House on Hobson

We signed our paper, we got our keys, and we started painting!

This time last year I had no inkling or intentions of moving. I mean, we wanted to move, we had outgrown our house on Portobello, but we were realistic enough to know that patience was key.

When we finally got to the point that we thought moving was a possibility it was surreal to say the least. And when we met with our agent and she said, "I think it's time," the enormity of selling and buying houses made me want to nap.

Our agent, Brenda Kohles, is one of the most amazing people I've met. She is honest, tough, thoughtful, smart, and knows exactly what to say and when to say it. I feel everyone needs a Brenda in their life.

We looked at some houses--most were okay, one was creepy as hell, a couple great, but one was home.  When we finally started the incredibly intimidating process of actually purchasing the house we were comforted that Brenda held our hand the entire time. Every wacky email, panicked text, petty question was answered with enough brevity and honesty that I didn't feel more overwhelmed and with enough warmth to comfort me that I wasn't being a complete pain in the ass.

If you know anything about Mesa, we purchased a house from 1950 in the Temple Historic District. Adorable is a perfect adjective. We love it--even with the Easter Pageant traffic!

From the front... 

Kitchen

The boys bathroom

Our bathroom 

Our favorite part... a big backyard!

We've already started painting and spending too much money at Ikea and Home Depot. We have appointments for landscaping and other projects, so more pictures will be posted soon...

30 things, day 5

What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?

Dad says...
1. Sleep.
2. Watching the boys play.
3. A day on the couch with sports on TV and mom not making me do projects.
4. My new Xbox.
5. Beer.


Mom says...
1. My family.
2. Catching up on bad TV (right now, The Vampire Diaries).
3. Hugs after a long day.
4. The promise of vacations.
5. Coffee.

30 things, day 4

List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.

1. Have more fun. Just be safe and smart. Everyone needs a day like Ferris Bueller. 
2. Watch the movies I suggest, like Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I promise they are worth it.
3. Don't be afraid to try different things. You have the chance now to try all sorts of clubs, programs, paths, and so forth. It might be comfortable in a bubble, but it isn't fun.
4. Be nice to people. Life as a 16 year-old is shitty for everyone, no matter how charmed their life seems. Your life will be infinitely easier if you recognize the humanity in others.
5. Stop being cynical. It's boring.
6. Be nicer to your brother. You only have one.
7. Stop sneaking cigarettes. It will lead to a gross, expensive habit that is a bitch to break.
8. Save your money.
9. Travel when you get the chance. Do study abroads or exchange program. Seeing the world can change your entire perspective on life.
10. Hug your parents more. They deserve it.

30 things, day three

#3. Describe your relationship with your spouse.

As you know your father is a man of few words. When I posed this question his response was literally, "Uhhh."

If you go through this blog you will see a lot about us. Like this one will tell you about how we met and our relationship grew.

But what I am supposing I should tell you is about our relationship right here and now. I can tell you that marriage isn't anything I would push on anyone. I am the last friend to ask, "When are you getting married?" First of all, it's none of my business. Second, marriage is hard work and to act like it's just something you do, well, that makes it sound easy. It is not.

And sorry if this cuts close to the bone, but kids make it much more difficult. Not that you two haven't made our relationship stronger, but it's a strength that comes from challenge. It can be a challenge to work as a team, to ask for help, to compromise on discipline/activities/philosophies/etc. Kids can be loud, demanding, and selfish--and that can take the air out of any relationship.

Your dad and I have worked very hard to make space for each other. When Bradley asked me, "Who is your favorite person?" I answered, "Daddy." Because he is. He should be.

Sometimes I feel like Dad and I are roommates because we are busy, tired, or focused on you. When that happens we have to force ourselves to focus on what matters and what you need, and that is US. You need to have two healthy, functioning parents who care about each other.

So, in a round about way, if I had to describe my relationship with my spouse, I would say it is a daily work in progress that is worth every ounce of effort. He is my best friend, my favorite person, my greatest ally, and largest pain in the ass. There are some days that as much as I love him I can be annoyed by him. He is my rock, my center, my core.

30 things, day two

#2. Describe three legitimate fears and explain how they became fears.

Mom:
1. Clowns. The movie It messed me up in a big way. I can't even look at anyone in a lot of face paint.
2. Balloons. My brother would squeak and pop those bastards in my face. I hate the squeaky noise the most.
3. Spiders. They are gross. I had a showdown with a spider one time when Dad was off watching football. I couldn't move because I was afraid it would disappear. When he finally got home, I was sweating and crying.

Dad:
1. Not being able to keep you safe. Basically when you were born and we were tasked with keeping you safe, that was terrifying. Plus, for the first two or three years of your life you tried to harm yourself daily. Throwing yourself down stairs, putting random objects in your mouth, darting into the road...
2. ...
3. Apparently Dad is a rockstar and not afraid of anything else. This could be why he kills the spiders.

Kick off to 30 things

I stumbled onto this list on Pinterest and I thought it was really sweet. Sometimes, after I post on here I will look back at older posts. I realize how much this blog helps me remember things and it scares me how much I forget or lose when I don't post. I hope my boys get a kick out of this blog someday--especially the "30 things" posts.

So, here we go! And to make it more interesting, I am going to focus on Jeff/Dad, too.

#1. List 20 random facts about yourself.

1. My favorite color is green and Dad's is black.

2. When we were little Dad wanted to be a professional hockey player and I wanted to be a forensic pathologist.

3. Dad is a camper and I would rather go to the beach. Though, I am not fond of sand.

4. Mom was the first one to get a tattoo and piercing. So when you think Dad is more exciting, just remember, when I was getting my first tattoo he was leaning over the counter saying, "I can't wait until I get mine." Look where that led him.

5. Our first jobs were in retail. I worked at the jewelry counter at WalMart and Dad worked at Basha's. 

6. We met at Brimhall Junior High, he proposed at Brimhall, and then Bradley's first year of kindergarten was at Franklin at Brimhall.

7. Mom's middle name is Thea, which is for Nanny's dad, Grandpoo. His name was Theodore. Bonus: he asked Nanny to combine his and my grandmother's name (Dorothy) for Theadora. 

8. Bradley, if you were a girl your name would have been Brighton or Scout. 

9. Cash, if you were a girl your name would have been Brighton. (I realize these aren't facts about us, but they were decisions we made that could have impacted you.)

10. Dad has the most ticklish feet on the planet.

11. Dad was the first person Paddy (our first dog) liked and tolerated in my room.

12. When we were 16 Dad dared me to sneak out of my friend's house (whose house I was spending the night at) and come see him. I did. Grandma didn't find that funny after many years. PS- nothing happened.

13. My favorite book is The Road by Cormac McCarthy and if you ever want to know how much I love you, please read that book.

14. Our song is Lenny Kravitz's "I Belong to You".

15. Dad is a control freak and doesn't like other people driving. It will be a miracle if he ever teaches you to drive.

16. If I could live anywhere in the world, I would pick San Francisco. 

17. If Dad could have any car he would pick a BMW M3.

18. If I knew we would have boys, I would have two more kids. I've always wanted a big family. Dad is a party pooper.

19. If I was given a million dollars that I had to spend on fun I would take the whole family on an international vacation (England, France, New Zealand, Japan).

20. If Dad was given a million dollars that he had to spend on fun he would buy everyone 4x4s and we would go off-roading. Mine is more fun.

Welcome to mushroom street

Dear adorable family who bought our home,

I know nothing is official yet for a few more days, but the end if nigh. In just a few more days you will become the new owners of our house on Portobello Avenue.

I'd like to give you a little history about our house. I love houses, but I love their stories even more. When I go to historical home tours, nothing tickles me more than meeting the original home owners and hearing their stories. I know there is nothing historical about our home, but maybe the stories are worth it for you.

My husband and I were twenty-two and engaged to be married when we started looking at houses in January 2004. We really wanted an older home (we love the character and projects associated with them), but at the time those houses were priced way out of our budget. The best option (thanks to the crazy choices of banks and homebuilders of the time) was to build a house. Our first stop was this development, and though this home wasn't one of the model homes, we knew this option would be the best for a lot of reasons. But we continued to go to other developments looking at models thinking it couldn't be that easy. It was.

The building process was an ordeal. I think they anticipated the housing bubble burst and wanted to price us out of the house, but we called, emailed, and harassed until we closed at the end of September 2004. Perfect timing because we were married in November 2004. When we returned from our honeymoon, our family had decorated the house for our first Christmas.

I wish we had pictures from when we first moved in. There was ugly builder's grade carpet downstairs and upstairs and IN THE BATHROOMS. There was linoleum in the kitchen that looked to be a holdover from 1994. We redid the tile and then thanks to me spilling paint in what would become the boys' room (after being our storage room, then my office), we got new carpet installed--you can see some of the spilled paint on the south wall baseboards. I specifically picked that carpet because with the different strands of color I thought it would hide any future spills, etc. The only major spill is when B got into my green nail polish (look by the master bathroom).

As you can see we like to paint. The red wall and our bedroom are the original color paint jobs. The office (which was the nursery for both boys) has undergone the most color changes: first an electric blue, then a navy blue and green, and finally the more tame blue that's there (for now). Sorry about the windows, we did use tape, but obviously it didn't work all that well.

Enjoy all the storage. The built ins were not here before. That storage cab and the bookshelves upstairs were my idea, but my husband's sweat equity. We chose the fabric doors because custom size doors are expensive! If you ever want to trade out the fabric, pop off the trim and cut fabric to size. I used spray glue first and then nailed it at the edges. Then put the trim back on to cover your tracks. Easy peasy.

One way I torture my husband is I come up with "weekend" projects. Those include the front yard pavers (PS- there used to be trees in front, but the one to the west of the driveway fell in a storm and we took out the one to the east because it was leaning), repurposing our laundry room, the built ins for the boys' closet, and the pallet wall (thank you Pinterest) in the boys' room. They never really take a weekend and they always cost twice as much as you think, but they were fun to do.

The kitchen cabinets and island are our pride and joy. My husband is in the cabinetry business, so the builder-grade cabinets were not going to cut it for him. The green island is for me, because I love green.  The slow close drawers are for my husband, because when I get mad I slam drawers and he gets a kick out of it when I can't slam.

The neighborhood is great, too. Chuck and Mari, to the west, are about the sweetest neighbors a person can have. Just a warning, when the guy across the street does his yard work, he wears some suuper short shorts. The kids across the street to the east are nice and quiet. And the answer is no, Nick (to the east) never parks in his driveway.

We are really excited to move to our new older home; it's what we've always imagined: historic, blank slate for new projects, outdoor space for our crazy boys and dogs, culture close at hand, and nearer to family and friends. That isn't to say we won't miss this house. We were married here, had our babies here, raised our family, and transformed every square inch of the house. I hope you are able to make it your home and it treats you as well as it has us.

Love,

the Dilbecks

Cashy goes to preschool

I was mad enough that I hissed into the phone, "This makes me so sad. I can't believe work is more important than this." And I hung up like the best telenovela star.

This wasn't any run of the mill hissy fit. This was the day Cash started preschool and got on a bus by.him.self.

The plan was Jeff would park down the street and watch him get on the bus that picked him up from the sitter's driveway. He would snap a few pictures, send them to me, and we would pretend like it was totally normal that our youngest was heading off to school.  Head meet sand.

At 9am--twenty minutes before the bus would pick him up--my palms started sweating. At 9:02am I was completely useless to concentrate. At 9:04am my class started to notice. "Do we have a fire drill today?" I explained that Cash was starting preschool and that satisfied them as they are used to my crazy mom antics.

At 9:15am I called Jeff to see if he was in position. No, he wasn't. Something came up at work. I saw red and for the millionth time I was totally annoyed that some yahoo's kitchen remodel was more important than this moment. But you know how that phone call ends.

It took me ten minutes and a phone call to his sitter, Laura, to recover. Yes, me made it on the bus. No, he wasn't scared. His driver was very nice. Oh, and he already made a friend.

Even though I missed the departure I was resolved not to miss the return. I would stalk his return.

Jeff did redeem himself greatly when I saw him parked along the street upon my arrival. Together we watched as our brave Cashy ambled off the bus to the waiting arms of Laura.

Later that day, when I picked him up, I could hear him from the back of the house yell, "Mommy, I went on a bus!" Apparently he told everyone at least three times about the bus he went on, the backpack he wore, the bus he went on, and the bus he went on.

At this point he had already said "school bus" fifteen times to Laura.

"His mom is crazy."

"It's a wonder he turned out okay."

Like a boss.

As I write this Cash has asked me twice if he will be able to ride the school bus tomorrow. Addicted, I tell you.

WLS update

Back in June I had weight loss surgery. It was the best decision I have ever made--I have absolutely no regrets. Since then I have lost over 90 pounds and have all but eliminated my knee and hip issues, and hopefully staved off the diabetes that runs in my family.

Here are some picture comparisons. I did these about twenty-thirty pounds ago.

Cash, Cashy, Cashman, CashCash

I might have forsaken this blog, but I'll be darned if I am going to forsake my youngest and ignore him on his third birthday.

We can ignore that it is two days past his birthday and that I haven't even wrapped/given him his birthday present. (Bonus points, though: I did buy it back in December, so that has to balance out somehow.)

I am going to be honest. I feel like Jeff and I trash talk Cash a lot. I worry that people think we just don't like him because we use adjectives like "naughty", "loud", "strong-willed" a lot and repeatedly. But let me be clear: we do like him. A LOT. In fact, we actually love him veryveryvery much.

In honor of my baby turning three, I am going to share some positive things about him:

1. He is a great hugger. He puts all of his energy into squeezing hard. None of this half-assed side-way hugs or the hug where a little kid offers you his head in your leg...When you ask Cash for a hug, he gets a running start and crashes into your legs, locking his arms tight around you.

2. He loves babies. When he sees a picture of a baby, he gushes over it. His favorite thing to do is look at my Facebook when I am looking at baby announcements. When he meets a baby, he is fascinated and deeply in love.

3. He is always on the look out for adventure. He will try most foods. He hasn't met a bike that is too big. The bumpier the ride the better. The more dirty he can get the better. The more noisy it is the better.

4. He idolizes his older brother. It's a good thing B is such a good influence because Cash thinks the world revolves around his brother. They hug when B gets off the bus from school, Cash sits with him if B is sad, and Cash allows his older brother to comfort him when he is upset.

5. He lets me have my silly rituals. When I take him in to the sitter's in the morning, he let's me carry him in, whisper silly things in his ear, and only when I am ready he will run off and have his fun. He can be very attune to what people need. Sometimes I think he knows that I need him to be a baby a little bit longer.

6. He loves to make people laugh. He has many different silly faces, voices, and gestures. He has this goofy laugh that sounds like Kermit the Frog that gets me every time.

Happy birthday, CashCash!! We love you.