Science Fair 2012

Yippee--my favorite time of year, Science Fair. I'm kidding. I actually despise Science Fair and thought we were getting out of it because Bianca had to do History Fair and Debate this year.  But no such luck. The principal decided he wanted all the classes to do it.

This year, Bianca decided to soak pennies and dimes in different types of liquids to see which would rust the coins fastest. It was fine. Definitely not a winner but we knew that going in. Bianca and I both were okay not winning since she's having to go on with History Fair this year and that's already been so much work.

Since she knew she wasn't going to win, Bianca thought she'd go with funny instead. She included a picture of our cat, Jillyboo, because we had to stop the experiment when the cat kept drinking the white wine. What were we supposed to do? Add "cat saliva" to the ingredients? Jillyboo also seemed to take to the vinegar too. Strange cat. Here is Bianca with her "participation" ribbon. Ah, science fair--we have to do it but we don't have to like it.

On a side note, when I walked into Bianca's class on Friday for science fair, a bunch of the boys in her class were sitting at a table and asked me if I was someone else's mom. I told them, "I'm Bianca's mom." One of the boys--one who I happen to know is kind of the class bully--said, "Bianca's...scary." This surprised me a little. Sure Bianca's a little grouchy now and again, but scary? She's the smallest person in the class!

I talked to Bianca about it when she got home. Is that really the way you want to be known? As scary? She assured me that since he's so mean to everyone, she's mean back. I used the old mom adage "Two wrongs don't make a right." I convinced her to apologize to him and start being nice, whether or not he's mean. We'll see how this goes.

Valentine's Day

I love being a little bit nutty about holidays. I especially make sure I have a dress/outfit designated for each holiday for Portia. Here was Portia the day of her Valentine's Party at preschool. It doesn't last long (I know because Bianca won't wear anything I pick out for her anymore).

So Portia's hair is actually a lot longer than it seems (the curls seem to shrink it up) but here are the braid hearts I put in her hair for Valentine's.

It's official...

We're moving. Closing date March 7.

History Fair--District

The district level history fair was Friday. Bianca did her same skit--as a music professor teaching History 101 and a lesson on ragtime music. Bianca talks a little fast (how do you get her to slow down when she's nervous?) but she went away with the first prize in her division (presentation) and is going on to the Regions next month. We're going to work on slowing down, enunciating, and stop playing with her necklace for crying out loud--which is what the judge told her to work on. (The funny thing about this is that these are all things Eric and I had told Bianca not to do when she was rehearsing the night before.) I swear Bianca thinks I don't know what I'm talking about so it's nice to see this confirmed (to her) sometimes. Still, I'm very proud of her hard work. On to another month and a half of rehearsing the same skit.

Bianca and two friends from her class

It's the details I love...

Yesterday I went out to the new house to pick out the roof shingles. In our offer, the bank said they would replace the roof. Part of me is sad to have the wood-shake shingles go, but it needs to be done. I just hope we don't lose an element of the "character" of the house. Oh well, better that than having a fire hazard. How can people put up wooden roofs anyway--I'd be scared to death on the fourth of July.

I fell in love with the house all over again. I realized it's a lot of the details that make me love it so much so I thought I'd include some of them here just so I can convince myself again that all the work of selling my old house, packing up my stuff, is worth it.

I love the English ivy that crawls up the house and up around the arch on the front door. It seems so European. I like the stone on the front of the house as well.

This is door to the coat closet. I love that they used actual antique doors and mantels. I feel like a get a piece of history without having all the problems of a 100-year-old house.

This is the antique mantel in the master bedroom with wood-burning fireplace. I love the smell of a real wood-burning fire but part of me wishes it were actually gas. So much easier to turn off and on. And a lot cleaner.  Eric's not wild about the old tiles but I like them.

This is the door to the master bedroom. It's another antique door, but you can tell it once was an exterior door because it still has the cool postal slot where the mailman would slip the mail inside. I love the old knob and the imperfections of this door as well.

One of the things I love about my mom's old house is the stained glass. This house has two stained-glass windows. This one is on one side of a bedroom (Bianca's I think) and it looks out onto the library.

Finally, a half bath. I've been dying for a half bath for years. Not sure what to do with the wallpaper here though. Should I paint over it, take it down, or keep it? Oh, and how can I hide that awful baseboard radiator? 

Did I mention there's a drinking fountain? For some reason, this is a very popular idea in this area.

Our music room. I love that there are french doors so that I can shut them if we need to. Also, there's finally room for a grand piano if I can ever afford one. I'm thinking of replacing the mushroom light though...

Let's go downstairs now. I love the craftroom. Look at those cabinets and all the storage! Eric hates these florescent lights though. I'm not as biased.

There's another wood-burning fireplace in the basement. The previous owners were even kind enough to leave us some wood in the closet. 

There's this back house. It's about 500 square feet. At first, I immediately thought, "Writing Retreat." I'm not sure now. There's a hot tub in one room and exercise equipment in the other room. Maybe we'll just use it as that for now. Maybe someday it can be my writing retreat though. 

Another thing that reminds me of my mom's house is this wonderful rope swing and I love that there are trees big enough to hold a swing. I already have picked out the two trees in the backyard that are going to hold my hammock. I've wanted one of those since we went to Maine and spent a lazy afternoon in a hammock. Oh, and another thing I love--the stone fence in the background of this picture of Bianca. Not faux stone like they seem to only do now, but big fat stones all stuck together in this one. 

Oh, here's the creek. It's a little snowed over now but the sound of the water is amazing. I'm so excited to give my kids a creek to kick through, the way I used to when I was a kid.

I'll end with this picture. My Aunt Joanie came with us and took all these pictures. But this one I think is my very favorite. I'm walking with my kids down the quiet street in front of the house with the guy from the bank. But look at those mountains next to the house. 

We're under contract

...but I'm still no where ready to list my current house for sale. This is going to be a lot of work.

To Do it or not to do it--That is the question

We're in negotiations about a house.

I love the house. There are so many, many things I love about it--the old tudor style with stone and brick.

the nearly acre lot with huge mature trees and creek running along the back.

The library with spiral staircase. I mean, really, a house with that only comes along so often.

The newly remodeled kitchen isn't too shabby either.

So, why did I wake up afraid that maybe I can still get out of it? The list of things that needs to be done to it is long--new roof, AC put in (it has a swamp cooler now), somehow cover up the ugly baseboard radiators, redo some of the older looking bathrooms, a lot of the closets don't even have doors (Oh but the ones that do are antique and amazing ), tile the ugly linoleum laundry room floor, some of the light fixtures are really pretty bad. So, do we do it? Or would it just be a moneypit and a thorn in my side? Or does the good outweigh the bad?