Thank God for Community Helpers

This week in school my 4yr olds are learning about Community Helpers.  This means people whose job it is to contribute to the betterment of the community.  They were given choices of what kind of community helper they wanted to be when they grow up.  I wish I could remember all the choices but it was your typical Fireman, Policeman, Plumber, with a little spice thrown in (pun intended) like Baker and Artist. 

I would like to give a shout out to the Community Helpers who are going to be enhancing the Dream House over the next couple of weeks.  Starting with the 2 most important:

CL:  In Pre-K they didn't have Cleaning Lady as a choice on the board but I would say our CL is an amazing Community Helper.  She keeps me neat and sane every other week.  She's an amazingly strong person with a positive attitude and a smile on her face.  Thank you for enhancing the Dream House CL!
I don't know if she would want me to put a pic of her on my blog so here is her FB profile pic.. it sums her up nicely:

Bug Killer:  Another wonderful gift that Cindy left me (in addition to the rug stains and disgusting blinds) were these special friends:

They are called house centipedes and they are mostly in the basement but sometimes on the first floor.  They are pretty much harmless to people but they can get to 3-4 inches long and they run super-fast and they freak me the hell out.  I HATE THEM.  Even CL hates them and she's not afraid of anything.  So tomorrow the Bug Killer is going to come and spray for these suckers and hopefully they will be gone forever.  Thank you for enhancing Dream House Bug Killer!

Chimney Sweeper and Fireplace Converter: Chimney Sweeper should definitely be on the Community Helpers list in Pre-K.  These guys do almost as much in preventing fires as the Firefighters.  Jacks of all trades, they also serve as animal control and handymen.  Anyway, it turns out that Jim and Cindy never ever not once used their wood burning fireplace in the 7yrs that they lived in Dream House.  Since Mr. Molly is not a lumberjack, we do not desire to use it as a wood burning fireplace either.  Thus, the Chimney Sweeper is going to come out and clean it (who knows what's in there considering all the dead birds in the furnace vent) and then convert it to gas log.  All hail the Chimney Sweeper, thank you for enhancing the Dream House!
Side note:  Chimney Sweepers will also clean out your dryer vent.  This is extremely important if you have hoodlums in your neighborhood who like to stick Styrofoam cups in your dryer vent.

Plumber:  This was a choice on the Pre-K wall but surprisingly not a Community Helper that any 4yr old picked as their future career.  This is despite the drama that ensued in the classroom when the boys' toilet overflowed twice.  My son has PTSD from this incident and now is constantly worried it will overflow again.  In Dream House, the toilets run randomly and sporadically and we don't know why.  The plumber will come and figure it out.  So far Mr. Molly's solution is to literally turn off the water to our toilet during the night so that it can't run.  I do not find this an acceptable solution.  Thank you Plumber, for enhancing the Dream House!

Sump Pump Cover Fixer:  Jim and Cindy were kind enough to install a back up battery on their sump pump when their basement flooded in 2007.  However, when they did this they broke the seal on the sump pump cover.  We initially were concerned that this would let in radon, but the home inspection showed normal levels of radon.  Instead it's probably letting in the beautiful bug you see above.  Thus, it needs to be resealed.  Thank you Sump Pump Cover Fixer for enhancing the Dream House!
Side note:  My TX readers may not be familiar with sump pumps since they don't have basements.  All you need to know is that this is what happens when you don't have one:

Not my basement, and I don't know those guys

Landscaper and Tree Trimmer:  Another one that didn't make the Pre-K list, much to my dismay.  Our yard guy mows every Friday in the summer and helps us monitor our sprinkler system.  Now he has been enlisted to trim our trees.  We have a couple dead branches in the back, and in the front one of the trees is touching the house.  I am wondering if he will somehow get rid of all the leaves too.  Regardless, this dude is important and vital to the outer appearance of Dream House... thank you Landscaper!

I'm sure some of the most special Community Helpers; Ms. Heather, Ms. Anita, Ms. Amanda, and Ms. Nicole would be proud of this post supporting their learning theme this week.  Thank you Teachers for molding the minds of my children during the day so we can go to work to pay for the Dream House!

Pantry Dilemma

Molly's parents gave us an amazing gift for our 6yr wedding anniversary and house warming. 

I may have mentioned before that after we signed the contract I had the opportunity to go through the house one more time and show BFF and Bestie (since BFF was in town).  During that walk through they both pointed out to me that the Dream House has no pantry.

OMG, no pantry!!  What to do?!  There were lots of cabinets with shelves and there was a closet that housed the central vac so we ended up making due with those.  I'm pretty sure the Jim and Cindy must have only eaten fresh or frozen food.  That's the only explanation for a ridiculously huge fridge/freezer and no pantry.

Molly's mom cooks when she comes here and kept getting frustrated with the shelf/pantry dilemma.  So she came up with a perfect solution, turning the shelves into PULL OUT DRAWERS so we can put more in and easily reach the back.

First she contacted "Shelf Genie" and they came out and gave us an estimate which made me about faint.  I mean, it was 2x more than Mr. Molly's car is worth.

Undeterred, Molly's mom found a local cabinet guy who could do the shelves for a fraction of the price.  He came out this morning and.... voila!  Pantry dilemma RESOLVED!!!!  Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Sorry for the poor quality pictures.  I think I was so excited I couldn't hold the phone still as I took them.

Cat Haven

So anyone who knows me is probably aware that I am not a huge animal lover.  I mean, I don't hate animals and I don't avoid being around them, but I don't have any desire to own or take care of one.  If there's a cute dog around I will pet it, same with a cat.  But I'm not like "ZOMG, your DOG is SO CUTE!! What kind is it?!?  What is it's name?!?  How old is it?!?" 

As a result of this general attitude towards animals, the universe has made it so that animals are naturally drawn to me.  When I go to someones house and they have a dog/cat that animal is all up on me all the time.  That's just how it goes.  I'm fine with it as long as I don't have to take it home with me. 

So we move into dream house and there is an amazing backyard.  Remember?  Which has somehow become (or maybe always was) a haven for cats. Kind of like this:

Well obviously not that bad, I tend to exaggerate.  However, pretty much every day there are at least 3 different cats that have been in our yard at one time or another.  They like to come around in the morning, lay on the bricks in the afternoon sun, or hang out when we are BBQing. 

This cat is particularly friendly:

We call her "Tootsie 2" because she started showing up right after Mr. Molly's mom's very very old cat passed away.  She likes to come right up to us and then dart away when we reach out to her.  She also likes to come right up to the screen door and meow at us if we won't let her in.  We think her real name is "Ginger" but we always call her Tootsie 2.

So it's ironic that my general dislike of animals has led to this cat infestation.  What kind of diseases do outdoor cats carry?  I don't even want to think about it.  But they are here, they obviously love the Dream House as much as we do and I can't blame them.

The backyard certainly is a haven.  I guess I didn't realize before we signed the papers that it was a Cat Haven.  I'll have to set up a massage table out there or something.

Wordless Wednesday #7 - Before and After

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Backyard BBQ

In order to celebrate moving into Dream House and "debut" the house to my besties I decided to have a Backyard BBQ. There are 9 kids among me and my 4 besties so backyard was definitely the way to go. Plus, I figured it's pretty easy to grill and have picnic-type sides. I really did not think the BBQ was that big of a deal. I even called it a "No Judgement BBQ" to imply that my friends could not judge me for the unsettled state of the house, since the BBQ was scheduled for exactly 3 weekends after we moved in.

What I didn't count on was that of those 3 weekends, one was moving in and two were out of town. This fact caused Mr. Molly to feel very unsettled about having 8 adults and 7 kids over to look at our unpacked boxes and not hung pictures. Of course, he underestimated the power of Molly's Mom and her unpacking/decorating/overall awesomeness. In addition to that, I decided to rent a bounce house and take a day off of work to clean in the hopes that Mr. Molly would relax about it.

The BBQ was really low key and fun. The Bounce House was very key (my co-worker loaned it to me for $0.25 - SCORE!!)

Everyone brought food and the kids had a ball. My besties liked the house, though it was a lovely day/evening so we all just hung out outside. My kids enjoyed showing their friends their rooms and playroom and they all got into the dress up.

Even Mr. Molly had to admit, the No Judgement BBQ was a success and a really relaxing and fun experience. Can't WAIT to entertain a LOT more as we continue to get settled into Dream House.

Next Door Neighbors

When we were looking for houses there were 2 for sale on our street, right next to each other.  "How odd!" we thought.  The one we didn't buy was listed for a lot more $$$ (presumably because it is all brick and has a 3 car garage).  But we couldn't tell exactly why because they were using Stepford's Worst Realtors and they take terrible pictures to put on realtor.com.  All the pictures were of the kitchen and backyard and there was one picture of one bedroom.  None of the supposedly amazing finished basement.  The listing also said they wanted 24hrs notice before any showings, so I assumed that Buffy* and Clive* were just private people. 

When we moved into Dream House, Buffy and Clive's house was still for sale.  Note: We didn't move into Dream House until more than 8 weeks after closing.  We met a couple of our neighbors.  Two families came by and one we ran into while the kids were jumping in puddles after a rainstorm.  But we never even saw Buffy and Clive. 

We saw them drive to their house in their BMW convertible and Jaguar.  We saw their kid's Range Rover parked outside.  We knew from internet stalking that they both worked at Mr. Molly's (large) company.  They were around, we just never saw them. 

When we met each of the other neighbors they told us about people on the cul-de-sac but no one ever mentioned Buffy and Clive.  Other neighbors also work at Mr. Molly's company and none of them even knew that Buffy and Clive also work there.  We were starting to think that they were just hermits.

Then their house went into contract!  Which we found out on realtor.com because you are not allowed to put "in contract" on your fancy for sale signs in the Stepford Country Club.  And they decided to have a "Moving Sale."  You can bet your bottom dollar that I was going to check out that moving sale and also Buffy and Clive.

I had a good excuse, Cindy had left me a key to their house and it was only right for me to return it before they moved.  So I went over there.  The driveway was littered with presumably expensive antiques.  I gave them their key and they were actually super-nice people, really friendly and conversational.  They were busy with the moving and they had 2 daughters in college.  I asked them where they were moving to. 

They said, "Just to the other side of the neighborhood.  We needed to upgrade."  Literally, they said that.  To someone who just worked their ass off to afford the $0.5M house next door.  Nice.

Anyway, the next day they came over with a blueberry cake and a week later they were gone, off to their fancy new house on the other side of the Stepford Country Club.

Enter TM - Texas Mike*.  TM moved in next door.  I finally got to meet him yesterday.  I have yet to figure him out 100% and he has basically zero internet footprint so is difficult to stalk.  Here's what I know about TM:

• He is an oncologist at a big university and spends 75% of his time researching ovarian cancer (his job starts next week)
• He moved here from the DC area
• He appears to be living in that 4,645 sq ft house by himself
• He was born and raised in Austin, TX
• He loves food and wine and football.
• He looks like a big teddy bear
• He likes to spend time with his dad and brother (who live in TX)

So based on what I know, I'm super-freakin excited b/c TM seems awesome and reminds me so much of our former next door neighbor from old house (who ironically moved to DC) who we love so much.  I gave him some cookies and told him I'd have him over for a pasta dinner sometime.  Who knows, I may even have him over this weekend for Molly's Mom's Famous Ribs.

* All names have been changed on this blog
** If you are reading on a google reader then you can't see the KEY to the right that explains all my abbreviations

Wordless Wednesday #6 - 1st Apartment

Photo Credit:  Lakeview Associates