Pins and Needles

People always say that things happen when you least expect them to, and I guess I can apply that nugget of wisdom to what occurred tonight.

We've had our condo--which we've been renting out to tenants since we moved in August--on the market again since mid-February. Like last year, when we had it on the market for 6+ months, we've had little luck in attracting offers. Our tenants' lease is up on April 30 and they don't plan to stay, so last Thursday, we put the condo back up on Craigslist. Continuing to be landlords is not something we want to do, but we'd certainly rather rent the place out than begin to pay two mortgages.

As soon as I put up the listing, the e-mails started rolling in, and I've been spending tons of time e-mailing back and forth with prospective tenants--sending photos, answering questions, trying to set up appointments. We met with a few people at the condo on Saturday, and one of them actually wanted to fill out a rental application. So, we've been moving forward with him early this week to see if he's someone we'd rent to.

Today, I got an e-mail from our realtor out of the blue. It said that we have two SECOND showings--people who viewed the condo before are coming back again--one scheduled for today, one for tomorrow.

It was hard not to get our hopes up with second showings. First of all, out of all the time we've been on the market, we haven't had ANY second showings. And then, to get TWO second showings within 24 hours of each other just felt too good to be true. So, the first appointment happened earlier tonight.

And then we got an offer.

WE GOT AN OFFER!!

We are beyond thrilled. Is it less than we wanted? Yes, of course it is, because we've dropped our price so many times in the past year that it's ridiculous. In fact, their offer is exactly the amount that we paid for the property... SEVEN YEARS AGO, very nearly to the exact day. So, in a lot of ways, it's a letdown. But, we also know that in this housing market, we are so fortunate just to have an offer at all, and as long as we can work something out with the buyer, we are in much better shape than if we continue to rent out the place.

So, we have fingers and toes and legs and eyes--and whatever else can be crossed--crossed. The catch is that we still have the second appointment tomorrow! We agreed with our realtor that we will sit tight through tomorrow night to see what happens there. It's crazy, but it's possible that we could end up with TWO offers on the table. I'm trying not to even think about it, because I don't want to be too greedy. Because trust me: UNIVERSE? I am already so, so, so grateful just to have one.

Needless to say, we're not throwing any parties yet. We still have a somewhat long way to go until this is a done deal in any way, shape, or form. Most notably, even after we have (hopefully) negotiated and (hopefully) have an accepted offer, we need to make it successfully through inspection--which may or may not be a challenge considering the ancient age of our HVAC system. But again, just praying for the best.

And of course, we'd appreciate any positive thoughts, prayers, vibes--whatever you'd be willing to send our way.

I really hope that this is it.

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The Bunny

We were planning on getting Nora all dressed up in her Easter best, and making a special trip to the mall--just to see the Easter Bunny.

And then we realized, WHAT THE HELL ARE WE THINKING?

We knew there was about a 0.001% chance that Nora would actually sit with the bunny long enough to take a photo, and figured it most certainly was not worth putting in that much effort. So, we instead lumped in a quick stop at the bunny with dinner out with my family on Friday night. The bunny was right next door at the mall. Nora wore what she had been wearing all day.

And it went just about as well as we expected. Which was not well at all.

Despite attempts to thwart the crying with a lovey (the lovey of choice varies by day--in this case, it was her stuffed giraffe), and then trying to distract with a new little ducky toy that they were giving to the kids... Nora was not a happy camper. And I didn't want to torture the poor kid, so I only left her on his (her?) lap for about five seconds.

Done. D-O-N-E.

We figured that almost-3-years-old Hunter would be better suited for this. Nora is shy all around, while Hunter is more outgoing and comfortable with strangers. But even Hunter kept saying "No!" every time we tried to get him close to the bunny. He was fine waving to the bunny, saying "Hi Bunny!" and everything from afar, but he didn't want anything to do with approaching him and sitting on his lap.

We thought that maybe if we took the two of them up together, they would feel more at ease knowing they had each other.

Nope. No dice. This was the best we did.

Oh well. Maybe someday, Nora will be all about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Or, maybe she won't. I think we'll probably at least give her the opportunity to visit each year, but it's not a big deal. Honestly, I don't blame the kids one bit, because it's admittedly strange to walk up and sit on a giant bunny's lap.

At least we got a cute picture for Nora's first Easter, before she was old enough to know how creepy that Bunny really is! :)

How did everyone else's kids do with the Easter Bunny this year? Do you remember visiting with the Easter Bunny when you were a kid? Did you like him, or were you terrified?

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Kitchen Reno: Let There Be Light

You know, a light at the end of the tunnel. Or, under-cabinet lighting. Whatever.

Either way, things are seemingly starting to come together. Don't get me wrong--we are still not even close to being finished, but we're getting there. Slowly, but surely. You might remember that I hoped to be completely done by the end of March.

HA.

Haha.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oh well, that's just the way it goes, right? House projects take three times as long and cost twice as much as you anticipate. Or so I'm told. I don't really like to keep track of such things. :) But since I've at least been documenting timing along the way, the missed "deadline" is difficult to ignore.

Let's move on to some photos and talk about progress made from last week, huh?

A lot of the progress this week was electrical. Our electrician spent a few evenings and a good chunk of Sunday afternoon at our house, wiring outlets, the under-cabinet lights, adding switches, and more. It's nice to finally get all of those stray wires connected to things!

Michael and I also hung the rest of the upper cabinets. What a pain in the ass that process is. But it's done, and we're hopeful that they're all in the right position and won't need to be moved again anytime soon!

Ignore the messes in the cabinets, we're just starting to try to get our lives semi-organized again! But check out that pendant light above the sink. We installed that on Sunday night. That light fixture was something we ripped down way back in August, but didn't put anything new in its place... until now. It feels so amazing to have it up there and looking so nice!

I look at this pic and hear angels singing. Why? Because THE MICROWAVE IS BACK UP OHMYGOD. If you look back at my previous kitchen renovation posts, the over-the-range microwave has been living on the countertop (taking up an ungodly amount of space) for the past several weeks. In order to open and/or close the door, we had to keep tilting the microwave backwards--it was just ridiculous, really. We re-installed it in its rightful place on Sunday afternoon and it was easily one of the most satisfying tasks we've completed so far. Strange, but true.

Because I finally got the second coat of paint on all of the cabinet frames, we were able to put things back in the cabinets. And hey, we put the basement door back on the hinges! Victories.

Then, because my dad was coming into town (he's here!), we CLEANED. Imagine that.

We are about thisclose to being able to start spray painting some cabinet doors, people. I.am.psyched.

Here are how things look with the pendant light and a few of the under-cabinet lights lit up. I'll have to try to take some more pics one of these evenings to better depict the ambiance. :)

What's up next? Well, we're actually going to try to give ourselves a little bit of a break this week while my dad is here. Turn down the pressure to get things done. Relax a little more. We want to tackle some smaller projects if we can, but overall, we're going to try to take things easier than we have been. As much as we want to get things D-O-N-E, it's probably good to cut ourselves a little slack.

More to come.

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Nona

Last weekend, we said goodbye to Michael's grandmother.

Honestly, it was one of those situations in which her death was really a blessing. Nona's health and mental well-being had been declining for the last several years. Her husband--Nono--was her sole caretaker and when he passed away after a short illness two years ago, Nona had to go to live in a nursing home.

It wasn't easy on anybody, but it was especially hard on Nona, of course. It was sad.

We took Nora to see her a few times, the first being just a few days after she was born. This is the only photo we have of her with Nora. On the one hand, I'm disappointed we don't have more; on the other, I'm so happy that we at least have this.

Nona wasn't always "with it." Her short-term memory seemed particularly poor, so she often didn't remember things that had happened recently. She had good days and bad. But for some reason, she almost always remembered that Michael had a baby girl.

Nona was a sweet woman. She was quiet. Like Nono, she was born and raised in Italy, immigrated to Argentina where she raised her own kids, and then moved to the U.S. with her adult children. She, too, never learned the language, so I never really had the opportunity to truly talk to her.

As you can imagine, losing a parent is difficult at any age, so the impact of Nona's death was felt mostly when I saw how it affected my mother-in-law. I have held fast to the belief that Nona is now in a better place, and reunited with Nono. It made the whole situation so much easier to deal with. It's comforting, even.

When I remember Nona, I will remember happier times. The Thanksgivings and Christmases that we all enjoyed together--with Nono, too--in years past. Like true Italians, Nono and Nona loved their wine, especially at the holidays. :)

As we laid Nona to rest on Saturday, I just kept picturing her free of nursing homes and illness and pain--and with Nono. And I couldn't help but smile inside.

May you rest in peace, Nona. And finally be with your true love once again.

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Up and Down

I'm convinced that toddlers are bipolar.

I don't mean to make light of the actual mental condition--I know it's very real, and very serious--but SO ARE TODDLER MOOD SWINGS. Dear lord.

Nora was such an easy baby. Seriously, she almost never cried. But then she turned one, and went all crazy. The tantrums were moderate at first, but they have slowly progressed to be the most ridiculously dramatic episodes of all time.

On Friday night, things escalated to an all new level. Nora had gone a few days with bad naps at daycare, and had been spending a lot of time outside playing. On both Thursday and Friday, she fell asleep in the car during the 10-minute drive home, which is saying a lot because she NEVER does that. I actually left her in the car to sleep for an extra 15-20 minutes or so once we were home in the hopes that it would hold her over until bedtime.

No such luck.

She was crabby as all hell, didn't want to eat dinner, and just generally seemed exhausted, so Michael and I decided to take her up to bed early. As we were attempting to change her diaper and put her pajamas on--notice I said WE because it was a job for two--it was like wrestling an alligator. And then it was like a crazy switch was turned on, because she was literally screaming her head off and going insane. She had this insane look in her eyes and I actually kind of laughed in disbelief and said to Michael, "I think we need an exorcist!"

It was nuts.

No matter what we did--pick her up, put her down, give her toys, give her milk, give her books--she just kept screaming. We finally got her to calm down by putting on a movie for a few minutes, and then she went to bed without issue.

We went through a similar episode yesterday morning, but without the proposed exorcism. She didn't seem QUITE as crazy, but she did scream and cry and roll around on the family room floor for a good 15 minutes because Michael dared to get her out of bed in the morning. She didn't want to get her diaper changed, didn't want to get dressed, didn't want to eat breakfast. You get the gist.

We've been assured by the pediatrician that this is all normal, especially considering that Nora does not have more than a few words. I've done some reading on "manipulative" tantrums vs. "frustration" tantrums and I am damn sure that I can tell the difference.

Nora's manipulative tantrums occur when something is taken away, or when we won't let her do something she wants to do--like run into the street, or stay outside longer. She's crying because she doesn't get her way. With those, we can distract her, or ignore her, and she just gets over it.

The frustration tantrums are a whole different story. Sometimes, they are easy to solve because she'll come running up to me, arms outstretched, just wanting me to pick her up. And when I do, she calms down. We talked to our pediatrician about this, and she said that in these cases, we SHOULD pick her up, because when she's coming to us like that, it's her way of asking us for help. But there are times when picking her up doesn't help, and she just gets completely out of control. I've been reading about ways to deal with this, too, like holding them tight to help them regain that control. We've tried to just let her cry it out like a manipulative tantrum, but it just doesn't work--that's when we end up with her rolling around on the floor for 15 minutes, or charging at me like a crazy person (and when I pick her up, she just keeps screaming).

There have been days that are just hard. I've come to realize that this is just a part of her development, it's a stage to get through. As all parents say, "This too shall pass," and I know it will.

But today? Today was a good day. We have good days (or at least parts of days) frequently. That's the funny thing: As challenging as she has been lately, she's also been the most fun that she has ever been. As I've mentioned, we've been outside a lot, and she is just eating it up. She loves to swing and play with chalk on the driveway. She walks around aimlessly, and points at all of the dogs in the neighborhood while saying "TESSA!" (Yes, she thinks all dogs are "Tessas.")

Nora has a sense of humor. She laughs when people burp. She smiles so big that her eyes close.

In short, she is amazing in every sense of the word. Amazingly difficult. Amazingly smart. Amazingly sensitive. Amazingly beautiful, inside and out.

It's a rollercoaster, but it's one that I'm thankful every day to be on.

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