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Thursday, May 28, 2009

One Last Night

Tonight is the last night I will sleep in this house where I have spent the last 3 years with my babies. My first little duckling came to this house with us when he was 2 weeks old. My second little duckling came here from the hospital. It is the closing of another chapter. I know we are on to "bigger and better" but I cannot help but feel nostalgic about the memories that I hold so dear to my heart. This little rental house has been so good to us and it really did feel like home. I hope that the transition of making the new house our "home" will come easily. My children seem to not be having ANY difficulties with the new house.
"I don't want to leave the new house to go back to the old house mommy!"
"But Will, we need to go back there to sleep one more night..."
"But I can't mommy. I need to be at my NEW house!"
"Will, we have to go back to the old house to say goodbye and to collect our things. You don't want to leave all our belongings at the old house do you?"
"Okay, mommy. And then we will have the Monster Truck tomorrow that will take my bed to the new house? And I can take everything on the MONSTER truck?"
"yes, Will. We will have a monster truck tomorrow to take our things to our new house."
Moving truck, Monster truck....what's the difference?

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Gradually Moving

I have been sucked into the moving vaccuum. I wonder when if I will come out unscathed. I am not sure where we live right now and neither does my 2 year old. We are somewhere in the middle. Packing the current house, closing on the new house, painting rooms, and moving pieces of our current life into our new life has been all consuming.. I am really tired tonight after painting all day and all evening. What a fantastic workout! I think I may have burned off a few pounds of fat just today, which would be really exciting! Maybe I will burn a few more pounds off tomorrow. I swear, if I worked this physically hard everyday I would be as thin as Gwyneth Paltrow in no time!
The thought occurred to me today how "virtual" our life is in this day and age. Our lives just do not require the physical labor that our bodies were intended for, thus the majority of us are overweight or out of shape. Instead of getting a workout by milking Bessie, washing the laundry on a scrubbing board, kneading bread, planting a field, etc...we have to create exercises to "work us out" or hire a trainer to get us in shape. Then, because our husbands are so bored with lack of adventure, danger, threat, or conquest we sit down and watch shows such as"24" on television to simulate action packed adventure. It is kind of funny when you think about it. I do like my virtual reality that poses no real danger to me or my family. And I am not exactly ready to give up my washer or dryer just with the hopes of getting in shape. Although it could be a very successful diet plan for people! Maybe I could write a book. I guess I will just have to keep going to the gym a little longer.....AFTER the move.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Sorry!

Will's favorite television show on is "Go, Diego, Go!" If you are not familiar with Diego then I must explain that there is a pair of very mischievious monkeys on the show named The BoBo Brothers. They are always causing trouble and their infamous line is, "Sorry!! We didn't mean to do it!" They sort of sing song the "so-rry" part.
Recently, Will's apologies to anyone in our family have started to imitate these characters. His apologies now sound like this,
"So-rry!!!! I didn't mean to DANCE!!"
It's pretty hard not to laugh. I mean, I know dancing was something I wasn't allowed to do growing up but we've sort of moved past that as a family. Will has no idea that he has the last part of the saying wrong, and I don't really want to fill him in on our little secret. It just gives me a chuckle everytime he thinks he's being a little bit sassy.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Hodge Podge Procrastination

I am so excited to move but in an effort to put off packing, I have been piling many different unnecessary projects on myself and enjoying them all thoroughly. Most project ideas stem from my excitement about redecorating things at the new house.
Today, though, I felt a little overwhelmed about finishing things I have started, so I stopped in the afternoon and gave into a craving. Nothing like chocolate brownies in the afternoon to reenergize you when you are overworking yourself. Not a better food to throw you off your diet either. Ghiradelli brownies are, I believe, the best brownie mix in the world. I ate half a row and could throw-up now, but my chocolate craving is satisfyingly under control for the moment. I probably will end up indulging myself again until I am sick with my husband tonight while watching American Idol results show! Go Adam!

Here is a sampling of what has been keeping me so busy lately that I haven't even had time for my most favorite thing....blogging!
Despite the dread I feel toward packing, we did end up organizing and packing part of the garage last weekend. Natalie took advantage of the situation. She likes to entertain herself when we are outside working. I am not even sure what happened to her clothing. We don't usually make a practice of running around outside in a diaper at our house, but she sure did look cute. Maybe we should do this more often!

Natalie found and reached the kleenex box off her stand when she was supposed to be taking a nap. Boy, was that a mess to clean-up! Shredded tissues in every crevice of her crib and surrounding floor! I guess her runny nose was REALLY BOTHERING HER.

I just HAD to make a new wall hanging for Will's room. This was my first time with hand embroidery. Now I wish I had scripted his name! Oh, well. I think I am going to make and airplane and train to hang with this (ecause I need more projects). I am also going to buy ribbon to attach to the back and hang the picture from to add a little zing!

I am repainting bookshelves that were in our living room. They were white. They have been primed and are going to be painted bright blue tomorrow to go into Will's room at the new house. He has so many books they are bursting out of every drawer in his room, and he loves them all. He is so excited to have a bookcase to put them on! I am excited because our new living room has built in bookcases!




I also spent all day yesterday making a present for my nephew which I will have to reveal pictures of later lest my sister read this blog and see what I made. Tomorrow, I have a packing date with my friend Laura who is super organized. Maybe that will jumpstart my motivation! I think I am dreading it because I know I need to get rid of some stuff and I hate making those types of decisions. I would rather hold on to every unnecessary item in the world. I am the ultimate hoarder and procrastinator. I'll keep ya posted on how it goes!


Wednesday, May 6, 2009

A New Place to Call Home


You all have been asking, so here is a glimpse. The home we are purchasing and closing on in 3 weeks. Isn't it pretty?




I can't wait to have a big back yard with a fence....



and one of my favorite rooms of this house is this little sunroom. I am sure I'll be reading lots of books out here in my abundant spare time.

It has 4 bedrooms so we will officially have a guest room again. Hallelujah! I can't wait!




Tuesday, May 5, 2009

My strawberry woes

I realized something about myself this week. I seem to be really great at coming up with brilliant ideas but really bad at following things all the way through to the end. I sort of get ahead of myself. I have about 6 projects waiting for me to complete them. That's exhausting me just to type.
My biggest disaster of yet was my strawberry jam. Lets just say it didn't turn out as pretty as the picture. My first batch of 3 jars turned out perfectly. I made them with the regular sure-jell the day I picked my berries. The other 8 jars I made with "reduced sugar" sure-jell. I am sure it would have turned out fine if I had READ THE DIRECTIONS before I got started. I mixed the sugar into the berries instead of cooking it on the stove with the sure-jell. And, sure enough, my jam did not set. I kept waiting an extra day to give it more time to set. And then I sort of forgot I had 8 jars sitting on my dining room table. And then, I remembered and thought I should dump it all into a pan and try to cook it to help it set. How many days had it been since I made the jam? Maybe 5. I opened up a jar and phew!! Rancid! So, now I have 8 jars of fermented strawberry jam sitting on my dining room table that I don't have the heart to pour down the drain. Would someone please come help me?
I think I am going to go pick strawberries again tomorrow.

Monday, May 4, 2009

A Little Distracted?

Have you ever felt THIS ADD?

My thoughts:
Oooh, I know! I will sit down and blog about what a disaster of a housewife I am.
I settle down in the chair and turn on the computer. Hmmm, coffee sounds really good right about now. I put the computer down and head for the kitchen. I see Will's pillowcases on my kitchen table. Drat, I forgot all about putting them in his room. I pick up his pillowcases and head to his room trying to not wake him up when I open the door. I wonder if the strawberry muffins I just slaved over are done baking yet? They smell really scrumptious! I walk back to the kitchen and check on the muffins. Just a few more minutes. Now, to the coffee maker. I glance in my kitchen sink. Oh, shoot, that sweatshirt needs to be washed! I keep forgetting! I grab the sweatshirt I dyed this morning that has been soaking for hours out my kitchen sink and carry it dripping wet to the laundry room. I move the childrens clothes from the washer to the dryer and then start the sweatshirt in the wash. Okay! Finally I can go finish my blog! Settling back down on my chair I think, "Now, how about that coffee?" Oh, that's right. I FORGOT TO MAKE IT!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

The Glories of Small Town Living

I never thought I'd admit it, but today was one of those days where I truly appreciated living in a small town. This morning we decided to try out the local farmers market that started here last summer. One of my new resolutions is to try to support local organic farmers. It just doesn't get any better than that! Anyway, within about 3 minutes of being there we saw about 5 of my peeps all separately doing their thing, and we saw a few of my husband's friends as well. It was pretty funny, but I really liked it. It made me feel a part of things. That often happens to me here whether it be at the gym, the supermarket, the post-office. It is really nice to have people to say hello to along the way of running my errands.
I always thought when I lived in L.A. that I really enjoyed the anonymity of it. Occasionally I would run into someone I knew, but so rarely. There were always people around you, but everyone was minding their own business and just doing their own thing. I was used to the feeling of privacy that provided. A celebrity could walk by and half the time I wouldn't realize it. For real. One time Paula Abdul almost knocked me over coming out of a bathroom when I was 9 months pregnant. She grabbed my arm and apologized. I still didn't realize it was her until I got back to the table and was informed by my husband that it was her.
Here it takes about 12 hours for a rumor to spread and everyone knows everyone else's business. I have to admit I am a little afraid of that, but, so far, it hasn't bitten me yet! KNOCK ON WOOD. The flip-side of that is that when you are truly in need, people are aware and jump in to help. So, here's to small town living. I am growing to love it which is actually shocking to me!