Monday, June 12, 2006

Hausfrau's Week in Review


Hausfrau Haus has experienced a flurry of activity of late. Much of my week was spent keeping the house clean and participating in playdates with the girls. Another huge block of time was spent occupying Peaches. The girl LOVES to climb. She is using every possible piece of furniture or large toy as a climbing device. Where does she think she's going? She climbs the book shelf in the kitchen.
She climbs up the entertainment armoire. She climbs on the ottoman and onto the window sills in the living room. She climbed onto the toilet and ALMOST made it into the sink. The worst was when she climbed on the handle of the warming drawer on the oven and started running her hands all over the glass top of our stove WHILE I WAS COOKING. For some reason, I had done my cooking that night on the back burners, which I never do. Thank God I did. We have since removed the handle. We are so out of our league with her, it isn't even funny. We never had to watch Baby Girl like we do Peaches. All of the other moms I know keep telling me that she is really our little boy. Maybe I'll change her name to Vinnie.

On Friday, my best friend, June came to visit with her 3 1/2 year old son. This is probably the last time we will get to see each other before our respective moves, so we took full advantage of the visit by eating, drinking, playing with the kids, laying on the couch and watching television. That's what we do. And we like it.

We did take the kids to see this castle. While it was certainly, um, interesting, it would have been better had it not been raining. The grounds were neat and we were hoping the kids could run around them. Instead, we walked into the castle and was greeted with a thick cloud of cigarette smoke, courtesy of the money taker. The castle was quite impressive in that it had been hand built by a man over the span of 52 years. But I wouldn't live there. Nor would I have a medieval wedding there.

We didn't do as much girl-talk as we usually do, but we did discuss our worst dates ever. I am confident that I was victorious. June merely had a date in which she had a pimple on her neck and she hid it with a flesh colored Band-aid and a mock turtleneck. Pah! Mine was worse--much worse. I was a sophomore in college and got asked out by one of THE most popular guys from my high school during summer break. I guess after a year away at college, dork girls from high school change from being dorks to being mysterious, or perhaps just interesting. At any rate, I was quite excited about my date. We went to the restaurant where all teenagers went in 1988 for a fun night out, "The Hacienda." We both remembered seeing a guy peering into the large front window of the restaurant, but thought nothing of it. We also thought nothing of it when we were seated in front of said window. But then out of nowhere, we looked over to see him staring at us. And he was doing something that should only be done in the private of one's bedroom And then someone called the cops and they hauled him away. With his pants around his ankles. After that, the date just died. I mean, really. What can someone do or say to improve a date after that?! It's pretty much impossible to recover from something as traumatic as that and expect to actually form a relationship. That is why I did not marry this now-successful doctor and have beautiful Irish-Korean babies. The End.

Other than that, we have spent the past 18 hours "negotiating" an offer we received on our house. Neither Herr nor I get a thrill from negotiating. We are very much "give us your best price" kind of people. We go directly to a business manager when we buy a car because we want no part of the "dance" that car sales people do to nickel and dime someone. We are the same way when we buy a house. We don't believe in giving multiple counter offers. One is enough for us. The people presently considering buying our house keep making stupid offers that are more offensive by the minute AND they keep throwing things in like they want our refrigerator (but don't want to pay for it) when it was clear that we were taking it with us. We gave our bottom line, but our Realtor keeps coming back with little stuff. We told him 30 minutes ago that we are done. They can shit or get off the pot. We are perfectly willing to walk away. We have the luxury of having a buyout clause if it doesn't sell by the end of August. While the buyout clause is pretty low, we're glad to have it. And we'll take our refrigerator with us.
So there.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Imagine that pose yer daugher is holding in that bottom photo. Now, think of it when she's 13...

I will pray for you.

c said...

Hold on...you went to high school in Michigan City? Did you know someone named Kristina Elwood? (There may be more than one high school in MC, so forgive my ignorance if there is.)

Melissa said...

Nata was...well is the same way as Peaches. She climbs everything. I can't wait until she outgrows it. When she was around 1 and not yet walking, I came into the kitchen once and found her on the cabnets. Still unsure how she got there.

I hate the counter offer thing. And bidding wars. Don't know if that happens where you are or not. I hope someone buys your house for what you want to sell it for.

Pinterest Failures said...

I actually went to LaPorte High School. Michigan City was the next town over where we all hung out as the only thing to do in LaPorte was to "cruise." Now that cruising has been outlawed, I have no idea what kids in LaPorte do. I think there were 2 or 3 high schools in Michigan City--Rogers and Marquette (Catholic)--Maybe Elston was a high school there too.

kimmyk said...

Oh she don't look happy at all Miss Baby Girl.

She looks pretty though...tell her the nice lady on the internet thinks she looks like Belle.

Anonymous said...

That's the new princess dress isn't it? What is that, #3???


Very nice tho...

Pinterest Failures said...

Yes--this is Baby Girl's NEW princess dress, courtesy of her "Fairy Godmother Miss Erin." She wears it every.single.day.

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah said...

I ALWAYS cook on the back burners. Even though I have my kitchen gated off, they seem to get in a lot. I don't trust their little monkey arms. Mine are climbing on everything too. I think they are trying to drive me crazy.

Andie D. said...

Yeah, I can see how you won the "worst date ever" contest. Hoo boy!

My worst date was a blind double date where the boy DIDN'T EVEN SHOW UP.

My girlfriend and I ended up at yet another frat party. Par. Tay.

L. said...

The sad truth is, there are guys out there telling their "worst date ever" stories about me, involving alcohol and....um....vomit. Sorry -- waaaaay too much information!

And that expression on her face is priceless.

Kristen said...

Ugh, negotiating real estate is horrible. When we were buying our house, the refrigerator was in the original contract (unlike in your case), but then at the last minute the sellers took it, then claimed it was never in the contract, then when we faxed them the original contract to prove it, they accused us of forging and doctoring a legal document!!! For a refrigerator? I don't think so. They ended up keeping the fridge but bringing some money to closing to cover the cost. Argh. We almost lost the whole house deal over that refrigerator.

I hate real estate.

OTRgirl said...

Nit-picky buyers are the worst! I want to take my fridge, too, but neither my realtor or my husband think we should. Plus we have to move into an apartment, so I know it's a bad idea. But, sigh, going back to the freezer on top will be sad...

However, having just been in Ireland where a dorm-size fridge under the counter is the NORM, I will be grateful for whatever I get.

And how did I never go to that castle? Was it completed in the last 10 years?

Pinterest Failures said...

OTR--I feel your pain! I, too would want to take a fridge with you. If you're lucky, the apartment you move into might not HAVE a refrigerator. That's what happened to us when my husband was going to grad school in Pittsburgh and we started to hunt for apartments.

I think the Loveland Castle has been done for years. I think the guy died in the 80's. It's right off of Fields Ertl Road down some windy and scary roads. We renamed it the Scooby Doo Castle. It came complete with a dungeon/torture chamber. It scared the children, of course.

the stefanie formerly known as stefanierj said...

God that pose of BG's is too cute.

Sorry about the house negotiations. It sucks mega. We gave a fair but low-ish offer, the owners came back $2k up from that and we said DEAL!! It's only now I realize how lucky we were. Sheesh.

Hope you get some rest.

The June Cleaver Diaries said...

Okay--- the zit was actually a 3 in 1 deal, and the mock turtleneck was in the wash, so I went out with a huge bandaid in the kiddle of my neck, assuming it blended in with my skin. Duh.

How about this--- I was set up with a guy who spent the evening acting like a total JACKASS to me, and by the time I got home, I was in tears. Fast forward 2 years, and he waved to me from a float in the Gay Pride parade, an assless chaps.

Tell the buyers where to go, DA. I hate when buyers treat you like they're doing you a huge favor by buying your house. You're far from desperate, and you have other alternatives. Cut them loose.

BabyonBored said...

I don't know about the bad date. That sounds like a good date to me. Automatically something to talk about. Except for the messy window part. That might've been gross. But still...most dates are just dinner and a movie and goodnight. YOu had much much more.

Jennifer said...

Oh, Misfit, you can be my wise sage! We are about to accept a job offer, and though we will only move from MA to CT, this will still be MAJOR disruption in ths kids' lives. Kyra is about to be 5 and Lucas turns 2 next week. Any advice??? We need to either rent there, or sell and buy very, very, very quickly. Eek....lots of deep breathing will be happening over the next few weeks....

Anonymous said...

Hmm... 37, LaPorte High School. Were you class of '87 or '88? I'm an LPHS grad class of '88.

Just stumbled onto your blog digging for LaPorte on Google :)