The joys of a new home

I have been making my new home actually LOOK like a home, little by little. Furniture being placed, getting pictures out to hang on the walls, houseplants, etc. this has involved me running up and down the stairs between 10 and 20 times a day.
Those stairs have given me a whole new reason to love living here... I've lost an inch around my middle as well as more than half the 'muffin top' look I was sporting, my backside has lifted about 2 inches and my thighs are slimming down. Sure, the flat butt made my silhouette appear slimmer, but the lifted and tightened backside looks sexier. Even if it means I have a big ol bedonkey-donk back there again. I don't see that side of me often, I can deal.
I have been working on making permanent healthy changes to my diet for the past few months and I lost about 8 pounds. More water, less soda, getting a salad instead of fries, having a healthier breakfast, you get the gist. I am now looking good in a 24 and this means my next big goal is to get to a size 22. About 10 pounds. I need to give a little more effort, I think, so I am using weakling dumbells (because I'm a wuss now) and making sure to take the stairs more often. I should be there in the next 3-4 weeks if I am a good girl. Which in reality means 4 weeks or more, lol.
I feel so very good about myself and the way I look now, even though I am nowhere near my ultimate goal of a size 16. I decided to not use the scale, but to use clothing sizes instead. I feel prettier, I look better, I feel so inspired to keep it up, like I really will be able to achieve my goals.

Wish me luck!

Wait, what IS that?

I think... I could be wrong now, but I think.... is it stillness?

Mike and I are so very very thankful for all the help, love, support, and free childcare that our families gave us during the move and for a time thereafter. I enjoyed my sister and her kids so much, I loved having Elizabeth here for a week and change. It was a life-saver that there were people to either help lift heavy things or to watch the kids while WE lifted heavy things.

However, that gratitude and love doesn't stop me from sitting upstairs, soaking in the knowledge that this is the first time since our move that it's just me and the boys. When Mike gets home, it'll be the whole family and no-one extra. I'm caught between giddy excitement and peaceful contentment. We're not unpacked (I'd say about halfway) we have tons of laundry to do, we need curtains and curtain rods, the pictures are all still packed away, we don't even have hangers up yet. The upstairs toilet seal leaks, the downstairs showerhead is partially blocked and dribbles, the dishwasher needs L brackets to stabilize it and the heater in the downstairs bedroom is stuck on and has no knob.
We also have tons of sunlight from all the windows, the downstairs seems to always be cool and comfortable, there is so much room here that we can play hide and seek and it's actually a challenge. The yard is sooo big and since there is no landscaping yet, I can do nearly anything I want. Our neighbors seem nice.
I'm really happy.
The PLAN - enjoy unpacking, getting the house made into a home and checking off items on the Honey Do list while we have time alone here. Mike made plans months ago for a weekend in Seattle this July. The kids get to see a few attractions we know they'll love and Mike has secret plans for at least one night out for the two of us.
When we get back from the family weekend, my mom is supposed to be coming back up to visit. We got so little mother-daughter time while she WAS here that I am really looking forward to her visiting for no other reason than to drink coffee, hit the yarn shops and thrift stores, have our knit sessions, and talk talk talk. I miss my mom.
I wonder when my dad is gonna come see the place? I wish Nanny and Dandad could come up, but I don't know that it will ever happen.
My brother's cat Lula had kittens and from what I hear they are adorable. Mike suggested I get a cat and I can't wait to see them! I don't know which are spoken for already, but I don't mind. I just don't want a male who'll pee on my stuff. I went through that once before and it was enough.

OH, that reminds me! I get to see my Chris and Kirsten on the way up to Seattle!!!! It's been far too long. Chris spoke last night of some sheep who are endangered. Hand-pluck, no shearing, petting zoo size. This interests me, I would love to have sheep around... we'd just have to fence the place and plant grass first. We're doing that in the spring anyway, this might mean we won't need a mower :) ( I believe that is what he said, but I was tired and he might not have spoken of sheep at all)
I have a couple of boxes to unpack for my quota today, but after that I'm gonna kick back and forget it all. Ahhhhhhh. Good times.

This happened day before yesterday and I have been too busy to remember to come here and update... I did write about it on my favorite boards though, so here is a cut&paste.

Foxy got lost.
She and D'Oji have done so well here at the new place that we let them out for a while to do their business alone. Foxy is mostly blind and mostly deaf, has arthritis in her hips and legs and is 18 years old this December so I didn't expect her to wander off. She wandered to the end of the street last winter and someone picked her up and took her home, but this time I was sure it wasn't the same misguided Good Samaritan notion.
We called the animal shelter on Friday because she went missing that morning, but they had no calls about dogs matching that description and were closed til Monday. We drove around for miles, talked to perfect strangers, heck, we even stopped kids on the street to ask them if they'd seen her. We got a call last night.

A man was kayaking down the Deschutes river and found her in Tetherow Log Jam, 15 miles down river. She is home now, doing ok. The best we can figure is that our new street dead ends in the state park service entrance (blocked only by a yellow swinging gate) about 2 miles north of here and she must have followed our road straight into the park. Then she must have tried to get a drink or simply tripped and fell into the river... after her bought of doggy vertigo 2 years ago her balance is off and her legs are stiff enough from the arthritis that she wouldn't have been able to recover fast enough to not fall in.
What saved her during that 15 mile stretch is that the Deschutes is 85 miles of smooth, slow, gentle river. The class 5 rapids are further south and she missed them altogether.
The man was kayaking and saw her stuck half in, half out of the water on the Tetherow Log Jam and managed to get her out of the river and up the bank, then got her back to his car and drover her home before calling us to come get her.
She was barely moving, not responding to anything. We got her home, gave her something for any pain and I checked her over good... not one scratch. No yelps of twitches from pain, no breaks, just exhausted.
We stopped and tempted her with a hamburger patty on the way home to see if she would eat and man, was she hungry. She doesn't have any rattle or wheeze to her breathing, her lungs are clear. This morning she woke me up and had more to eat and drink then begged to go out. She wandered the yard slowly and with sore looking legs, but did her business and then stood in the sun for a while. I brought her back up to my room to sleep some more. She has been sniffling and sneezing a bunch but since her lungs are clear I think she got some up her nose.


I have had her for so long, she has been apart from me once, when I lived in a place that wasn't pet friendly. I was so scared, so worried, I would have been broken-hearted if she hadn't made it. I am still checking on her every few minutes to make sure she is breathing, happy, comfortable... as Mike said to the wonderful people who rescued her, "Foxy predates me". I love my husband and kids, folks, so don't get bent out of shape, but Foxy was my pillow when I cried myself through loneliness and anger in my teen years, she was my warm fuzzy foot stool when I was pregnant for the first time. She is the one that broke in our new puppy to the house rules :) She and I are forever, know what I'm saying?
Today she is doing really well, lounging in the sun and enjoying a gorgeous 74 degree day. She made it up and down the stairs, eating and drinking, no apparent respiratory discomfort, still going to the bathroom regularly.

We're Funded!

We signed the papers at 2:30 on Wednesday afternoon. We were told we had table funding, but no... so it had to be signed and sent back. This would take 24 hours.

Thursday we are told it was 48, not 24 hours so we'll be getting the keys Friday instead. It was reviewed, approved, and funded on Friday, but because it was turned in 30 minutes too late we don't get the keys til Monday.

Now we're waiting til Monday. Bert and the kids came up a week ago the same day as mom, we're all going grocery shopping today. Since I don't think I've gone food shopping with 6 kids in at least two years..... it should be interesting. As a side note, I never thought about how much food it takes to feed 10 people just for breakfast. 14 eggs, 8 potatoes, a double batch of biscuits, a 12 cup pot of coffee and 2 pints of juice. No left overs. I just kept thinking WOW.

My poor rose is holding on, but only has a couple of leaves left. The other is still dead, no miracle resurrections for me. Sad, huh?

We all had a laugh day before yesterday at my expense. Being the paranoid woman I am, I am 4 days late on my period and though I am nearly certain it's just stress I wanted to test anyway. Which is ALSO silly since I don't get a positive test til 8-9 weeks along even if I AM pregnant. We were at Wikiup Junction (a discount store here in La Pine) and I picked up pregnancy tests. I took one that night and got two lines instantly, same shade same width. PANIC.


As I frantically tried to read the box again to make sure of things, I realized the box said Ovulation Tests, and the result I got meant I was ovulating. So Bert took one, too, and apparently she is ovulating even more than I am. Her test line was MUCH darker than the control line. LMAO... it was great. But really, who ovulates the day after a missed period? I think the tests might be off slightly.

Laughed so hard I nearly peed.