Extreme Home Makeover: Meurer Edition

When Brett first bought our home in Novemeber 2006, he was convinced we'd be here for "Two, maybe three years-tops...." The plan was to make a decent profit, and use that profit to buy a much nicer single family home. Given the state of the economy, however, it seems we are going to be stuck here quite a bit longer. Our community was never finished and our builder left 8 or 9 brand new townhomes when he foreclosed. The bad news for us: if we sell now, which we'd love to, we will probably take about a $40,000 -$50,000 bath. Obviously, we are not interested in doing that, so we are staying put for now.

Since we're stuck here longer than anticipated, we need to do something drastic to "make it work" around here. Our storage is extremely limited, and we are trying to keep Little B's toys separate from our "adult space"- which is not proving to be successful the way were are set up now. So, now that the tax return is in, its time to begin the makeover. Item #1 is moving everything out of our basement to create a playroom of sorts for the little man. I met with a builder yesterday who will be installing a full wall of custom built-in storage for us in the basement. This will hopefully alleviate the 'toys eating our house' issue of late. The problem being, there is so much more to do and it is unfortunately NOT cheap! Our "to do" list for now remains:

-Get new carpeting or get carpets professionally cleaned (I'm pulling for new!)

-Get new curtain rod and curtains for over patio door

-Windows washed

-Finish buying and hanging shelves in hallways to accomodate our thousands of framed pictures

We look forward to gradually checking things off our list (and hopefully not adding many more!).

Vacation Schmacation

As we are winding down our week long extravaganza, I am getting very sad to end our time together (it's been much needed), but also excited to get Braden back into a routine.

We have accomplished so many things on this trip, and I am absolutely amazed at how much Braden has changed since we left home. Yes, in a mere week he has started clapping, waving, pulling himself up onto furniture and eating table food. It actually makes me wonder how much he is changing while I'm at work. I guess I'll have to avoid going there--ignorance is bliss, right?!

We have had an amazingly fun trip so far. We started out with two busy days in San Antonio. Braden met all three of his great grandparents on Brett's side, as well as several great aunts and uncles and some distant cousins. As usual, he was a huge hit, and I got pretty emotional leaving knowing that this might be the only time he meets some of them. We left planning to come back as soon as timing will allow.

We then made our way to San Diego. Monday marked a LONG day of traveling for all three of us, as a rainstorm in Dallas kept us delayed for almost 5 hours longer than expected. Thank goodness our little man was on his best behavior-smiling during our entire layover and sleeping on both of our flights. I definitely was anticipating a nightmare when I found out about the delay and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

Monday was pretty much shot in the airport, so Tuesday marked our first real day in "sunny" San Diego. Sunny? I guess. Warm? Absolutely NOT! It was windy and cool and according to the locals "this NEVER happens!"I think it was actually warmer in Chicago that day! But we made the best of it with a trip to Coronado Island which was gorgeous, and a trip to the local aquarium and a visit to La Jolla (which, for the record, is amazingly gorgeous). Since Braden's internal clock was telling him that bedtime was at 4:30pm here, we had "dinner" at about 4pm. It made for a very cheap meal considering we went with drinks and appetizers at happy hour, and they were half off before 5! Thanks, little man!

Yesterday was busy, but fantastic. We got up early and left before 8am to head to Anaheim. We drove about 2 hours through some of the most gorgeous scenery I've ever seen to eventually reach our final destination--Disneyland! We figured we were so close that it would be an injustice to NOT take Braden to the "happiest place on earth." I have not gone to Disney since I was around 14, but we had a wonderful time! Disney with your own child is just a whole new experience.

Watching Braden's eyes light up and jaw drop open in amazement was worth every penny we spent there. We got to have breakfast with all of the characters and then walked around the park riding all the "baby friendly" rides we could find. Braden fell asleep on the darker, quieter ones and squealed with delight at the rest. It was an extraordinary experience and I am so glad we decided to go.

On our way back to San Diego we drove through Laguna Beach and Irvine to take in the sights. Again, the views were out of this world! We wish we could uproot our lives in Chicago and take all of our friends and family here! Waking up to this scenery could never get old!

Finally, we made our way to "The Hat", a restaurant like a Portillos for Californians, to meet our friends Chris and Cat for dinner. Great food and great company made for a great end to our night.

Today will be a visit to the zoo and possibly a dip in the pool. We'll see! I'll update again soon!