We have stucco

Friday after lunch we went by the new house again to see what progress had been made, and discovered that the stucco was being applied.

This was a very fun discovery to make, and we realized why they had not finished applying the roof on the areas covering the front and back patios - it would have gotten really, seriously filthy with the application of the stucco. 

We left after about 15 minutes, and on driving away from the house, it started pouring rain, and continued pouring rain for about 5 hours... We have not been back to the house since then, and although Blake thinks I am crazy - I am really hoping that all the stucco did not wash off the house.  Being an Interior Designer, I don't actually know all that much about exterior construction methods - in particular the application and drying times of stucco - but I am willing to bet that 15 minutes is not sufficient drying time before a deluge of rain!

We got 1 3/4" of rain at our house this weekend (1" of it from Friday), and I am pretty sure it rained much more where the new house is - so, until I see the house again, I'll continue to have the nagging wonder in the back of my mind.

Of course, if the stucco already applied was damaged from the huge amount of rain, it is likely that it will either a.) have already been removed and reapplied, or b.) been covered over by the time that we make it back out there this weekend.  Likely I will never know which one it is either.

One-of-a-Kind

 

So you want to know how to go about acquiring an awesome, custom tie-dyed washcloth like the one which we now have?  Well I'll tell you.

1. Decide to clean the boys bathroom.
2. Use Clorox Cleanup with Bleach Spray.
3. Be sure the 3 year-old is watching you clean the bathroom, and also sees you put the spray away under the cabinet.
4. Wait 2 weeks.
5. Hear a loud crash in the middle of "quiet time" and go to investigate.
6. Find said 3 year-old turning off the light to the bathroom, and sneaking back into his room where he was supposed to be all along.
7. Smell bleach and remove the 3 year-old from his room and ask what he was doing.
8. Listen to his description of cleaning the bathroom, while checking to make sure that he didn't spray the stuff on the carpet...
9. Find and remove the Clorox Cleanup with Bleach Spray from the bathroom - and put it up on a shelf in the laundry room which he can't reach even with a chair.
10. Find a wet washcloth which used to be blue, and is now tie-dyed.

Ta-dah, if you follow these steps correctly you too can own your own awesome one-of-a-kind tie-dyed washcloth!

Little of this and a little of that

  Results of my 60 day workout challenge, plus an additional month and a half of work...  Lost: 8 lb., and 2" around the waist.  Saying my pants fit a little looser would be an understatement, I don't have to unbutton my jeans to get them off anymore - so I think I need to go down a size to avoid some potential public embarrassment in the future. I am so much happier with how my post-baby belly is looking for this year's swim season.  Still working on keeping the diet in sync with losing the last little pooch, which is really difficult when you factor in how very, very, very much I crave chocolate on a daily (okay, hourly) basis.  But, it is going well, I am feeling awesome, and have even inspired Blake to start working out as well.

  Jake has regressed TREMENDOUSLY on the potty training front.  Like I thought we were done and good, and wouldn't have any problems anymore aside from the occasional oopsie.  He hadn't had an accident in nearly a month, and his bed was dry 9 days out of 10 in the morning, and he hadn't worn night time diapers in 4 months.  Fast forward to 2 weeks ago, and he is having accidents every single day (like in the middle of dinner, or while sitting watching TV), and I have washed his sheets every single morning for a week and a half.  I asked him what was going on, and if having dry underpants was important to him and he said "no, it doesn't matter".  So I am not sure what to do with that.  Maybe it has something to do with having listed the house, and he is upset about something, I don't know though, he seems so excited about the new house and his new room...  So, for now, we are trying to stay home as much as possible, and he isn't allowed to wear any clothes at home in an effort to stop the accidents (2 days of this has actually worked well), hoping a week of this will get us back to somewhat  more decent abilities on his part.  We also have gone back to putting diapers on him at night, tonight is night #2 - he says they are itchy and he doesn't like them (so hopefully he will be inspired to give up the overnight wetting - which is really first thing in the morning when he wakes up before he gets up).

New home update - week 11:

  Drywall is installed, and tape and float is going on, as well as the tying of the plumbing fixture locations to the water at the street (yeah!!).

Totally dug up front area - and yes, we carried 2 small children across that pit on the board.  It was surprisingly steady.

 

Dining room right off the entryway

Living room - with TV niche finally installed, and fireplace set.

Stairs, and Travis holding onto a piece of corner trim he found on the ground - don't worry it is plastic.

 

Kitchen and breakfast room.

 

Master Bedroom.

Jake in the playroom.

And that is all for now.

Going... going... gone!!!

It has been one whirlwind of a couple weeks at the Hagler house!  And since I have been busy, this is a LONG post, and a little behind date wise - so you have been warned.

Tuesday - 05.07:  Finished all the last minute cleaning and shoving things out of sight organizing of the house in order to have the realtor and photographer over to take the photos for the house listing.  Of course, Jake had a nighttime accident, and I had to wash all of his bedding, and somehow get it back on the bed before everyone showed up.  I think my dryer is inefficient, because it took from 9 until 1:30 to get everything washed and dried.  Although, this may have been slightly affected by my forgetting to close the top of the washer, and losing an hour...  Travis napped like a champ though for his morning nap, and didn't wake up until 12:45, which allowed me time to finish everything (except Jake's bedding).  I planned to pick Jake up a few minutes early from school because the photographer was supposed to arrive between 1:30 and 2.
  So, as I am picking up my things to head out the door, the phone rings, and it is the preschool.  Jake was running in class after being asked not to, and he tripped and hit his head on the cubbies which they keep their lunches in, and he busted his eyebrow.  Joy!! (Read sarcasm there).  So Travis and I now rush to do what we were already headed out the door to do.  We get to the school, and Jake's class is having storytime, and Jake is sitting quietly like all the other kids (which is amazing seeing as there are 15 3-year-olds in that class - amazed by his teachers!)  Jake sees us, bursts into tears, and comes over and climbs into my lap.  His eyebrow has a cut, and he has a goose-egg above his eye which sticks out about a half inch.  So sad. (Looked way worse in person than in the picture)

  We go and pick up lunch (because I've been busy all morning and didn't want to get a messy kitchen by making food), and head back to the house to wait on the photographer.  Luckily, she was running a little behind, and we beat her and the realtor to the house.  I even managed to get Jake's bed mostly made before Kacy (realtor) arrived.
  Photos were pretty easy, all we had to do was stay out of the room that she was photographing.  When she was done, we were told that photos would be ready Thursday afternoon, and we decided to list the house Friday so that we would get a full day on our first day listed.
  We had dinner at my parent's Tuesday night because 1. I didn't want to get my super clean house messy, and 2. my sister Laura was going to be around for dinner on her way to San Antonio for some lawyer thing.  Dinner was yummy, and everyone was super impressed by Jake's goose-egg and the beginnings of an awesome black-eye.

Wednesday 05.08:  Only full day that everyone had the chance to be home all day before the house listed, so instead, Mom, Dad and I took the boys out to the River House to play.  Added bonus that my cousin Rene and her mother were going to be out there too, and I haven't seen her since her wedding 3 years ago - and really you don't get to talk to someone much at their wedding.  We spent a few hours out there, Dad made yummy burgers for lunch, and the kids got sufficiently sandy throwing rocks into the river, and picked/played in bunches of wildflowers.

 

  The kiddos slept in the car on the ride home (no surprise there), and then refused to take additional naps afterwards - no real surprise, but a little annoying that nap time was so short, and I had to drive the whole time instead of really getting the break I normally get.  Oh well.

Thursday 05.09:  Jake had school, which kept him out of the house for a few hours, so Travis was the only one destroying the cleanness which we have somehow been maintaining for 2 days, and he really doesn't do nearly so much as Jake does anyway.  Travis did decide that he didn't want to nap in the morning though, so it was a little more "fun" than normal.  After school, we went to the next-door-neighbor's house, and played on their new playscape with them until naptime.  The boys loved it, and it tired them out nicely.
  After nap we went back to Mom and Dad's house for dinner with them and Rene and Irene who were staying with them that night. Good food, and conversation for all.  We also got the preview of the house listing video - which was fun to show off.  http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?t=999375

Friday 05.10:  House listing day!!  We ended up deciding to stay home until we were kicked out since we didn't know how much we would have to be away from the house the rest of the weekend.  It is really hard to keep 2 kids from tearing up the house even just in a couple of hours in the morning - and they sure did try.

 

  By noon we decided that we were done, and needed to go to lunch and get out of the house just to run off energy for the kiddos.  We also were getting a little antsy that no one wanted to see the house.  Turns out though, that the listing hit right at noon - and at 12:05, we got a call to come see the house, and then another, and another...
 We had 8 showings Friday afternoon and evening!  And while we needed to be away from the house, we went to Panera, then the mall to Mothers Day shop, and ended up at Blake's parents for the rest of the evening.  We went through the awesome storm Friday evening at their house, and they lost a large tree in their front yard, it fell but didn't hit anything (thank goodness).

Saturday 05.11:  We all had to be out of the house by 10 for another day full of showings.  Blake took both boys back to his parents, and I met my Mom and sister Laura at the nail salon for pedicures.  It was wonderfully relaxing, and my sister treated us for Mother's Day - thank you again Laura, I love my pretty pink toes!!  We then went to Thundercloud for lunch, and then it was back to Blake's parent's house to see the kiddos since there were showings scheduled all afternoon.  We ended up with I think somewhere between 8 and 10 showings on Saturday.  We did manage to get the boys home in time for baths before bed though.

Sunday 05.12:  Off to church in the morning, and a couple more showings while we were out.  Travis was not very happy about being left in the daycare there this time though, and cried for Mama.  We finally got him distracted by "bigger kid" toys, and I was able to return to the service.  After church we went to a Mother's Day lunch with Mom, Dad and Laura at Mesa Rosa, and then headed out to show them the current progress on the new house (roof on, exterior wall insulation in, trim up on outside for stucco, and drywall will be this week).

  We were actually able to return home after that and nap the boys and relax a little before our Mother's Day/ Brian birthday dinner plans, and being kicked out for an evening showing (luckily planned during when we would have been out for dinner anyway).  Dinner was great, we went to Masterson's Steak House in Lakeway - interesting atmosphere being in the Lakeway resort, but really yummy food.  And it was a LONG dinner, but the boys behaved Really, Really well for the length of time that we were there.
  Sunday night we responded to an offer on the house - and a couple days later (Tuesday), after a few contract revisions, now we are under contract!!!

So, whirlwind of a week (which took me a few days to recuperate from enough to post about), and crazy market out there, but hey - worked out for us.  One weekend of inconvenience, and our house is sold!!  We got the terms that we wanted for closing, and are able to lease back until our new house will be finished.  Truly is a seller's market out there, I can't imagine buying right now, so glad we are building - we seem to have gotten in at just the right time for both of these real estate endeavors on our part - woo hoo, go us!!

Strange things are happening

So the kids have been sick, and this has led to some fairly strange (or at least abnormal) behavior in both of them.

  Jake developed a fever a week ago Monday, and it lasted thru Friday morning  - seriously was a 96 hour fever with headache and otherwise no symptoms - Fun!  Oddly, his strange behavior wasn't until after he felt better.  Sometime late Saturday night, early Sunday morning - 3am, I woke up and realized that the door to our bedroom was open.  We sleep with the door closed, so I figured Jake had come into the room.  I looked around, no Jake - but I heard soft snoring, which was not Blake.  I get up, walk around the bed, and there is Jake, curled up on the floor with one of the decorative pillows off our bed, sound asleep.  No idea how long he had been there, but it was pretty cute.  I brought him a blanket from the living room, and he stayed sound asleep all night long (and pretty late into the morning too).  He has not done this again since, so who knows what was going on with him and why he didn't just wake us up for whatever it was he wanted like he normally does.  He didn't seem to remember why he came in the next morning.

  Travis developed his fever late Sunday night, was gone Monday morning, but back by Monday night, and is finally (hopefully) gone for good now on Thursday night.  Travis's odd behavior seems to be that he has fever dreams, and talks in his sleep.  Sunday night and again on Tuesday night, he basically talked/moaned all night long.  It was very sad and pathetic sounding, and made me want to just hold him all night long (but of course neither of us would have slept well that way).  I went in and checked on him several times, and he was completely asleep, just making lots of noise.  I even woke him up and gave him Tylenol the first night when he did this, and was burning up with fever.  After these nights of talking to himself all night long, he slept very late, which I guess it makes sense with a lack of good deep sleep.

  So, in addition to getting the house ready to sell, I have been taking care of sick kiddos for 2 weeks - yep, life is awesome.  Really glad everyone is starting to feel better though, time to Lysol the whole house before a zillion people come tromping through to see if they want to buy it.

  Picture has nothing to do with anything in the post, but the boys looked cute going down the slide together.  :)