Here We Go Again

While many are taking trees down and cleaning out the Christmas cheer, hauling boxes back into the attics and basements, I have another task at hand.
Do you remember two years ago January, when I posted about cats getting into our crawl space? Click HERE for that post. A neighbor cat went missing and I crawled into our crawl because of all the meowing going on below? Apparently the Feral Cat living there was having a party.. I ended the party sending everyone home! All 3 or 4 cats.  Then after we closed off the entrances, the big Ferel Cat moved into the neighbors crawl as this house was empty.  He continued to visit our porch particularly when Izzy was living with us, as she was a beauty he really wanted to get to know better. Click HERE for the post and clip of Izzy and her Tom.

So anyway...
The neighbor house has been bought and occupied.  Therefore the Feral moved out...

strong cat... not only bent but ripped out screen

He managed to break back into our crawl.  Which, honestly, I didn't mind too much at first.

Until this morning...
When he decided to mark our crawl as his territory.  Anyone familiar with male UN-neutered cats knows exactly what I am talking about...
We woke up to that unmistakable awful smell.

A plan is being plotted. I must make Tom the Feral move out, clean up that horrible smell, and fix the entrances he has made.
My dogs and cat are going crazy trying to find this cat they smell.
I think I will bring Bandit (middle dog) with me.  He should be able to chase it out, (and protect me.. Ferals aren't exactly friendly cats!)
It's 19 degrees out.  I am not looking forward to this.  My shoulder is acting up too.  Hubby wants to wait till the weekend when the weather warms up a bit, but I will be in Kentucky unable to help.
oh my goodness...
Maybe we should go get Izzy to chase him out! lol
Or anyone know the number to Feral Busters?

House Roots

Julie & Me on Audubon Rd

Have you ever gone back & looked at the homes you grew up in?  Curious to what they look like now?  Did they seemed so big when you were young, and now you realize how tiny they were?

Some people are able to know what the home they grew up in is like because perhaps their parents still live there.  Or maybe they still live there.

In years past, while I was a Realtor, I did "look" at a few of my "growing up" homes via the internet when they were listed, but never actually walked through one.

Lately, I have been thinking about them.  What if we stayed here or there? Would things have been different? Would I have taken different paths? 

The four homes my parents had during my childhood were close in location. I went to one school for Kindergarten and 1st grade, then stayed in the same school district for the other two.

I remember all but one. The first home I lived in, I was quite young when we moved and much was happening in our lives that caused us to not have many photographs. I know the name of the street but do not know the exact address.

I google mapped th remaining three and zoomed in (such a creeper!).

This first one is sad... The house has been in ruins and someone has recently bought it and has repaired it.

Windsor Drive

When I lived here as a little girl, I remember shrubs in the front of the porch giving it much privacy, and the most beautiful Iris'. I imagine that is why I favor them so much. Mom's were so lovely. This tiny hill seemed huge as a little girl. The drive way was dangerously steep & my folks walked our tricycles down it for us. A large tree sat in the side yard, where I learned to climb trees. My parents made this house a home of love. Mom babysat children here, my Sis & I had double birthday parties, we always had fun. It was a wonderful home.

Audubon Road

My parents moved us to this home the summer before starting second grade. Excitedly, my Sister and I embraced our beautiful home, new neighborhood and new school. Shortly after moving here, my Grandmother Mellie, moved in with us. (I had my own room for about a year, then happily moved in with my Sis...she probably wasn't as excited). That was home for just three years. Unfortunately, not a lot of great memories there.

19th Street

This was home. This is where we moved while in fourth grade. I lived here until I moved out on my own. This was the neighborhood house. My Mom found it when Julie was at a slumber party around the block. My Sister and I were always spending the nights over in this neighborhood. This house had 5 bedrooms believe it or not. Two upstairs, and three in the basement. Over the years, I moved through 4 of them! In high school, I had the rooms above the garage. (Imagine me climbing out that window, up to the top, where I sat many nights to think, pray, and just have some air. I also may have gone over the other side & down the awning to "escape" a few times...shhh!)  My parents kept this house for many years after Julie & I moved out, later downsizing to a one story home.

After I moved out, I lived in many, many homes. A dormitory during college, a few apartments and duplexes until my life began with Sergio.

Sergio was smart with house purchasing and together we worked our way through 10 homes in 25 years! Amazingly, we stayed in one home for 10 while the girls went through most of their school years.

We were fortunate with the housing market. We lived in wonderful homes. My girls, particularly through their school years, had the best neighborhood, pools, basketball court, cul-de-sac, and tons of neighborhood kids to play with.

While I love the house we currently live in, I know, we will move again. We hope to move just one, maybe two more times. This time we are considering going further. We want beaches or mountains. It's a big move. I want to be in a location that my kids will want to come often. I hate the thought of being away from, but I know they are only beginning their own adventures of adulthood.

I am not so sentimental to houses. It's the memories which were formed there. I take them with me. Any house can be a home. It's our job to make it that. I wonder what it would be to let my roots go deep and stay put, but we are so content with pulling them up and re-potting them to new soil.

Now, what about you and your roots?

My Dream House

This is my dream house.
I have been in love with it for about 30 years. I first saw it and knew one day, I would want to live here, when I was around 16 years old. After marrying Sergio, I discovered that he also loved it. It became available 15 years ago, but we were not in the position to buy it. Someone else got it before our home sold.
So we built this one.

This was a wonderful big house, perfect for raising the girls. We had a cul de sac, finished basement, basketball court, pool, and all the bells & whistles. It was in a small town, and the girls had a fabulous childhood growing up here. Particularly the teen years. I bet we had several hundred sleep overs here. And countless get-togethers/parties. Living here was the right choice.

But now the girls are grown and Annie is rarely home with her many activities, and of course, Emily is living in Muncie 10 months out of the year. We put the big house on the market last summer.

We are currently living in a much smaller home that we have been making home improvements on. We were not sure how long we wanted to stay at this home. Wanted to see what the market does and what opportunities come our way.

Now, my dream home has become available once again.

It is perfect.

Really perfect.

It sits on a quiet street with a golf course view in front (2nd picture). We are so tempted to purchase it now. The biggest problem is it is maxed out at the top of the market for the area. I do not believe this home will ever sell for much more than what it is currently. So if we want it, we have to understand that we will be "stuck" here or take a chance at a loss if we choose to sell.

It has an interesting floor plan and set up. Perfect for us. It has a 4 car garage behind the home. I love the three porches with there lovely views. Two fireplaces and the most gorgeous leaded glass windows. It has three bedrooms with one on the main floor. And it has a secondary kitchen in the finished basement!

I want this house. I have always wanted this house.

We decided to wait till May/June. If it is still available, then we may make an offer. Once again my patience is being tested.

We will see.

BUGGED!!!

This little Nasty has been spotted too many times at our house. When we bought the house, we found alot of them. Really, alot. WE cleaned , debugged, cleaned, and debugged. We replaced the carpets, windows, and CLEANED like crazy for 3 months before moving into this house. Occasionally, we will find one of these "critters" in the house. They are really creepy! They are about an inch long. They are slow & mostly just sit around. BUT when they take off flying, they scare the crap out of you. They have this loud buzzing noise much like a bumble bee, and fly very clumsy usually right at you.

Two nights ago, Annie freaked out as one was in her room. Sergio & I slept through it as she swatted it hoping to have killed it but could not find it. She cried to her boyfriend on the phone, who was helplessly too far at his own home to rescue her. I feel terrible that we didn't hear her. She reported it to us the next morning. Later yesterday Mischa chased it into the kitchen. I caught it and threw it outside. (I am not a bug murderer). I promised her it had to be the same bug, and so she retreated to her room last night. While typing away on her computer, her bug returned, flying straight into her face.

We heard her this time.

She was hysterical. Sergio was mad. I caught the bug and flushed it down the toilet (yes, I killed this one).

Today, I looked the beast up and found it. (Gotta love Google!) It is called Leptoglossus Occidetails, commonly named Western Conifer Seed Bug. They are harmless, although ugly. They don't bite or sting. They feed off of Douglas Fir seeds and the seeds of various other species of pine. Can be very devastating to a crop, but not a single tree. Which we by the way have a huge one outside Annie's window. One more reason for Sergio to win chopping it down as he planned for spring (it is overgrown and he thinks ugly).I just want to scrub the house. They make me think the house is dirty!