You Don't See That Every Day

Two months ago we moved into this new home of ours. Someone asked me yesterday if we are settled in. not really sure what she meant, I said yes and no. Most of the boxes are unpacked. But not all of them. We know where to find most items, but we're still asking "Where is ..." questions. We've fallen into somewhat of a routine, but we're still trying to figure certain ways of doing certain chores. With 2 kids gone, the chore list has changed. With only 1 in homeschool, the chore list doesn't always get done each day. Now that the Christmas break is almost over, we'll be reassessing which kids are in which rooms - since the college kids won't be back for a little while. So, there will still be more change, more figuring it out, more searching for that elusive item that I sure hope we didn't get rid of when we move-purged. But it is starting to feel like home. Even though I still marvel at the view every single morning, I am beginning to ...

The beds were full. The dishwasher was very full The shower ran at odd hours The laundry basket is full. The dinner table was full. The house echoed with laughter. All my kids were home. My heart is full. A very happy day of Thanks.

It's done! Our shed in the setting sun We have moved! 20 years in our first house and now we are in a new chapter. And wow is it different! We went from 7 of us in the home to 5 of us (two went to college). We moved from a suburb neighborhood to out in the country (and we love it). We moved from 5 bedrooms to 3 (but we'll be adding some more on in the future). We increased our square footage - and the hardwood floors are so fun to slip and slide on! I find myself taking a lot of pictures of the sky, clouds, sunrise or sunset, and the neighboring farms. We've been in the new house for 3 weeks now. I am slowly figuring out our new schedule and slowly coming to call this place 'home' and having it feel like it.

Where have we been lately? House repairs don't stop for basketball and drama. At one time this past fall we had 3 working showers. And then we were down to two because of what happened over the summer . We got that patched up, and all was well. Until my husband looked at fixing the tiles in the bath - not just the temporary fix we had done for that earlier problem. And one popped out into his hand. And then he dug deeper and discovered this: About a week later, if not less, the showerhead in our master bath broke off. We knew it would need to be replaced at some point, we just didn't know it would be now. So we went from 3 down to 1 shower. At least it is the nice new upstairs shower that works!  And it hasn't been all work and no play... There was one day this week when I actually didn't have to be anywhere until evening time. It felt like a luxury. I was in such a good mood I actually decided to paint my nails. I haven't painted my fingernails in years pro...

I have not driven since Monday morning. Now, that would make sense for me if I was on vacation in a foreign land. But I'm at home. Ive been at home since Monday afternoon - the one afternoon when I thought I would never get home. The pickup wouldn't start in the parking lot of a store. My rescue-hero (aka husband) saved the day, got the pickup to the mechanic and got me home. But then 2 days later he was off to work out of town. And the pickup was in the shop still, because it was starting for the mechanic and they couldn't see exactly what was wrong with it! I'm thankful it was my husband who took the pickup in, because I don't know if they would've believed me. So we've been at home this week. It hasn't been exactly easy either, with children's activities, a boy at school, and with sports and church stuff. I have had to rely on others' kindness to pick up my kids or drop them off. That has been pretty humbling too. On the other hand, I have go...

We all scream for ice cream; because, really, what's better than ice cream to shout about? at least in the food arena...  And yes, that is a lot of ice cream cones. A lot . Guess what we'll be going through for the next few months? If you come to visit, we'll be offering cones for dessert. So we had a neighborhood ice cream party on our block this past Monday. I scored some great deals on Tillamook ice cream at the local Albertson's. You think you have great ice cream in your neck of the woods!? Oh no ... this stuff is so much better than anything else out there. Seriously, Tillamook beats them all, hands down. Try it, you'll see.  So anyway, we stocked up with a bunch of cartons, on sale, and then hauled them out to the street Monday evening. With some chairs, some whipped cream, and toppings from another neighbor's kitchen, we sat and waited. Since the kids had gone around the 'hood earlier in the day handing out invitations, we didn't hav...

It's been quiet here this week. Not too much out of the ordinary happening. Here are some seriously random ramblings spewing from my brain: Today is my son's last track meet. And I can't make it to see him run. It was hard to accept that, but I've moved on. I'm looking forward to hearing how he did. And kind of hoping he'll call in between time to tell me. I've got a lot of thoughts running through my head concerning money. Specifically lack of it, or how to stretch it. How do we raise our 5 children on the single income we have? How do we get out of debt? I'm thinking Thoughts (with a capital T). I might even unscramble them enough to write about it. Feel free to offer suggestions. I made some awesome zucchini bread the other day.  I bought 25 pounds of oats awhile back because we were using them so fast. So I am looking at everything I bake with the idea of adding oats to it. And Zucchini-Oat bread is delicious! I'll have to rummage that 2-re...

I think the guys have been keeping a secret from me all of my life. And I think I might have just discovered a key to it. Power Tools. > howl < They are So much fun! Seriously, why didn't I ever get to play with these before? OK, I have used a power-screwdriver  before  ... that was some small fun. (**update, it was a power-drill, my mistake. I couldn't even think of the right word!) But today I decided to try and get a little bit cleaned up outside in between rain showers. The side yard is kind of messy b/c of the remodel. I didn't want to get all muddy and wet by pulling the weeds out by hand, so I grabbed the weed-eater. The battery powered, very mighty, powerful Tool. And after figuring out how it works - which is pretty easy - I got to work. I had such fun whacking down those weeds and tall grass I looked for more places to use that Power Tool. Ooh - the raspberries! Earlier in the spring we took out one row of our raspberries. It had just become too crazy, ...

Hello world! I'm back in the land of my own personal computer. I'm home from my trip to Texas and have been playing catch-up for the past day or two. Mail, papers, emails, other blogs!, facebook, - so many things to read and catch up on. I hope to have a post up soon about my trip, but for now ... I'm just catching up. I will say this, it was hot in Houston. Here's baby K on our first day there, sweating it out. I know she is glad to be home now!

We have had some little visitors in our house lately. They don't eat much, but leave a tiny scrap out on the counter and they swarm it. They don't take up much space, but there are a lot of them. They make no noise, leave no sign of being there, unless I happen to catch them. Yes, we have ants. The annoying kind. No, not my mom's sisters. Nor my dad's. I like those aunts! I like it when they visit! But the ants we have visiting... I could live without them. I have for years. Until recently. They are inundating our kitchen. They are driving me crazy! We have kill-counts each morning. How sad is that? I have to actually wash up the dishes each night now before bed, or we will come out in the morning to find ants and their extended families feasting on a little scrap of food I might have missed when washing down the countertops. I know we are not the only ones. There are others in our town that have mentioned a very similar problem. I'm not ready for calling in the ...

How to get a clean house. A tutorial. First ask your spouse if he has plans for Friday night. Next, happily say Yes! to a friend's invitation to have your son spend the night on Friday. Third, enlist the help of your minions happy children to clean the house -- after going grocery shopping and in between schoolwork on top of the regular chores -- on Friday. Step 4, leave the house in the afternoon and come back 2 hours before dinner, minus one happy child. Then, scare the living daylights out of the children if they so much as move a single couch pillow . I mean, enlist the help of your daughters to keep the house looking sparkling as you prepare dinner. Step 82, throw the Costco lasagna into the oven. Pour the ingredients into the bread maker. Stir together a dessert. Shred the lettuce and chop the veggies. Throw all the dirty dishes into a sudsy sink. All the while smiling at the pleasant daughters who are staying out of the way in the other room playing nicely together....

I cleaned the garage today! It was an immense task, carried out over months actually. Ever since we took down the For Sale sign, and started plans for remodeling, the task of unearthing items we have packed away has fallen to me. Mainly since I packed it all and the kids are more adept at opening boxes and leaving. So I called in my troops (my mom!) and got to work this morning. Actually the real reason for cleaning up the mess of boxes and ... stuff... was because my second refrigerator was not working! I had unplugged it - to get to it "later" and this month is finally "later"; mainly because Thanksgiving is coming and I can't get everything ready over a few weeks without somewhere to store the food. (7 mouths to feed and holiday fixin's and a 2nd refrig is quite handy.) Surprises in the refrigerator! Little mice droppings and nesting. Ick. I don't know which was worse, mouse evidence or moldy refrigerator shelves. Gloves, bleach and a shop-vac wer...

(our front yard) I realized I never informed some of you in far-flung places about the latest on our house-for-sale. The house had been up for sale since March 8, or so. In the first two weeks that the sign was up, we kept the insides very, very clean. Clutter was gone, trash was put out regularly, even the lovely smell of Febreze refreshed us often. We had one realtor call for a walk through. And then time went by, and my baby-belly grew, and I got a little tired. And no one called to look at the house. And more time went by and I had a baby born, and I was very tired. And the house looked like 5 kids and no grown-ups lived here. And then I had a 6-week old, the house was not looking much cleaner, some clutter was creeping back in. But. No one came to peek at these wonderful living quarters. Not a one. Nada. So we dropped the price. We looked at various home around the area. And still no one came to see our place or make an offer. So we took the house off the market. We can survive in...