Today we celebrate Leap Day, and for just the third time in his life, John’s half-birthday! We celebrated last night by getting delivery from a restaurant of both kids’ choosing, which is no easy task. Edie said “Five Guys at Freddy’s”, confusing the restaurant and the movie, to which John happily agreed. For me and two kids to have burgers delivered was $70!! Seems insane.

Anyway, onto a bigger topic. Our suburban (but still technically in the city limits of Austin) house turns 40 this year! I can’t pinpoint a date, of course, but below is what it looked like in 1983 while being constructed (the one in the background, the one with the second floor under construction). Nextdoor neighbor Donald has been in his house since it was constructed, so he had some fun photographic proof. That car in the background is probably sitting in the very same spot that I’m current sitting in the shed, writing this.

In the time that we’ve owned this house—almost 12 years now—we’ve put a large amount of money into modernizing it. And right now is no exception, as we embark on the first updating of any full rooms. We had wanted to update the bathrooms and kitchen for a while (see failed Boyd remodel saga where we lost thousands) and finally pulled the trigger, thanks largely in part to my plumbing disaster from last winter, which literally left us with no choice but to do the updates as floors and ceilings were torn apart.

Here’s a list of the improvements that I can remember.

  • 2015: hardwood floors installed
  • 2016: new patio ceiling
  • 2018: new walkway
  • 2021: office/shed erected
  • 2022: new garage doors
  • 2023: new siding
  • 2023: new roof
  • 2023: new windows
  • 2023: new external paint
  • 2023: new gutters
  • 2024: master bathroom update
  • 2024: guest bathroom update
  • 2024: kitchen update

The idea with the bath/kitchen updates is that we’ll update everything, but not remodel as that would be too expensive, and things are fine where they are. They’re just wildly outdated and not in working order. And we won’t get the top-of-the-line stuff and spend a ton of money because we agree this is not a forever type of home. It’s a “make it nicer for the next year or so and let’s see what happens to the housing market and look to sell” upgrade.

I think the final pieces before potentially selling would be landscaping type things, and some minor fixes inside.

What else is new?

  • John’s first real basketball season comes to a close this weekend. His team is 2-4 and he has scored 26 points. He’s been surprisingly good at basketball despite having never really played before. The hoop we got him for Christmas is getting heavy use!
  • And on the very same day basketball ends, baseball begins. If all goes to plan he will finish basketball and drive right up to the baseball field in time for the game. We’re the Orioles this season, and I return for my sixth straight year of coaching his team.
  • Edie starts teeball Saturday too, and this time is on the Dodgers! Between the two kids, we have now represented 30% of all MLB teams in the Balcones league! (Cubs, Blue Jays, Twins, Rockies, Marlins, Cardinals, Orioles, Pirates, Dodgers) Damn those two seasons where they had us be minor league teams!
  • Spring break is around the corner, but we’re staying put this year due to all the money being spent on home stuff. Lauren has a work conference in LA that week too. The kids will be forced to attend the LifeTime kids camp during the week while I work. Lame! I am taking two days off that week to give them some downtime at home, at least.
  • This past week we experienced daily highs in both the 90s and 40s. It looks like the rest of the country had similar weather patterns.
  • I am not very interested in election stuff, but man, I can’t help but think that if the Republicans would move on from Trump, they’d have a lot better shot at winning back the White House! If Haley was the candidate, she’d pick up a lot of Democrat voters, given how unpopular Biden is. I myself would even have to give it some thought.
  • John’s friend Clark was chosen as the Kerbey Lane Kid of the Match for last Saturday’s Austin FC season opener vs. Minnesota, of all teams, and invited John to join in on the fun. Well, it turned out I wound up taking both boys plus Clark’s brother, as Clark’s parents had plans! It was a fun night though, as we rode the train to the stadium, had great free tickets, and saw the boys up on the video board. It was quite the thrill!

John’s first professional soccer game attended was a special one, indeed!