2 Weeks

The next 2 weeks are going to be nutsy-coocoo! I have the online class to organize (I meet with the guy on the 13th to discuss how far I've gotten, which so far, is nowhere). We HAVE to finish putting this house together (it's getting there). I start PT for my back. We have a baptism, HS reunion, homecoming, babysitting, and a play to attend the next 2 weekends. Plus all the "normal" stuff--work, teaching, and bowling.

This weekend, I spent more time laying on the heating pad on the couch than getting any work done. Disappointing, to say the least. I really, REALLY wanted to finish the stairs. Last night, despite the bad back, I sat for 2 hours on the stairs filling in holes and sanding. I figured once I was down there, I wasn't getting up until I felt I'd accomplished something. Needless to say, getting out of bed this morning was a struggle. I'm going to call the chiropractor and make an appt for the earliest possible time. While the adjustments won't do me a lot of good, the electo-therapy will. He has loaned me (in the past) a take-home unit to use while I'm here, and that helped tremendously!! I'm hoping to check that out for a week or so.

The majority of the outside painting has been done. I still need to do the front door and screen door. We decided against replacing the screen door because Paul is afraid that the wood underneath the frame of the door will be in bad shape. I don't know what it looks like (hard to tell) but I'm ok with not replacing it or taking it off altogether. We don't need to sink anymore $$ into this place.

We did have fun Saturday night at my friend Peggy's. We were invited to join her, her husband Gary, and other friends Judi and Roger. Judi, Peggy, and I are all on the same bowling team. We had an AWESOME dinner, then played Phase 10 (boys against girls...girls won!). It was a very, VERY much-needed break from all the housework. I had almost cancelled going because of my back, but Paul and I had a tense morning and I knew he needed a break as much as I did. It was just what we both needed!

That's it. Boring weekend, boring blog entry. ☺

Back...to work

We are in the midst of finishing up around here! The outside painting areas have been primed and will be painted tomorrow. We figured out how to get the corners of the mansard brown--Menards sells these bent aluminum pieces that will fit over them (we'll have to figure out how to attach the pieces...they bend easily and could probably be nailed in, but I'm not sure if I like the idea of poking holes in the new siding...).

Last night, we went to a Sox game (they lost). It was a lot of fun--probably the best part was seeing my cousin Kim, who I haven't seen since her wedding in June! I only caught up with her for about 5 minutes. The Sox played horribly, so we left a little early from the game.

I woke up this morning and *POOF* my back went out! Yup, just walked out the door and left me sitting there. ☺ I'm not sure if from sitting on those hard seats at the game, or sleeping, or breathing, or just being. My back has hurt me since 1988. I've always been able to keep it in check, but I've always felt something. Some amount of discomfort or pain. ALWAYS. I've had acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, electro-stimulation, hot packs, cold packs, muscle relaxers, pain killers, thousands of dollars in OTC drugs....just about everything available. My next venture: physical therapy. My doctor swears this will help. I don't know...nothing has ever really helped it permanently. It doesn't matter what my weight is or what the weather's like or what time of the day it is. It hurts. I'm sure all the work we've done around here (the stairs in particular) and the fact I'm sitting on the floor on my computer (sucks, since I have an online class to put together in the next few weeks, all on the computer!!) haven't helped the problem.

As a result of the back problems, the stairs are on hold. I have such a hard time sitting on the hard floor, leaning over trying to do work, or sitting on one step and twisting around to the step behind me to fill in holes or pull staples. I've tried doing some work today--very little, but enough to keep the heavy guilt at bay--but I really shouldn't be.

So this was a long post about nothing. Hope you enjoyed!

Scooter

A client at the vet clinic brought this cartoon in on Tuesday. I usually drive the scooter to work (when it's not raining!) and park it in front so consequently, it gets a lot of attention. ☺ Enjoy!

P.S. I finally figured out how to get the stairs to look good!! It's going to take a few days--VERY tendious work, filling in all those staple holes--but I should be done by the end of the weekend. WOO HOO!

Before and after

The work is done!! The outside has been sided, the ceramic tile has been layed, the furniture has been put back in place.

I still haven't finished the stairs. That's today's project. The garage door and corner pieces still haven't been painted. Those are for this weekend. With any luck, the house will be back on the market by Monday.

It's been over a month since we took the sign down. I really hope that all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this past months work will pay off. We're not expecting to relist it for a HUGE amount. Just the opposite--we're still going to keep it low in order to sell. But now, there's nothing that anyone has to do to it. It's completely moveinable.

Here are a couple before and after photos (before on the left, after on the right):

House update

We're getting there!! The front has been sided, and tomorrow morning the gutter and soffit will be added. I think they're planning to do the ceramic tile inside as well. It's been CRAZY but exciting to get this finished. I want to get this place relisted as fast as possible. Then SOLD!!! It's funny...people keep saying to me that after all this work, we're going to want to stay here. Um, NO. The fact still remains that there isn't enough room for us. YES, it's nice inside and out, but still too small, especially if we want to start a family.

Speaking of that, we're putting it off another month. Too much to deal with right now.

Springfield crowd (only 3 of them...but that's still a lot!) is coming tomorrow for the weekend! We'll be shopping as the tile and gutter are going in, so by the time we return tomorrow, the house will be as good as new. Except for the stairs.

I'm still working on those. My goal is to have them done by the time I leave for bowling next Wednesday.....

Enjoy the beautiful weekend ahead!!

Roof

Well, not long after my last post, the mansard roof guy showed up and started work! The first round of shingles are off (there was another layer underneath, but oddly, they're flush with the side, so I think they're staying on as insulation). We're hoping he'll be done with everything by Thursday at the latest. There's hope he might be done tomorrow, but it doesn't look like they (2 men) got very far today. Of course, they didn't get here until almost noon, so I'm hoping they'll arrive early tomorrow and stay for the day.

More in a day or two...

Baby steps

I'm almost done with the stairs. YES, I know it's Tuesday and I vowed to have them done over the weekend, but I just couldn't do any more Sunday than I had done. My fingers were cramped, I was sweaty (it takes effort pulling some of those little buggers out!), and I have bruises all over (I pull and pull, then inevitably slam into something behind me). I will have it done by tomorrow. I did manage to get up those little pieces of wood along the perimeter of the lower entryway, the ones with nails in them to hold the carpet (which had been ripped out). I kept stepping on the nails, so I took a half hour and ripped them all out of the floor. It felt really good to do that.

The mansard roof has yet to be started. The guy that was hired said there were delays with the flooding. I'm hoping it's that and not that he's been out partying hard on two grand of our dough. The rest of the week and weekend are supposed to be sunny and warm, so hopefully this gets done SOON!

I'm looking so forward to this coming weekend! My college friends from Springfield are coming to visit. They come once a year or so, usually for an overnight, and we have a great time eating, shopping, eating, drinking, shopping, and shopping. I love it!! We've been doing this for about 7 years now, I think. It started when I lived in the city, and has continued since then. I think they might be coming for 2 nights this time. SO EXCITING! Paul will cook for us on Sunday, which is always a nice treat. Secretly, I think he likes girls' weekends. He enjoys impressing them with cooking skills (he's already impressed me!). ☺

Countdown: 2 weeks until baby. I know Kate's ready.

It's going to be a scooter-riding week!! FINALLY! It's been since last Thursday! Depressing that fall is on its way, soon to be followed by *ick* winter.

ENJOY THE SUN!

BYONNP

What have I done??! This stair project is proving to be way more difficult than I imagined. First of all, this apparently isn't hard wood, it's stair tread, which can be made of nice wood but only on the top. The tread is either oak or maple, I'm guessing, and it's quite strong. The backs of the stairs are, I think, pine that's been stained to look like the tops. Fooled me.

As I may have mentioned, there are about 50+ staples per step. Last night, I worked 3 hours and got thru a step and a half. Today, I'm exhausted--just pulling these suckers out brings on a sweat to this unworked-out body. My hands are raw from the tools, none of which seems to do a great job. I have pliers of every size and have even broken a cheap pair.

All in all...not my best decision to leave the stairs uncarpeted.

So I'm making an appeal to anyone who reads this site. If you're in the Chicagoland area and would like to pitch in, I could really use the help!! It's just a matter of pulling these suckers out. 60% are easy to remove, but then there's the other 30% that take effort. The last 10% is reserved for those that are so embedded that it takes me at least 15 minutes to get each one out. So far, I have almost 4 steps done. Out of about 10.

My goal is to get these suckers out this weekend. Paul isn't home today, but will be tomorrow, only he won't really do it--it's not really his "thing." I can't really explain that so please don't ask.

If you'd like to help, give me a holla. I'm home and not going anywhere today or tomorrow. I might need to forage for food at some point, but otherwise I should be home.

Oh, and bring your own needle-nose pliers. ☺

p.s. Kate, don't even bother to volunteer....this goes for anyone else who's 9 months preggers...

How 'bout dem apples?

Yesterday, I received a call from Luna (the carpet people) that the installer would be arriving sometime between 9am and 2pm. After a few WTFs, I asked for something a wee more precise, if it wasn't too much bother. She said it would be closer to 2pm, and I would get a call 30 minutes before they arrived to let me know.

So this morning, I head out to run errands. I stopped at a few garage sales (yes, even in rain, people still wanna peddle their shit). I forgot to take my phone to one of them, and sure enough I returned to 2 missed calls and one message, stating the installers were waiting outside my front door. I guess the 30 minutes was forgotten about. It's almost 1pm at this point.

I rushed home (as fast as one can with 2 tickets on her record) and found 2 guys sitting outside. I tried asking about my 30 minute warning, but no one spoke enough English to know what I was saying. What. Ever.

They start moving furniture, then ripping up old carpet. I ran downstairs with the dog to catch up on my soaps. A little while later, I turned around to glance at the now-naked stairs heading up to the front door, and low and behold....

Them thar stairs had some dang pretty hardwood on them.

Going back a bit, we originally had a quote done on putting wood/laminate on the stairs and landing. After being quoted $2300 for the stairs alone, we nixxed that idea and decided to take the cheap route and have them carpeted.

After flipping out, I ran to find a phone to call Paul to tell him the news. Now, the stairs previously had carpet that, for some unknown reason, had been stapled to the stairs probably 50-80 times on each step, so they were looking a little ragged, but they were nonetheless hardwood. NICE hardwood. PRETTY hardwood.

The wood is only on the stairs and the trim around the stairs. It's not on either of the landings (by the front door, or below by the garage door), so we'll still have to go with our plan to tile those. But I now have a weekend project: making the pretty nice hardwood even prettier and nicer. I can do that. I have skills.

So that was the excitement for the day. Pictures will follow, I'm sure. I'm still working on putting the house site together again, since we made so many drastic changes. The inside is almost finished, but the outside hasn't been started yet (hopefully, next week!). The carpet looks so good, though it's a wee lighter than we were anticipating. That's the problem with seeing a 2" by 2" square--you never really get a good picture of it in your 200 square foot area. We're hoping to not have the same problem with the siding on the front. That swatch was only 1"x2" and had to be matched with existing siding. If we did the same quality picking on that as we did the carpet...well, there could be trouble in paradise.

More after the stairs are done....

A moment

We have painters!! John and his team of 2 other men (who look like serious Harley-riders) came by and are rolling rollers as I type. They're all such nice guys!! John is a client at the vet clinic where I work, so I'd met him before and was VERY happy to hear he has a painting business!

Kate (my sis) stopped by this morning to drop off some stuff to me, and while she was here, we had a good laugh at her jokes about the baby. She's due in just less than 3 weeks, and she and her husband get a HUGE kick out of shocking people who ask about the wee one. Rob will say things like, "It's not mine!" or whatever, and the look on the faces is priceless. We had a little laugh this morning with a couple of the guys!

After she left, one of them was saying how cool it is that she's a surrogate. I had to totally agree. I don't say it often enough, but I want to take a moment to say how immensely proud I am of her and what she's doing. It's really an amazing thing, to carry a child for someone else...or it must be, as I really can't imagine what it's like. She's rather large now (in the stomach area!) and feeling uncomfortable at times. She can't bend over and when she sits, the stomach takes over everything. Thankfully, she enjoys being pregnant (from what I can tell) so she's in the right "business"! But really, I'm so proud of her. Not many people could do what she's doing. I, for one, know that it's not (just) for the money, but there's something else that is in a dimension that I can't begin to understand.

A good friend of mine had a situation where a family member "offered" to donate eggs to her. She made the random offer, likely thinking she'd never be taken up on it, and when she was, she gave more thought to it and said no. I don't think this is uncommon....the process for egg donation is similar to IVF--shots, pills, patches, you name it. It's lengthy and emotionally costly. People throw the offer out there like it's nothing, but when it comes down to it, most women would probably rather avoid it.

Kate has offered us her eggs, and that offer came with the knowledge of what would be involved to get them. I'd give anything to take her up on it, but Paul won't hear of it. Despite that, I know she'd do it if we asked her, and that's HUGE. I know her offer isn't just a random one, and for that I'm thankful.

So, I guess I just want to say that I have a really cool sister. She's not perfect and she'll admit that, but she's still pretty damn cool. And I'm really, really proud of her.

A new week

We did it! Today, we hired a painter to do the walls, a guy to side the mansard roof, and a carpet company for the carpets. All the work will be done next week (Tuesday thru Friday) so hopefully by next weekend, we'll be ready to go back on the market!

Funny story about the carpet...
We had a carpet guy come in to do an estimate earlier this week. He was recommended to us by the stager and he seemed like a nice person, so we were all set to go with him. I was told by a few people to get a second estimate (some thought the first guy's was too high at $1300 for the carpet), so we called Luna. They sent a guy out who, after measuring and figuring in the 2-rooms-for-1 special, quoted us a whopping $2400. Now, the carpet was nice, not the best quality (but we don't really care about that), but SHIT that was high! We were about to send him on his way when he all but begged us to let him submit another quote (they do price matching). He looked at the first estimate we had, which showed the $1300 price clearly marked. He said he could submit $1100 to his sales manager for approval, if we wanted. We're not stupid, so we said ok, he could try that. Sure enough, within 5 minutes, it gets approved! That's more than 1/2 what the guy originally quoted us.

The moral of this story is, the next time you need carpet and call Luna, be sure to have a rock bottom carpet estimate already in hand so they see that and give you a lower price.

The painter we hired is a client of the vet clinic where I work. His price was superb, so we hired him on the spot. SUPER nice guy, too! He'll paint either Tuesday or Wednesday, then Luna will come out Friday to do carpets. The mansard guy will be here at some point next week to do the roof and siding on the front of the house. We had to juggle the paint and carpet guys, but the mansard guy can come whenever.

VERY exciting!! I'm more excited to get this place back out there and SOLD SOLD SOLD!! I miss my stuff, I miss my cat (so much!), I want my sewing machine back, I want a desk to sit at (currently, I'm sitting on a big pillow on the floor using a laptop...it's really, really uncomfortable). I WANT SPACE!!

That's it from here. I'll update the house blog as the work is in progress, then put a whole new listing on there with all new photos. Sounds easy, but it takes a good day to get all those photos lined up just right. It's really tricky, but it'll look so good when I'm finished!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend! Today turned out to be so beautiful!

AMH

Well, things are getting interesting in our little IVF world. A few weeks ago, I had several blood tests done to test different things (fertility-related). One of them was called an Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) test which gives an indication of ovarian reserve. There were a couple others, including a thyroid test (I have to watch for this since my mom had thyroid problems a few years ago...but no longer does...). RESULTS: all normal. REACTION: shit, man. It's a good thing these are normal, but frankly, it makes this whole journey more complicated and confusing. If my reserve is ok, why am I not pregnant? I know it's not a definitive test that gives specific answers, but it's frustrating nonetheless.

In house news: we're in the process of interviewing and getting estimates for carpet, painting, ceramic tiling, and exterior work. The stager told us that we'd be doing ourselves a favor by siding the mansard roof (see photo). Admittedly, it is ugly, but it seems like it would be a HUGE job to do what was recommended. But at this point, if this is what it takes to sell this house, we're all for it. The problem is, we need to have a gutter built along the top of it (or extending out what's already there to the right of it). That takes some serious construction, the kind that needs permits and shit. It's becoming less and less desired as we get guys out to look at it, so this is still under serious debate. Hopefully, we can get a lot of this work going next week and have it finished by the end of the week so we can have the house back on the market.

Bailey (dog) is doing so much better. I'd say she's pretty much back to normal. There have been no more incidences of her being startled and waking up in a cramped position. She wakes up from napping and is moving just as she was before. That's a HUGE relief to us. It was awful seeing her like that.

Kate said that Salsa (the cat who's living in her basement) is having a rough time right now. She cries all day and night, but still won't come upstairs (there's a cat door!). Kate and Rob both spend time down there (the kids do as well), but with the kids in school, it's much quieter. The other cat, Lucy, goes up and down there all the time, but Salsa will not come out, so she sits and cries. It's pathetic. Once we move, we'll be taking her in (much to Paul's chagrin). Yet another reason to sell this house ASAP.

I went ahead and gave Paul the Wii for our anniversary. He was surprised but quite happy! We debated hooking it up here or waiting until we move, but as my family so lovingly pointed out to me many, many times, we might be here in this house for another year so why not hook it up now? I'm still stuck on that being here another year part.... Depressing.

If anyone has a chandelier to get rid of or sell, let me know! We're looking for one to paint, but it has to be a specific design (per Mr. Martha "Paul" Stewart himself). I've been scouring garage sales and almost had one last weekend, but got there 5 minutes too late. Story of my life.... ☺

Gustav is hitting us now, so no scooter riding for a few days. Hopefully by the weekend, I'll be out and about! STAY DRY!

Labor

It's Labor Day, and that's no exaggeration around here. With the hiring of the new realtor, as well as the visit from her stager friend, we have a laundry list of shit to do to this house before it goes back on the market. Some of the stuff we can do ourselves, but the big stuff will be hired out. My job this weekend: paint the laundry room. ALL OF IT. Floor (concrete), walls, and ceiling. Thankfully, it's a small room with some big stuff in it (washer, dryer, hot water heater, furnace), so some areas can be left unpainted. I'm not a huge fan of painting, but I do like finishing the painting. ☺ We're still getting estimates for the big stuff: siding the mansard roof, painting the rest of the house, and replacing the carpet. I've managed to snag a few freebies--today, I went to Plainfield and picked up a kitchen cart that some woman was giving away. It's pretty nice! I'm still trying to find a few other items like a chandelier (maybe one we can paint because the one we have won't do), an outside light for the front, and a few other smaller items. I found a quilt (for the guest room) at a garage sale for five bucks. Can't beat that!

Anyway, that's the action around here. I can't imagine being in the middle of IVF treatments right now. We're both crazed with what needs to get done, and we're doing our fair share of arguing about things. Top that with a few nasty hormones and we probably wouldn't be celebrating 2 years tomorrow.

The anniversary...a whopping 2 years. Feels like 10. We vowed not to get each other gifts, but I found a Wii (yes, the store actually had them in stock!) and bought it. I was going to save it for his birthday in November, but I really want to use it, so I thought it would make a nice anniversary gift. When I mentioned getting him a gift, he was pretty pissed so we might have to go back to saving it. Or maybe the Anniversary Fairy will happen to leave a little something for the 2 of us? Yeah, that's it! She can flitter around during the night and *poof* we'll have a present waiting for us. A very nice Wii! Wii will see about that...

I'm so bummed that it's September. Summer is over (despite the 90 degree temps today). It's so sad to me. I get so excited in April and May, then it's like my internal balloon deflates to nothing in September and October. In Becky's world, Chicago has 2 seasons: summer, and winter. Summer starts in May and ends in September, and the rest is winter. There's always that hope for Indian Summer in October, but mostly it's all winter. It's nice if there's a small fall and tiny spring, but they never seem to last that long. I figure I'll be on the scooter until mid to late October. This is such a sad time for me.

Kate is due in 4 weeks!!!

If anyone is interested in Sox tickets, I have 2 for this Friday's game. Paul has something to do that night, so I'm trying to get rid of them. Email me if you're interested. Game starts at 7:10pm. Not sure what the weather will be like, but it's usually nice!

Enjoy the rest of the holiday! If you know anyone who does painting or siding, send 'em my way!!