Tired

N has started one of the cutest little bits of drama. When she sees Dani or me tired, she throws herself on the ground, tosses her arms as wide out as she can and says, "I'm tired."

This was partially due to me just wanting to take a nap on a Sunday afternoon while N wanted to play with me--but it has flared up recently as a result of all the house-work we've been doing. Since last week, here's what my family has done (in chronological order, major thanks to my parents and sister for their help on Saturday):

1. Scrubbed down the entire house
2. Bought two doors to replace existing exterior doors
3. Painted several areas of the house
4. Tore out all the wood panel on the second floor
5. Tore out some parts of the second floor that were mold-farms
6. Tore out the bar
7. Broke the sledge hammer we used to tear this stuff out
8. Studied for and took a 300-level math final
9. Did about two weeks worth of programming at work
10. Had the carpets replaced
11. Emptied our storage unit
12. Moved
13. Went out for birthday dinner at Bombay house with my parents
14. Had the utilities put in our name
15. Cleaned the kitchen
16. Loaded up all the debris from the second floor and hauled it to the dump
17. Helped move Hillary out of her apartment and stored some of her stuff in our garage
18. Cleaned again (still trying to get rid of all the dog hair)
19. Chiseled concrete down by about 1/8th an inch (2/8ths left to go before the door will fit)
20. Started changing the locks
21. Had the plumbing fixed in the laundry room
22. Had the previous owner finally pick up the last of their stuff
23. Returned one of the replacement doors because we found out that we'd need a custom-order one
24. Unpacked nearly all of the kitchen boxes
25. Reassembled furniture
26. unpacked some books
27. Cleaned some more
28. Went to church
29. Unpacked the girls' rooms
30. Found all of our bathroom essentials
31. Had a crown replaced on one of Dani's teeth
32. Finished a project at work (that I really started on about April 14th)

Today, I'll hook up stuff in the laundry room, finish tearing out the concrete, hang another door, and tear out the carpet on the second level, and Dani will be unpacking and organizing. In all honesty, she probably has it rougher than I do--because she's been working at all this while taking care of two kids! What a woman!

In the words of N, "I'm tired!"

Closed!

We closed on the house yesterday! Dani and I are now homeowners! Feel free to congratulate us in the comments, if you're so inclined.

We went into the bank at 3:00. The title agent ran a little late due to a discrepancy between two of our documents (the approval letter for the short-sale said they'd paid 3500, when the contract specified they would pay 4500--we knew about this and had budgeted for 3500). Once we told him that we were fine with the 3500, things got rolling. I felt so bad for a girl named Teresa at the bank. She was responsible for a single crucial document, and three people were closing at the same time. We sat in the room waiting for her to finally get to ours for about 20 minutes.

Anyway, money changed hands, papers were signed, and Dani and I signed a certain percentage of our income over to the bank for the next thirty years. After we had closed, we went over to the house. The previous owner has still not finished moving out, and we understood this. Dani and I went over there with several grocery bags to comb the back yard. We filled three of them with dog crap.

N was happy as a clam running around the back yard. V enjoyed the sun, and Dani and I made plans for today. We also were pleasantly surprised to find out that we have a pear tree, a yellow apple tree, a red apple tree, an apricot, and seven plum trees. Well, the plum trees, according to the neighbor, had always produced sporadically, and were always messy. So, today, I rented a chainsaw from home depot and took out five of them (each 20+ ft tall). I'm covered in scrapes and stuff right now, and very very tired. Anyway, we cleared them out to make room for a proper garden and play ground equipment. Tuesday we'll be renting a wood-shredder and convert all the small limbs and things into mulch for the play-ground area.

So, we're already hard at work on home improvements, and we're hoping to move in on Thursday.

Wee Vee Cheerleader

As most dads know, babies are great toys. In my case, I use a very high voice and speak for them while making them dance.

Well, I was making Vi dance just now, and started her off into a cheer:

"Mommy, mommy! She's our gal! If she can't do it. . ." and I stopped struggling to find a word that rhymed with gal

"Daddy will!" -Dani

Gaseous Girlie

I have to put this down somewhere--the annuls of history simply would not be complete without mentioning this.

V is a baby, and she has gas. Typically, with strictly breast-fed babies, their gas and their poo doesn't really smell that bad. We were not so lucky with V. That little 12-pounder can clear a room. It's really foul.

The reason I mention this, is because on Sunday she was particularly bad. Dani was holding her, and she was letting out some flatulence. Well, the last one she let out practically shook the walls. I did not think it was humanly possible to produce that much sound with that small of a bottom. Dani and I looked at each other and both felt a little uncomfortable. When the smell disseminated into the air, we had to change rooms.

Goodness--I swear this girl could've beat out her uncles when they were teenagers.

Engrish

if you've never been to engrish.com, you should check it out.

Here's another great joke/conversation that I found:

haha
sheep--> my mom got this knife at some asian store
sheep--> I was gonna use it to make myself some food
sheep--> but instead, I'm gonna frame it and keep it for ever in the wrapper
tick> ?
sheep--> it says on it "Warning: keep out of children"
tick> lol

To follow up on that, check out this awesome bit from engrish:

This is the Abraham/Isaac edition

Paperworking

As far as we can tell, all the paperwork is in for the house, and we'll be closing sometime this week.

Dani and I are so very very excited. In an effort to get ready for this monumental event, I'm trying to finish off all my homework for the rest this semester. Luckily, that amounts to about 6 assignments. If I can crank out two per day, then I'll be in good shape. Boy, I'm so ready for the semester to be over.