I can't think of a whole lot to report around here, except house stuff and I know that gets boring after a while. Oh well. It's what I have to talk about!
We had the inspection done yesterday. I think the report will be a mile long, but will contain mostly what we were expecting to find. Nothing new that was major. There are some mold issues in the crawl space--we already knew of it, but still don't know how serious it is. It's just one of those things that is brand new to us and so we're extra cautious about it. We're used to treating our wood because it's too dry, not because it's soggy and growing things! And the termites. I'm not used to having to worry about bugs eating my house or carrying it away. There are no termite issues at this house, but we will have the mold to deal with. I expect that would be the case in 90% of the houses we would try to buy around here, so it's not a deal breaker.
We've been trying to do some research today, trying to get rough estimates on the cost of adding a garage and perhaps upstairs living space above it--just to see what our options are and make sure that we can still afford this "cheap" house when we add up everything that we want/need to do to it. ;-) I think we're still feeling confident about things, though we may have to do a chunk of the work in the beginning and then finish off a little bit at a time like we've always done before. James does all of the math and carries the burden of balancing the money stuff. As for me, I have decorated and redecorated the house a dozen times. Still struggling in the kitchen, but I've already got the pictures and shelves hung on the wall in the living room. In my head, that is. ;-)
In other news, Joe caught a bullfrog tonight. Like that's really "news" anymore. Ha! This is "The Big One" that they've been after for weeks now. They always see him in the pond but have never been able to get to him until now.
Speaking of Joe, he developed a rather nasty cough about a week ago. It was REALLY bad for a couple of days, then lessened quite a bit (after being prayed for at church) but has still lingered. Now Sam has started coughing. "I think it's because I hang around Joe a lot, Mom." Neither have ever acted SICK, they just sound like they are.
We also have some poison ivy issues going on. At least that's what we think it is. We're novices at this, you know. Poison oak? Poison sumac? It's all the same to me. Itchy rashes that come from greenery. I've looked up pictures and we walked out the front door and immediately found some poison ivy, so I know they've been exposed to that. I've had a few spots myself that I assume come from petting Charlie after he's walked through it or something. Joe has the worst of it and it just seems to move from one place to another on his body. I'm thankful that nobody seems to have severe reactions to it (nothing like some of the pictures I've seen or cases I've read about), just enough to be a nuesence. And everything you read says to "watch" for the plants so you can avoid it. HA! That's so funny. The entire world here is blanketed in green growing things and they all mush together. There's no way you can actually take note of the characteristics of each leaf or group of leaves (stay away from groups of three!) unless you stop and take the time to diligently study them. If you're just walking, all you can see is a blanket of LEAVES, lots and lots and lots and lots of leaves--all the same color and same basic size. The only sure way to avoid the bad stuff is to stay inside. No chance of that, so I guess we'll just have to live with the itchy rashes for a while. Comes with the territory, right?
I was grading the kids' school work today and happened to look at the calendar on there. Next week is their last week of school! Whoa--how did that happen?! It's a good thing and a bad thing. We're fixin' to head into really crazy, busy, hectic times (more than usual), so it will be nice to not have to worry about a full school load every day. But they don't do well without any structure to their day and usually end up fighting and getting in trouble more when they don't have school! Of course, we don't give them the summer off entirely. We still have them do school here and there (math drills, book reports, stuff like that), but it's spotty, not rigid. I guess it's coming at a good time for us. Had we not taken that trip to Pennsylvania last month TODAY would have been their last day. They don't know we tacked on an extra week to make up for that trip. ;-)
Guess that's about it. I'm still waiting on a definite answer from James on whether we'll be at our local church this Sunday or visiting another church or churches. For planning so well in advance for some things he sure is a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy with others. Particularly the things that require laundry and ironing and packing in advance. Ha!
Have a great weekend!
2 comments:
So that's a bullfrog, huh? They sure do make a LOT of noise for being so little.
There won't be near the issue with poison ivy at your new house . . . but there won't be near the adventure for the boys. No mountains to traverse, no stream to fall into, no pond to catch bullfrogs in--it just won't be the same. ;-) I know it's great fun to mentally decorate a house. It's not AS much fun to accomplish the work, but it's the BEST fun when it's done and you love how it turned out. I'm loving the rooms that are done at my house finally. We've lived here 4 1/2 years. I have basically 12 rooms. Only 5 are completed, or mostly completed. But I really like those 5! :-) I've had the paint and/or wallpaper for at least 3 years to complete 2 other rooms, but not sufficient time or motivation. Usually what pushes me over the edge and gets me going it when your dad does something like scraping the popcorn off the ceiling in a room. That's pretty good motivation to get something done. HA!
After time the boys will be able to easily spot poison ivy. I know that after growing up running around in the woods and brush around here, I can usually tell if it is poison ivy after looking at just one leaf and notice it in the midst of a bunch of other leaves as well. But maybe that is because I really hate getting it and try to avoid touching it like the plague :)
Post a Comment