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July 16th, 2009

09:10 pm - A few minutes to post We finally got out Internet functioning properly at the apartment today, and thus we're no longer having to piggyback off of the really crappy unsecured wireless that we have been using for the last several days. In a nutshell, my connection might actually last long enough for me to write a whole post tonight! :) We had our pre-construction meeting for our new house this afternoon, and got the last few niggling details set in order. We're doing a raised bar on our island in the kitchen (instead of keeping it flat as is standard) and doing a bit of rearranging in the master bathroom such that we can have some drawers in our vanity (you know, somewhere to put toothpaste and hairbrushes and the like that isn't just keeping them permanently on the counter). The rearrangement involves moving the linen closet to the other side of the doorway to the master closet, and extending the vanity and cabinets to be about 3' longer (filling the space where the linen closet was), giving us room to add drawers. The default layout had dual vanities and didn't leave any room for drawers, since you can't put drawers directly underneath sinks. And we're able to do the bathroom rearranging plus raised bar for a total of $1k, which is much less than I expected. And the allocation of cable/internet/phone jacks was generous, so we aren't having to pay for any extras of those. :) We decided to just go ahead and throw that cost on top of our already existing total, so we're coming in at about $1300 over what was our "hard" limit (mental, not determined by mortgage company). Honestly, I don't think that's too terrible. I don't think that amount of money is going to make a whit of difference in our ability to get our mortgage, and if for some reason it does we have the cash to cover it. Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. we close on the sale of our old house. It's going to be a big change (and I feel a bit sad about it) to not be a homeowner any more. On the upside, we'll have oodles of cash in the bank for the next 3-4 months while we wait for our new house to be built. Maybe it will earn generous amounts of interest for us while it's sitting there? A girl can dream. :) After closing tomorrow we have to go back by the sales office for the new house to sign the final contract and give them our percentage of the up-front funds for our design choices and the above two changes. We couldn't sign it today because we were there too late and the sales rep needed manager approval and she was having trouble getting in touch with him (he may have left for the day). But I get the impression it's just red tape and we are good to go. Here at the apartment, we are still buried under boxes, though we are making slow progress at unpacking. We got our washer and dryer yesterday. I'm glad I decided to go ahead and buy the washing machine now, because I think it is the only 'nice' appliance in this whole place. Our rented dryer is definitely a cheapie -- it only has two heat settings (medium and high) and to use the medium heat I have to tell it how long I want it to run for -- none of this sensing when the load is dry business. Our dishwasher is cheap, too (normal and heavy wash and heat dry on or off are the only two choices it supplies, and it only has one arm) and seems smaller than I am used to. Our refrigerator is a standard top-freezer variety and also small. The microwave and stove/oven seem okay, but I haven't used the stove or oven yet (haven't found the pots and pans to unpack them yet), and the microwave looks like it might possibly fall through the cabinet it's attached to. (i.e. the cabinet it's screwed into isn't strong enough to support its weight). And it does not vent outside. So yeah, not thrilled with the apartment I picked, nor with the fact that we are paying through the nose for a place that feels cheap through and through. But the options for short-term leases were pretty limited, and I know I wouldn't have liked the other place I looked at any better. Just have to keep reminding myself that it's only for a few months, and there is a really nice house waiting at the end of the tunnel. :)

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July 11th, 2009

03:20 pm - Update I've been very busy since I last wrote anything here. Tuesday I drove Corwin to Austin and spent Tuesday night at my parents' house. ( Wednesday ) Thursday morning I did more packing and sorting stuff for our packers to pack. They arrived at 2 and finished up around 7. Dinner was fast food picked up and brought home, since we couldn't leave the packers unattended. Yesterday was the day of BUSY. We had to go out for breakfast because all our food and dishes were packed, so left the house about 7:30 a.m. We got home last night at 9 p.m. ( LOTS and LOTS of minutiae about Friday ) ( Today: Moving is progressing too slowly for our taste. ) And they're not likely to be done by the time I get "home" from work, which means Andrew and I aren't likely to get to treat ourselves to another nice dinner out to relax. I think that brings you up to date. I'm at work this afternoon, and will be here for another 45 minutes or so. It's been a quiet day. Current Mood: annoyed Tags: moving

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July 5th, 2009

09:37 pm - Update Apparently I am not yet recovered from the stress of the rest of my weekend. I don't think I would have won any mommy awards today, though I think my frustration can be mitigated slightly be the fact that I am parenting a 2-year-old who hasn't gotten enough sleep lately and may be slightly sick to boot, and whose behavior was generally difficult today, as attested to by Andrew. Today is one of those days when I am REALLY REALLY glad I'm not a single parent. It was very nice to just let Andrew deal with him when I had reached my limit. That said, no car pictures got taken today. Sorry to anyone who is dying of curiosity. I did get a fair number of things done today, though: -grocery shopped; a very SHORT list since we're trying to use up food we have in the house before our move next weekend -washed the bedsheets on our bed and remade the bed -put away 2 1/2 loads of laundry (the 1/2 was leftover from last night) -made tea -did dishes -cut the last several weeks' worth of coupons from the newspaper and took newspapers outside to go to recycling sometime this week -went through 3/4 of the clothes in my closet and tried them on and divided up the ones that either didn't fit (too small, *sigh*) or I never wear into boxes to go to storage or bags to be donated. Need to finish off the last 1/4 tomorrow if I can manage it. Tonight I need to order the washing machine we want at our new apartment; we've decided to just rent a dryer while we're in the apartment (they only have connections for electric ones) so that we can buy a gas one once we have our new house. [EDIT: Check! Washing machine ordered. Delivery will be Wednesday, July 15, as that is the first day one of us (me) can be in the apartment at whatever time is needed.] I also need to see if I can transfer any of our utilities online or else figure out who I need to call tomorrow. Tomorrow I need to call our insurance agent to get the new car onto our insurance and the old one off, as well as get our renters' policy finalized for when we move. Tags: cleaning, moving, shopping

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July 4th, 2009

09:53 pm - Long day We bought a silver Mazda5 today. It has a black interior, which I'm not sure I'm crazy about, but the choices were silver with black interior or white with a light-colored interior. I'm "meh, but can live with it" about a white car, but Andrew convinced me it was too boring and I should go with the silver. So we did. If I hate the dark interior down the road, well, I'll make a mental note not to buy such again in the future. Picture coming tomorrow when I'm not falling asleep in my chair. It was a LONG day. Current Mood: exhausted Tags: 2009 mazda5

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July 3rd, 2009

10:29 pm - Car shopping update So I shopped and shopped over the past two days. I test-drove the CR-V and the RAV-4 last night, and took my Civic to CarMax for an appraisal (they'll give me $2k for it...which isn't great, but frankly I was expecting less than that given that the "check engine" light is on which automatically tells them it needs some kind of work) and test-drove a Mazda5 this afternoon. The Mazda dealer actually let me take the Mazda5 home overnight so that Andrew could see it and we could "kick the tires" on it. This turned out to be a godsend, because it meant I didn't have to drag Andrew to two dealerships to test-drive cars tonight. After sleeping on the CR-V and RAV-4 last night, I decided that between the two I really prefer the CR-V. They're very similar, but the CR-V has slightly better safety ratings, has the rear door that opens upward, and had better visibility than the RAV-4. Plus it is a Honda, and I've always been partial to Hondas. :) But a good friend of mine in Austin who has two kids in car seats drives a Mazda5 (which is where I first saw it; otherwise, I'm not sure I would have ever known to even investigate it), which ultimately is a really small minivan. I made myself stick to my resolution to go look at one this afternoon....and it looks like we have a winner. I think I'll prefer driving it over the CR-V because it's smaller, giving me a better sense of where the vehicle is and giving me more maneuverability in parking lots and the like. (I can't tell you how many times I've been in a tight parking lot in my Civic and actually said aloud to myself, "I'm so glad I drive a small car.") It can also seat 6, while the SUVs can each only seat 5. It has two bucket seats in the middle row and a bench seat for 2 in the back (3rd row). The legroom for the 3rd row seats is TINY making them not very useful for adults except for in a real pinch, but they should be fine for hauling extra children if I end up being a carpool mom or the like in a few years. (My friend in Austin also says it's actually pretty easy to put a carseat in the back if you do it through the rear door, so if we need to take adults with us somewhere, it's fairly trivial to let Corwin be the one to sit in the back.) It's also really easy to fold down those 3rd row seats (it can be done one-handed and really isn't a chore at all), and with them folded down there is lots of storage space in the back. Ultimately I think the CR-V would have a bit MORE space in the back, but space in the Mazda5 is more flexible. And for whatever period of time we have 2 car seats, the 3rd seat in the back of the SUV (it's just a middle bench seat) would be pretty much useless, as no one could fit there with car seats impinging on it. If I am able to get 10 years out of this vehicle as is my wont, Corwin will be 12 or 13 at that point, so I shouldn't ever have to worry about fitting a full-grown "kid" in the rear seats. My only niggling concerns at this point are that Mazdas don't have the stellar reliability ratings from Consumer Reports that the Hondas and Toyotas do, so I'm feeling a little gunshy about leaving the Honda/Toyota fold. But I'm not sure I've ever heard anything bad about Mazdas either, so it will likely be fine. :) So, 9:00 tomorrow morning, we get to attempt to buy me a Mazda5. :) Means we should get to bed soon since we'll need to be up earlier than usual if we're going to be anywhere by 9. Car dealerships don't seem to be open on Sundays any more, so my original plan to buy a car on Sunday will no longer work (which means we don't get to leave Corwin with a babysitter while we do this car buying stuff, either. *sigh*). We have a BBQ with friends at noon tomorrow (Sat.) so I'm hoping we'll be able to be done in time to make that. On the upside, since we can't buy a car on Sunday, we'll actually have a "down" day to be at home. Not sure I'll get to relax, though, as I need to spend some time packing before our move. That's really what I wanted to devote time to this weekend, but so far there hasn't been any time to make that happen. Current Mood: tired Tags: 2009 honda cr-v lx, 2009 mazda5, 2009 toyota rav-4, car shopping

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July 2nd, 2009

03:27 pm - Car shopping Models under consideration include the following: Toyota Prius Sterling McCall only has the high-end Priuses that we can't afford in stock. To get one of the low-end ones that we CAN afford we'd have to wait 4-6 weeks. Did not get to test drive. Mike Calvert Toyota has one here. 2333 South Loop West Houston, TX 77054 [site goes to great lengths to ensure you can't copy/paste their mailing address. *sigh*] Mazda 5 JEFF HAAS MAZDA 11222 OLD KATY ROAD HOUSTON, TX 77043 (north side of I-10 near Wilcrest) Phone: 713-932-6004 JOE MYERS MAZDA 16500 NORTHWEST FREEWAY HOUSTON, TX 77040 (290 North of Beltway 8) Phone: 713-937-7800 Honda CR-V Test drove at Gillman Honda, 7/2/2009. Internet pricing on vehicle that looks to be what I want: $22,449. Could not get salesman to talk price with me tonight, or even show me a specific vehicle since I didn't want to buy tonight. *sigh* Russell & Smith Honda seems to have lots of options in both Glacier Blue and Royal Blue Pearl. 2900 SOUTH LOOP WEST HOUSTON, TX 77054 Toyota RAV-4 (?) Test drove at Sterling McCall Toyota, 7/2/2009. They only have a black one in stock of the trim line I want, and I refuse to buy a black car given the Texas heat. They have a blue one arriving Wednesday, 7/8. Can give them a $100 deposit to have them "hold" it until I can come look at it and decide if I want it. Or can come in Saturday morning, July 4, (when they will likely have some good specials going on) and sign a contract for it, trade in my car, and get a loaner to drive until the 8th. MSRP on this vehicle: $23,122. Plan: Research/call other dealers to see what they have in stock. Champion Toyota has this one in stock in blue. $23,569 MSRP Or this one, in silver, with a V6 engine. $24,938 MSRP 11711 Gulf Freeway Houston, TX 77034 RAV4 vs. CR-V comparison: They're very, very similar. CR-V rear opens upward; RAV4 rear opens sideways. CR-V wins. Gov't front-crash test, front passenger: RAV4 has a lower score than CR-V per Consumer Reports. CR-V wins. Rear visibility slightly better in CR-V. CR-V wins. Both have an jack for an MP3 player -- RAV4's is placed in the center console; CR-V's is in the dash. RAV4 wins. CR-V gets 21/27 mpg; RAV4 gets 22/28. Per EPA. CR got 23 mpg overall on the RAV4, 21 mpg overall on the CR-V. RAV4 wins, but barely. General criteria for cars to be considered: Criteria are it has to cost under $25k and must have enough room for 2 kids + stuff. It also needs to have good reliability ratings per Consumer Reports (or another source) and not be a huge gas guzzler for its size class. Oh, and smaller is better, IMO. I hate driving large vehicles. Feedback on the above models if you own a recent one is appreciated. Tell me what you like and don't like. :) Suggestions of other comparable models that also meet the aforementioned criteria are also welcome. WRENCH: Title for my car is in the safe deposit box at the bank, which is likely closed until Monday. *sigh* I have to drive to Austin on Tuesday. CarMax (For appraisal on my Civic) 19500 N.W. Freeway (U.S. 290) Houston, Texas 77065 (Eldridge Road - West Road Exit off 290) (281) 970-6690 Current Mood: flustered

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June 27th, 2009

10:22 pm - Washing Machine and Dryer options Washer GE Profile WPGT9150 This is the HE top loader that my mom has and likes. There's currently a $100 rebate from the GE site for a $100 VISA Prepaid card with the purchase of a washer/dryer pair. Good through 7/5/09. $809.10 + free shipping from Home Depot (online special: 06/25/2009 - 07/08/2009) Review Dryer GE Profile 7.0 Cu. Ft. Super Capacity Gas Dryer, Model DPSE810GGWT $695.08 from Home Depot, includes gas dryer install kit ($19.99) and dryer ducts ($9.99). Free Delivery. Tax will be added. Same online special as with washer. $609.08 for the electric version from Home Depot, includes dryer power cord ($14.99) and ducts ($9.99). Free delivery. Tax will be added. Same online special as with washer.

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June 25th, 2009

01:47 pm - Amusing headline from the Chron (or, Typos strike back!) From the Houston Chronicle's home page, as of 1:48 p.m.: AAA: Economy, gas prices will reduce July 4th travel Despite motorists’ reservations, however, the motor club said 3.2 Texans will travel over the holiday weekend. Only 3.2 Texans, huh? That's impressive. Current Mood: amused

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June 15th, 2009

10:25 pm - Status update Today is the last day of the option period on our house, and the buyer hasn't notified us that he doesn't want it any more. The appraiser was here this morning for about 15 minutes, which my realtor says is a good thing; apparently if they take a long time they are hunting for stuff to include to get the house to appraise for the correct amount. So apparently our appraiser wasn't having to hunt, so it should appraise for the sale price. Odds look good that our sale will go through! :) (*fingers crossed, wood knocked on, etc.*) I got to make another hasty trip up to Andrew's office today to get him to sign the contract amendment that says we'll take care of the various repairs that the inspection turned up. Fortunately, ehcnalava was here babysitting Corwin while I went to my physical therapy appointment this afternoon anyway, and she didn't mind sitting in the house a while longer while I went to Andrew's office. So I was able to do a reasonably quick trip without Corwin in tow, which was nice. My realtor says she sent me the amendment yesterday, but I never received it so she had to resend it this morning; thus the trip up to Andrew's office being necessary. I'm filling out the apartment application tonight for the 2 br + study (because it's essentially exactly the same as the 3-bedroom, available on the 1st floor, and $50/month cheaper than the 3-bedroom to boot) at The Landmark. I'm still not feeling terribly excited about it, but I doubt I'd feel excited about ANY apartment after living in a house for 6 years. I was chafing at the clause in the lease that requires management's consent for anyone to stay with us for longer than 7 days (I know why it's there, but it feels like they're saying I need someone to "mommy" me -- and I AM the mommy these days. *sigh*). Then I looked at the leases we signed at our old apartment (needed info for the application), and there permission was required for anyone to stay for more than 3 days -- I think we disregarded that at least a couple of times while we were there. Of course, in the new apartment I think it highly unlikely that we'd have any guests for more than 7 days -- we won't have a guest bedroom for one thing. We will have our sleeper sofa with queen size pullout bed if anyone does need to stay with us, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to sleep on that for 7 days, especially with our in-laws nearby with lots of crash space in their house. Current Mood: unenthusiastic Tags: apartment-hunting, house, selling house

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June 12th, 2009

09:21 pm - Apartments Corwin and I went to look at apartments on Thursday. Let me say for the record that after walking around in some that morning, I'm just really not all that excited about returning to apartment life. Mostly 'cause they're so SMALL compared to the space I am used to living in. And there's that whole shared walls thing, too. I just have to keep telling myself it will only be for 3, maybe 4 months. And repeat. And repeat again. So I headed up north with a list of several complexes to look at, but was able to eliminate several right off simply because they were too far north. Unfortunately, one of these (Mansions at the Woodlands) was one of the two on my list that offered attached garages. But they were located just west of I-45 on FM 1488, which seems to actually be north of The Woodlands. FM 1488 is the highway that goes toward Magnolia. I decided that was too far to make Andrew drive every day and turned around and headed back south. (They also told my apartment locator person that we'd have to do a 5-month least to get a reasonable rate; I'd been planning to try to talk them down if I loved the place.) So I ended up only looking at two. The first, Lake Wyndemere, is on Sawdust Rd. It offers attached 2-car garages, which was a big selling point. However, once I got inside the apartments, they felt TINY. Particularly the kitchens, but the other rooms didn't feel very large either. The biggest problem with the kitchens is that they have a very few very small cabinets and a TON of wasted space (i.e. no cabinets, no counter space, nothing) over on one side that I think is intended to be a "breakfast nook" but didn't look big enough to even fit our table if we took the leaf out of it. That could be turned into additional kitchen space with the addition of some appropriate furniture, but I don't really want to buy furniture that's specific to an apartment I intend to be in for 3-4 months. Option #2 is the Landmark, which is on Rayford Rd., just east of I-45. (For those not familiar with The Woodlands, Rayford and Sawdust are really the same street, it just changes names when it crosses I-45.). It had the big selling point of being right next door to Mr. Gatti's. ;) It offers no garages and no covered parking at all, but the apartments themselves felt bigger than Lake Wyndemere's. The kitchen layout is indistinguishable in my mind from the kitchen we had at our old apartment at Greenridge Place (i.e. the differences are so miniscule that I couldn't identify them). That means, that while it's still smaller than what I'm used to now, I have managed successfully in a similar kitchen in the past. Lake Wyndemere's 3-bedroom apartments were listed at 1535 or so sq. ft., which surprised me when I looked at the square footage measurements later, because the 1305 sq. ft. apartments at Landmark FELT much bigger. I think it comes down to the closets -- Lake Wyndemere had lots of large closets in it, whereas the Landmark only had 4 okay-ish closets in the bedrooms (one br had two) and a small coat closet in the living room). But since we're planning to store a bunch of our stuff anyway, we don't really need a lot of large closets because anything we don't think we'll need from July-October will go to the storage unit (or possibly Andrew's parents' old house) along with the furniture that won't fit in our apartment. After percolating on this for a day or so, I've decided to go with the Landmark, unless another option worth checking out falls in my lap. Not having a garage or covered parking will be annoying, but I think the tiny kitchen and wasted space at Lake Wyndemere would drive me crazy. Andrew was in favor of the Landmark as soon as I got through describing the two to him, so I think we're in agreement there. Also, thanks to kaerukami and ehcnalava for getting me the information on their current apartment complex. While it would be lovely to have good friends in the same complex, they only go up to 2 bedrooms and 1100ish square feet, which after seeing the other two apartments sounds like it would be too small for us without even seeing it. And I really think we need that 3rd room for our computers and "office" to go in so that it won't be out in the living room tempting Corwin all the time. (You two -- tell your apartment managers to build some 3-bedroom units in the next 3 weeks!) Current Mood: unexcited Tags: apartment-hunting, short-term housing

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June 9th, 2009

09:45 pm - Notes Corwin ate tacos for dinner tonight! Meat and all. :) Usually when I fix tacos I give him just chips and cheese because he doesn't eat the meat or lettuce if I put it on his plate. Tonight he asked for meat and lettuce on his tacos, so I gave him a spoonful of meat and Andrew gave him a small amount of lettuce. He picked around the meat and lettuce for a while, but eventually did try it and ended up finishing everything on his plate! Wonder how long it will be before it happens again? Today I started my hunt (with the help of an apartment specialist at the brokerage company our realtor works for) for our temporary housing. The first response I got was for a short-term furnished rental, usually used as temporary corporate housing. The monthly rent on a 3-br apartment was over $3700. My jaw hit the floor. Too bad we don't have a company paying for our relocation to cover that rent for us. :P So we'll definitely be going for an unfurnished place and using our own furniture. Unfortunately, there are far fewer places where you can get a 3-month lease on an unfurnished apartment. I got a list back tonight of some options on that front, so I'll be making some phone calls tomorrow, and possibly visiting some places Thursday morning while our buyer's inspection is occurring. I bought Corwin new shoes today. They were size 9 1/2. My son continues to be a giant for his age. Current Mood: tired Tags: corwin, corwin eating habits, corwin shoes, temporary housing

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June 8th, 2009

03:52 pm - Our new house! Last night, we signed a contract to build our next house. We ultimately decided to go for The Jonas from David Weekley Homes. We had to give up the 3 car garage that we would have liked to have because it didn't fit on the lots in the neighborhood we chose. But giving up that 3 car garage allowed us to build the extended bonus room (instead of the smaller standard one) upstairs and combine that with a covered porch in the back yard. The two-car garage looks fairly generously sized on the building plans we looked at; it may end up being slightly larger than the one we have now. Also, our new back yard will be large enough that we can put a storage shed or something back there if we decide we want to. The other options we chose include a full bathroom upstairs, study in lieu of living room, and a 4th bedroom instead of the "children's retreat." And we decided to spring for rounded sheetrock corners throughout the house, simply because I got tired of looking at the dinged hard corners in this house (we had them painted before we put it on the market so they're not dinged-looking now, but hopefully the rounded corners will let us avoid or reduce the problem altogether). We did look pretty hard at the Perry 2947W floor plan as well, but it lost out for two reasons. First, we kept looking for a good spot to put our treadmill in it, and couldn't really come up with any options that thrilled us. In the Weekley plan we found two or three places it could potentially go, so we feel like we ultimately have some options there. Secondly, the Perry plan has a big flat island (like this) in the kitchen, with the sink on the island. We asked if they would do a raised bar edge around the island, and the answer was that they would not. Apparently the salespeople get asked that question frequently, but can't get the builder to budge on it for some reason. Well, I don't want to live for the next 20 years with any unwashed dishes visible from the living room and my dish drainer visible as well. So that was really a deal-killer. It seems like a little thing, but the more I thought about living with that, the less I liked it. So The Jonas it was. :) The resale lost out because we just weren't feeling it. I think for me, I was mainly unenthusiastic about doing a major bathroom renovation on the master bathroom, which is something that would have had to be done for me to be happy in the house. Andrew was just unenthusiastic about it in general and said he wanted to veto it, even though he couldn't state a clear reason why. So we went with the option we were both feeling enthusiastic about and gave up trying to talk ourselves into the resale. We're building in the Spring Trails neighborhood of Dogwood Chase. That neighborhood is way in the back of the Spring Trails development (i.e. it doesn't show up on the masterplan maps that are on the Spring Trails web site). For folks familiar with Houston, it's northeast, off of the Hardy Toll Road north of 1960 (if you're REALLY familiar with Houston, it's at the Hardy Toll Road and Riley Fuzzel road, which will be the future Grand Parkway if/when it ever gets built). It's about 2 stoplights down the road from the neighborhood Andrew's parents are living in. Our house will be on the corner lot of a small cul-de-sac. Current Mood: accomplished Tags: house-hunting, spring trails house

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June 5th, 2009

03:59 pm - House hunting update! Yesterday was house-hunting day. Corwin, scarlett_sage, our Realtor, and I looked at 3 resale houses in the morning, and then our Realtor (Sandy) and I spent the afternoon looking at several new construction options. ( Here's the writeup. ) Current Mood: accomplished Tags: house hunting

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June 2nd, 2009

03:34 pm - ...And we have an offer! We have an offer on our house! It's a bit low, though, and our realtor is unavailable 'til after 5 tonight (she's travelling at the moment). But I see a counteroffer in our future. [Now that I have scrolled through the whole offer, I see the buyer wants our washer, dryer, and refrigerator, too, included in the purchase price he's proposed (i.e. he won't give us anything extra for them). There's no way that's happening with the low offer he's given.] AAAAAAAHHHHH! (We haven't even gotten to look at houses yet!) Current Mood: excited

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June 1st, 2009

02:27 pm - Physical Therapy I had my first physical therapy appointment this morning. The physical therapy itself was fine, but all of the logistics that are going to be involved in doing this three times a week plus some insurance shenanigans plus a major headache (probably made worse by stress) left me going home from the appointment in tears. *sigh* Now that I've had some time to destress by snuggling my son and reading to him for a while and the Excedrin I took when I got home has had time to knock out my headache, I'm feeling a little better about it all, but it's still not going to be fun. Andrew took a sick day from work today because he felt really cruddy when he woke up at 5 a.m., which turned out to be a very good thing. I went ahead and left Corwin at home with him when I went to my appointment today, which I ended up being VERY glad I did. There was lots of paperwork when I got there, such that I was there for over 2 hours total, which would have been seriously pushing his limits even if there weren't other factors in play. Turns out there is NO WAY Corwin can go with me for my appointments -- *sigh*. I'll be spending some chunk of time in a room with my knee hooked up to electrodes for electrical stimulation. He'd PROBABLY be okay for that part, except that I wouldn't be able to get up to help him or physically prevent him from doing something he shouldn't. But then I'll also be having part of my sessions in the exercise room, where there is a treadmill and other exercise equipment that I'm totally not okay with him being around from a safety standpoint. (Our treadmill at home is on the 3rd floor where he rarely goes, and it is kept unplugged except when it is in use. And if Corwin is upstairs while it's in use, he is "in arms" and not allowed to get down and walk around on his own.) So the work around for that is that I do evening appointments, which I guess I am fortunate that they offer. But it means that more responsibility is going to be pushed off onto Andrew as I won't be able to cook dinner on therapy nights (3 nights a week) and he'll have to solo parent for the time I'm gone (which is usually the time he uses to unwind from work and get his treadmill workout in). I'm feeling guilt on that front because I feel like because I'm not working at a paying job during the day, it's my responsibility to cook dinner and get obligations such as this taken care of such that they don't impact his "free" time. Which I know is in my head and all, but it's still leaving me with guilt. :P Add on top of that that I'm supposed to be doing over an hour's worth of exercises on my own at home every day. I'm going to have to make time for that, too, and try not to be bored out of my gourd while doing so. On the insurance front, apparently my particular insurance requires pre-authorization for physical therapy. Which no one told me ahead of time. When I was filling out the paperwork before my appointment there was a preauthorization form that I filled out, but based on what the office lady said I assumed she was just going to fax it off then and get the preapproval taken care of at that time. Instead, AFTER my appointment with the doctor and my therapy session, when I was paying my co-pay, she says something along the lines of "your insurance requires pre-authorization for physical therapy, but for some reason we gave you a session today anyway. Your insurance is probably not going to pay for it." Well WHY didn't anyone tell me that BEFORE they did my therapy session so I could say, "hey, let's wait and do it later?" So no idea how much I'm going to get billed for that, and I'm doubtful if there's anything I can do to get around it. I suspect this is one of those things I "should have known" or should have queried my insurance company about ahead of time. But I'm not used to dealing with insurance for anything other than routine stuff, and just assumed that the doctor's office would take care of everything (since they usually do in my experience). They've known about my insurance for a couple of weeks, so why didn't they do this ahead of time?! Or at least tell me they hadn't done it? At any rate, I haven't scheduled any further appointments until I hear back about the insurance approval. Now that I am calmed down and thinking more rationally, Andrew has suggested I see if I can find babysitters during the daytime hours once a week, or even just a time or two over the 6 week period I'm supposed to be having therapy. Which does sound much more feasible than trying to find someone who can watch Corwin for 1-1.5 hours 3 times a week. Anything will help. :) Add this scheduling stress on top of our house being on the market and having to leave often on short notice for that and I was just feeling completely overwhelmed. On the other hand, I do want my knee to get better, and so does Andrew, so we will find a way to deal with it. Current Mood: drained Tags: health insurance, paulina's knee, physical therapy

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May 29th, 2009

08:35 pm - House update Well, we're getting showings. :) Have had one each last Friday, Saturday, Wednesday, Thursday, today, and have one scheduled for 2-4 on Sunday [so we're definitely planning to be at Jamie's Sunday!]. It's really unnerving to know that your house is being shown but never see any evidence that anyone was there or get any feedback about what they thought. We actually did see the couple who looked at our house tonight because we just went out for a tricycle ride and walk around the neighborhood. They looked to be more of our parents' generation, so I'd be really surprised if they wanted our house. One of our many reasons for moving is the "no bathroom on the first floor" thing and the fact that our moms are starting to have trouble getting up and down the stairs (and our remaining grandmothers also either can't do stairs at all or are reluctant to). Current Mood: curious Tags: house

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May 27th, 2009

03:36 pm - Mortgage Questions Those of you who have bought or are buying houses recently and/or right now: Did you do the "getting pre-approved for a mortgage" thing? If so, did you actually go in and physically meet with a lender? If so, who? Or did you do it all over the phone and/or internet? I think I had this expectation that we'd meet with someone in person, but now that I'm actually looking into it it looks like it is all done over the phone or by internet these days. Which makes me a little bit nervous....it's not as easy for me to process all my questions that way (particularly with the internet forms). If you did get pre-approved, did you do it before you started looking for homes? Or after you had found one you wanted? I thought you were supposed to do it before you started looking, but both places I've talked to right now have wanted to know how much the house I wanted to buy was. Any advice or info appreciated. :) Our existing house we bought from a builder and used their mortgage arm so we didn't have to do any of this. Current Mood: confused Tags: home buying, mortgages

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May 22nd, 2009

11:50 am - House almost for sale! Our house is not on the MLS yet; still waiting for it to show up. In other MLS news, the house across the street from ours went up today as well. It had a renter in it up until 2-3 months ago, and since he moved out the owner has been doing a TON of renovation work on it. I'd been wondering if they were planning to rent it again or put it up for sale; now my query has an answer. Anyway, they've listed at nearly $50k higher than we are. Theirs is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house, about 500 square feet bigger than ours. Our realtor says we're aiming for a totally different market than they are; since we're priced so much lower we'll get young up-and-coming couples kinda like we were at the time we bought the house. Such couples can afford our price but likely not the higher one. And in other, even better MLS news, the house that was on the market at a similar price to ours went under contract yesterday, so it's in the option period right now. I think it was only on the market for about a month, so that's hopefully good news for us. On the other hand....we're really gonna have to get a move on looking for the next place once we get back from Austin if the house is likely to sell that quickly. [EDIT: It was on the market for 17 days.] I'll post the MLS link under a friendslock whenever it becomes available. Hopefully that will be before we get on the road for Austin. Our realtor should be by with our lockbox and yard sign in the next half hour or so. And now I should get back to cleaning up minor clutter and getting us packed, and we'll start lunch shortly. [EDIT: We have a yard sign and keybox now. Still waiting on the MLS listing, though] Current Mood: excited Tags: house

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May 21st, 2009

10:17 pm - Corwin pic of the day To tide you over 'til I can get around to posting pictures of the house, I bring you the cute Corwin pic of the day: ( He's reading 'How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?' ) Current Mood: drained Tags: corwin, corwin pictures

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03:17 pm - Busy day I finally have a few minutes to sit down and breathe today. This morning I dropped off Corwin for his last day of Mother's Day Out at 9:00 and headed straight to the car dealership for an oil change on my car (both in preparation for heading to Austin tomorrow and because it's the last chance I'll have to do so without having to drag Corwin along until next September). After the oil change and new windshield wiper blades I headed home to meet our realtor, who was already in the house working with the photographer getting pictures taken for our listing. Finishing up the pictures and the paperwork for the listing took until noon, at which point I gobbled some lunch and then headed off to the university to pay for my parking for the summer. This involved a stop at the Galleria to get my parking permit and card from Andrew since I drive his car to work on the weekends and forgot to get my stuff out last night. So I paid for my parking and stopped to chat with my former boss for about 10 minutes or so (as neither my current boss nor the library director were in their offices at the time I was there) and then headed back home to pick up Corwin. We hung out in his classroom for a few extra minutes because the kids were eating cookies that someone's mom had brought and taking pictures with the teachers (in all my busy-ness I totally forgot my camera, so I'm hoping Morgan's mom will remember to email me the picture she took on her camera). Then home and got Corwin in bed for his nap and now I am finally sitting still. Corwin is still carrying on up in his bed though, so maybe he's not going to take a nap today. *sigh* I'm feeling more sadness than I think I should about Corwin's last day of Mother's Day Out. I think it largely has to do with the fact that he has been enjoying it so much, and also that he's not likely to see his teachers again (unless we are still here in the fall, which I hope we aren't). And he doesn't seem to understand what "last day" means enough to be sad about it himself. I think he's going to miss a couple of the kids from his class, too, but I'm hoping maybe we'll be able to get together with them for some playdates or something this summer, which should help. I'll also miss having the time to myself, but I don't think that's at the root of how I'm feeling. It's almost like I'm feeling what I think Corwin should be feeling if he understood what was happening. Whee for being a parent! ;) Current Mood: sad Tags: 1999 honda civic lx, corwin, house, mother's day out

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