Status Check

Well, I am happy to say that our old house is very close to empty, FINALLY!! Did I say that in my last post? Well, we are really there now. There is one more truck load sitting in the living room waiting to go over, but it’s all boxed up and ready. There’s also one, maybe two, truck loads waiting in the garage, but they are out of the way and can sit there a little longer if necessary. Inside the house, I’ll just need to gather up a few loose ends, and then vacuum the floor and bring in the toys scattered in the backyard we almost forgot about. (Oh, and have we emptied the shed??) After that, I officially hand the reins over to Tricia to get done whatever she wants in order to prepare the house for her daycare. This Saturday she’s having a “working pizza party” where she’s invited friends and family to help clean and paint the house. I am not sure I was invited (because she figured I’d need to be unpacking now), but I invited myself and definitely plan on being there. She was absolutely instrumental in helping us get everything packed, and I figure the best way to repay her is to return the favor.

There is a town-wide garage sale next weekend (Aug 2^nd) that we plan to participate in. I know we have a lot to put out, but I’m not sure how much of it I’m going to be able to find. We may end up having another sale of our own in September. I need to spend a good part of next week focusing on it, though. We are going to set things up at the old house in the empty garage (it will be empty by then) and pair up with Tricia’s family, which we do every year anyway. They even buy sodas and water to put in an ice chest and sell. That idea usually goes over well in the August heat.

The kids and I will be leaving on Friday for my side of the family’s annual weekend in Hot Springs, AR. Greg actually volunteered to stay home and do my paper route and handle our part of the garage sale. While he will miss seeing family, I think he will get more relaxation out of being able to work on unpacking and his other projects uninterrupted and on his own schedule, than he would traveling 8 hours one way for a mini-vacation. The work waiting at home would weigh on his mind and stress him out to where he wouldn’t enjoy himself in Hot Springs. Me, on the other hand, I am the queen of procrastination. It won’t bother my conscience one iota to take this “break” and spend a weekend away doing nothing!

My brother Andy is currently home in Kansas from Iraq for his 2-week R & R. He was supposed to go back on the 26^th, but is expecting to get another 2-week extension. Due to some family issues he is dealing with right now, he has requested that he be allowed to stay home permanently and not finish his year in Iraq, but I don’t know that he is going to be granted that wish. In which case, Samantha and Pejo might be coming back to our house to stay for a while again. We are looking forward to having them, if it works out that way. Especially now that we are in the new house and have considerably more room!

Well, this is what we have going on right now. With a little work and other activities tossed into the midst. School starts back in three weeks on August 13^th. The s are both very excited about going back, which is good. They have really been playing well together this summer and using their imaginations to come up with new games. I’m always happy to see that. There’s been plenty of fighting, too, but we’d be worried if there wasn’t. Greyson has grown up so much, it almost makes me sad. He’s definitely a little boy now. I keep asking him to stay my baby, but he says, “No, I can’t be a baby. I’m Greyson!”

Have a great weekend!!

The Never-Ending Moving Process

I have decided that moving is too much work.  There was a night last week when I actually did change my mind.  There’s still more stuff in the old house than in the new, so it would be easier to just go back, right?  But I don’t know why I entertain such thoughts since that’s not even a remote possibility.  Nor would I truly want that.  There’s so much more room in the new house that I know it will eventually be worth all this work.  But the moving process is dragging on and on and on and on …

The problem is that we spent most of Greg’s week off work and the time our company was here working on painting and things in the new house.  So now, we are having to actually move our stuff just whenever we can find time -- in the evenings for Greg and for me, in between running here and there during the afternoon.  And it’s not like we have every evening free either.  If only life would just pause so we could get this finished up, but I know we’ll eventually get it done.  I just hope it’s soon!

Right now we are working hard to clear everything out of the old house so that Tricia can start getting set up for her daycare to be up and running on August 1^st.  In case I haven’t mentioned it, our neighbor and good friend across the street is going to rent our house to expand her home daycare.  She is so excited about this that she has been packing up my house for me!  I daresay she has done more of the work than I have so far.  Or at least as much.  Plus, we’ve been using her husband’s truck regularly for our trips back and forth.  I don’t know how we’ll ever repay them.  They are good friends.

Losing our Four-Legged Babies

Well, yesterday was a sad day for our family, as we buried the third of the five pets we’ve had for the last 12 years. Our dog Shelby (the brown one) developed a devastating back injury over the weekend. We aren’t sure what happened, or if something did happen. Our vet suggested a stroke, possibly, but we’ve been noticing some behavior changes, so perhaps it’s been progressing towards this point for a while now. Dr. Shimanek didn’t really give us much hope after looking at her yesterday. He just said she’s in really bad shape and a lot of pain. I expected to hear that he could perform a $1,000 surgery to prolong the inevitable, in which case we’d at least have an option, but there was no alternative. So, as hard as it was (and still is), we had her put down shortly after 5:30 yesterday afternoon. This was made all the more difficult for us, especially Greg, because July 14^th is also the day his mother died in a car four years ago.

The other two pets we have lost this year were cats. We found Willow, our calico, under the kitchen table one morning back in February. That was a real shock because she was healthy so far as we knew, and our youngest pet at 10 years old. Then about a month ago, our part-Siamese cat Lexi, disappeared without a trace. The previous night when Greg was calling for the cats to come inside, he heard growling in the alley, like the start of a cat fight, but when he went to check it out, he didn’t find anything around. Neither of our cats came in at that time, though, so he left the door open during the night for Lexi and Britt to come in later. The next morning, Britt was there, but Lexi was not and we haven’t seen her since. We searched the neighborhood and the alley behind our house in depth but found nothing at all. Because of the noise Greg heard, we suspect that something attacked her. And in fact, we heard from a neighbor that one of the two pit bulls who live a street over was running loose around the same time. Part of me still wants to believe that someone just saw our pretty kitty and decided to take her home for their own. I noticed for a couple of weeks afterwards, however, that Britten would go outside but very hesitantly and he would also stay close to the house. My theory is that he witnessed whatever happened to Lexi, and it must have been bad to traumatize him so.

Our house is still far from empty, though. We still have our dog Shanna, our very first pet, and our orange tabby cat, Britten (pet number four), plus our new baby kitties, Cuddles and Patches. Oh, and let me not forget Comet the mouse and Cowboy the Beta fish.

Speaking of Cowboy … on Monday morning, Greyson came to get me, wanting to show me something in the s’ bedroom. I went with him and he pointed into the sink at something black-looking and slimy. Well, my first thought was that a kitten went potty in the sink. My next thought was that an eel of some sort had come up the drain. Finally, the truth dawned on me as I heard Greyson saying, “Fishy in sink!” It was only then that I noticed the lid was off of the fish tank. Apparently, my little boy climbed up on the sink counter, fished Cowboy out of his tank, and then dropped him in the sink. Fortunately, Greyson was so proud of this accomplishment that he came and got me right away to show off his handiwork, so it had not been too long and I was able to put Cowboy back in his water and he swam off very much alive, although probably a bit stressed. This little incident won Cowboy a new spot of honor on the mantle in the living room. I do not think that anyone (cat or boy) can get up there so he’s safe for the moment. At least until the next time Greyson comes across the step ladder …

Update from previous post

By the way ...

Hannah, Sammy & Pejo left last Monday to go home for a few days. They had planned to come back to be here this weekend, but while they were back in Kansas, Hannah's grandfather passed away. So now they are in Oklahoma City, or will be headed there soon, where her grandparents and mom live. He had been ill for quite some time.

Also, I had mentioned our air conditioner problems. We did get that repaired last Friday after only five days of sweating to death.

And in other good news, our closing costs were much less than we anticipated and were prepared to pay, so now we have some cash to put towards a riding lawn mower. Woo-hoo!

Goodnight ...

Closing, FINALLY!

Well, it is official now. We own two houses. We have two mortgages. YIKES! :) This is good news, though. We finally closed on our new house this morning. It's been more than two months since that auction back on April 18th.

We spent this day working over there, painting and putting up a fence. My grandparents are here, along with my uncle David, as well as my parents. We have lots of good help! Greg was off today and will be off all of next week. If he can keep himself away ... He has a hard time breaking away from work because he always has so much to do. Job security, I guess.

Anyway, we got most of both bathrooms painted, the front one a really pretty medium blue, the one in our room, the perfect shade of lavendar, my very favorite color. I was a little surprised Greg said okay to that, and as it turns out, I guess he was just doing it for me. Today I asked him if he liked it, but all he would say was, "It's purple." But whatever his reasons, I accept because it's LOVELY!! We plan to paint the kitchen and dining room a pumpkin-y orange color. It should be bright and cheery, I hope. The living room and hallway are going to be a brown color called Covered Wagon. Not too dark but not tan or anything. The girls room will be an ocean theme with the bottom of the walls a really bright blue for water and a light blue like sky for the top. Greyson's room is a really pretty green -- "Ivy Green." If you ask him, he says green is his favorite color. I would guess this is due to the green shirt from Steve off of Blue's Clues, but I could be wrong. Our bedroom is going to be a really pale green to match the flowers in our curtains and bedspread. It's just going to be a ton of work.

Granddad, Greg, & Uncle David are working on the fence outside. They made what I would consider to be remarkable progress today and are hoping to finish up tomorrow. With any luck, it will cool off a little and the wind will die down, too. It got up to 102 degrees today and the wind was just out of control. I was glad my job was inside the house. :)

Well, I'd better get my kiddos in bed. They have Vacation Bible School tomorrow and I'm going to need to be up and ready to work around 6 AM if I am going to keep up with my grandparents. I sure don't want to be sleeping while they are working! I'm planning to do my paper route and then just head on over.

Have a great weekend!!

Life in General

Wow, has it really been a week since I last wrote? I can't keep up! We are finally closing on our new house early next week. It's been two whole months since that auction. We've only been in the house once, and it was closer to three months ago. It doesn't feel real anymore, more like a vague dream I once had. We plan to paint the rooms next weekend and start moving our stuff during the following week. I just need to get motivated to pack things up. Yes, I am admitting to you that I haven't really started.

Lately I've been spending all my time doing laundry. The kids play in the water constantly so I'm forever washing towels, wet clothes and swimsuits. The swimsuits I can let dry and only wash every now and then, but not the wet clothes. They start smelling like mildew within a day! I am really enjoying my new washer and dryer, though.

We did buy a pool this summer, a 10-foot one, but we decided not to put it up until we are in the new house. The directions say to find a spot at least 15 feet from your house, away from trees and on level ground. Well, we didn't find anywhere meeting all those qualifications in our current backyard. Besides, why create more work for ourselves by putting it up, taking it down, then putting it up and taking it down again, all in the same summer?

The girls have been VBSing for the last two weeks since we returned from San Antonio. Next week I won't know what to do with them in the evenings! Our church is having its VBS all in one day, Saturday, the 28th. Guess that will occupy them while we paint.

Sammy and Pejo are still here, and their mom Hannah is here now, also. They will be staying with us for a while. It's really been nice to truly get to know my niece and nephew. We've all lived in different states far apart pretty much forever, so we are trying to take advantage of the fact that only four hours separate us right now. My brother, Andy, gets to come home from Iraq in July for his R & R break. I wish they'd stop sending him over there.

Oh, there is a little drama going on at the moment. Our air conditioner in the house has stopped working. It was Sunday when we noticed it, so I had someone come out on Monday. He was able to get it running again, but that only lasted until late Tuesday. Turns out we are going to have to replace the unit. Again, it's a really good thing we got a nice income tax return and that economic stimulus payment this year!!

Well, I will sign off for now. Better get back to the dishes and laundry, maybe pack a box or two. Maybe. Tune in again soon for the latest update in the ongoing saga of my life! :)

Extras kiddos

This week we acquired a couple more kids! Our niece Sammy and nephew Pejo are here to stay with us for a while. Our kids are thrilled! We are all enjoying them. They arrived Wednesday night and have been having a grand time playing together every moment since. Greyson and Pejo are both three; they were born one month to the day apart. And they are two peas in a pod! It's sort of like having twins, very busy twins, but I am especially enjoying watching them interact. Samantha is eight -- almost nine, actually! -- and she and Susannah and Makaley all also get along really well. I am glad for them to have some time to really bond. I'm attaching a picture. It's from a previous visit in February, but you can tell that they are all good buddies.