Productivity thy name is...productivity.

So today I handed out ass whuppins and lollipops (it is almost Halloween after all) and was crazy productive.

I:

• Bought a birthday present for a party Iris is going to this weekend. A cute mini suitcase from Target filled with art supplies. 
• Bought items for a care package for a friend because I forgot her birthday and if you're reading this, Mandi, I AM SO SORRY.
• Meal planned and grocery shopped for next week
• Paid bills
• Drafted an email for T to send to our mortgage man. See, T is the emailer while I am the drafter of the email. I know the maths and numbers and calculations down the cent.

• Stopped at Sherwin-Williams and made an appointment to have a color consultation with a designer. I know the colors we want, but I need help figuring out where to put them so that the joint doesn't look like the big top. Since the interior painter we're using buys his paints from Sherwin-Williams, I received a discount on the consult and anything we decide on will be communicated to the painter directly.
• I scheduled two appointments for design plans and estimates to have our bedroom closet done and Iris' bedroom closet done. Ours is a walk-in, but Iris' is a reach-in. We were thinking we'd like to minimize needing dressers for both rooms and maximize the space inside the closets. We shall see what kind of numbers they give me. 
• Ate some stuffing
• Called the moving coordinator and scheduled a date to have our things delivered from storage to the new house on December 22. My hope is to having everything settled by the time we decide to sleep there at the end of the month.
• Talked to another moving coordinator at the same company to get a quote on doing an in-town move from the apartment to the house the following week on December 30.
• Two loads of laundry
• Gave our 60 days notice letter to the apartment complex.
• Shipped out a bunch of things at the UPS store.
• Took the kids to the house after school to poke around. I took a bunch of pictures because holy crow things are moving along.
• Took the kids to the library.
• Put on my jammies.

Things that end in -ing

Things have been kind of quiet lately and holy crap on a cracker it's almost November. I feel like my weeks go by too quickly. Is that a very old person thing to say? If so, just put me in the retirement home now. I hear they serve tapioca.

Anyway, this was lovingly snaggled from Janet because she always has the best ideas and the prettiest hair.

Making:  Um, not dinner that's for damn sure. In the story of my life, making dinner will not be a chapter in it. 

Cooking: I did bake some rather nice cranberry and white chocolate cookies yesterday. 

Drinking: Honeycrisp Cider from Trader Joe's. 

Reading: Right now Mouse & the Motorcycle to the kids. And I'll tell you what, it's kind of boring. But Ezra and Iris are LOVING it because is there anything better than a mouse riding a wee motorcycle? Apparently not.

Wanting: Some things--many things--for the new house. T and I measured for furniture a few weeks ago and now with closing scheduled--time to get crack a lackin'.

Looking: Kind of rough in the hair arena. I have a cut and color on Thursday and lord almighty the gray hairs do not play. 

Playing: The waiting game with final numbers from our mortgage guy. I have gotten pushy about finalizing things and I want firm. numbers. on what will need to be wired prior to close. It's a lot of money, pal. Get it together and tell me whats-what.

Wishing: That I had more coffee. It's gray and rainy.

Enjoying: Chocolate donuts.

Waiting: For lunchtime to hit. I have the hunger.

Wondering: How it will feel in our new home. Will it feel strange? Un-home like for a long time? Odd settling in? Will the kids get used to again sleeping in different rooms? Will I feel creeped out? (I'm easily creeped out.)

Loving: The idea of some trips and getaways this winter. Maybe. 

Hoping: That winter doesn't last damn near forever. 

Marveling: That many of the trees here have already lost their leaves. But then I realize that November is this weekend and that seems about right. What happened to September and October?

Needing: New winter boots. I would like ones that zip or slip on versus tie. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Wearing: A blouse. I am addicted to blouses. I don't really do t-shirts, but put me down for blouses.

Following: Very little on what is happening in the news. This is not good.

Noticing: That I am feeling drawn to more blues and grays for wall color in New House. 

Knowing: That I need another shirt like I need a hole in the head, yet I just went to the Gap site to look at plaid shirts. They just seem so cozy and good for the holidays.

Feeling: A tidgy bit relieved that I can scale back on decorating for the holidays. I loved doing it in Old House, but not having to do it this year is kinda nice. I think we will stay in our apartment through the end of December so I'm thinking I will buy a teeny tree and a wreath and call it good.

Bookmarking: Mentally bookmarking this video on Instagram of a dancing bear in Russia. Let me see if I can find it on the interwebs...nope. Dangit.

But I did find this. Haaaaa. Putin. Do you think Obama looks at Putin gifs before going to meeting with him? I would.




Oh! And this:

Drywall

We stopped by the house today since word out on the street (or via email directly) was that drywall was complete. 

Also, Ezra is in practically every picture because he loses his fool mind once inside the house and darts everywhere like a nutso. We have to make him keep his hands in his coat pockets otherwise he's picking up nails and tugging on wires or looking into holes like he has a damn death wish.

I only took one picture upstairs because they took down the temporary railing around the stairs and a tumble down seemed not outside the realm of possibility.

T and I are heading over there this week just he and I to measure for furniture, count light fixtures (we're swapping out all of them since the various styles the builder offers aren't really our style so we went for the standards and I'll just hawk them on Craigslist come December), measure for bathroom mirrors (again builder grade and being removed...), and other things it's hard to do with small people in tow.

Hey! Remembered when I mentioned here (or on Instagram) that part of our dining room has a butler's pantry? I was wrong. We still have that space, but I forgot that I decided to forego the actual cabinetry for the space. When "building" the house on paper we added and then subtracted a handful of things to make the price a tick less appalling. T scratched out exposed beams in the living room (bastards were $2500), but kept the roughed out plumbing in the basement (a boring $800). I kept my back entryway built-in cubbies ($3000) and transom windows in the kitchen above the pantry door and the back entryway door ($750). Buttttttt I threw the butler pantry cabinetry to the dogs ($4500) and then completely forgot about it. However! That little nook is perfecto for a bar cart so don't cry for me, Argentina.

Crappy picture of the living room
off the front entryway. Hey, look!
It's a room shaped like a box!

Living room to the left. Dining room
to the right. Stairs. T as an
apparition in the family room.

Ezra in the dining room with boxes
of nails and stuff.

Ezra in the kitchen.

Ezra in the family room.

Me looking into the dining room
from the kitchen.

From the dining room looking out.

The cabinet-less butler's pantry
soon to hold a booze cart.

At the top of the stairs--it's called
the loft, but will be my office
area where I will do personal
correspondence and important
cat gif vetting.

Random useless tidbits

The drywall is up in the new house and I think they're putting the exterior brick up today. We hope to go over this weekend and poke around. In the next week or so my goal is to get painting estimates and a firm painting start date for the day after we close--I mostly just want to get on their schedules and have the painting completed before the holiday so that I can move our things in from the apartment to the house slow and steady like. And schedule the delivery of our items from storage. I'm not rushing the actually settling in process because why bother.

Did I mention that we close December 8? They pad the closing date a week or so, so it's possible the house will actually be finished before that. This particular builder gives a contractual guarantee surrounding the occupancy date. Once the closing date is set (about two months prior to finish), the builder will give the new owners $150.00 for every day a delay occurs. Similarly, new owners have to pay the builder the same amount if the closing is delayed due to wonk financing and/or dicking around.

Can I just say that I will be happy to have closing behind us? It has felt like a financial buzzard circling overhead ever since mid-April when we started the new mortgage process. Dragging this nonsense out until early December has felt unsavory. Everything has been submitted to the underwriter and approved, but with the length of time that has gone by, we have to submit new bank statements, new paystubs to reassure them that we are still legit. P.S. We are.

****

T and I are going on a daydate next week Friday and we haven't been out since maybe June. Or May? It's been a long time.

****

This week marks the first solid week since school started that Iris hasn't cried upon me leaving.

Success! Five days in a row!

****

Speaking of Iris and school, the principal, her Young Fives teacher and the classroom parapro all pitched to me the idea of Iris maybe sitting at the "allergy table" (the school is peanut free, but there is also a special table...) with the classroom parapro, Ms. Cross, who mans that particular table at lunchtime. 

Iris loves Ms. Cross plus she still needs a bit of help at lunch--opening her milk, encouragement to eat/not chat the entire time. The lunchtime (all twenty minutes of it) is a fairly independent situation at all of the other tables and while Iris is getting there--she's not there yet. She needs that extra bit of encouragement to stay on task.

This set-up of her at a table with other peers but an adult close by is the exact thing I wanted to ask for on Day One, but held off on asking for. Mainly because T and I wanted to see how Iris settled in and did. We need to honor her abilities, so we watched and waited.

This isn't a formal accommodation, but the fact that the principal, Ms. Cross and Iris' teacher asked if this would work for her? I think it speaks volumes about them. It shows me that they are intuitive about their students' needs, and it shows me that they're comfortable doing what needs to be done. It's a comfort.

****

In terms of school germs, we're fairing quite well. Iris got and then kicked to the curb in just a few days a mild runny nose. Ezra now has the runny nose. I have a stuffy nose and headache. 

So far nothing grosser than that.

****

Goldieloaf continues to thrive and survive. Iris has determined that his middle name is Banana and he also shares our family last name since he's part of the family.

Ezra and Iris also decided Wednesday night that our new cat will be named Keith which I am okay with.

Goldieloaf and Keith, it is then.

****

I am eating mini pot pies from Trader Joe's for lunch, but about half of them got stuck in the baking form they come in and I feel like maybe this is God's way of telling me to slow my roll on lunch. 

****

I ran across this in my Pinterest board of ridiculous things and, hell, it makes me laugh:



Cats don't play.

****

Iris turns five next month which is mind boggling, but okay. I'm rolling with it.

I bought her the movie Sleeping Beauty, a new Pete the Cat book and a ginormous stuffed pony from Costco. 

I found the pony a few weeks ago and was stumped on where to keep it in our apartment as our closets are pretty full. I need my trunk for groceries (and, frankly, I'm not sure the pony would fit back there). My pitch to T about storing it in his office went ignored.

But I moved things around in the corner of a closet--both bedroom closets are shaped like ginormous Ls--behind our suitcases and T's suits and I think we're good. 

Yay ponies!

Nosey Nancy: wardrobe edition

It's been a long time since I did a Nosey Nancy. This time I want to know about your clothes.

1. Do you "rotate out" clothes from your closet based on the season or do you keep everything in one place?
2. Do you buy clothes seasonally? Meaning, "Oh, the weather has changed! I should assess my wardrobe." Or do you buy willy-nilly?
3. What is one thing you have too much of in your wardrobe and need to stop buying lest others think it's your new uniform?
4. What is your favorite piece of clothing you currently own?
5. What do you do with clothes that no longer fit or are looking beat down?