The "fully executed contract" on the Taj MaHell arrived today! I opened my email inbox and...ta-da! Apparently, we are homeowners. Again.
The fully executed contract is the exact same document as the purchase agreement, but this copy has the seller's signature and initials as well as ours. In the end, we paid $22,500 for the house itself, plus $1125 for the Buyer's Premium and Internet Transaction Fee. We still don't know the closing costs, so those also need to be considered when we talk about what we paid for the house.
A second roofer called today with his estimate. Roofer A came in at $6980 to tear off all the existing roof, re-nail the decking and replace the old shingles with architechtural shingles. This price also includes the Weather Watch coating for a flat roof on the bonus room addition and new motors for the existing power exhaust fans in the attic, plus ridge vents along the roof line. Roofer B, who--and I am not making this up--used to work with Shawn at Shawn's very first job ever, called today with a bid of "well under $5000" but that amount is just to put new shingles on top of the old ones and add another layer of rubber roofing to the flat roof section.
We're leaning towards Roofer A, but we still need to get numbers from Roofers C and D, just to be sure we've over-analyzed the whole thing to death. Because in addition to his many other fine qualites, Shawn suffers from a mild form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. OCD is the source of lots of good times in our family. Like when we first moved to Gilligan's Island and some family members were coming to see us. I was frantically running around, trying to set up a guest bedroom and scrub the bathroom while Shawn was literally paralyzed by the fact that his GINORMOUS CD collection had gotten un-alphabetized during the move. I am not shitting you. I had to stop what I was in the middle of and alphabetize them one day while he was at work, just to get him back on track. Stories. I has 'em.
But back to the Taj. Now that we're inching closer to actually tackling this project, I'm starting to pay closer attention to sales going on at the big box home improvement stores and online. I am sure that Craig's List will also play a big part in this renovation!
More later....
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Roofer Madness
We're still pending the *official* contract on the Taj, but in the meantime, we decided to call around and get estimates on the new roof. Having lived outside Greater Mayberry for the last seven years, I had forgotten how these things work. Here on Gilligan's Island, we Google the service we need, call the guy whose business is closer to this side of town and work from there. There are so many roofers, plumbers, electricians, you-name-its that we rarely get a personal referral from a friend. Ask ten friends around here and you'll get the names of ten plumbers, so we mostly don't bother.
Not so in Greater Mayberry. I asked my sister the Farm Maven who they used for their recent roofing job and was given the name of Roofer A. I jotted that down and emailed my mother in law, who works for an insurance agency in Mayberry. She gave me two names of roofers they refer their insureds to. One was Roofer A. We called him and also called Roofer B, who, as it turns out, had done work for my sister's best friend and lived on the same country road as her in-laws. Thus begins the One Degree of Separation that is life in a small town.
Last Friday evening, we made the 3 1/2 hour trek from our home up to see the Taj. Shawn had not seen it in person yet and for some curious reason, wanted to lay eyes on his new investment. Go figure. Anyway, we were wandering around the backyard when the next-door neighbor hello'ed us from across the fence. We went over to speak and realized that (of course!) we knew the guy. Not only was he the father of one of Shawn's childhood playmates, but he was also music director at the church my sister the Farm Maven had attended. I may also have gone out with his oldest son once, but that is beside the point.
One of my favorite sayings is, "A small town is where everybody knows whose check is good and whose husband isn't." Truer words were never spoken.
In the end, we got four roofers to come look at the house. Three of them are quite possibly distant cousins of ours and the fourth guy got thrown in there because we like to be exotic.
Not so in Greater Mayberry. I asked my sister the Farm Maven who they used for their recent roofing job and was given the name of Roofer A. I jotted that down and emailed my mother in law, who works for an insurance agency in Mayberry. She gave me two names of roofers they refer their insureds to. One was Roofer A. We called him and also called Roofer B, who, as it turns out, had done work for my sister's best friend and lived on the same country road as her in-laws. Thus begins the One Degree of Separation that is life in a small town.
Last Friday evening, we made the 3 1/2 hour trek from our home up to see the Taj. Shawn had not seen it in person yet and for some curious reason, wanted to lay eyes on his new investment. Go figure. Anyway, we were wandering around the backyard when the next-door neighbor hello'ed us from across the fence. We went over to speak and realized that (of course!) we knew the guy. Not only was he the father of one of Shawn's childhood playmates, but he was also music director at the church my sister the Farm Maven had attended. I may also have gone out with his oldest son once, but that is beside the point.
One of my favorite sayings is, "A small town is where everybody knows whose check is good and whose husband isn't." Truer words were never spoken.
In the end, we got four roofers to come look at the house. Three of them are quite possibly distant cousins of ours and the fourth guy got thrown in there because we like to be exotic.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
How Does One Buy a Taj MaHell?
For those of you happily unaware of the fun-filled world of buying houses at auction, here's a brief tutorial:
Step One: Check your auction sites! Two that I check frequently are www.realtybid.com and www.auction.com. Both are easy to navigate and pretty informative. Once you find a house that interests you, check all the available information on it. You probably won't get much, other than a few photos, an aerial view of the property and a scary warning that the home does not qualify for conventional financing.
Step Two: If that hasn't totally scared the crap out of you, look at the bidding history. When does the auction start, or if it has already started, has anyone bid on the property? Some hot properties have lots of bidders right away; others may only have one or two people who bid at the very last minute. If no one is bidding and there are several days left on the auction, you can sit tight and just watch to see what happens. Or, you can enter a minimum bid as a fishing expedition to see if anyone outbids you. That lets you know if someone is actively watching the same property.
Step Three: Go get dirty. Most auctions have open houses and the dates are listed on the auction site. GO CHECK OUT THE PROPERTY IN PERSON. I can't stress this enough! Go poke around, look in and under everything and make an educated decision about the highest bid you are willing to enter. Take lots of pictures, too! Then go home and load them on your computer and look at them over and over. Check out any visible damage and ALWAYS assume there is more that is not visible! Whether you are able to personally see the property or not, it's a good idea to decide how much you can afford to put into the property and then subtract the cost of the obvious necessary repairs. Then, subtract closing costs and internet auction fees, etc. THEN you have an idea of your maximum bid.
Step Four: Bid, Baby, Bid! Our strategy was to wait until 5 minutes before the auction ended before we even posted our initial bid. No one bid against us and we were the high bidder. Success! Well, not exactly. Because the seller's reserve wasn't met, the house went into post-auction bidding, which can last for another week. At any time during that period, the seller can receive a better offer and go with it or simply reject your offer and walk away without selling. In the end, we went up a little on our price and the seller came down a little on his reserve and we came to an agreement.
Step Five: The Legal Crap. Once you have won the auction, in most cases you'll be sent a Purchase Agreement, which is not the same as a contract. The purchase agreement details what you are agreeing to pay for the property and your understanding of its condition and that it is being sold "as is/where is." You'll sign that and if the seller likes the numbers, you will THEN receive a contract to sign.
Step Six: Now What?! Once you have a signed contract, you'll complete the closing process and possibly take possession at closing (most auctioned homes are vacant, so this is common). Have licensed, bonded contractors standing by to give estimates on repairs that must be done right away.
And then the real fun begins!
We have only done minor, cosmetic re-habbing, so undertaking this massive project is a terrifying thought. We were smart not to risk more money than we had available. We knew the house had to have a new roof, so we figured an additional $10,000 into our purchase price to make sure we stayed within the numbers we could manage. Once we put a roof on, we can take our time with most of the other repairs, since they don't have the same potential to damage the structure.
Our time line is something like this: the auction ended on May 11, 2011. The next day we received a notice that we had not met the seller's reserve and we learned for the first time what that reserve was. Over the next 2 days, we went back and forth, each side inching towards the middle. In the end, we went up from $17,500 to $22,500 and the seller went down from $31,250 to $22,500. We received an emailed purchase agreement, filled that out, signed and initialled everything and overnighted it to the auction site. They in turn overnighted a copy of the agreement, along with our $2000 deposit to the seller. The seller took several days to officially accept the purchase agreement and now we are just waiting for a contract to be sent. Our tentative closing date is June 17th and we will take possession at closing, so auctions tend to move pretty fast!
This post is long and way too full of details, so I'll stop here and we'll cover some of the fun stuff in a later post!
Step One: Check your auction sites! Two that I check frequently are www.realtybid.com and www.auction.com. Both are easy to navigate and pretty informative. Once you find a house that interests you, check all the available information on it. You probably won't get much, other than a few photos, an aerial view of the property and a scary warning that the home does not qualify for conventional financing.
Step Two: If that hasn't totally scared the crap out of you, look at the bidding history. When does the auction start, or if it has already started, has anyone bid on the property? Some hot properties have lots of bidders right away; others may only have one or two people who bid at the very last minute. If no one is bidding and there are several days left on the auction, you can sit tight and just watch to see what happens. Or, you can enter a minimum bid as a fishing expedition to see if anyone outbids you. That lets you know if someone is actively watching the same property.
Step Three: Go get dirty. Most auctions have open houses and the dates are listed on the auction site. GO CHECK OUT THE PROPERTY IN PERSON. I can't stress this enough! Go poke around, look in and under everything and make an educated decision about the highest bid you are willing to enter. Take lots of pictures, too! Then go home and load them on your computer and look at them over and over. Check out any visible damage and ALWAYS assume there is more that is not visible! Whether you are able to personally see the property or not, it's a good idea to decide how much you can afford to put into the property and then subtract the cost of the obvious necessary repairs. Then, subtract closing costs and internet auction fees, etc. THEN you have an idea of your maximum bid.
Step Four: Bid, Baby, Bid! Our strategy was to wait until 5 minutes before the auction ended before we even posted our initial bid. No one bid against us and we were the high bidder. Success! Well, not exactly. Because the seller's reserve wasn't met, the house went into post-auction bidding, which can last for another week. At any time during that period, the seller can receive a better offer and go with it or simply reject your offer and walk away without selling. In the end, we went up a little on our price and the seller came down a little on his reserve and we came to an agreement.
Step Five: The Legal Crap. Once you have won the auction, in most cases you'll be sent a Purchase Agreement, which is not the same as a contract. The purchase agreement details what you are agreeing to pay for the property and your understanding of its condition and that it is being sold "as is/where is." You'll sign that and if the seller likes the numbers, you will THEN receive a contract to sign.
Step Six: Now What?! Once you have a signed contract, you'll complete the closing process and possibly take possession at closing (most auctioned homes are vacant, so this is common). Have licensed, bonded contractors standing by to give estimates on repairs that must be done right away.
And then the real fun begins!
We have only done minor, cosmetic re-habbing, so undertaking this massive project is a terrifying thought. We were smart not to risk more money than we had available. We knew the house had to have a new roof, so we figured an additional $10,000 into our purchase price to make sure we stayed within the numbers we could manage. Once we put a roof on, we can take our time with most of the other repairs, since they don't have the same potential to damage the structure.
Our time line is something like this: the auction ended on May 11, 2011. The next day we received a notice that we had not met the seller's reserve and we learned for the first time what that reserve was. Over the next 2 days, we went back and forth, each side inching towards the middle. In the end, we went up from $17,500 to $22,500 and the seller went down from $31,250 to $22,500. We received an emailed purchase agreement, filled that out, signed and initialled everything and overnighted it to the auction site. They in turn overnighted a copy of the agreement, along with our $2000 deposit to the seller. The seller took several days to officially accept the purchase agreement and now we are just waiting for a contract to be sent. Our tentative closing date is June 17th and we will take possession at closing, so auctions tend to move pretty fast!
This post is long and way too full of details, so I'll stop here and we'll cover some of the fun stuff in a later post!
Monday, May 23, 2011
The Taj Mahell, Part One
The Purchase
In the past six months or so since my last post, we've just been slogging along through daily life. Tank's speech therapy is ongoing and today he had a really good session. I have finally heard that magic sound: my child looking at me and saying "Mama." I absolutely cannot get enough of that! I am guilty of following him around as he tries to play, cajoling him to, "Say Mama!" There is no sweeter sound than that and it is only made more special for the struggle we had getting here. Having originally been known as "dude" and later as "buh-buh," this is really a step up. Living in the south, my child mis-pronouncing "mama" as "bubba" caused some confusion, I can tell you. Try having a child holler "Bubba!" in a crowded Georgia Wal-Mart. Twenty heads turn as all the local Bubbas try to figure out who's calling them. Good times.
Anywho. For a couple of years now, the hubs and I have been considering buying a house near our families. We live about 3 1/2 hours from the small town where both our families live. Because we are the lone transplants, this means that Thanksgiving, Christmas and various other travel-worthy holidays are spent with us on the road. We have been very fortunate to have had a separate house to stay in while we spend time with family. Originally, we kept the little house I lived in before we married. That worked well for a while, although it did not have central heat and air and there's only so much one window unit can do when it's 100 degrees in the shade. Then, my brother in law offered us the use of his vacant house. He had "lived" there before he married and moved to his wife's property in a neighboring town. I say "lived" because like any bachelors with three jobs, he basically just used it for a crash pad and a place to house the microwave and TV. We spent the past couple of years doing little home-improvement projects on that house in return for using it rent-free. We finally got to the point where we had done enough and spent enough on a house that wasn't ours. The thought occurred to us to buy the house from my brother in law, but a) I never do business with family and b) we really wanted an undervalued property that we could rehab, since our housing budget is pretty much used up by the cost of living here on Gilligan's Island.
So, we started looking at foreclosures in the greater Mayberry area, where our peeps reside. Greater Mayberry is a thriving necropolis, with a closed mill and lots of For Sale signs dotting the landscape. There were plenty of houses to be had, but we had trouble finding just the right fit. We thought we found it last July, but the deal didn't go through and we were just disgusted that the seller rejected our bid of $22,000 (the house had gone to auction) and a month later took an offer of $17,500. In retrospect, it was a blessing in disguise, because the house was cute and had lots of potential, but it was on a very busy street and had no yard to speak of. I worried about Tank playing outside there and getting too close to the cars.
About a month ago, I checked the auction sites again and located another likely prospect. We had the in-laws check it out for us and they reported back that it was in need of a roof and lots of cosmetics, but that it could be a real looker with some work. The realtor who had been trying to sell the place before it went to auction echoed their thoughts. So, I zipped up to Greater Mayberry and checked it out, taking tons of photos and poking at walls, floors and dead bugs. After many late-night discussions, we set a walk-away price and decided to bid. Interestingly, his walk-away was $25,000 and mine was $26,000. We won the house at $25,500.
As of now, we're still awaiting the official contract and acceptance, but it looks like we own two homes. Good God, what were we thinking?!
And now, this blog becomes a home improvement project blog!
In the past six months or so since my last post, we've just been slogging along through daily life. Tank's speech therapy is ongoing and today he had a really good session. I have finally heard that magic sound: my child looking at me and saying "Mama." I absolutely cannot get enough of that! I am guilty of following him around as he tries to play, cajoling him to, "Say Mama!" There is no sweeter sound than that and it is only made more special for the struggle we had getting here. Having originally been known as "dude" and later as "buh-buh," this is really a step up. Living in the south, my child mis-pronouncing "mama" as "bubba" caused some confusion, I can tell you. Try having a child holler "Bubba!" in a crowded Georgia Wal-Mart. Twenty heads turn as all the local Bubbas try to figure out who's calling them. Good times.
Anywho. For a couple of years now, the hubs and I have been considering buying a house near our families. We live about 3 1/2 hours from the small town where both our families live. Because we are the lone transplants, this means that Thanksgiving, Christmas and various other travel-worthy holidays are spent with us on the road. We have been very fortunate to have had a separate house to stay in while we spend time with family. Originally, we kept the little house I lived in before we married. That worked well for a while, although it did not have central heat and air and there's only so much one window unit can do when it's 100 degrees in the shade. Then, my brother in law offered us the use of his vacant house. He had "lived" there before he married and moved to his wife's property in a neighboring town. I say "lived" because like any bachelors with three jobs, he basically just used it for a crash pad and a place to house the microwave and TV. We spent the past couple of years doing little home-improvement projects on that house in return for using it rent-free. We finally got to the point where we had done enough and spent enough on a house that wasn't ours. The thought occurred to us to buy the house from my brother in law, but a) I never do business with family and b) we really wanted an undervalued property that we could rehab, since our housing budget is pretty much used up by the cost of living here on Gilligan's Island.
So, we started looking at foreclosures in the greater Mayberry area, where our peeps reside. Greater Mayberry is a thriving necropolis, with a closed mill and lots of For Sale signs dotting the landscape. There were plenty of houses to be had, but we had trouble finding just the right fit. We thought we found it last July, but the deal didn't go through and we were just disgusted that the seller rejected our bid of $22,000 (the house had gone to auction) and a month later took an offer of $17,500. In retrospect, it was a blessing in disguise, because the house was cute and had lots of potential, but it was on a very busy street and had no yard to speak of. I worried about Tank playing outside there and getting too close to the cars.
About a month ago, I checked the auction sites again and located another likely prospect. We had the in-laws check it out for us and they reported back that it was in need of a roof and lots of cosmetics, but that it could be a real looker with some work. The realtor who had been trying to sell the place before it went to auction echoed their thoughts. So, I zipped up to Greater Mayberry and checked it out, taking tons of photos and poking at walls, floors and dead bugs. After many late-night discussions, we set a walk-away price and decided to bid. Interestingly, his walk-away was $25,000 and mine was $26,000. We won the house at $25,500.
As of now, we're still awaiting the official contract and acceptance, but it looks like we own two homes. Good God, what were we thinking?!
And now, this blog becomes a home improvement project blog!
 |
| Tank in front of the Taj |
 |
| The hallway bath. Original PINK tile! |
 |
| Updating, Schmupdating! This is a 40" stove, y'all! And yes, that IS a window unit A/C stuck in the kitchen wall! |
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| It has a POOL! With FROGS! |
Monday, January 3, 2011
Christmas, A Bit Late
Merry Belated Christmas! It has been a while since I had five minutes to type, but I did use mental telepathy to send happy Christmas greetings to pretty much the whole world. Minus that mean gay dude at the recyclling center, but that's another story.
We had a typically fun, crazy, over-extended Christmas with our families. We headed up to what we call The Cabin, to be near all our kinfolks. Tank had a great time but at two, he's completely perplexed by the whole Santa thing. Not to mention the tree that suddenly appears in the living room. He enjoyed seeing all the family and had a total BLAST with the Thomas train table Santa brought him. Other gift exchanges were too much for him...he'd open one present and then just want to play with that toy and could not be cajoled into more gift opening. Too bad it won't stay that way!
We took Tank to get a picture with Santa at the last minute (and by that I mean December 22nd!). Last year, we got TWO Santa pictures...one with the official mall Santa and one with the free Santa at Bass Pro Shops. (What a great idea that is, by the way. Love the Bass Pro peeps!) We did have a bit of drama with the photos last year, but that was from Daddy, not Tank. I relished telling Grandmother how badly her precious son had behaved when he found out that the mall Santa pictures were $40. In his booming bass RADIO MAN VOICE, he foghorned out, "JESUS F-ING CHRIST!" Right there in Santa's Castle. Santa sent an octogenarian elf out to see what the hubbub was, but I was already taking swift action with the Look of Death and a couple of well placed pinches to my sweetie's arm.
Anyway, this year the drama was all Tank. When we got in line to see Santa at Bass Pro, Tank put his arm across his eyes, a new tactic for when he wishes to become invisible. When that didn't work, he just ran away. He made a beeline for the train table and would have stood there all night, watching the train make its endless loop, but Santa leaves at 7:00 and it was about ten til and Mama wanted her a Santa picture, By Golly. So, we go up to see Santa and he says "Merry Christmas" and that's about all it takes. Tank started windmilling arms and legs frantically and making his I'm Annoyed grunting noise. We did eventually get a pretty decent photo, but it was of all of us with Santa and Daddy was holding Tank, who was trying his best to levitate away from Santa. Good times!
Well, that's the short version. More updates on life here in a bit.
We had a typically fun, crazy, over-extended Christmas with our families. We headed up to what we call The Cabin, to be near all our kinfolks. Tank had a great time but at two, he's completely perplexed by the whole Santa thing. Not to mention the tree that suddenly appears in the living room. He enjoyed seeing all the family and had a total BLAST with the Thomas train table Santa brought him. Other gift exchanges were too much for him...he'd open one present and then just want to play with that toy and could not be cajoled into more gift opening. Too bad it won't stay that way!
We took Tank to get a picture with Santa at the last minute (and by that I mean December 22nd!). Last year, we got TWO Santa pictures...one with the official mall Santa and one with the free Santa at Bass Pro Shops. (What a great idea that is, by the way. Love the Bass Pro peeps!) We did have a bit of drama with the photos last year, but that was from Daddy, not Tank. I relished telling Grandmother how badly her precious son had behaved when he found out that the mall Santa pictures were $40. In his booming bass RADIO MAN VOICE, he foghorned out, "JESUS F-ING CHRIST!" Right there in Santa's Castle. Santa sent an octogenarian elf out to see what the hubbub was, but I was already taking swift action with the Look of Death and a couple of well placed pinches to my sweetie's arm.
Anyway, this year the drama was all Tank. When we got in line to see Santa at Bass Pro, Tank put his arm across his eyes, a new tactic for when he wishes to become invisible. When that didn't work, he just ran away. He made a beeline for the train table and would have stood there all night, watching the train make its endless loop, but Santa leaves at 7:00 and it was about ten til and Mama wanted her a Santa picture, By Golly. So, we go up to see Santa and he says "Merry Christmas" and that's about all it takes. Tank started windmilling arms and legs frantically and making his I'm Annoyed grunting noise. We did eventually get a pretty decent photo, but it was of all of us with Santa and Daddy was holding Tank, who was trying his best to levitate away from Santa. Good times!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Well played, Kermit
Today I finally dug out my big bin of Christmas music. Can I get a whut-whut?! I love me some Christmas music, as evidenced by the ridiculous number of CDs I have socked away.
Along with the music were two DVDs..."A Muppet Family Christmas" and "Rocky Mountain Holiday" with John Denver and the Muppets. Muppet fan here, obviously. Tank and I were heading out to run a couple of errands, so I grabbed the John Denver one to pop in the Jeep DVD player and see what Tank thought of it. Lately, he has been into "Back at the Barnyard." And ONLY "Back at the Barnyard." Over and over and over and over and over....well, you get the drift. He used to LURVE the movie "Cars"--"Guhs" in his Tankese language, but nowadays, he whines and fusses if you put anything in other than Otis and the gang from "Back at the Barnyard."
So, anyway, I stuck in the John Denver and the Muppets movie to see how long that would last. I was shocked that he seemed drawn in from the get-go. We stopped to get gas and whilethe tank was filling his college fund was draining away, I sat in the back seat next to Tank and we watched together. "Rocky Mountain Holiday" is really just about a camping trip and there's a lot of "be kind to the earth" messages in it about loving animals, picking up your trash and generally being a good steward of the planet. Since we had just dropped off a Jeep-load of recycling, I felt righteous enough to watch as John Denver led us all to greater, greener enlightenment.
And there I was, with my boy. We were sharing a Muppet adventure together. I've always loved the Muppets and--in my pre-baby days--had dreamed of one day having a child who loved them as much as I did. Dream Parenting is like that...you imagine all the soft-focus fun you're going to have, spinning around in a sunlit meadow, making daisy chains, baking cookies at Christmas, sharing favorite songs, books, movies. Then you actually HAVE a kid and suddenly you experience Real Parenting. Real Parenting kicks Dream Parenting in the groin, takes its lunch money and flicks boogers on its homework.
My little Tank didn't like to do any of the things I'd dreamed of doing with him. Nada. Zippo. Zilch. Spin around in a sunlit meadow? Um, try charging around the front yard and managing to hit every single pile of dog crap my non-leash-law-abiding neighbors' dogs dropped. Daisy chains? Please! I'm afraid he'd garrotte me with one. And the heartwarming vision of me baking Christmas cookies with my little one has been bitch-slapped by the reality of trying to microwave Unhealthy Choices with a two-year-old's head stuck halfway up my butt. So I wasn't too optimistic about sharing Muppet Love with this little Man Beast.
But then he surprised me. He liked it! He watched intently and recognized Kermit and Fozzie. He bobbed his head side to side when they sang. He watched the whole DVD without a peep. Hunh. How about that? I've got to say, I was a little teary-eyed over it. Sure, we were sitting in the back seat at an Enmark station and neither of us was the perfectly coiffed magazine model of parent or child I had thought we'd be. But for a little while, my boy and I had something even better...we had the Muppets. And each other.
Along with the music were two DVDs..."A Muppet Family Christmas" and "Rocky Mountain Holiday" with John Denver and the Muppets. Muppet fan here, obviously. Tank and I were heading out to run a couple of errands, so I grabbed the John Denver one to pop in the Jeep DVD player and see what Tank thought of it. Lately, he has been into "Back at the Barnyard." And ONLY "Back at the Barnyard." Over and over and over and over and over....well, you get the drift. He used to LURVE the movie "Cars"--"Guhs" in his Tankese language, but nowadays, he whines and fusses if you put anything in other than Otis and the gang from "Back at the Barnyard."
So, anyway, I stuck in the John Denver and the Muppets movie to see how long that would last. I was shocked that he seemed drawn in from the get-go. We stopped to get gas and while
And there I was, with my boy. We were sharing a Muppet adventure together. I've always loved the Muppets and--in my pre-baby days--had dreamed of one day having a child who loved them as much as I did. Dream Parenting is like that...you imagine all the soft-focus fun you're going to have, spinning around in a sunlit meadow, making daisy chains, baking cookies at Christmas, sharing favorite songs, books, movies. Then you actually HAVE a kid and suddenly you experience Real Parenting. Real Parenting kicks Dream Parenting in the groin, takes its lunch money and flicks boogers on its homework.
My little Tank didn't like to do any of the things I'd dreamed of doing with him. Nada. Zippo. Zilch. Spin around in a sunlit meadow? Um, try charging around the front yard and managing to hit every single pile of dog crap my non-leash-law-abiding neighbors' dogs dropped. Daisy chains? Please! I'm afraid he'd garrotte me with one. And the heartwarming vision of me baking Christmas cookies with my little one has been bitch-slapped by the reality of trying to microwave Unhealthy Choices with a two-year-old's head stuck halfway up my butt. So I wasn't too optimistic about sharing Muppet Love with this little Man Beast.
But then he surprised me. He liked it! He watched intently and recognized Kermit and Fozzie. He bobbed his head side to side when they sang. He watched the whole DVD without a peep. Hunh. How about that? I've got to say, I was a little teary-eyed over it. Sure, we were sitting in the back seat at an Enmark station and neither of us was the perfectly coiffed magazine model of parent or child I had thought we'd be. But for a little while, my boy and I had something even better...we had the Muppets. And each other.
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