Termites aside, my husband T and I are in the middle of remodeling of our semi-new house.

For my own reference, this is an on-going list of projects we plan to start:
New floors in kitchen (ceramic tile) & living room (hardwood)
New kitchen countertops
New kitchen appliances
Miscellaneous planting, trimming landscaping
The Mackdaddy Project: The extra garage to house T's landscaping business equipment

Now, I'm completely stressed out. I want to start or complete most of these before "future baby not yet conceived" arrives

Nothing like an unexpected household expense to bust your budget. Recently we discovered a small colony (right word?) of termites had set-up shop in our newly purchased home.

They materialized in a strange way. In my remodeling madness, I decided to remove the chairrail in the kitchen dining area. With my handy crowbar, the moulding came off without a hitch, except it disturbed my friendly termite "swarmers" that lived in my crawlspace.

Thankfully I am obsessed with home improvement projects, or we might never have known the house was infested.

After a termite inspection by the exterminators (that previously treated the house for termites after our initial home inspection), we scheduled a treatment of the entire house. Homeowners be warned: do not (as the previous homeowners did) treat one area of your home for termites and neglect the rest. The home inspection only required them to spray the affected area (the garage) which just incited the termites to move right next door to my kitchen!

Termite treatment isn't cheap. In this part of the country, the Southeast US, it's a part of life. Although not one we had planned for in our April budget.