My Place to Yours: DE-STRESSING with Simple Pleasures ...

My Place to Yours: DE-STRESSING with Simple Pleasures ...

Beautiful photos, Susan! I like to de-stress by putting on some spa-like music, lighting a candle and having either a glass of wine or a cup of tea! Works for me! Have a blessed day!

Ch ch ch changes...

Hi. I know, it's been forever since we've talked. Like, before Christmas. Hopefully we're the kind of friends who can go awhile without talking and then pick up right where we left off. So much has happened I don't quite know where to begin. Let's just go in chronological order...

We were in escrow for a new home in our area a few weeks before Christmas. Escrow fell through due to our loan not going through. Have you ever looked and looked for a new house, finally found one, put the bid in, they accepted the bid, you got pre-qualified and opened escrow, thought and planned and dreamt about what to do with said house, began to pack just a little and then your loan fell through? Never happened to you? Well it did to me and it stunk. Then Christmas came and we had a great one, quiet here at our house on Christmas morning then quiet at my mom and dad's for dinner. The night before Savannah and I were in the program at church. I played Mary (or as the director told me, "an older Mary, she's looking back on Jesus' birth". Yes, that was a bit of a blow to my 37 year old ego) and Savannah read the story from the bible. Bethany couldn't get out of her two-year-old mind that her Mommy was Mary, the manger at the front of the church didn't have a baby in it and that her sister was up on stage instead of sitting with her. She literally talked for weeks about that night.

We were blessed in the gift giving/getting part of Christmas. I asked for new luggage and a new camera but told everyone instead of breaking up the requests and ended up with 2 new cameras and 2 new full sets of luggage. Oops! The girls made out like bandits also. We went to play in the snow about an hour away, saw a movie (Bethany's first and she did great!) and had a date night.

On New Year's day I finally sat down at the computer, after getting the previous house out of my mind and ok, out of my heart too, to look at more houses for sale in our area. I stumbled to the listing for the previous house and to my utter surprise saw that they lowered the price of the house by 50 grand! We spent that day gathering any and all money we could, put in a new offer and found out later that week that the house was ours! We had the quickest escrow known to man, about a week and 2 days, and now we are working with our fabulous general contractor to finish the inside. Whew. I'm excited, stressed and exhausted all at the same time.

The house is a new construction foreclosure so we are saving great money every month going from this mortgage to that one. God is good. The new house is a Mediterranean style 2-story and I've been running around trying to get all the inside stuff picked out. Appliances, backsplashes, sinks, faucets, doors, and lights are a few of the items I've had to make decisions for lately.

Which brings me to the other change that will be taking place. This is a really good, exciting one, though, and involves YOU too! My blog will be changing! I follow many decorating/home blogs in bloggerland and I'm changing my blog to be a bit more like those. I will have plenty of pictures of the new house befores and afters, decorating and yet still have stories and quips and pictures of my family. The new blog will have it all! It won't just be about our family life and my life as wife and mommy but will encompass much more.

Through all of these changes will you stay with me? You may not hear from you for a bit until it's all up and running, the new house and the new blog. But I am here. Going crazy. Excited, stressed and exhausted, crazy.

Dangerous Instincts

This cannot continue. There simply must be an end somewhere. Please. Someone make it stop.

There are babies, babies, everywhere. There were four babies in church alone, yesterday. No, they weren't alone. But if they had been that would be just fine with Hubby and I. We would scoop them up and hold them to our chests, and breathe in that new baby smell. This is beginning to become a problem.

To top it off, over the Thanksgiving holiday we 'babysat' a friend's bunny. You would think that my two girls would be the ones oohing and ahhing all over said bunny but, no. The one carrying Mr. Bunny all over the house like a newborn, rubbing his ears till he fell asleep, and doing the oohing and ahhing was Hubby. Houston, we have a problem.

Then, back to church, there we are in our towards-the-back row trying to concentrate on praise and worship when we've got four little precious faces on their Mommy's shoulders either sleeping or looking around. It is becoming more than I can bear. It is more than I can bear. I cannot bear anymore children. I mean, I could but I don't think I really want to. I beared (is that a word?) 10 hours of labor with Savannah only to be whisked off for an emergency c-section. I beared many sleepless nights (still am sometimes) with baby Bethany who, for some reason, thought sleep would kill her. I am bearing through this same child's terrible twos. I have enough to bear.

But just seeing those babies and, I guess for Hubby, the baby bunny, brings out the maternal and paternal instincts. Some of us have them stronger than others. I don't think my mother still has hers or maybe they're just for her granddaughters. Mine are still there. Hubby has strong paternal instincts. Especially as the daddy to two daughters. It's so attractive, too. To see my big, strong cop and marine get all sweet over babies and a bunny is just so, uh, attractive. You get my drift. He can afford to do that, though. He isn't the one who has to go through pregnancy and then labor and then nursing and not sleeping. Although he was very helpful, at the end of the day there was only so much the guy could do.

So, unless God has other plans, we will not be having any more babies. I've decided, just now talking to you all, remembering not just the good but the bad and the ugly too. And yes, I think my mother would kill us if I became pregnant again. She'd eventually be thrilled but at first, uh, not so much. Pray for her.

Girls Day

The girls and I will be heading to a Children's Museum today. Both of them are home with me all week and while I have lots to do 'round here I must stop and enjoy the joy of them today. We will have a 1.5 hour drive during which we will listen to some fun kid's music in the car, stop for a treat (maybe they'll let me get them a cookie at Starbucks instead of McDonald's!) we'll head to the museum and spend as much time as they want touching and playing with all of the exhibits. This museum has a big 'grocery store' the kids can shop in and ring up groceries in all day. I have no idea why this sounds like fun to my girls but they are looking forward to dressing up in the museum's dress-up section and hittin' the store. Oh wait, I sometimes I get dressed up and hit shops, maybe it's a genetic thing.

For lunch I am planning, wait for it, Chuck E. Cheese's. I told you it was a day for them. I know I am nuts. But see, I have a few shops I need to hit on the way home and I figure I can kinda' sneak them in if the girls are completely tuckered out, sugared up and on the low of that high. We live in an area just far enough away from everything that when I am somewhere I must make the trip count and figure out what else I need/want to do while I'm 'there'. Don't worry, I never want to stay there for too long (the noise and the traffic about do in this small-town girl) but I enjoy for a few hours.

Tomorrow is Christmas decorating, yep, with the girls home. I'll let you know how that goes!

Plus, I've asked for a new camera for Christmas so I will be posting pics soon, soon, soon! Hang in there with me...

Sick

I'm sick today, and yesterday for that matter. I would say I'm "home sick" but I'm always home so that doesn't qualify. I had to drive to San Diego on Saturday for a leadership conference for church and on the way home I had a sneaking suspicion I was coming down with something. After stopping at Starbucks for the second time that day (and at 5:30pm I might add) I made it home.

Yesterday I was much worse. Fever, body aches, cold symptoms, check. Cranky husband who had to put in 'daddy duty' two days in a row, check. Now, I'm sitting on my couch, laptop in hand, hot tea on coffee table staring outside to the backyard. It's cold and windy out after raining this morning. I'm being a super great mom right now... Bethany is watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in my bed after eating the 'bana' she just asked for (banana) and drinking her milk. I may just let her stay there as long as she wants.

Obviously, I'm still not feeling well. Oh, and I just noticed a ginger snap in the pot of my silk tree in the living room. I noticed it and walked on by. We had ginger snaps in this house about a week and half ago. Seriously, who are these people I'm living with? Here's hoping no cold/flu buggie finds you this season. And may all your store bought cookies stay out of tree pots.

It's Looking at Me, part deux

We had a great time trick-or-treating with the girls. Savannah's best friend "since I was a baby" Kylee came too. We all piled into two golf carts and headed off in search of fun and candy. We drove, cold and uncomfortable with kids on every lap into the night. Some streets were busy busy. Some were spookily quiet and empty. We did them all. Bethany didn't want to say her much rehearsed line, "Trick or treat!" "Thank you, bye" in perfect two-year-old lingo, "she's so cute, I'll even give her parents, who taught this adorable child, some delicious chocolate" but she was there nonetheless to collect her share of the spoils. We saw pumpkins, spiders, webs, skeletons, witches and candy candy candy.

There were a few Haunted Houses. The older girls most certainly wanted to go in. Bethany and her Mama, not so much. But for candy, she obliged. Her Mama that is. On our second to last street, Hubby decided to stop at another scary house. "Go on up, I'll wait here with Bethany. Honey, take the girls up." The big girls were in front of me. From behind the big tree in the front yard stepped Michael Myers, calmly. I know it wasn't the real Mike Myers, right? But he had on a dark blue jumpsuit, boots and that awful white mask with the brown hair. He just stared. At me. I decided we needed to hurry. You know, it being a school night and all. "Hurry up girls."

Mike Myers just kept staring, yes, at me. "Girls, grab your candy, now." The girls, laughing at the other decorations and getting their candy and not even noticing the serial killer now stalking their mom. "Girls, move your rears, now". By now the candy giver was starting to gawk, the girls were finally paying attention and Hubby was cracking up watching all of this from the golf cart. And Mike Myers? Oh, he just stayed where he was but would slowly turn to keep staring at me, like eye-contact staring. Ghosts? Witches? Chain saws? No. Just a madman not moving but just staring at me. That'll do it.

I'm Being Obedient

I must blog. I must do it often. Pioneer Woman says so. I'm supposed to blog even if I can't think of anything to tell you. She gave several suggestions. One was to tell you how I feel when I walk into my laundry room. Really? Oh. Ok. Well, I feel a bubble of nausea rise from my stomach. I feel like I may have the vapors. I may faint right there. I will hit my head on the door of the dryer which is still open and go to glory on my tile floor. Or at least dream. I may dream of the days when there were no washers and dryers. There were prairies and horse drawn wagons and farms. Because life was so much simpler there was no need for 17 t-shirts, 11 pairs of jeans, 22 pairs of socks and 14 'church' shirts to wash, dry and maybe even iron. And that's just Hubby's wardrobe. Mine and the girls' are worse, much worse. I mean, in those days a lady might have a work dress and apron, a casual dress and a church dress along with a few under garments. All to be washed in the ring washer (is that their name?) and dried on the line. Yes, more work than what we do now but they were only washing say, eight outfits at a time! Their hour of work then drying time sure beats my full day of laundry. I'll take that any day over mine facing me tomorrow. So, I blogged, and now you know how I feel when I walk into my laundry room. Aren't you glad I told you? You can live the rest of your life now with such important information.