The New House: Take Two

WARNING:

This post contains disturbing images. I wouldn't recommend reading while eating,

right before eating, or right after eating. Or if you plan on eating ever again. If you have food or beverage items in hand...back away! Seriously.

It's been a rough month, folks. Quite a doozie, in fact. Looking back I must admit that I'm surprised I made it. Literally. I was sure that either my mental or physical status would be far beyond repair...and yet, here I am. Phew! (Though I suppose some may still question the mental status...)

After moving into the new house, unpacking all our crap, and starting to settle in we became aware of an odd smell. It was small at first. Then, like the Grinch' s teeny-tiny heart, it grew, and grew, and GREW! It was the worst in Curtis' room. We decided it must be the carpet. So, like any normal person would do, we had the carpet cleaned. And that, my friends, was a mistake. (Or a good thing. I haven't decided yet.)

The moment the hot steamy water found it's way into the fibers of that carpet...it let loose a host of evil like nothing I've ever encountered before. We couldn't even walk into the room, it was SOOOO bad. Armed with rubber gloves and a vow to breath only through my nose I walked to the corner and started tearing the carpet back...and was witness to the most disgusting display of animal filth I've ever witnessed. Wait for it....

Yes. Apparently the house was used as a litter box for some very large, very naughty, animals.

E V E R Y W H E R E.

Needless to say, I wept.

Then I may, or may not, have used some inappropriate language.

We started by talking to a restoration company that does heavy-duty cleaning. He said he could clean it...but couldn't guarantee the smell wouldn't come back. Then I called my new friend, Larry. Larry the Carpet Dude. For a whole bunch of money we could simply replace the carpet. (A whole bunch of money.)

Ian clinched the decision by asking me, "If we went ahead and got it cleaned, would you ever feel comfortable enough to go ahead and lay down with your face on the floor?"

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

So, we chose new carpet and padding. The plan was this: we would save ourselves a little money and rip out all the carpet ourselves. This would give us time to bleach the subfloor then paint over the stains with a nice layer of Kilz. (Kilz happens to be the brand responsible for helping me get rid of the Sharpie disaster in Curtis' room last year...we're familiar with it's goodness). We also decided that since we would have the carpet up...what a GREAT time to paint the walls and ceilings! (Both the walls and ceilings were a color I wasn't necessarily a fan of to begin with.)

So, we bid farewell to our yard budget and dove head-first into ripping up the putrid pile of nastiness. I am sure I said things I shouldn't have during this particular process. (Ivana will attest to that...though her presence probably prevented me from saying more ghastly things.)

This 2 week process (mostly done while Ian was out of town) looked a little something like this:

Play Room

The white is the Kilz...applied to (hopefully) lock away odor from the "accidents" that went through both carpet and padding--and rusted the nails to boot.

 Master Bedroom

Ellie's Room 

The Boy's Room 

The Loft 

The Stairs (no joke)

Then, if you can believe it...we found MOLD! No...not surprised.

The Family Room

Done one-half at a time...they had replaced the carpet (so we were able to save it) but they hadn't replaced the nasty padding. That was a tricky part. Not to mention painting those big stinking peaked ceilings!! 

 The Kitchen from the Family Room

This was how most everything looked. CHAOS!

Master Bedroom -- getting new carpet/padding= sigh of relief.

We completed this whirlwind project literally minutes before my book group showed up at my house. Minutes. I'm not kidding.

(And when I say "completed" I actually mean "as much as I'm going to do until I forget the awfulness of it all". There are still 2 bathrooms, 2 closets, and a laundry room to paint. Ugh.)

Dining / Family Rooms Grand Reveal

I am grateful for our new home. This move has been an adjustment...for more reasons than I could mention here...but, I know we're supposed to be here. That knowledge has helped me through this recent trauma, as well as other moments of doubt. So, I'm grateful. Grateful for what I do have. Grateful for kids who put up with the insanity as well as they did. Grateful that we were able to get clean (another sigh of relief) carpet. Grateful for friends who helped/did most of the work. Grateful for those who supported us (me). Grateful.

(And I'll keep reminding myself of that every time I see those "before" pictures.)

Lagoon

In honor of my nephew Liam's birthday, we spent the afternoon at Lagoon with my brother and his boys. (Here they are showing off their excitement. The birthday boy is at bottom right.)

Now, I'm a die-hard Disneyland fan, so spending that much moola at a non-Disney place was a little tricky for me. But the kids LOVED it. No...I mean they really, really, really, LOVED it! One of the first things we did, and something we've skipped on our previous trips to the park, was to ride the train. After this trip on the rails I'm fairly certain the girls will never let us skip it again.

To my profound astonishment, the girls both rode and actually ENJOYED a couple roller coasters as well as the Jumping Dragon (which basically spins around and around until you vomit...which no one did...because I didn't go on it).

Curtis went on an airplane ride with Liam. He was a little nervous at first (I think that's what his face is attempting to communicate here) but, since the ride didn't go too high or too fast, he handled it with grace.

The best part of the day was when Curtis begged me to take him on the Tidal Wave. You know, that crazy ship that rocks back and forth and makes your stomach drop? Yeah, that one.

We sat down next to a couple teenage boys about halfway to the back of the ride. Curtis yelled to "get going" as he excitedly gripped the bar in front of him. Slowly we rocked backwards for the first big swing, and he was fine...until we came back down. There's no way I can sufficiently describe the fear that suddenly gripped that 3 year-old body. He became a twitching, mess of a person. His limbs shot out in all directions. He would momentarily relax on the backward swing only to flail once again as we returned earth-ward. He was apparently too paralyzed to scream or cry out loud, but continuously muttered, "...make it stop, make it stop, make it stop..." much to the delight of all those surrounding us. I have to admit that I couldn't stop laughing. It was quite likely the funniest thing I've seen all year.

Despite being kicked in the side (multiple times) the nice boy next to Curtis continued to reassure him until we finally came back in for the landing. And man, was that kid grateful to plant those little feet back on the ground.

We had a fun-filled day and wore the kids out until they were bone-tired and ready to fall asleep on the ground. Basically it was a success!