"Bama is a Scoundrel" or "My Incredible Rage"

Words. Cannot. Describe. My rage.


Who was caught red-handed LAYING IN the scene of the crime?

This fool.

Garden Debut

I woke up at 7:00 this morning and spent the first three hours of my day in the garden! Yesterday, it was all I could do to get the giant dandelion weeds and crabgrass out of the raised bed. I quickly found out that gardening can be quite a workout under the right conditions. So, I took a break...for almost 24 hours.

This morning I got to work on the fun part - the planting. We are now the proud owners of our very own vegetable garden that will hopefully produce Roma tomatoes, bell peppers, green beans and Sugar Baby watermelons. If I had room for more, I would plant zucchini and yellow summer squash, but they require so much ground space and I can't spare it this year. Let's just hope that what I did plant stays healthy and actually produces fruit!

I have a feeling this first garden is going to teach me a lot. I look at the little mounds for the watermelon, the rows of beans and the scrawny pepper and tomato plants and hope that they'll just make it through the season. Should I water them right away? I don't know! (I did.) Should I add coffee grounds to the soil? Compost? One website says to mulch. I've never heard of this for vegetables. Do people really mulch bell peppers?

I know just about as much about vegetable gardening as I do about flowers. It's all a guessing game at this point. However, I tried my hand at flower gardening this morning as well. The previous owner of the house had some perfectly healthy pansies planted in the brick planter boxes behind the house on the edge of the patio. And they really were healthy - just terribly far apart. Pansies like to be crowded and there was too much unused space between plants. Besides, I'm not the biggest fan of pansies. The colors don't thrill me. SO... I ripped those suckers out and replaced them with hot pink geraniums, bright white petunias, and leafy Vinca vines. I wanted the look of a pile of flowers - buckets of blooms. And petunias are downright weed-like when given the right conditions. My hope is that these three sun-loving varieties will really take off and perform much better than the cooler weather loving pansies.

We're Home

We've been in our house for one week, one day, six hours and five minutes. I couldn't be happier. With the end of the school year upon me (papers to grade, finals to write, meetings to attend), there has not been a lot of time to unpack, although Matt has managed to get part of the kitchen out of boxes and ready for use.

The first food item made in the house was my homemade guacamole with Hungarian relish for a Happy Hour at Mark and Kristy's. The first meal Matt and I cooked together - breakfast for dinner - ham, olive and mushroom omelets with hash browns. On my own - spaghetti and salad. Okay, so nothing too crazy. We're not unpacked yet. But when we are, watch out! The kitchen definitely makes it to my list of favorites about the house.

Quickly moving toward my absolute, top favorite "room" is the back yard. As I update, it's Friday night. Matt is at a basketball referee camp in Fort Wayne, Indiana and I'm on our new covered patio watching the dogs play with a frisbee made especially for canine teeth - I think it's called a Floppy, but Griffin won't hold still long enough for me to get a good look at it.

I've had the opportunity to mow my first yard this week and I loved it! I have a strange love for vacuuming and mowing was even more fulfilling. There's something very tangible about the accomplishment of these activities. In my world of abstract thinking and student learning every day, I think this is good therapy for me. I welcome the chore and hope it rains a little tonight so I can mow again on Sunday afternoon :-)

We were extremely worried about the two dogs trying to make their way out of the back yard. Bama has a history of digging under fences and Griffin knows how to open sliding doors, unlock latches, and has actually chewed himself out of a nylon harness. Knowing that these fools are escape artists, we prepared a plan to keep them in. Because the easiest way out is under the fence, our intended line of defense involves laying a single layer of construction grade plastic mesh (kind of like a rust-proof chicken wire) flush to the ground and pinning it with construction staples. These are both gifts from my father, as he apparently thought my idea was a good one. The goal is to create a barrier to keep Bama from being able to dig a hole under the fence. Griffin does not care to get out as much as Bama, and would only follow if he saw his friend do it first.

The job has not yet been done. First, we had mesh, but no staples. Then we had both, but it rained. Then we needed to find time to mow before laying the mesh. Now we realize, it has been a week, and Bama is still here. Not one escape even attempted from the looks of things. Maybe this labor intensive precaution will not have to happen? We shall see.

Growing Up

With only a few weeks before we close, we find ourselves jumping through the last few hoops before we call the house ours. Homeowner's insurance is my most recent battle. How do I know what good coverage is? No one else seems to know either - every single person I've asked went with their car insurance company. I have been looking to change my car insurance, so have a world of options. While I have a few in mind, whoever calls me back first will have the best shot. With calls and emails in to a number of agents from various companies on Thursday and Friday, I'm hoping Monday will bring a few returned communications.

The best news we've had so far is that the appraisal went as we'd hoped. Our house does not appear to be in a "declining market" and our mortgage broker doesn't think there is anything to worry about. The moment I give him the name of an insurance agent, our portfolio is off to the underwriter. This is the best news we could have hoped for after all the doom and gloom about appraisals these days.

My next battle will be packing, while still trying to be a worthwhile teaching professional. We've got two weekends in between now and moving weekend. The second of those, I have an out of town commitment on Saturday afternoon and we won't return to Columbia until Sunday afternoon. With a new set of research papers to grade and classes to plan, my head reels with amount of work that needs to happen between now and then. The only things getting me by and keeping me from totally losing it are Matt's complete calm about all of this and my soon to be garden. I tend to be the worrier/planner in our relationship and he tends to get things accomplished quietly and in his own time. While I plan what nights I'll pack and give myself deadlines to take things to the Goodwill store, he just has faith that we'll get it all done in time. I know he's right, but my imagination still tends to get the best of me when I'm grading and feel like I should be packing.

In a flurry of anticipation and procrastination, plus some excitement about our new back yard, I decided we need a lawn mower before our move in date. The yard is beautiful, but we don't know how long the grass will be when we move in. It might be ready for a trim, and as of this morning, we're equipped to provide it! Sears had a sale on all lawn and garden appliances and for small chunk of change we'll be able to pick up both our line trimmer and lawn mower this afternoon. On the checklist of adult benchmarks, we're checking them off pretty rapidly these days.

No Buyer's Remorse

We close on May 14th, 2009!

Of course, this is pending home inspections, appraisals, etc. One final viewing on Monday night reminded us how good we feel about this house. Even though we knew going in that this was the house for us, we took a look at every room, closet, tile, shelf, appliance, the yard... And we want it. So we offered. They countered once, and we accepted! Seller pays closing costs, buys home warranty, leave the fridge - all under the original asking price!

Signed and done. Financing was discussed with the mortgage broker this afternoon. Now on to inspections. Termites and radon this weekend, whole house inspection on Tuesday. Fingers crossed.