I've Got a Date...

I've got a date with a big black garbage bag today. Well actually I guess you can call me run around Sue, because I have a date with a few of them. :)

I got this email today :

~MCSD Schools are CLOSED today, Wednesday, Jan. 7, due to severe winter weather conditions. ~

No school for Trevor means lots of work for me. I don't loose anytime running him to school and picking him up. We leave here at 8:20 AM and then I get back home around 9:20-30 -- if I come straight home, if not then we get here around 11:20-30 (some times later) and then I have to leave here at around 2:20-30 to go get him from school. Not that I mind. But it just takes up some time.

So today I'm going to attempt to take down all the Christmas decorations. Oh! no, that isn't what I'm using the big black garbage bags for...the decorations I'll pack up, the garbage bags are because we are going through as many rooms as we can today and getting rid of old toys, broken stuff, junk, stuff we don't need, use, want or love = garbage.

I have so much "STUFF" every where, I just want less of it. Toys are one thing... we are over whelmed with them too, but at least they are toys... and serve a purpose. STUFF just random stuff, I can't deal with. I am loosing my patients with having stuff sitting around every where. It is so much easier to stay organized and also keep things clean with less clutter, so that is what we are shooting for today. :)

I'll be back to let you all know how my date goes!! :)

Lauren's Art...

kitchen wall NEWLY painted... only a few HOURS old

Lauren's LOVELY art work

a little bit better picture of her lovely circle drawing

can you see it??

Now honestly... I am that mom.

You know the one...

the one that SAVES

EVERY. SINGLE. THING.

that their kids draw or make or what have you.

YEP!
THAT is me!!

I have boxes of stuff... and I LOVE it all.

I love that they are so creative and amazing...

I just love it.

THIS kind of art work that Lauren did...

although LOVELY...

doesn't NOT make me sooo happy.

BUT I will keep it forever... in a picture.

I think that I might paint some wall, some where,

not sure where yet, but

with the chalk board paint... that way

they have a special wall they CAN

color on.

hmmmm... might have to work on this some. :)

I'm off to relax some!!

nighty night!

MORE pictures!!

here is the BAR AREA (man cave)

all painted.

I LOVE this color.

I loved it so much that I put it in my kitchen today too!!

It's showing up a little darker in the pictures than it actually is...

but still you can get the idea.

Some how I didn't end up with pictures of what I painted today,

which was the hallway and by the stairs...

I'm too lazy and tired to take them tonight and load them on the

computer and the do a post about them...

but I will take some pictures tomorrow of the house

CLEAN

and the bar all set up and the hallway,

and I will post them when I get some time.

Not to sure when that will be... most likely after the PARTY.

BUT ...
I am still trying to make it to me 365 posts this year...

SO needless to say,

I might be back to post more pictures of the house.

I know FO SHOW I'll be posting once more with the

pictures of my newly painted kitchen wall

with KID ART on it. :)

When It Pours, It...

On Friday I posted asking if anyone could finish the line... When it pours, it... well I didn't get back here until today because of a very busy weekend.

The answer is, when it pours, it FLOODS!! yep! We woke up at 1:15 AM to a flooded bedroom. There was about a inch and half of water in my bedroom. GREAT!! I know. It was cold dirty water too. Thank goodness we have no flooring down in our room yet, otherwise that would have sucked even more. We vacuumed and swept and ran fans till about 3:15 AM or so... then finally went back to bed, having the majority of the water cleaned up. Bryan had to rig up some things outside to keep the water from pooling up again so it wouldn't run into the house.

It was literally running inside our house... you could hear it coming in like a faucet was on. It sucked.

We don't have our entire bedroom finished, as far as insulation and sheetrock goes because we are waiting for the foundation to be fixed to make sure we don't do the work then have leaks and have to rip out all the work. We have 1/2 of it done, just so that we could get out bed out of the playroom so we could organize that some and put up our tree. Thursday night was the first night we slept in our bedroom. I'm glad we did sleep down there otherwise we wouldn't have had a clue about the water till the morning when Bryan would have been going to work and by then a LOT of things would have been totally ruined.

I had all the kids Christmas presents in the walk-in closet we have and wrapping paper and stuff... it got a little wet, but thankfully it wasn't ruined. The wrapping paper is a little warped but it is okay to use still. We had boxes of stuff, still because we haven't been able to put it all away because the house isn't all set up yet, and they got wet, so I spent a lot of time on Friday moving stuff around, vacuuming more water up, running the fan more, and trying to clean up all the mess. It wasn't really that bad of a job, but to be completely honest I'm so tired of moving the same things over and over and OVER!!

Thankfully I think we are getting all our problems solved with the foundation because the contractor, David, was there Sunday to start the work and today the guy is there to do the back-hoe work so they can do the entire thing today... or at least the majority of it. Yay!!

We are making progress every day it seems with the house, but for a while we would make progress with one thing and then something else would go wrong, but for now it seems like we are on a winning streak... well after the flood that is.

I just have to remember to just take one step at a time and it should all come together. I remember when I was anxious to get into the house to see it... then to try to buy it... then to move in... and that all happened... it just took some time... as does anything... so this too will work out... in time.

TGIF

Thank God It's Friday!

I have typed this post over and over at least 4 times now. I just can't seem to get it right. I always just sit here and sort of type away... thinking but not using all my brain power. Just sort of rambling on the keyboard and having it spill out into a half-assed post.

Not that I need this post to be something meaningful and spiritual or anything like that.. but just something that is worth reading and that maybe I, myself, wouldn't mind coming back and reading at some point down the road.

I love blogging. It's a release and very relaxing for me. I can be me, I can vent, ramble and get things off my mind and chest. And almost all of the time, in not all the time, I get positive feedback, love and support. No one is judging me here. There is no crap, no drama... everyone is friends. I wish my life could operate this smoothly.

So I'd like to be better at writing on this blog. Make my posts more organized and interesting. Just I'm not sure how to do this... so if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to share. I'd love to have some different ideas on how to make my writing better. (thanks in advance!)

*back to the original scheduled post*

Friday? How did that happen? I'm happy it is Friday but at the same time, I'm not sure how we got here already. Time is running away from me. I think it is because I have a lot on my plate right now and it all has a deadline on it having to be done.

Of course, the biggest serving on my plate is a triple heaping pile of steamy NEEDS-TO-BE-DONE-&-NEEDS-TO-BE-PERFECT-CHRISTMAS. This year they are all into it. They all "get it" they all ~*BELIEVE*~ in Santa... this is a magical year. I can't afford to not make it perfect... but at the same time I'm struggling to afford to make it Over The Top perfect ~ best Christmas ever! I have to find balance. They are 5 and 3, they will be excited no matter what. They will LOVE what Santa is going to bring them. I think this is just me, that is thinking there needs to be more and bigger and more and better stuff.

On the side of the heaping of CHRISTMAS is the dreaded HOUSE!! The big bite that I took that is getting to be a little too much to chew... yeah. that one.
They haven't started our foundation yet... it was supposed to be started LAST Tuesday. They forgot to mail the check to the contractor... oops! (I don't buy it, but whatever!) He hasn't started YET!

Bryan is working on our bedroom downstairs, just half of it so we can at least put our bed, nightstands and some boxes down there and get them out of the playroom. We will probably finish the other half and the WI closet after the new year. This Saturday, in fact, you will be able to find Heather and I knee deep in primer... everything should be dry and ready for a first coat. yay!! (thank God for Heather and her LOVE of painting... I really do love that girl!)

Bryan and Chris have also been working on The Man Cave aka the bar area and a bar for in it. They have big hopes, dreams and aspirations for their Man Cave... some aren't even close to reality.. but we let them dream, plan and play. It keeps them from annoying us for a little while. Plus we are having out Third Annual New Year Eve Bash!! So to have the bar area finished or at least partially done so we can use it will be cool. I'm not sure how much they are going to be able to get done in there, but we'll see.

Along with Christmas for the kids is all the decorating of the house. My living room is pretty decked out... but once our bed and stuff is out of the playroom I will have to get a move on cleaning and organizing in there to decorate and put the tree up. We are going Sunday on an annual family trip with Bryan's side of the family to get our Christmas tree. (I'm not looking forward to this too much... I'm expecting LOTS of drama... and I'm soooo NOT in the mood for any more drama!)

Well speaking of heaping loads of stuff on my plate... one of my little heapings is here crying and whining at me LOUDLY... she is just full of drama and upset today. Her heap on my plate is covered in whine, tears, fits, laying on the floor and occasionally yelling. Isn't it great to have TWO three year olds to be able to enjoy this in STEREO?? Why yes!! Yes it is... that way I'm sure to not miss one single solitary minute of crying, whining, fussing, foot stomping, fit throwing, temper tantrum having, begging, pleading, squealing, screaming, yelling, laughing, singing, talking, giggling and all that. Some of it I really enjoy... the other 75% of stuff I could totally live without and would be fine. Maybe I should explain this to my girls... that they could knock off all the girly drama crap and I would be able to go on with life just fine. Hmm... I might have to try this.

Well I should really get up off the computer, do what I gotta do and get it done so I can pick Trevor up early from school. I have to get them all ready to go the doctors for the HIGHLY ANTICIPATED Shot Day!! ~ BTW Trevor was fussing at me yesterday about "Why do I have to wait till tomorrow to get my shot?? Why can't I just get it today?" I asked if he was nervous for it and just wanted to get it out of the way or something... and he said "No. I'm not nervous at all, I just want it so that I can be healthy. It only hurts for a second, why would I be nervous?"

Some of you yesterday were shocked by my children's reactions to wanting to get shots... and honestly I'm not sure how we did it... but they are all really good about it. Trevor is the BEST, he sits there and takes it like a champ... always has, since he was old enough to understand what was going on. The girls are getting way better with it, but are still little so they may not totally get it... but they are anxious just the same. We DO NOT buy them toys or reward them for being good about getting shots. We DO NOT torture them with nail guns or other horrid things so they are used to pain. We DO NOT talk about it like it is bad either though... we make it like is sort of good thing... after all it is to keep them healthy so it is a good thing... and we are just very honest with them... when they have to get shots, we just tell them straight up that at their appointment they are going to get a shot and that it will pinch/hurt for a second, but they will be fine.

I'll let you all know how we actually make out tonight... they are all getting flu shots. Then next Tuesday the girls are getting three year old shots. By then the memory of today will still be fresh so we'll see how excited they are to get shots then.

Well I have procrastinated to my maximum limit today so I should be going. I'm sure I'll be back since procrastinating is my Thing and I have a lot to do and a time limit on getting it done. Yep, that's how I roll. ;)

No so good...

the cutting of the wall/foundation last night to put in our new egress window did NOT work out. Actually it didn't go at all. : (

they came, they saw, they tried to kick it's ass, but the darn foundation just held it's ground. I'm sure they will be back at it today... but what a pain the neck.... shoulders, back, arms and hands.

I hope they can get it today without much of a hassle.

460!

OMG!!

I'm moving in less than two weeks! wow.

I'm excited! I really am. But part of me, is kind of wondering what it will be like at our new house. The neighborhood is quiet. VERY quiet. Some or most of the people around us are only here in the Summer or on weekends. And now instead of being 2.5 miles from my parents house, where I love to go visit, I will be about 10 miles away.

I'm also wondering how in the hell we are going to get everything done in two weeks. Well not even two weeks in ELEVEN days!

11! that is all we have left.

AND we have a LOT to do in the "new" house and a lot to wrap up here. But I guess we will just have to see how it all goes.

This Saturday we are getting our new appliances delivered and installed so that is good. Then I think we will probably stay at the "new" house Saturday night... maybe.

Tomorrow night my brother, Ryan, is going to be cutting the hole in our foundation for our egress window... I'm anxious to see how that comes out. :) then they will finish sheet rocking our bedroom. We have been through over 60 sheets of sheet rock already and still need more. We thought about 48 would do it... I guess we were off. ;)

We have to fix a few things in the kids rooms before I can start painting in there. The girls room we are going to mark off so we can paint it stripes of the colors they picked. They each picked a color.

And in Trevor's room I will need to paint the room with grey primer first before painting his green and his blue colors. I already marked off the walls for where the white stripe will go. :)

I think their rooms are going to come out so nice. I cannot wait.

Our room will need a coat of primer before we can paint it b/c it all new sheet rock. :) But we have no flooring down so it will be easier to paint that room. :) yay.

Well I'm going to go back to cleaning and doing things around here. I feel good. I got the dishes done up and a bunch of laundry done and I even packed three boxes! Go me!! :)

Have a good night.

Monday, Monday So Good To Me...

Whenever Monday comes, I used to feel a little bit sad. It meant that everyone had work again and I was off on my own once more. Sometimes with three children. BUT lately when Monday comes I feel a little bit happy. It means we survived another week of working on the house. :)

We are still there during the week, Bryan goes after work every. single. night. and I usually go over during the day. But for some reason lately the weekends have been kicking my butt. So Monday is sort of a welcome change. And although I know we need to get things done over at the "new" house I'm sure that everyone welcomes the change of going back to their job, even if just for a second.

We are making tremendous progress. :) AND we still have a tremendous amount of work to still go. BUT we are getting there.

Today I'm off to drop Trevor off at school and then go get some groceries, then we are going to come home and do up ALL the laundry (that is a total lie, b/c it will take me more than one afternoon to get the laundry done up, but it sounds ambitious!) and then I'm going to make dinner and everything. (I haven't made dinner in a long time)

Well right now I have to go get the girls and myself dressed... I've got Trev ready so one down, three to go.

I'll try to get back on here and post some more pictures. I'll also try to come around and say hi to everyone. I know I have been majorly slacking in the comment department, sorry.

MY girls

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN & HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE!

I am such a sucky mom today... I wanted to do a touching beautiful post dedicated to my beautiful, amazing girls that are THREE today, but I'm home for the first time this morning since driving Trevor to school. I reek of BLEACH... it is burning my throat and eyes. I have to get those lil' beauties in for a nap, clean this house b/c it is looking as bad as the "new" house and then work on making dinner. Once I make dinner I am going to feed the kids and myself then I'm going to take food over to feed "the guys" aka Bryan, Kevin & Chris... who are hard at work in the "new" house. I am going to try to clean some more in the kitchen for a little bit, but I have to get home in time to get all three little rug rats in the tub and then off to bed at a descent time b/c Trevor has school tomorrow.

So I will try to get back on here to type a wonderful, heartfelt post to my darling little ladies, BUT I'm not sure I will be able to get back here.

Happy Birthday my Libby Lou Lou girl (Lauren)... I love you more than anything in this world you are wonderful and amazing and I'm blessed to call you my own.

Happy Birthday my little Brookie Cookie Monster... I love you more than anything in this world (also) and you are amazing and wonderful and I'm blessed to call you my own.

I LOVE YOU GIRLS!! <3

xoxoxox
Mommy :)

Making Progress

Bryan is making good progress. He has a lot ripped out of the lower level. He took down a partition wall that made it two rooms down stairs, and we are opening that up to be our master suite. AND I found out yesterday that I will have a walk-in closet!! yay!! I haven't ever lived any where that I had a walk-in closet so I'm petty excited about that. :)

There is still a ton of work, but thankfully it seems like we have some help to get things done. Bryan has some help to get stuff all ripped and torn out... from Chris and Kevin. My brother Ryan is going to help cut the hole in the concrete foundation for the egress window we need. And my dad said he would help put up new stuff when the time comes. Meaning sheetrock and all that. Plus my brother and dad are quite skilled at taping and spackling. Well actually my dad and both my brothers are quite skilled at anything to do with building and also mechanical too. We are pretty lucky that we have the resources right in our own family to do almost everything ourselves.

Today, Heather and I are going to go over to the house to clean. The upstairs pretty much just needs some good 'ole fashion elbow grease. Well, besides the kitchen and the bathroom, but for now we are going to work around those rooms and get some other things done... I'm going to take some pictures today while we are over there with Heather's camera so I can put them on the computer and post some here. :) So hopefully later today or tomorrow morning I will have some new pictures for you all to see. (JENN!!) ;)

On other news, we had Lauren & Brooke's birthday party yesterday and it was very nice. They got a LOT of presents and the kids had a LOT of fun playing together. AND all the kids got along really well. It was Trevor, Lauren, Brooke, Matthew, Julia, Walter, Brandon, Nick, Katelyn, Lacy, Alyssa, Shelby, Leland and Leah. Of course, Leland and Leah are way too little to play they were still there and they are still kids so it counted. :) It warmed up some so we weren't too cold... and if you were in the sun it was pretty nice. :)

I'll post some pictures from the party later too. I'm going to see what I can pack for now while the kids are happily and quietly playing.

Tootle Lu!

woo hoo!!

last night we got the contract!! it isn't the official signed by the landlord contract, but it is an email copy that we read and went over. it is pretty good!! It really covers both us and the landlord. So thankfully we won't have to hire our own attorney to draw up a contract for us, which would cost us time and money that we really just don't have. We want IN! I want the key!1 I want to look around and measure things and plan and all that... I want to show my KIDS! they have only seen the outside of the house. I want to show my parents too!

so hopefully today after Bryan meets with our realtor we can sign and move forward!! I cannot wait. :) it will be a while before we actually move in because of work that needs to be done in the house first... and cleaning and all but at least we will be able to get started on all that. :)

woo hoo!!

Bad Luck

I guess you can call what is going on around here bad luck. :(

~

Well first you all know that a few weeks ago my camera died. I've tried everything to revive it, but alas the overworked and underpaid little thing is being laid to rest. It is a shame that only three years old it had to pass... but it death was at the hands of toddlers... so you know it was probably unintentional and I hope quick and painless.

~

Then Friday morning Bryan found that our only female sugar glider had passed on. She wasn't acting that great and actually was out during the day on Thursday, I called him to come home and check her out... I didn't want her to be suffering. But she seemed okay. She would eat and move around some, but she had lost the use of her back legs. :( I really and truly hope that her passing was quick and very painless. Poor little girl. She was so sweet. I have been sad about this a lot more than I ever thought that I would be. (not that I'm a cruel uncaring bitch... but just that they aren't a pet like our dog or something to us. We do care for them and like them... anyway... )

~

Then this morning my mom and I spoke on the phone and as soon as she started talking I knew something was wrong.... my mom found my nephew's cat dead this morning. :( She was upset of course, b/c they all live together so it was the family cat... but she was really upset for Matthew. Poor kid. :( He took it okay... you know like any kid would when their pet passes away.

Then this afternoon Bryan called me to say that our refrigerator died. UGH!! AND we just went shopping the night before. What the heck?? SO... we had to start up the MONEY eating freezer down stairs to fill up with our stuff from upstairs and then also start our camper fridge so we could use that. There were still a few things that wouldn't fit... so Bryan had egg salad sandwiches for lunch, and we are eating hamburgers and chicken for dinner. ;) I can't believe it. I just called the landlord on Friday to tell them that we are moving and all, and now I have to call tomorrow to say that the fridge took a shit. We don't want them to buy one just for us to finish living here... but we have to let them know. I'm not sure what we are going to do. I guess I'll just have to see what they say when I call them.

~

Dammit.

~

And really I'm not even trying to compare the death of the two pets to the death of the camera and the fridge... so no one get all mad at me... I'm just trying to make light of a streak of bad luck we have been having around here. But I guess with all good things come some bad. As far as the house and all that... things are going good. We are still waiting for contracts to come... but all is good. :)

~

I'll be here with an update as soon as there is new news.

Up & At Em'

I'm up the kids are up. Trevor is on the bus and off to school. The girls are eating breakfast... in front of the tv in the living room. (I know, bad mommy! bad!) I'm sitting here, stalling. BUT, in my defense, I want to document this move. I have moved a few times... from my parents house to live with my bf after high school, then out of that house to live with friends, then back to my parents house, then out to live with a gf (not that kind of gf! ;) lol) then back to my parents house then moved out to move in with Bryan, then we moved from one house to this house, and now we are moving again but to OUR house!! :) So anyway... lets just say that I have lots of experience packing and moving.

~

But this time is different. This time I have an entire house to pack PLUS three kids and their stuff. I packed an entire house before, but it was easier. I had an extra room to put the packed boxes in and I started a month in advance and had no kids to slow me down. Now I feel like I'm not going to be able to pack the way I want to.

~

I sort of have an idea for a system, in other words, these are my crazy thoughts while I lay in bed at night NOT sleeping thinking about THE HOUSE!

~

Here are my thoughts about how to pack:

• start with stuff we aren't using now... summer clothes/beach stuff things like that
• start in the kids rooms (they have a LOT more stuff it seems than we do in our room)
• go through EVERY. SINGLE. THING. that I'm packing and get rid of things

THINGS TO GET RID OF:

• clothes that are too small, or don't wear... donate or give to others.
• toys they have out grown, list on Craig's list, give away or donate
• broken toys ~ throw out!
• happy meal toys ~ throw out!
• things that we haven't used or touched since we moved here 6 yrs ago!!!

BACK TO THOUGHTS ON PACKING:

• pack clothes, blankets, toys all non-fragile things first
• LABEL!! LABEL. EVERY. SINGLE. BOX... top and sides!
• clean this house as I pack things up to help with the last cleaning before we leave
• pack as many boxes as I have every day that I have boxes

So these are my thoughts for now about packing. My mom and Bryan are worried I'm getting over my head with packing... no pun intended! ;) I think of it as I HAVE to start now!! There is no other choice! Bryan even said to me last night that he is thinking maybe we could be in the new house by November 1st!! NOVEMBER FIRST PEOPLE!!! I'm excited!! ... but!! I have an entire house to pack up!! I think there is no other way to get all this done the way I want to do it... organized, sorted out and cleaned then to pack every. single. minute I have free from doing other things toward the move.

I'm off to pack!! :)

Ramblings

good morning.

Thank you all for the wonderful wishes for the house. We talked to our realtor yesterday and she has only been able to get in contact with the wife and proposed the deal to her, renting with option to buy, then two years buying it for the full asking price... which no one ever really offers full asking price for the first offer. But she hasn't been able to get in contact with the husband. She said they travel in separate circuits, not sure exactly how this work but we are just hoping she will be able to get in touch with him soon. We are on pins & needles and not sleeping well trying to wait this out. Not to mention all the plans and ideas that are circulating in our thoughts, although we are trying to not get too far ahead of ourselves.

they say all good things come to those that wait. right? that is how i'm trying to see this situation we talked to Sig about the house then had to wait about a week to see it... we liked it. then we made the offer and are waiting for her to propose it to the owners and i'm hoping since we have waited 3 days so far, with out knowing when we will hear from any of them, that this will have a good outcome.

for some reason i have really wonderful luck with things that i want working out in my favor. it is unreal. something always changes or bends or just goes exactly right in the universe so that things work out for me. i'm really thankful for this and hope that it will be the same way with this house. BUT at the same time things don't always go the way i want or plan or even calculate... and although it is sometimes set back and disappointing, to say the least, it is always for a reason. Some of the most major things in my life that have failed seem to have been for the BEST reasoning and made up more significant parts of my life. things and people that i couldn't imagine being absent in my life.

so although i'm trying to play it cool and think positively... i'm still dying to hear from Sig and see what the owners think of our proposal. as soon as i'm done either celebrating or being disappointed and trying to come up with another proposal for them, since we were approved for the mortgage and could still go that route, i will come post about it so you all can know what is going on.


ALSO!! Thank you all for the camera info. It seems as though my camera is really truly passed on. :( sad i know. i'm trying not to fret about it... and i'm also trying not to think of all the pictures i'm missing every. single. day.

ugh!!

i'm not sure what to do yet. i'm not sure where to shop first. i did some research with lead me to the Canon Rebel XSi... but wow!! that is pretty pricey and right now my finances need to be focused in other directions... a LOT of other directions. so i con't to search and see what you are all using. :) thanks for all the advice.