The House II

I thought it was funny to look back to October 26, 2009 and see this post: http://kimberkara.blogspot.com/2009/10/house.html .  So much has happened since then.  We moved in to the house a week ago today.  It has changed in some ways but still needs a lot more work.  We are indeed sleeping in the living room and the towels have no place of their own, but we did a lot of work on the living room, and fixed it well enough to move in.  It smells pretty awful to me.  The basement is wet and nasty and need attention next, after I finish painting the built-in shelves made to fill the "wall window" in the "living room".  Here are a couple more recent pics.

I didn't take a pic of the living room before we moved in.  It looks pretty good now.

The Dining room

This is what happens when nothing is baby proofed.  Thank goodness the powder was almost empty.

I'll take more pics soon.

Home Improvements

Sadie's new bedroom walls

After 3 coats of Kilz, 2 coats of each of the 3 colors and 2 on the ceiling... oh and an evening of painting stars, adhering gemstones and then glitering paint dots we are DONE with Sadie's room.  Now I just need to find some carpet that is so awesome that someone will just give it to me for free, and wait for the new windows to come in and oh again, sew the curtains and install the blinds.  That's all.

We will move in to the new house once we complete the living room walls.  There is a lot of sanding involved.  We are stripping the wood panneling down to new wood and then staining it all white.  It's going to look fricking fabulous!

Angie getting her sanding on.

See that little white patch next to the window?  Thats what we are going for.  We had to try it out before we went through all of the trouble.  Otherwise I was just going to paint it.

So many things need to be done in this house big, like building and tearing down walls, and small jobs like painting and cleaning that I feel like it will never get done.  NOt for lack of energy, but lack of funds.  This one bedroom has already cost well over $100 and the carpet will be another $200.  I am doing Sadie's room before most other things because she is the most fragile of the the 4 of us moving.  I want her to look forward to sleeping in that room.

We are still living without internet and cable.  That alone is really pushing me to move.  I am getting internet at least asap once we set a date to make the big move.  We can watch tv and movies through the net.  yay!

I am still happy to not be working.  I do not miss the job at all.  The children are a handfull and sometimes I think fondly about life before kids, but I am still happier now than I have been for years.  I am working for myself and my family now and that seems just so right.

Changes abound

I am unemployed.
I am collecting unemployment while I take care of my children.

We are restoring the Ypsilanti house the best we can before we move in. New paint, new windows, lots of repairs.
I have not paid on my Inkster house in 2 months.  I will be corresponding with BOA soon.
We are saving money the lame way - no cable or internet.  The cable is easier than I thought - I just can't get used to no internet, so I visit my MIL to use her wireless.
How's that for changes?  Works for me. :)

No joke

I'm broke.

So I need to work this out.  I need to look at my options.

Option 1.  dump my house/ruin my credit.  move in to Marks mom's empty house, next door to her house. Only pay utilities. cut back on work - 2 days a week on the days that Mark has off.  go insane living next to in-laws in a house that is not mine.  Well actually they want to give it to us.  Get on the welfare. Raise my own children.

Option 2.  umm... run away?

Option 3.  I got nothing.

I can't take other people raising my kids. I can't keep sending my sick child to daycare where they cannot give her the care she needs.  Is living next to in-laws less painful?  No offense to them.  They are nice and great and all, but... everyone will tell you it's a bad idea to move in next to your in-laws.  Just watch Everybody Loves Raymond.

New Pics

I come to this blog to get to my other blogs and see blogs from my blogroll and I and sick of seeing the same ole blog from forever ago so here are some pics.  I don't have many to shoose from because I lost my camera charger on Christmas.

Daddy and Violet.  She is 6.5 months old now.  Her favorite phrase is "blah blah blah blah...".

I love this pic.  I took lots of her giving me smiles, but her whole body gets in the action when she smiles, so the rest are blurry.

Sadie has been a great big sister and has not shown any resentment towards her baby soster, but you can be sure if you are giving Violet attention, Sadie will soon be in the middle of it.

I am having a hard time uploading pics. This will have to be enough.