Oh Mexico

It sounds so sweet with the sun sinking low
Moon’s so bright like to light up the night
Make everything all right.

Sweet baby James, you said it.

I am supposed to be in Mexico right now. We were scheduled to leave for Cozumel yesterday morning.. This morning I should be getting ready for our first dive of the trip. But no. It’s 7am and I am lying in bed while Matthew gives the dog a bath. She is getting her picture taken this afternoon and she must look beautiful.

We were both up at 5am this morning. Couldn’t sleep. The night before, I went to bed at 11:30 and was up again by 2am. I think I slept for about 2 more hours between 5 and 7. What’s causing all this insomnia, you ask?

Buying a house.

When we found out we were pregnant, we decided that we should live in a subdivision so there are other children around and a safe environment. When we found out we weren’t pregnant anymore, we called and told them we were no longer interested. Well, as you know, the real estate market is quickly going to hell and this builder was not about to lose a sale. So they kept calling us and offering us more deals. We thought about it and realized we do still want to get out of this condo, so why not? We found a house that has everything we want – including a 30 foot deep garage with a 10 foot ceiling to accommodate the boat. And get this – the house is almost EXACTLY like our house in Georgia. How strange. There are subtle differences, it’s bigger and costs about $60,000 more,
but basically it’s the same.

When we left Georgia, it broke our hearts to leave that house and we kept saying “If only we could pick our house up and move it up here.”

One big thing that is holding me back is the location. I don’t want to leave the Ft. Wright/Ft. Mitchell area. Right now we are about 5 minutes from downtown. We go downtown, like never. But still, we are only 5 minutes away. This is an old area, and I love old. Old neighbourhoods with mature trees. I grew up here. 2 streets over from where I live right now! This new house is in Walton, which is about 10 miles south of here. So that’s at least 15-20 minutes from downtown. The good thing about it is, it is right off the expressway. Less than one minute.

The subdivision is called Steeplechase and it is right across the street from Triple Crown Country Club (where Matthew’s parents work). Funny – our house in Georgia was right down the street from Eagles Landing Country Club. More similarities.

Most subdivisions in that area are 10-15 minutes from the expressway, which makes the commute to the downtown we never go to, even longer. This way, we are right by the expressway, so most places are within a 10-15 minute drive. I realize we are spoiled now with where we live and as much as I would like to stay in this area, we simply can’t afford a house like we want here. It would be at least $100,000 more for the location.

The street on which we have picked out our lot is in the front of the subdivision on a cul-de-sac. There are no houses behind us, only the pool. Which can have it’s drawbacks (noise) – and advantages (convenience). All of the houses on our street have been there for a few years so they have more trees than the back of the subdivision. (ours is the last lot on the street, so I’m sure the neighbours are going to love all the upcoming construction)

Here is a picture of our lot from the street. That big tree will probably come down. That’s a shame, but it’s kind of an ugly tree.



Fast forward – it’s now 8pm Sunday night. It’s done. We bought the house. Bijoux went with us to check out the lot and help us sign all the papers.




The lady that works in the model is a total ditz. I don’t know if it’s drugs or too much bleach in her hair, but damn. She’s just vacant. They – well actually SHE - ended up giving us almost $30,000 off the price of the house. Now if they come back and say that’s too much, then the whole deal is off. That’s the one thing about this builder, they nickel and dime you for every little thing. Which I complained about and got all these upgrades for free. So we’ll see if this is actually going to go through. The builder is probably going to have a heart attack when he sees what we have done. We have moved walls and doors and extended walls. Moved windows. It’s not the same house it started as, but it still looks like our house in Georgia. If everything goes smoothly, it will be finished in April.

We had White Castles for lunch and I have been tasting onions all day. Just thought I’d share that lovely thought with you.

Anyway, we were supposed to meet this chick at 11am. I told her we had an appointment at 1pm to get our pictures taken with Bijoux at the mall. We got there early and drove around the ‘hood and took these pictures. We took this one from the pool. The back of our house will overlook the pool and sand volleyball court. Oh…there is a tanning bed in the fitness room. Free cancer! How cool.



By 11:20, she still wasn’t there. I called her cell phone and it sounded like I woke her up. She said, “I’ll be there in 10 minutes”. Now we have just over an hour before we have to leave for the mall. It shouldn’t take that long to write a contract, but you have to remember who we are dealing with. In the middle of filling all this out, she actually stopped to take a ciggie break!! Matthew went and got her and said, “Yo dude, we have to hurry this up.” I hate rushing through things, but that’s what we did. So now I am even more afraid that she has screwed something up.

We ended up being 10 minutes late for our picture appointment. But it didn’t take long. There were so many good pictures of Bijoux, but in most of them, Matthew and I look horrible. So I chose the best one of us, even though there were cuter ones of Bijoux.

This afternoon we went to a special mass at the Cathedral in Covington to celebrate Matthew’s parents 50th anniversary. Yes I was in a church and it didn’t fall down. Imagine that.

That’s it. That was our day. I’m still scared about the house, but excited at the same time. So many decisions to make. Cabinets, countertops, floors. Fun stuff. We have to buy a couple ceiling fans and of course furniture. But the furniture will have to come slowly. Piece by piece. The only major appliance we have to buy is a washer and dryer. That will actually be the first thing we buy.

Matthew is convinced that my mother is going to live with us. I doubt she will go for it and I don’t know if I could stand it. The only good part about it is the rent she would pay. We are not having them build a deck on the house because we can build a nicer one for less money. Her rent money would help pay for that. But I don’t know if I can stand it. If she doesn’t live with us though, I don’t know what will happen to her. We won’t be able to go over there all the time and do her laundry and make sure she eats. Things will be tough for her. She has to realize that. And so do I , I guess.

That’s all for now. Oh…by the way. Today is the first day I have not had terrible cramps. I’m hoping it is going to start getting better.

OH one more thing! I have been obsessing over my weight. The scale tells me I am 10 pounds heavier than I was before I got pregnant. But today, for some reason, I decided to try to wear my size 10 brown pants. They fit! Tighter than before….but they fit! Thank god for spandex! It’s probably going to take me a little while to lose the weight, but if I can still wear my clothes it will make me feel better about it. And the fact that they are a bit tight is incentive to lose more.