Our dream home

When we got into town we took a couple of days to relax, then we got right to house hunting.  We originally narrowed our list from 150 houses to about 75, and then added another 15 or so over the following few days.  We saw nearly 90 houses, but found several amazing houses.

We liked 5 houses.  One was at the high end of our price range and I didn’t like that it was a brand new build.  Another felt really great when you walked in, was super close to the light rail, and tons of upgrades, but just didn’t meet all of our needs for space and layout.  Another one was really fantastic, but ended up being a short sale and given that we are on a time constraint weren’t interested in any short sales. 

It came down to 2 houses.  We loved both of them and could imagine living in both.  One was further away from everything and had a small yard, but had basically everything else we wanted.  I  was going to have to compromise on a space for myself, the lack of a front porch, and that it was in a less established neighborhood (baby trees).  We were also going to have to do a couple of upgrades.  Chris LOVED the finished basement though.  We went back a couple of times to look at that house and each time could really imagine living there.

The house we chose I loved from the moment I saw the front porch.  It’s a corner lot with a huge backyard.  I loved the established neighborhood and it’s 5 min away from several of our friends.  It’s about a 45 min commute to work, but that’s mostly because I’m taking the light rail instead of driving.  We didn’t have to compromise on anything and it really is our dream house.  It already has most of the upgrades we want, and a blank slate for Chris to do his dream ‘man cave’.  The kids also have an awesome built in play area out back. 

Here are some photos.  My photos weren’t really to show off the house, but to take photos during the inspection.  I’ll have to get some more to really show of the house.

Front of the house (not my photo).  I love the front porch and front landscaping.  All the windows on the front of the house upstairs are the bedrooms, with the master above the garage. 

Back yard play set.  The corner of the yard slopes up so this is built into the hill.  The rest of the yard is flat.

I was taking a photo of the basketball hoop (which we got included with the house),  but you can see the edge of the left side of the yard.  This  is maybe 1/6 of the total yard.  Seriously it’s huge!

This doesn’t show how high the ceilings are in the living room.  They are about 30 feet high and the windows and fireplace extend up the high.  The eating area and kitchen are completely open to the living room.

This is the seller’s photo

When you first walk in the door the formal dining room is on the left.  We plan to use this room as either a play room or a library, or both!

To the right when you walk in is Chris’ office.  It has built in cherry wood bookshelves and a desk.  We plan to change the floor to hardwood and change out the desk to make it deeper. (seller’s photo)

Another seller’s photo.  This is the master bedroom.  The left of the photo is the front of the house with 2 large windows and to the right in the master bath and walk in closet. We plan to change the paint color and possibly add a window on the left to balance the window on the right.

 

I was taking a photo of the light fixture, but it shows you a bit of the size of the kitchen and eating area.

Another view of the kitchen (was taking photos of the appliances) but you can see the double oven, large island and granite countertops.  

The other things I didn’t take photos of:

My office space, the cool cubbies to put our belongings when we come home, the upstairs laundry room, the 3 bedrooms upstairs, the one bedroom in the basement, the 3 bathrooms, and probably a few other things.  I hope nothing falls through!!

We made it!

So obviously we made it.  The move happened a little differently than expected.  The movers decided they could do everything in one day (Monday) so that meant we could leave a day early.  It was very chaotic, but everything came together.  We stayed with Caren Monday nigh and then Chris took all the stuff (wood, paint, household chemicals) to the dump on Tuesday morning  The car guy showed up mid morning to load Chris’ car (they were moving his car while we drove mine), then Chris got back just in time to do the checkout with the landlord.

We got on the road about 1 pm just in time for the kids’ naps.  While driving I called the hotel to change our reservations (then Caren called and told us we forgot our toiletries, but she sent them to us, so that worked out in the end).  The road trip went really, really well.  The kids did great, slept well, and hardly fussed at all.  They seemed to like the adventure, but especially liked watching Wall-E and Nemo non-stop.  A few funny stories:

We stopped in Vegas for gas, water and bathroom breaks.  The kids were wandering around on the grass near where we were parked.  They would wander into the sun and say ‘hot, hot’.  Then they would go over to the car and blow on it to try to cool it off.

We stopped in St George and stayed overnight at Towne Place Suites.  It was basically a 2 bedroom apartment that was super nice.  We got the kids settled in one room with Cooper in the bed with bedrails and Charlotte in a portable crib from the hotel.  I logged onto the computer while Chris started watching TV in our room.  He commented that it was an awful small king bed.  I told him it was just because we were used to our cal king.  I went to bed about 15 min later and realized we were sleeping a queen with the dog while Cooper had the only king all to himself.  We considered moving the kids, but just sucked it up.  Next time we will be sure to check the bed sizes in all rooms before putting the kids to bed.

We stopped in Salina, Utah to eat Subway for lunch.  The kids were a little stir crazy and while ordering our food they kept putting their faces over the vents in the floor so the air would blow on them.  Then we went outside to eat and sat in a booth.  Cooper crawled from his side under the table and pops up on my side saying ‘ta-da!’.  When we got back in the car the bucket of dog food fell out of the back of the car and spilled on the ground.  Suddenly there were a million seagulls!!  Apparently lamb and rice dog food is a popular treat for birds.

On our way soon

What a chaotic day!  I spent nearly all day at the park with the kids while the movers were doing the house.  Now I’m sitting at Caren’s with the kids and Chris is still at the house loading up the car and waiting for them to finish.  I can’t believe we’re leaving!

I probably won’t be blogging much over the next few weeks, but I’ll try to sneak it in when I can.

Last Days

We are so busy and stressed that I barely have time to blog about this whole experience.  We are getting down to the wire now.  We’ve said all of our goodbyes and planned our trip.  The movers come on Monday and Tuesday to pick up all of our stuff.  I can’t believe it’s moving so fast and soon we will be saying goodbye to California, our home for the last 8 years.

My last day of work was on Friday and it was quite a long week.  Between all the things I had to get done for work and all the home stuff, I was exhausted every night.  I was very sad on Friday and cried on my way home from work.  It was the last time I would drive down the beach to go home, and the last time I would see Long Beach.  The last time I would see all my coworkers and friends at work.  I will miss everyone so much!

I’m really glad I’m leaving while I’m at a really good place, but it was a tough goodbye for me.  I was so surprised and incredibly thankful for the wonderful going away present they got me – a Kindle!  I already own one, but Chris and I fight over it, so now we have two!  It just goes to show you how well they know me since I am an avid book reader.  It couldn’t have been a more thoughtful gift.

I think it’s slowly starting to hit me that we’re really leaving.  Our life is about to really change.  I’m nervous about my new job.  I’m nervous about suddenly being so close to family.  We’ve been so independent for so long, I feel like we’re going to have a culture shock.  (Don’t get me wrong we are also super excited about being close to family as well.)  I’m nervous that we will begin to feel too settled down and want to leave again.  I’m going to miss California and all my friends here.

But mostly I super excited!  I am excited to experience seasons again, and own more than flip flops, shorts and t-shirts.  I am very excited about my new job and the challenges in front of me.  I can’t wait to have all my close friends near me again, and to be able to have dinner with my sister, brother or dad whenever I feel like it.  I can’t wait to have regular date nights with my husband because we’ll have an overabundance of babysitters whom we trust completely and don’t have to pay $50 or more to enjoy a night out.  We will finally get to own our first home and we get to go for the dream home!

See everyone soon!

Sense of humor

Chris had Cooper in the car after dropping Charlotte off for therapy.  He bought Twizzlers so he gave one to Cooper, who ate it super quick and asked for ‘mo’.  Chris gave him another one and he immediately asked for ‘mo’.  Chris told him he needed to eat the one he had first and Cooper insisted on ‘mo’.  When Chris looked back at Cooper the Twizzler was on his head and he had a super sly smile on his face and was giggling mischieviously.  Chris laughed and said, ‘Cooper it’s on your head!’ and then Cooper started laughing and said ‘mo, peeze’.

This morning I was changing Charlotte’s diaper at the changing table/top of the dresser.  Cooper comes up to me and puts a sticker on my butt.  He points and says ‘tuck butt!  butt!’ and then laughs.  Apparently stickers on mommy’s butt is very funny.

Mischievous little boy

Cooper is standing in front of the TV playing with the buttons on the TV.  I tell him to keep his hands down.  No touching, eyes only.    He turns around to face us, with his back to the TV, but still standing close to it.  We continue watching TV and I notice Cooper has this very concentrated look on his face.  I notice he is trying to use his ELBOW to turn the TV off.  Again I remind him to leave the buttons alone.  We continue watching TV and it looks like he is concentrating and seems to be standing on his tip toes.  I notice he is trying to use his BUTT to turn the TV off.  We just crack up laughing.

Chris went to the bathroom.  Cooper was watching TV.  When Chris came back, Cooper was outside and had dumped the entire container of bubbles out on the patio.  Chris went to the bathroom.  Cooper was watching TV.  When Chris came back, Cooper was outside and had dumped the entire container of Simple Green out on the patio.  Charlotte was dancing around in it and was covered on her entire front and in her hair.  She was clearly having fun.  Do you know how sudsy our patio is right now?  Lesson learned:  don’t go to the bathroom while Cooper is watching TV.

Speech therapy is paying off!

Richard, Caren and Cecily came over last night for dinner.  We ordered in from one of our favorite places, Roman Cucina.  We were all sitting around eating dinner.  Cecily tells her mom that she wants her water cup.  Caren asks her where her water cup is at and she says she doesn’t know.

Just as I ask Cecily if she was sure she brought it in, I notice out of the corner of my eye that Charlotte got down from the table.  I assumed she was getting down to play, which is one of her favorite things to do during dinner these days.  When Cecily begins to answer me, her cup magically appears on the table, attached to Charlotte’s itty bitty hand.  Charlotte walks back around the table with a huge smile on her face.

She crawls back into her chair and is obviously very proud of herself.  Everyone gives Charlotte a big thank you.  We were all so surprised that she was paying attention to our conversation and that she remembered where Cecily had put her water cup.

_________________________________________________________________

Charlotte:  [yelling from upstairs]  Mooommmmaaaa!  Mooommmmmaaaa!!

Me:  Charlotte I’m busy, what do you need?  Come downstairs please.

Charlotte:  Poopeh’s woom.

Me:  What’s in Cooper’s room?

Charlotte:  Tuck, tuck.

Me:  Something is stuck?  What’s stuck?

Charlotte:  Hep me.  Hep peeze.

Me:  You need help?

Charlotte:  Yesh.

Me:  Ask daddy for help, mommy is busy.

Charlotte:  Dah-ee, hep peeze.  Come on. [takes daddy’s hand to go upstairs]

Chris:  Oh, your coin is stuck in the door in Cooper’s room!

Now, how’s that for speech therapy?!?!

Things to do

Wow we have a lot to do.  I’m probably forgetting at least 10 more things, but I’m overwhelmed.  Here’s our to do list to get done before the 15th:

1. Contact a real estate agent.
2. Contact a loan officer.
3. Collect documents for home loan, scan/fax, and send in.
4. Drug test for job.
5. Fill out paperwork for job and send in.
6. Contact moving company and set up survey and pack/move day.
7. Clean out garage.  Throw away, keep, and donate piles.
8. Clean out all 1 closets.  Throw away, keep, and donate piles.
9. Schedule visits with 11 5 1 friends.
10. Go to Disneyland.
11. Set up kennel reservations for Scout while we go to San Diego and prepare to move.
12. Make hotel reservations for San Diego.
13. Go to San Diego.
14. Go to the beach.
15. Plan drive to Denver.
16. Make hotel reservations for drive to Denver.
17. Make hotel reservations for night after movers pack/load everything before we leave.
18. Set up maids to come do final cleaning.
19. Set up check out visit with landlord.
20. Buy car topper/storage thing and install it.
21. Get oil change/car check up.
22. Buy DVDs for kids for drive to Denver.
23. Clean out food in freezer, fridge, and cupboards.  Throw away/donate.
24. Clean patio and throw away/donate items we don’t need.
25. Remove artwork and fill holes.
26. Remove curtain rods and fill holes.
27. Organize paperwork to keep out in case we need it while stuff is in storage.
28. Make a list of what we need to travel with.
29. Make a pile of stuff not being packed that we’ll need for 45+ days while waiting to close on a house.
30. Forward mail.
31. Cancel all utilities.
32. Schedule house hunting with realtor.
33. Send email asking for help on babysitting.
34. Notify friends/family when they will be babysitting.
35. Blog daily to keep up with photos.
36. Go through laptop and clean up to prepare for use during travel to Denver.
37. Pack up computers to take with us.
38. Schedule exit meeting with HR.
39. Prepare hand off notes for work.
40. Give mid-year reviews for direct reports.
41. Go to going away party for work.
42. Review list of 60 houses and delete the ones we don’t want to go see.