Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Upfsyr

So the title is supposed to be "update" but my left hand was on the wrong place on the keyboard. Kinda reminds me of those obnoxious word verification things that for some reason I always end up having to do twice....

Forgive my lack of typing correctly, as I missed an entire hour of sleep "entertaining" my son at 1 am.

He woke up saying "Bah-bah. Ma mamama. Thbbbllt. Yah!" Turns out that's 10-month for "Let's play."

The bright side is at least he held still while I took the opportunity to change his diaper. I think the last time he held still for a diaper change was when he didn't know how to roll over yet.

I'm sitting here with my hands poised over my keyboard, at a complete loss of what to write about. What I did yesterday? Oh sure, like anybody really wants to hear about how I organized my office and finally got around to shredding 7 year old bank statements. So how about a synopsis on how the last 9 months of my life has been?

Motherhood? Amazing. I love my boy more than I ever thought I could. Although I end up doing what I never wanted to do: Letting my house look like a daycare. But doggonit, it is SO MUCH easier than the alternative: putting away toys, then getting them back out, then putting them away again... just to get them right back out.




Homeownership? Certainly has its plusses and minusses, but generally, it's a plus. I'll get to that in a moment.
Housewifery? Would be great if that was all I had to do...however I work 8 hours a week at my parents' (billing for my dad's engineering business and housecleaning for my mom), in addition to copy writing for my old job. I don't even have time to pluck my eyebrows. Okay, I still make time, it just happens to be in place of sleep. And about a week overdue.

Back to the whole homeownership thing...

Plusses:

  • get to decorate all I want
  • get to paint the walls any color I want
  • get to learn how to garden
  • get to touch the side of my house and know that "I own this stucco!"
  • get to paint a couple swatches on the exterior side of our house and leave it there as long as we need to...

  • get to dream about remodeling my kitchen and know that it's actually possible
  • get to have a pool that makes for a great party
Minusses:

  • Too poor to remodel kitchen, so it's actually not possible.
  • my "master bedroom" is 10' x 12'.
  • my pool doesn't have an automatic vacuum so I have to do it by hand...everyday...so it doesn't get dirty on the bottom...which makes me want to rip out my damn pool.
  • I don't have a/c. Which makes me need a pool so i can cool myself off when it's 836 degrees outside.
Wow, I sound ungrateful...Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my house. There are just things that AREN'T working for me.
Here is a picture montage so you can at least see what I mean about my kitchen.





This is one half of my kitchen. Aside from the hideous countertops, there is SUCH a lack of cabinet space that I am forced to hang my pots on the walls and leave half our food on the counter.



(Obviously, my maid didn't get the memo that we would be showcasing the kitchen today. I should fire her.)

Now this picture shows you the other half of my kitchen (aside from the fridge, which is out of the picture on the left). You have now seen all of my cabinets, or lack thereof. And hopefully understand that yes, they suck. The other issue I have with this space is that those two stools, on the other side of the bar, are on carpet. Which makes this not really an eat-at counter that children can eat at. So aside from the dining room which is behind me as I take this picture, away from all the living space, there is nowhere to eat that is near the family room and television, which I would prefer. Which leads me to this solution:


Remove this wall and put an island in its place. This is the formal-living-room-side of the kitchen wall that has the stove/oven on it. I can put cabinetry around all sides of the island, and get one of those stoves that have the fan that raises w/a push of a button. This would solve all my issues: Have a place to eat that is part of the general living space, give us better cabinetry and counters (as it would all be replaced), and...

even make the dining room more desirable of a space to sit, as it's more open to everything too!


The boy is awake now, so thus ends this post.

10 comments:

Janet said...

we are at the very beginning of house hunting, and you are already bursting my bubble!!! j/k but yeah, I'm sure whatever we buy will have all kinds of flaws I can't see until I live there, and then I will be mad that we are mortgaged out the wazoo for a little craphole. Joy. but your house is pretty!

Chastity said...

yea yeah, I agree with the pluses and minuses of home ownership. I promise you, you yave at least twice the cabinet space that I do...my kitchen is so small. i recently bought a kitchen cart though, and that's helping a lot.

Unknown said...

I love your blog!! So exciting. And I love your house, you have done sooo much to it to make it beautiful!

I hope this works...

Isabel said...

I think your house looks great. And dude, you have your own pool? Super duper jealous (but not jealous of having to clean it everyday).

Owning your own home is full of pluses and minuses. It's hard...but worth it.

Good luck with everything.

And don't feel too much pressure to blog. We're just all happy to have you back!

Lucky Gem said...

I agree with home ownership! I love it, but I've never lived in an apartment either. We are slowly updating our home, though it doesn't need much as it was built in the early 90's. Mainly light fixtures and new kitchen floor, which hopefully we'll get this summer. It's a lot of upkeep, plus my hubby keeps a perfect lawn and that takes time. It seems like there is always something to do around the house, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Silly Hily said...

Owning a home is work and a lot of it. But isn't it nice that you have the option to do that work instead of not being able to because you rent? It's give and take, just like anything else.
But hey, your floors look awesome! I think that might be my next big project...putting down some hardwood.
As for the toys? I made the mistake, just last night, of trying to pick up before the kids went to bed. Yeah, completely pointless.
(I'm so, so, so glad you are back!)

Anonymous said...

I love the way you've decorated your home! It's so classy and Pottery Barn-ish. Very nice :)

I totally agree with the homeownership. I loved owning my own driveway, yard, etc....but since we've moved into our apt. I have definetly enjoyed still having the amenities like a pool, but not having to take care of it.

Lindsey said...

Owning a house is hard sometimes, but in the end, it's worth it. I think your house looks gorgeous.

Emmakirst said...

Your home looks beautiful!

Your baby is so cute, I can't get over how fast time flys, it's amazing. Glad to see you back :)

Ticket 4 Two said...

Your little boy is GORGEOUS! Keep on updating! Apparently it is Tres Chic to take about a year break and return. That was my method anyway.