Houses

Houses

We lucked out when we bought our current home.  We bought when I was pregnant in 1995.  This was right before the big real estate bubble began (Fortunate thing #1) and we paid what I thought was a crazy price, but I now know is a crazy low price.  The Chicago area, as opposed to the other Midwest towns in which I had previously resided, was much more expensive.  Similar houses in, say Jefferson City, where I grew up, were at lease 30 to 50 % less expensive.  We wanted something between my job in the city and my husband's job in the west suburbs. We quickly figured out that the northwesr suburbs were not the bargain area of Chicagoland!  We finally found some affordable houses in Des Plaines.  Des Plaines (pronounced d'splaines all one word, no silent s's) is  right above O'Hare airport and being awakned by low flying jets at 2 am is not unusual.  But, (fortunate thing #2) we got a house situated close to the major highways with quick access to downtown Chicago (when there is no traffic!) and a decent route to the west as well. 

We closed on the house on July 25 which was theoretically before my due date.  However, my anxious son decided to enter the world a month early, so his first week on the planet involved attempting to keep him comfortable, fed and out of packing boxes.  Since he was early and only 4lbs, this was not  an easy task.

However, the move was basically quick and unproblematic.  We were able to get the house into live-able condition before hand.  Besides the great location of the house, it was below market price  for the size due to the fact that it was filthy when we bought it! (Fortunate thing #3).  The previous owners were not into cleaning.  The toilets appeared stained and I figured we would have to replace them.  The owners had used those blue things you hang in the tank as their ONLY cleaning method.  After some elbow grease and some scrubbing bubbles, be discovered  gleaming porcelain under the puke inducing grime.  We were able to pull up the carpeting in the bathrooms as well (yes, carpeting in the bathroom!!)

The people on House Hunters always annoy the Hell out of me.  No matter what their budget, they insist on granite counters and the most up-to date colors on the walls.  (Gosh, too bad the wall color is the only thing you can't change!) Hey baby, beggars can't be choosers!  Just glad for four walls and an attached garage!

Fortunate thing #4 happened when I got diagnosed with MS in 1996.  We had looked at and even put a bid on at least one two story Cape Cod style house.  The house we bought is a ranch style house on a slab (no basement) with only one step to get in.  Thus we avoided the nightmare of retrofitting a house to accommodate my hatred of stairs!

Since being here, we have updated both bathrooms, replaced all the carpeting twice, redone the kitchen, and, oh yeah, gotten the airport sound proofing!  This house came standard with window unit air conditioners, and radiant heat. The windows and doors were the original from the late 50's when this home was built.  Needles to say, this was not the most airtight or energy efficient home.  Due to our close proximity to the airport, we qualified for soundproofing. (Fortunate thing #5) The double hung windows, steel doors, air conditioning and forced air heat completely paid for courtesy of the airport and the Chicago tax payers, has transformed this house from one-step above a mobile home, to a neat little suburban lower middle class oasis!

We have now lived in this home for 18 years which is the longest I've ever lived in one
place!  My son, apart from the two weeks in a semi-empty two bedroom apartment, has lived in this house his whole life!

This is weird to me since we moved 4 times before I graduated from High School. 

 I don't remember the first house I lived in.  I thought I had a brief memory of it, but I think I was on a trike and I'm pretty sure that I was too young to reach the pedals on those ginormous old fashioned tricycles before we moved. 

 The first house I do remember, it the one in Godfrey, Illinois. I remember lots of things about that house.  It was a small ranch house at the bottom of a hill.   I got chased by a dog running down that hill.  He knocked me down and stepped on my forehead, It bled like crazy.  My mom thought I had cut my arm as if I was some 4 year old  suicidal goth queen. .  My sister was yelling at me to run across the hill instead of down and since I chose not to listen to her and got stepped on by the dog, I, blame her for not forcing me to do what she said and therefore scarring me for life.  I think that dog's name was Nails. 

 After kindergarten, we moved to St. Louis so my dad could become the director of Evangelical Children's Home.  We lived in a tri-level with the smallest bedrooms I have ever seen.  My brother's room was smaller than the sleeping area in a semi truck. I think we had to use a lever of some kind to pry him out every morning. My sister and I shared the "bigger" bed room that had enough space for a bunk bed and twelve thousand stuffed animal, all of which slept in my bed every night. I finished first grade and maybe some of second there.  Dad's master plan for the tiny bedroom house to have it be used as a group home for very tiny troubled children, but the neighborhood balked at having even tiny troubled kids in their midst.  So, somehow, that meant we had to move again! 

The next house was a lot more interesting and since this is  a long post (for me), I will leave you hanging and publish more tomorrow. 

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