Trailer House Hunt

Let me start by saying there is nothing wrong with living in a trailer. I lived in one until I was about six years old. My parents had six acres of land and we lived there until my dad finished building my parent's current home. I have no bias against trailers or people who live in them.

But. (And as Aunt Betty would say...it's a BIG BUT tee hee.) I don't want to move from my beautiful-if somewhat disorganized right now-home to a trailer. This is the home D and I bought a few months after getting married. In my favorite neighborhood! It's a two story brick house with tons of storage. It has a huge masterbath, with two very large walk in closets. And my toilet is in it's own little room. I swear (and I can tell y'all this because you already know I'm weird) that is the main reason we bought this house. A toilet with it's own room? Stop it, I'm sold.


This is the home we brought our babies home to from the hospital. We planted the tree in the front yard. We stained the fence. We tore up the carpet in the living room and replaced it with laminate. Then later tore that up to put carpet back. I chose the paint colors and we painted the rooms ourselves. Save for two other families, we are the people who haved lived on this street the longest. I don't want to leave unless it's to move into the Dream Home we designed.


Unfortunately that's not going to happen for a while. The economy has put a damper on our plans. Even though our loan officer called us a few weeks ago asking us to come back in since they will now consider D's overtime as income, we are holding off. We've been running over different possibilities. We thought maybe buying a trailer and living on the land for a couple of years until the economy is better might be wise. Then we could start on the house and be right there while we build.


The main, well only, reason I want to move to the land shortly is so that Little d will start school in that district. The district we live in now is exemplary, but I don't want her to start school, make friends, and then be uprooted to move to another school. Yes I know she will be fine. But growing up I had two best friends move away and it is really hard on a child. I remember.

So last Friday we went to look at trailer houses. Sigh. They are smaller for starters. And they feel less...secure, obviously. (My brother reminds me this is because they aren't really 'strapped down' until they are on location.) And the walls are so thin. And the oak. Okay I totally have a bias against oak colored wood. I need dark stain on wood if it's not painted. Everything in these homes was light wood. I hate it. It made me feel like I was in a badly decorated western. Well the light wood and the heinous curtains. Let me tell you what the curtains looked like. It was as if the decorator (I use that term loosely) smeared mud-colored paint...wait mud-colored and purple...paint on burlap. Cut. Hem. Hang. Repeat.


And for all this they are ridiculously over-priced. I mean $108,000 for a house that is made of spit and kleenex? Okay not really spit and kleenex, but you get my drift. It's not brick. I was thinking $50,000 tops. Hey let me live in my dream world. I could buy a real house here for $75,000 and be mostly happy with it. Oh and PS $108,000 is about what we paid for this house seven years ago.


We thought of another option, renting a house while we build. The drawback is that you are kinda tossing money out the window when you rent. Which would be okay if it were short term, but what if we got stuck there? Unable to build yet and having sold our current house. Plus whereever we rent would not be close to where we are building and this is a drawback when you want to personally do much of the work. Ick, ick, ick.


We kind of keep running around and around the ideas and not getting anywhere. And please know in the grand scheme I realize these problems are minute. In fact, this morning I made a decision. I am going to start living my life and not just surviving it. Does that sound hokey? I just mean I am going to stop putting stuff off until this or that. I am going to start enjoying little things and put other things in perspective. This is a tall order for someone like me who is a pessimist and a worrier by nature.


Well anyway that's my plan. And we all know about the best laid plans...

"Stop playing dead, Brenda-Hannah!"

I don't know what possessed me to suggest Little d get a fish last fall. I mean we used to own a 150 gallon saltwater aquarium, I know how much work they are. But I thought a trip to Petsmart would be a fun outing for her. She had been such a great big sister and I thought it would be fun for us to do this without Little m. Some time just for Little d.

So she went up and down the fish aisle. And chose...a goldfish. So funny to me. I mean she could have chosen the little fish with the Mickey Mouse head on it's tail. Or the bright neon tetras, or even the cool little miniature shark-looking fish. Nope, a goldfish. Which she named in the truck Brenda. I have NO idea where that name came from. We don't know a Brenda. I can only think maybe she heard the name from Brenda Song, an actress on The Suite Life. Oh well.

So we get home and set up the tank and get little Brenda acclimated. Except now, Little d has decided her name is Brenda-Hannah. (You know of course the Hannah is from Hannah Montana.) The girl (idiot) at the pet store flippantly said Brenda-Hannah might be pregnant. I was telling my mom about this and Little d pops up and says "She can't be pregnant, she's not married." Huh. What to do, what to do. We can't have immoral fish in our house so obviously we went out and bought another fish. Little d named Brenda-Hannah's husband Jake. (After Jake Ryan in Hannah Montana--try to keep up people!)

Well we coast along with our fish for a few months and (here's a shock) the girl was wrong. Brenda-Hannah was not 'with child', or 'with fish eggs' whatever it would be. So we went to my parents over Christmas and when we got back Brenda-Hannah was kinda acting weird. Like floating belly up. But then she would swim around and be fine. So we changed the fish food and it looked like she was getting better. Not like a spry newly hatched fish, but at least not floating belly up as much. You know, maybe it was gas. Hey we have our share of intestinal woes in this household, a gassy fish would not be a stretch.

Then the other day we get back from our Easter vacation and, miss Brenda-Hannah, not doing so well. And most of yesterday she was laying upsidedown on the gravel. She was still moving, but not much. Little d talked to her fish off and on all day. "I missed you fish while I was gone." And then occassionally, "Stop playing dead, Brenda-Hannah."

This morning my friends, I am sad to say, Brenda-Hannah stopped playing dead to actually be dead. Little D took it well. We flushed the fish down the toilet and Little d said, "Oh man, now I have to get another fish for Jake." Even Little m watched us flush and waved bye. I've never actually flushed a fish myself before. It's a little tramatic. I'm just saying.

I am so proud of Little d though. Such a trooper. I hope she goes through life taking everything in stride. Although judging some of her temper tantrums, I'm not holding my breath...

ETA: Reading back over this it appears that our vacations must have been really hard on her.

Time Flies...Did you miss me?

Well our vacation is over. It was fun-filled and eventful. I already gave you a rundown of Easter, so here's the rest of the story; complete with pictures.

We spent alot of time indoors. The weather was okay, but there were mosquitos to contend with. Little m has three bites on her face of all places.

We got to visit with Grandma and Memaw and Poppy. Dad takes the girls over to my Grandmother's house on his John Deere tractor. And they love it! Both of them loving 'driving' it.

Saturday my brother and his wife came down. And L made some beautiful hair accessories for us with Little d's 'help'. Check out her ETSY SHOP. Or her blog, Southern Girl Florals, if you want to see some amazing work.

Sunday we had a party for Memaw who turns 85 in June and Poppy who (as you know) turned 90 last month. My relatives from my Mom's family were there and it was a really nice day. We don't get to see them very much, and it was the first time we had all been together in a very long time. Memaw was loving the attention and Poppy mentioned how much he enjoyed seeing everyone. We feasted on fried fish and shrimp, boiled potatoes, corn, pinto beans, and a cabbage salad that is fantastic. (I should post the recipe for that some time...)

That evening we took some leftover cake to them and Little d went with me and mom. Poppy is so funny. He would occassionally sneak off from the living room and return with some bauble. He would then show it to Little d. She was fascinated. She popped up one time and said "Poppy I want you to show me some more stuff that that you 'hided' from Memaw." We of course made it home with a few treasures...

And it wouldn't have been a trip to the coast with out some beach time. Little m's first foray to the sand and surf was a success...

There is so much new building going on in my hometown I hardly recognize it every time I return. Here is a spectacular house that is right on the beach. It's for sale if your interested...

We had so much fun feeding the seagulls like real live tourists. The girls were squealing with delight!

I swear the smell of salt air takes me right back to being a little girl--more than any other thing. It's like medication for my soul. For a second there on the beach I filled my lungs with salt air and heard the roar of the water with my feet in sand. I closed my eyes and just let myself relax. And then my husband pelted me with cold salt water on the back of my legs. Mental note: pay him back for that later...

So now I'm back to the grindstone. Two nights of workshops this week, and laundry of course. And I still have to tell you all about our trailer house hunt. I bet you can't wait to hear about that. Sigh. I wish I could bottle that salt air and take a whiff every once in a while.

Twilight...the books

Still coming to you live from the sunny coast of Texas...

Okay the last few days, not so sunny. The vacation's been good. Little d is still doing great after our little Easter incident. I think I am going into withdrawals from lack of scrapbooking. Although...I have read the entire Twilight book series. Devoured is a better word. As in did not come up for air during the fourth book. Silly, I know. But I will pretend that it was because I am just SO enjoying reading again, not that I am a loony fanatic of Twilight. Even if I am.

Even if I have the soundtrack playing in my truck. Even if I wish I could be a vampire. You know, the vegetarian kind.

I have this weird thing where I can't read a book for a while after reading a really great book. (I know you're thinking 'Mere? Weird? Whoda thunk it?!?') But it's true. I've always been that way. It's as if the characters are too fresh in my head and I can't-don't want to-start another book. In the case of this series it's not that I want it to continue. I mean I was satisfied with the ending. It did feel complete. But for some reason other reading doesn't appeal to me.

Anyway. I am beginning to see the wisdom in waiting until a book trend is way out there before jumping on board myself. I don't have to wait for the next installment to come out. I got to read them all in a row. Very satisfying. Now if only I had done the same for the movies...

How Easter, quite literally, went down...

I once again have been taught a lesson by the universe, 'Follow your gut, H.' {H is my maiden name and I refer to myself by my maiden name when mentally berateing myself. For example, a sarcastic 'Good one, H!' when I pull something stupid.}



But I digress. SO...Easter.



All day Saturday, Little d had been sneezing which I pay attention to because she doesn't have allergies. And I wondered if it was my mom's (dusty) house (she'll get a kick outta that) OR maybe the pollen...my dad's been clearing tress. Or...sigh...a cold. And we are one long hour from a doctor. And Little d has a tendency to throw up when she gets a cold. And she gets carsick. Easily. In a short period of time, like less than half an hour. We only travel with her at night after dosing her with Benadryl and making sure she is extremely sleepy. Per orders from a pediatrician. (Two pediatricians, lest you think we weren't thorough.) So you can (maybe) see why I was stressed.



Where was I? Oh the sneezing. So Sunday morning she's kinda mopey, sneezing, saying her tummy hurts, and her throat. Bad signs all around, right?



So I decide to forgo the annual Easter celebration at my Grandma's house. It's a doozy too. There are so many kids they divide the hunt into sections by age. There are hundreds of eggs, tons of food, good times. But I am one of the few people who won't take my sick kids out in public to spread the wealth. You're welcome.



I agonized over the decision, because while I care about not infecting others, it seems no one else at Grandma's does. So if Little d wasn't really feeling bad it wouldn't hurt to take her right? And she wasn't feeling bad. She ate fine and didn't even have a runny nose, no fever. And when she found out she couldn't go hunt eggs or crack confetti eggs over anyone's head...well that's what did it to me. Her tears.



So I squashed the gut instinct and called my cousin/BFF. She said she would call when it was time to hunt eggs. I would take the girls over for that. And then probably bring them back shortly thereafter. Little d was stoked to say the least. "And Mo-ommm, quit asking about my tummy." 'kay.



So we go hunt eggs. Little d hunts with the five year olds, because 'N is over there mom!' I take Little m through the toddler hunt. She is a bit bewildered. It is a bizarre tradition after all. Anyway afterwards as Little d sat under a tree examining and eating her loot, I got her a cup of slushy punch. It was hot out there.



I left the kids with my parents and headed to the house to change into shorts. It was hot...did I mention? While at home (Mom and Dad's house is literally one minute away) I get a call.



"Mere, bring the mosquito spray." It's my BFF on her cell.

"Ask J, he has some-" I answer.

"No wait...she's already been bitten, bring the Benadryl."

"Okay."

"Wait...get over here now." And the phone goes dead. Yeah it was like that. I guess I was grabbing the Benadryl cream at the time because it was in my hand. I shoved my feet back in my untied tennis shoes and hauled ass back. No seat belt. No speed limit. No breathing.



I saw the group under the tree as I drove up and scanned to see it that's where I needed to run. Looked like it. I ran up and saw Little d, white as a sheet, on the ground, leaning back against my BFF. (She deserves an initial...K)



"What happened?" I breathe out. I'm behind the crowd and no one answers they are talking amoungst themselves.



"What happened?" Again. No answer.



"CAN SOME ONE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!!!" I'm yelling. My aunt, an RN, turns to me and sees me for the first time. The crowd parts and there she is. They think she almost fainted. She just kind of collapsed. Probably heat. Dad is there with a cool rag. He lifts her effortlessly and carries her limp body to the house. We need to cool her down. Mom had removed her shoes. On my way in with Dad another aunt hands me a tall glass of ice water. "Here, Meredith." Her voice is calm. I am thankful.



We lay her on the bed in Grandma's room. She is still pasty white and drowsy looking, but she takes sips from the cup. Slowly the color is coming back and she is starting to talk and smile again. Her friend N sits quietly and keeps her company. Then she shows her a doll-locket that she got in her Easter basket that morning.

After a bit we went home and relaxed. She rested beside me on the couch and we read a couple of books. Then she ate a snack and was back to bouncing on the furniture and running around. I still don't know what caused it exactly. She's not sick. And she plays outside alot and never has this reaction to heat. I guess she usually drinks more water outside when she hangs out with D in the garage.

I am beginning to wonder if it was partially a reaction to the mosquito bites. She gets horrible welts and swelling with mosquito bites and if we don't get cream on them right away they get bad. I counted and she had seven new bites on her lower legs that afternoon. So maybe that combined with the heat was some sort of reaction. It worries me because D is deathly (as in carries an Epi pen so he doesn't die again) allergic to bee stings. I will definitely be calling the pediatrician when we return home to see if she needs to be tested. For now we are watching her closely. And this momma is back to trusting her gut instinct.

PS That picture of her pasty white and limp little body is what I see when I close my eyes at night.

Dial-Up...

Now run screaming in horror!!! I had forgotten how S L O W that can be. I am unable to sign in here in less than three minutes. I won't be able to check my daily blog habit!! Ahhhh!!!

Anyway, I also can't log in to Facebook here, so who knows what I'm missing. I can only check one of my email accounts. Well I guess I could log in to the other one if I remembered the password. It's like I've gone off the grid! Ha!

It's nice down here on the coast. I need that smell of salt air every once in a while just to keep my sanity. And the girls are loving it. Thanks to all of you who offered support when I was feeling a little frazzled a couple of days ago. I finished my packing and managed to get it all the truck...minus the kitchen sink.

Some day when I have more time I'll have to go into detail about Little d's carsickness and how travelling causes me great anxiety. But for now I'm off to relax!!

And M if you are reading this...hope to see you at Grandma's house tomorrow! And if not I will try valiantly to log in to FB to chat with you sometime!!

Oh the songs that you'll sing...

Little d came in from the garage today in a fun mood mostly because I was cooking pancakes for dinner. Her favorite. In fact that is how I avoided a meltdown tantrum when she said didn't want to come in for dinner, even though she was hun-gry. I stopped her and said. You can eat a few goldfish (nectar of the gods for the preschool set) in the garage and when the pancakes are ready I'll call you all inside. 'Pancakes? Well why didn't you say so in the first place mother dear? Carry on and I shall return shortly.'



Anyway, back to the story. She comes in skipping...and stops. "I smell pan-cakes" she sings.



Then she follows up with this song while she's washing her hands in the bathroom:



I have TWO legs,

I have TWO arms,

That makes FOUR things that move on me...

And two eyes and hmmm hmmm TWO TEETH!



I busted out laughing. And for the record she has a full mouth of teeth.

Tis the season to slump...

What is it about right now that makes it hard to blog? I've read a couple of other blogs where people are having trouble blogging and I can totally relate right now. I am usually such a motor mouth. But now I just stare at my last post wistfully, wishing for inspiration to strike.

For starters I have been in a foul mood over something personal and I have zero patience. I am short with the girls and that makes me even grumpier, due to guilt.

Secondly, the next two weeks are full of stuff and I don't have the energy to create even though there are some fabulous color challenges out there right now.

Here's a list of stuff I need to do...

(a) finish my pay it forwards. I know technically I have a year to do it, but I know no one wants to wait that long. And let's be honest, things aren't going to get less busy. I have one almost completed, but I want to tweak it a little. I am actually excited about the projects and I hope people like them when they get them.

(b) I really need to get the house organized. D and I cleared out the attic and some of the garage and I swear you would not even know there was anything missing. So much shit in this house. Which is part of the reason I am not having much energy to create. My scraproom/guest room is disastrous. Don't believe me? Here's a list of the things in that room. Spare bed, couch, two bookcases, large 6 foot folding table (where I scrap), bassinet, long coffee table, dresser, footstool. And that's just the furniture. Of course I also have totes that go to workshops and boxes of supplies for CTMH. And a large box of paper trash that has yet to taken out. Oh and lest I forget to mention, the room is only like 10x11.

(c) I need to pack for our trip. We're going to stay with my parents Thursday for Easter. Then we are staying down for the week as next weekend is my grandparents combined birthday party. And we are coming home probably the day after that. So I need to pack for like a week and a half 'vacation'.

(d) The week we come back I am having another two night workshop. Which means I need to finish and finalize projects before I leave. This month I am doing a 'for a good cause' theme. Our layouts will be titled 'I'm a survivor.' And I want to feature pictures of the women in my family who have survived breast cancer. To go green, (even though I'm not the world's biggest environmentalist) I'm taking tons of scrap paper and letting the girls make three of their own cards using Originals patterns that will be donated to the local Hospice. They sell them as fundraisers. And finally the fee will be $10 with $5 covering supplies and $5 being donated to Operation Smile. I am really excited about this project and I am hoping the girls get excited about it also.

(e) Schedule a hair cut. Seriously ugly.

(f) Re-schedule an ob/gyn appointment that I had to cancel.

(g) Don't forget that I really want to participate in Market Days in May. Meaning...get my buttocks busy making stuff to sell!

Hmmm. Seeing it all listed makes me feel both overwhelmed and more at peace. One at a time...one at a time...one at a time...

My Pay It Forward Is Here

Remember when I said I won a pay it forward at Sarah's Paper Tray? Well Friday I received my package in the mail. And shame on me for waiting so long to post it. Look at how cute it is!!

She did such a fabulous job! Each of those little clips has a magnet on the back so you can stick it right on the fridge! Thank you so much, Sarah! They are too cute.

Twilight

The Movie. Okay. I did it. I watched the movie.

So I am the type of person who is always bucking the trend when it comes to books and movies. For starters, I don't go to the theater. The last time I saw a movie in the theater was The Passion of the Christ. (If your wondering, I was preggo with Little d at the time, so, over four years ago.) I wait until I can watch a movie in the comfort of my own home.

When it comes to books, well, I usually don't read the latest trend until WAY after it's trendy. I read all the Harry Potter books, except the last one, after they were all in paperback. If that's any clue. And my usual thinking is "give me a break, how good can the book really be?" Same with Twilight.

I heard of it and thought "teenage vampires? no thanks." (yeah sometimes when I think to myself I use lower case letters.) I read about ALL these women of ALL ages swooning over these books and again I thought "really? teenage vampires?" Then I heard all the buzz when the movie was coming out and I thought..."?" Then, THEN, I had the...let's say opportunity...to watch the movie. Ahem. So okay, it's pretty good.

I mean, you know, I've watched a couple of times. I mean you know like 15. But it doesn't really count as 15 because I've seen the whole thing start to finish only once. Usually I catch part of it and then I have to not watch parts of it while Little d is around. But...I am a total...shhh...fan.

It's a really neat idea. You know, nice sparkly vampires who go to prom. Hah. See if you are reading this and haven't seen the movie you are totally thinking "what the fudge?!?"

Okay so now that I have demeaned myself I will tell you what is the single best line of the movie. In my opinion at least. Ready? Here it is:

"It wouldn't be like drinking your blood, for example."

Am I right? The best line...ever...

New Close To My Heart stuff on the way!

Consultants are gearing up for the release of the new Summer 09 IdeaBook from Close to My Heart. I've already ordered some of the new stuff and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival!! Here's a few sneak peeks:

This paper is Animal Crackers...


Next is Bella. There are some cute button stamps that go with this set.

Here's an outdoorsy set called Back Country. It has a cute matching camping stamp set.

Next is one of my favorites. It's called Moon Doggie which reminds me of the old Gidget movies. It has a beautiful hibiscus stamp set to match.Last up is Tinkering. A set of robots and sprockets for fans of The Jetsons!

I can't wait until the new stuff gets here so I can try it out. I am feeling a little guilty over ordering so much, but it wasn't too bad. I also ordered a new embellishment from CTMH--clear buttons. I am thinking they will be so versatile!

Hope you all have a great day!

Right Now

At this moment my four year old is throwing her 100th tantrum of the day. My wonderful husband is upstairs with both kids starting their bath. Wait...at this minute Little d is having a complete full on meltdown at the bottom of the stairs. D has started the water. Little m is watching from the upstairs gate. D just asked Little d if she wanted to come back up. She said yes in a wimpy voice...here's the play by play.

Water running. Little d stomping up the stairs. Crying because gate is closed. She gives D ultimatum. Open gate or I'm going back downstairs. He opens the gate. Little m throwing toys in bath. Muffled Little d talking as she takes off shirt. Her yelling because shirt is stuck. "Little d calm down!" Water stopped. Crash and splash. ? Little m yelling because D took something away. Little d crying unaudible..."the baby". Calm. Toilet flushing. "Do you know where your other towel is?" (me yelling upstairs-"there's some on her dresser") Calm again. "Your not pee peeing are you Little m?" Quiet. Laughing. Happy voices.

Bath time is fun at our house.

Jewelry Color Inspiration #30

HERE's Stacey's new color inspiration. I thought the colors were very modern and fun to work with. I think I pulled about twenty stamp sets out to play with and finally settled on Adorable.





I seem to be headed in the 'keep it simple stupid' direction with my cards lately. Wonder how long that trend will last?

I'm up to four comments on my First Five to Comment Win post. Check it out if you want to be the final winner!

A video of Poppy

As I mentioned earlier, my grandfather turned 90 this month. The local paper interviewed him. You can view a video of part of the interview HERE. I was so excited to see this interview that I wanted to share! There is also a link on that page to read the article.

Check it out if you have the time. It's short, about a minute and a half. Notice that he always has a sparkle in those eyes!

Just Some Randomness (is that a word?)

If you find some acorns hidden in a box in your garage, don't think it's cute, because it was probably a scurvy mouse that did it.


It is cute for a sixteen month old climb on the table all by herself and just sit there like she's been doing it for years.


Pulling a red wagon with 62 pounds of kidlets is a great workout for your calves.


Having all the nice comments on my cards/blog make me giddy like a schoolgirl.


I've started taking prenatal vitamins again. (No I'm not pregnant...yet.)


I need a haircut like you would not believe. I also need to make an OB/GYN appointment for the yearly exam-o-fun.


Fighting over the laptop with my four year old makes me feel young at heart...or ridiculous, I haven't decided yet.


Today is my Dad's 65th birthday. I will devote a post to that when we get to celebrate it and I have some pictures to show you. Now for some random cute kid pictures.



Here's what the girls think is fun...comparing baby bumps. I think it's cute too. At this age! If they were teenagers...not so much!
I told you this was cute. Here is the scowl she gives us every time we say. "Little m, we don't climb on the table!" I think loosely translated, the scowl means, "maybe you don't, but I clearly do."

"As long as I have my sister, all is right with the world."