Our tenants move out in 10 days! That's less than two weeks!
We've already got replacements so soon I will have a whole new set of issues to bitch about.
I used to be all, "la la la maybe we'll find tenants that we can be best friends with and have weekly dinner parties and play lawn games ..." Now I just want someone that will pay rent on time and leave me the hell alone.
Is that too much to ask?
Our new porch is completed which means that the tenants will have to find another way to sue us rather than by falling down the steps. We can finally spend Halloween inside rather than policing the porch to keep costumed kids from wiping out (not that we would stay inside with our fabulous neighbors giving us drinks).
I went to take a photo and Adelaide plopped right into the shot. She likes playing with the rocks.
Where once bare bulbs lit our entryways, I installed actual fixtures today. If you are looking for lights, go to Lowes. They have a large selection and are about half the price of Home Depot. I should know, I spent a lot of time in each of them today.
In fact, this afternoon during a second trip out to Home Depot, a man in line in front of me turned around and said, "weren't you at Lowe's this morning?" Why yes, I was, stalker. Then I was wondering what made me so memorable. Was it the perplexed look that I had on my face as I paced the lighting aisle or the way I had to crawl on the floor to dig for the last two fixtures I wanted? Sexy.
I was also shopping for a doorbell. While looking over the options I realized that the big silver metal object in our kitchen is in fact a doorbell, not some crazy alarm like I imagined. This led me to believe that under the wireless doorbell on our door frame hid some actual wires. I was right. However, I failed at my installation attempt. Thankfully my electrician/musician/secret boyfriend comes this week to do some work so I'll see if he can give me a hand. In the meantime, can anyone tell me why the wireless doorbell options are so repulsively plastic?
I've written a thousand posts over the past few weeks -- they're all in my head though. I also came up with some clever post titles but I've forgotten them all. Eh.
Ok, Adelaide's cold is clearing up. Daisy has caught it however and both have recently endured cold related eye infections that cover their lashes in some lovely green slime every morning. It's beautiful, I assure you. I've only caught a bit of a cold and The Husband, well, he doesn't live here anymore since taking on a recent case.
Well, I take that back, he can be found in the house between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am. However, due to his big win today, I might actually be able to have dinner with him this evening.
Anyway, where was I? We are trucking right along with the potty training with the exception that once Addy takes her clothes off to use the toilet, she won't put them back on. Today I heard myself say, "you can't rub an apple on your butt." Then after I threw the fruit away, two hours of tantruming ensued. Loooove it.
Due to her recent cold, we were been spared from the high pitch screaming that Adelaid responds with any time that I try to discipline her. It's back now and my ears hurt.
My brother recently asked me why I don't just let her do whatever she wants. I know that he was teasing but I DO pretty much abide to her every wish. The other morning she wanted a banana so I snapped the stem so she could peel it and she freaked out 'cause I had done so. I then took that banana and gave her a new one. She peeled it herself, broke it in two and then threw a tantrum because it was "broken." Fortunately my father was here to witness his blessed granddaughter's behavior.
This morning Addy wanted a chocolate sandwich (Nutella) for breakfast and I said sure. I put it together, cut it down the middle like I always do and handed it to her. A tantrum then ensued because I had broken yet another item of food. You know what stopped the fight this time? A piece of tape. I taped her sandwich and she went on her merry way.
She won't let me brush her hair, wash her face or dress her. She is filthy but I love her anyway. However, I can't wait for pre-school which is an entirely different set of issues that I am sick of talking about.
OK! Some things have gone right recently. We finally re-financed the house to put the construction loan together with our mortgage and it's all at a lower percentage than what we originally had which makes me very happy. We also took out enough to rebuild the porch. Construction is completed and they are just finishing up the paint today. We have two off-street parking spaces and the yard is full of gravel to keep our feet from getting wet ever time it rains. I love the new porch, it's gorgeous and we don't live in fear of getting sued anymore. I can't tell you how many people fell down our front steps. Pictures to come soon.
Also, during my dad's recent visit, we managed to paint what was once our bedroom and hang a new light fixture to create a dining room. Now I only need some chairs to add to a table that come with the house.
I'm waiting for our slime days to end. Addy's favorite place to wipe her nose is my arm but that's only when she's not licking it.
I am truly in love with my new bathroom trash can. Can I get any more boring? It's rectangular and fits in the narrow space between our vanity and the wall. It has replaced a parade of paper bags that served me well until I could find the perfect receptacle and perfect it is. The reason why I really love it is because it was around $20 at Target and has wings on the side that hold a standard, plastic shopping bag in place. No more slouching trash bags.
Today was the first day that my new cleaning lady came and I love her almost as much as the aforementioned trash can. My house hasn't been this clean since, well, since the last time I hired someone to clean it. She did a fantastic job and she even let Addy tag along behind her.
Daisy is teething. She already has two teeth and there must be more coming because she is one miserable puppy around bed and nap times. I am miserable as well as she likes to bite down on things to relieve the pain ... fleshy things like fingers and oh, nipples.
Finally, every parent blogger that I read has belabored over what to call their nether regions in front of their children. Some people opt for cutesy names but I was determined to go for the proper names just like I was taught. I chose to go with "vulva" because it is more clinically correct than that other "V" word. I belabored over this for longer than I should have and was very clear to instruct The Husband that this was the word that we would use. However I did not bother to put any thought into what Addy would call her buttocks. Consequently, Addy runs around constantly talking about her vulva and "booty."
Addy was chasing our cat, Boudreaux, today with a carrot screaming, "EAT IT! HERE IS A TREAT!" Boudreaux didn't think too much of it.
I feel like this blog is going to be a little bi-polar for a while. I am very New Orleans focused since that's what I wrote about for so long after ending ye ol' baby blog so bear with me.
With the shed in the back yard finally demolished and a smaller, plastic shed in its place, I can now start on beautifying my backyard. There is a lot more work involved than I ever imagined to prepare the slab where the old shed once stood. Unfortunately, all I had planned on doing was throwing out a few pots of basil and calling it a day. No such luck.
On the other hand, Addy and I have been having a great time in the backyard while Daisy sleeps in the mornings and I no longer feel guilty about quarantining her to the house ... even if we did just double the living area.
Other recent obsessions include pre-schools. I know that everyone is sick of hearing me talk about the options and the hoops that I have to jump through to get Addy into a good, inexpensive program but I can't help that I've become one of "those" mothers. I did not, however, opt to get Addy tested for a "gifted" program. The whole idea of testing a 2-year-old disgusts me and I have better things to spend $400 on.
Finally, we went to Barkus on Saturday and despite the monumental pain-in-the-ass it is to get the kids out of the house and keep them from screaming during the entire outing, I'm awfully glad that we went. The theme this year was Indiana Bones and Raiders of the Lost Bark. We saw some creative costuming but overall, this year wasn't as good as the last one that I attended in 2006. Addy loved the dogs.
Oh, before the parade, we had lunch at Fiorella's and forgive me but it's been a while since I've eaten anywhere in the Quarter that didn't cost me a week's pay, but are there more gutter punks than usual? Our waitress was about four degrees from being a gutter punk. She appeared to have bathed recently and she was lacking a dog. Oh, and she didn't snarl. That being said, she had some sort of Mad Max thing going on ... it might have been the patch of fur on her skirt and the first thing that came to mind was Dirty Coast's "la beaute d'entropie" shirt. Take that as you will.
When we removed the roof of our house to add on the camelback, I insisted that the rafters be saved and stacked in my backyard for a "future project." I just didn't want them to end up in a landfill as I already felt bad about getting rid of our slate roof post-K.
I was told during our house inspection that the rafters were cypress but upon further inspection, they were revealed to be heart pine. I wasn't sure that the market was as good for heart pine as it is for old cypress but was pleasantly surprised when three people emailed me in regards to my craigslist post.
A contractor who worked for "a select group of clients" hauled the wood out of my backyard and handed me a crisp $100 bill. The wood was full of nails and I wasn't going to go anything with it so the price was fair. What I'm really pleased about is that it will be re-used in an 18th century French Quarter home.
His "guy" forgot a beam so I am still stuck with a single rafter that I don't want to throw out but is a hazard due to the amount of nails poking out from it. I might look into how much it would cost to have it milled into a floor board as I certainly need a few of those.
Addy, Daisy and I have been spending a lot more time outside in the backyard now that the shed is gone. There is still a gas line that ran into the shed that needs to be disconnected despite my plumber's assurances that he had capped them all (FYI, if you come across a plumber named, Luke Sinclair, keep looking). Other than that line, there are some drains that need to be filled in and the cement slab that the shed stood on is cracked and warped. Lately I've been stacking bricks while Addy plays in the dirt. There is still quite a bit of work to be done but it's getting there.
In a not-so-shining moment yesterday, I pulled a tree down onto my head.
We are FINALLY getting that ugly, green, much despised shed torn down tomorrow. It's a matter of my mental health really. I have wanted it gone since we first moved in five years ago. I even kept myself from using it the first two years so that it wouldn't be filled with crap when it came to demo time. Anyway, since I'm going to be paying people to haul shit out of my backyard, I figured that I might as well take down a small tree that was quickly growing into a large tree.
How is it that one little sprout can grow into an entire tree in this city in a matter of days? This tree had grown into our fence and posed a danger to two houses if I strong wind came through these parts. Not that we are prone to strong winds or anything ... Besides it was blocking my view of my neighbor's hot tub. I kid.
All I have for saws are a hack saw and a bow saw. This is best for me as an actual chainsaw would result in missing limbs. The diameter of the tree was about four inches and I figured that I could just saw 3/4 of the way through and push it down.
Unfortunately the three was in a tight spot and I couldn't get the leverage to push so I tied a rope to the trunk in order to pull it down. What I did not take into account was the height of the tree as well as the breadth of the branches. The one thing that I did do well was to tell Addy to get inside just before I yanked the rope.
I then pulled the tree down on top of me. I dodged the trunk, which was my intent but was hit in the face with the branches (because I was, of course, looking up). Y'all, if I had died right then and there, I would have been a candidate for the the Darwin Awards. Fortunately I only have a couple of scratches on my upper lip and it didn't even knock me down onto the construction debris that covers my backyard. I also missed the neighbor's house and fence. Phew.
