Alright, Already.....

Since there has been constant requests of new pictures from the house, I will start doling out rooms! You can see the old dining room through the kitchen picture. The red was a matte and it seemed to pull the light into it making the room sort of a cave. Not at all what I want when I'm eating my meals! Plus, we had gone through several sunrooms in new houses when we were touring and I wanted to get something like that in our house. SO, here's the lighter brighter version of the dining room. I painted it a lighter cream. The wall where the painting is? That's exactly where I fell off the chair. Nice, huh? Since we made our formal dining room into our Wii room, I wanted a really nice place to eat all meals. Plus, we would have never used the formal dining room. That's a pub table, too! For those of you who haven't met me in real life, I am 5'10". Regular tables and chairs aren't the coziest thing when you are that tall. Luckily, the girls seem old enough that no one should kill themselves on the higher chairs.

Finally....

Here they are. The last two gifts. The 11th day was an 11 page book, Twas the Night before Christmas. One of my favorites. Have you seen the cartoon of the same name? Love the songs. And the last day was a 12 piece manger scene to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. Then they welcomed us to Texas. What a fun thing. We really loved looking for those gifts. We might have to do it to someone next year.
How was your Christmas? It seems like everyone is really busy and not blogging and it's like a link has been shut off! I need to hear what you guys are up to, how weird is that?
It doesn't help that we had more family problems over the holiday. Well, I didn't because my parents didn't call and talk to me. But they talked about me to my sisters again. They said we were trying to make money off Fiona's illness, especially by taking our Make A Wish trip to Disney World. My dad was so sure she would have rather met Rachael Ray because that's what Fiona said to him. She was four at the time and he doesn't talk to her much, I don't think he's said two words to her since we've moved to Texas and that has included Christmas and her birthday. I don't know how we made money off the trip. My mom also talked about the now infamous email she sent while we were still in the hospital saying she didn't see how I figured she didn't want to be my mom any more. She printed it out (she still has it on her computer?) and showed it to my sister who pointed out the lines, " My time and season for caring for you has long passed". What else would you read into that? I am glad that we are so far away and sad that my little sisters have to fight my battles for me. It does make me question myself. Am I a good person? How is it that the only people who tell me I am bad are my parents? Ah well, being 2500 miles away means there will be no drop ins to make me apologize. I just wish my sisters hadn't had to open presents shortly after their two hour fight and make happy with my parents.
It does make me grateful for the knowledge that I will never be 'homesick' here is Texas. If I am ever sad about not seeing my family, it will be sad for what should be happening there, not what would actually greet me, were I to show up there.

Just a Preview for Tomorrow....

We always let the girls open their Christmas PJs the night before. Good luck getting any sleep tonight, huh? Lucky my girls have the sniffles and need their Benadryl, heehee.

On the Tenth Day of Christmas

Our Elves brought us a box of 10 ho-hos. With this present they managed to bring something that would interest the man of the house. Hubby has really enjoyed the Ho-hos. The girls have been calling them Ho-ho-hos. I guess that's to give them more of a holiday tone.
We have been inundated with plates of goodies tonight. I am keeping track of who has brought us stuff. Next year I am going to be more on my game and give out our plates. I was blog surfing and I found the most amazing peppermint bark recipe.
All of you who have gotten a goody or two from us in years past know how proud I am of my baking skills. I am always looking forward to outdoing myself. Now if I can just convince Hubby that it is okay to give me things for the kitchen for Christmas or my birthday or even Valentine's Day. My latest purchase? A potato ricer. I made potatoes tonight, they come out of the ricer looking like pieces of grass or something, but the mashed potatoes are incredibly smooth. We are big fans of potatoes in this house, they being one of three vegetables that hubby will eat. The other two being corn and lettuce.

On the Eighth and Ninth Days...

Wow, it has been tough to keep up. Usually because we find the presents right before we go to bed and every morning I get up and go full tilt. Things have been so busy lately. I am glad my shopping is just about over. We did figure out that the doors we bought at IKEA won't work properly and I have to take them back on Monday. So, on the 8th day of Christmas, they brought us 8 fun size Snickers. I told the girls they were meant specifically for me.


Last night we were lucky enough to receive two different kinds of fudge, one is white chocolate with pecans and the other is semisweet rocky road fudge.
I can't tell you all how much this has meant to us. It has been fun to wait and see what we get every night. I am going to be disappointed to open the front door the day after Christmas and there won't be any ribbon wrapped packages. I have to say, whoever is doing it has the best ribbon collection. I don't know what the girls fight over more, the treats or the ribbons.
When the 12 days of Christmas are over, I will be able to start posting pictures of our redone house. The best room has got to be Buttercup's and I can't wait until it's all put together after Christmas. Hubby and I are taking credit for this one. My second favorite room is the eat in dining room. Every thing looks really nice. We switched out our formal dining room because we would never eat there and it would just be wasted space. It's going to be our Wii room! That's the other set of presents we are taking credit for. I can't wait to set it up and start having some fun with the girls. I bought it online 2 months ago and it has just been sitting in the closet. Only a few more days!

On the Sixth and Seventh Days of Christmas

So the sixth day of Christmas brought us cookie cutters. I just wish I wasn't ( I hope) done with all of the holiday baking. I baked a lot and it didn't seem like we gave away a ton like we usually do. Of course, I didn't make quite as much as I usually do. But Fiona has enjoyed her 'Gingies'. Her only complaint was there were no gingerbread girls and lucky enough, there is a girl cookie cutter in the six they gave us. I have to say I have been enjoying them myself and might have to make another batch. Because I layered them in a container, they got a bit softer and it sure made it easy to wade through the gingerbread carnage and grab a head or two arms and convince myself I wasn't eating that much!
On the seventh day of Christmas we got 7 tags, plus a few more. This was great. I spent day before yesterday wrapping myself silly and I ran out of tags. Several of the presents are merely marked F or B in ink pen. Now I can go back through and address them properly to Fiona or Buttercup from the Jolly Old Elf.
Our carpet layers got done before Hubby got home by about 5 minutes. The girls and I were congregated in the study watching Fiona play checkers on www.northpole.com and pretended like we were all that excited to see him. He could tell right when he got in that the carpet was in, but he was very excited that he didn't have to spend his day off moving furniture while we were at Childrens and then spend the next day hanging out watching the carpet layers do their work for 8 hours. All in all, quite a good day.

EEEEEEKKKKKK!

We take a break from our regularly scheduled blogging to bring you this update: We picked out carpet at the end of November and it was supposed to arrive December 6. They called and said it wouldn't arrive until the 19th. When it arrived a few days early, they called to set up an appointment to install. We picked December 29th because that was the second day they had available and Hubby had the day before off to move all of the furniture. They called at 9 this morning to say someone had cancelled their time and would we like our carpet installed earlier, like TODAY?!

I was staying home most of today because the Comcast guys were coming out AGAIN, (that's a long post for another day) and then I was going to do some laundry and iron, etc. Instead I ran around for about an hour like a mad woman cleaning piles of children stuff up off the floor. To my surprise and delight, the carpet guys move all of the furniture, except electronics. And they were even willing to help with that, especially after I showed them my horrific ankle and told them I was supposed to be taking it easy today. (Apparently trying to push forward like nothing is wrong just leaves you perpetually grumpy, in pain and a little depressed, forcing you to give your hubby a Christmas present early for the rush).

I didn't call hubby and tell him. I am just going to let him walk into the smell of the new carpet and the joy of the plush softness between the toes. T the cat, on the other hand, is less than delighted with the strange men and lots of noise in his normally quiet house. He actually raced through the house to the dining room window sill where he lept up and then tried to climb the actual window several times. Apparently all kitties do not land on their feet. I worry about his little head, but check out where I found for him to hide.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas

Our elves gave to us, 5 little chocolates and a snowflake ornament. We love those ornaments, I buy several every year at Target.

The Sixth Day is sitting on our doorstep, they must have come by late last night. I would go see what it is, but our house came wired with a security system. Even when it's not being monitored, it still beeps when someone comes in and out or opens a window. This is a very handy feature to have, except when Hubby leaves at 6am or I want to let the cat in or out at awkward times. I think we have cured him of wandering in and out at all hours. That might be because the weather has gotten a bit colder and it seems more like 'home' to him.

Someone from church was kind enough to call me to invite me to the ward's ladies' Christmas dinner. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go as I was too busy taking care of Hubby. He went to the doctor today and discovered he had an ear infection. Weird..don't know where he got that. But it's nice to be noticed, huh?

On the Fourth Day of Christmas

Our Santa Elves gave to us, four packs of gum. I told the girls, chew, chew a lot before the new carpet gets put it. They shouldn't have any problem. Our new carpet is scheduled for the 29th! Yeah! By the first of the year this constant motion should subside. I have been going nonstop since August.

Hey Suzie, the bruises have gotten worse, there's bruising on the other side, equally ugly and now there are pink bruise streaking from my toes. Of course, the blood tends to pool in your feet when you spend all day on them! Of the RICE, R-est, I-ce, C-ompress, E-levation...I don't rest, I did ice at the beginning, I use the compress, but I think that makes the bruising worse and I can't really elevate because I can't sit or lay down well. Yes, I clearly have problems.

We are actually cold here in Texas, go figure. You should the Texas kids go wild when there is frost on the ground, they insist it's snow. That's sad. My girls tried to get it on it, but I reminded them they have seen snow this year already. Remember the snow day early in January? Fiona was once again on steroids and we were unable to leave the house. Luckily my sister had a Tahoe, picked up Fiona and took her to get shrimp and tortillas. Yup, my 5 year old had a shrimp problem. Kind of weird.

On the Third Day of Christmas

The elves managed to catch us unaware again. I told the girls I don't want to catch anyone doing this. It's so nice to get a little special treat everyday, especially in a place where no one knows us. We got three chocolate Santas.

It's interesting to compare where we are now, compared to where we were at this time last year. Checkout video of us at the hospital last year. We show up around 4:25 minutes into it. Fiona was having regularly scheduled admissions from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Last month I was trying to remember what we did for Thanksgiving. It took me a while to remember that we checked in the day before and ate a nicely catered dinner Wednesday night for all of the kids that were admitted. We got out on Sunday and had 3 more admissions in the weeks to follow. Her very last time we got discharged on December 23rd. It was one of the few times that my shop ahead, always be prepared motto really worked for me. I do remember Hubby coming to spell me for a bit, to go home and shower and nap, but instead I went Christmas shopping for him (I always keep him for last). I was so bleary eyed. I think that was the admission where I was convinced that I was on Candid Camera. We didn't get her chemo started until around 11pm. She had a pre-chemo Zofran that went in over some time and then they had to flush the line and start the chemo. Her IV pole rang 8 times over 45 minutes. It was enough for me to get up, ring the nurse, turn off her pole, climb back into to bed, get warm again, nod off and it would start ringing.

What a difference a year makes.

On the Second Day of Christmas

So, the elves struck again.On the second day of Christmas they gave us two Christmas ornaments. How special to have ornaments that have a neat story behind them. Those are my favorite kind. They were pretty late tonight, so I was worried the girls would get all excited and nothing would show up. Fiona even insisted that I get into a bath because that's when they came last night, so that must be the triggering event. How they would know I was in the bath, I couldn't really explain to her.
Dear Hubby is starting to finish the painting for me. There is not much left to do, but I hate when he does the edging because he is likely to smear stuff on the ceiling. Next to the ceiling is the worst. I remember being impressed when my dear friend, Suzie, painted her front room a lovely color and the edges were so straight! Hopefully he will keep the top for another day and I can finish. I am going to post pictures soon, things are coming together so nicely.

On The First Day of Christmas

We have secret Santa elves! This has never happened to us before. It's very exciting. On the first day of Christmas our elves gave to us a tin of candy!
I guess this gives me an excuse to post everyday. I know everyone will be on the edge of their seat wondering what we have been given.
Update on the foot and the fanny. The colors on my foot are amazing and are now on both sides. I can walk on it just fine, which is really weird. I am a fast healer. Goes to show there is something to be said for eating your fruit and veggies. I am lucky we live in a warm area; I don't have to wear shoes if I can't force my foot in side. My fanny, on the other hand, it's difficult to sit or lay down. I have been slinking off to the spare bedroom at night. It's wonderful to be able to sleep alone. That doesn't make me a bad spouse, just a tired one.

Is is Possible to Break Your Fanny?

No, no, don't answer that. I am not sure if it's my fanny so much as my dignity! I was on a chair yesterday painting and talking to Buttercup. Clearly I wasn't paying as much attention as I should've been. I went to step off the chair and caught the corner of my shoe. I landed on the side of my ankle, on the tile, and I was SO worried I had broken it. I got my shoe off and was able to wiggle my toes. Poor Fiona started crying. Buttercup was awesome! She was totally calm and collected. I got myself into my bedroom and my painted clothes changed. I was on my bed rocking back and forth in pain, when I realized my backside hurt! I was so focused on where I had landed to realize I had bounced off the chair I was standing on.
I am so close to finishing the painting. I have 1 coat left on half of the eat in part of the kitchen and then into the great room I go. Now Dear Hubby has forbidden me to paint. I told him I wouldn't stand on anything...those were famous last words before last night. I woke up this morning feeling abused and my tailbone is the worst. The toughest thing about being here right now is I had no one to call. Not even for moral support. I called a sister this morning and gave her permission to laugh...about the tailbone part. She was dutifully sad for me about it in general. Sometimes that's all you need. Someone who gets mad for you or sad for you without passing judgment or offering unneeded advice. Can I just say how much it hurts to sit here in bed?
PS I hope to promise that there will be no more bruise shots, with any luck!

Step Closer to being a Real Texan

So, I got up today and drove myself downtown to apply for Texas plates and registration. Apparently you only get 30 days to change your plates and license. (Don't tell anyone I was breaking the law for a month! I have been busy) I get down there with my old title, my application, my proof of insurance and my environmental checkout and the line was reasonably short. I wait and when I get up to the window I find out that Hubby and I didn't sign everything and they need an original signature, a fax won't do it. We didn't sign the line that said, purchaser, trader, donee, as we did none of those things. I had to get in the car and drive to his work to have him sign it. It really didn't turn out as badly as I thought it would. I think that's why I put it off so long, that and I like being close to home during the day, in case Fiona had problems. It was the first time I had gotten out of the car, while downtown, and walked. Also, the first time being downtown anywhere sans children, kind of weird. I didn't have to hold anyone's hand or avoid jaywalking. That would have been funny to get a ticket for jaywalking while downtown to get my van registered. They handed the plates right over and soon I won't be able to pick out my magic schoolbus in the parking lot by it's Oregon plates.
Buttercup had a headache on Saturday which developed into a fever on Sunday. It was really odd to have a child with a fever and not freak out about it. Buttercup never gets sick and when Fiona gets a temp, we could have to head to the hospital for a few days. Buttercup got her sister's royal treatment, spending the day on the couch, eating her meals on our Meet the Robinson's TV tray. I am grateful she is feeling better today and that Fiona didn't get her fever. I am also grateful I only have to get my driver's license and then I will be totally legal. I just got my Oregon license, with a lovely picture and now I have to attempt it again!

Our First Texas Sized Bump in the Road

So, I don't know if I wrote about this before, but our new elementary has some stringent safety rules in place. Normally, I am cool with this, but when it prevents me from walking my kindergartener to her class on her second day of school in a new school in a new place, then I have a problem.
The receptionist...I shouldn't say anything because I don't have anything nice to say. She is quite the guardian of all that is proper in the school. Fiona has been having her usual problems due to steroids. I have been working with her on that, I walked her to school (and left her at the door with Buttercup) for the past two days and today I thought I could get away with not doing it because I promised to bring her McDonalds for lunch and eat with her at the special table in cafeteria. But, while I was changing this morning, the neighbor rang our doorbell with Fiona and said she found her crying. Side note to this, I get kind of sick of people acting like I am a bad mom because I make Fiona go to school and she ends up in the nurse's office with a 'stomachache' when really she was just nervous about going to school. Anyway, I got semi-dressed and walked her across the field to school. We get to the back door and she starts crying again, saying that she was nervous because she thought there was going to be a substitute today. We had talked to the counselor previously and we thought that maybe she could walk her to her classroom again. The receptionist merely said she was in a meeting. Just seeing the receptionist put me over the edge again and Fiona's crying face made me start crying too. Fiona's not to shocked by me crying, we talked about Mom's crybaby moments when she got diagnosed. The moments have become fewer and fewer, but today was just enough. We sat down in the office and the receptionist flagged down the assistant principal to 'deal with us'.
So, we talked to the assistant principal and she seemed really understanding. It's tough to explain things to someone who has never walked in your shoes. Some people are really understanding and other people see that we seem to be okay, so there's no reason for any sort of special treatment. I just want to tell people that in order for them to understand us, they need to have a child diagnosed with cancer, but I wouldn't wish that on my absolute worst enemy. That if this had happened to them, they probably couldn't get out of bed a lot of mornings, but Fiona is here, she is happy and doing 7 hours of school and if she needs someone, adult, to walk her to class, I am going to do my best to find that.
Having had cancer as a child myself, sometimes surviving the treatment is the easy thing to do. I dealt with anxiety problems and some PTSD, before I figured out what the deal was. With Fiona, if we can cure her and avoid those lasting anxiety issues, so she can put this behind her as soon as possible, that would make me happy.
I just am so frustrated and I absolutely hate, HATE crying in public. And that receptionist! She's pretty old, but she will probably retire after Fiona completes her last year at this school.
I would post a picture with this post, but y'all don't want to see my blotchy red face!

I'm Bringing Sexy Back

Check out just some of the gorgeous bruises on my legs. I got these and they are actually lying on top of other bruises, from climbing the ladder and also climbing onto my corian countertops in order to paint my kitchen. This is not a good thing if you live in a climate where you can wear shorts during the winter. It really doesn't help that I bruise like a peach. Actually, I bruise like a pear. Have you ever picked out the perfect Bartlett pear, bagged it up and when you got it home it looked like your kids had been playing street hockey with it? That's how I bruise. At least I almost entirely done with the kitchen. As soon as I buy rugs, I can show you a before and after picture of the kitchen. I am still waiting on the carpet and furniture for some of the other rooms, especially Buttercup's. Plus, we will probably hang some pictures in there too. I am just bummed that the carpet has been back ordered for an extra two weeks, now we probably won't get the carpet installed before Christmas. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed. I am headed off to Home Depot now to check out those rugs and buy some more paint. This time it's for the entry way and will extend into the great room. The really long hallway took the brunt of the moving out, so it's been high on our list to paint over. Wish me and my legs some luck!

SAD~ Seasonal Adjustment Disorder

I had heard about this disorder before. The seasonal thing where the weather makes you depressed. I have never been one for depression. It sort of comes as a slight response to what is going on, but my Pollyanna attitude usually quickly overcomes the circumstances, I retreat into a good book (good being relative...some trashy chicklit can be termed good if it suits my mood) and I look up an hour later and feel better from having escaped into someone else's world and their minor problems. Last year was tougher than most to recover from, occasional sadness wise. I never thought that part of it might be due to the weather. Ever since we've moved here, it has been mostly sunny and relatively warm. I have been overwhelmed with energy and purpose. Of course, this might have to do with the new house and the new list and different list of things I need to accomplish. I was up until 11pm last night painting. I started out painting over the red accent wall in the kitchen, very small wall, I just wanted it ready when I started painting the kitchen on Monday. Then I figured since I had the paintbrush and primer out, I could start painting primer on the walls in the dining room. Then I told myself, I needed to put everything away and go take a bath. But, I really, really wanted to see what the new color would look like in the kitchen, so I started painting and finally about 11pm, I forced myself to put everything away. The color is so lovely in the kitchen, it looks like melted soft serve chocolate ice cream.
Every morning I wake up with things to do and to finish. And every morning I am happy about it. I have a LOT to do every morning. I can't even get to maintenance cleaning yet. I try and clean stuff as I come across it, but the bathrooms are being neglected and the floors could use more care. But wildly enough, I don't care. I am excited to paint and get stuff ready for the carpet to be installed.
Which leads me back to SAD, was I suffering from this seasonal disorder? Or has going to a new place, away from things that reminded me of Fiona's awful time last year and away from proximity to my family (where I don't flinch when the phone rings) just made things better? I have to say my hands haven't been cold since we've moved here.
I am just happy to say that things are great and I am actually semi enjoying the painting that I said I would never do again. Do you suffer from this? Do you think that a warm sunny climate would make you feel better? We'll see how I react when it gets hot and muggy, but I am also looking forward to sliding out the back door into the lovely pool with my girls.

Do They Really Know it's Christmas Time?

I said when I first started this blog I said I was going to put down what I was thinking about and invite you to comment. I realized I hadn't been doing much of that, so here's the first one.
A large pet peeve of mine is celebrities trying to run the world. I don't mind people like Bono who have a serious track record of trying to help people and change policy. I get frustrated when people like Sean Penn, who only briefly attended Santa Monica College where he studied Auto mechanic and speech, meet with people like President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, a very vocal opponent of the US. There are other celebs who have minimal schooling, but try to influence elections, wars,( don't get me started on Jane Fonda)...
But tonight, on the way home from Target, I listened to the song "Do They Know It's Christmas Time". It was written for Band-Aid, a group in the 80s concerned with global hunger. It's a great idea and worthy cause, but some of the lyrics make me crazy. Band Aid was concerned primarily with hunger in Africa. The chorus says, Do they know it's Christmas time at all? Well, at the time this was written, Christianity was not the prime religion in Africa, it still isn't today. So, they wouldn't know what Christmas was, much less that it was Christmas time.
I know this is nitpicking, but I have always been a black/white kind of person. I must have been an annoying little kid.
What do you think? Do you have some Christmas songs that drive you nuts? (Please don't smack down Grandma got run Over By a Reindeer. I can't help the accent I get when I sing it)

In My Absence

So, we are in our lovely new house. My new Sony laptop died around the same time I made my last post. I called their service number and they knew what was wrong without with an actual examination. Makes you wonder, huh? Does Sony make lemons?
Dear Hubby was kind enough to get me a Dell while we are waiting for the other laptop to be fixed. He and the girls are going to share the lemon.
Things have been so crazy. When we moved into the house, I realized how bad the carpet was. Then we saw all of the marks left on the walls by the movers. Since I am the family painter, there was work to be done. Also, when we were touring the house, the oatmeal walls with cream trim didn't do much for me. First to be painted, Buttercup's. She and I chose this lovely lavender blue color from Walmart. The color is so bright and pretty. I also made a trip to IKEA to buy her a bedframe, nightstand and bookcase. She doesn't know this yet, hubby wants us to wait until Christmas. Plus I figure, if we don't have them up when the carpet layers come we don't have to move them.
Fiona's room is staying the same. She will like the green and the bunnies for some time to come.
I painted the spare room for my little sister, jokingly. She has been voted most likely to come and visit us, so we let her pick the color. She wanted purple or blue, so I got some pretty mauve color (named Naughty Neutral!). Then I painted the hallway and the lower half of the dining room. All of this whilst organizing the house, cooking Thanksgiving dinner and setting stuff out for Christmas.
I have to say that all of this has been incredibly rewarding. Very few times do stay at home moms get verifiable proofs of their labor. I should also tell you the time I got a major bank to push through our home loan in half the time. Even our realtor was impressed.
The girls are settled in school. I absolutely love all day school. It leaves me much happier for them when they get home. I can do what I need to while they are gone.
On a sadder note, Fiona has had some hair loss. She hasn't noticed it yet, but Buttercup did. For a few days it threw hubby and me into some depression. I had to keep reminding us that it's a sign of the cure, not a sign of the disease returning. Sometimes, it's tough. Cancer is such an unpredictable thing. They tell you 75% success rate. Then you realize that's just for 5 years. Then you see the St. Jude's commercials on TV and it's so heartbreaking. I absolutely hate those commercials.
Other than that, we are doing pretty well. Well, all of us, except 'T' the cat. Poor guy. He got a rude welcome to Houston, when on one of his first nights outside, we had fabulous thunder bumper of a storm. I didn't notice, neither did Fiona. We were tired. Dear Hubby, on the other hand, lay awake for most of the night and Buttercup complained as well. T has resorted to hiding under beds and has to be talked outside to go potty. He doesn't stay out there long.

Things I am grateful for

Number one!! I am grateful I won't be sharing a house with Fiona when she is pregnant. I view her steroid usage as a good precursor of what her pregnancies will be like and ugh! I can hear her in there now, " Mama, can I have some saltines, I really need them, uuunnnnhhhhh ( I think she's channeling Pat from SNL at this point). I am glad her wants have been fewer this time because we don't have the groceries that we normally do or the ability to make things for her either. I don't know if I mentioned we unpacked about 3 boxes.
Number 2! I am grateful for elementary teachers and the fact that our children are probably going back to school on Monday. Buttercup hasn't been the most cooperative. Fiona has gone through at least 3 workbooks I have purchased for her. Buttercup, on the other hand, struggles through the 5-10 pages I have her work on each day. It seems like every morning we start from square one, as the previous day's lesson as fallen out of her head. I also got treated to days of old this weekend as I watched her work hard and non complaining on the worksheets with her dad. It took me back to the days when I was just about to have Fiona and desperately wanted Buttercup pottytrained. "I go potty in the pottychair for Daddy"! She pottytrained herself the first week of Hubby's paternity leave, after I had spent months trying to get her to go.
Number 3! This Wednesday we should be signing the papers for the house. It will be nice to be settled and be able to unpack everything and get our Texas plates and licenses and for the retarded bank to stop calling over every purchase on our card!!!! Seriously. Did you guys read about the Walmart pre-Black Friday sale? They had a 50 inch plasma TV for $998 and a HD DVD player for $100. I dropped Hubby off at work, hightailed it over there and waited in line for a bit. I managed to get my hands on both, only to be rejected by my credit card repeatedly!! Thank heavens for the cell phone. I got right on it and gave the card company a piece of my mind. Apparently since we filled the gas tank the night before and then tried to purchase a big ticket item, our card was flagged. Did you know that card thieves will hit the gas tank first in order to see if there is money in the account and then go buy big things? She unlocked my credit card and then I had to call later to unlock the bank accounts. Sigh, then I got a call this morning because we charged hubby's truck in order to get credit card points. They wanted me to authorize that too.
So,I will be very grateful when Fiona is done with this months steroids and we are in our house...it's about a week. PS Check out the hair! I had to admit to something rather selfish. Her curls are so adorable, but part of me is sad that her hair didn't come in like it used to look. Once her hair had grown out enough we could've pretended like the whole two years had never happened....

Great things about Houston (only part 1 I am sure)

Things I love about Texas? Two words, Central Time. Now I can enjoy all of my previously on too late programs. I have watched ER practically since it's inception and I have to admit to some later nights on Thursdays simply because I watch the show, get all excited and then I can't go to sleep. With the new repertoire of later TV this season, there are more reasons to stay up later. Now later is 9pm!! Hahhahaha! (diabolical laughter). My sister is bitter that I get to watch Grey's Anatomy three hours earlier than she does.
Another thing to love to Houston? House prices. With what we sold our house for in Oregon, we could have a 4000 square foot house in a cul-de-sac with a pool and spa out back. How wild is that? Of course we would have to pay to air condition the house. But still, we could play hide and go seek for weeks and never find each other.
Still yet another thing....the meterologist's fear of 'colder' weather. Hubby and I looked at each other and laughed when the weatherman said we might want to think about turning on the heater because it's going to get down around 50 degrees during the night....what? Hubby says he can't ever imagine turning on a heater around here.
Choosing your electric company. Who'd ever heard of this before? In Oregon having a monopoly on any service is pretty much guaranteed. Down here we basically gamble with who is going to have the best for the longest time. Totally weird. At first, I was going to go with the best choice for the longest time (24 months) Now I am thinking the best choice for a year so I can choose again later. Now, I am not a big fan of Las Vegas. I don't like to gamble, especially with my money, but I sure do like having a choice.
Another thing to like? I woke up on Sunday morning to have my laptop tell me that while it was 55 degrees here it was 29 degrees in Sherwood!!! AGH! I am so loving this weather. I haven't been cold once since we've moved here and if you know my circulation problems at all, you understand. I'm the one, at the YMCA, jogging on the treadmill full tilt, still wearing my zip up sweatshirt.
Getting jealous yet? Hey that house down the cul-de-sac is still for sale, along with a few others around us. You don't even have to watch the kiddies walk to school and the amenities are out of control! The subdivision pool, lake, playgrounds, tennis courts, a Walmart Supercenter just outside of the subdivision along with a Kohls, Old Navy, Red Robin, Target....I could go on forever. I am just itching to get up there and settled in our new house, especially before someone figures out our cat did make the trip and charges $350 for him to be here for only 1 month.

What I have been doing lately

So, we have been in Texas for 11 days. We have unpacked our PODs and set up our house. I have found us a new house, started the financing process, got the house inspected and insurance secured.
I should back up. Basically the Monday after we flew in, I had found a realtor and started looking at houses. The weekend before we looked through model homes. That was really fun. There is nothing better than going through beautifully decorated homes and imaging living there. The only problem is that they don't let you buy that particular house right then and with the furniture already in it. Buttercup and I are going to go back to some to take pictures and steal ideas for her new room.
So, we figured that it would be cheapest to build and then add in a pool. The only problem with that is all of the upgrades just nickel and dime you and the price of pools is ridiculous. Did you know that most houses here don't have pools? How weird is that in the weather down here? Most come with community pools, but those can shut as early as Labor Day. So, we could've picked out that $172,000 model with a bonus room (an add'l $18,000), a cul de sac lot (another $18,000 but we were building a dream house, we might as well get all we wanted), that included a larger lot for the pool. Then the cost of putting in a nice pool ($25,000) and we haven't even started with the better tub (whirlpool of course, $800) and we are already over $230,000!!! I found one I really liked, it was $266,000 but the kitchen was perfect, like I had designed it myself. We toured it Tuesday and we were ready for Hubby to tour it the next night. The next morning our agent called and said they had accepted the contract they had been negotiating since the weekend. We walked through while the owner was working from home and we talked to her about a few things and she never mentioned there was a contract in the works!! I couldn't believe it.
That was pretty disappointing. Then we viewed the house shown. It wasn't too inspiring, although, when we were leaving our agent hit the brakes and said, what was that? She had found a small path through to the elementary school less than 100 yards from the house. The house is on the corner of a cul de sac. Hubby still wanted to see it. As we walked through it, I figured out my indifference to the house was due to the lack of color.It was perfect for us. It wasn't too big. It's really easy, down here, to get used to the bigger house. I don't think we toured anything smaller than 2200 sq ft.
So, our house was $240,000...which was nice to have a ready made house less than what we could have built it for, in a nice neighborhood and an exemplary school within less than walking distance. Plus, we don't actually have to see the school.
We felt really good about not overspending on a house or buying a house bigger than we needed. You would not believe the property taxes down here. In Oregon we have property taxes and income tax. Our total tax bill from both was about $5900. Here we have sales tax and property tax. Before exemptions, taxes here are about $7,000. That's property alone!
Gosh, I feel like I am babbling. SO much has happened in the last 11 days, I can't believe I have accomplished it all!PS, here is my new kitchen. I can't wait to add some color to it

We are still Alive!

We are safely here in Houston. I will post more when we get a little more settled. Of course, who knows when that will be. I will take the time to post a PSA with regards to traveling with your pets.
Fiona and I were set to fly out at 8:15am. We woke up at 5:30 at my sister's. We had found T and put him in our garage to make sure we didn't have to hunt him down. I took a few minutes and one prayer to stuff him into our pet carrier. We took at least 40 minutes to drive to PDX. I unloaded all of our stuff and with the help of the rental car guy managed to perch everything precariously on a cart. We had to wait in line because we had to pay for T's travel. ($80!) Then she told me that our carrier wasn't going to work because it was too big. Apparently T counts as one of my carry-ons and he was going to ride with us!!!! I had no idea. No one said anything about it when we booked his ticket. She said she wasn't sure where we could find an appropriate carrier. Luckily the Continental desk had one for the special price of $55!!! Then she let me know that I would have to walk with him out of any carrier through the metal detector.
So, we get in line for the security screening. Once we got up to the place where you start taking off your shoes, I had to step to the side because I had no idea how I was to take care of our 4 carry-ons, including a lap top they like you to power up, the shoes and jackets of Fiona and myself and then get the cat out of the carrier and walk all three of us through the metal detector. It took me 5 minutes to work up the gumption to attempt all of this. I threw everything on the conveyor belt and yanked off our shoes and jackets and sent Fiona ahead. I grabbed T and very gingerly coaxed him out of his hated carrier. We managed to take him through and then get into the approved pet carrier. I had to get the TSA guy's attention in order to ask if he could throw away the old carrier. I could just imagine what kind of furor it would cause were we to leave the carrier past the security area.
Most of the passengers were already boarded by the time we got on. T was stowed away under the seat ahead of us. He did really well.
So, research all of the potential facts when it comes to transporting your pets, huh? I had no idea he was going to ride with us. It was a bit weird. He managed to survive the upheaval, so much so he looks to hubby for love and protection now when he used to cower when he came into the room. Weirdo!

Great Day

I had the best day with the girls yesterday. Our school had a Fun Run to raise money and after I worked out at the YMCA, I went to their school so I could watch them run laps around the track. Fiona's class was first and after she went around once, I figured out that I could hop up there with her. Fiona took the word run seriously and baby girl actually ran a mile. She has some serious moves. It was pretty impressive. I helped her get some water and a "popstickle". We took some pictures of her class and then Buttercup's class came out. Buttercup is more of a stroller. She said it would have helped had they not just had recess and Brendan had not been chasing her. I walked a few laps with her and her friend.
Then I went and got Fiona's meds. We are having to get everything together before we leave. Fiona and I came home from school and hung out a bit before picking up another prescription. We were nice enough to bring Daddy some Dr. Pepper.
As I was driving home, I was grateful for a husband who appreciates that spending time with the girls and supporting them is more important than coming home to a spotless house. Which would be hard in our current condition. I just so enjoyed doing the fun run with them. I might not have worked out so hard had I known I would be on the track an additional mile and a half!

SOLD!

It has been quite the roller coaster with the buyer of our house. They started with the sales price of $299,999 and said they would pay $295,000 and have us pay $5,000 worth of closing costs. We countered back with the full price of $299,999 and their closing costs of $5,000. So then their realtor said they would pay the price of $299,999 but they wanted $6,000 back. We said sold. Then our realtor called back the next morning and said the offer was actually $299,000 with $6,000 paid on the closing costs! We said sold and then they took another $999 off. I was livid. That wasn't what we had agreed to. Hubby said that we were going to go down to Texas and lowball people as well. I said, hey it's their right to lowball all they want, but to change the offer after we had verbally accepted it was dishonest. Their realtor knew what they had done was shady and she actually took $500 off of her realtor's fees. But we went ahead and accepted their offer. I am just so glad not to have to OCD clean the house everyday. I guess I am not much of one for endurance, our house sold in just a little over 3 weeks! But we were having at least one person come through the house everyday. So, I couldn't just clean the house, I had to stage it everyday. Even the girls were getting on board. I went to make their beds one morning and I just had to snap the covers and the beds were made. I didn't want to turn the girls OCD as well!
But, the house closes 3 weeks from today. I am so excited about that.
I have also made the decision to home school the girls until we buy a house, which shouldn't last past Christmas. We are just moving to an apartment whose elementary school is more than 50% economically disadvantaged children. I don't want to dump the girls into the middle of that, as well as a new school, a new place to live, new state, etc. I found some really great websites, including one 3rd grade class that lists their daily calendar of studies. I mean, from 8:30-8:40am, they do free writing in their journals and then 8:40-9:10am phonics and word study. It's that detailed. It will make my job much easier and relieve my mind when it comes to worrying about my girls. So we can study for two hours in the morning and then take a break for lunch and swimming and then study for two more hours in the afternoon.
Things are definitely falling into place. Hubby has really taken the initiative to pack things. Unfortunately, that includes the canned goods that help me make dinner and my cookbooks that do the same. So, he has been nominated for KP quite a bit!

Selling a House

We have never sold a house before. It's been quite the roller coaster. Listening to people's ideas about houses has been quite crazy. People wanted more land, some said this land was too much. Location wasn't great. But they all loved the actual house. We have another house that just went on the market in our neighborhood, which we thought was great. It would bring more traffic and our house would show better. We walked through it during an open house and it didn't show very well. They had our old carpet in it, which was nasty. Our house is about 10 years old and they didn't put great carpet in it to begin with. The rooms were smaller and the landscaping was non-existent. Plus, their house is $6,000 more.
We had someone come in on Wednesday, unannounced and then came back with an appointment on Thursday. We were really excited about then because they had already sold their condo and came mortgage pre-approved. They really liked the house and also went through the other house. Our realtor talked to theirs and she told us that if they bought in our neighborhood it would be the other house, because of the sprinklers....THE SPRINKLERS! Our lot is less than 6,000 square feet. Do you know what kind of sprinkler system you could buy for $6,000? One that is run by computers and features a pond with fountain. Hubby told our realtor to offer them $1,500 in a contract for a sprinkler system.
We got an offer today. They were coming by for a second look this afternoon. They made an appointment for 3:15 and we had an appointment, for another showing, at noon. We ate lunch with hubby at his work while the first one came through. So, I decided not to spend too much time at home between so I didn't have to reclean the house. Buttercup gets out at 2:15, so I figured I would pick her up and we would play at the park and come home after the 3:15 appointment. She called about 45 minutes before and said they got a late start and wouldn't be there until 4:30. Entertaining the girls that long is painful! I do refer to myself as head of the Entertainment committee. We ended up at the library with the girls surfing the internet. I figured it would be safe to head home around 5:30pm. We ended up across and down the street from our house for over half an hour. During that time, I got a call from our agent saying they were there writing an hour. They were taking only $5,000 off of the asking price and asking for $5,000 for closing costs. Their house is California is pending sale right now, which gives us pause. It's pretty easy for a house sale to fall through and we really need the money in hand. They are coming over tomorrow to officially offer. Our agent is going to call everyone who came through and let them know we are going to be receiving an offer.
So, that's where we are at. Having an offer, any offer, on the table is quite a bit of relief. Hubby and Buttercup are leaving in two weeks! Fiona and I leave 3 weeks from today.
One nice thing about sitting across from our house for over half an hour was that we bought a new magic school bus this weekend. That's what the girls call our van. We first had a 2000 Honda Odyssey. We upgraded over the weekend to a 2005 that has to be the coolest car I have ever been in, much less owned. It has the DVD system with wireless headphones. Awesome! Where we sit in the driver's seat feels more like a cockpit. I also bought a GPS navigator for Hubby to drive half way across the country and not lose my Buttercup and new magic school bus.

Come on out of the woodwork!

So, we have another open house and we are literally this close to getting an offer. Hubby and I were having a discussion about what scent would make someone more likely to buy a house. I am debating between brownies and cinnamon bread. The smell of cinnamon bread was pretty amazing. I made some yesterday before someone walked through. I also made brownies a couple of weeks ago before someone walked through. So, post a comment and let me know, what's your favorite baking smell. I am quite the baker, so if you have another idea let me know. It's time to get this house sold!

How quickly reality returns!

So, this morning, I wake up Fiona and her little inner ogress comes out! Starting last Thursday she has had a shot of chemo, and about 50 pills and I think it just all caught up with her. She had a massive meltdown, crying and screaming. We decided to keep her home. I think if school had started a bit later and she had an appetite when she woke up, then she would have made it okay. But it's frustrating to deal with her big mood swings. I feel bad for her, but I had my morning all planned, a trip to the YMCA and the dreaded Winco weekly trip. She perked up shortly after I dropped Buttercup at school. It has been tough only having one car. Hubby has been getting rides with my sister, so I have to take the girls to school no matter what.

Fiona had to make the trip to Winco with me and we made it out of there with a lot more square boxes than we normally do. It will be easier to make dinner and lunches with the extra help. It's also cheaper than eating out all of the time.

I worry now about how Fiona is going to take to all day kindergarten. We might just have to regularly take this day off every month. I know that school is tiring for her to begin with. It's tough to sit still and behave for so long everyday. I did notice that the school she is going to has a 30 minute nap period every day around noon. That will be very nice for her.
PS This is a picture of Stoner Fiona. Less happy times, but a happier girl.

School Days

So, I remember telling hubby that the 2 and a half hours of kindergarten weren't nearly enough. But today, I really had my first day of freedom and I cannot describe the joy of doing what I wanted for that length of time. I went to Winco for what has to be the shortest trip ever. I wasn't waiting for short legs to keep up, or arranging food around someone sitting in the cart. No one distracted me or asked for 10,000 inappropriate things. Then I drove to Barnes and Noble, where joy of joys, I got to browse for what I needed. Bookstores are hard with Fiona. She won't stay put and she rearranges a good portion of the inventory. Buttercup, on the other hand, has recently discovered the joys of a good bookstore and is a good companion.
Then I drove down to Fry's, of the previous post. I only went in for a DVD. I had no problem buying it. They had James Bond DVDs for $5.99. I couldn't resist a copy of Goldeneye. Then I went to Riteaid and picked up a prescription and then I got the car washed. I got to listen to music as loudly as I wanted, and after all of this, I still had time to stop at the house, unload most of the groceries and arrive early to pick her up. It was great.
We put the house on the market last week and have had four people come by and see the house and another visit postponed. Hopefully, the house will be snapped up soon. There are two ladies who love it and just have to convince someone that they need to buy it. Let me know if you want the rmls number and I will send it to you. It looks so pretty. We haven't had any negative feedback, which is good. Our timeline is just so narrow! Hubby is the most stressed out and I hope we get an offer soon, especially for his sake. I did sell his car this week, which was great!

WWWAAAHHHOOOOOO!

We finally know! We are headed to Houston. Hubby has a start date of October 15th! We have to sell our house, at least one of our cars, have a moving sale and pack up our stuff. We called the realtor and she is coming out tomorrow to take pictures, which means the house has to be in perfect shape. Why am I blogging? There is only so much chemical cleaner one can inhale! Hubby is still at work, or I should say at a restaurant eating with the bigwigs. We have very different ideas of fun, he hates eating with people at work, doesn't like to make small talk and doesn't care too much about what he eats. Me? A free dinner, that I don't have to make and I can pick whatever I want. Sign me up! Especially a child free dinner.
Which we should be having this weekend. It's our 11th anniversary and it should be better than our 10th. I spent the day and evening up at Children's and hubby took Buttercup to Supply night at her elementary. He was so out of it he forgot the teacher's name until he ran into Kate's mom and she remembered it. Hubby wants to go and watch Harry Potter #5 on IMAX and I want to eat at Chevy's. Luckily, my sisters will be in town, so we don't have to shell out a bunch of cash just for a sitter.
We should be flying down to Houston in September. I think I have hubby convinced it would be too mean to start the girls in one school and then pull them out a few weeks later when we find a house to buy. It will be fun to head down there and check stuff out and find a great house. Now, the stress of wondering is over and the stress of selling a house for the first time begins!

Here We Go again

So, I just finished posting about Buttercup and now Fiona is running a temperature. Children's Oncology has a policy where if you run a temperature of 100.5 you have to come in. Fiona has been flirting with that number. She feels fine, just that darn temperature. It's weird, in a way, I have been waiting for that to happen. All of our little friends have been admitted for some sort of sickness or another. It's really been a miracle that she has gone for over a year with a severely compromised immune system and not gotten sick. When I was doing chemo, I had three months of hard chemo and during that time, I developed a bleeding ulcer, a high fever of unknown origin and impetigo. That was just three months. Of course, I had 5 siblings at the time. So, part of me feels like fear of the unknown is just as bad as nothing happening. Then again, we don't want to be admitted.
She is sleeping now. I suppose we will have to wait and see how she is in the morning. Last summer she did this off and on when it got hot outside. I hope everything is back to normal in the morning. We have a playdate with friends from church tomorrow and both girls need to get out of the house.

Me and Hospitals

A year tomorrow, I was sitting in the hospital with Fiona desperately waiting for a definite diagnosis. The terror of the first night had receded, if they don't know what it is, but she is being taken care, we will just focus on taking care of her. I didn't cry again, until I was sitting with the doctor discussing her definitive diagnosis.
Today I was again in the hospital, this time with Buttercup hoping for a definitive diagnosis. She woke up early this morning, puked twice and then developed a fever. I figured it was just a bug until she started writhing in pain. Buttercup isn't a crybaby. When she says it hurts, she generally means it. So, I called the advice nurse and she recommended the ER. Sigh, I hate the ER. Fiona and I have been taking turns going to the ER since 2000. This was Buttercup's first trip as a patient. I worried that she was developing appendicitis. I left Fiona with Hubby, because the ER isn't the best place for an immuno-suppressed little girl. She insisted she could go because she goes to the hospital all of the time.
It turns out, she could have come. We have a new hospital, fairly close and it is so Quiet! What a joy, for an ER. There were only a few other patients. Buttercup got labs drawn. She hates, hates needles. I had to help her collect a urine sample. Oh, the things they never tell you when you talk about the joys of impending motherhood. She said it was pretty weird having your mom watch you pee. She got an ultrasound and they couldn't see her appendix. So, they thought she should get a CT. I hid in the technician box because I have gotten my fair share of radiation in the last year.
She got a shot of phenergen, this nice anti nausea medicine. It gave her some much needed rest. It also made her loopy. She slept through her trip down the hall to ultrasound and she woke up when the technician was applying the goop. She looked startled and said, aren't you going to give me some sleepy medicine. She thought they were just going to take the thing out already! Poor girl.
So, they sent us home. Her labs were fairly normal, and they couldn't find the appendix on the CT. Apparently she was too skinny to see it....which sounds weird. She is still running a fever now, but she seems better. They told us to come back in 8 hours for a recheck, but I don't think she needs it.
But, that was our Saturday. 5 hours getting her checked out. I should have brought a bigger book!

AAAHRRRGGGHHHH!

Sigh, we still don't know anything. People, that don't work in our office, are saying hubby is sure to get it. People in the office keep making noise about how they wanted him with regards to restructuring the office. Well, they should have been nicer before! He's had some real hard time with his boss, who is retiring at the end of the year ( no one knows that). She is the one promising him a job at the office here, but she's not entirely trustworthy. We want a sure fire thing, especially when it comes to our benefits and the health insurance. This would be a good move for Fiona. Hubby has passed that along, as well as what would be our disappointment if it weren't to come to pass.
I have disconnected from here! I am thoroughly excited for a new place to live. Not to mention, we have been spending money to stage the house, money that we can spend if we sell the house! If we don't sell the house, then it will just look fancy for a while.
Hubby's house has already sold! I knew it was too good to be true. The house I liked is too far from the office. We'd like to be no further than 10 miles out. I have found a couple of more houses. It's weird the things we have to worry about. I had to find a website that showed the flood plains and make sure we weren't there. Some good news, I was checking out sales in our neighborhood and it seems that most happen in the fall, which is great news, and there is only one house for sale in our neighborhood and it's not nearly as nice as ours and is on the market for more than the amount we were thinking of listing at. I am glad our neighborhood is still a hot spot with the housing market, since other places are slowing down.
So, once again we are waiting. Hubby is growing more grey hair and a stomach ulcer and I seem to be lethargic. It's not too interesting to make sure everything is clean and in it's proper place when it's going to have to be packed and everything practically sterilized to show the house.
So, we aren't expecting any official news before August 27th. But I keep telling hubby to ask when and where he can. I would like to know sooner! As soon as possible. The wait is insufferable!

Massage Envy

I like many of you, I am sure, suffer from Mom back. Mine started back in 2002 when I woke up one morning, very early and went to turn over. I actually felt/heard a rip. It did not feel good. I tore some weird muscle in my back. It was on the left hand side, the side where I carried Fiona constantly. After pain killers and muscle relaxers, I switched carrying Fiona to the other side. Thus, both of my sides, mainly the inside of each shoulder blade, are severely messed up. I wake up regularly with severe neck pain and I have been trying to use a muscle relaxer once a week.I am not very good at remembering and I don't like the way I feel in the morning if I take it too late.
Hubby has been harassing me for months to find a place to get myself a massage. That's something that has always seemed too decadent and too self absorbed. I am not saying it is, it just was something that seemed too selfish a thing to spend our money on. Then driving down hwy 99, I saw a sign that said massage for $39. Now, I am not an expert, but hubby sort of is. He has worked for an insurance company for 11 years year in the claims department, with bodily injuries and he knows a good deal when he sees it. He told me to call and get myself an appointment.
Well, I called yesterday and booked one. It was with a guy, which sounded kind of weird to begin with. I got there on time and filled out the questionnaire. I assured them that my low blood pressure wouldn't be a problem. I never seen any sort of problems from it (it's generally 90/70, a little lower during pregnancy).
Hubby said he didn't want to have a dude rubbing him because he would never be able to relax enough if some guy was giving him the good feelings. I thought he was nuts until the guy started rubbing my very sore neck and back. Then I understood the feelings he was talking about. An hour later, I got up and felt sooooo good. I was no longer clenching everywhere. I don't even have the ability to tense up my back right now.
If we don't move, I told hubby we will sign up for their monthly massage package when he gets his raise in March. If we move to Houston we will sign up for their franchise there. It's actually called Massage Envy. It's totally worth it. For all you Mom back sufferers out there, treat yourself. It's totally worth it and you definitely deserve it!

No News is not Necessarily Good News

I have been doing a lot of house shopping on the internet. I like one particular house and Dave likes another. Both are representative of what we could buy down there. Now, my friends here in Oregon can appreciate the deals we think we could be getting. Here's Dave's house..
http://homes.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?mindt=1%2f1%2f0001+12%3a00%3a00+AM&maxdt=12%2f31%2f9999+11%3a59%3a59+PM&ctid=4&ml=3&mnp=19&mxp=22&bd=5&bth=4&typ=1&sqft=10&pfbm=190101004&ofbm=402&sid=6f2c043c252847c2b53b1a5112f82358&lid=1083255885&lsn=2&srcnt=2239#Detail

And here's mine. Granted, we have more pictures on mine, which makes it a lot easier to love!
http://homes.realtor.com/prop/1077674130
The sale of our house should net us quite a bit of equity and make our mortgage payment in Texas smaller than it is now, with a house that is just about twice the size!
Hubby has been working with the guy who is definitely the second in command of the new office. That ought to help. He can get through the back channels. We aren't expecting to hear before the 24th of August. Sigh...
Still, life goes on, Fiona is back to the hospital for chemo on Thursday. She surprised me quite a bit on Tuesday. She got up, not so interested in breakfast, drank some strawberry milk and ate some saltines and then hurled. It's the first time she has hurled in years. She felt pretty good afterwards, I did have to make her lay down all day, which she didn't want to do. It's something she has been dreading since she was diagnosed last year. I told her, well, now you've done it, is it as bad as you thought it was? It wasn't as awful as she had dreamed up in her head, but she didn't want to do it again anytime soon.
So, I hate limbo. The house no longer seems like a haven, I feel like there is always something I could be doing, but why pack everything up if we don't have to move? I am collecting boxes and packing up my breakables. I made hubby take us out for dinner and then we took the girls out to play at the school playground. It was nice to get away from the house and responsibilities for a while.

Don't Mess with Texas

Things have been in a uproar over the past 36 hours. Dear Hubby called me on my cell, while I was on the way home from our weekly trip to Winco, and said I need to get home. So, when I got home he told me that they had decided his situation at work. For a while they have been testing a new computer program at his office and he could see the writing on the wall. Soon, they wouldn't need his group at work, the one he manages. Tuesday they told him he was right. They won't be needing his group. He got three choices, they could find him another job within their office (with a boss who isn't that fond of him but is retiring at the end of the year), give him severance pay, which would amount to 22 weeks and let him find another job, or thirdly, give him a promotion and send him to help start up the consolidation office in Houston, TX. After about 30 seconds of deliberation, we picked door number 3. It isn't a slam dunk, although it's fairly close, odds for us are about 80% of getting sent there. We couldn't tell anyone before they told people at work because both my dad and my sister work through his office.
Indecision is the worst thing. I can deal with good, I can even deal with bad, but the indecision is awful. We won't know for probably at least a couple of weeks if we are going to Houston. Then we will need to quickly sell the house and buy another one. That's one of the awesome things about moving there. We can have a massive house with lots of land and a pool with a smaller mortgage than we have now.
Right now I just want to start packing up half of the house and getting ready to sell. We have never sold a house before, which is kind of scary. The good news is that while the market has slown down in our area, our neighborhood is still getting snapped up quickly.
I had to go shopping with my sister last night and not say anything the entire time. It was the worst. I promised that I would call her at 11:15am, which is the safe time dear hubby promised me. I was buying a new sweatshirt and part of me was thinking, am I really going to need this?
The girls are pretty excited. They have seen some of the houses on the Internet. Buttercup wanted to know if we are going to buy the one with the rock waterfall into the pool...I wish. I told them they could start practicing saying Y'all. We do have some ties to Texas. My great grandma was born there.
Well, enough of my ramblings. It has been a really hard secret to keep. I can't wait to find out. PS, Liz this might mean we might need a place to stay one night on our way over!!! I hope our cat travels well.

Things Lately

It has been a whole week since I posted last. I got my hands on Harry Potter the morning it came out. Hubby was great and kept the kids entertained and even went out to get me lunch on Saturday. I loved the book, I think it's my favorite. I was a bit sad about buying it because when I read it, Harry would be over for me. There are still movies left to come out, but they are never the same. In fact, we asked my sister to come over and watch the girls so we could see Harry Potter #5 on IMAX and partly in 3-D yesterday. #5 used to be my favorite. I was pretty disappointed in the movie. If I had never read the book, then it would have been a pretty good movie, but they barely scratched the surface of the book.
Speaking of my sister, I asked her to come and hang out with me when she could. I asked in front of her husband, so she could come up with the, "well my sister needs to get out, so I guess I should go with her." We wandered around the track this week already, we must have walked 5 miles.
The girls are making me crazy. Fiona has decided not to mind us any more. She's just testing her boundaries, but I am so not in the mood for that. I have even tried to wear her out, but it doesn't seem to work. She just gets crabbier and then doesn't go to bed any earlier. I am so grateful we decided that Fiona definitely needed to go to school this year. I know I need her to go to school this year.
I am back to step class. I think my heel has sufficiently heeled. I hurt it walking the halls of the hospital in less than sensible shoes. It was bad enough we were in the hospital, did I have to look bad....not when Fiona was doing so well. I should have stuck with my Nikes. Anyway, I am less motivated to work out and I figure that I would do better with other people and loud music.
So, things are going pretty well.

Social Butterfly I am Not

As I have gotten older, I have noticed I need to work on my social skills. I have tons of good aquaintances at church (which is pretty much where my friends pool comes from) but not lots of good friends. I rarely call someone up just to gab. I am not sure if I have too many people I could just call up and gab.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately. This is party due to the fact that my life is pretty full and my down time is hardly my own. I spend it reading, working out, watching TV and doing census extraction for church. It is also partly due to the fact that my hubby is a total home body. He is perfectly content for it to be just the four of us and isn't too interested in socializing over dinner, at our house or someone else's. He doesn't hang out with many other than his Uncle on occasion. This sorts of cuts my socializing in half because now we are married, most people socialize as couples.
I have a couple of sisters that live close by and if they would just be normal, I don't think I would have a problem. One is a direct conduit to my mom and I feel like I have to guard everything I say to her. Our values don't quite mesh and she's not the most reliable person. My other sister, I am closer to, but her hubby is ....I am not sure how to put it. He worries me sometimes. He has a job where he gets up at 2am and so he likes to be in bed before 7pm. My sister acts like she has to be there the whole time. My hubby was in charge of church softball and he told her she should come out and play in the evening once a week and he observed some sort of interplay between them where he knew she wanted to come, but she ended up not coming. They only really do stuff with each other on the weekends. Plus, while she's not the leaky sieve my first sister is, she's not entirely trustworthy either.
Our ward is also full of people who have different interests. One of our activities was to go and get pedicures together. Quite a few go running in the morning to train for a marathon. Neither of which really interest me. I suppose I could do a better job of reading the books in our book club and showing up. Staying out late once a month won't really hurt me. I have been taking our girls to park day, which is every Friday, but the turnout hasn't been great.
It's something that bothers me periodically. I know a should make a greater effort to make friends, I just don't know if I have enough time to commit to making good friends. Any advice?

Bus Driver, Move That Bus!!

We survived our brush with Hollywood, barely. Princess Fiona was crabby and anxious about traveling down there. I think it was partly steroids and partly it's summer and no one is getting to bed on time, but little people are still popping up with the sun.
We had to wait for a few hours before the family showed up. We did know they would show up between 5 and 6pm because the limo company needed their limo back. You would think they would be a little more understanding with the national company....ah well. It worked out nicely for us. We were able to hang out in the VIP area and enjoy the breeze. The clouds kept the sun from shining on us and the heat down.
Then, after they went inside we got to go down to the food tent. It wasn't as exciting as I had hoped.
Fiona met up with another Fiona. Namewise, not attitude wise.

They have the same first two initials. Both parents came from Southern Oregon, they were born 5 days apart. We were all at Walt Disney World for our Make a Wish trips at the same time.
Fiona's part yesterday involved taking a lit lantern and walking over the bridge of the koi pond and then talking to Boey, the girl they were redoing the house for. I could watch over the camera guy's shoulder (the guy who was working this large crane of a camera) and then Matt, the great producer, put his ear piece up to my ear. All of the Sparrows were supposed to give some words of encouragement to Boey and then be done. Fiona said she was going to say that she knows it hurts, but she can do it Fiona did and Boey could do it too, go Boey. It sounded good, so off she went.

She went into the backyard. I heard Ty Pennington ask her what she was going to say. She said, I forgot, I'm so embarrassed! It was so funny. Ty said that was okay, that's why he wrote things down. I heard her talking about how she was coughing all of the time and that's why her parents took her to the hospital and then we thought something was wrong with her heart. I had a hard time hearing some of what she said, but she was in there the longest. CJ, the guy in charge of our Sparrows, said that people were all asking on Friday, whether or not Fiona would be coming on Saturday.
She did so well and so was so cute. We are thinking about shopping her over at Frito-Lay next! Thank heavens for Cheetos while we are doing steroids. We finally got home after 11pm. The episode should air in October, we hope that Fiona has a lot of airtime.

Our Fifteen Minutes

So, I would get onto this site and then see that nice picture of my Granddad and not want to move it from it's top slot. His death last year in January, started the annus horribilis that was 2006. I lost two grandparents (my last two) and hubby lost one of his, one of his last full blood relatives, I might add.Not to mention Fiona's illness. But I digress.
Fiona participated, this year, in a fund raising venture, that helps school kids focus on others less fortunate. A school in our area raised money for her medical expenses. It was awesome and when we signed in for it, we agreed to help them out as much as we could, making appearances when they needed it.
This is our first public appearance and it's a doozy! A fellow Sparrow (that's what the kids are called) is receiving an Extreme Home Makeover and we are headed to their city on Thursday to participate in some sort of art activity that will later be placed in their house. Then on Friday, we get to go back down for the big reveal! Fiona will be interviewed and might make the program. Buttercup was invited along as well. We aren't sure when it will air, but everyone is very excited. I did make the mistake of telling them it was going to happen.
Normally, with the girls, I am a fly by the seat of my pants sort of instructor. I have a set itinerary in my head and reveal it only as we near the destination. This prevents the arm poking that comes when I announce our good plans early, as in are we there yet? When are we going? I can't wait..I can't wait, etc. Or the opposite effect, like when I announce we are going to Winco. Do we have to go? I don't want to go, I can't believe we are going, etc. I finally shut Fiona up. During one of her full on steroid phases, I asked her, you like to eat, don't you? She does.