I can’t believe school is about to start
I just can’t believe it. On Wednesday, the kids are going back to school. Summer break is officially over.
Instead of hanging out at home or friends, and instead of us trying to figure out what they’re doing during the day, it will be ferrying too and from school and school events … and the dreaded homework.
And then there’s the morning routine. Tuesday morning – the last day of summer vacation – will be drastically different than Wednesday. Because Katie will be between jobs on Monday and Tuesday, I will be leaving for work both days sans baby. I’ll be leaving and they will still be in bed.
But on Wednesday, we’ll be leaving about the same time. We’ll have to wake them in the morning and make sure they have their (grr) uniforms and backpacks. And while I’ll have to leave a few minutes earlier to get to work on time, they will be right behind me out the door.
I wonder if they’re excited or dreading it. I wonder if they got all of their summer reading done.
Waiting, watching, wishing
As Katie said, we’ve decided to shift out house repair focus from the master bath to the upstairs. It was a pretty abrupt shift, actually.
As of Friday, we were definitely going to spend the refinance money on the master bath, which is in terrible shape – part of the reason we could afford the house. The tub is incredibly ugly and stained, with random exposed pipes complete with shelves build around them. The walls are also in bad shape, and someone stuck white boards – like you see in classrooms – over the lower half of the walls, presumably to cover up water damage. And speaking of water damage, the floor is soggy in several places from years of unrepaired leaks, and after massive damage to the existing plaster ceiling, it was replaced with a hideous drop ceiling. And the wiring for the overhead light (of course there’s no fan) was done so poorly that I have the switch taped over. Our bathroom is a dump.
But on Saturday, Katie and I had a drastic change in plans. While our bathroom is in desperate need of work, it does function, and the same can’t really be said of the upstairs bathroom. When we bought the house, we didn’t realize that the upstairs shower didn’t work – it only has an incredibly ugly pink bath tub that sits at an odd angle. And lets just say the toilet and sink could use updating. Plus, the kids would probably appreciate some nice carpet in their rooms, and the third bedroom upstairs really needs to get turned into a bedroom instead of a massive closet. And tied into the project would be moving the outdated gas heat and air system upstairs, which will probably save us a fair amount of money per month. And while they’re doing that, they can figure out why J’s room gets so little air.
It should make for a fun project, and I’m definitely leaving some stuff out that needs to get done. But right now, we’re just waiting for the appraisal to come through and give us the go. We’re supposed to find out on Wednesday, and while I’m optimistic, I’m quite uncomfortable not knowing for sure what the appraiser will say (he inspected it this morning but gave no hints).
I’m crossing my fingers.
Empty house
It looks like C is down for her long nap of the day, so Katie left me here with the baby while she took the kids to their dad’s for the rest of their Christmas and break.
This morning we were up before six (although I cheated and went back to bed an hour and a half later). The house is trashed. I’d take a picture, but it wouldn’t do it justice. And I’m too lazy to find the camera under the torn wrappings, empty boxes, and other Christmas detritus. The kids partied hard, Christmas style. They played with loud games, and ran about the house, and tried out their new pogo sticks and rip sticks. We even had a helicopter flying around the house, in between chargings.
And that’s why it feels extra quiet in here now. Before there were three lively and boisterous children bounding about the house. Now the only sounds are my fingers on the keyboard and the baby lightly snoring in the other room.
Tonight Katie is working until 11. She has tomorrow off, and I’m hoping she’ll be able to find our coffee table under the rubble. I’m also hoping she won’t be too sad in this suddenly quiet house.
Babies and television
Ok, I know kids aren’t supposed to watch television for the first few years of their lives, but it’s super cute to see C in her excersaucer (“Bounce Bounce Baby,” actually) with her eyes glued to a good Christmas movie.
