Househousehouse... and gratitude

Writing here is very often a way for me to blow out the nighttime cobwebs and get my brain started. I like to do it, to allow myself room to do it, even though I have a PILE of assignments from work and everyone on my team seems grouchy and stressed. I’m not particularly stressed; maybe I should be. Or maybe I shouldn’t! Take that.

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Mom and Dad were here from last Thursday evening through the weekend, for the annual Grandparents’ Day at AJ’s school. We had a nice time together. Ate lots of good food – including a  new-to-us BBQ restaurant and a new recipe, the Asian brown rice one from this post, that the adults all liked. We had to spend a good amount of time watching movies and just hanging out at the kitchen table, because it poured rain for nearly four days straight, and was cold outside. What is WITH this weather, man? But it was fine because one of the things I like best about spending time with my parents is hanging out at the kitchen table. My house, their house, even our beach condo – this is the stuff good visits are made of.

But the one thing this trip made me think about most was, greedily I guess, having a new house someday that isn’t so creaky and/or non-soundproof; that doesn’t require that they climb stairs; that has a little more space to put stuff and for the kids to play; and that doesn’t require the kids to couple-up in sleeping bags. I’ve said before that it’s FINE for now – the kids like having sleeping bag parties in KT’s room, and it’s so sweet the way she likes having her big brother in there with her (they even hold hands before falling asleep). I don’t want my parents (or DH’s) to feel in any way BAD for coming to visit!! (You’re not allowed to feel bad, Mom, and: Keep visiting!) But there will come a point when it won’t fly anymore. I mean, I suppose we could give Mom and Dad our room, and DH and I could sleep just fine on the couches downstairs, and each kid could keep his or her room… but one little guest room would fix it

Of course, I’m not really expecting to find a ranch-style home. Almost none of the types of neighborhoods I like include ranch-style, and I’d only be willing to buy an older ranch-style house if it was very nicely updated. Or very cheap. I’m assuming all I’ll find is master-on-main options, which I guess would mean Mom and Dad would be offered the master. Which is fine with me, though not ideal. 

So I need to (same refrain) get busy painting and fixing up our house so we can SELL IT. Grey has been determined as an acceptable, trendy-yet-neutral paint color for the master bath. I want to pick WHICH grey, now. And we already have paint for baseboards.  

Yesterday KT and I visited the ENT where her ears were cleared with a teeny-tiny vacuum. She yelled and screamed but maybe not quite as much as last time. Bless her heart. Ice cream was offered out of guilt for making her suffer through that. (And maybe a new book, too [Pete the Cat and his Groovy Buttons!]) She said later that everything was louder. No more “stupid ear.”

AJ is into origami lately. He has several books, particularly likes the “Origami Yoda” series, and even likes to DRAW the origami Yoda figures. He also folds his cloth napkins while we eat dinner. Drives me a little insane. He’s gained a little bit of weight, I think – the other night the scale gave him a 47. It was right after dinner so it might not have been accurate, but I’ll take it. The news has been full of stories of kids suffering lately; DH and I have decided that if he’s short his whole life, we’re grateful and we’ll take it.