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8/30/09

Settling In

Man, it has been an exhausting weekend!! I don't think I've drank so much water, sweated so much, or peed more often since, I don't know, I guess the last time we moved!!

We have everything from the apartment now over at the house, which is now cluttered up with all our boxes!!

Unpacking is slow going because we're still recovering from such a quick move, and it's very difficult to find where to put stuff when you suddenly have more than double the space you had before.

And it seems like I'm destined to break something in every room! 

Friday night, I pulled the chain in the master bedroom to turn on the ceiling light, and the globe covering it came crashing to the floor, shattering glass everywhere. 

Saturday afternoon I wanted to change the blown bulb in the light outside the kitchen door. As I was twisting it to take it out, it popped, the metal end piece stuck in the socket & I blew a fuse. I neglected to make sure the switch was off. 

Then I went to do laundry. {Because we have boatloads and I now have an awesome washer & my own dryer!!} The dryer was only tumbling, it wasn't heating to dry the clothes. So I called the landlord to let him know the dryer is broken. Later that night, Sean comes home after work & asks why we don't have hot water. I told him I just thought maybe the temperature was turned down low on the water heater because the water was pretty warm this morning when I took a shower, and I didn't want it any hotter, so I didn't think much more about it. So he goes out to the garage to look at the water heater & see if the temp was on low. Turns out we have a gas water heater! Then it hits me, maybe we also have a gas dryer! So Sean goes to check that & sure enough, we do!!

So tomorrow I have to call the gas company to get that turned on. In the meantime, everyone needs clean laundry, so I rigged up 2 clothes lines in the back yard. I figure, hey, we'll save some money on electricity!!

Not all the furniture is in the house, it's still in the garage. My dresser needs 2 legs repaired before I can use that, the china cabinet has to be brought in {Sean is still to tired to deal with it & my legs hurt like they've never hurt before!}, the entertainment center {again, tired, sore, it's not moving quite yet.} and of course my huge desk. That baby is a monster! Because it's so big, we have to take it through the front door. But before we do that, {and by we, I mean Sean} we have to remove the door and some of the trim around it.

And we haven't even gotten to the 5'X10' storage unit full of more stuff!!!

So, I'm taking it slow now & enjoying all the space we now have. We have so much room in the living room that Savvy can show us her dances without fear of breaking something!

I don't have internet yet, they'll be hooking that up on Tuesday, so I'm using it at the public library. The connection is too slow for me to upload pictures, but as soon as I'm connected at the house, I'll upload some so you can see what's happened so far.

8/26/09

A Glimpse

Here's just a small look at our new house before we clutter it up with furniture and crap!

A look at the living room into the dining room from the front door


View from the dining room to the front of the living room.


The kitchen and dining room



The dining room and family room area. We'll never use it as a family room. My desk will go by the fireplace, so it'll be more an office.



The kitchen back door and our tiny oven. I call it my Easy Bake Oven it's so small!!



And the best part of the house?

The pool, of course!!


Dive in, the water's just fine!! LOL

Idle Hands Make Idle Minds

And my hands are not idle!

A lot is happening here at Casa de Insanity.

First, we are moving.

To a house.

Finally.

It's not far from here, and not too far from a house we lived in before we moved to this apartment. It's a three bedroom, so R & D have to share a room, and S gets her own.

She's quite happy about that & can't wait to move in.

Sean & I are meeting the land lord today (he lives in CO) to give him the deposit, sign the lease and get the keys. Then I start moving boxes over.

Oh. And it had a pool!!

Unfortunately, the house has been empty for a couple of months so the pool looks like a swamp. A lovely shade of green with lord-knows-what growing in it. But I negotiated a deal on the rent in exchange for us cleaning & maintaining it.

So over the next 5 days, I will be boxing things up & carting them in the van over to the new house. Sean couldn't get any friends to help, so it'll be just the two of us loading furniture in the truck and van.

I am not looking forward to moving the furniture. My desk is huge and heavy. Our queen size mattress is awkward. The entertainment center and china cabinet are heavy.

And we have to carry them all down stairs.

On top of moving, I'm working on the web site for Allied Gate. Some of you may remember, I'm doing some independent design work for them and work the home shows. At the last home show I had maybe half a dozen people ask if we had a web site to look at more of our designs and products. Unfortunately, the owner had hired 2 companies to develop it and got nowhere with either one of them. I told him I can build his site, just get me the files.

Last week he had a run in with the company that is currently supposed to be building the site. Levi reminded him that I've been saying I can do the site & although he hasn't seen any of my work, in his experience working with me, if I say I can do it, I usually can. So, now I'm working on the Allied Gate web site.

Which is not at all difficult, just time consuming. Especially since we want to put most of my design up. I have about a hundred I think!!

So, I will be busy for the next few days moving & working.

Not that I mind.

It's a good kinda busy....

8/21/09

Overheard

D, walking down the hall from her room,

Pretend that my hair is pretty.

8/20/09

Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins

Sometimes I wish the girls would think before they speak. Here are some examples of what I mean ~

S - What time is it?
J - I don't know. Look. You're right there by the kitchen clock.
S - I can't tell time on that clock. It confuses me.
Oh, you make your Mama so very proud!


D - Mom! Where are the rubber gloves???
J - Oh, I don't know. Maybe in the same spot they've been in since you were born????
Or maybe, just maybe, to confuse the hell out of you, I put them in a different place. You better check....


R - {holding the Kitten Who STILL Has No Name near her face} Mom, come here. You have to hear this.
J - I don't really need to hear the cat purring. Again.
R - No. It's not that. Come listen. You can hear her breathe.
Oh, good. Because for the past few months I thought it was a dead kitten leaving those big stinking poops in the litter box.

8/19/09

The Dust Bunnies Are Attacking!!!

They can't even be classified as Dust Bunnies any longer. They're Dust Dragons. Because the dust in certain areas of our apartment has accumulated to unbearable proportions.


I usually ignore the dust. Especially in areas near a vent. It's always there and no matter how much I try to get rid of it, it keeps coming back.

Like a bad song stuck in your head.

But now it's gotten so it's distracting.

Like, if a long lost high school friend just happened to knock on my door right now, I'd be embarrassed.
Yet, despite this, I have no energy to get rid of it.


God, I hope no long lost high school friend knows where I live and comes knocking at the door....


{And, yes, I did just post, on the internet for the world to see, the accumulation of dust my knick knacks have acquired. Please also notice that I have given the last two pictures an artistic flare by Photoshopping them. And you will be happy to know, I took those pieces down, along with several others, and cleaned them. You can now rest comfortably knowing I didn't just take pictures of dust piles & leave them.} 

8/16/09

Conversations

On the drive home after picking up the girls from school the other day, we were talking about who looks like my side of the family and who looks like Sean's.

After a few minutes into our discussion S says;

"No, no, no. It's like this. D looks like Mom and her side of the family, R looks like Dad and his side, and I look like both."

"So', I said, "You're a mish-mash?"

"No." S replied, "I'm a perfect blend."

Ahhh, just like a fine Starbucks coffee!!

8/14/09

Another Day, Another Week

Well, the girls made it through their first week of school & I made it through another birthday.


Happy B-Day to me!
{Brought to you by Danny the mannequin. Featured in my Flickr stream found here.}

Not that this birthday was much different than any other since I was 30.

Because, you know, I'm only 32 now.

That's my story & I'm sticking to it.

As long as people keep believing it!!!

For R & S, the first week of school wasn't much different than the last couple of years.

For D it was a bigger change.

She's now in middle school. A different school, new friends, different teachers. All that good stuff that comes with growing up & plowing through school.

She doesn't have class with any of her friends from elementary school, but made 2 new friends the first 2 days of school. S made a new friend, too. Although her way to make friends is to walk up to a cute boy & say to him, "You're cute. Will you be my friend?"

I'm not kidding.

She really did that.

I think she gets it from her father.

But that's what I love about my girls. They make friends easily & quickly. They are in no way like I was. I was so shy that it took me half the year to make friends. At least until I was in 8th grade! By then most of the kids in my class I'd been going to school with since kindergarten. And new students were few & far between. In kindergarten I was afraid of everyone! When I was 17 & forced to get a job {thanks Mom!!}, it terrified me that I would have to talk to people. People I didn't **GULP** know.

You'll be happy to know I've over come that fear & now enjoy talking to people.

Even people I don't know!

I got a couple of cool gifts for my birthday.

S got me this ~

She bought it about a month ago & was so excited about it. She just couldn't wait to give it to me! She actually had me open it on the 12th because she couldn't wait any longer!! Silly girl.

And Mom got me these ~

You may remember me mentioning them here. They are so cool. And go with absolutely nothing I own. Except my laptop & bag I carry it in. Which makes them all the more appealing to me.

Sean said he thinks they're gay & don't match my clothes. Which, again, makes me love them even more!!

True, they don't match.

They coordinate!

8/11/09

Caught in a Whirl Wind

The past few days have been pretty busy. I went from setting home with the kids to 4 full days of busy, busy, busy.

Friday, Saturday & Sunday I worked the home show at the University of Phoenix Stadium. Friday & Sunday were easy 8 hour days, but Saturday was a loooong 10 hour day. It was really nice to get out, and Levi & I got to catch up on what's going on in our lives.

All 3 days were busy, we set about 15 or so appointments. Which means more work for me. I really miss the interaction with the customers {or maybe it's just talking with all adults all day!!} and I can't wait until I get back to more designing!

On Monday, Mom needed some help with installing a new stove & overhead microwave. So the younger two & I went over to help. {S started school on Monday.} The hardest part was getting the overhead microwave attached! That took a sweaty couple of hours!!

Now mom has a working oven & microwave. Which means we can visit for lunch or dinner more often!!

Today the younger 2 started school, so I have the house all to myself.

Ahhhhh!

How nice it is to sit in a quiet house & not hear any bickering.

That bubble will burst in about an hour......

*sigh*

8/5/09

Ducks, Turtles, Trees & Ponds

Yesterday, the younger two & I got up early {at least it was for them} to go to the park. I wanted to get there before 8 before it got way too hot.

We got there about 7:30 & it was already 92 degrees! We went to a little park that's in a strip mall like area. It's behind a couple of restaurants & an office building & is a pretty nice spot.

It has 2 small ponds, a fountain & trees. They have some tables & benches scattered through out that look like spots for the employees to have lunch.


This is the larger pond that has a bunch of HUGE koi fish and turtles. When we first got there, there was a turtle sunning itself on a rock. He looked quite happy!

We walked half way around the pond, then went to the smaller one behind it to feed the 6 ducks that were there. There were more koi fish & we tried to get them to jump out of the water when we tossed in pieces of bread! I wish I had better knowledge of my camera to capture it, but I still have more to learn to get those kind of shots.

I took a couple of pictures of the girls in a cool looking tree in front of the fountain. It was very shady & even with my flash, they were dark & needed to be Photoshopped to look half way decent.


You can't even tell there is a fountain behind them :(

I had D sit on a rock in front of the fountain that was more in the sunlight. A little better, but still not as good as I would've liked. I think I had my camera on the wrong setting. Better make sure I double check them next time!!

All these pics I had the sun either behind me of off to the left a bit, so I need to learn how to take pics with the sun in different locations. Usually it's in front of me {like the first pic of the fountain} and those pictures I think typically look better.

Just more learning on my part!

We walked around the large pond, heading back to the van when 4 turtles came swimming towards us.


I think they were hoping for some bread crumbs, but we only had a few pieces of bread that we gave all to the ducks & koi. But it was fun to see the little guys swimming around.

It was getting too hot after being there for only 30 minutes or so, so we began heading back. I wanted s few more pictures of the girls, so I took what I like to call "Hey You!" shots.

You know, ones where you aim the camera then call out "Hey R!" so she looks toward you while you snap.

Of course, I don't always get a good shot & have to do a do over. By then they've caught on and, as in the case of D, it becomes a battle.


After the park, D & I had to run over to the middle school to get her schedule & photo ID.

Naturally, she was more cooperative with the school photographer in getting her picture taken than she is with me!

Punk!

8/3/09

HAPPY 16th B-DAY S!!

I know. I'm a day late. So sue me.

Because of our {lack of} finances, she didn't get a big party. Or any party for that matter.

She did, however, get a cake, card & some cash from us.

And she got to go to a sleep-over with some of her friends. Her friend W had 4 of her friends over & they baked her a cake, sang happy birthday & watched movies all night.

They ate cake all day & night long!

When she came home, she played solitaire on the computer for 3 hours, watched a little TV & went to bed at 8.

It's so tough being 16....