Knock on Wood. Also, We Are Crazy.
Have you noticed that we parents tend to be a superstitious lot? I find that I’m constantly trying to avoiding jinxing a good thing. Maddie’s napped well one day? She’s slept through the night so many nights in a row that I can’t even count them? She’s a genuinely good baby? She’s at ease around strangers and in new places? She’s a good eater? These are things I cannot say out loud. Hell, I’m afraid to even think them.
I know I’m not the only parent who feels this way. I know this because I read your blogs. Duh. The question is, why do we feel this way? Do we honestly believe that calling attention to a good thing will automatically ruin it? Are the fates blind but always listening for bragging or pride? Will they smite us in an angry storm of tantrums and sleep troubles? Am I going to ever test them? Hell no.
And now for the craziness. Gerald and I are considering adding on to our house. We had it built back in 2004 and we outgrew it FAST. We bought a smaller home because we wanted a 15 year mortgage. We now have somewhere between $15 and $20k in equity, but no room to spit. Not that we spit. At least, not in the house. Because there’s no room, for one thing.
We’ve talked about moving to Capital City to be closer to his family, but it doesn’t seem like the right time for a big move. We’ve also talked about moving closer to the Big City where Gerald works to cut down some of his 45 minute commute and our gas bill. But, what if an opportunity to move to Capital City comes up and we’ve just moved into a new house?? What if we can’t sell our current house in this shitty market? More importantly, how to I keep a house in showing condition with two very large dogs and a soon-to-be toddler? Do you know how much vacuuming that would take???
So, today I started thinking about an addition onto our current place. Nothing too fancy, just basically pushing the back wall of the house out about 23 feet. We’re thinking of adding another bedroom, a family room and adding onto our bedroom. Maybe upgrading our bathroom to a swanky bathroom with a big stand-up shower with a seat in it. And one of those giant tubs that you can soak in forever. With wine. And candles. I think I’m stuck in a Kohler commercial.
Have any of you done this? The addition thing? Is it hell? Ok, I know it will be hell. But is it worth it?
P. S. I lost two pounds this last week. That’s a total of 11 for the first month of WW. Woot!
Filed under: daily on September 20th, 2007
Ok…you must be reading my mind because my hubby and I are talking about adding a second story to our house (no room to go out, only up). I’m interested to see what everyone else says on the subject.
Did you see Swistle’s comment? Scared the bejesus outta me. But, I think I’m going to get a couple bids and go from there. If it turns out to be too expensive, either we’ll suck it up and stay or move.
We’ve never done anything major to our house. If we were forced to stay here longer, we would have to make more room somehow. I don’t see that happening. Right now we’re talking about building a bigger house in the future. Good luck. The idea sounds nice.
I’ve never done anything major, either. This is the first house either one of us has owned. I’m scared, but people do this stuff all the time, right? It’s not like we’ll be the first people EVER to do this. *deep calming breaths*
The “no room to spit” cycle was so funny!
My mom’s friend put a two-floor one-room extension onto their house (is that clear? it’s a two-floor house and they extended both floors by one room. each.), and the extension cost more than the entire value of their house. But that varies by area.
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Firstly, congrats on the weight loss! I’ve been there, sister, and that’s a great thing! I’ve never added on to my house (I can’t, damn townhouse association) and like you am finding myself short on room. I hear the key to adding on is to make sure you just don’t become the queen house on the block. I like the swanky bathroom idea. If you’d like, I have an awesome tub in my wishlist from my profile. You should check it out. If you get one, I’ll bring the VODKA (also on the wishlist). Good luck!
I have a feeling that I will be needing a very lot of vodka if we decide to do this.
I’m going over to check out your dream tub now…
Ugg and ACK on the house crap. We have the same dilemma. We’ve looked at new houses but what if we decide to get the hell out of Texas? THEN WHAT? I don’t think the market here is as bad as the rest of they country though, so there’s that. Selling probably wouldn’t be that bad.
Now, Capital City, although it is AWESOME, that’s where you’ll pay through the nose. Bah.
But it’s awesome, Tessie. Way better than crappy ol’ Dallas.
Gerald doesn’t think the market slump hit here very badly, either. Who knows? Maybe the bids will be too expensive and we’ll just move. I’ve been saying I’m going to get the hell out of Texas every summer for 11 years. I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. I think Texas is like the Bermuda Triangle.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who won’t verbalize things for fear of tempting the fates. I don’t even think I believe in them, but I’m not taking that chance either. As for the house - when we outgrew our last house (4 people, 880 sq ft) I decided the trouble of expanding wasn’t worth it and moved even further away from work. Best of luck to you and congrats on the weight loss!
The funny thing is that I don’t believe in them, either. But I sure as hell act like I do!
First off - congrats on the loss!
As far as our house - we couldn’t possibly keep ours clean to sell (or get everything fixed to sell thanks to the dog) but we will need more space in the future. Our options will be to just deal with it, put on an addition, or burn the whole thing to the ground. The addition sounds like the best option (except if we burn it we could make s’mores . . .) so if you decide to go that route I’ll definitely be checking in to see how it goes
Burning it to the ground….. that seems easier and cheaper than adding on or moving. But won’t the insurance company be suspicious if they happen to stumble across my blog?
As someone who’s house is on the market despite 2 furry cats and 1 toddler, you made the right decision NOT TO MOVE if you don’t have to. Ugh. It is shear hell, all of it.
I’ve never remodeled a house personally, but good luck.
And I don’t know why we try not to jinx ourselves with our parenting brags; I think it has to do more with our own words smacking us in the face later and embarrassing the crap out of us (or just pissing us off) rather than any superstition. For me this is the case, at least.
OMG, I just read Swistle’s comment and I think I just vomited a little bit. Good grief! We’ve definitely got some thinking to do now.
I am afraid to THINK things. Even if I think them, whoops, they become undone. I’m knocking on wood all day, people must think I’m insane.