RoyalMom

A year (and a half!) end review of our first experiences as a landlord:

The good...
We got a deposit
We screened well
Rent was paid consistently
They gave proper notice
They moved everything out
They cleaned pretty good. the kitchen is SPOTLESS. Yeah!

The bad...
The carpet is ruined
The hardwood floors are worn completely down
A door is damaged
The screen door handle is busted off
4/6 keys not returned
garage door opener not returned

Not too bad I suppose.

Tell me, does this before and after of the floors consist of "normal wear and tear?"

Before...

After...

just a peek to see what might be under there. Yes, it looks like some major water saturation. Let's pull up the linoleum ....

Aaaaaaahhh!!!!!!! crumbling, wet subfloor. The smell is unreal!

This was totally our fault though, because we decided to try peel and stick tiles in our haste to get it done a couple years ago. Rookie mistake and we will never use peel and stick again.

"I have a lot to do before the end of this month!"

Let's forget about it for now and smoosh our heads together for a self portrait.

I won "Biggest Loser" at my TOPS club for the year and got a sweet little plaque and a huge bag of goods and cash. I lost a total of 40.25 pounds for the year.

I stalled out several months ago at 50 pounds lost and gained some back. It is unbelievably difficult for a foodie to stay on track with all the stress in our lives right now, but this is a nice reminder of how far I've come and that I'm not where I want to be yet.

Isaac takes a pic of the big loser...

Totally not what we expected.

The doctor looked at his MRI and said everything looked fine and he did not see any signs of a tethered cord at all. I asked what about the report?? they read the report to me over the phone and said "lack of movement, indicative of tethered cord". He had not seen that report and had them fax it over so he could see what I was talking about. When he read it he said it meant nothing and there is no basis for saying that and that particular hospital seems to include that possibility in so many reports when it is unfounded.

He did not see a correlation in the foot weakness because it was only twice and came and went so quickly.

He is referring us to a urologist next for the bowel and bladder incontinence.

I am relieved he will not be needing spinal surgery! wooohooo! but also wish we knew what is going on with my little guy.

OHSU hospital has a new-ish tram that carries people up the hill from another set of buildings and parking structure below. We spent $16 for us all to take the 6 minute ride up and back. A sleek silver bullet in the sky...

(photos taken by Jason on his phone)

On a clear day we would be able to see Mt. Hood on the horizon.

I got the okay to put these on the blog:) My brother and sis-in-law stopped by and got pulled into the studio. They must come back in a few weeks during ultimate bellyage weeks (yeah, I make up my own language). But here she is at 32 weeks. Their first baby on the way and I can't wait!

testing out the color on the web. for some reason the slr color images always looked washed out in every browser except Safari. Let's try "save for web" method.

I didn't put my last session up since some boobage (yes, I just add -age to the end of everything) was showing, but since she put it on her own blog and the head is cut out, I'll go ahead anyway! hahaha! She has a sweet new baby Paige at home in Seattle. I can't wait to get her in front of the camera.

Fairly accurate for the first half of our marriage and now I know where we're headed.

The king of the weekend rental house repairs takes a much needed moment of rest.

The house is cleaned, walls are repaired and primed, bathroom floor repaired and new linoleum in and a new garage door opener has been installed to code.

Quite an improvement from the stinky, wet mess we uncovered last week.

The only thing I did was prime the stained walls in every room. My arm was so sore last night! But mostly I wrangled the kids and carried Simon around on my back.

While Jason was in the attic, wiring up a new outlet for the garage opener, he found an old sword. Can you believe that? It must have been in there the whole time we lived in the house. I know the previous owner lived in the house 30+ years so maybe she knows something about it.

It's actually a rifle bayonet.

A WWII Japanese Imperial Arisaka Type 30 Model with a hooked quillon, used from 1897 to 1945. It has a serial number but I haven't found a way to look that up for a more accurate date.

About $100-150 value.

Gotta love the internet, eh? :D

Not! hahahahahaaha! I still get a big kick out of saying we don't do school.

We had a fabulous new friend over and I forgot to snap a pic (gasp!). so unlike me! Lisa was just a wealth of conversation and info I guess I was too mesmerized and relaxed to think of it. I hope we can get together again soon. Her little guy Orion just fits right in.

The house isn't cleaned but look...the kids are dressed!

The cat sleeps in the nests occasionally during the day but moves before I can snap a pic. She actually had an egg under her this time. You might be able to see the egg if you click to the larger pic. Silly kitty.

"smarter than a monkey"...as my mom would say. Simon is using a spoon and having a bowl of cereal. This is nice! Isn't it ridiculous the things moms blog about?

My sister works for Oregon Humane Society and called yesterday to see if we would foster a pregnant mama cat. Why, yes we will!

I'm not used to keeping a cat in a kennel. I moved her kennel into Jason's office to let her have a room to roam but she peed on a small carpet almost immediately. What is it with our bad luck with cat's and peeing?? So she's back in the kennel for now. This is pretty exciting waiting for kitties to arrive!

In the bathroom. Hey, its better than the litter box in her face in the kennel. She seems much more cozy. I go in there every once in a while to give her some lovin'. She throws herself all over the floor at my feet for tummy rubs.

Now when will we get to see some babies?

Remember this?...

See how it looks now! Gorgeous! Is it cool to tell the next renters not to wear shoes in the house? Probably not. haha!

That final stretch is something, ain't it?

Waiting for another new friend to come over. Another fun play date! Its been a wonderful week. Do you like the gaming pose in the background?

He was using the big gator head on top to bonk us with. ha! Jason had to hold him down for the pic, otherwise all my shots were a blur of green.

My first instinct was, "I don't wanna! (in my brattiest tone)" when I saw Wendy's tag this morning. But, I'll play along...just don't get the word out! ha!

By the way, Wendy has a way of cracking me up at least once a day. I don't know how she does it, but I just love that girl.

1. I am turning out to be one ballsy landlord. I'm all business and I keep a tight ship. This surprises me since I'm a back-of-the-classroom type of girl. Jason also surprises me by not wanting anything to do with the customer relations aspect of it, considering he does that type of thing for a living.

2. Two days ago I think I saw the faint beginnings of two sun spots on my hand. The silver hairs sprouting out the top of my head never bothered me, but old lady hands?? this took a moment. It's okay. It's all good.

3. The main living spaces of our home stay pretty picked up, but the peripheral can get quite cluttered with papers and just plain ol' STUFF. I have to share a pic I took yesterday..but have to warn you about the clutter. haha! My poor baby felt like he needed to find his own drink yesterday and climbed up on the table to get some water. ack! what a neglectful mother I am! not cleaning the house and not feeding my baby properly!

look at this, happening right behind me while I play on my computer.

Update: Mama cat was taken back to the shelter for a check up and apparently she has three more kittens in there! Not sure if they are dead or alive yet. Wow! She had 7 kittens in her belly.

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Our first mama cat fostering experience has come to a sad end.

I checked on Mama under the bed and saw her licking a kitten. My brother helped move the mattress and we found four dead babies scattered under there, still in their sacks.

I hope these aren't too graphic to share. The kids and I found it quite interesting. and chalked it up to another learning experience.

Xander is getting a nice spread of freckles and I wanted to get a photo of them. Unfortunately they don't show up, so I'll have to try different lighting next time.

I'm so amazed with little freckly faces since we don't have freckles on my side of the family. Jason is passing on his freckle goodness to the kids and I love it!

Click to zoom in on those babies...

Wooohooo! Love love love love love LOVE!

A baby shower!

She made out like a bandit and all the girly stuff is so adorable. She has such a nice big family with lots of great women...grandmas, aunts, cousins. They know how to party.

(Aundi...I know your sister took a gazzillion photos on your camera, but if you see anything here you want, I can send 'em your way.)

(Gasp!) I did selective color?? LOLOLOLOLOL!!!! Sometimes a girl's okay with a little tacky! hahaha!

They do not mess around at the shelter. First cat picked up on Saturday, new placement on Monday.

This time we knew just what to do. Set her up in the bathroom with her birthing box, food and dustless litter. We have very obvious fetal movement so this should be a good one! She's a lot more scared than the other cat was, so hopefully she'll relax over the next couple days.

Update....5 cutie kitties! I moved them onto some dry bedding (a second time) in a bigger basket. Hopefully this is all of them.

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on the third day! She's got three so far, all alive. The kids and I watched quietly as the first baby popped out and Isaac said, "this is the best day of my life!"

We stepped out to take care of lunch and when I checked again there were two more. Can you see the three little wet heads just in front of her face? I'm in awe of how she can scarf down all those placentas! How much can she eat??

I was mocking up some baby announcements for my brother and Sis-in-law and searched for baby photos on my computer to use as stand-ins.

Look at this little guy, Jacob. One of my first sessions a couple years ago. I wonder what he looks like now. This was a tough baby session to jump into as a newbie, since he was about three months...too little to pose easily but too big to get the curled up newborn shots.