More this-n-that

First: Currently Reading
Mixed Signals by Liz Curtis Higgs
Enjoying the lightness. Mrs. Higgs is famous for her humor, so you have to be on your toes to keep up with the jokes and wit she infuses. Speaking of Mrs. Higgs, my kids also have her book The Pumpkin Patch Parable and I highly recommend it.

Second: House Hunting
We put an offer on a house a few weeks ago. Evidently, our extremely low-ball offer on the unlivable, over priced dump was an insult to the sellers (a BANK ~ yes, a foreclosure) because we didn't even receive a response. We were one of seven offers, as noted below by the listing agent. The agent who submitted our offer recently received the email below from the listing agent.

You expressed interest in [xx xxxx] while it was on the market. After receiving 7 offers in that short time, and accepting the best – the buyer’s have unfortunately dropped out.

As such, [xx xxxx] will be coming back on the market. Since it is a high-interest property, just wanted to give you a heads-up.

Feel free to send over an offer. The seller expects it to go for around asking, so low-ball offers have no chance.

Offers will be submitted as-they-come.

I HOPE NO ONE BIDS ON THIS PROPERTY, these people are so full of themselves. Are they not following the market??? Note that the house has been "on and off" the market since OCTOBER, people. I guess all those offers and buyers who back out realize they made a big, OVER PRICED mistake before it was too late. Oh, and note to agent: Take some grammar/spelling lessons. ugh!

This and That

First: Currently Reading
Made from Scratch by Sandra Lee
Sandra Lee is Food Network's Semi-Homemade queen. The writing is not all that stellar but the story line sure is interesting. I'm maybe 1/3 of the way through and already I like her more. She has sure overcome a lot of adversity!

Second: House Hunting
We've been looking to buy a house for a while. As time marches on, we get more serious about the whole endeavor. However, this post about seeing a house before you write an offer really ticked me off and, of course, added confirmation to my suspicions about evil real estate agents. Sigh. I would really like to be wrong about that.

Currently Reading...

The Cider House Rules by John Irving. Written in 1985, it was also adapted into a screenplay in 1999. So far I'm enjoying it (chapter 2) and it takes a little more headspace than the typical brainless fiction I often read.

Allergies

Our little girl, 17 months old, is allergic to peanuts and milk! I certainly didn't need a skin test to tell me that -- I already knew it -- but the shock to the system (albeit an obvious, foregone conclusion) came when the doctor said "No Milk, No Peanuts" after the skin test. Ok, peanuts, easy peasy to avoid. Well, not "easy" in the "easy" sense, but "easy" in the "obvious" sense because society has raised it's consciousness about peanut allergies. Well, kind of. And milk, well, that's not too bad since my kids don't really consume milk. Oh, wait. It's not "just milk" ... It's
yogurt
cheese
butter
sour cream
and all those things that are made with any of these ingredients, or any processed foods that are processed in a facility that also processes milk or peanut products.

Oh my goodness gracious, we are in for a ride. This is completely foreign allergy territory!

I won't do it

My son, my three-year-old transportation-loving son, needs new sheets. There are plenty out there. Pottery Barn Kids Firetruck bedding, transportation bedding (cringe, we have that crib sheet)... I don't need to list all the available sheeting with trucks, planes, trains, fire engines, diggers, backhoe loaders,... we would be here all day.

If I were a good mommy I would buy him some adorable sheets with one of the aforementioned vehicles. But for some reason I can't get away from the fact that it would be pure indulgence. We have plenty of sheets for his bed. He won't always want those on his bed. And even though we "have" money I could use to buy them... I won't. Even though they are only $15 at Target this week. I don't know why, but this is one of those things that I "must" buy every time I see them. So far I have avoided the purchase (mostly ~ except for the transportation crib sheet I bought ON SALE) but why won't this urge go away? So ridiculous.

DMV rjaslkdfa;jsdflk;j!!!!

Oh, how I love the DMV. My car registration is due at the end of the month and I haven't received a renewal notice by mail. That's quite possibly because our new mail carrier BITES the big one and only 1/2 the time manages to lock back up the boxes... this is one of many complaints I have about this carrier. (Maybe s/he could try putting MY mail in MY mailbox?)

Anyway, I am looking forward to contacting the DMV on Monday and trying to convince them to take my money so that I am not driving illegally. And since I have no renewal anything ~ oh and did my old registration get stolen from my car a few months ago? ~ That will make the whole situation even worse. Great. Happy Monday is coming, oh I can't wait.

Here's a new one...

At 5 AM this morning I heard "Mommy Mommy I have to go p__ p__" ~ I was really hoping he didn't say poo poo but I wasn't sure. Anyway I went in the kids' bedroom (half asleep since I'd probably only gotten 4 hours of sleep since 10 pm between me being sick and Baby Girl being awake), run him into the bathroom (after I ran into a big box and the bedroom door and woke the little girl up) and he peed. BOY did he pee. Of course he's wearing a "night time undie" (aka a pull up haha) so I run to get him a new one (since this one I'm sure is soaked), in my sleep-stupor I change it and when I get the old one off I realize... Oh! It wasn't wet at all!

Back to bed for the boy, then into my bed for the crying girl..

Wow!! I wonder if he will be dry when he gets up this morning! This is a big day. :)

Nuggets of doom...

Our family feels closer and closer to being ready, willing, and (who knows if we are) able to buy a house. But with all the craziness in the housing market I'm not sure if I'm so willing to do it. I read a lot of real estate blogs, news, etc ... Here's an interesting one about the Federal Reserve:

The Federal Reserve Has Failed Us

My favorite quote is: The Federal Reserve is neither Federal, nor a reserve. It is a private bank that was established in 1913. I won’t bore you with the details. All you need to know is that it is owned privately - by people who could afford and had the power to start a central bank in 1913. It has never been audited. It controls the money supply.

These are all things I didn't know before today (go ahead and laugh if you want) but this info, along with all the other info in this article, is scary. :(

p.s. ~ I still haven't returned or opened that crazy expensive purse, in case you were wondering.

p.p.s. ~ MAJOR props to the person who found and turned in my cell phone to the friendly workers at a nearby cafe. I thought I would never see it again after I realized I lost it, but it is found!!!!!!!! I wasn't sure that there were other honest people out there, but evidently one is out there and s/he is the one that found my phone!!

dilemma

Someone very unexpectedly gave me a Kate Spade purse. I can't decide if I should keep it. It is the most expensive bag I have ever owned. It seems a little crazy and over-the-top. I did visit the Kate Spade store and saw that they had this bag in both Kelly Green (well, I don't know the official "Kate Spade" color name but it was a bright green) or Christmas Tree Red. I would love the green one but my husband thought that was a little over the top. Hahaha.


Speaking of shopping, I think we have a shopper on our hands:

"You're not smart...

... you're capable."

That's the secret to raising smart kids, evidently. Don't tell them that they're smart, instead, teach them to be wise. (haha, how's that!??!) See the article here. This was a very interesting article and I'm still pondering some of the things it had to say. (Thanks to Jeff for the pointer to this.)

Oh, no!

And I can't believe it but once again I have let the birthday of one of my "oldest" friends (i.e. longest still-in-touch) slip on by. I have an excuse ~ but don't we all. So I'd like to publicly wish a happy belated birthday to my friend Jon, without whom I probably never would have enjoyed photography so much, loved bananas so much (to his chagrin), protested construction (End Construction), been scared of driving over bridges (well, not so much now), been hugged by a necklace, played the guitar or written any song of my own, or owned a shirt that says "Apple Saw Box Bomb Jon". Here's to you, old man! :) (late, though it may be...)

Hope you had a great one!

Hawaii

My husband and I just returned from a seven night cruise around the Hawai'ian Islands while our kids stayed with their grandparents, aunt(s), uncle, and cousin(s). Husband and I each had our own cameras to play with and this was one of my favorites (that I took).


This next picture really cracks me up. I have a series of about four of them, with husband getting successively closer. There is nothing great about these pictures except for that they remind me of all those tabloid photographs. Since DH is a little skittish about being posted on the web I have blocked out his face. Aren't I nice.



There were lots of chickens everywhere, on almost every island. I can't remember exactly but during some hurricane (1992?) lots of them got loose and, well, have made friends. :)


I spent a lot of time at the various waterfalls trying to get the perfect shutter speed, f-stop, and all that jazz. I read in our guidebook that 1/10th of a second is good when shooting waterfalls, so once I figured that out it was a matter of fixing the other variables to make it all come together. I liked the look of the 1/10th speed, husband not so much. It's interesting to see that right out f the gate we have very different styles and opinions about what makes a good photo.

That's enough picture plucking for now, maybe my next post in three months (wink) I will put some other fun things up. Merry Christmas!

What's more evil: Google or furniture?

Click here: http://www.sufficientthrust.com/why-furniture-is-more-evil-than-google/ to find out (oh, I guess the link gave it away. Well, funny read anyhow.)

Birthdays

Our kiddie's birthdays are one day apart. They received a membership to the local zoo for their birthdays this year from their aunt & uncle, so for our inaugural visit to the zoo of course we went on a birthday (little girl's bday... the day before little boy's). Here are some pictures I took before I broke the camera. Sigh. The ironic thing is that I have been lobbying for a new camera ~ and I thought I was going to get one for my birthday a few months ago but I didn't. Anyway, breaking the camera while lobbying for a new camera is not the best way to go about getting your way. yikes.

I remember these types of things (gigantic climb on animals) from my childhood visits to my local zoo. Am I really so old to have two children??


The face on this little boy is hilarious.


If you look very carefully you can see the giraffes in the background. I have another picture where you can see the giraffes better but the kids are doing some weird something-or-other, and of course, this is all about the kids.


Going down the slide together. Baby girl loves it!


Notice the "Baby's First Birthday" shirt - courtesy of Grandma, of course!

glimmers of hope

Let me tell you how God has been trying to get my attention.

I just finished reading Sunrise and Summer by Karen Kingsbury. Yay. I really like her books. I won't ruin it (totally) for you in case you are planning to read these, so I will only borrow from Karen's website regarding Summer. Part of the story line includes the Baxter family learning that Ashley and Kari are both pregnant, but an ultrasound reveals that something is wrong with one of the babies. As the family deals with this problem, a theme of God displaying His glory and His miracles in a way that the family doesn't expect -- maybe even doesn't want -- is visited several times.

Hm.

A few weeks ago I heard a woman discussing Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." She only discussed this for a few minutes, but I wanted her to go on and on. She was so awesome! With a 3 year old and a 1 year old, I don't always know what "still" is. It was a good reminder of something that I learned a few years back. The way I feel does not change who God is.

Hm.

So between both of these things and being at the end of my personally available rope (gee, I think God gets the credit for getting me there to get my attention) I realized something. Baby #2 not sleeping through the night has been a blessing. Let me explain. With Baby #1, he started sleeping through the night somewhere around 12 weeks old, and we never looked back. Baby #2 also started sleeping through the night early enough (I forget when exactly) but after we transitioned her to sleep in #1's room, she started waking up at night. Not every night, and you can't quite predict when or why, but.... Yuck! I recently realized that actually this is a blessing. I'm on guard all night for her because she's so unpredictable. And if I weren't on guard for her, I would get so focused on myself that... well, let's just say it could get ugly. So what a blessing that God KNEW I needed something other than myself to worry about at night and He gave it to me in the form of a sleepless child. Really, it sounds crazy when I can't go into detail but it really make sense to me. God was saving me from myself. Thanks, God!

I thought I had one other thing to say but I can't remember it now. Oh well. That's enough. :)

Maybe I'm not such a bad mommy....

Look what we got....

An Emily :)
The best reward for actually pooping in the toilet! Let's see if it will happen again...

potty update

We're doing ok with the pee part, it's the poop part that is now giving us trouble. Oh, stinky stinky trouble. As a note: I never, ever would have imagined being so proud and joy-filled at seeing a stream of pee ~ and not caring if it's all over me. lol

I want to throw up

Potty training is, by far, in my 2 years and 10+ months of being a mommy, the worst. I even have this book but I'm still hating life.

It can always get worse... can't it?!?

Yes, I've been on hiatus. I'm back long enough to complain and then head to bed.

My brother got married. yay for him! His new wife, somewhat-amazingly already had the same last name as he, so she's just added the "Mrs." in front of her name. Comical.

While we were gone for the wedding, my car got broken into. I keep remembering things that were in there that were stolen. Let's just say it would have been cheaper to park the car at the airport and swallow the $30 or $40 for parking than it will be to replace all that stuff. sigh. My biggest fear, however, was not realized: our kiddies' car seats were not in this car at the time so they weren't stolen (nor were any of our strollers). yay! I think they stole some of my audio tapes -- COME ON, PEOPLE! -- audio tapes?!?!?! That was what upset me the most because some of them are special (yes, I know, illegal) mixes from long ago, long time, or generally just special-on-their-own friends... Ok, to recap so I can help myself remember, I am now missing my

• car owner's manual (but they left the registration and proof of insurance, how thoughtful) (replacement cost???)
  
• $5 in laundry quarters
  
• all my dry cleaning receipts
  
• every bit of spare change (maybe $2 worth) in my ash tray -- and they had to look hard for that
  
• the "special required tool" that VW thoughtfully made to prevent theft of my wheels. Oh, note to self, check if hubcaps/wheels are still on car (replacement cost???)
  
• floppy seat ($45)
• fastrak transponder ($20 if I do not send in the police report)
• box of diapers ($25)
• various food items from costco ($25)
• random audio tapes (priceless, lol)
  

They did leave my stereo and my son's first-ring-bearer boutonniere . Thanks, guys!

In other news, I got pulled over by the police for a burned out headlight. I guess the bright side (haha) is that now when I take my car to get the windows replaced, they can do the headlight at the same time??

Little girl has had an awful rash which is finally clearing up. Had blood work done and since I haven't heard from the doctor yet (it's been 24 hours) I'm assuming all is well. She's been kind of unhappy, however.

And I'm going to be really unhappy if I don't get to bed soon. :) goodnight!