A Surprisingly Sane Blog

I’m listening to James talk to his mother about our new house and all I can think is please, please, please convince her she’d rather stay in a hotel than with us when she comes to visit.

Yes, it is horrible.  I know.

To be honest, I have zero problem with her.  We get along fine and have ever since I popped out her little Chinese grand kids.  Continuing bloodlines does wonders for relationships with in-laws who think you’re worse than Satan.  But despite a rocky first several years with her, we actually have found a very comfortable happy-medium with one another.

So when I think that, part of it’s because I want it to remain that way.  I worry a little that if she stayed with us for a few days shit would hit the fan and I’d start ripping my hair out.  I prefer getting along to hearing crap about myself through the female-in-law gossip grapevine.  Although I suppose that last part is rather inevitable and unavoidable.  Whatever.

I think family is probably the toughest set of house guests to entertain, though.

Okay, I lied.

My family is wonderful.  I’m excited to have them come stay with us.

It’s my in-laws.  Nothing against them personally.  They are good people… it’s just that we’re not close to them at all for many reasons.  We like it that way.  It keeps us and our kids surrounded by a safe personal space void of most of the serious crap that plagues a badly dysfunctional family.

So here’s the problem: how on earth do you keep your distance when they stay in your house for a week?

Current Mood: Alarmed

Do not let it rip in a public parking lot while your 3-year-old is skipping along side of you. I’ve been kind of sick and my stomach was killing me, give me a break.  It’s not a habit, I swear.

Nevermind that it was windy, late, and nearly deserted.

She’ll laugh obnoxiously and announce, “EWWWW!  You just farted, Mommy!“. You know, loudly enough for the row of employees on break to hear.  The ones that never would have known that yes, you just passed gas in the parking lot had your child not been so polite to point it out.

Yes, world, I farted in public.  And then I announced it on the internet.  Shame on me.

Current Mood: Mischievous

Leaving Seattle was really hard yesterday evening.  It was a wonderful trip, complete with dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown, great seafood, beautiful weather, and seeing our “new” 109-year-old house in person for the first time.  Well, James already saw it, so it was my first time stepping foot onto its wooden floors.

Bear with me a second because this is going to sound ridiculously cheesy coming from a fairly un-emotional-acting bitch like me, but when I stepped through that front door and saw my first glimpse of the inside of my new home-to-be, I felt myself suck in a deep breath and resisted the urge to burst into tears for a nanosecond.

It’s so perfectly lovely in real life I just don’t even know where to begin describing it.

The inspection went nearly flawlessly.  For a house this old, it’s in incredible shape.  All of the previous owners appeared to take excellent care of it.  Repairs were done well, and all additions and renovations were professionally handled.

I think we’ve decided to make that upstairs room the master bedroom.  It has a ginormous walk-in closet that is big enough to easily house even my sister’s wardrobe and obsessive shoe collection.  And that’s saying something.

We are also excited because as I previously mentioned, there is definitely some room for improvement.  Both of the downstairs bathrooms need some work, the kitchen flooring is just a sheet of vinyl that only looks okay in pictures, the yard is overgrown, and there’s a good-sized utility/mudroom/walk-in-pantry that could use more than a little TLC.

However, that porch?

It just might be even more beautiful in real life than it is in the pictures.

The neighborhood is mellow, quaint, and well-kept.  There’s even a small view of Lake Washington from the street right in front our our house. I love the feel of it.  And the smell.  Did I mention the smell?  It’s heavenly.

We just signed the after-inspection paperwork this morning, and our closing date is in mid-September.

How the hell I’m going to wait another month to start decorating those rooms is going to be a true test of patience for me.

Current Mood: Esctatic