This morning I took the girls to register at their new schools. Afterwards, we went to a tiny place that serves nothing but cookies.
DING! (That was the sound of us walking into the cookie place and activating the welcome bell.)
Cookie Guy: Well, hello there! Long time no see!
Me (to myself): What does he mean? We’ve been here a few times, but I would hardly call us regulars at the cookie place!
Me (out loud): Ha! I know!
Cookie Guy: I haven’t seen the girls in ages!
Me (to myself): I’m not sure what’s happening right now.
Me (knowing that I tend to sometimes say too much when I speak out loud): WELL, you’re about to see A LOT MORE OF US, because we just bought a house not far from here!
Cookie Guy: Where did you live before?
And I told him.
Cookie Guy: Where’s the new place?
And I told him.
And then the girls each ordered a chocolate chip cookie and I reluctantly ordered a snickerdoodle (I’ve spent the past 22 days eating things that do NOT contain flour. BUT: Snickerdoodle!), and we sat and ate as Primus was blaring in the kitchen. All of this to say: I don’t care if this guy thinks he knows us. How great is it to have an enthusiastic acquaintance who peddles cookies to the tune of Tommy the Cat?!
(I know!)
When I was in the eighth grade, I was enrolled in a class during which the students took turns reading the newspaper in the evening and then summarizing three current events during the next day’s meeting time. Because it also involved sharing personal opinions on the particular stories we chose, I was always very careful when making my selections. (I didn’t care much that Ronald Reagan was seeking a second term, but I was all over the story about the woman who sued a hospital for not letting her starve to death.) Anyway, I share stories here at Fluid Pudding for two reasons. First, it sort of serves as a record of my family’s adventures. (It actually came in handy quite a few times over the past few months when we were trying to remember when we got the new front door or when we replaced the roof.) Secondly, it’s a way to keep in touch with you. (I know I don’t really *know* a lot of you, but it feels like I do, and I like that feeling.)
Anyway, I know the house stuff can be boring and the pet stuff can be sad (mainly when the pets die), but all of that is part of life and I really have no idea where I’m going with this, other than: Thank you for your patience as I document Where We Are Right Now. You know we bought a house. We had it inspected last week, and the inspector found quite a few things that needed to be fixed. Because we’re firm believers of not being too pushy, we’re asking the sellers to fix only three things: Change the bad light bulb over the tub because it’s a weird bulb and I know myself well enough to know that I won’t take time to research weird bulbs, change the breaker wires to the correct wattage because I don’t want the house to burn down, and get the radon out of the house because I can’t be bothered with cancer. We haven’t yet heard back from them. So we wait.
In the meantime, we currently have a contract on OUR house, and I couldn’t be happier. (We adore the buyers and we love the reason why they want our house.) The Coming Soon sign in our front yard will be changed to an Under Contract sign tomorrow morning, and it’s so weird to think that one month from today will find us waking up in our new house. (You know, if the radon thing gets cleared up. AND THE LIGHT BULB.) ((I wonder how many people out there think I’m a flake.)) ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>
You don’t know until you ask, and radon remediation, while not super expensive in the grand scheme of home things is actually pretty expensive in the grand scheme of how much things cost. Comparison- Snickerdoodle: affordable, Radon Remediation: expensive. AND – in case you need to know it (like if the only thing they don’t want to fix is the lightbulb…) you can find all KINDS of weirdo lightbulbs online (voice of experience). Hoping you hear soon on your offer!
Alas, I am no flour & no sugar at this writing. In 2 weeks I shall be no caffeine. Snickerdoodles would draw me like the earth ‘s gravitational field.
Keep sharing. We adore you.
Cookies! Yum! I never mind your crazy, mixed-up, fun life. I look forward to hearing about it and most times makes me smile and a lot of times makes me outright laugh. Keep doing what you do!
I had a very similar class in exactly the eighth grade. In the several days prior to my turn at “The News,” many classmates had been chastised for bringing in stories that were not deemed important enough to discuss. So I did NOT report on the death of one John Lennon. Because Beatles who? Clearly I remain chagrined.
Yeah, because my personal site is a beacon of creativity right now…especially the parts wherein I mention my eating habits.
I’m pretty excited about this house business, fyi.
Yay! Congrats! We had to have a radon mitigation system installed in a house we bought in MI many, many years ago. Prior to that move and house purchase I had no idea radon could ever be an issue. Kinda creeped me out. MI folks acted like it was no biggie though so I played along. Ha. It was a straight forward fix but if memory serves it was especially nice to have it done by the seller so the system was rolled into the home warranty. So pleased for you on the contracts! And the local cookies too!
I totally would’ve put the lightbulb on the “things to fix” list, too. I haven’t commented here in ages (though I’ve always been lurking) but I’m so excited for you guys! Sending you all my good vibes for a smooth and speedy closing on both houses.
Keep it comin’. It’s all good! Congratulations on the house. I hope it all goes smoothly for you.
I love hearing about your new adventures in Life! Happy for you and your Pudding Family.
Flake? No way baby. You still rock, Mrs Pudding. Lots of luck with the move & the Radon thing. I learned something today!
I don’t think you are a flake. Good luck with getting things repaired in the new house. It will happen:) And congrats on your current home being under contract!! Hah funny cookie story. And yeah snickerdoodles!
Is it one of those weird bulbs where you either need pencil-thin fingers to grip the sides or a suction cup to twist it out? Because I have one over my tub, and I hope it never burns out. I never use it just for that reason.
I find the house stuff comforting, as we will be in a similar boat in about seven months. Your Move Story is a happy one. I like the cookie guy. Did he look like Mel from Mel’s Diner?
And now you must tell us – what was their reason for wanting to buy your house?
You are definitely absolutely without a doubt a flake. Which gives us all permission to admit and validation to continue being flakes ourselves because you are also super groovy and a great friend I’ve never met in person.
“Me (to myself): I’m not sure what’s happening right now.”
Lol. So me. And I adore cookies beyond all scrumptious things so I would totally be on board with ‘being friends’ with this guy
I think everyone likes to hear about the minutiae of your life because you chronicle it in such an entertaining way. I know that’s why I come back :)
Good luck with everything getting fixed. We should have had the owner of our house fix the roof when we bought it. We didn’t and had the funniest(!) latex paint water balloons hanging perilously above the dining room table the first rainy season after the move.
It is the first house we bought and my husband calls it our “finisher house” because it certainly isn’t a starter and we can’t afford to move!
Ha! A guy at the burrito place (where I’ve been eating burritos for the last 16 years, but not so regularly that they know my always-the-same order or remember my name, which seems perfectly reasonable to me) totally thought he knew me. Like walked behind me and touched me on the elbow knew me while initiating a whole conversation about long-time-no-see. Because I’m single and trying to be better about understanding flirting and agood sport and I was waiting in a safe place for my burrito, I did give him a little “I don’t think we actually have met before,” and he proceeded to list all the possible mutual places and friends we might have. No hits.
I suppose if I’d been super smooth I could have said, “But I’d like to go to all those places and meet all those people, how about 7 on Friday,” but I didn’t. I just smiled and shook my head and the guy left and I waited for my burrito.
The burrito-selling guy behind the counter just shook his head at the whole thing and then comped me a drink.
And, now I’m wondering whether my hair was especially awesome yesterday or I was suffering some kind of really interesting clothing malfunction. Obviously, if 2 men were flirting with me 36 hours ago, I am very very slow at the comprehension.
If we were bored with the stories you choose to share with us, we wouldn’t be hanging around here. Keep ’em coming and don’t worry that anyone’s thinking “Oh, here she goes again, talking about those girls/her knitting/her spinning/the old house/the new house/the pets/what she ate/where they went/cookies…” Because that’s exactly why we show up. Makes us feel good.
OMG. Tommy the Cat. <3
Mmm… snickerdoodles… Cookies and new houses are my favorite sorts of stories, madam, so keep it up!
Yup. All of the above :-)