not this house, silly. But we could have.

I told Willy:

"Willy look at this house. It's amazing. We can afford this house. It's got a two car garage. Five Bedrooms. A hot tub. Not that I want one of those. Gross. But still. Come look at these pictures. We could have a ping pong table. Holy Cow."

Willy said:

"A one and a half hour commute will kill my soul."

 "You realize that's three hours of my day for my entire life, right?"

"You'd better wake up soon, you're having a nightmare."

Instead we're buying this house for $25,000 more!!!!!!