And The Next Chapter Begins

Today I got back on the wagon and cruised some blogs of my favorite writers. And everyone seems to have been keeping just as busy as I have been over my short hiatus from blogging. We are finally completely moved in. However, I use the term “completely” very loosely, as my living and dining rooms are disaster areas and my basement looks like someone vomited toys all over the floor. I haven’t hung any of my curtains yet or done any of the painting, or unpacked all the gazillion boxes, but believe me, as soon as my body allows me to walk upright again, I’ll let you know. And then the decorating can begin. I think I must have moved about 100 boxes, climbed up and down 2 sets of stairs about 200 times, moved a curious toddler away from the top and bottom of the stairs about 300 times, and have already screwed up 2 do-it-yourself projects. Can someone tell me the following: how do you screw a gate into the wall at the top of the stairs where there are no studs? And I’m not referring to male assistance.

And since when did doorknobs become such a pain in the ass to take off? I got into a serious fight with the doorknob of my powder room and it won. Now it looks even worse than it did before, since not only is it ugly, but it’s now dangling by a final screw that won’t budge.

I might be saved by my Uncle Tom who is coming in from out of town this weekend to assess the damage. The whole house is move-in ready, it just needs a good scrub down and good paint job on both the walls and the trim, as well as some serious updating. But serious updating will have to come once I receive either a serious raise or a serious bonus at work.

The deck also needs to be power washed, painted and sealed. And all the doors need new doorknobs. Other than that, we just need to actually unpack all the boxes that are stacked around the house, and slowly do project by project. My total wish list is the following: paint the kids’ rooms and their bathroom, paint my bathroom, replace the living room and dining room curtains, paint all the trim and the walls in the living room, dining room and family rooms, add a porch rail to the front porch, replace the banister leading up the stairs, add a chair rail and wainscoting to the living room/dining room, add a chair rail to the family room, replace the flooring in the foyer, kitchen and powder room, and replace the carpet in the family room. Phew, that is quite a list. Who knows when all of that will get done. Like I said, serious raise or serious bonus.

And my husband doesn’t seem to be able to take care of children and unpack at the same time during the day (much to my irritation I’m still waiting for him to get the oil changed on one car and replace the donut tire on the other), and his mood this past week has been a little annoying. Everytime we move he gets into a funk about the transition. He has issues transitioning from one thing to the next. In other words, his threshold for stress is much lower than mine, and frankly it gets a little old. I don’t have the capacity to carry both the financial and emotional load of the family. He’s a very good nurturer and caregiver to the kids, but when it comes to multi-tasking and just simply “getting things done”, his behavior is not exemplary. I remember when I applied for the job I have right now the description of the ideal candidate included someone who has a “get it done” attitude. We are opposites in that category. Good thing or else I’d be out of a job, right? Perhaps instead of his art class he’s taking, he needs a class on domestic due diligence. He already knows how to draw!

But enough about him. I’m glad I just got that off my chest. Someone at work told me I’m annoyed with him because I just spent way too much time with him all week while I was off work. And that could be true. It’s just there’s one thing about my marriage that I have learned: my husband and I deal with stress in 2 very distinctly opposite ways. I move and he does not. In my experience, he eventually comes around after some very consistent and explosive nagging, but frankly, I don’t have the energy for nagging anymore. That was so 2006.

But in the all important and good news, the kids seem to have adapted quite well to the move. Andrew only had a few nights in our bed, and I don’t think CJ has removed his bicycle helmet once since we moved in. In fact he might be making permanent trail marks on the sidewalk as I write. He’s made some friends up the street with the fellow neighborhood urchins and already bugged the 12 year old boy to death next door to play basketball with him on a daily basis. I’m certain sooner or later that poor kid next door is not going to want to come out of his house ever for fear of the five year old who will pounce on him as soon as his foot hits the blacktop in conjunction with the dreaded words: “Oh, Phil is outside!”

As for my world, today I’m more concerned about paying for this newly acquired home. We are fine financially right now, but it will be extremely tight. Of course I haven’t had to pay that first mortgage payment yet, so the sticker shock will be frightening, I’m sure. More posts on that to come I’m sure on July 1st after I wipe myself up off the floor.

Well, now that I’m officially back online thanks to my local internet provider, I’ll be trying to get back into the blogging swing of things. And pictures of the house to come soon. You see I haven’t yet graduated to the age of digital photography yet and have issues about giving up film. I’m like my husband when it comes to photography: an old stick in the mud with transitional issues.