5/26/2009

News to be coming soon:

Lots going on, so therefore little time to post:

-getting furniture delivered and set up in the new house
-putting together said furniture (PITA!!)
-taking time out to take a swim in our pool!
-getting kids enrolled in schools
-realizing that older house = no water line for fridge (water and ice in the door) and therefore NEED handy person ASAP
-front loader high efficiency washer/dryer to be delivered in 2 weeks
-window blinds being installed this weekend
-packing, packing, packing (and bringing over stuff every visit)
-ACK, bad news house has BEES...good news = seller to remove said bees
-ceiling fans to be purchased and installed in 7 rooms (there's 6 bedrooms and living room)
-bad news = 3 boys discovered that Styrofoam breaks up into millions of tiny pieces to make "SNOW" on.the.carpet. HELLLOOOOO DYSON!
-did I mention swimming in our pool? OMG, the boys LOVED IT!
-MUST decide on phone/cable/Internet installation in the house, bad news = for some insane reason the house does not have ONE phone jack - uggggg...good news, we get to place/install said phone jacks anywhere we want
-getting home alarm installed AFTER we figure out phone situation
-good news = having a separate playroom and a separate office means NO TOYS IN THE LIVING ROOM
-new everything inside the house means really, nothing needs to be changed/updated...I love the paint colors, the moulding, the carpet, the tile, the granite counter tops, the stainless dishwasher, brand new sinks, toilets...
-This is our CHANCE to make this house our HOME...we're doing what we want and how we want to
-not a penny in HOA fees...that is so great, no matter the amount, we hated sending that off every month (they can raise it at will and there is no limit) and now we don't have to pay it anymore!
-oh yeah, pool party!

That's it for now...move date set for Saturday June 13th 8am. We hope to have already moved lots of stuff before then.

Stay tuned!

5/20/2009

Sneeze, cough, sneeze, cough - repeat

Ugggg, it started yesterday, I felt it. That annoying scratchy throat, the few sneezes...then I woke up with it. Seriously bad cold. I feel like I'm walking thru quicksand with a wet blanket on my back.

Ick.

I'm sorry universe, I have no time to be sick. My patients today were literally scared of me. I had to leave a home visit before I was really done as the patient had a comprised immune system and I didn't want to get him sick. I pushed thru 3 more patients (that I saw from afar) and called the office to let them know I'd be working from home for the afternoon. I got home, made some calls, did some paperwork and texting and took a nap for an hour. I still feel like crap.

Laura's on her way home, she went to the new house after work to do a few things and I'm currently microwaving some kids' frozen dinners.

Bedtime can't come soon enough.

5/19/2009

See the photo below...

We're getting ready....projected move-in date - June 13th. Pool cover/fence ordered; window coverings ordered; two bedrooms with new furniture ordered and delivered; ceiling fans planned for order next week; schools researched; carpet vacuumed - Yay!!!!!


5/13/2009

Real Estate and estate of being real...

How does anyone make it thru escrow???!!!???

I swear...every time we turn around another paper needs to be signed or faxed or delivered or looked at or called about or or or or or

Friday.

Friday the domino of real estate happens. Our place gets sold to Mr. L. and in turn the proceeds get dumped (okay, gently placed) into our new house!!!!! Then we get the keys and prepare to move. Yup, we "get" a month to move! The buyer of our current house made a deal with us...if we signed an agreement to move out of here no later than June 15th (well, I guess regardless if we actually found another house...but we were already solidly sure of our new home) he'd pay our mortgage for the MONTH and we can move slowly and hopefully without too much stress. Whew!

The new house - altho it was COMPLETELY remodeled and fixed inside, still needs a bit of work. We MUST have a pool cover installed before we move in - and we MUST get window coverings, a brand new fridge (stainless) and h.e. washing machine and dryer. Well, the W & D are, I guess, not a MUST but I really don't want to be going to a laundromat 3x/week so we moved those up to the "MUST HAVE" list! Can't wait to get a front-loader W & D!! Whohoo!!! (esp. since laundry is "my job" vs. cooking which is Laura's "job"). But yeah, since I don't really want to live in a fish-bowl, window-coverings are a MUST. We're also getting an alarm system since it really cut down our insurance...almost pays for itself.

But, brand new carpet, paint, kitchen, bathrooms, etc. is a wonderful, fresh feeling.

Oh, get this! We ordered Foster some new furniture - a captain's style bed (one with 8 drawers underneath) and we will be moving the twins into Foster's bunk beds. At the store we went to, we really liked the floor model of the furniture set (bed, bedside table and desk), it was marked down and then 25% off of that, but only for the floor model. It was in really good condition considering it's been sitting in the showroom for 6 mos., and knowing our boys (!!) we could handle a dent or two in some furniture. So we bought the whole thing....Get a call today that they found a BRAND NEW set (same furniture) at their other showroom and since it's BRAND NEW they will be delivering that set at the SAME PRICE that we paid for the "lovingly dented" floor model!!!!!!! SCORE!! I mean, really, that's really cool news!!

On that note, better get to bed, my alarm (read: Seth) gets me up too early!

More news to come!

5/12/2009

To all my fellow Social Workers!

You know You're a Social Worker when...

1. You think $40,000 a year is "really making it".
2. You don't really know what it's like to work with men.
3. You know all the latest lingo for drugs, where to get them, and how much they cost..
4. You've started a sentence with 'So what I hear you saying is...'
5. You've had 2 or more jobs at one time just to pay the bills.
6. You tell people what you do and they say "that's so noble".
7. You have had to explain to people that not all social workers take away kids.
8. You use the words 'validate,' 'appropriate' and 'intervention' daily.
9. You spend more than half your day documenting and doing paperwork.
10. You think nothing of discussing child abuse over dinner.
11. People have said to you "I don't know how you do what you do".
12. You've never been on a business trip or had an expense account.
13. You know a lot of other social workers who have left the profession for another.
14. You've very familiar with the concept of entitlement.
15. Staying at a job for 2 years is 'a long time'.
16. Your phone number is unlisted for good reason.
17. Your professional newsletters always have articles about raising salaries...but you still haven't seen it.
18. You've very familiar with the term 'budget cut'.
19.. You can't imagine working at a bank or crunching numbers all day.
20. You've had clients who liked you just a little too much.
21. Having lunch is a luxury many days.
22. You've been cursed at or threatened...and it doesn't bother you.
23. Your job orientation has included self defense.
24. You have the best stories at any cocktail party.
25. Your parents don't know half of the stuff that you've dealt with at your job.
26. You know all the excuses clients use for a failed a drug test by heart.
27. You repeat to yourself "you work to live not live to work."
28. You find it hard to get babysitters as you don't trust anyone with your children..
29. You're exhausted but you keep smiling!!
30. You dream of stacking shelves at a Supermarket!!
31. You enter strangers houses to talk about their children and not one ever asks for an ID (in 10 years never! Have frequently offered though!)
32. You tell your hairdresser the truth of what you do to only to then find out she is a)adopted b)tracing her long lost father or c)victim of some terrible abuse which she then discusses in a packed salon over the noise of the hair dryer!
33. You assess your date (in your head) while out on a date just to see if they meet criteria for any DSM IV diagnosis.
34. Your significant other has learned that when someone greets you in public not to ask "who was that?"
35. You ever had to put a client on hold before you began laughing uncontrollably.
36. You believe the government should require a permit to reproduce.

Hope this makes you smile, it's a tough job but someone's got to do it!

5/11/2009

The Great Purge of 2009 has begun...

And now, with escrow set to close THIS Friday...we have started purging crap from the house.

Garage sale in 2 weeks and moving (hopefully) 2 weeks after that. We're already getting furniture delivered on Monday (to the new house) as we (again...hopefully) are supposed to get the keys on Friday.

HELLLLLLLPPPP!!!!! Have I mentioned how much I hate moving??

Maybe one of the good things is that we are getting rid of so much stuff. You know how much "stuff" multiplies in your house? Yeah, that's us...and now...with 3 wee boys and their "stuff" too. Ack....

5/09/2009

House coming along...

We went to the 'new' house today to do our final walk-thru and were extremely pleased to find out that the seller sent over (and obviously is paying for) a couple of guys to remove the unsightly plywood that covered a side of fencing! Yay! Less for us to do. The remaining fence on that side is in good condition too - double yay!

Everytime we visit our 'new' home-to-be we get a little bit more excited! Today we drove around the area for a bit and within a mile or so radius we have all our "regular" haunts - restaurants, movie rental place, haircuts, grocery, bookstore, etc. Whohoo!

I still hate moving but this is a good move. We're moving into OUR home. This current house is one that Laura bought and I moved into later on...this one is OURS.

We are also looking forward to changing/adding a few things. One is ceiling fans in EVERY room...a must for the summer. Especially since they will be our primary lighting source...7 ceiling fans (and installing them) coming up! I think we're also going to check into replacing the sliding glass doors (I really don't like sliding doors) with double french doors - and include a 'pet door' for our future pooch!

So much still to do and just over a month to do it!