Couch Potato

Hello, world. I have not forgotten my blog. I think about it often, actually, but since I have been doing the same thing every day since when I last posted, there hasn't been much point to updating. Plus summoning up the mental stamina to write a blog post is a bit daunting lately.

So what have I been up to? Nothing. Laying on the couch, wishing I was unconscious. Forcing myself to eat whenever possible. Missing normal life. Loving Husband for doing all of the cooking, cleaning, and his normal house chores, and working 40 hours a week, all with a smile and a hug. Isn't he amazing? Loving Munchkin for being perfectly content while watching cartoons (*cringe*) and playing all day long. Plotting revenge for bored teenagers who seem to enjoy trespassing and harassing us in the middle of the night. I vote paintballs, but I don't want to spend the money on supplies, nor would I be willing to do a night watch.

I hope to feel better soon. I wish I felt better NOW. Hopefully life (and blog posting) will return to normal...soon.

Pregnancy is warping my sense of reality

Please, oh please, tell my why this is making me so freaking hungry:

Hospital Food from 11 Different Countries

Because seriously, hospital food? Why does it look so delicious? It shouldn't. I remember from Munchkin's birth, wherein I was in the hospital for five days, that some of the food was unidentifiable, and most certainly inedible. I lived in college dorms for three years, where I was subjected to similar mass-produced, overcooked and tasteless food. I should have been traumatized.

And yet, it looks so succulent that I sat here, salivating, and contemplated giving birth in the hospital.

Yeah, it's that serious.

Heave Ho

Just a week ago I complained on a message board that I wished I had actually "felt pregnant", because just going off of a pee-stick made it feel unreal.

I ate my words, and then my stomach contemplated throwing them back up.

Actually, I don't feel quite that bad. I haven't actually thrown up (although I was threatening to while in the shower this morning, and I realized that the shower is a great place to blow chunks, provided it's not very chunky), and I am still able to take care of Munchkin without too much trouble. Housework, however, has been demoted to the lowest position on the priority list, and now Husband has started to pitch in more than usual to pick up the slack.

Mostly I'm feeling a little queasy off-and-on (as opposed to last time, when it was very constant, but hey, I'm not even six weeks along yet), tired, unable to regulate my body temperature, and burpy. Oh, and completely airheaded. I had to run from the checkout counter to my van at the grocery store today because I forgot my wallet in the dash. D'oh.

And my relationship with food has taken a dramatic turn. Sometimes the thought of food or eating turns my stomach, and other times I feel like a ravenous wolf. My normal, healthy, simple-ingredient based diet is not whetting my appetite. On the contrary, it makes me gag a little. What did I get at the store today? El-cheapo frozen burritos, ramen, Lipton dry soup packets, Veggie Booty (okay, that's semi-healthy), macaroni and cheese in a box, and canned chili. It's probably a good thing my oven is broken, because otherwise my kitchen would also be filled with baked things filled with chocolate and butter and chocolate and white sugar and chocolate. With chocolate frosting.

I have my first appointment with my midwife tomorrow, the same woman who was my midwife with Munchkin. I'm sure it'll just be a time to reconnect with her and go over the basic pregnancy protocol (like, um, diet). I'm looking forward to seeing her again, although I'm not looking forward to driving, literally, all the way across the Portland Metro Area. (Remember my rant about driving to the airport?) I'm just going to try to avoid assaulting innocent motorists on the interstate with my van. QUEASY, FREAKISHLY-SHORT PREGNANT LADY WITH A MINIVAN COMING THROUGH!

Damn You Perfect Brownie Pan

For now a pregnant woman with a broken oven weeps...

One Helluva Week (Stay with me till the end)

We've had an interesting week here at the Anderson Haushalt. Let's go in reverse order, just to confuse everybody...

Tonight we had a wicked thunderstorm go through town. Actually, it wasn't that big of a deal, because we're from North Dakota and some summers are tenacious enough to produce these storms DAILY. But there were gusty winds, some rain, and a bit of lightning and thunder. Based on the news coverage, you'd think there was a hurricane coming through town, eating babies and pooping in the river. Our town dodged the worst of it, but part of the big tree in the front yard didn't make it and ended up on the side of the cul-de-sac. Our nice neighbor lady was out there in the rain and lightning dismantling with with manual pruning shears and putting the pieces in her yard debris bin. Nice, but crazy. Things even out.

I brought my herbs in off the deck as the winds started up. I put them on the floor in the dining room. Unfortunately tonight Munchkin decided to throw a temper tantrum instead of eating supper. In a fit of toddlerhood bawling, she backed up--and fell butt-first right into my basil pot. Darn.

Yesterday was even more exciting. I'm not sure if I've mentioned the foul odor coming from the crawlspace. It stinks. Earlier this week (or was it last week?) Husband descended into the depths to clean up some cat feces that had been there since the inspection several months ago. Unfortunately, it still stunk. And it was only getting worse. Last night he again descended into the depths and made a frightening discovery. A rotting, putrid, decomposing, maggot-filled corpse of a cat.

Yummy.

Poor Husband had to extract this dripping and fragile corpse and dispose of it. It stunk to high heaven. Later this weekend Husband has to descend for the third time to replace the moist and juicy vapor barrier on which the cat had expired, finish cleaning up more feces that had been missed by the inspector, and plug an access hole under the deck so we don't get any more deathly smells in our house. I don't envy his job. I'm so glad I have a valid excuse not to be the unlucky soul that has to carry out this gross job. You see, I'm not sure I'm immune to toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease carried in cat feces. It can cause miscarriage if contracted in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Did I just announce my pregnancy in the same paragraph as I described a old dead cat? Oh, the shame.

We found out a week ago that I am indeed pregnant, due to burst in early February of next year. Huzzah! Now I have a completely different topic to blather on and on about incessantly! And here's a coincidence for you: we conceived on the day we closed on the house. It was meant to be.

I've been feeling a little ditzy, really tired (and hence the lack of updates as of late, since I like to update at night when it's quiet), and a bit averted to food before I've actually sat down to eat it--after that, it's no-holds-barred, eat like my life depends on it. After all, I am eating for three. (Let's do the math: Me + Munchkin (breastfeeding) + Little Fetus = 3) I really, really hope my first trimester doesn't end up like it did last time, with me on the floor for a couple of months, feeling like I'm about to throw up but (nearly) never actually throwing up, not accomplishing anything but memorizing the daytime TV schedule to keep my mind off of the never ending gag reflex.

And now, I really do need to go and sleep so I can grow a baby in my belly.

Not Buying It Challenge: Week...we'll call it 3

Here's my update for the Not Buying It Challenge:

Clothing: Well, I haven't *bought* anything, but I did ruin some clothes. :( I accidentally washed my jumbo black permanent marker that I used to mark boxes in with my whites. I think I mentioned this earlier...

Food: I went to the Veggie Booty in the grocery store today but I overcame and didn't buy it! Bulk oats were on sale, so I stocked up.

Household: While I would never buy myself flowers "just because", I have been cutting roses off of the rose bush to put on my dining room table. It's a nice touch.

Utilities: I entered a giveaway drawing put on by our utility company for a heat pump, which is much needed. Now I just need to win!

Gifts: Husband's birthday was yesterday, and I made him a cake. Well, it would be more accurate to say I made him a smoldering black brick. There is something very wrong with our oven. I have to call the home warranty company tomorrow.

Exercise/Self-improvement: I've been napping. Oh, that doesn't count as exercise? Well, then nada.

Homestead: Our compost pile is HUGE. We could loose Munchkin in it, or behind it. I'm trying to convince Husband to build a three-bin compost bin out of old pallets, but for some reason he can't get past the fact that "it's got holes in it, so all the compost will just fall out of it!" Well, better than a giant pile threatening to take over the yard.

Education: I bought Munchkin some nice wooden puzzles at a used children's stuff sale that my friends at church put on. Yes, that means I *bought* something, but for three puzzles and an alphabet toy, nine dollars is a pretty good deal!

Weaknesses: I really haven't bought anything in the last week that wasn't needed. Well, rhubarb at the farmer's market. It seems kind of a frivolous purchase now that I know I can't bake anything in the oven.

Purging: Not much left to purge after the move. I still have to take all of the purged items to Goodwill. I will have to go through Munchkin's clothes now that the hot weather is here to stay, but mostly everything will be stored instead of purged.

Doing Not Thinking: Week...is it four or five?

Here's an update for the Doing Not Thinking Challenge. I haven't updated in the last week or two because I've been too busy "doing". That's one ironic excuse.

Goal #1: Preparing to Move, Moving, and Setting Up Home in our new house in a controlled and organized manner. Doing everything in my power to make our new house truly feel like "home". Done and done. Pretty much everything is unpacked in it's place, and we just finished cleaning the old rental today. As noted in previous posts, the new house still isn't "home", but it's a matter of growing into it, not forcing it.

Goal #2: Take to plunge into gardening, but at my own comfortable pace. I bought herb starts and potted them this week. I'm waffling between buying some garden starts/planting something in the empty places around the foundation of the house (which is conveniently weeded and not sodded), but we have a (carpenter?) ant problem and I think that planting something there will encourage them to crawl onto the house (although they can do that just fine without encouragement)(the ants, that is, not the plants) and it might be a moot point if we eventually need to get a professional out here to spray them. Ugh. What a mess. Next month my sister-in-law Tweeter is coming to visit, and I'm going to consult with her about our future garden. She's quite the gardener. Oh, and we've got an impressive compost pile going on, to the point that we're going to be forced to build a multi-unit compost bin because it's just so big and out of control. Taming an unmaintained yard creates lots of compost material! On a related note, I'm planning on buying some red wriggler worms for vermicomposting my kitchen scraps. The lowest I saw them on craigslist was $10 a pound, but now the ad is gone. Darn.

Goal #3: Being conscientious about my Internet Time, ensuring that Internet Time is productive and not just time-wasting, and scheduling Internet Time so that it does not conflict with interacting with my family. I can't say I haven't wasted time on the internet--I think that working my butt off to move just burned me out. But it's mostly at night after Munchkin goes to bed, so that's good.

Suburban Summer

When I dreamt of owning a house, one of the big kickers was that I could do anything I wanted with the plants in the yard. I could remove plants, or, more importantly to me, I could plant plants.

So when I bought some herbs at the garden center earlier this week, what did I do? I put them in pots instead.



This way I can bring them inside for the winter. There is a perfect spot for them in the storage room, which is a large room that was walled off from the garage. It has a large window that lets in lots of morning sun. Last time I had anything in a container, it ended badly. So we'll see.

The weather's been beautiful here: sunny and warm (although today was more "hot"). Gorgeous. Perfect for grilling hamburgers, which go well with homemade potato salad.



While we're not gardening or eating, there's always laying in the hammock:



Ahh. The life.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to do anything fun outside today because Munchkin had a fever and was cranky, too. I have no idea what kind of sickness she's getting, but I hope it doesn't last long. Poor girl. She likes to cuddle when she's not feeling well, but today it was like snuggling an oven in the desert. I just about melted; I can only imagine how she felt.

Irritatingly, I have misplaced my notebook with all my weekly menus and shopping lists. I can only conclude that it is not in this house, because I've looked high and low. I hope it's in the van. The last place I saw it was at Target two days ago when I was doing a bit of shopping. I hope that if I lost it that someone would call the phone number I put on the cover, because even though it's just a silly notebook with nothing really too important in it, I think I'd loose my mind if I didn't have it. It's a collection of my family's culinary history. It's interesting to see what we were eating six months ago, and how much our habits have changed.

Plus I can't remember what I'm supposed to cook on Saturday, but it has something to do with rice.

A few more pictures

I've taken a couple more photos of our new home. Only a couple because I've only gotten the kitchen/dining room completely settled, haha. Everything else is mostly good, but there are still a few boxes of decorations/art/pictures that I'd like to put up before taking pictures. All in due time. ;)

Before I get the new pictures, I have something else: Pictures of our old home. You may not care, and that's fine. But I wanted to take pictures for the memories. Sometimes I wish I had taken more pictures of the first apartment that Husband and I shared. I'm glad that I remembered to take pictures this time. It is kind of weird, though. Now that we're pretty much moved in, I just don't have the yearning to be back in my old home like I thought I would. And that's good! I do wish I felt more comfortable here, though. I'm still adjusting.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures. They seem to sum up my photography skills: leaves something to be desired.



That's a corner of my kitchen. Don't you just LOVE the beat-up cabinets, old wood laminate countertops (you can't see it in this photo, but on the other side of the kitchen the front facing is falling off/non-existent), and faux brick backsplash? Gorgeous. Someday we're going to take the brick out and tile the backsplash, paint the cabinets white and put new hardware on them, and get some modern laminate countertop. But honestly, I don't really care as much as I thought I would.



An extremely poorly-lit picture of the dining room, taken from the kitchen. I'm glad our table fits where it does; I was afraid it would block the sliding glass door.

And a gratuitous picture of Munchkin at Husband's church softball game tonight:



They actually won, which ties their number of wins from last year: one. Hurray!

Miscellany Regarding Current Life

Here's a picture of my roses, as promised:



Roses aren't something I would have chosen to plant, as I am super-practical and I'm not feeding my family roses, but darn those are pretty.

Husband installed an over-the-range microwave today. It took him six hours. At one point I asked him alarmedly, "Did you just start a fire in the wall?!?" But in the end it turned out alright, and now I have a microwave to use! Now I just hope it doesn't, you know, fall out of the wall.

The weather's been great here and we've spent a LOT of time outside weeding the yard. That's our recreation. Weeding. It's fun and therapeutic. We aspire to have a food-producing garden, but we're sticking to weeding for right now. It's really hard to screw up weeding. I did buy some herb starts at the store today, but now I have no idea what to do with them. I'm scared to do anything, lest I kill them. I'm petrified, people. PETRIFIED OF GROWING PLANTS.

I'll get over it. ;)

Munchkin is still irrationally cranky. Can't tell if it's toddlerhood or the move or teeth or just because she wants to make hell. I don't know if it matters, because I can't change any of it. Going outside usually helps, and I will gladly oblige.

I used my new (used) washer and dryer for the first time yesterday and opened up the washer to find that I left a giant permanent marker in my apron pocket and ruined a whole bunch of white clothes, including Munchkin's awesome white sweatshirt that we got from Nicole. :( Craptastic! On the plus side, the washer and dryer actually work really well without added markers.

I've been feeling really here-and-there, this-and-that lately. Not in a hypomania kind of way, but just because there are so many little random things to do and take care of and I don't feel settled. I hope this soon passes.

We've Landed

We've been "moved into" our house for two days now, and there are so many great things I don't know where to begin.

Moving was extremely busy and exhausting, but we are mostly unpacked. There are a few home maintenance things that we've been doing, as I outlined in the last post. The list is not getting any shorter, no matter how hard we work on it. That's okay with me at this point, because it's fun. 

The house didn't come with a washer and dryer or a microwave, so I scouted out craigslist until I found all three: washer and dryer for $225 and brand-new over-the-range microwave for $120. Score! I love craigslist. I'll be needing a new refrigerator and stove soon, so I'll be keeping an eye out for those.

We've found that the temperature fluctuates wildly in the house, getting chilly at night and warm during the day (the cold is what bothers me, though). We've lived in shared housing so long that we are used to using our neighbors to buffer us against the extremes. I've learned to shut the windows just after the warmest part of the day to keep the heat in, even though I would love to leave them open.

But the best part of our new house is not the house at all, but what's outside of it. It sits on a nearly quarter acre lot, the perimeter of which is lined with a six-foot fence and trees, including a cluster of pines, a few maples, and a couple that I haven't yet identified but they are very large. The backyard smells of the woods and lilacs (my neighbor's, but they droop over the fence onto my side). I have a couple of bushes out front that are flowering right now (pictured in this post), and a couple of rosebushes, one of which is blooming right now with the most beautiful roses. I'll have to take a picture of those tomorrow.

The very best part is that from our back porch (which is so big that according to Husband's friend Jim, "You could play full-court basketball on it!"), I can't see my neighbors and my neighbors can't see me through the vegetation. Total privacy. I can truly relax without worrying that someone watching me, which sounds ridiculously paranoid, but nobody is at ease under (perceived) observation, right? The morning sun filters through the trees right onto the porch and the birds sing their songs. A show just for me, every morning. Peace.

A Brief Update

Tonight is our last night in the condo. Just about everything but the essentials and the furniture and all of Munchkin's stuff is at the new house. My kitchen is 90% organized and I hope to have it and the bathrooms done by tomorrow evening. I'm also taking Munchkin's bedroom stuff over tomorrow morning too, in one fell swoop (or van load). My intent was to make sure she felt comfortable while we were moving, but today I thought that maybe she was feeling a little scared that we were going to leave her here since we've moved just about everything except her stuff. 

I've worked so hard these last six days. There was TONS of things to do before we could even start moving things into the house. Cleaning every surface of the whole house several times, carpet cleaning, air duct cleaning (which has been postponed because the dude that was supposed to do it "got sick" last weekend), painting two rooms and a hallway (which in itself was a two-person, three-day job), mowing a huge overgrown lawn, wallpapering shelves and drawers, making fifteen trips to Home Depot, installing bathroom hardware, closet rods, door jams, doorknobs, toilet seats, a washer and dryer, an over-the-range microwave, built-in shelving, and shower heads. The house still has a weird funk to it despite leaving the windows open for several nights, a combination of staleness and public bathroom and cats. Blech. While we did eat out on the weekend since we had a friend in town to help out (fast food and pizza), we've eaten at home otherwise. Thank God for frozen soup. 

The only major bad thing that has happened in the last week was that Husband and his friend did a great job of painting the living room, hallway, and master bedroom...ORANGE. Seriously. Freaking orange. It didn't look like orange on that little card we got from the paint store. But it is. Orange. The color is called "Hacienda Clay" and on the walls it looks like orange, a little yellow, and a pinch of tan. I was going for tan with a hint of warmth. You can see it on this page. Just do a "control + f" and search for "Hacienda Clay". Looks like a nice warm tan, doesn't it? Nope. It's yellowy-orange. It's going to look just great with my dark green couch and my deep reddish draperies and my subtle (okay, nearly non-existent but intended) Asian theme. *sigh* Let this be a lesson: ALWAYS PAINT A TEST SWATCH ON THE WALL.

Anyway, tomorrow night will be our first night in the new house. I'm excited but a little sad to have to say good-bye to our little rented condo. While I hated it at first, I've had many great life experiences happen to me while living here, even while physically inside here, and it's grown on me like a good old friend. I found out I was going to be a mother in the bathroom. We brought Munchkin home from the hospital here, and I had the most wonderful babymoon I could have ever imagined. I embraced the title of "HausFrau" here, with all of the rights and responsibilities therein. We had our first family Christmas here. I could go on, but the meaning is personal and hard to explain. 

We get internet installed at the new house on Thursday morning, so I won't be updating or browsing other blogs for a few days. But I'll be back. :)

It's Go Time

We get the keys this evening! Hurray! Our Realtor is dropping them off at 5:00. And the chaos will then commence. I honestly don't know what kind of free time I'll have to write for the next week or so. So I'm not going to make any promises until the end of next week, although I hope to pop on once or twice to update. I'm so happy!

No Pain, No Gain

Well, we went and signed papers yesterday. Surprisingly, there wasn't that much to sign. We had to sign almost as much paperwork just to get pre-approved for our loan before we even went house hunting. Anyway, it was pretty anti-climatic, as we don't get the keys until tomorrow. We were supposed to close no later than today, but who-knows-what happened behind the scenes and we have to be extra patient, which is okay with me because at the end we get a house! 

Unfortunately that means we are a day behind in getting the house move-in ready. We've got a lot to do: Husband is painting the living room, hallway, and master bedroom. We have to get the air vents cleaned (they are sooo gross) and the carpets cleaned, too. I have to deep clean the whole house, since it's been unoccupied since last summer and there's been people traipsing through it occasionally. We have to install the new doorknobs, toilet seats, baby locks and smoke/CO detectors. I'm also wallpapering the shelves and drawers in the kitchen and bathroom cupboards. THEN we can start moving things into the living space proper. The plan was to do the bulk of the actual "moving" next Wednesday, spending our first night there that evening; we have friends planning on helping us with the big stuff that day. So now we just have to work extra hard to make that goal. If we have to push it back, so be it, but I don't want to have to change plans with our helpers last minute. 

As if this wasn't stressful enough, Munchkin is acting like a super-hormonal teenager with PMS. Normally she's always happy, only crabby when she's tired, and easily consoled. But for the last few days she'll start inconsolably sobbing at the drop of a hat at the simplest things. It could be the move. It could be teething, as she's getting her eye teeth in (although she's never been bothered by teething before). Or, and I really hope this isn't it, it's a vaccine reaction. She got her first MMR shot on Monday. She's also started waking at night again, 3-5 times a night. Whatever it is, I hope it's just a weird fluke thing that will resolve itself. If she's like this for the next week, I'm going to need some extra patience. 

With that, I'm going to sign off and get some sleep. Hopefully.

Not Buying It: Week 2

Here's my update for the Not Buying It Challenge:

Clothing: No update. Haven't bought anything, and haven't saved anything from certain destruction.

Food: If I was limber enough to kick myself in the face, I would totally do it. I bought three pounds of ground beef on sale last week and forgot to re-package it to freeze it, so it went bad. There is nothing about being a HausFrau that infuriates me more than when I forget about meat in the fridge. It's not even so much that I "forgot" about it; I just procrastinated too long. There is no valid excuse. So very useless. 

Household: I pilfered cardboard boxes out of the recycling dumpsters to use during our move, which is technically stealing since the hauling company SELLS the material to the recycler, but I figured that they'll end right back up in the dumpster anyway. So I'm not stealing, I'm borrowing. I can't imagine why anyone would pay for cardboard boxes.

Utilities: I'm trying to use more natural light, or just be content with the natural light and not turn on the lamps.

Gifts: Homemade Mother's Day cards for both of our moms.

Exercise/Self-improvement: Packing up all of your worldly possessions counts as exercise, right?

Homestead: Ummmmm...well, I tried to bring home some watermelon rinds from the restaurant we ate at yesterday, but I forgot them at the table.

Education: Nothing new. We did have a "TV Fast" that lasted about 36 hours, which surprisingly enough was Husband's idea. (We had to turn the TV back on tonight for the season finale of House. I'm rolling my eyes right now.) I think one reason it lasted as long as it did was that there are really heavy boxes of books blocking the doors to the armoire so I can't get it open. Unfortunately, this also meant that I couldn't turn the stereo on, so we were also music-less. We did sing more songs and read more books. That's kind of nice.

Weaknesses: We ate out three times this past weekend. I think that's a new record. We had fast food for lunch on Saturday, then on Sunday Husband suggested this bistro in downtown Sherwood that he wanted to check out. They were having their Mother's Day brunch, and after we were seated we noticed that it was $16 per person. Yikes. And the food was not worth $16, even for someone with a loose grasp on reality. What a waste. Why can't we have any luck with Sherwood restaurants? *sigh* Then some friends from back home stopped by as they were going through town and we ate at a Korean BBQ restaurant which, I admit, was pretty cool but also really costly. We blew a whole week's food budget in one day. Which stinks, because I was hoping we'd eat out a few times in the next week or two so that I won't have to worry about cooking in the middle of the move, but it looks like I won't have that liberty. Horrible.

Purging: Still finding things here and there to put in the recycle bin or in the donate box, but I think I've gone through just about everything we own now. I've mastered purging, mwahaha.

My Mother's Day Gift

I was busy packing up my linen closet, trying to figure out how to cram all of the miscellany that ends up in there into boxes so that I won't be too confused when I unpack them. I was concentrating hard, and I felt like I was in the middle of a mess.

I looked up and Munchkin was standing there, still as a gravestone. Her face was beet red. Her eyes bulged. She didn't breathe. Her face told me she was in distress.

Adrenaline ran through my veins. My heart raced. I was sure that she had picked up something on the floor, put it in her mouth, and inhaled it. "WHAT'S WRONG?!?" I barked. "ARE YOU OKAY?!?"

She took a breath, pointed to her crotch, and said, "Fart!"

Doing Not Thinking: Week 2

Phew! I just spent several hours on Husband's computer geeking out to Diablo II. My wrist hurrrts. I think that was the first time I've played that kind of mind-sucking computer game in a LONG time. Oh wait, I remember playing WoW when I was like, eight months pregnant, so it's been a little over two years.

Please excuse the previous paragraph. The move has made me a bit...cracked. I guess I'm reverting to college.

While gaming helps with the "Not Thinking" part of the Doing Not Thinking challenge, it doesn't do much for the "Doing" part. :(

Here's a recap of my goals, and this week's progress:

1. Preparing to Move, Moving, and Setting Up Home in our new house in a controlled and organized manner. Doing everything in my power to make our new house truly feel like "home". I've gotten some more things done for the move, like organizing those nooks and crannies that always seem to gather random things, setting up the utilities, and scheduling a time for carpet cleaning.

2. Take to plunge into gardening, but at my own comfortable pace. I stopped at the Master Gardener booth at the farmer's market this morning, and asked the lady what kinds of edible plants grow well in the shade, since we have an abundance of shade in our new yard. She basically said she didn't know, why don't I call this here number? And I was like, I thought you were a MASTER! Anyway, she did have some basic info guides for beginner gardeners to give me, so I took those. I also cracked my Gardening for Dummies book open, but it seems to be directed more for growing flowers.

3. Being conscientious about my Internet Time, ensuring that Internet Time is productive and not just time-wasting, and scheduling Internet Time so that it does not conflict with interacting with my family. Haha. That's all I've got to say about that.

Jumping In

Have you ever gone swimming with your friends on the first nice day of the year? The pool isn't quite warm yet but you have been waiting all winter for this day, and you don't want to get in because it's going to be almost unbearably cold. You dread it. But you remind yourself that it won't last too long, and after that you and your friends will have a lot of fun. That seems reassuring, but you still dread it. After stalling for awhile, you finally force yourself to jump in...

I'm there. We have loads of empty boxes laying around, begging us to be filled. Meanwhile, I'm still futzing around with things in cupboards and drawers and closets and shelves, meticulously putting them away after I've sorted through them as though they won't be thrown in one of the aforementioned boxes in a few days. I carefully clean my kitchen every evening, putting everything in its place, and I almost can't bear to think that I'll be tearing it all apart within a matter of days. I'm holding back, clawing at "home" to keep it from vanishing. The end is imminent.

In other news, my finger is doing better. It doesn't hurt anymore, but it is really stiff. I can't flex it all the way, and it is weak. As long as it doesn't hurt though, I'll be okay. I can move with a stiff, weak finger, but not a stiff, weak, PAINFUL finger. 

Munchkin refused to take a nap yesterday and never became belligerent, so she skipped it. I think that's the first time she went all day without a nap. Let's just say I prefer naps for her. I like my little break in the afternoon! Hopefully that was just a fluke, and that she continues to nap, like she did today. I just need to be better at wearing her out.

Seven Days

Seven days from now we're going to be homeowners. 

I could type a book on it, but I think I've already said what I needed to say regarding how freaking awesome that's going to feel. But now I'm starting to understand the dread, the ball in the pit of my stomach, calling, "You can't go back nooooooooow!..." The huge responsibility. 

Of course, this sinking feeling comes right on the heels of every single horrifying The Money Pit-esque thought that barges into my brain unannounced. 

The siding is filled with mold and carpenter ants. 

There are wild animals with rabies living in the crawlspace. 

There's a dead person hidden in the attic. 

It's freaking HAUNTED. (Seriously, how do you fix "haunted?")

To the best of my knowledge, only the first one is even remotely plausible. Let's hope, anyway. But what if? And what if it's something we couldn't foresee and can't fix, like having CRAAAAZY neighbors? Or what if it really is haunted?! What if I move in and just plain hate it?

I should take a lesson from myself: "Worrying never helped anything" is something I've been saying to Husband a lot lately, who is a little on edge about job security (but unjustifiably so).

(But no, really, if it's haunted I'm going to need a place to stay while it goes back on the market. Because there is no way in HELL I'm going to stay there.)

Another, more genuine issue that's starting to make me panic is the loss of our home. We've put so much energy into this place, and even if it is a crappy little condo in a crappy little cookie-cutter neighborhood, it's home. Now I have to pack up our things and put them in a new house and pretend like it's all hunky-dory but it's not going to feel comfortable for a long time. I hate the new house break-in period. :(

All that aside, we really are excited about it. Only seven days! A week from now we are going to be walking through the house like we own it, because we will! (Well, sorta. After thirty years.)

Laryngitis For My Fingers

Did you know that it's incredibly hard to type when two of your fingers are buddy taped together? Well, it is. So here's a picture!

Not Buying It: Week 1

Stay with me here, I'm working with a bum finger. Husband and Munchkin and I were roughhousing earlier tonight and while I was trying to block a beach ball flying at my head at breakneck speed, I somehow jammed my finger into my own thigh.

Oh wait. Uhh, that's not what happened. I was fighting off muggers mugging a helpless old lady, and during the melee, I jammed my finger. It didn't hurt. Not a bit. 

(I'm eyeing the Percocet leftover from my c-section two+ years ago. Gotta type through the pain...)

ANYway, I have yet another challenge which I found (this is going to sound complicated) at Dancing in a Field of Tansy, which I found from Two Frog Home, which I found from The Organic Sister. A friend of a friend of a friend, if you will.

This challenge is called Not Buying It. And I challenge myself to not buy things to fill the needs in a category. Simple, no? Here goes:

Clothing: I mended one of Munchkin's shirts (okay, all I did was sew a button on, not THAT complicated), and I also went to great lengths to get rust stains out of another shirt of hers. Boiling did the trick. Bleach, oxygen bleach, dish soap, vinegar, and lemon juice did not. But um, now her off-white shirt is decidedly white and perhaps a tish bit smaller than it was before. But it sure looks clean!

Food: We did spring for Wendy's once this week, but other than that we've made everything from scratch. I hope to start making bread from scratch again when we're in the new house.

Household: Uhh, well, I didn't do too well in this category. Remember the $165 toilet seats and doorknobs episode? Yeah. We aren't going to be doing too well in this category for awhile. I guess I just have to focus on spending less money. And to that end, I did put back the fancy doorknobs and got the cheaper ones while we were shopping for them. Also, I went to The Container Store looking for something to store a fifty pound bag of rice, came out with something woefully inadequate, and returned it the next day. So I unbought it. 

Utilities: Nothing new to report here, other than I feel as though I've been more conscientious about my light usage. (Edit: Although it was a purchase (is that against the rules?) we bought a low-flow shower head this weekend. It was on sale AND we used a coupon!)

Gifts: I didn't buy anything. I'm a Scrooge and love no one, apparently. 

Exercise/Self-Improvement: Um, let's just say I haven't bought anything in this category for a long time. ;) Chasing a toddler is free.

Homestead: Thinking of a summer garden is as far as I've really gotten. (I guess it means I didn't buy anything!)

Education: Got SouleMama's book from the library (The Creative Family, by Amanda Blake Soule). It's been on hold for a while. Horrible timing, as I don't think I'll be able to examine it as much as I'd like with all the chaos going on here. I'll have to put it on hold again.

Weaknesses: Let's see, I mentioned the Wendy's, the doorknobs and toilet seats, what else? I think that covers it, actually. 

Purging: We've saved the best for last. So far I have organized and purged: the storage closet, Munchkin's bedroom closet (in which nothing was actually hers), Munchkin's dresser storage, the storage area in the end table, my sewing and craft stuff, the guinea pig stuff, and part of the bathroom. Areas to be hit this next week: kitchen (big one), the rest of the bathroom, entertainment armoire, bookshelf, clothes, and laundry room. Right now I have some scrapbooking supplies and some grids and connectors (to make DIY cube shelving) to put on craigslist or freecycle.

Doing Not Thinking: Week 1

Earlier this week I found an awesome blog via The Organic Sister called Two Frog Home. She has a challenge going on right now called Doing Not Thinking. Basically I interpreted it as a challenge for me, a chronic procrastinator by way of overthinking things as a mental block to doing them, to STOP the superfluous thinking and just do it.

I've got three goals for the Doing Not Thinking challenge. They are, in no particular order:

1. Preparing to Move, Moving, and Setting Up Home in our new house in a controlled and organized manner. Doing everything in my power to make our new house truly feel like "home".

2. Take to plunge into gardening, but at my own comfortable pace.

3. Being conscientious about my Internet Time, ensuring that Internet Time is productive and not just time-wasting, and scheduling Internet Time so that it does not conflict with interacting with my family.

And my progress thus follows:

1. While I think I did overthink it a little, plus I had a case of The Funk earlier this week, I am busy cleaning and organizing and purging our stuff so that packing can be done in short order and easily. Today I cleaned out two of our three closets, purged and organized my craft/stationary/scrapbook supplies, and cleaned out two totes of guinea pig stuff and condensed it down to one tote. I've got a checklist with all sorts of stuff I need to do, people and companies I need to contact for various moving-related reasons, and a timeline of our move-in process with task lists for both me and Husband. Phew!

2. Um, not much. Focusing mostly on #1 right now. But I did go to our town's farmer's market this morning and visited a booth with a family who was selling "Victory Garden Kits" for $10, which included seeds, row markers, and extensive instructions on how to grow your own victory garden. I like that idea and am playing with the idea of buying one to support them. They seemed genuine.

3. I could be doing much better with this, but for at least a few days I was doing well. I just have to keep trying.

Naked Time

Munchkin: Pee floor.

Me: Did you pee on the floor?

Munchkin: Yes.

Me: Show me.

Munchkin leads me to a soaked section of carpet in her bedroom, smiling proudly.

Me: *sigh*

Prepare for Launch

We found out this week that our home loan was approved. Interestingly enough, I didn't jump for joy or throw a parade when I got the news. They could have told me that it was partly cloudy outside and I would have had the same reaction. Ho-hum. There really isn't much to do to mark the occasion, anyway; there's still a couple of weeks until we close.

One thing we DID do was go to a large home improvement store that shall remain unnamed (but they assured me that I could do it, and they could help...by trying to sell me a $1600 range). While we didn't buy any appliances, we did need new doorknobs and deadbolts and new toilet seats. Trust me, all of these things needed replacement. And even if we didn't need a new toilet seat for the hall bathroom, what mother of a potty-learning toddler DOESN'T want a toilet seat with a hidden built-in toddler seat? GENIUS. Husband looked at me after I insisted on this special accessory with a look of, "You can't be flippin' serious, it's twenty-five dollars more than a standard toilet seat." And I told him that I would sell my feminine services for the difference if I had to, but we were getting that seat!

We also attempted to pick out shower heads while there, but it seems we have a harder time choosing and agreeing on shower heads than we do buying a house. So we decided to try again later.

And, just in time for the big moving extravaganza, I've contracted The Funk, a curious condition wherein I sit on my butt and look at everything and say, "No freakin' way am I going to deal with that now. Try again later." Rinse and repeat. It's weird, like my brain is a computer and my 'motivation' program keeps crashing. I NEED AN I.T. SPECIALIST, STAT.

Munchkin has no idea what's going to happen. I kind of feel bad for her, even though she is such a resilient kid, because there won't be a "normal" for several months, probably. She's just started consistently sleeping through the night, and I hope that the move doesn't make her start waking again. Not that it's a big deal to get up once or twice, but I like the uninterrupted sleep.

We went to a playdate at our friend Nicole's house. There were a lot of people there, and it was a lot of fun. Munchkin loves playing with other kids so much. I'm starting to worry that she's going to be an extroverted person. Not that extroverts are bad or anything, but I just don't know if I'm going to be able to satisfy her social needs without neglecting my own introverted social needs (or anti-needs, whatever). If we end up homeschooling, this could be one of our biggest problems. (Lemme clarify: While I could live in a cabin in the woods a hundred miles from the nearest person and be perfectly happy, that doesn't mean I dislike other people or dislike hanging out with other people. I just need my alone time. I'm not anti-social or anything.) :)

Here's something funny: Munchkin got into some dog poop at the playdate and while I was washing her hands I was all like, "Please don't touch dog poop." And now she can't stop talking about "doggie poop". I got weird looks in the store today because of her wild and random proclamations of "DOGGIE POOP!" She also took a scoop out of one of the bulk bins and put it in her mouth. Tracking down an employee and 'fessing up was a bit embarrassing. Parenting is such a humbling job.

Warm Fuzzies Tuesday: My Awesome Neighbors

Ever since we moved into our condo way back in July of 2006, we've had these awesome neighbors that live across our sidewalk and upstairs. They are a family of five: what I presume to be a mom, dad and three kids (teenage son, younger teenage daughter, and elementary-school-aged daughter). They work in the athletic industry; perhaps they own a gym? I'm not sure, but I know the mom is a personal trainer.

We've never formally introduced ourselves, so while I think they know our names because we've mentioned them, I only know about half of their names. Isn't that sad? But now I'd feel like an idiot asking them what their names are.

Like I said, we've never had any kind of "formal" introduction, nor have we ever gotten together to hang out. But they always say "Hi" when they see us, and we like to chat when we see each other. The mom is especially personable. The kids never seem to argue or fight with each other. As it turns out, they homeschool, which makes the peace more understandable.

I've hired the teenage son on several occasions to pet-sit for us while we were out of state. He's always really serious and professional about it, and I don't know what I would have done without his help. The mom always goes ga-ga over Munchkin--after all, she's seen Munchkin grow up (albeit from an observer's perspective). When we had a big snow last winter, she lent us one of her sleds so we could go sledding. That family is always happy to help out.

Which is why, upon learning that my car battery was dead this morning, I went to them. Because while I HATE asking for help because I feel like I'm such an inconvenience and bother, I knew I needed it (the van is in the shop, so I couldn't use it to jump the battery, plus I have errands to run today), and I knew that they wouldn't turn me away.

I rang their bell and was horrified to learn that they just woke up (not horrified that they aren't morning people, but horrified that I possibly woke them from their slumber). But after learning my request, they happily obliged by getting dressed and coming down to help. It turns out that their vehicle wasn't working either, but they had a car battery charger to lend me. They even plugged it in to their own electrical outlet because the cord wouldn't reach my condo (my car is parked right in front of their porch).

Neighbors as friendly and helpful as these are more valuable than anything one could ever buy.

Now my car is working again and I'm wracking my brain to figure out how to show them my appreciation. Not just for this latest round of kindness, but for nearly three years of it. How do I give these warm fuzzies back? My first inclination is to bake something yummy. Home-baked goods are warm, tasty, full of love, useful, and not gaudy. But I'm scared that one of them has some kind of allergy and won't be able to eat (or worse, share a room with) something I make. How can I nonchalantly ask them about any potential food allergies without sounding suspicious? Heh, I don't think it's possible. I suppose I can just take a chance and gift them some banana bread.

They still don't know we are moving soon (a combo of it not coming up in conversation and me not wanting to jinx it). I kind of feel bad, too, because it's always a little upsetting for a community to go through change, and while I'm sure we weren't "model" neighbors, we weren't bad ones either, and I hope, for their sake, nobody crazy moves into our old place. But there's nothing we can do to affect that. I just hope they are blessed with happiness, because they've given out a lot of it themselves.

Weekly Menu and a First for Munchkin

This Week's Menu:
Monday: Leftover Spicy Chicken Soup
Tuesday: Calzones (Betty Crocker Cookbook recipe) and Salad (that TL and Randy brought over last Saturday...there's a lot left!)
Wednesday: Braised Herb Chicken Thighs with Potatoes
Thursday: Husband's Burritos (which are more like enchiladas but I'm not gonna argue)
Friday: Tortellini with marinara sauce and Salad
Saturday: Chicken Soup (made from the stock I made last week) and Salad (if it's still good)
Sunday: leftovers
Extras: Lemon Curd (organic lemons are on sale!) and Banana Bread

We had a great visit with Grandma (a.k.a. my Mother-in-Law). More later. For now, a happy first from Munchkin: SHE PEED IN THE POTTY! Yipee! She was so very happy that she finally got to use some toilet paper. It was more than enough of a reward for her efforts. Hopefully this will lead to big girl underwear, but I'm not holding my breath!

Scullery Maid

Well, I finally found my motivation and cleaned the daylights out of our home. Not that I'm aiming to knock my MIL's socks off, so to speak, with my awesomely sparkly home (okay, maybe a little), but it needed the cleaning anyway in preparation of us moving out next month. Just a little less to scrub, know what I mean? I gave it my all, and now I'm pooped.

Now, after a long, hard day's work, it is late, and I'm going to bed. In the morning I'm getting up, showering (with Munchkin, as always, because although my bathroom is sparkly, I still don't want her playing in the toilet), baking banana bread (for the ambiance, right?) and heading over to the airport to pick her up. Don't know if I'll be able to update much while she's here. But if I'm not back by Tuesday, send a search party, okay?

The Eight-Legged Monster of Terror

I've been cleaning. Or, should I say, meaning to clean. Haha.

I was just minding my own business when the biggest house spider I've ever seen practically galloped across my living room floor. I grabbed my ever-ready Dyson and sucked it up. (I was holding the hose with my hand and that sucker was so big it STUNG my hand as it hit the hose where I was holding it!) Now, I'd like to believe it's dead, but I've sucked up ants before and found them later making themselves at home in the dust inside the canister. :S I can't find its carcass. And I'm not opening that thing up without backup. So...do you think it lived and it's going to come crawling out of my vacuum cleaner to get revenge? Maybe I should put my Dyson outside and hope that it doesn't get stolen.

Now I'm eyeing my vacuum with suspicion. I...don't...trust...you...

Why do arthropods make us act so bizarrely?

Weekly Menu and a Panic Attack

This Week's Menu:
Monday: Scallops Mascarpone
Tuesday: Southwest Chicken and Mexican Rice (since we didn't get to it last week)
Wednesday: Roast Chicken with mashed potatoes, canned corn, and (commercially-prepared, prepackaged but oh-so-yummy) stuffing
Thursday: Meatball Sandwiches, plus Chicken Stock from yesterday's chicken carcass
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: One of these days we'll have Spicy Chicken Soup (made with the fresh stock) with homemade bread (perhaps a 6 Braid Challah Loaf? CAN I GET A (C)HOLLA?) and we'll more than likely eat out on the other two days.

Why would we eat out TWO DAYS in a row? Well, I'll have you know that my Mother-in-Law is coming to town on Friday. I love her, I really do, but I can't keep my wits about myself around her. If I try to accomplish too much in the kitchen, I just may very well burn the whole building down. To further complicate matters, it is MY task to pick her up from the airport, and drop her off there on Monday. To get to the proper destination at the airport, I have to follow the signs from the highway. And I'm always missing the signs or misinterpreting the signs or overthinking the signs (What does short-term parking even mean? Two days, or two hours? I don't know if that's...oh, I missed the turn anyway). And while I'm all discombobulated, I have to wield a minivan and not kill anyone with it. Did I mention I'm 4'11" (well, almost, if I wear shoes) and checking my blind spot is darn near impossible without standing up? My point is, driving in busy traffic to places I don't frequent is one of my most dreaded and stressful tasks. Another reason I shouldn't have to worry about cooking for my MIL.

Oh, now I'm all bothered. Let me show some pictures of a walk Munchkin and I went on this weekend. I'll feel better.

We Now Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

Wow. Just wow.

Kids Band Playing Journey @ Yahoo! Video

Action-Packed Friday!

Munchkin and I had an action-packed day. I haven't had a day so busy in...*checking my calendar*...well, I can't even think of a day that's been so busy with just the two of us. I'm so tired I could fall asleep right now, and it's only 9:35.

This morning we headed off to Newberg for a playdate with Nicole and her kids, Ciara and Oliver (who is Munchkin's age) at the playground. It was nice and empty, so no kids trampling over the little ones. Here's a few pics of the excitement:



It had been raining, so the slides were all WATER slides. Luckily Nicole brought some towels. (And yes, I was having fun with the "Saturation" levels on iPhoto.)



What a happy kid!



Munchkin looking at Nicole's sweet-ass camera. She snapped a crap-ton of pictures of Munchkin because she seemed to like the shutter noise (Munchkin, that is, not Nicole) and when she stopped, Munchkin deadpanned, "Cheese."

Ciara and Oliver sure were being cutie-pies, but Munchkin had this look on her face all day:



"Stop looking at me."

After we came home and ate lunch, my friend Erin called to chat. I LOVE talking to Erin. We always talk about the weirdest things.

After THAT, I found out that OH NO, the Pass-It-On Sale is going on THIS WEEKEND! (I thought it was next weekend!) The first day was already half over! In a frantic dash I threw gently placed Munchkin in the van and we drove clear across town in rush-hour traffic so I could procure some summer clothes for her. I must have got at least ten outfits (mostly dresses), three pairs of shoes, three books and a jacket for under sixty dollars. Score!

Tomorrow's outlook is so blah: I've got loads of cleaning to do (I've been neglectful) and Husband's going golfing, then going in to work. But it's going to be nice out, so hopefully I will get us out of the house and into the bright sunshine. Hurray, spring!

Letter to our Upstairs Neighbor

Hello, Neighbor.

I just thought I'd write you a letter telling you we will be moving in a month. You see, we are buying our very own house. It's a cute little house with a big backyard with a fence and a gate so your dog can't come over and poop in it. Which is great, because now I won't have to endure "Abby, go potty! Abby, go potty!" over and over, right outside my living room window.

It's been a fun time being your downstairs neighbors. My favorite memories involved your young teenage daughter having school off, and you being at work. She really knows how to party, it seems, because I could hear every single lyric pumping out of that stereo! If she has a hearing problem, though, I am sorry to bring it up. I should be more understanding. Although, that wouldn't explain the running, or traditional clog dancing, or whatever her and her little girlfriends were doing up there. Kids and their energy, huh?

And how could I forget the time right after you moved in, when I had a small baby, when you hired some dudes to come install a hardwood floor for you! And they pitched their little tent, which held the power saw to cut the planks, immediately outside our door! They had to do that because when they were cutting the wood inside, it kept setting off the fire alarms. That was three days of pure fun for both me and Infant Munchkin. I'm glad you didn't let me know ahead of time, because I quite enjoyed sitting at home, listening to the "REEEEEEE!" of the power saw and the "BAM! BAM! BAM!" of the hammers and the "EEEEP! EEEEP! EEEEP!" of the fire alarms. But it didn't stop after the installation, because (joy!) you have the habit of walking around with your heels on.

I wanted to thank you for being more considerate than the couple that lived in your place before you bought it. They would get up at 6:30 every morning and drag their dining room chairs all over the dining room floor. It's not really so horrible, per say, to use one's furniture for its intended manner, but the fact is that our bedroom is immediately below said dining room, and when they dragged (drug?) their chairs around, it was not only super loud, but it made something in our ceiling fan resonate, which doubled the noise. I wouldn't be surprised it it was twice as loud in our bedroom as it was in their dining room! But as it stands, you leave at 9:30 and I don't even think you eat breakfast. So kudos to you!

All-in-all, you've been a great upstairs neighbor. We've had our differences and our issues, but we live in high-density residential housing, so those things happen. I'm just glad you don't throw raves in your living room or feel the need to exercise by running up and down your staircase or have a small child up there chasing your dog and cat around. THAT could get annoying. (Hey, don't get me wrong, I love kids and all, but I'm just grateful that none live above me.)

So, next month, I'll move out, and you won't have to listen to me singing "Shake Your Sillies Out" or "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" eight or twelve times a day. We'll call it a win-win.

Love,
HausFrau

She grows a little more every day

Wouldn't you know it, only a few days after I wrote about how Munchkin doesn't seem to understand how to work the Tupperware Shape-O toy, she figured it out! She brought it to me while I was busy, so I just dumped out all the shapes and left her alone. She brought it back later with all but two pieces inside, and proceeded to demonstrate how she did it with the remaining pieces. My eyes threatened to pop right out of my head. I thought it would be another six months before she started figuring that out.

While we were at the library yesterday I decided to treat us to donut holes at the attached donut shop. I purchased a dozen and a half-pint of milk, and I got us settled to have our snack at a table in the corner, with napkins as "plates". "Mommy, napkin yap! Napkin yap!" she kept repeating over and over while pointing to her crotch. I couldn't figure out what she meant at first, then I realized that she wanted a napkin to put in her lap. (Duh. Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.) If I remember correctly, the last time we ate out at a fancy enough restaurant to teach her this was back in January on our cruise. What a memory (and knack for proper etiquette)!

After the library we headed to the post office to pick up a package, which turned out to be for her. It was a cute little hand-knit scarf from her auntie TL. She thought it was pretty neat, although I'm not sure she knew what it was, exactly. But what do I know; if she remembers something from January, maybe she remembers our sub-zero trip to North Dakota last December. At any rate, it is pink and soft, a killer combo for a two-year-old girl.

Learning Moment

Don't chop up jalepeños and then pick your nose.

Don't ask me how I know this.

That is all.

Food for thought

I'm not a perfect person. Nobody is. We all have our habits and hangups.



Sure, I'd like to think everything is okay. Peachy keen. Hunky-dory.



But then, I have days like this.



It seems like a good idea at the time...



...but then the regret and remorse (not to mention the sugar headache) kick in.



Tomorrow is a new day.

Weekly Menu, now with Bonus Photo!

This Week's Menu:
Monday: Baked Teriyaki Chicken with Rice and Broccoli
Tuesday: Chili and Cornbread
Wednesday: Homemade Pizza
Thursday: Greek Pasta with Tomatoes and White Beans
Friday: Southwest Chicken and Mexican Rice
Saturday: Lemon Ginger Shrimp with Grilled Veggies
Sunday: leftovers or something quick to whip up



"Life into Death"

Easter SHEEP! and Rainbow Barf

Happy Easter!

When Munchkin woke up this morning and had her fill of breastmilk (a toddler's version of a steaming cup of joe), I reminded her that the Easter Bunny was supposed to come last night. "PRESENTS?!" was her reply. She ran out to the living room and discovered a small basket of goodies, eyes wide with awe. Her loot included sidewalk chalk, colored pencils, hair clips, and a little stuffed lamb.

"SHEEP! SHEEP! SHEEEEEEEP!"

Yeah, okay. It's a sheep.

"SHEEEEEEP!"

Sigh.

After church, we set her to work with her colored pencils, which she seems to like better than crayons. At any rate, it stopped her maniacal proclamations of SHEEP!



I wonder what it's supposed to be? Rainbow barf?

What's old is new again

I’d like to share the toys that Munchkin loves to love, because I enjoy seeing the toys behind the kids. Here’s an installment of playthings from my own childhood that are now part of hers.



I’m not sure what these are called. I remember that my grandparents had them at their house. They were fun to make different play-things with. They can really be anything that’s rope-shaped, like snakes or, well, ropes. (Although, I wouldn't actually use it as a rope because I would be sorely disappointed.)



Who can forget the ubiquitous Tupperware Shape-O toy? Everyone I knew had one of these. Munchkin is too young to figure out how the get the shapes in, but she’ll get there. I remember being frustrated with it when I was little, but now I can do it! Aren't you proud?



These don’t need any caption. If you’ve never seen one of these, you must have grown up on another planet.



This book is very special to me. My Grandmother used to read us this book when we spent the night at her house, and through her Japanese accent should would give each character it’s own voice. I saw this at Powell’s Books in downtown Portland, and snatched it up like a hawk. Munchkin seems to like it as much as we did.



My good friend Becky bought this for Munchkin’s first birthday. This is the modern-day Glo-worm, evolved from the long, lumpy original. This one plays lullabies, too.



When I saw this particular one at Target, I gasped in shock. My grandparents also had one of these for us grandkids, and originally it was my mom’s and aunts’ and uncle’s. Though, this is a cheap, plastic, China-made version of the one we grew up with. But it’s a small compromise.

Although I didn't photograph them, we also have LEGO toys and Play-Doh. But who doesn't?

The Ambivalent Nature of Springtime in Oregon

Someone please inform the weatherman that it is now spring in Oregon and all the clouds and rain should go away now. We had such a beautiful weekend last week, and now this cloudy, mopey mess is just driving me crazy and giving me spring fever. I'm tired of wearing sweaters and putting on jackets, tired of constantly monitoring the in-wall space heaters for blankets or bookbags or Munchkins in the way, tired of being closed up in my stagnant, dark, damp cave.



It's a tease, really. Dangling something just out of reach. Something we want so badly.



But, maybe...maybe...maybe we can just close our eyes and pretend it's sunny. Think of things that make us happy.

After my post yesterday extolling the virtues of frugality, I went crazy in the fabric store for the sole purpose of finding fabrics that I *might* make into clothes for Munchkin, should I find the time. I actually put quite a bit back on the shelves before leaving, which is good because I felt a little dizzy after I was told the total at the check-out. Ah, we all have our vices, I suppose.



Here is a set of earth tones. I love it, but I hope it's not too dark and heavy for summertime clothes.



Here's the girly set. You can't really go wrong with pink (at least I hope!).

Of course, drowning our sorrows in the fabric store doesn't erase life's difficulties. Husband had a demoralizing day at work today. One of his fellow engineers has been let go, five days before his wife is due to have their first child. (Actually, the only other office person to be let go in the last few years was also let go right around the birth of his child. How lame.) This particular person hasn't had the easiest time, it seems, adjusting to his line of work. I don't know if it's because he wasn't cut out for it, or if it was because he just didn't care to put the effort in. At any rate, he did a poor job and was let go. Husband is simultaneously relieved for his job and broken-hearted for his family. Unless he can get a job soon, his recently-purchased house may go into foreclosure. What an awful situation!

I don't want to end with such a dreadful tone, so here's a gratuitous picture of Munchkin. Sorry about the poor lighting (and subsequent blurriness). I live in a cave, remember?

The Library

You know, there are good handful of reasons why the relationship between Husband and me should be strained. A least according to things like "studies" and "research" and strange door-to-door pastors.

I've read countless times (and it is repeated countless times by conservative groups) that living together before marriage increases the likelihood of divorce. Husband and I lived together for a year before we were married, and if I could go back and change anything, I would've just eloped right then and there. (Weddings are a b*+ch!) But although it's something I'm not a supporter of, morally, it hasn't harmed our relationship. We're lucky, I guess. There is also an article that says 90 percent of couples experienced a reduction in marital satisfaction after their first child is born. Wow, that's a lot! Also, when we first moved to Oregon, a couple of pastors from the local Baptist church came to our door to invite us to attend. That's not unusual, but what WAS unusual was that when I mentioned that I was newly pregnant, the pastor went off on a tangent on how he and his wife were at each other's throats after the baby was born! Yikes! We've been through other trying times as well, like moving across the country and now buying our first home together. And yet, we rarely have arguments, and we comment to each other all the time on how satisfied and happy we are, in pretty much every aspect of our lives together.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you this because I think we're hot stuff or anything. The whole point of this post is about frugality. (Betcha didn't see that coming.) Husband and I are both on the same level when it comes to the biggest hot-button issue of marriage: money. We're frugal and we're unapologetic. The outward flow of money is a stressful thing for us, and although it's obviously unavoidable, we take pleasure in making sure it's controlled, well thought-out, and of high value. In doing so, we don't have to raise our eyebrows at each other regarding superfluous and undiscussed purchases, because it happens rarely enough that it's respected. We aren't tripping over things we "just had to have" last month, things that aren't working for us anymore and have little value to us. We don't have to sit down and have a long, hard talk every month about the state of our bank account, because we live within our means. I hope to help others get on the frugality bandwagon, in the hope that it saves them money, and in doing so, their most important relationships.

There's a ton of things I could talk about with regards to how frugality affects our lives, but the one I'm going to talk about today is one of my favorites. The Library!

When we were in college in North Dakota, there was nothing to do but study, drink, play video games, eat at Perkin's or shop at Wal-Mart or Barnes & Noble (pretty much the only things open later in the evening). I didn't prefer the first one, or the second one for that matter, and video games make my eyes hurt after awhile, so it was a lot of the last three. I've spent a LOT of time at B&N, browsing books, reading books, and sometimes buying books. Lots and lots of books. Who's interested in underwater basket weaving? Me! Me! I am! Let's go buy a book about it at B&N! And we can buy a drink at the Starbucks while we're there! You can see where this is going.

When we moved to Oregon, I got a library card for our local library. Well, that's not quite accurate. I spent two months laying around feeling sicker than a dog, then a few more months doing who knows what, and THEN I got a library card. And good gravy, how awesome it is! Every week I go there at least once. Sometimes it's for Munchkin's "Toddler Time" activity, where a teacher, Miss Theresa, sings songs, dances, and reads stories with the little kids. Then we go and pick out three or four books for the week from the children's section. It's great because I never feel like I'm reading the same books to her over and over and over. Munchkin has developed a love for books; she spends as much time paging through books as she does playing with her toys!

I also love to check books out for myself. Our library is part of our county's library system, so I basically have full privileges at ten or so other libraries close by. I can also easily search and request books from any of those other libraries, and the book gets shipped to my local library for me to pick up. The library gives me a call to tell me my book is in. I can't say how many books I've requested so far, it feels like a hundred! I can even get obscure ones that I was surprised they even carried.

I rarely buy a book for myself anymore unless I've first checked it out from the library and decided that it's important for me to have on hand. I get to scour all the recipes in cookbooks this way, browse through knitting and sewing patterns this way, and just be my curious self with literature that you just can't find on the internet. If I was into fiction (which I'm really not at this point in time) I would have a comprehensive literary smorgasbord at my beck and call. I can browse through nearly a hundred different magazines without paying for a subscription. I can check out a hundred books at once. I can get DVD's and music CD's. I can even get a "cultural pass" that gets us into different destinations around the city, like the Children's Museum and the Japanese Gardens. And the best part is, it's all FREE: the best price there is. There's even a knitter's group that meets every week, should I feel like socializing. (AND, there is a coffee/donut shop attached to our library, which has very reasonable prices, unlike other similar establishments which shall remain unnamed...oh wait, I think I've already named them in this post! Whoops!) And, more appropriately for a stay-at-home mom like me, it's a neutral, comfortable, quiet, free place where I can go and relax from the stress of home (hey, just because Husband and I don't fight doesn't mean I don't want to pull my hair out sometimes! Raising a toddler is full dose of insanity!).

One thing that the library gives me that other exercises in frugality lack is freedom. I'm free to be greedy (for lack of a better term) and take whichever book, DVD, CD, or magazine that I want. Oh, I want this! It looks good! So take it! Oh, here's another one that also looks good! Which one should I get? Take them both! There's no harm! Take that third one while you're at it! There's no guilt! I can be as choosy or as un-choosy as I want, and there's no harm either way. If only the donut shop were as nice, huh?

If you don't already have a library card and you're finding that B&N (or other bookstore) is one of your top boredom destinations, please at least check your local library out. What have you got to lose? (Hint: NOTHING.)

Terrible Twos

This week's menu:
Monday: BBQ Chicken, mashed potatoes, corn
Tuesday: Baked Salmon, brown rice, steamed asparagus
Wednesday: Japanese Chicken Wings, Baked Potato Skins
Thursday: King Ranch Chicken Casserole
Friday: Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini
Saturday: (leftover day)
Easter Sunday: Ham (that Husband got at Christmas from his work), Twice-Baked Potatoes, Corn, homemade rolls

Things have been going well in our Haushalt. Husband has been working more this week, going in at six every morning. Which mean he's more grumpy, yes, but also that he has work to do, an important distinction in this economy. He's mostly working on quotes, but some of those quotes are bound to turn into actual jobs, right? Let's hope so.

Munchkin has been doing that toddler thing where her legs stop working if I try to get her to follow me when we're out in public. You know, when you try to reason, beg, threaten, bribe and beg some more for your kid to do something, and they're JUST NOT DOING IT, so you do the only thing left, and put all of whatever you are carrying (jackets, bags, books, etc.) into one arm and use the other to try to corral them toward your desired exit point, except they don't budge, so you grab their hand and try to pull them and they practically fall over, so you LIFT them with your one hand, trying not to drop everything else, and their legs give out and you're kinda sorta dragging them, and then you think, "THIS IS INSANE!" so you lower your hands and let go and they flop on the floor and proceed to throw a tantrum. And this is where I am so very grateful that my daughter is under 25 pounds (easy). I just use one arm to kind just pick her up, football style, and rush to the exit. And hope that nobody saw that.

We were at the library today, and there was a baby there, maybe eight months old, who was a scooter. She could scoot everywhere really quickly, all on her butt. It was so funny. Munchkin loved her. "BABY! BABY! HI BABY!" *waves* "HI BABY! HUG!" *hugs baby, while I stand beside her, hoping she doesn't crush the baby* "KISS BABY!" And then I step in, saying something to the effect that we don't want to give baby our germs. I kinda felt bad saying "no" to her about showing affection to someone, but I also would feel weirded out of some strange toddler started planting kisses all over my baby.

She's also been doing this verrrrry interesting thing lately of requesting (demanding, really) dresses every morning when I'm putting clothes on her. Luckily, we have a fair amount of dresses for her to wear (I love dresses!). But I wonder where this is coming from. Is it some practicality thing, where she likes the freedom of movement in dresses? Does she like being girly? Or is she just exercising her newfound decision-making skills? Who knows.

Home

Home. Where is home? I've always liked the cliché "Home is where the heart is," because it describes what home feels like well enough for me.

I never had to question where this place called 'home' was until I went to college. Of course, during my freshman year, 'home' was still my parents' house. However happy I was to move out of it, it was still 'home' to me. Then, after my summer job on campus wasn't going so well, I decided to move back home. That's when I realized that the home that I once had didn't exist and would never exist again. It's not that it was all that different than it had been scarcely a year earlier, but everybody got a year older, everybody had learned to live with one less person in the cramped, (officially) two-bedroom house, and I was an independent adult with a year of freedom under my belt, living in a walled-off portion of the living room with a sheet for a door.

I was miserable.

It was then that I realized that since I couldn't have 'home' at my parents' house, I would have to make it for myself. I moved in and out of six different dorm rooms during my first three years in college. "This is my home for this school year," I would think, or "This is my home for the summer." Soon I became accustomed to moving my home from one building to another in one day at the beginning and end of the summers, taking down 'home' in one room and setting up 'home' in the next. Although I felt like a nomad, my concept of 'home' travelled with me.

After my junior year of college, Husband and I got an apartment of our own. "This is our home until we both graduate," I thought. It was truly awesome to me. It had a full kitchen and our very own bathroom, nothing we had to share with a myriad of other people. It also boasted (haha) two entire bedrooms. We had a whole extra room with which we could do whatever we wanted! (It turned into a computer room/study.) It took awhile to actually get it to feel like home, though, because for the first six months Husband was living and working in an internship two hundred miles away. I was alone, and again, miserable. The apartment felt deathly empty without him. After he fully moved in, though, it was home sweet, beautiful home.

When Husband graduated, I lobbied him to apply for jobs here in Oregon, and he landed one. We had to pack up and move out of our apartment, which was our home for two years, and into a smaller rented condo. "This is our home until we buy a house," I thought. I didn't know at the time how long that would be. My dreamy-eyed self thought it would be no longer than 12 to 18 months before we would be getting a house of our own. After all, Husband had several friends who had bought houses. Why couldn't we? So I was conservative when I was hanging things on walls, because I didn't want to have to patch holes for things that wouldn't even be on the walls that long. I was holding 'home' in my heart instead of letting it take over our humble adobe.

Well, it didn't take us too long to realize that, HOLY COW, houses in the Portland Metro area cost way more money than houses in North Dakota. We were naïve. It also didn't take us long to figure out that I was pregnant and we were going to have to cram a baby in with us. Actually, the baby was easy to cram in; it was her things that took up so much room. And as she grows, so do her things. While we originally didn't think (or at least hope) we'd be in this condo very long, we have been here for two years and nine months. And while I would have done something crazy to be able to buy a house years ago, in light of the current housing and economic situation I am so glad we waited until now. At any rate, it was probably about the time Munchkin was born that I was finally letting our place feel like home. I feel an attachment here--after all, this is where we started our family. This condo, however imperfect, has been my daughter's first home.

And, banker willing, if we are truly able to buy this house and we actually close on it, it will be the first time in eight years when I can say, "This is our home...for as long as we wish to stay. Maybe forever." How awesome that will be! To be able to throw down roots, to not have to be thinking of our departure when making my 'home', to not have to wonder how long it will be before we will need to move. I feel so grateful, so blessed that I will have a place to call, once and for all, HOME.