The Mega-Master Redo.

We went from a room that we never used to a Master Bathroom that we never used b/c we were moving!!!!



And---you get so used to not having that room, so at 3 in the morning, when you wake up to go to the bathroom---we would totally forget that it was there, and just not use it. There's $12K well spent....

Moving Day!

Yes, I know that I look like a total weirdo in the picture---but guess what!? I don't care b/c it's moving day!

Suck It, You Anti-Customer Service Rep!

I can't do this anymore.
I can't.
I lack the patience necessary to deal with these "customer service" people when it comes to setting up the utilities.
I am so sorry.
I just can't.
I talked w/ someone at AT&T.
I don't know if we have a modem.
I don't know if we have a router.
I don't know where to buy them, and I'm assuming that I can get that stuff at Staples, but I don't know what to buy.
I don't know how the internet works.
I don't know about fiber-optics & dry loops.


I just want the internet to happen.
I want someone who works for the internet provider to come to my new house, and bring all of the necessary things that he needs to do his job, and plug stuff in, and do whatever he does that just makes the internet HAPPEN.

That's what I want.
It's modern-day-magic. I just want it to happen.

And if I don't have internet for a good little while b/c Antone @ AT&T can't listen to moi---the customer---well, Antone----F*ck you. I'll just do laundry instead.

Sadie-Bug Lady Bug's 2nd Birthday Party!

On Sunday, we attended Sadie's birthday party.
She's grown up so fast!!!

She loves baby strollers, that's for sure!
She's out of the crib, and in her big girl bed, and those CURLS! Her hair is adorable!!!

We Closed Today!

Well, we've spent a ton of money today.
First--we bought a house.
:)


Then, we bought these Whirpool Duets {with steam! whoohooo!}.


And so---we left the closing with no keys to the house.
We bought a washer & dryer that will be delivered Saturday.
We spent all this $$, and had nothing to show for it! We left both situations empty handed.
BUT---Hubby & Gage went & got the keys this evening while I had to come to school.
It's all very exciting.

Zephra & Marc The Money Man---THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Did I mention to everyone yet that we found the house, looked @ it like 5+ times, did the loan stuff, sold our house, and closed on the new house in 3 weeks?
THREE WEEKS.
This all would not have happened so quickly & so smoothly without Zephra & Marc.
:)

New Bedding.

Here's the new bedding that I ordered off Overstock.com for our new house.
:)
This will be in our room...


Hey, husband....remember when you gave my stuff away while I was at work, and I said "fine" and added, "I'll just buy new stuff"??? Remember that?
Yeah---well, I've started.

PSA: Careful What You Google.

{Mom, PSA = Public Service Announcement}

TRUST ME: Do Not google Boner+Growing+Pains under the images category.
I'm just sayin'...

So, I caught a teaser clip on the news, "80s Growing Pains Star is missing."
Naturally---I neeeeeeeeeeeeded to know who it was.
Hubby watched the whole episode of the news before they finally said that it was Boner from Growing Pains.
I couldn't remember what he looked like...and that's when the trouble started.
Reckless googling.
What on EARTH was I thinking?

You can only imagine what came up.......
{no puns intended there}

Parenting Fail!/MIL to the Rescue!

Well so---today: we had a parenting FAIL.
Luckily---I have a wonderful mother-in-law.

When the school sent home an enrollment packet for next year, I didn't think much of it.
So, I fill out the paperwork, send it back...no biggie, right?
WRONG.

Apparently spots in the Pre-K classes for 4 year olds are highly sought after, and to get one, you must get in a line on a designated date at a designated time.
Who knew?
THE OTHER PARENTS; THAT'S WHO.
I didn't read anything about a line.
Apparently it is to Pre-K what Black Friday lines are to the shopping.
WTF?
When my phone rang this morning, and W's mom was saying, "Hey, girl, where are you? I'm in line. I don't see you anywhere." I was fairly certain that she was prank calling me.
Nope.
This is serious business. And she's the mom with 3 kids who has got it all together.
She kept telling me that she felt so bad that she forgot to tell me, and warn me.

So---what did I do?
I called my mother in law.
"You've got to get up there, like NOW! There's a line!"
"A line for what?"
"Registration. Remember that packet I asked you to turn in? Well, apparently there is a big huge line that you have to STAND In to TURN IT IN. It's crazy. I know---but GO!"
..........and because she loves us----she left the house eeeeeaaaarly, and she stood in that line.......and she stood, and she stood.....and finally it was her turn. And she got up there and turned in our papers, and then she called me.
"Well?????"
"Well, I turned them in."
"I know, but what was our enrollment number?"
"I don't know. They didn't give me an enrollment number. They wrote a '4' really big on the envelope."
{4? That doesn't mean anything. He'll be 4 years old. We want him to go 4 days a week. The question is---did we make the cut???? Time will tell.}

Updates, and the Misadventures...of Us.

First & foremost: we sold the house today. We signed the paperwork today, and the $$ transfer should go through in the morning. Good times.

And in other news: we had the walk-through with the builder on our new house.
Would you like to know how that went?
Here's a hint:


Why---yes, that is Clark Griswold from Christmas Vacation.
Why---yes, that picture is from the attic scene.
Why---yes, our very own Hubby---much like Clark Griswold, put his foot through the attic floor/dining room ceiling.
Good times...
Just prior to that, Hubby was the nit-pickiest guy to "walk through" with....after his "incident," suddenly---all the things he pointed out seemed so very minor.
He just proved my statement: "You're the reason why we can't have anything NICE!"

Anyhow....now that we've sold our house, if something bad happens to the house closing that we are hoping & praying will happen on Tuesday---we're going to be freakin' homeless.
But I tell you something: we're moving SOMEWHERE. I'm NOT unpacking all this stuff!

That's all for now.
:)

Tomorrow....

We are closing on our current home tomorrow.
2/18/10.
:)

We should know the closing date on our new home soon. We're shooting for 2/23/10.
:)

Packing. Moving. Shoot Me.

This whole "packing" thing.
Ugh.

If Hubby & I don't kill each other---it will be a miracle.

"Your Honor---I didn't hit him; he RAN into the frying pan....twice."
{right after we had a conversation where he said, "We don't neeeeed this. You NEVER use it." and I followed it up with, "That's because I've been looooooking for it for FIVE years!", and he said, and "I doubt that, and what about THIS?" (as he holds up something that I consider fun, and creative, and I have BIG plans for), and I say, "Well, I'm going to use that. I was going to...." and then he put it in the 'discard' pile...before I could stop him---and THAT's when he ran into the cast iron skillet that I was just.about.to.pack. I swear.}

I'm just sayin'.......

Belated Valentine's Day Post....

To my husband on Valentine's Day: I got you 1/2 a house! Happy Valentine's Day!
....what?
...You got me the same thing????

Copy-cat.
You NEVER do anything original...or spontaneous...or creative anymore.

Half-a-house.
I sooooooo already did that!

*********************
And in other news---we're trying to close on the houses before the March 1st payment is due on our current house. Can't hate us for that!?

*********************
We finally got to return home to heat & electricity yesterday.
It was not without casualty, though.
Let's just say----we've moved onto to Teddy #2. {Teddy...the fish...remember?}
Well---on Friday, I was fretting because we left the fish behind. Hubby assured me that the fish would be fine.
Checked on Teddy Saturday when we went home to check on the heat/electricity status.
It's never a good thing when you have to break the ice at the top of the fish bowl before you flush your kiddo's fish.
And by that---I mean that Teddy was taken to the pet-store to ride out the storm. And, when he came back home last night---his colors were magically a little different. We hear that snow storms can do that to fish.
....you heard that too, right????
The other casualty of the storm: about $300 worth of food.

Here's a trivia question for you: what do a single serving fruit cup & a bag of onions have in common?
Answer {I can't type it upside down, or I would!}: they were the only 2 things left in the fridge after the Great Power Outage of 2010. Really. Everything in the fridge was warm....everything in the freezer(s) was melted & mush. And, no, we DIDN'T think to empty that stuff out when we checked on our house on Saturday because HELLO! There was ice forming in the fish bowl. It was 32 degrees or LESS in our house. It was flippin' cold. And, the inside of the freezer was all icy & everything was still frozen on Saturday morning when we checked on it.
But---by Sunday afternoon: not so much. Big moooooshy mess. Mmmmmm.

Okay---that's it.
I gotta get to work now.....
:)

Conversation From Memaw's

Well....let me tell you: 5 people & 3 dogs are all staying here.



Memaw: "Now, if y'all are still here on Tuesday, you might want to"
Hubby: "What? Shoot ourselves?"

...ahhh, that Hubby. He has a way with words.
He really should write for Hallmark, shouldn't he?

Today. No Heat. No Work. More Snow.

Well, we woke up at 2:30 in the morning to the Dallas Fire Department being at our house.
Why?
Down power line in our front yard.
There were sparks.
There were flames.
There was smoke.
There was NO HEAT & NO ELECTRICITY in the Casa de Lainey-Paney.

At 2:45 in the morning, I was calling in to work.

We couldn't leave the house.
We couldn't go in our front yard.
We couldn't watch the news.

Hubby moved the guest bed mattress into the middle of the living room floor, and we all bunked in there---keeping warm by the fire.
Pics from the backyard this morning:
The tricycle....










FINALLY---late this morning we got to leave. The fire department was at our house ALL NIGHT LONG.
But, this morning---with no heat, no coffee, no way to warm Gage's milk (yes, he still likes his milk warm, and I oblige him....), and no cartoons----I was fairly certain that our house may just implode.
We packed our bags & headed to the in-law's.

Pics from driving in:



And then the fun REALLY started....
The in-laws live on a golf course in a golf community.
Everyone was out w/ their golf carts---getting stuck in the snow, but riding around. Playing on the hills....We had so much fun! For.....about 30 minutes....and then we were all wet & tired...










So, we still have no idea if we have electricity back at our house or not.
I have no idea if it was just our house or if more were affected... We'll just have to wait & see, I suppose.

What I reeeeeeeeally want to do is drive out to the new house & see how it looks all covered in snow! But....I won't....

snow....Snow....and more SNOW!

Mother Nature, have you forgotten that this is Texas?

So, this morning, when we woke up, it was snowing....
Pics from this morning:


This evening:


I left work @ 3:30.
I got HOME at 6:40.
My commute was HORRIBLE {needless to say...}

But, we had fun tonight...






Hubby & Gage made a monster-snowman.


And all was well...until Ranger brought these snow-balls in....WTF? We're clearly not used to this whole "snow" thing...



If the weather is not better in the morning, there's just no way that I can go in to work. It was AWFUL driving home tonight, and...I'm just sayin'........
I feel a snow day coming on.

The contract is signed!

So, these pics are from Sunday....
....when we signed the contract on the new house!!!!

Zephra & me---she's our realtor!
{http://chroniclesofanexhaustedmom.blogspot.com}


Darnin drove up from Tyler to check out the house, and she kept Gage busy while we were signing paperwork.
They had popcorn & watched a movie in the media room.
I think they had a pretty good time!




After that---we went to Carl's Jr to grab a burger.

It was so funny.
It's attached to a truck stop.
You can actually shower AND get a burger right there in the same spot.

Hmmmmmmmm.

Anyway....that's how we spent our Super Bowl Sunday...

2/9/10: I got a ticket. "What do you mean I didn't stop?"

I would just like to say, that if my car stops---that's a stop.
This whole "3 second thing"....what thah....

I got pulled over by a cop on foot.
Really?
Really.

Alleged Violation: failure to stop "good enough."
Well----if I am a "not-good-enough-stopper," why would you (Mr.Ticket-Master) step in front of my moving car, and hold your jazz hand straight forward signaling me to stop? You already think that I don't stop well, so you place yourself in harm's way?
How much sense does that make?

Needless to say---I got a ticket.
And of course, Gage was with me.
He was soooooooo freaked out that we were going to jail.
{Where he came up with this, I don't know.}
I assured him that we were not going to jail...
So, I get my ticket from Mr.Ticket-Master {who, I will say was very, very nice about the whole incident}, and Gage instantly wants to see the ticket. So, I give it to him. Afterall---I don't want it.

A second or two later, what comes out of my child's mouth?
"Can I take it to show-and-tell!!!????"

No, Gage.
No, you cannot.

Ahhhh....Tuesday----thank goodness it's over!

Sunshine!

Thanks, Zephra, for my Sunshine Award!

:)



From, Zephra, at: http://chroniclesofanexhaustedmom.blogspot.com

The Renovations, The Move, The Why.

Okay, so quite a few of you are wondering about the renovations on our current home, the sudden news of the move, and the why.

So----the renovations: stems from when part of our roof collapsed in September.
The roof was over part of our house that we NEVER used. It was like an indoor patio/sun/hot-tub room. Right off the master bedroom. It was a room that we planned to renovate, but we hadn't gotten that far into it yet. The house was built in 1949, and there were lots of things that needed to be updated. That room was not a high priority....until we had a five foot by three foot HOLE in the roof.

So, the renovation has resulted in a 270 sf master bathroom and walk in closet.
Now, the master bedroom has it's own bathroom, a walk in closet, and two small closets that you can access from the bedroom.

The total renovation plan was going to take our house from a 2 bedroom 2 bath, to a 3 bedroom 3 bath b/c we were also adding a wall to the former dining room, and converting it into a bedroom. The dining room was relocated to what the former owners used as a den, and the ultimate plan included one living space rather than a living room & a den.

The main bathroom was renovated in 2009. Now we've got this one being built. The 3rd one is the tiniest-barely-counts-as-a-bathroom that is in the mud area/laundry room. It's crazy.

The move: now that we've added to the home, and changed things up----it's more desirable! And, a family member wants to buy the house from us, and relocate to Dallas. So-------what could be more perfect???

The move: well, when all of this discussion started about possibly moving---I linked up with Zephra (http://chroniclesofanexhaustedmom.blogspot.com), and we were ALL OVER IT. I tell ya---it's one thing to look on realtor.com, and toot around "looking" for a house. It's another thing to tell her what you want, and she takes off like 007 on a mission. She was all over it! She found all kinds of stuff for us, and she can even tell you that I've fallen in love with a few houses along this journey. But---I'm one of those who can envision myself happy in a variety of houses/neighborhoods, etc. My husband: not so much. He had a fairly strict set of ideals that he was not that willing to stray from. Let the realtor handle that, and voila! We've got the perfect house for both of us. And---Hubby & I didn't claw each others' eyes out. It really was a winning situation all around.
:)

So---there is the renovation, the move, and the why.

Besides----doing all this right now means that we get the tax credit for buying a new house, and who doesn't want THAT???

We've got news!

We got the house!
Suburbia---here we come.



We put down earnest $$ on Friday night, after a reeeeeeeeeally long day {more to come about that in another post...today's post will be nothing but happy & good news}.

Me...pretending to take a nice casserole, or freshly baked pie out of the oven...


Me...pretending to do dishes in the ultra-fabulous kitchen...


Needless to say---we're all very excited!



And none of this would be possible without our ultra-fabulous realtor: Zephra!
{http://chroniclesofanexhaustedmom.blogspot.com}
Z----Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!