These are a few of my favorite things . . .

... about the new house!

My uber-wise friend Stacy said it best: "It's the small things in life that make it so special." In that spirit, here are a few photos of things about the new house that get me all jazzed up.

The neon-blue water and ice cube dispenser in the fridge is like Star Trek. The kitchen faucet detaches and becomes a sprayer. With two water settings! Yeahh!

The kitchen ceiling fan has a remote! And Grampy Bird presides over the deck and big back yard. Which Steve is not thrilled about mowing. Perhaps everyone should pool their cash and buy him a lawn tractor for Father's Day and his birthday!



The kitchen has three very skinny cabinets. So far they've come in handy for cookie sheets, cutting boards and the extra shelf from the fridge. The problem with the nonmagnetic fridge front was quickly solved thanks to my friend from high school, Jen Essenfeld, who suggested we try the door to the garage instead! And our new garbage can was ridiculously expensive, but soooo pretty.



And that's just what's in the kitchen! My other favorite room, of course, is the master bath. As in: "I HAVE A MASTER BATH!!!" Ahem. It goes without saying that I love my huge bathtub and separate shower... but I now have a shelf for all my treasures, most of which come from my parents' house. Not everyone has pigs watching them take a bath... with cannons.... Also, we get to inspect every bodily flaw with a full-wall mirror and TEN lights! It looks like a Broadway dressing room in there. And, the literal and figurative centerpiece of the room... PALM TREE BATH MAT! Ahem. I really do love my bathroom.

A chilly start for our furry friend

After getting the hang of the cooktop, of course getting the hang of the thermostat would be next...

The temperature has swung pretty widely, but we hadn't had the heat or A/C on at the new house... until last night. It got down to 37 or so, which is pretty darn chilly... even for this furry guy.

We saw him shortly before Emilyn went to school this morning, so Steve took this picture. Nearly 15 minutes later, when I got back, he was still there, sunning himself next to Grampy Bird! So, I kept an eye on him... and I couldn't believe my eyes -- he actually turned around so he could toast evenly on both sides!

Hee-hee-hee. He was there for at least a half-hour before he eventually got warm enough and skittered off. Allen is thinking about leaving some Cap'n Crunch out on the railing for him tomorrow.

First cooking in the new house !

Sunday is pancake day, wherever the Crabbes happen to be.

This time, we had to feel our way through using our new black cooktop. Steve popped the griddle on, tweaked the knobs a bit and managed to make some delicious pancakes -- with slightly crispy edges, just the way Mommy likes!

We decided to continue the celebration for dinner, and I made meatballs with fresh garlic, parsley and shallots. Mmmmm. Topping it all off was Daddy's favorite Bove's sauce -- roasted garlic. We even bought a Mrs. Smith's peanut butter pie for dessert!

Ahhh. I think it's the first time in months that we haven't eaten out. Things are finally feeling like home.

New furniture !

The new house has been made even better by the addition of places to actually sit down!

Our big new couch is massively huge... yet only fills half of our main room. Still working on what to do with the other half -- other than a darn big Christmas tree once a year! (We also really need lamps on those end tables. And yes, Laurie... we need things on the walls!)

Emilyn is the recipient of all new furniture. Her room is pretty darn stylish... I hope she loves it!



Everything else is pretty much straight from the old house. Things we really need next are patio furniture and a desk for Mommy. The desk might be what goes in the other half of the main room. Or it might go upstairs in the master bedroom, along with Daddy's bill-paying desk.

Once a bit more of unpacking takes place, perhaps we'll get one of the kids to host a video tour of the new house, and we'll post it here. Watch for it!

It's ours !

We had our final walkthrough of the house on Sunday... took some measurements to make sure our giant couch will fit... and took the chance to get some pictures.

I've got big plans for this bathtub...

... and this closet (which is just a little smaller than Allen's room now)!



Emilyn and Allen get a little taste of life in their new rooms:



Closing on Monday was relatively painless... We went to the bank to get our cashier's check -- knowing full well that the final amount would probably be different than what we were bringing. It was. Really, with the way that loan process went, it would have been totally shocking if all had gone smoothly in the end. But, Steve ran off to the bank to get the difference, and we finished signing our lives away -- again.

We ran home to load up the cars with boxes and stuff and began the process of making our new house our own. Then, on Wednesday, came "van day" -- when Steve filled a Uhaul van four times in four hours... That did a major job of filling up the garage in the new house!

We've been filling bins and toting stuff over a little every day. As of now, the kitchen is probably nearly half done. The pantry and cabinets still have tons of room, which is great. Steve has toted over all his boxed models and is working on the built stuff. He is trying hard to recreate the space and comfort level he had in his old underground lair.

Almost all of our clothes are there. Allen already has toys all over his floor. I think he'll be disappointed when he has to make room for his actual furniture. Emilyn is working on her black, white and hot pink decor. Mommy made her a bookcase and a table from kits at Walmart. Ingratiating myself to St. Joseph the carpenter! I've been unearthing treasures from my parents and spreading them around the house. You should have seen Dad's hummingbird weathervane spinning in our first rainstorm!

The movers come Monday, so we'll be spending Monday night (and every night after!) in our new home. I can't wait!

For more pictures from the new house, click here.

Hopping right to that magic question

It's never good when your 6-year-old says, on Easter morning, "So, I have a question..." He and I posited for a while on the likelihood of the existence of a big rodent that breaks into your house and leaves you candy and presents, and he concluded that Mommy is responsible for the merriment. "I know Santa's real, though," he said.

He followed that last comment with a pointed "Right??" I said, "Ask me again in 2013."

Before that, though, the Beyblade (Poison Serpent), stuffed jellyfish and candy hunt were big successes. Emilyn's Slushy Magic was kind of a bust so far. We're going to try it later with a colder drink.

Color our Easter eaten

On Thursday, we colored our Easter eggs because -- let's face it -- Mommy and Emilyn had a serious hankerin' for some egg salad.

Grandma boiled up a dozen eggs, and we got to work -- with three bonus colors from Paas. Everybody agreed that Emilyn's red egg looked the best.

We found out Friday morning that Allen is a very good peeler. (He had come home from school early on Thursday with a fever, but he was pretty much good to go on Friday.)

The egg salad was made and was all gone by Saturday morning. Mmmm! It was really good with the olive oil mayonnaise. I think we have a winning recipe for next year!

Just another day at the loan office

"Mrs. Crabbe, everything looks great on your application .... no, we should have absolutely no trouble closing on the 9th ... There's just one more thing we need from you ... Yes, can you get us the birth certificate of the middle child from the house two doors down from where you grew up? ... No, a copy won't do, we need the original, with the raised seal. ... Well, hmmm. Did they have a dog? ... We'll take a nose print of the dog, provided it wasn't a Chihuahua. ... No, I'm sorry, it has to be in plaster, not concrete. ... OK, can you scan that with a 3-D imager and download it directly to my brain right away? ... Great, thanks! We hope you'll recommend us to your friends!"

Some darn cute wild animals on the loose !

What's cuter than the annual kindergartners' musical performance? Nothing, I say. Nothing! And Allen's just been doing so well in kindergarten... this is just a celebration of what school has done for him.

All the songs had to do with animals... And there was much wiggling involved! You could see that the kiddos were really into it. My personal favorites were "Grizzly Bear," "Alligator Alarm," "Alison's Camel" and "Chicken Rap."


After the performance, we headed to Yo My Goodness for frozen yogurt -- and to test out the self-portrait capabilities of my new camera!


What a great show it was! I was busy crying and laughing in equal measures, but I got video of all the songs. For all the photos and videos from the day, click here.

Steve's beautiful face - on the mend

Steve had his stitches out today after skin cancer surgery last week. He had two rounds of Mohs surgery, and there was no skin graft required, which is really good news. Now he's just relishing how cool and badass he looks with his scar. (I'm still figuring out my new camera, which is why this is a tad overexposed...)

New camera - for real this time

I went to the camera store soon after we got back from the beach, and Jill showed me the Fuji FinePix F660EXR. I liked it. It has a substantial heft, and the placement of all the buttons is similar to my beloved Casio. It has a 15x optical zoom, with the potential to go even farther digitally. Big, beautiful screen. So, with Allen's performance looming, I went back and got it today.

So far, I like it fine! And I can change the aspect ratio. And it takes good shots in low light with no flash.

The great purge goes on

Wow, we have a lot of stuff. But, amazingly, cleaning out the laundry room wasn't as horrible as I had feared! Lots of help from Steve and Jeanne made it all possible. We threw away a ton of stuff, but we gave away way more.

Now that this is all gone from the porch, and the idea is in my head that somebody who needs it might benefit from it, the prospect of moving became way more realistic.

Update on house hell

Well, it's been an amazingly busy year so far, has 2012.

Right before we were set to go to the beach, we got two barrels of bad news regarding the new house. First, we found out our insurer, State Farm, refused to write a policy on the new house unless we put a new roof on within 60 days of closing. Wow. That was an expense we had not anticipated. Though we knew the roof had very little life left, we did not know that its lack of "felt," the material that's usually put underneath the shingles, would be a make-it-or-break-it part of the deal!

After much gnashing of teeth, we decided to capitulate and agree to get a new roof right away -- all in order to preserve our long relationship with State Farm and our agent Tom Wehde.

Next, the nuclear bomb that threatened to kill the whole process: Bank of America informed us that its appraisal of the new house was in -- $22,000 less than our planned purchase price! WHAT?!?!

The whole point of buying a house now -- and how I had sold Steve on the idea in the first place -- was getting a great deal. Buyer's market, right? And now we were being told that the house was worth $22k less than what we were paying?!? And our bank was now refusing to lend us the full purchase price, because the house wasn't worth that much?! That would mean we would have to put all that money down out of our pocket if the deal were to go through. Hang on. No way.

So, we told our realtor to counteroffer at $210k, in light of the very low appraisal. Of course, the seller was NOT too inclined to go for that! He countered with $218k, which meant we would have to come up with $11k out of pocket. After more soul-searching, Steve and I decided to back out of the deal altogether. Everything that had made it a smart move seemed to have evaporated. And all our enthusiasm for the idea of moving had drained away as well. It wasn't a negotiating tactic: We really were done.

Well, the seller didn't want to hear that either! He offered to pay for a new appraisal. "What the heck will that accomplish?" we asked -- because our bank was no longer interested in lending us more than $207k. "OK," he said. "I'll pay for a new appraisal and wait for you guys to get a new lender. Then we can go back to the $229k you had originally offered to pay."

Uh, heck no! Once $218k had been on the table, we certainly did NOT want to go back. So, we said, how about this: You pay for a new appraisal, we get a new lender, and we buy the house for $218k -- but ONLY if it appraises for $218k. This did not thrill the seller. Again, we said: Thanks, but no thanks. We're out.

He got scared again, I guess... Much to our shock and amazement, he agreed to our final offer. SO, now we're deep in the process of getting a new loan... we have our appraisal for exactly $218k (which makes me think this whole process is entirely rigged)... and we're set (or so everyone keeps telling us) for closing on April 9.

After deciding to back out of the deal twice, all of our heads are swimming. Meanwhile, work on the old house continues apace. Culling of all the stuff is ongoing. St. Charles Foreign Car made us a nice deal for the Beetle and all its parts. We had our inspector from the new house come over and look at the old house, to point out anything that might be a problem. We've had the fence replaced, a light installed, some siding fixed, and painted, painted, painted. There's more painting to do, and cleaning... we're putting in new carpet downstairs and having our tub resurfaced. An electrician came and signed off on our weird alumninum wiring. We've got the St. Joseph statue ready to bury in the yard, and there's a "coming soon" sign on the lawn. Somebody even knocked on the door and asked Steve what our listing price would be!

So, in short, we're doing all we can, but all the most important stuff is totally out of our hands... and I think we're still waiting for the whole thing to fall apart. As I told poor Emilyn, until we have the keys to the new house in our hands, it's far from a done deal.