So many moons ago, perhaps 12 of them or more, I posted how we finally got off our asses and did some improvements to our home. Its original title was rental house, and once we leave it will revert to that status, so we had been reluctant to spend a lot of money on a place that was, in the grand scheme of things, just a temporary abode.
This November we will have lived in this place for three years. That's nothing to shake a stick at, though I know it's still just a blip of time when you consider the long run. Aside from the horrible kitchen (I hate you, cabinets. I loathe you, receded grout), and the majorly outdated bathroom, and the fact that we could seriously benefit from a third bedroom and second bathroom, it's a great house. It charms the pants off of people. If Todd were still single it would be one hell of a wingman. Is that inappropriate? I am not sure, I've not even had all my iced tea this morning.
Back to the house! It's a charmer. It's a cutie patootie. We love our neighborhood and neighbors, we love the backyard and its super rad fireplace. But we were facing a tough decision coming down the pike within the next six months or so: what to do when we have baby number two? I'm not getting any younger and Todd's gray hairs are multiplying as if I had something to do with it. It's time to expand the family. But... Two bedrooms? ONE bathroom? Jesus, take the wheel.
I know, I know, back in the days of yore, people made families consisting of ten children in a no bedroom house with dirt floors and a cow in the family room. But whatever. We do have another rental not too far from here, with great tenants that we'd hate to displace, but with that third bedroom, that second bathroom, that we so badly desire. Eventually we just decided we'd move in there.
But, and wow it's a big 'but' (and I cannot lie!)... It's the ugliest house on the street, and the street is ugly too. Not only that, but Todd would have to convert it from swamp cooling to A/C. He'd have to gut one of the bathrooms. We'd have to completely gut and remodel the kitchen. We'd have to convert the garage into a family room/playroom/office for Todd. The backyard is a giant dirt field. There is a decrepit old cedar tree in front and since I am a country girl from Nashville, I know those things attract ticks. A nasty old chain link fence needs ripping out in the front. Did I mention we'd have to convert the garage into a family room/playroom/office for Todd?!
It was a lot, and we were looking at a bill of several thousand dollars, all for an ugly house neither of us wanted to live in. Let me try and shed a little light on just how ugly it is: when Todd took us to go take a look at it, I involuntarily, and out of nowhere, burst into tears. Yep! Spontaneous despair. It's that bad.
So naturally, we were kind of stressing out about it. True, there were going to be some good things about it. Extra bathroom, mainly. We had some cool ideas for the backyard, as well. I'd finally have enough room to get a desk of my own, and a sewing machine, and I was going to Laura Ingalls Wilder the fuck out of stuff.
Then, the other night, just last week, we were discussing it. Now, my disdain for the place was obvious but Todd finally let it all out that he too was pretty down in the dumps about leaving our cutie patootie home for this other shit shack. We both wished we could figure out a way to just stay in our place until the opportunity presented itself to buy another property in the area of town we truly wanted to live in. Alex's bedroom was just so small though; there'd be no way to fit a crib in there with her toys, and I didn't want to compromise so much of her comfort.
And then it hit me. Switch bedrooms! All we have in our bedroom are a king bed, two dressers and two nightstands. We have a cool chair in there that I bought in New Orleans but I quickly assessed where we could put that. I mentally decorated Alex's room with our stuff, and arranged hers and Mystery Baby's stuff in our bedroom and it worked, perfectly. I told Todd and the relief we both felt was palpable.
I'm just so happy to stay in our home. We've shaken out all the growing pains that comes from adjusting to a new home and though it's small and will feel smaller still when we are a family of four, it's ours and we love it. Someday quite soon we'll pack up and say goodbye to our little house, but I'm so happy to know that we will just be moving once, and not making a years-long pit stop at the shit shack.
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