When I think about spending another month in limbo it makes me cry. I have to be honest: this past month has been really hard and I just don't know if I have another month of this in me. We are still living out of the suitcases we packed on July 30th and both Emerson and I are rapidly growing out of our clothing. Working from home, I spend more time than is good for me sitting at my laptop in this dim apartment and my time outdoors is usually spent walking around the parking lot with Emerson looking at the moon in the pre-dawn darkness rather than face the wildlife indoors.
The people I complain to say encouraging things like "one month will go by so quickly you'll hardly notice it," and while I want to believe them, this past month has been an eternity and it seems certain the next month will only be longer. Not knowing for sure which neighborhood we will be in has made us hesitant to start meeting people or get involved in local activities. For example, I took Emerson to try out a music class but am reluctant to sign up for the full session because if we end up in a different neighborhood it will be a long drive for no reason and all the moms and kids we would become friends with will live far away from us. So we will wait until we actually live somewhere.
Do you see how right I am to sit around feeling sorry for myself?
One bright spot: this weekend my brother Andrew will be joining us as we head out to New Smyrna Beach to hang out with a whole bunch of family, include Emerson's second cousin Lucy who is just a few years younger than he is. I think it is going to be a lot of fun.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Tropical living
Here we are, living in the tropics. This whole adventure still sometimes just feels like a really long, sometimes horrible, vacation and I think the palm trees, hot days and frequent thunderstorms contribute to the feeling that this is not really home. It may take a while to sink in that we are now tropical people.
While I shudder to put it in print, we now have experience with another aspect of tropical living: chihuahua-sized cockroaches. Living with us.
So far, I have only seen them between 5 and 6am when I am up with Emerson, and the same is true of Eric. I now refer to that as "Roach o'clock" or sometimes "The Cockroach Hour" which is funny to me because it sounds like a news show put on by cockroaches. I think the headlines would focus on pieces of food Emerson hides around the apartment and when someone forgets to run the garbage disposal before bed.
The funniest part about the cockroach encounters for me was how delighted Emerson was to see them. In his mind, these are just like the lizards he is fascinated by outdoors, but they run around on our kitchen counter and are as big as his hands. He loves them. They should clearly be welcomed, not shunned, and he got really agitated when I tried to trap one to put outside (ridiculous, I know, but I don't have the stomach to try to squish these things - waaaay too much crunching given how big they are).
Other than that this rental condo continues to be good enough for now. Sure, there are holes in the towels and the small bed Eric and I share is really more of a trampoline than a mattress: when he rolls over, I get three feet of air. But I just keep reminding myself that our bed will be here soon (probably). The home inspection of the place we have under contract is tomorrow, so I guess we will know more after that.
While I shudder to put it in print, we now have experience with another aspect of tropical living: chihuahua-sized cockroaches. Living with us.
So far, I have only seen them between 5 and 6am when I am up with Emerson, and the same is true of Eric. I now refer to that as "Roach o'clock" or sometimes "The Cockroach Hour" which is funny to me because it sounds like a news show put on by cockroaches. I think the headlines would focus on pieces of food Emerson hides around the apartment and when someone forgets to run the garbage disposal before bed.
The funniest part about the cockroach encounters for me was how delighted Emerson was to see them. In his mind, these are just like the lizards he is fascinated by outdoors, but they run around on our kitchen counter and are as big as his hands. He loves them. They should clearly be welcomed, not shunned, and he got really agitated when I tried to trap one to put outside (ridiculous, I know, but I don't have the stomach to try to squish these things - waaaay too much crunching given how big they are).
Other than that this rental condo continues to be good enough for now. Sure, there are holes in the towels and the small bed Eric and I share is really more of a trampoline than a mattress: when he rolls over, I get three feet of air. But I just keep reminding myself that our bed will be here soon (probably). The home inspection of the place we have under contract is tomorrow, so I guess we will know more after that.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Other major life event update: Groucho
I met with my Tampa midwife (and her two kids) this morning for our first visit. Given everything else that is going on right now it can be easy (for others) to forget that in addition to trying to buy a house, work full time, adjust to a brand new place and be an attentive and nurturing mother and wife, my body is in the process of growing another human being right now.
It was actually great that her kids came along because they entertained Emerson while Rebecca and I talked about how my pregnancy is going. The short answer: all is well, though I am pretty tired and wish I had more opportunity to exercise.
I spent a lot of my first pregnancy wondering what labor would be like. I know now (and remember pretty vividly) what labor #1 was like* and I especially like it when people tell me that labor #2 is usually faster (but not always). But mostly I just focus on having this second little guy around to hang out with - which I tried to think about the first time around but had so little idea what to actually expect that it was quite intangible. Now I know how much fun it is to get to know this little person as he learns, grows and explores. The idea of having two little boys around the house, no matter how messy it means that house will be, is very exciting. I can hardly wait to meet Groucho (and I am glad that we still have a few months to get ready for that big event.)
*I would gladly do the ice water exercise straight for a week to skip the pain of labor. (But I won't do the epidural. Aren't I fascinating and complex?)
It was actually great that her kids came along because they entertained Emerson while Rebecca and I talked about how my pregnancy is going. The short answer: all is well, though I am pretty tired and wish I had more opportunity to exercise.
I spent a lot of my first pregnancy wondering what labor would be like. I know now (and remember pretty vividly) what labor #1 was like* and I especially like it when people tell me that labor #2 is usually faster (but not always). But mostly I just focus on having this second little guy around to hang out with - which I tried to think about the first time around but had so little idea what to actually expect that it was quite intangible. Now I know how much fun it is to get to know this little person as he learns, grows and explores. The idea of having two little boys around the house, no matter how messy it means that house will be, is very exciting. I can hardly wait to meet Groucho (and I am glad that we still have a few months to get ready for that big event.)
*I would gladly do the ice water exercise straight for a week to skip the pain of labor. (But I won't do the epidural. Aren't I fascinating and complex?)
Thursday, August 18, 2011
No ego
The counter-offer on the offer we submitted on the cathouse was higher than we wanted it to be, but not by that much.
The dilemma: negotiate hard and risk the deal falling through or swallow our pride and accept the house at what is still an excellent price with excellent terms. I like to win. But I had to ask myself what "winning" really means at this point. If winning is about getting what you want at a good price, then we definitely won.
Just verbal agreement for now; we should have the fully executed contract tomorrow. Ahhhhhh!
I am not going to post the photos or address here because this is the Internet and that would be dumb but I will send them around via email so you can check it all out.
Oh my God. We may be homeowners soon. (So adult-sounding, no?)
The dilemma: negotiate hard and risk the deal falling through or swallow our pride and accept the house at what is still an excellent price with excellent terms. I like to win. But I had to ask myself what "winning" really means at this point. If winning is about getting what you want at a good price, then we definitely won.
Just verbal agreement for now; we should have the fully executed contract tomorrow. Ahhhhhh!
I am not going to post the photos or address here because this is the Internet and that would be dumb but I will send them around via email so you can check it all out.
Oh my God. We may be homeowners soon. (So adult-sounding, no?)
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Offer #3
I'm not sure I ever posted the outcome of offer #2: they decided to take their house off the market because the work transfer that had prompted the move had fallen through. Boooo!
After much deliberation, we decided to put in an offer on one of the houses we saw on Sunday. We refer to it as "the cathouse" because it is currently inhabited by two cats (in addition to the owners). This was how we came to distinguish it from the ten other places we saw; they blur together really quickly. (Other places were: the jungle house, the bad carpeting house, the busy street house, etc.)
The emotional process of buying a house is actually pretty complex: you need to get attached enough to a place that you are willing to put in an offer, but you can't get too attached because it may or may not work out and you don't want to get too invested and pay more for it than you really mean to.
We'll see. As we know, anything can happen.
After much deliberation, we decided to put in an offer on one of the houses we saw on Sunday. We refer to it as "the cathouse" because it is currently inhabited by two cats (in addition to the owners). This was how we came to distinguish it from the ten other places we saw; they blur together really quickly. (Other places were: the jungle house, the bad carpeting house, the busy street house, etc.)
The emotional process of buying a house is actually pretty complex: you need to get attached enough to a place that you are willing to put in an offer, but you can't get too attached because it may or may not work out and you don't want to get too invested and pay more for it than you really mean to.
We'll see. As we know, anything can happen.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Trip within a trip
It is a bad sign that the St Louis Westin is the place in the world where I feel most at home right now.
It's nice to be home, even if only for a night.
It's nice to be home, even if only for a night.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Back to Tampa
Our two weeks at the beach came to an end today. We packed everything up into Roy, climbed in and drove up to "move in" to our temporary furnished rental which we will stay in month to month until we either find a house to buy or give up looking and get a long-term rental.
Our temporary furnished rental is a two bedroom ground floor condo in a condo complex called Grand Key. It is on a major street and across the street from a Lowe's, among other large stores. It has some nice perks like a shared pool and a small fitness center. The condo itself is exactly what you would expect from a temporary furnished rental: I would rate it a medium on a scale of grim-ness.*
It is good that the "master" bedroom has an enormous closet because that can be Emerson's room while my mother stays with us to help out for a while. It turns out that the day before she came down here for a week-long visit she was informed that she had lost her job. Eric and I were sure to say how sorry we were before eagerly asking if she might be willing to stay with us and look after Emerson while I finish up this project for work. She agreed, so she gets the second bedroom. Sometimes things do seem to just work out.
After moving all of our stuff into the condo, we went out for another marathon day of house-hunting. We saw 11 places all in a new part of town called Westchase. We have seen everything there is to see in South Tampa within our price range it is all garbage. We have seen good places come on the market in our price range so we know it isn't impossible but it seems like it will take a while and I am not sure we have that kind of endurance at this point. Westchase is a little further out and it is subdivision-land, but it has great schools and we will be able to get more space for our money. Eric says he is willing to do the extra driving. This does mean we would need to get a second car.
Of the 11 we saw, a few places have potential. We're going to sleep on it and see what clarity we have. I go to St Louis in the morning for a few days so maybe that will bring extra perspective as well.
*Not a scale of grim to great, but a scale of really grim to not too grim.
Our temporary furnished rental is a two bedroom ground floor condo in a condo complex called Grand Key. It is on a major street and across the street from a Lowe's, among other large stores. It has some nice perks like a shared pool and a small fitness center. The condo itself is exactly what you would expect from a temporary furnished rental: I would rate it a medium on a scale of grim-ness.*
It is good that the "master" bedroom has an enormous closet because that can be Emerson's room while my mother stays with us to help out for a while. It turns out that the day before she came down here for a week-long visit she was informed that she had lost her job. Eric and I were sure to say how sorry we were before eagerly asking if she might be willing to stay with us and look after Emerson while I finish up this project for work. She agreed, so she gets the second bedroom. Sometimes things do seem to just work out.
After moving all of our stuff into the condo, we went out for another marathon day of house-hunting. We saw 11 places all in a new part of town called Westchase. We have seen everything there is to see in South Tampa within our price range it is all garbage. We have seen good places come on the market in our price range so we know it isn't impossible but it seems like it will take a while and I am not sure we have that kind of endurance at this point. Westchase is a little further out and it is subdivision-land, but it has great schools and we will be able to get more space for our money. Eric says he is willing to do the extra driving. This does mean we would need to get a second car.
Of the 11 we saw, a few places have potential. We're going to sleep on it and see what clarity we have. I go to St Louis in the morning for a few days so maybe that will bring extra perspective as well.
*Not a scale of grim to great, but a scale of really grim to not too grim.
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