Minnesota is Heaven, But Virginia is Home

All right, I'm just going to preface this by saying that I am REALLY AND TRULY NOT THAT UPSET. Just a little annoyed that I have to return to the "drawing board", so to speak. The lease at the aforementioned house fell through. I should have known better than to blab about something before the papers had been signed. It's kind of how I would always tell everyone I knew that I had met the man of my dreams 2.3 hours after our first date and I was done, in love, ready to settle down. And then we'd break up a week later. When I met Hans, I didn't tell anyone but Gen about him for over a month because he was so fantastically amazingly perfect that I didn't want to jinx it by telling anyone. And see how that worked out? I will probably never learn to just keep my mouth shut. Anyway, here is what happened and it's really very straightforward: the owners have tenants moving out tomorrow. At first they agreed that they could keep it open for us until May 15th. ...

So by now, I'm sure that all of you have been alerted to the fact that William had to go to the ER last night for a few stitches. Four, to be exact. I wish I could say what happened, but I can't. It was supper time and we had ordered pizza and the pizza guy had just arrived and Hans had come home and the dog was jumping on him and Josiah and Annika were running around and William was horsing around on the kitchen chair and I was serving up supper, and...and... Deep breath. That's how supper is around here. It's like tea at the Mad Hatter's. We all sat down and dove into our pizza when suddenly William's chair went over. Our chairs are heavy...I'm still not sure how he got it over just right. Oh darn that Children's Museum and its exhibit on fulcrum points and weight distribution! Anyway, he went over and started crying so then I jumped up and the dog started running around and Annika ran upstairs to get the bandaids and Hans said he had a cut under his c...

The vet just called. Elsa has survived her spaying. Not that we didn't expect her too...this isn't the dark ages of veterinary care. There's no more use of leeches, for example. Seriously, though, when I got Freddie spayed it was a major operation including stitches and the Cone of Shame. Annika was actually looking forward to seeing the Cone of Shame. Anyway, I think they do spays laproscopically (I think I spelled that currectle) now, just a small incision, lase the offending thing up and drag it out the incision. Gently, I'm sure. Elsa was also microchipped so she can run faster and learn Greek and complex calculus. She had a small hernia in her stomach fixed, though we thought it looked cute, like a belly button. The vet explained to us that it would be dangerous to leave untreated. OK, fine. Spoil all our fun, Mr. Vet. We enjoyed tickling her "belly button" until you told us it was actually a tiny wad of her stomach. Ewww. In other news: I am not ashamed ...

Here are a few pictures of the "new" place. The third thumbnail shows the "main" staircase going up, there is a door on the landing that opens into the "other" staircase, which is then shown in the fifth thumbnail. The stairs to go to the basement are in between them. It's a mystery. I really doubt a home of that size had a servant, but I could be wrong. It's intriguing. Like I said in my last post, I may use the extra staircase as a bookshelf. Or maybe that's a recipe for disaster with a 2-1/2 year old in the house! BTW, there's no 4 car garage, there is a garage in the back--for a Smartcar maybe. There is parking for about 4 cars in the driveway. http://www.militarybyowner.com/homes/VA/Norfolk/Rockbridge_Avenue/MBO48630.aspx

I'm going with current weather statuses this month, I guess. Well, it's been a beautiful week in Chesapeake, my home town out on the prairie...I mean, the coast. I've been listening to "A Prairie Home Companion. Garrsion Keillor never fails to make me smile. Can't stand the man's political stance, but man do I love the sound of his voice. When Hans was in Newport last year, I would end each day by turning off the lamp and playing that day's "The Writer's Almanac" podcast. Anyway...this was not intended to be a post about Garrison Keillor. Funny, the strange tunnels and convolutions the brain takes sometimes. We have a home come June. Well, I hope we have a home come June. Let's just say we have a verbal that we have a home come June. We are (somewhat patiently) waiting for the lease to arrive in the mail. Once that gets here and we get it all signed, I will feel a lot more at ease. I ordered a POD this week--it's like a big container t...

It's a very chilly and blustery day here in Virginia. It rained all weekend. There are low portions of our backyard that are completely flooded and gooey. Just beautiful weather, lovely! And now, I'm going to switch to bullets because I find it easier to make a brain dump with bullets. Even though it rained, we did accomplish a couple of things this weekend. We have procured the services of a realtor and started looking at homes to buy. I am still looking at homes to rent. We're not sure what we're going to do, but interest rates are so low, house prices are low and there are certain areas of Norfolk that are highly desirable in terms of rentals. So we're trying to find a home in one of these highly desirable neighborhoods that we can buy, live in for about a year (or longer if my dreams would come true) and then rent to incoming military personnel. For a profit. Of course, finding this elusive house is easier said than done. It's like the real estate market in ...