Lizards

Sir C came downstairs, excitement filling his voice as he exclaimed, "MOM, MOM, I DID IT!! I CAUGHT A LIZARD--AND IT WASN'T EVEN HARD!!

(Now, he's been after a lizard for some time now, and has been slightly discouraged in not catching one sooner. I've told him he has to keep trying....this is the result...)

I turn around to see him dangling a little (about 4 inch) grey lizard by the tail.

me: (very supportive, and concerned about the waving critter) Yeah! Way to go! Good Job! Now let's find a box to put him in... (I begin searching for a box)

Sir C: MOM! HIS TAIL FELL OFF---AND IT'S STILL MOVING!!!

I looked down, and sure enough, there was a little grey lizard tail twitching on the carpet, and a little boy squatted down, staring with fascination and some delight.

Ah, the joy of childhood and being a little boy.

(the lizard escaped under the stairs...C wouldn't go after it because of the spiderweb, and I have no intention of pursuing it. The thing is on it's own!)

updated: Three days later, daddy found that the large stain on his shirt hanging in the closet was, in fact, a lizard. He captured it and Sir C positively identified it as his lizard. The release back to the wilds cannot be considered completely successful, as the kids smashed the rest of it's tail. It did manage to escape, without it's tail. Small price to pay for freedom, I suppose.

Reality

Yeah, the demolition revealed that the wall to be removed is load bearing, requiring weight-shifting trusses in the attic, and the rock fireplace isn't going anywhere. There's a reason it's been around for 30 years already. So, it's slightly pulverized facade, as well as the destroyed wall around it have to be repaired.

I'm not sure those were in the budget....

Getting Excited- Again

We met with a contractor friend last night at the house. We really have no idea how to do home remodeling (aside from watching the DIY network every spare minute during our free preview month!) and wanted a professional opinion before embarking on the next steps. I'm so excited about the things we discussed. I'd tell you all what they are, but you'd probably get bored. I think they're only exciting to us homeowners.

We have some more demolition ahead of us, and then lots of clean-up and prep work and some more huge decisions. I think my budget is already shot for the amount of things I want to do, so I have to really look at my list and figure out what's a need and what's a want. (I think they're all needs!) We also have to figure out what we can do ourselves (to save money) and which to contract out (to save sanity, time, and energy.) Major compromises will have to be made, and much creativity used to stretch the funds. Some things I'm getting hung up on are: cabinets (paint (white-ish)or stain (cherry-ish)?), picking laminate flooring (cool and still in budget), waiting for the appliances to go on sale (stainless vs. white?) and actually getting over to the house to do the work. It's not exactly kid friendly at the moment. (tacks, nails, dust, dirt everywhere!) Hopefully this weekend will see some progress and a few more trips to the dump.

Our goal is to be ready to move in August.

(Ha!)

Am I an optimist, or a realist? Hmm...

Grindage

Little Mr. Stickyfingers is teething. (I know, welcome to the next two years of life!)

His teeth are coming in all wonky too. I mean, they're semi-straight, they're just in a wonky order. Like the front and side coming in together, leaving a big gap, and then the other front and side coming in to fill up the gap. So, he's got all four front bottom teeth. Now he's getting a top tooth. No, of course not the center ones. A side one. Just one. And it's impossible to photo because he keeps his little lips clamped shut over it whenever possible. Did I mention he grinds it? Yeah. He slides those four little bottom teeth over and grinds them on the tip of the top one coming down.

Like nails on a chalkboard.

I try not to shudder violently when I hear it, and I wonder, just how long his teeth will last?

The Reason

why do we have to remodel so much, you ask? Well friends, let me show you. Here is the view toward our front door. Lovely carpet and brown vinyl.
Here is what was lurking beneath that flooring. I make my argument against animals in the house now.

Isn't remodeling fun?

just a taste

oh, no...no more baking at the moment.

Just a little house teaser....

this is the view of the fireplace. (before) (See what I mean by such a 70s house? I promise that I had that exact same fireplace "rock" at my house growing up!) The entire room was also covered in wood panneling - but not this pretty (and heavy-duty) type. I'm talking about the typical pannels. They're so ugly that I decided to spare your eyes and not photo them. There were even white ones in the dining room. And big ugly glue marks are left behind.

ANyway.

after a little bit of work this is how things look.

But, as ugly as it seems on the inside, there are some beautiful parts of the outside.

The lovely "rhodies" are in bloom along the front of the house.

And this is my most favorite tree right out front. I have no idea what kind it is, I just know it's so pretty. And Sweet A loves to climb it!

Ah, spring in Oregon is lovely. The blooms are big, and the sunshines (sometimes) even in the rain. Hope your spring day is beautiful.