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.

Time again for the worlds most uninteresting updates!

My Peace rose is still holding on, the leaves are droopy and thin but the stems look healthy and the leaves are still green so I am pretending there is nothing wrong.
My other rose is still black and lifeless though, so I might have to face reality and let it Rest in Peace instead of continuing to try and force life into it.



Thank goodness the rest of my houseplants have been making me feel better about the dubious color of my thumb. They are growing really well and greening up nicely. Over the winter I was sure I would lose a couple of them, but no, they live!



I am particularly happy about my pink peony surviving. The youngest child has dug it up with a kitchen spoon three times now. THREE! Why does he persist? It's not yummy, it's not pretty, I can't even think it's much fun since he gets in trouble every time.



They aren't the only things growing like weeds. Say HI! The youngest is missing because he's down sleeping for the moment. I might post a picture of him later.



We're supposed to be signing papers either tomorrow or (more likely) Monday. We're leaving tomorrow after work to go get my mom. If we sign the papers tomorrow, we'll get her and rush back, but if we don't sign til Monday then we'll stay the whole weekend and visit everyone. Mike talked to the landlord and he's agreed to let us pay for another week here so that we have time to move.









While I'm looking forward to being in the new house, I'm already missing the vast green lawns and many beds of flowering plants here. The kids will have to make do with sandy soil and native sparse grasses for this summer. Next spring brings plans and planting, but there really isn't much I can do right away.
I'm still not excited, not even really hopeful yet. I know it annoys Mike, he has called me Eeyore and done that frustrated, annoyed snorty-huff thing a few times already. He just doesn't get it, I CAN'T be hopeful. That's putting too much of my heart on the line when I have already done that and every time it gets bruised up more. I can't take any more.
BUT, since it means a lot to him I am attempting to present a more optimistic face. I'm counting on it eventually working it's way to being real hope and happiness, but I just don't feel it.My happiness is based in my mom coming to stay with us. YAY!

OK, I believe it's summer.

I was thinking just yesterday that we didn't have spring. A few weeks ago we were still battling snow. In fact, we were dog-sitting for my sister in law and her husband and it snowed overnight. We know this very well because despite the fact that he was born in Wyoming, this chocolate lab seemed to thing lumps of snow falling from the pine trees in our front yard were violent and potentially deadly enemies he needed to protect us from. From his vast arsenal of doggy weaponry he used Super Loud Barking ability. All night.
Now we are fighting the heat. I meant it literally, we are sitting in the shade and turning on the AC and still panting a little by 3pm. Mick was in the sun on Sunday for about 30 minutes at a garage sale and busted out in the most adorable farm boyish freckles across hi cheeks and nose. Mack got a sunburn. Mike melted. Big ole Mike puddle right there on the blacktop.
I had lofty planting goals this year, but kept putting it off til we moved to the new place so I wouldn't damage the delicate things when we moved. Delay after delay with the underwriters led to no new plants. I finally got a rose bush, a Red Blaze, because the last two I got died. This one did to. Croaked right over, shriveled and turned black and brown. Funny thing though... it sprouted when I neglected it, but as soon as I gave it attention it died. So I did what anyone would do... I left it in the pot and watered it faithfully in the deluded hopes that submerging myself in complete denial would bring it back to life. I think of plants as plants, but feeling in my heart that they are living things and therefore crying when they die.... can't change that. Goodness knows I would if I could.
In the end, Mike bought me a replacement to cheer me up. It's the same species as the one Nanny and Dandad have in the front yard, a Peace rose.

Their bush is well over 7 feet tall and the roses are the size of soup bowls and smell heavenly. I miss them so VERY much and he knew this would make me feel the littlest bit closer to them when I can't be there. Strangely enough, the Peace rose seems to be thriving after I potted it. (I'm still tending the dead one, though. I said complete denial didn't I?)Feeling like I was on a good streak, I planted strawberries and salvaged some moss from the back yard where the dog tore it up in pursuit of a mole/vole/rock chuck... who knows what it is. My houseplants are finally thriving, but I haven't planted more seeds after the mass suicide of my indoor herb garden. I have the seeds... I just haven't had the heart. OH, I planted my peony root, too! I adored my mom's pretty red peony in the back yard. Every year I would wait for it to bud and bloom and I was always too tempted and could never keep myself from petting the blossoms. I was hoping for the same vibrant red, but my Mack helped me pick it and he wanted the pink one.


So that's what we got. If I can make this one live, I might try for the red one next!
We still haven't heard back about the house. We are told 'no news is good news' as far as the underwriting is concerned, but it's been so long and there have been so many delays. I'm not really holding any hope. That's too sad, so I am smiling and saying positive, hopeful things in the attempt to make myself feel that way again. Here's one.... I managed to get he house ready for a few showings and someone put a deposit down on the house. Our lease is paid through the 30th and we are supposed to close escrow on the 25th-27th. That gives us almost three days to move.

Hmm. May need to work on my hope-and positivity approach. Kinda gloomy.

In the meantime I am enjoying the overflow of life in our yard. We have birds in all of the bird houses as well as the family of finches that nested in our eaves last summer. They returned after the big wind storm a couple weeks ago and threw out the old nest, built a new one. I'm so excited to hear cheep-cheep-cheeping babies again soon. The tulips are blooming red and purple and yellow, right next to the candy tuft and johnny-jump-ups. So far, only one dandelion in the whole acre, woohoo!!
We have weeded the beds, started up the sprinkler system, and bought sunscreen to protect our super paleness from sunlight (hiss) Oh, sorry about the vampiric reaction, it's kind of automatic.
Let's see, anything else?

Yeah, I forgot! last night I was dying for Almond Joy but the store was closed and it was not really high on the list of things we needed to spend money on, so no chocolate for me. Instead, I found a recipe and tried it out. Let me say YUM. There were two kinds of basic recipes for the candy and I chose the less intensive one. Someone mentioned in the reviews of the recipe that hers were soupy... I made sure to let the Karo boil for a minute, just til it was thicker, not til it got color. I also packed the coconut a touch.
I was out of almonds, the almond extract made up for it fairly well. I had walnuts, but I figured there must be a reason it was Almond Joy and not Walnut Joy so I didn't try them. I did however, get a big laugh out of Walnut Joy. What can I say, it was late. This made about 8 bars in a size similar to the store bought ones.
This morning I made an imitation of the bottled Starbucks Mocha Frapp that Mike loves so much. I just added some condensed milk, regular milk, vanilla, and chocolate syrup to a pot of coffee. He liked it well enough that he took a bottle of it to work, as well as the last of the Almondless Joy.

Lego are dangerous

My kids love them, as I am sure many many thousands of children and young-at-heart adults the world over do. That doesn't mean they are any less dangerous. They come in pieces so small they can be inhaled. They come in pieces so giant that you can trip and fall while trying to get over them in the floor.
They are sharp on the corners and smooth on the sides. A child can give himself or his fellow playmates a bloody nose just trying to get the stubborn things APART.
Most recently, my youngest boy was sitting on a folding chair above a towering Lego boat my oldest had built and abandon. Instead of kicking it as he usually would or even turning onto his belly on the chair before sliding off, he launched himself into the air in a style that I could only think of as "Snow Angel in Flight" . he landed forehead first onto the pile and bounced off. As I comforted the poor thing, I tried to look for the signs of where the pain was inflicted and nothing was obvious. His crying and refusal to breath might have helped mask it a little. After a few minutes, bright purple circles showed up on his forehead.He hit so hard and so precisely that it left two and a half perfect purple outlines of circles above his right eyebrow.

I can't get a good picture, but I've never seen the like. He's balanced at least. He now has something to offset the pretty little purple-pink birthmark on the left side of his forehead. This is why I crochet them toys.