Checking Out The House!

I have been writing lists like a mad man and thinking about today nonstop for the last week.
Today is the day that I got my grubby, little paws back into our new house. 

Today was the day of the inspections. 

Our Realtor said we didn't need to be there for it. It was pretty obvious that he didn't want us in the inspector's hair. I can understand that but it was going to take a lot more than a subtle hint to keep me away from my chance to measure, photograph, map out where the couch goes, imagine all the new closet systems, etc.

Cora and I headed up to the house and I was determined for it to be an amazing day. So, of course we started it with a little music and dancing. I changed around the radio stations until I found something that would get my jazz hands working (while holding very steadily onto the steering wheel). I found it in an old Strokes song. All it took for Cora was me to say, "DANCE, DANCE, DANCE" and her arms were flailing like wild. It was the kind of stuff that melts your heart and makes you wish you could pause the moment forever.

Since the DNC is being held in Charlotte right now we saw lots of blue lights flashing all over the place. This led to another highlight of the trip. We saw about 6 cop cars driving down the interstate. Most of them were police car/ horse trailers that had attached blue lights flashing and "Police" written on the side of the vehicle. For some reason it made me smile a lot thinking about these fancy horses being driven around in their fancy rides. I have told a few people about it and no one seems to think it is exciting as I do. Oh well! We were living in the moment and loving it.

Getting back into the house was very exciting but somehow the rose-colored glasses had changed their tint a little bit. There were now roach traps and spider webs everywhere I looked. This was all understandable and not a problem but it is just funny how those things did not seem to exist the first time we saw the house.

Here is Cora's first impression of the house. She went running in and was ready to explore.

The terminator came today. (I always forget what exterminators are called and convince myself they are called terminators).

Sassy Arnold photo from here.

Boo! They found termites. 

They also found a snake nesting under the house. Not sure if it was a Black Snake, a Water Moccasin or a Copperhead. Let's cross our fingers for the 80s hair metal band, White Snake's alter ego, Black Snake.

The inspector was there too. He was a very friendly guy. I can't imagine that I could possibly get in his hair. He seemed to be very happy to have people around. He did mention something about the chimney falling off. Well, he may not have used those words but he was not too fond of the chimney's tilting ability.

So, we shall see. It may not be the perfect house after all but I did thoroughly enjoy my time taking photos and crossing things off my list.

For the love of listing I will tell you some of the things I did while we were there:

• Measured everything (cabinet heights, bar height, counter sizes, room sizes).
• Took lots of photos.
• Tried to visualize where furniture would go.
• Kept Cora entertained. Luckily my mother-in-law came by to check out the house and do the Cora entertaining.
• Tried to find a place that we could keep our bikes.
• Tried to convince myself that we could make due with about 1/4 of our current storage space.
• Tried to decide what color the walls should be.
• Talked to our awesome Realtor, Chip, about his recent trip to Costa Rica and about his super awesome wife, Lauren, and their baby who is on the way!
• More visualization (can we raise the kitchen ceilings, can we work with existing cabinets, can we eventually redo the bathrooms to make them more functional).

The highlight of the visit to the house was the three adorable ducks that came to check us out. They were very friendly. I think they wanted to make sure they would like the new tenants at their house. Luckily, I think we passed the test. They definitely seemed interested in us and Cora was fascinated with them. After all her first real word was "duck."

Look how cute these ducks are. All three of them are completely different colors. I know there is a chance that if we move in here we will say, "mannnnn, these ducks stink. Come on now ducks- enough with all the duck poop."

Here is a photo of Cora and her grandma, "Boo" checking out the ducks.

After all of the excitement of tape measures, ducks and snakes we headed back to Boo's house so Cora could take a nap. TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT! Cora was not interested in nap. Another example of what I have been talking about here and here about Cora definitely not being the world's best sleeper. Cora had no interest in taking a nap. Every time I tried to put her in the crib she would scream like there was a herd of ducks attacking her.

Luckily, Boo is very patient and snuggily and let Cora take an hour and a half nap on her lap. I looked at the monitor and this is what I saw:

It was a sweet, little moment. Sorry it is so blurry.

The End Of My Day!