Update on Nothing

Ha!  All the clever has left me and I have nothing for you but regular ol' boring news and titles for this here blog.  We had a pretty great weekend this weekend.  I took Friday off to take the car to the shop (sigh good-bye $250, but hello $400 we saved using a friend!) and to paint the spare room for our home on the market-ness.  I came home Thursday evening to find my father-in-law all done with the painting, and smiling brightly at the surprise for me.  I mean, I was so shocked I had nothing to say and no facial expressions of joy that I truly felt inside.  Later, Arlin told me I must not have been very surprised or happy about it because I just stood there with a blank expression.  How do you say you had steeled yourself all day for coming home and painting all night only to find there is nothing to do?  I was completely unprepared and thought perhaps I was still dreaming.  No really, I thought it was all made up and I was trying to figure out how they made the room look different without painting.  Next time I dream like that I hope I wake up to a bag of money at my feet.  Nice huh?

Well Saturday, found us at the Houston Zoo with our cousins.  We had a great time!  Fun had by all of course.  And I was determined to have fun when it cost us $32 to get in and a $35 parking ticket on the windshield when we got out!  Lindsay rolled around in her stroller like a champ!  I was so amazed she stayed in there for that many hours.  Laney was completely anti-stroller as a small kid.  I mean, I don't think she was in the thing after 3 months because she wouldn't stay in it and you were lugging the stroller around for nothing while you held her in your arms.  Lindsay was practically a dream come true when it comes to hanging out in the stroller and being distractable!  Love you girl!  Laney was over the moon to spend the time with her cousins and to check out all the animals at the zoo.  She loved playing and running and chasing and even posing for some pictures when prompted.  She didn't know where we were going until we arrived so it was a great surprise for her.  Not to mention it was Lindsay's first time.  I don't think she understood what all the fuss was about, but she seemed to have a good time.  Arlin and I had a great time too, but unfortunately my flip flop did not and out of anger it decided to break half way through the zoo.  I limped around like a fool til the end determined to enjoy the family day.  I think it was a small sacrifice for tired happy faces on the way home.

Sunday was church and hanging out.  We kept hoping to have a couple of appointments to look at the house (especially because we were supposed to be gone for most of the weekend), but no such luck.  We did have a little lookie-loo on Thursday, but our response from them was they didn't like the floorplan and they smelled smoke.  I was completely depressed by this because our renters 2 years ago did smoke in the house (against our wishes) and while I don't smell it, I didn't think others could either.  Sad face.  We were super pumped though because we had a request for the showing within a week of putting the house on the market.  This is good news peoples!  And then today, Monday, I got another call for a showing this morning.  I have yet to hear any feedback.  Crossing my fingers for a positive feedback, but either way, it's the second showing within the first eight days of the house being on the market.  I'll take it.  School is still about 5 weeks from being out, here in Texas so I think it's looking good.  We're super pumped like I said.  Can't wait to move on!!

Finally, today Arlin started his new job.  I'm not sure how excited he is, I think he's pretty excited, but I know I'm elated.  I think this will be a good field for him and really give him some more marketable skill sets for his resume.  Plus if he does well here, maybe I can retire one day.  Ah, to dream!

Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah Blah Blah, Blah Blah

I haven't really been up to posting lately.  Thought about it a lot, but then the words are not willing to come out of my brain down to my fingers.  So today, there is going to be the catching up of information and all other things of no real importance.  A-Number-One largest of the news is that we have decided AGAIN to put our house on the market.  We've owned this home for 7 years, but only lived in it for 4, spread out over the 7 years.  We've had renters, it has sat empty, etc.  We've put it up for sale/lease two other times and always ended up renting it out because right after we bought the home, the builders slowed the building in the subdivision we are in.  Then when they finally started picking it back up, the market softened.  So we are finally seeing our home value get back to where it was when we bought the house in 2004.  We are really at a break even point and it makes it really tempting to hang on to the house for several more years hoping to increase in value, but I'm just kind of over the whole home owner/landlord thing.  I don't want to worry about any of that nonsense any more (at least for a while).

We are hoping things will go well and we'll find a buyer before we find a renter.  We just listed it last weekend after much cleaning, repositioning of items (no spare room since my in-laws are staying with us and using the spare room).  When our last renters moved out a year ago we had to replace all the flooring on the first floor, the water heater, the disposal, the oven, the fridge, and the motor in the A/C.  So we are hoping with a house with pretty much all new major appliances, new floors, etc. we'll be in shape to compete against the new homes still being built in the neighborhood.  I mean we do have mature landscaping going for us right?!  Good news it, we are scheduled for our first showing tomorrow at 2 pm.  That unfortunately, means tonight I am going to be painting the last of the rooms on the to-do list.  I'm not complaining, I know plenty of people who have lost a considerable amount of value in their homes.  Just to break even would be F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S (insert sing songy voice here).

B-of-All on the list is Arlin's great news that he has a new job.  This is very exciting for us and we are all thrilled.  I do feel bad for him during this next little bit of the new job phase, because it just isn't comfortable for awhile.  But I'm way excited and really pumped for his opportunities at the new place.  He's still in Sales and I know he is going to do well because he is made for selling.  Me on the other hand, I couldn't sell if I had to.  I HATES me some selling.  Of anything.  Heaters to Eskimos, popsicles at a pool, ... anything.  Even if you want it, I don't want to sell it.  Really.

Thirdly, Laney is about to turn 8.  I just can't believe it.  We are starting to think about her baptism and are having talks with her about personal responsibility for choices and all that good stuff.  It's crazy.  That means she's getting way close to double digits and is even finally out of a car seat (I can't believe you have to be 8 to be out of a car seat?!)  Lindsay turns 2, and that's even more amazing with how far she has come since our long days and nights at the NICU.  She really only has skin problems that may or may not be related to being preemie so I couldnt' be more relieved, and feel more blessed, about how things are going with her.  Now if only we could convince her that she is really not missing out on anything when it is time for bedtime.  And if we can convince her to stop doing somersaults in her bed and/or on Arlin she might make it to 3.

Business...the shop is doing ok.  We lost one of our busier stylists about a month ago.  It caught us a little off guard, but not off guard if you know what I mean.  Just very sad and disappointed to lose her as an employee.  The shop is doing okay considering we are now recovering from a shortage of coverage.  We have hired new people and have to get all that up and running smoothly.  Our manager is trying her best to keep a handle on it all.  Hard to believe we've had the shop open for more than a year and a half.  Great to see the numbers going up and clients coming back.

Otherwise, life has been more of the same...work, kids, chores, running a business, maintaining a marriage, dealing with problems and stupid people as they prop up.  I think I've hit all the highlights, but I'm sure I've missed out on plenty.  More to come I guess.  Oh, and an update on my whole working out thing...the past month we've been averaging 2 days a week.  Sad I know, but better than I was right??  I can get credit for actually improving a little right?

Oh, Spring, How I Do Love Thee!

It's that time of year here in Texas...Spring Time.  I heart spring time.  This last month, the weather has been my friend.  Only a few days of cold evenings, but most days I'm in jeans and a t-shirt or shorts and t-shirts.  The heat is off, some days the A/C is on (hate A/C! it makes me cold in the spring), the grass just had its first mow, the bushes are trimmed, some flowers are planted (more to come), the girls run around with bare feet and the sun is still up when I get home from work. 

It's amazing to me that God loved us enough he gave us spring.  Every year, year after year.  Knowing we needed something to be bright and cheery, full of new birth, organization, and sunny times.  He knew we needed rain for growth and the hard hot times of the summer, and he gave us the tools to prepare.  He also knew that we couldn't live through fall and winter too long so he scheduled spring to come again to renew our hope and faith, and to give us the feeling of starting anew.

How can you not love this stuff?!

Church and Other Feelings

This past year or so I've had a really hard time getting myself motivated for church.  And when I do end up sitting in my pew during the weekly meeting, I'm very antsy.  I know some of this is habit.  When Lindsay was in the NICU we often visited her instead of going to church.  I did still go to church, but it wasn't every week.  When Lindsay left the NICU it was in the middle of the H1N1 scare and she was quarantined to the house, along with visitors being quarantined out of the house.  She was on a breathing and respiratory monitor that made sure her heart kept beating and her breathing rate did not slow too much.  We spent many days and nights rushing to her when the alarm went off.  (We found out later that most of these alarms were false, but it was still nerve racking).  We did have some visitors, but they had to do a lot of washing up and santizing before they even breathed the same air as she did.  The quarantine lasted about 6 months since she came home in October and we had to wait until early May for the flu threat to be over.  That made it about 8 months since we had regularly attended church and boy was our good habit broken.

For the next 4 months or so we did attend some church, but often left early so as not to mingle the baby too much, follow that with a move across state lines and separation of spouses for a couple of months and it was had just doing life.  Let alone taking a baby to church by yourself.  So here we are 18 months after her birth with a dread still of church meetings.  I flinch just thinking of the wrestling match during the main sacrament meeting, then the chasing up and down the halls or in the lobby during the second two meetings.  One day I was talking with a friend of mine and she told me she often skips the first meeting and attends classes because her kids are in class then and she can focus and actually hear a message.  Best idea EVER!  Another friend of mine trades off with her spouse.  One stays home with the small kids and the other goes to the first meeting, then they switch.  Spouse #2 goes to church for the last meeting while spouse #1 stays home with small children.  The more women I'm talking to, the more I realize that there are more of us, who get nothing but antsy and frustrated over the weekly wrestle-mania we have with children durng our meetings.  It's really hard to learn about love and kindness when 1/2 of my brain is thinking, "Why is she touching that?"  "Where is she going?"  "Oh, no, she's yelling."  "Do I smell a stinky diaper?"  "Why is she screaming?"  "I just picked that toy up" and on and on.

This past week Lindsay hit the 18 month mark.  And at my church that means she can go in a nursery after our main sacrament meeting.  She can be in the nursery where she can play with toys, sing songs, and eat a snack for 2 hours while mommy and daddy and big sister can go to class.  I feel like I'm in heaven!  I still can't make it for the main sacrament meeting distract-a-thon, but I do go late and at least get 2 hours of class in and take some kind of spiritually uplifting message home with me.  This counts, right?  It counts as me trying?  Right? 

So, this is a note to you teachers out there, there are those of us who are listening intently to you.  Hoping for that one nugget, one iota, one little sentence that can keep us going until next week ...  No pressure or anything.  And keep up the good work, because we are really listening!

Goal Back Slide

I've found that with the beginning of March I have done some goal back sliding.  I'm now back in survival mode out of proactive live-life-on-my-terms mode.  Arlin was out of town all last week and the severely hampered any kind of free time I might other wise have.  With his return Saturday morning I'm hoping to get back into getting some things on my goal list done again.  This week we are going back to the gym and doing some activities at home too.  This is spring break so we are planning on camping with our cousins, maybe a trip to the rodeo petting zoo, and lots of play time at the park.  We also want to do some small home repairs and landscape.  We are also starting a new eating plan.  I'm sorry to say my new meal will not include ding dongs or chili cheese nachos or Blue Bell ice cream.  Pray for me people.

On a good note, I did purchase the flowers for the yard this past weekend.  I did not plant them or weed, or get the lawn mowed, but I did buy the flowers.  And I cleaned the inside of both vehicles (wipe down and vacuum).  Not to mention the regular stuff like mopping, laundry and cooking, file paperwork, etc.  I guess maybe I wasn't such a slacker after all.  Maybe it was just the working out that fell by the wayside.  Here's to a new week, a sad week.  Good-bye ding dongs and nachos.  *Sob*

Lice, Eczema, Pink Eye and Hives Oh My!

It's been a little rough with the annoying medical problems here lately.  Nothing too horrible that I'm aware of (yet), but enough that I'm super annoyed and ready for a small lapse in problems for now.  It all started with Lindsay just in general having some really rough skin.  She was diagnosed while about 3 or 4 months old with baby eczema.  We think is is psoriasis, but no one will call it that while she is a baby.  We lotion her, bathe her every other day, cream soaps, lightly scented laundry detergent, the works.  She still breaks out in these annoying little spots of roughness that often do not go away and we finally resort to steroid cream to heal them.  I try to avoid the steroids as much as possible, and when I do use it I only once a day and very sparingly.  The spots go away and then come back a couple of days or a week later.  Can you say annoying and itchy and not fun for any of us?!  Mostly, poor Lindsay.  I hope this is just a baby thing she grows out of and nothing else major.

Then we went into the teething phase.  General grumpiness and not happiness all around again.  Intermittently of course.  Then we had strep throat.  Lol  Well, not we, but Lindsay and NO ONE else.  How did that happen?!  The baby never leaves the house. We rarely take her to the store or anywhere really, no babies at nursery in church.  Nothing.  Then Laney got Lice.  Oh, the joys of lice.  Let me count the ways ...
1) You bag up everything you cannot wash
2) You wash everything (coats, blankets, sheets, pillows, towels, all clothes, rugs, etc.)
3) You vacuum everything you cannot bag up or wash
4) You apply mayo or other obnoxious nit and lice killing liquid of your choice
5) You spend hours and hours pulling dead lice and nits and eggs out of hair, apply more killing liquid and spend more hours and hours bent over trying to see specks of invisibly small items!
6) Repeat 1-5
7) Repeat 1-5
8) Repeat again for fun
9) Maybe one more time
10) Rewash everything cause you love laundry!
11) Feel lice free and go about life
12) Find more lice and repeat 1-10 again
So, I think we are lice free, but we are all itchy and tired of washing our hair.  Only Laney had lice, but don't think my head didn't itch from her condition!  We lived with things in bags for about 3 weeks.  It was really great fun.

Then cause we were not tired enough, Lindsay decided to have an allergic reaction to her new SHOES?! Hives and all.  Yep!  I still cant' explain that one, but we wear them not so much any more.  And then she decided to get pink eye.  All while Arlin was out town and I was trying to juggle the rest of every thing on my own.  Woe, woe, poor me!

Oy.  March better turn into the lamb pretty dang quick at this point or I choose to continue hibernation!

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures from this last fall and winter that I did not find time to post.





Birthday cake!  Yes, she did eat it that neatly.  Yes, she does categorize her food too.  :)

She LOVES the water.  And her dad, and her sissy.  You can see it all in her face here.

Arlin got in on the action here.  This park is actually a free little neighborhood park.  Awesome!

Kinda makes you a little nervous for when the water will suddenly shoot out.  They missed it just in time though!

Laney loves this park too.  She is just growing up so fast!

We found this on the kitchen counter one morning.  I think the phone number came from a PETA commercial or SPCA.  She is definitely pleading her case.  So funny!  Love the Meow, Cat at the bottom.

So...math might be taking a little getting used to.  I don't think this is what the teacher meant when she asked for the difference.  But Laney is right, and she isn't exactly wrong either.