A New Face

So excited for Missy to come home! She has been at Girl Scout Camp since Thursday and should be home tonight.
   for a long time she has wanted a cat, and this weekend we got one. We aren't naming him until she gets here as I want her to have some input on it. But he came with the name Zorro, we don't know if we will keep that name or not, obviously. He has already been neutered and had his first set of shots so everything is on a good track.

Here are a couple of pictures of the little guy:

We are supposed to keep him in a small room and slowly introduce him to the rest of the house over the next couple of weeks. All he seams to want to do is be held though. I went into the laundry room (his area is the boys bathroom and the laundry room adjacent) and could not find him for the life of me. I thought I had looked everywhere, in fact I got worried and called Jer when he was at a friends house because I was a bit distraught. Turns out this is where he was:

Can you see him? Me either! Let me zoom in:

There he is! Holy crap he gave me a scare! He is a really sweet kitten though. Tonight one of my friends who has lots of experience with kitties came over and helped me put Kitty Caps on him so that he can't scratch anyone (or thing for that matter). I hope it works to teach him as I really don't want to have to remove his front claws if I can help it.

AWOL

Sorry I've been AWOL for a bit. :D We have been painting our house.

No, the renters didn't damage it any worse than normal wear and tear...

The carpet has always been crap, since before we moved in, so we decided to replace it, at the same time we figured "why not paint too? since we won't have to worry about ruining the carpet and all that...."

So alas, we started painting. And painting, and painting. We had to repaint the ceilings as the original builder was L-aaaaaa-ZY and they had painted all of the ceilings the same khaki color that the walls were. So we primed them, and painted them, and painted them again. Then we started on the walls.

Yes, all of the walls. Including the one above the stairwell (which freaks me out).

Then we edged the ceiling, again, and again. Then the walls, 2 times. After that we let each of the kids pick out a wall color for their bedrooms (only one wall though... I'm not THAT awesome of a mom).

Turbo picked green, like grass green. It took 4 coats to get it on smooth. The other two kids picked red and purple respectively. Those weren't nearly as bad.

Now? Well, right this moment I'm hanging out at our house while the carpet guys do their thing.

YAY!!!!  As soon as they are done I will vacuum (because there is always carpet bits spread around afterword) and then .... well, then I plan on starting to move crap!!!

Mwhahahahaha! So excited! (and the kiddos don't have school tomorrow... so that helps too!)

A Day in the Life of Me (this week anyways!)

I keep meaning to take a picture of the house so that we can have a (kinda) "before" picture and after ones... but I keep forgetting so now it would be an  "In progress" picture... which I keep forgetting to take.

Yay me.

So we have ripped up the carpet and the padding, today we got all the dumb little staples up off of the floor (that kept the pad in place). We purchased the paint and I will likely start on that tomorrow if I have a chance. I was kinda amazed that I even got over to the house today with everything I needed to do.

I'm going to make a list for kicks and giggles and because I want to give you a real idea of what my day was.

Up ready out the door,
Work at school until 11:30,
Meet with college adviser about next semester,
Meet with graphic designer about ad work for other job,
Pick up Girl Scout cookies for an order,
drop off Girl Scout cookies,
Pick up Turbo and Goober (and Girl Scout Cookies) from Gma S's,
Take Goober back to school to pick up forgotten homework,
Get Goober to start on homework in van while I drop off a bill,
Take the boys to get new pants,
Meet a friend to give her HER order of Girl Scout cookies,
Pick up mail at PO Box,
Drop off pants at house and use the little girls room,
Go to pick up Missy from Girl Scouts,
Go to house, (Goober finishes homework on way there) unload clean dishwasher and reload, prep dinner for kids,
Take out staples in flooring,
Vacuum bare floor.
Go home and get kids "quick showers" and off to bed.

Yup, a day in the life of me! Wahoo! Tomorrow is a new one! All I can say is thank goodness my math class was canceled this evening...

House Stuff

Do today I spent a lot of time at the house.

So did the kids.

The tenants left a mess, so I was trying to do some cleaning, and Joe (the guys that is putting a wall in downstairs) was going to try to start working on the basement tonight so we ripped up the carpet and pad in the basement and the crapet in the rest of the house.

I know that most people were doing Easter egg hunts today and dying eggs. My poor kiddos got hosed, but they didn't seem to mind too much as the were running around the house and yard playing an imaginary game of "Mario".

PS. does anyone know the real name of the "chompy plants" on that game? :D

The Bain of Those that Find that They are Too Nice

So as many of you know, our renter stiffed us for the last month of rent. She also stiffed most of the utilities and apparently didn't leave a forwarding address. Oh. The. Joys. At least the utilities aren't holding us responsible... which is good.

We warned her that we would be changing the locks on Thursday and therefore we did. However there was still some stuff there at the house. Including a very nice grill on the back porch. 

Today I was at the house trying to get a couple of things cleaned up (cause, yah, the water was turned off do to lack of payment so.... no cleaning done) and waiting for the carpet dude to come by because the carpet in that house is crapola and we needed an estimate. (Thank goodness for large tax returns... what can I say!?)

Last night we moved the grill inside because, joy of joys, the renter also thought my pot rack was nice and took it. I was not terribly happy about that. So figured that HEY we got a nice grill of roughly equal value! 

Well, while I was there one of her "friends" shows up to get the rest of her crap (and most of it was crap) and he thought he would take the grill at the same time....

and I let him....

I. KNOW!!!! I should have said "when the pot rack comes back you can have the grill." But I'm a softy and did no such thing, and now the grill is gone, and my pot rack is gone... and I'm fairly sure I won't see it again. 

Note to self: Stop being a push over in person. Thankyouverymuch!

So tomorrow... I get to rip up the carpet though! That should get some frustration out at least :D

The Rocking Dead

Lately Jer has been occasionally playing a beta test game for "The Walking Dead" social game. I don't know anything about it other than there are zombies and it's based on the movie/comic.

Apparently Goober and Missy took notice of it and were watching him play for a bit (it's pretty cartoony). After a few Missy and Goober go on  their way and fairly quickly I hear Missy's voice...

"...The Rocking Dead..."

???

Is that like zombies in rocking chairs or with guitars? lol 

Dangit! I'm Antsy Darnit!

So the renter said that she would turn the key into our rental manager sometime today or tomorrow... 

waiting

waiting

waiting...

Is it tomorrow yet?! 

Where Did Everyone Go?

I've been looking around a little at some of my friends blogs. I've noticed a weird trend.

Most of them have stopped blogging, which doesn't surprise me really... life happens and you do what you can to keep it running. If dropping the ball on the blog is needed, so be it.

However I noticed that a large majority of the ones who have stopped blogging all stopped at roughly the same time I did... about 2 years ago.

I wonder if it related to the economy or the age of our children. Most of us were/are stay at home mom's (I'm not anymore) so the need for adult interaction and a space to "get it all out" is high when you have really young kids.

Then again, the economy took a quick dive around that time too and so going back to work will definitely limit the time to blog as well.

I actually tend to think it has more to do with the age of the kiddos though.

PS, I got a new haircut. I love it!

Missy to me right after I got home from my hair appointment "Mom! Where is your hair!?"
Me: "I got it cut"
Gma S: "Probably on the floor at the salon"
Missy: "Stop cutting your hair!"
Me: "I don't like doing it, so.... no."
Gma S: "All of the time that she would spend doing her own hair she spends doing yours!"
Me: "True"

Guess if it's a choice between me doing her hair and me doing my hair, she is going to pick her own. Which is FINE with ME! :D

Arrogance

Tonight was soccer practice. It's always at 8:30 pm, which is a bit late for an almost 10 year old in my opinion, but it's once a week so I deal with it.

The whole reason many parents like the idea of team sports like soccer is because it encourages teamwork and also good sportsmanship. I have to say, that's a big part for me. If my kid happens to be awesome at it, great, however if that is the case I will always encourage them to "share the ball" and that without their team they wouldn't win any games, but forfeit.

Goober loves soccer for the most part, and his team is decent. There are a couple of kids who are pretty good at making goals (one in particular), which is fine and makes for a fun time cheering the team on.

Tonight however I wanted to belt a couple of these "good players" because at practice they would not let Goober have a ball to practice kicking with. I mean... come on... that is what practice is FOR, to get better. How can you get better if you can't have a ball. I understand that Goober isn't the most aggressive player, that he has things to learn, but honestly I think he has less work to do that these two arrogant children. I found myself thinking that maybe I wouldn't be cheering for those two come Saturday...

I always find to amusing (and frustrating) that people (children and adults alike) sometimes think that being mean gives them power and makes them look tough. It doesn't make anyone look tough. I can't remember a time in my life that I ever saw someone being mean, cruel, or a jerk, and though "wow, that kid is tough". My first thoughts are "what a jerk." and then, depending on how the other kid is dealing, maybe "THAT kid is tough" or "that's not fair".

Always, always it makes the aggressor look the fool.

When these teammates learn that they too can learn new things from EVERY player on the team, THEN they will be great players.... and not before.

Where did the myth that being cruel makes you strong come from... because it is absolutely and completely a LIE. It makes you weak.

Turbo

So Turbo is still ill, so I took him to the doctor today. Turns out he has an ear infection as well as the flu. Sad thing is the doctor that saw him recognized him from the last time he was in (before christmas break) with the flu and strep.

Poor kiddo, he is such a trooper.

I no longer trust electronic thermometers

So last night Turbo said he didn't feel good. I took his temperature. Normal. He asked if he had to go to school today, to which I replied "we will see in the morning".

This morning came and he still insisted that he didn't feel good even though the thermometer said that his temp was normal. Because he really didn't want to go to school I told him that he could use his "mental health day" (my kids each get one mental health day a school year, this is a day they can choose to stay home from school just because they don't feel like going. Heck, adults take vacation days sometimes for no other reason than they need a break... I figure my kids should have the same option).

After going to work (Jer had the day off so he stayed home with Turbo) I met the two at Subway for lunch.

Once I got there Turbo wasn't acting quite normal and started shivering when we got our food. I felt his forehead and thought "gee, he's warm." and asked Jer if he was ill. Jer said his temp was normal when they left home.

After we returned home I broke out the thermometer again and AGAIN it said normal (even though I could feel he was warm with my wrist... and not just a little warm). Then I tried the darned thing on ME and it said my temp was low. Grrrr.... needless to say I asked Jer to pick up an "old school" thermometer on the way home from his Physical Therapy appt (he hurt his back a while ago, I should probably have another post about that).

When I decided to write this post I thought, I need a pic of miserable boy... and he saw me and gave me a valiant smile. Good sport that one.

Sassy Shoes

    Ok, so recently my old shoes that I purchased when I was preggo with Missy (she is going to be 8 years old this year) started to konk out. It made me sad. But with shoes that last that long, and I'm hard on shoes people, I figured I would get the same brand again. The old shoes are at the top of the picture, the new ones are the ones just next to them that are all sassy and loud... loud? What? Not ME?!?! If you know me IRL you know that just about everything about me is loud! LOL. 

   Anyways, I ordered them online cause it's hard to find truly sassy stuff in this town. :D Yay Amazon! I'm a fan.

Turbo reading

So this is Turbo "reading" or reading Harry Potter. I'm sure he can read some of the words, though I'm fairly certain he can't read all of them :D

Can you tell we are a reading family?

The House

   Well, it's official! We are moving back into our house! We decided that this was doable a couple of months ago when we were able to pay off our credit card and our van (therefore freeing up monthly funds for actual living expenses!). At the time we decided that it would be best to move after I was done with finals for this semester, because moving and going to school can be a hot mess!

   Soon after that our renters gave notice, which is nice in some ways (we don't have to feel crappy for kicking them out) but not so nice in others (they now haven't paid their last months rent... oh, the joys, and since no one will be in the house we figured we might as well get our butts in there).

   Anyways, I'm still way excited to have my own space again and not feel like both the kids and us are in the way or that we need to have anyones approval for how we are raising our kids or living our lives. This feeling has not so much to do with my in-laws as the fact that we are living in someone else's home... anyone else's home would make me feel that way.

   My In-laws have been great! They really were what made the difference between us foreclosing and going bankrupt and being able to weather this storm. While we see differently on many things I think we were able to find an equilibrium that we did okay with for the most part.

   My mother-in-law has been an angel in being willing to help out with the kids when Jer has to work (his shifts change) and I have class. For the most part my work and the kids don't conflict but my class schedule and the kids do, especially, like I said, when Jer has to work. Now that Goober is getting older he is able to help out with supervising the younger ones for short periods of time (which is AWESOME!!!) but I still have one fairly long night class that I don't feel good about leaving him for the full length of the time.

  Anyways, the renters should be out (at the latest) by the last day of this month!, so looking forward to seeing what the state of everything is and getting a move on! Get it? MOVE on.

  Ok, lame... I know. meh.
 
 

Mortality

  Throughout my whole life I have never had anyone that was particularly close to me be in immediate threat of death (at least in my mind... usually I found out after I already knew they were okay that there had been a threat, ie car accidents, pulmonary embolisms, etc.) . I know I'm incredibly lucky on this front, I'm not complaining.

  I went to the dentist last week - the same one I have gone to since I was eight years old - and as we were chatting I was reminded of what a kind and caring person he is. As I left his office and pulled out of the parking lot I had a sudden feeling of sadness about him getting older and how I would miss him when he passes away. I quickly reminded myself that he really wasn't that old, I would say he is probably comparable to my parents age... and revised the thought to how I would miss him when he retired.

  On Friday my mom called me with concerning news, one of my aunts (the one I have the closest connection to and adore even though we rarely have a chance to spend time together due to distance etc.) had had to have an emergency appendectomy, As the hospital was trying to send her home she insisted that she couldn't breath and refused to go. GOOD THING TOO! Turns out she has a hole in her heart that she didn't know about (and neither did anyone else obviously). Now she has to have open heart surgery early next week.

  Knowing this threat is there puts an ache in my heart, but I'm glad that I know. I love that lady and I look up to her. She is spunky and driven and determined to do things that fulfill her at the same time as she does her best to look out for her children. Last time I saw her she had fire engine red hair (I knew I got my desire for funky hairstyles somewhere!) and a mischievous grin that reflects her great sense of humor. She and I have always been kindred spirits.

  I really don't know what to do with myself though, I want to do something to help, but I know more people up there "helping" would only cause stress (her son, my mom, and one of my other aunts are already en-route or already there). I no longer believe that prayer makes much of a difference - outside of being a kind of self comforting mechanism - so praying about it seems kind of asinine to me (I know many many people will disagree with my assessment of prayer, but tough cookies, that's my reality right now).

  I guess the best thing I can do at the moment is just to let her know I love her (I have texted her, because I don't want to inundate her any more than she already likely is). I don't even want to think about the risks involved with open heart surgery... so I'm going to do my best to pretend they don't exist because there is zero I can do about that.

  Now just to find someone in the Portland area that will go and get one of those little remote control helicopters for me and deliver it her to help keep her entertained while she recovers! Anyone know of someone? I'll pay for it! (her trade is in helicopter mechanics).

PS. I really wish classes weren't scheduled to start on Monday.

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Update!: My aunt came through it all fabulously! In fact she feels better than she has in a very long time! :D Yay for modern medicine!