Today We Bought a House

Long day, exciting day. We just got back. Alternating between watching the kids in the back yard -- in a perfect 80-degrees-and-sunshine day under our new maple tree -- and walking through the house writing our wishes and dreams onto sheets of printer paper on a clipboard.

High points:

1 -- Nutmeg checks out the bedrooms one at a time. We had told her that she could create her own purple-and-yellow butterfly bonanza room to share with Filbertine, but then we reconsidered and thought it might be better to let her take the small room that is already decorated as a little girl's room, for the first year. That way Fil can stay with us in the bigger bedroom.

Anyhoo, we were hoping Nutmeg would like the predecorated room and forget about the purple butterfly dream. For now. And did she ever. She checked out the other bedrooms first, then stepped into this one, did a little dance, and proclaimed, "And here's MY room!" When we asked her how she knew, she said because it had her FAVORITE color curtains (they are pink). Thank you, thank you, real estate agent, for making sure the window coverings came with the house.


2 -- Neighbors on both sides introduced selves and were really nice.

3 -- Sitting in back yard nursing baby and realizing that I am now where my children are going to grow up. Sniff.

4 -- Coulda been a low point, but discovering several asbestos tiles remaining on the stairs leading to the basement turned out to be a high point. Why? We got to see how easily a great Realtor/attorney team can make problems go away. We now have the remediation guys coming back on Thursday morning and an escrow account from the sellers to pay for it.


Finally: Moving to Chicago turned our daughter into a hot dog fanatic.

When we arrived here a year ago, I generally did not allow Nutmeg to eat cured meats unless they were nitrate free, i.e. from Whole Foods or some such. Gradually over the year she was allowed to scarf one at a family picnic, etc. Suddenly hot dogs are Nutmeg's favorite food. She had one at a Cub's game last week. She had mini bagel dogs with tater tots at Hot Doug's this weekend. Then tonight, as we piled into the car, tired, at 7 p.m., I realized that Nutmeg had lunch at the sitter's much earlier than we did and must be hungry. I asked her what she wanted. Epu suggested a hot dog, then immediately kicked himself when she latched onto the idea and he realized that the place he had in mind was not exactly on the way home.

We tried to talk her into chicken from KFC or Popeye's instead. She began to weep. Normally we wouldn't cave to that kind of pressure, but it had been a really long day and it was totally our fault that she was getting fed so late. So we drove downtown Oak Park in search of the hot dog place. Epu thought he remembered it was drive in.

"I really like drive in," Nutmeg intoned from her car seat.

Epu remembered right. There it was, a drive-through Tasty Dog. We read the sign to her.

"Yay, Tasty Dog!"' she shouted, with real joy.

Sigh. California will never take us back, now.