just a wish...

I haven't been here in awhile because I'm busy over at my other blog and maybe someday soon I'll get to stop by here and update the blogosphere on the happenings in our lives, but right now I feel like if I don't get out what I'm feeling, I'm gonna explode.  :)

If you know me, you know it's no secret how much I've wanted to have a daughter.  When I was pregnant with Jax, we decided to be done having children and I had a tubal ligation done.  Shortly after Jax was born, though, I felt like maybe that wasn't the right decision.  Because I don't know if I'll ever get over the desire to have a daughter.  I love my sons.  My entire life is lived for my children (and my husband).  My day begins and ends with these boys and I love them tremendously.

I should be perfectly content to have three happy, healthy little boys.  My boys are the light of my life.

But I can't stop wanting a daughter.  I can't help it.  I don't love my boys any less, it's just how I feel.

So my heart has been pulled in the direction of adoption.  And not just any adoption.  It's not a baby I'm wanting to adopt, because everyone wants babies.  I'd like a daughter a little older...and by a little, I mean 13+.  Because I sit here and look at kids waiting to be adopted and my heart just breaks, like I can almost feel it literally breaking.  Breaking for a child who won't find a permanent home and will age out of the foster care system.  Breaking for a daughter who just wants to be loved.

We don't have a lot of money, the house (while I love it!) isn't the grandest, the largest, or most expensive.  We clip coupons and shop secondhand to save some cash.  So I can't offer the world to a daughter, I can't offer designer clothes (well, not a full price anyway), or a new car to drive, or little brothers that won't be annoying.  But surely that's ok, right?  We don't have an endless amount of material possessions (and lately, I seem to want to get rid of more and more), but man could I love my daughter.

If only it was all that easy....

Some nights, I don't know anymore

I haven't updated in awhile.  :)  Oops.  Well, there's a few reasons why.

#1.  The biggest reason I haven't blogged here in the last few weeks is that I started a homeschool-specific blog and after I've spent time writing there, I'm all worded out for writing here.  :)  It's a fledgling blog, but I hope to use it to chronicle our time schooling this year, especially since we use an online curriculum.

#2.  We've been BUSY!  Scouts started back up, Adam's been busy for work, I joined a bi-weekly (every other week) Bible Study down on post, and we've been trying to add in more field trips.  Which makes for a very busy family and a very tired Nicole.  :)

#3.  And my most exciting reason that I've been too busy to post....we're building a house!  :)  Ok, so Adam and I aren't actually *building* it ourselves, but we have contracted with a builder and they are building it.  :) So far, the whole thing has been AMAZING and fun albeit a little scary.  The building process has already begun.  Our foundation should be poured today.  It's near the house, so we can drive out there and check it out when we want.  It's on Adam's way home from work so he can see it everyday if he wants.  He's in a class in another city this week, so he can't drive by, but we'll take a few trips out there ourselves.  :)

There's more going on, but I'll save it for another post.  Hopefully, later this week and not sometime next month!

It's the little things...

Our first week of school went very well!  The boys had a good time and I worked pretty hard to stay on top of everything and be prepared.  It was such a great feeling to finish out the week knowing we had all done what we were supposed to do and as well as we should have done it!

Cub Scouts officially gets started next Tuesday.  Adam and I have been working hard on getting things ready for the boys.  He thinks I've been working a little too hard.  I have no problem admitting that I like to be in control of things...and I think he is feeling like I'm taking over.  :)  Oops.  I'm not.  I just want to get the information part--the business stuff--done and communicated to the parents.  I want him to do the fun stuff with the kids.  Of course, I'll be taking over those duties in a few weeks while he's away.

Yesterday we got to do some shopping.  We had to run down the Scout store and pick up a new uniform for Adisson.  He's outgrown his blue shirt and I wasn't buying another blue shirt for him to wear for six months and then spending the money for a tan shirt.  Scout clothes are NOT cheap.  As a matter of fact, I'd NEVER spend $25 on ONE shirt for him to wear.  Then we ran to the grocery store...all five of us.  :)  Fortunately, my boys were very well behaved and since Adam was with us, we were in and out in less than an hour.  That man means business when we're grocery shopping...you either want it or you don't.  :)

Last night, Adam and I got to go out on a date!  It's been awhile and we weren't even sure what to do. We ended up having some Japanese and doing some shopping.  It was nice to be able to have some time alone without the kids.  It doesn't happen too often.  :)

Today, I'm hoping to take the kids to see a movie and then Adisson is going to spend the night at a friend's house.  Not just any friend...his best friend ever!! :)  We're hoping to do something super fun with Zander when he gets home, I just haven't decided what that is yet. :)

Tomorrow, we have a HUGE party to attend!!  We are pretty excited!  Then, yard clean up on Monday.  Back to school on Tuesday and so will start another week of work! :)

Give your heart a break

Wellllll, we made it through the first day of school.  If everyday went like today, I'd be a VERY happy homeschool mom.  Well, I didn't get much housework done.  :(  I'm feeling a little under the weather so not as on top of my game as I could have been.

Zander couldn't have been more excited for school.  :)  He smiled and laughed the whole day.  He loved it. And it made me happy to see him so happy.  Adisson, on the other hand, was less than thrilled about starting school.  Not sure why, he does well and his curriculum is great.  :-/  But we got through it.

Like I said, I didn't get much done around the house.  Dinner was a complete cop-out (I made fries, nuggets, and mac-n-cheese) but the boys thought it was the best dinner ever.  Went on and on about how great it was and the perfect meal for back to school.  So if they are happy then I'll take it!

In other news, my class started today.  I did my first assignment...super easy, just introduce myself on the forums and comment on two people's introductions.  Now if every assignment was that easy, I'd be set.  But it's not going to be and I'm nervous.  It's supposed to be an intro. class but already some of the terminology is way over my head. :-/  I think I should have taken the modern poetry class.  :)

This weekend is a long weekend thanks to Labor Day!  Adam still has a few more weeks at home before he takes his "solo vacation"...and if you can read between the lines, you'll know what that means.  He won't be gone for toooo long, but it will be the longest he's been away from us as a family of four, the longest he's been away from Jax, who gets antsy if he thinks Dad's been at work too long during the day.  Part of me is ready for him to go so we can get it over with (I always feel like this right before) but the biggest part of me is not ready to be without him and parent alone.  I'm a much nicer Mommy when Daddy is here to help out.  :(  I hate that he'll miss so much (birthdays, Halloween--the boys favorite holiday, Thanksgiving--my favorite holiday, and Christmas) but this is our job, this is what we keep signing up for so I'll take it in stride and deal with it.  And I can't complain because he won't be gone for as long as he's been gone in the past, as long as other wives have to say goodbye for, so I can't whine about it.  (I do sometimes, to Tiffany, because she loves me anyway)

We are going on a family retreat in a few weeks and staying in an oceanfront hotel with amazing views and amenities.  It will be really nice to have this time together.  And the awesome-ness of the ocean will only make it even more amazing.  More details on that later.

Anyway, off to bed....

I was never one to believe the hype

Yesterday, I took a day long Cub Scout training called BALOO (Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation). The Pack needs BALOO trained adults/leaders because at least one is required for camping overnighters.  Prior to yesterday, the Pack had 3 BALOO trained adults, now there are six.  :)  It was a VERY long day.  And it was a little more basic than most of us needed, but it is what it is and now I'm done.  I didn't get enough sleep the night before so when I got home I didn't feel well...and didn't feel well throughout the night and not so great today.  :(  Here's hoping that changes because school starts tomorrow!

For Adisson, I've been putting together a binder with all of his assignments and it's going pretty well!  I'm just not sure how to organize Zander's stuff.  He'll be doing T4L with Adisson (well, Adi will be doing 4th grade and Zander, Kindergarten) because he enjoys doing computer work so much, but I know we need to have some more hands-on stuff for him to do and I'm kind of at a loss on how to organize that.

Soccer starts this week.  It's just a team selection meeting/practice, but it's on Tuesday.  Cub Scouts starts this week.  Our Round-up for the beginning of the year kickoff is on Tuesday (yep, both at the same time.  Thank goodness Adam is still around, he'll be going to one while I'm at another).  Technically, my class starts tomorrow as well.

I probably didn't tell you about that... :)  A few weeks ago, I read an online article about Coursera.  Essentially, it's a site that offers online college classes from great universities for free.  You don't receive college credit for them (because they don't have a way to regulate that....yet).  But when I read it, I was excited about the idea of getting to take a real college class from a real professor and college. :)  I signed up for Introduction to Sustainability.  I'm not sure I'll stick with it, it seems a little advanced for me, but I thought I'd at least try it.  Plus, if it doesn't work out, there's another course I like that starts in a few weeks.

This may all be a moot point because I'm not altogether sure that I have the time to focus on a school course for myself.  When I signed up for the class, I didn't have after-school sports for the boys or a job.  Or a book club that I'm going to participate in that's every other week for two hours.  :)

Anyway, lots to do before school starts tomorrow.

Waking up is the hardest part

I'm tired.

And my brain hurts from thinking too much.

So tonight, I rest.  :)

Who is a working gal?? This mama!

I got a job!!  I haven't worked in almost ten years, but I have a real job!!  I'm a military marketing rep. for the curriculum we use, Time4Learning.  It's an at-home position and it's part-time (so perfect for me!!) and I get to hang out on social networks and talk about how great it is to homeschool with T4L as a military family...and I get paid for it.  Honestly, it could be my dream job! :)

So between work, school for the boys, a college class I'm taking (only for fun and now I'm not sure if that's going to work out), Cub Scouts and being a Cub Scout leader, two different soccer teams/practices, and spending time with Adam before he leaves for his solo vacation, I really want to get some stuff done around the house.  I've been decluttering and reorganizing.  I'd like to get a few more projects finished up before school starts.

I'm hoping to get the school room finished up soon because I really wanna snap a few pics of it.  That way I can stay motivated to keep it clean and organized!!

Anyway, there's more I wanna talk about but I'm really tired and we have a lunch date tomorrow with friends of ours.

I'm just really happy!! :)

The story of your life, you live it everyday

So, I'm just a happy mama.  I'm working hard on some things right now and it's nice to see hard work pay off.  :)

School starts for us the day after Labor Day.  We use Time4Learning for the boys.  Adisson is in fourth grade this year and Zander is starting KINDERGARTEN!!!  We used T4L when we moved to NC in February and loved it!  We took the summer off, but we're starting back up in two weeks!  I'm pretty excited about it, but then I always get excited at the beginning of the year!!  T4L is entirely online, so it's such a blessing for us.  I'll do a full review later this week.

Cub Scouts officially gets started up next week.  Adam and I are Den Leaders this year.  Adam will be busy traveling for a little while soon so I'm co-leading with him so I can take care of stuff while he's gone.  I'm pretty nervous about it because I feel like I have no idea how to teach a bunch of fourth grade boys anything about the outdoors.  I'm taking a day long training class this week so hopefully that will build my confidence up a little bit so I'm not so apprehensive when I have to take my three boys to a Cub Scout Camp-o-Ree and have activities planned for a den full of boys, too.  Sometimes I wonder what I'm thinking when I say yes to things.  :)  Just kidding, I knew what I was getting into, but I'm still nervous nonetheless.  

Soccer starts up next week, well, sorta.  It's team selection night but I don't think things are starting up until after Labor Day.  I'm nervous because we've never played with this league.  In Frederick, the soccer program through the Rec. Center was so great and we all loved it.  Things are a little different down here in Hillbilly Land so I hope it works out just as well.  I doubt it, but I'm trying to remain optimistic.  

I think I found a babysitter for us today.  I "interviewed" a lovely girl this afternoon.  I use the term interview loosely because it was awkward for me to pose so many questions like I was hiring her based on an application.  Regardless, she's lovely.  The boys seemed to really like her as well, so I'm hoping she likes us enough to be our sitter.  This means I could actually start going to the doctor every month like I'm supposed to...what a novel idea!! :)

I guess it's time to wrap it up and head to bed.  I don't have any Netflix DVD's to watch tonight, so I'm likely going to take some school work to bed and work on it for a little while before I fall asleep.  In the middle of the bed.  :)  You have to have perks when the husband travels so much for work.  

Most nights, I don't know anymore....

This weekend we went camping with Cub Scouts.  So much fun! :)  Truth be told, I don't LOVE camping.  Sometimes, I don't even like it.  I have an issue with bugs (my issue is they bite me, I swell & scratch, it gets infected, I have to get meds. ugh....) and I don't love being dirty, but I go.  I go camping and I smile and love it when we're there.  If you asked my little guys, they'd tell you I love camping.  :)  That's parenting for you.

This week, my hot guy is taking a computer class.  I think he knows quite a bit about computers already, but off he goes. So this week, I'm hoping to take the time to sort through our school stuff.  We have a lot of supplies, textbooks, workbooks, etc. that we aren't using so I would like to free up some space!  We're starting school in two weeks and I'd really like to have our area set up and ready to go.  Plus, I love to organize and it will help get all of us in the back-to-school mood.  

I've spent enough time complaining, whining, or otherwise being fussy.  We live here now...here in North Carolina.  I can't miss Maryland forever (though I'm pretty sure I will) and I can't be mopey about it forever. It's time to get up and get moving.  Figuratively speaking.  I've held out being too friendly, because I hate saying goodbye to friends.  I've been standoffish because it can be a lot of work finding a new best friend.  I don't need a new best friend, but I do need friends.  So, I'm done being whiny....I am going to learn to love it here.  

Starting with going to a big homeschool thing next week.  :)  If I'm gonna make some new friends, I'd LOVE for them to be some homeschooling friends.  

Vacation...and then some!

Well, life got away from me for a minute!  I wish I would have blogged during vacation about all the great stuff we did...that way I'd be less likely to forget stuff, but we had super spotty internet connection and it was hard enough to spend 2 seconds on facebook. :)

We went on vacation!!  Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is AMAZING!  It's so pretty there, so amazing.  And it couldn't be MORE military friendly!  We got discounts EVERYWHERE!!!  We had so much fun with family and with each other.  It was just nice.  Very nice.  Here's a day by day breakdown of our two weeks away from home:

Saturday: Get to Pigeon Forge!!
Sunday: Shopping in downtown, historic Pigeon Forge.
Monday: Ripley's Believe It or Not museum in Gatlinburg and then Ripley's Old MacDonald's Mini-Golf in Pigeon Forge.
Tuesday: WHITEWATER RAFTING!!! And a supremely awesome High Ropes Course.  A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  :)  It was a big kids only trip so we took the boys mining for gemstones and fossils when we got back.
Wednesday: Go karts!!! WOO HOO!! (plus a terrifying experience of a spider crawling in my Mom's ear! Eek!!)
Thursday: Swimming in the pool and a visit to the Sky Bridge!  Scary, awesome time!
Friday: Go karts!  Again!!  WOO HOO!!  And then dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe as my Mom had NEVER been to one and really wanted to go.  She loved it!  Then she hung out with my monkey's while Adam and I shopped downtown Gatlinburg (one of my fave times!).
Saturday: Downtown Pigeon Forge shopping with my Grandma!!  and  then Old Fashioned Photos!!!  Turned out super awesome!
Sunday: Drove to Ohio!
Monday: A visit with Adam's Grandpa for a little while then bowling and dinner with my AMAZING BESTIE Tiff and her wonderful kids.
Tuesday: Waterpark!!!!!!!  First we went to a really rad playground, then to a "waterpark" (not amusement park size but it was really great!) with Tiff and the kids!  Then went back to in-laws to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday!
Wednesday: Dinner with Adam's Grandpa then a visit with his Granny!  Followed up with a trip to Troy to see my brother and one of my nephews!!
Thursday: Adam went to a pipe shop then we had dinner at my Grandma's with my mom, my aunt and uncle, and brother and a few nephews.
Friday: I went thrifting with Adam's lovely Granny and Adam took the boys to a park with his parents.  Then we went up to Troy to visit with my family for our last night in Southwest Ohio.
Saturday: Head to my Dad's for a his Homecoming Party!  Welcome HOME Dad!!  (he was deployed to Afghanistan)
Sunday: A day with Dad and his family!!!  Started the drive home, stayed in WV.
Monday: Finished the drive home!! Picked up Buddy from his vacation!!  Got home to a hot, hot, hot upstairs because the unit outside wasn't working.
Tuesday: Unpacking.  Cleaning.
Wednesday: Air guy comes, can't fix until tomorrow.  Dad and family arrive on their way to FLORIDA!!!!

Sigh! Busy, busy, busy!!!!

This weekend, Adam and Adisson are participating in a Father/Son Weekend camping trip.  Honestly, I'm just so excited for them to have a chance to connect with each other one on one.  The thought of it all just gets me all excited and happy and brings on the tears! :)  Meanwhile, I'm planning lots of fun stuff to do with Zander and Jax so no one feels left out.  So far I'm thinking, McGhee family (some of us!) movie night with the Lorax, a trip to the Aloha Zoo, and a visit to Fascinate U Children's Museum.  I'd like to find one more thing to do and I have an idea....we'll see what works out.  :)

whatev...

Zander's still sick with his cold.  Adisson's puking.  Adam's busy.  I'm tired.  Oh, Jax is two.

That's my life in a line.

Man, I LOOOOVE crafts. :)

On Tuesday, I had a doctor's appointment.  I was pretty sure I'd developed a fun case of MRSA up in my nostrils.  You don't screw around with MRSA so I made an appointment when I woke up.  Treatment is easy enough, topical and oral antibiotics.  Plus, if there is anything bacterial going on with this cold/upper respiratory infection, the antibiotics will wipe it out.  The cough still remains, at times making me feel like I'm gasping for breath, but I'm finally starting to feel better.

Adam was off on Wednesday, of course, for the fourth of July.  The house had become rather messy in the previous week and a half due to everyone being sick, so we finally got a lot of cleaning down around the house.  It was desperately needed.  We're still not quite done, but it's a vast improvement.  I'll get the rest done next week when Adam goes back to work.

We did go see fireworks on Wednesday evening.  I decided that of all the area fireworks displays, the one in Pinehurst might be the least crowded.  It was really nice.  The fireworks lasted nearly 45 minutes, probably the longest display I've ever seen. :)  Zander has some noise sensitivity so we brought along a pair of noise reducing headphones.  He also thought the fireworks were too bright (which they were, some of them were too bright for me as well and I had to look away)...because he also has some light sensitivity so he kept his eyes closed.  All that led up to Zander falling asleep *during* the fireworks.  The funny thing is, so did Jaxon.  He started screaming at the first firework so I held him and covered his ears.  I also grabbed Adam's hat and covered up part of his face....so that's when he decided to just take a nap.  :)

Yesterday was a long awaited day.  Since most of my chores had been done I could finally spend some time working on my long list of crafts.  Since Adam was home, he'd be able to help distract the boys. :)  I didn't get as much done as I wanted to (I always underestimate the time needed to complete something) but the good news is I actually did finish a project.  From start to finish, I made two fabric travel high chairs for Sophia and Sawyer.  They aren't perfect, straight, worthy of selling, etc. etc. but they are pretty cute and despite crooked lines will work just fine for my girls.  :)  I also started their owl toys, but didn't quite get those finished.

I'm working on Marble Mazes for the boys travel bags for vacation and they are just as easy to whip up as the original poster said they would be. :)  I only finished one, but I'm hoping to get them done sometime soon.  I've also been working on the rest of their travel activities.  I'll have a big post of what all is going in everyone's travel bags by next weekend, I hope.  I have to get them finished up so I can send my nephews' bags up to Ohio.  I want them to have their travel activities to enjoy on the way to vacation as well as on the way home.  :)

Ok, we're in desperate need of groceries as everyone's been sick and gross lately and I haven't been to the store.  So today is the day I promised them food.  Then this afternoon, we're going to see a movie before we have to go shoe shopping. :)

They weren't kidding. Dang it.

I had to take a few days off, I was just too sick.  Today I also felt like complete crap.

But I couldn't wait another day.  So tonight I tried it.  For the first time ever.  As previously mentioned, I've started the first level plenty of times.  Done it for a day or two.  That's it.  Until last week when I FINALLY completed Level One in 11 days.

Level Two.

S.U.C.K.E.D.

Oh my gosh.  That was the hardest workout of my life.  Ever.  Of all time.  I had to stop a few times to cough uncontrollably (still sick) and a few times, I thought my arms, legs, abs, or entire body might explode.

That girl is no freaking joke.

But I did it.  :)

Ohhhh the joys...

Well, being sick sucks.  And the past several days it's been all five of us.  I think we're finally all on the mend, but we all still have some lingering issues.  I guess if I have to find a blessing in all this it's that we were sick during the heat wave.  We couldn't get out for more than one reason.  So hopefully, we're all better by next weekend when it's back in the 80's.

And because of being sick, I've definitely not been able to workout. :(  But I've made my peace with that.  I can't stress about things I can't help.  It is what it is.

Today, we're all feeling a little better.  Everyone is still sick, but I think we're on the mend.  I hope so anyway!  But the last few days have gotten me in a crafty kick and I've come up with a project list.

After I spend today getting caught up on laundry and disinfecting everything, I'm hoping I can get to work on some projects this week.

I've been working on a book page flower wreath for my mom since December.  It's THE most time consuming project I've ever started.  It didn't get finished in time for Christmas and I've worked on a few times since we moved here but I'd really like to finish it up and take it to her on vacation.  Seriously, though, I'm thinking it's been about 25 hours in the making.  :)

I'm also going to make fabric travel high chairs for Sophia and Sawyer.  I bought the material over the weekend and I'd LOVE to get those done soon.

I'm working on travel binders for our vacation trip.  They are for all the boys.  I've gotten a lot of stuff done for them already but I need to get a few more things finished up.  That is something else I'd like to get done this week.  I reallllly want to get them sent to Ohio before vacation so my nephews can use them on the way to Tennessee.

I've also had a goal for awhile to go paperless in the kitchen.  No paper towels and no paper napkins.  We already don't use paper plates or plastic ware (we have some on hand for when we are camping.  But we also have reusable camping dishes.  It just depends on the access to water where we are camping).  I found an amazing tutorial online of making reusable paper towels so I'd love to work on that in the next few weeks.  But I've decided not to buy the supplies for them until I get my other projects finished first.

I have a bad habit of starting several projects and not finishing any of them.  Hopefully I can fix that now.  :)

Anyway, my hope is to get started working out tomorrow.  Sadly, I think my hopes of the 5k are pretty much shot.  :(

At all costs.

I didn't start Level Two tonight.  And I think I'm ok with that.

As I'm sick.  :(  And on top of being sick, my knees are really hurting.  CVID's side effects (well one of them) is joint pain.  My joint pain is in my knees and elbows (elbows....really??) and my knees are really, really sore right now.  And you do a lot of working out with Jillian that you need your knees for. :)  Adam keeps telling me if I push myself too hard and injure myself, I'll need more than a night off.

And this illness.  Well, it's manifesting itself as chest congestion.  Since I haven't had a treatment since January, I'm very concerned that this is going to turn into a lovely case of respiratory infection.  Which sometimes leads right on into pneumonia.  Not always and that's not even my concern.  My concern is being able to run a 5k in six days with a chest infection.  I can push through knee discomfort, but breathing difficulty isn't something I can ignore.

And it's times like these I think there's never going to be a day that I'm physically fit.  Because as soon as I start doing well (eating pretty good, exercising daily, resting enough), then this crap happens.  I get sick and have a hard time breathing, I have a difficult time with my knees. 

Why now?  Why when I'm working soooooo hard to be in better shape before vacation?  I want to be able to be in vacation pictures and not hide as soon as Adam pulls the camera out because I'm too embarrassed to be in photos.  No, I didn't think this working out regiment was going to get me on the cover of Fitness Magazine, but I thought it was a start.  I thought it would be something I could be proud of.

And it's like I'm failing regardless of how hard I try.



EDITED: So I have no idea why that block up there is highlighted and I'm tired of trying to fix it.  Who even sees this???

I NEED IT!

Crafting is my release. It's the way I feel like I'm me, the way I feel like I'm still a person under my Wife Hoodie and my Mom Jeans.  And I haven't had the time for that lately and it honestly makes me anxious, fidgety, what have you.  It's like I NEED to make something. 

But I feel guilty about making stuff when there's so much housework and kidwork and everythingwork that needs to be done around the house.  My time management isn't so great and I just wish I had more time, or better use of my time so I could fit it all in.  

Because I've gotta bust that sewing machine out soon or I'm gonna explode!  :)

Sometimes.

So Jax isn't feeling any better. :(  And tomorrow morning if he wakes up with a fever, we'll be making a doctor's appointment.  The good news about our doctor's "office" (I only put quotes because it's a different situation in the Army) is that they'll get him in same day and we'll be in and out quickly.  The bad news is that if they prescribe him anything, Adam will have to pick it up as their pharmacy runs on about a three hour delay.  It's more than completely aggravating.  Really, I don't even want to get started on that rant, so I'm moving my thoughts along.

He's very miserable and likes to be held and if he's not being held, you need to be near him.  :(  It's just sad.  I want my wild one back.

I got pretty much nothing done around the house today.  Dishes are dirty, clothes are dirty, stuff needs done. But I did my job as a mom and snuggled my sick toddler, so I'd say it was a successful day nonetheless.

And then, when everyone else had fallen asleep, I finally finished level one.  I wish I could be more excited, but still....no difference.  I read somewhere that it takes four weeks for me to notice a difference, eight weeks for your family to notice a difference, and twelve weeks for strangers to notice.  That's honestly not very encouraging.

And it's not just exercising going on here.  I track my calories.  I'm supposed to be around 1200 for the day. Typically, I don't go over 1000 and I don't take my calories burned from exercising into consideration.  So I guess I don't get why the number on the scale continues to increase.

Anyway, it's been a crappy week and the kids are bored out of their minds.  I hope Jax feels better soon so I can do something fun with my boys.

I just keep praying for all of it.  About all I can do sometimes.

Jussssst barely....

This morning I woke up at 6:30 to a toddler snuggled between his dad and I (I didn't remember him getting into bed with us) and hot as a firecracker.  :(  And when I tried to give him some Tylenol, he was having NONE of that.  Took both of us to hold him down long enough to squirt it in his mouth. :(  He has felt crummy all day.  When Adam got home from work and I asked him to help me give Jax some more Tylenol (I didn't attempt it solo), he barely got it all down before he barfed all over himself.  Honestly, though, that seemed to make him feel better.  (Sorry if that was icky for you!)

Because he didn't feel well, he insisted on being snuggled up to me all day.  I mean, like I had to talk to him from the bathroom telling him I'd be right back.  The few times he dozed off, I jumped up to start a load of laundry (we got a little, errrr, a lot behind...plus all of Adam's laundry from his trip).  I was thrilled when Adam got home because I was hoping I could get a few things done while Jax laid down with Dad.  But no dice.  Nothing is quite like Mommy.  :)

After the barf, he felt well enough to play and I finally managed to get up to make dinner.  I tried a new recipe of Stuffed Chicken (yummm), made homemade mac-n-cheese, mashed potatoes, peas, and rolls.  Then spent awhile cleaning the kitchen and doing some laundry.  I didn't think I was going to get it done.  I was hopeful that I'd fit it in, but the time kept slipping away and I thought I might not make it.

But I did.  :)

Workout #9 of Level One....check.

Tonight, Adam wanted to watch Tosh.0 while I did my exercises.  Fortunately, after a bajillion false starts with level one and 8 workouts in the last 9 days, I knew it by heart.  :)  And I did it up pretty darn well.

Now I'm icky, sticky and stinky and need a shower.  Tomorrow, well, tomorrow is another day and I hope it's filled with a happy, healthy, unfeverish toddler...and that his big brothers don't get the ick, too.

Sigh. :(

Sigh.  I feel like I failed already. :(

Today is Monday.  Yesterday, I was supposed to do workout #8 of Level One of JM's 30 Day Shred.  And I didn't do it.  We were busy (it was our makeup Father's Day for Adam) and I spent a lot of time making brunch, then we cleaned, then we all got ready to go shopping, and when we got home, I wanted to try out a few cleaning methods that I had bought supplies for.  And then Adam wanted to watch a movie with me that we had rented.  So when all was said and done...I didn't workout yesterday.  And I'm still upset about it.  When really I need to just let it go and get moving today.  It was just one day, a rest for one day.

But I feel so guilty.  :(

And I haven't exercised yet today, but I had to wait for a little while because our air wasn't work downstairs (it was hot, hot, hot) and I waited for the service tech. to come and finish it.  Btw, today I'm thrilled to be a renter!!!  He did and he wasn't too long but it was still after noon by the time he finished.  No excuses, though, I'm heading downstairs to get started.  I needed some motivation so I sat down to browse 30DS results photos. And I did.  So I'm ready to get going.

But I've got to say, I'm not seeing ANY results.  None.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nada.  Oh wait, except for the fact that my weigh has increased in the last week.  Yep.  I've lost nothing and gained at least a pound.  Supremely encouraging, I must say. :-/  I know, I know, muscle weighs more than fat, but I gotta tell you, I'm not seeing any fat disappear and certainly no muscles appearing.  I'm gonna keep on....but only with a faint hope that all of this is actually working.

Anyway, it's time.

ps. I mailed in my registration for next week's 5k.  :)  I don't like running, but I LOVE competition.  And I'm not in it to beat others because I won't (my age group is typically among the fastest runners), but I'm going to beat myself.  I want to beat a previous time I've run.  THAT will make me super happy.

EDITED TO ADD:  I did get my workout done today. :)  I still don't feel like I'm doing much, but when I get started, I can tell a pretty decent difference in my endurance.  I can totally make it to the end of the workout and I'm not nearly as worn out and winded when I'm done.  I only have two more days at Level One and then I move to Level Two...which I've never even seen before, let alone attempted.  But I'm ready.  I'm ready for the change and ready to push myself to do more.

I think I can, I think I can...

I haven't done my workout yet, mostly because I've been sitting at the computer for the last few hours printing out travel binder activities for my boys.

We're going on vacation to Pigeon Forge, TN!  We can't wait!  Though the trip isn't the longest we've ever been on, it's still a six hour drive.  I'm trying to arm myself with an arsenal of activities to keep the grumpies at bay.  Since I'm already working on it, I decided to also make travel binders for my nephews.  :)  For Landen, it's just making a third binder (his will be exactly like Adisson and Zander's) but for Boden and Cooper, I've had to look up a lot of things and make a whole separate binder.  At 3 and 4, they obviously can't do some of the things the bigger boys can do.  Also, since Zander is still in the pre-k/Kindergarten stage, his binder will have all of the big boy activities and some of the little guy activities.  Jaxon is not getting a binder at all but a bag filled with hands on stuff.

The girls...well, the girls are getting goodies from Aunt Cole, but probably not until we get to vacation.  There's not much I can make to entertain two 8 month olds on a trip from OH to TN.

EDITED:
We had plans to go see a minor league baseball team today and our plans shifted and we had to meet up earlier than expected, but I still did it.  I still got my workout with Jillian in.  :)

Then we went to see the baseball game and it was HOT but it was fun!! I'm so glad we went.

Holla!!

Another day, another half an hour with Jillian Michael's.  :)

And my boss is home.

Lovely day.

How do you eat an elephant? By doing a push up?? Wait, what???

Here's the thing with exercise.  I don't like it.  And truthfully, I expect instant results.  Like, work out, shower, step on scale...noticeable weight difference.  And sadly, life isn't like that. It takes work, which is probably another reason I don't like it.

But today, on day 5, I exercised again.  Sadly, there's no magic wand and I still see no difference. :(  But I'm trying.  I do it.  I give it my all, every time, no skimping* and I do it.  The warm up, 3 circuits, the cool down...I do it all.  And I even do all of my cardio on my fitness trampoline.  Truthfully, I do it because my CVID has left me with a fair amount of joint pain in my knees and Jillian LOVES her some jumping jacks...and my knees loathe them.  Being on the trampoline makes it MUCH more tolerable.  However, I like to think in my head that it's an added bonus of difficulty therefore, even better for me!! :)

Plus, the boys seem interested in doing some exercising as well.  What I want them to see, though, is that Mom did it.  She said she would do it and she did it.  And during her workouts she didn't cheat, she didn't quit, and when it hurt she kept going.  That's what I want them to see in me.  :)

In other news, I'm still totally loving my living room set up.  On one of my couches you absolutely cannot see the TV.  However, I have two 3-cushion couches, one 2-cushion loveseat, and one single cushion overstuffed chair and ottoman.  There's absolutely no way you're gonna see the TV from every seat in the room.  Plus, all that extra butt space is more for company and the tv isn't on then anyway.

The boss is officially airborne qualified.  That means that after three weeks of school and FIVE successful jumps out of a real life flying in the air airplane, he's officially a paratrooper.  :)  And we're so proud of him!  And he comes home tomorrow!!  I'm super fussy when he's gone so all four of my boys are gonna be happy to have him home!

I've also been thinking about vacation plans.  And really I just can't wait!!! :)

Anyway, I need to go.  Also, I wanna say that I've been trying pretty hard to eat better this week, too, in addition to my exercising.  Fresh veggies for snacks, no junk food, no sweets, no soda.  First of all, I'm freaking starving, but I want this very badly.

Oh and my * from up there...I suck at push-ups.  I can never do as many as Jillian wants me to do, but I try and I get better EVERY SINGLE DAY!  By the end of the month, I wanna do real push ups and not girly ones, but right now, I'm just excited that I can add another one pushup on my final count for the day.  I'm up to 13 without stopping.  I know, not that big of a deal for some, but I hate HATE HHHAAATTTEEE push-ups and severely lack the strength to do them.  But I'm getting better.  A little at a time.

If you see me running, call the police....

Just barely, but I did it. :)  Day four of The Shred.  I still worry, a lot, that I'll bail on this, because I ALWAYS do, but for now...four days in a row.

Then tonight I decided to rearrange the living room.  And some of that stuff is heavy!!  I'm not telling the boss so it can surprise him when he gets home.  :)  I like it A LOT better than the old arrangement, but I'm pretty sure we're gonna need a new TV stand.  We've only had this one for a few years and it was something we HAD TO HAVE, but it doesn't work in our space anymore.  We'll see what he says.

And lately I've been thinking about buying this house.  It's not what I would have chosen and I still don't think it meets our needs in the best way.  And it's kinda too big.  But I definitely feel like I wanna just start settling in and there's only so much you can do for that if you are renting and plan on being out as soon as the lease is up (7 months for us). I don't know.  Another thing to talk to the boss about.

Printed out a registration form for a 4th of July 5k.  It's been awhile.  I'd like to do another and see how it goes.  It's funny... I don't even like running..... :)

ohhhh yeah.

Make that three in a row. :)

Woot!

And I did it.  :)   Two workouts, two days in a row.

I'm pretty happy about it.

Back at it...again.

Vacation to Pigeon Forge is in 35 days.  And I'm already anxious.

Why??  :)

I'll say it here, because no one reads this...I have some body image issues.  Like sometimes it's all I can think about.  I can point out and exacerbate every single flaw, real or imagined, from head to toe...and I do.  All day.  :(  I keep waiting for the time where I can feel like I'm ready to be who I am, to be myself, to be comfortable in my skin.  And that time isn't here.  How long will it take?  I wish I knew.

And I'm anxious for vacation because the kids want to go swimming.  And I'm going white water rafting with my brothers and husband (not that any of them make me feel uncomfortable...they don't).  And all that means a bathing suit.  Or at least shorts.  And I don't wear either.  I certainly don't wear a bathing suit.  I did two years ago when we were at the beach.  We went on vacation just a few weeks after my hospital stay and I had shed LOTS of weight and I was almost ok with my bathing suit then.  Now....oh geez.

Now, I've put on 20 pounds in the last 18 months.  Not a big deal I'm sure. But it is to me. It's a very big deal.  And the thought of it fills my thoughts every. single. day.

So I have 35 days.  That's more than I need to hang out with Jillian and her 30 Day Shred.  And by the grace of God and only with the strength He'll give me will I be able to conquer 30 days of working out.  I never have.  Not one time ever in my life.  So what makes this time different?  I wish I knew that, too.

But I want it.  I want to feel better.  Just because there are three boys (instead of girls) living here doesn't mean I can't poison their minds with body image issues, also.  And I'm well on my way to doing just that.  Because I'm negative, about my body, about myself, about my intelligence.  And they shouldn't hear that.

Because I'm not weak.  I'm not stupid.  I'm not incapable.

I can do it.  And I will do.  Maybe. :)  I'm still working on that part.

But I did it today.  Day One (again) of my 30 Day Shred.  It's not necessarily the weight I wanna lose, the number isn't as important as how I feel when I'm done, the difference I'll see when I've worked so hard. And I've started this journey MANY times...only to stop on day TWO or THREE!!!  What?!!!  But today, I did it.  And I didn't quit.  And I didn't want to.  Today I owned that workout.

Lucky mom!

So yeah, been awhile. :)

This week was Cub Scout Day Camp.  It was a loooooong week. :)  I didn't have the opportunity to volunteer this time so my job was simply to drop him off and pick him up...45 minutes away.  Needless to say, at the end of the week my guys are grumpy from lack of adequate sleep and endless car rides.  But...

Adisson had a great week!  He got to do A LOT of stuff and earned a lot of Cub Scout recognition.  It was nice to see him work so hard and do so well.  Plus, the two other kids that he's friends with in his Pack were also there (the only other Webelos 1 from his pack, too!) so he really liked that.  And after the awards ceremony today, his group leader came up to me to let me know how great he was all week.  She really raved about him and it made me wanna cry or hug her (I did neither, btw).  She said he was so helpful and encouraging to the other boys and if they needed help with something, he'd set aside his own project to help them, never calling attention to the fact that they were struggling or that he was doing something good.  That's the kind of kid I wanna have.  I'm so blessed.

The other boys got to have some one on one time (well, not really since it was the two of them) with me and yesterday we had ice cream before getting Adisson and today we had breakfast at McDonald's after dropping Adisson off.  I wanted them to have the chance to do a few things that he wasn't going to get to do since he had the whole week of fun.

This weekend....well, it will be a busy one.

Homeschooler by day, ninja by night

Next week is the NCHE conference.  I'm really looking forward to going as it's been awhile since I've been to a homeschool convention.  I'll just be attending one day due to Adam's work schedule and the fact that we have company coming in that weekend.  I still haven't registered...not sure why not.  I really want to make sure I get to go.  I've picked out which workshops I want to attend and looked over the list of vendors to be sure I get to check out a few I wanna visit.  

After we moved, Adisson started up on a computer/online based curriculum.  It's been a lifesaver.  It's our core curriculum and I add in the other things he needs.  I wish I had more time to sit with him as he goes through his assignments.  He really likes the work (well, as much as I expect he'd like any school work) and he does well with independent work so that's good.  I'm just hoping that next school year I'm able to do more "on purpose"...but it will be tricky as it will be my first year officially homeschooling two kids.  

In the meantime, I get to think about a whole, entire day of homeschool info. and books.  Sounds sooo good to me.  :)

Out of this world amazing kids...

I'm still up, waiting for an apple pie to finish baking.  Pretty sure my husband scored me an old iPhone for the price of an apple pie. :)  That would be super awesome.

Adisson's last baseball game was tonight.  It was the first tournament game of a single elimination round.  And obviously they lost.  They tried so hard and played so well, but they were up against the best team in their age division, and it just didn't work out for them.  Honestly, I was so sad for them that I cried a little.  They worked so hard and I just wanted them to feel what it was like to win...against that team.

Immediately after the game, Adisson and Adam headed to Adi's Cub Scout meeting.  Only to find out that the Rain Gutter Regatta was tonight and no one told us.

I know my children will experience disappointment and sadness in their lives.  It's just how it is. But that doesn't make it easier for me to feel ok about it.  I hate when my boys are disappointed and sad, about things that they care about.  You know, you wanna be sad because you have to clean your room...whatever.  You wanna be disappointed that you can't have ice cream for dinner...whatever.  (oh, btw...we definitely indulge in dessert only dinners occasionally)  But to have someone else or something else to be the cause of disappointment, just makes me so sad...it just breaks my heart.  I have such amazing children, just really out of this world great kids, and I hate it when things seem to all go wrong at once.

Anyway, I think tomorrow we're heading out to Trader Joe's.  I really wanna see what it's all about (we've never been) and I wanna get outta the house.  If we stay here, I'm gonna get sucked into the 900 things that we have to do around here.  I just .... I don't know.

"So are you the dog's fake parents?"

It's been a few days! :)  On Friday, we were "on call" for when our friends got the call to go to the hospital to have their baby!  We were keeping their other kids during that time.  They finally got the go ahead to come in around 7:00 or so in the evening so the kids came over.  We headed out to catch the end of Adisson's baseball game (he was already there with Adam).  They lost but Adisson stole home and scored the run, so not much else mattered to me!  After we got home in the evening, the kids stayed up for AWHILE playing with their friends.  C. and E. (not my kids so I'm not using their names) are such great kids and my guys had so much fun playing with them.  They are a homeschooled family, too, and it's so so so very nice to meet other kids that have that in common with my boys.  They stayed up super late, but were back at 'em early in the morning. :)  Zander had his t-ball game in the morning but got back in time to play around before the kids left.

The rest of the weekend was nice.  On Saturday, we went shopping to pick up a few things for our new foster dog.  We picked her up today.  She's been interesting.  I'm fairly certain she's never been inside a house.  She was absolutely not interested in walking up the three brick steps leading to the front door.  Her name is Penelope.  She's a good dog, just been dealt a crappy hand in life.  She was rescued just days, if not hours, before literally starving to death.  Adam wants her to be a permanent member of our family, but I'm not convinced that she's the best fit for us.  We'll see how things progress as the days go on....

Mr. Momentum has changed his address...

So last night was a meeting at Adam's work. We're still relatively new so we went over information that we needed to know.  It was very informative, but my thoughts were very occupied with how well Jaxon was or wasn't behaving down in the childcare room.  I worried for all 90 minutes.  :)  Fortunately, he has the best big brothers in the world and they kept him very busy so he was pretty good.  Also, some new friends also had their kids in childcare and they helped keep all of my boys busy!!  I was just so happy Jax was good!

Tonight is a another baseball game for Adisson.  I'm hoping the boys try as hard as they did the other night.  They didn't win, but they gave it a great effort.  I also wish they had a few more games left this season.  If they had enough time to practice and play, they might actually be a pretty good team.  Unfortunately, this team seems to be full of new-to-baseball kids while another team is full of kids that have been playing since they were in diapers.  But anyway....

I've been letting the craft juices stir around in my brain the last few days and I'm hoping we have some time this weekend to do some things I'd like to try and to make a few things I'd like to make.  I'm pretty excited, but not overly so because I know that I can get craft burnout pretty quickly!! :)

Anyway, off to clean...

Then everyone is happy!

I finally went to the grocery store tonight.  Thank goodness as the food was getting rather scarce!  The good news is that for the first time since we got here, I feel like I finally did a good job saving money.  It's hard to feel like I'm doing the best job with my coupons when I shop at a store that doesn't double (oh, I miss Giant Eagle) but I finally saved 40% on my total for the first time in NC.  And managed to buy some higher ticket/non coupon items.  It's weird to come home and feel so excited about grocery shopping, I guess.

Since I don't work outside of the home (as an at-home mom, I'm sure I could help argue the case that I do lots of work inside the home, but that's neither here or there), I feel like it's my job to do the best I can to save money when we shop.  I'd like to get better with our budget, moving is such a huge change and adjustment, that it seems like it takes awhile to get things back into some kind of order.  :)  One of my fave ways to save money is to coupon.  When I am prepping my coupons, it feels like I'm physically doing something proactive to be helpful to my family.  And when I'm matching my coupons to the current sales flyer, I feel like I'm working toward my goal.  And then, when I hand over my coupons and watch my total drop lower and lower, it feels like my efforts have paid off.  And I get pretty excited!

I'll never be one of those extreme couponers, and that's ok with me.  I don't have the time to spend to do that kind of shopping, I don't have the money to wrangle that many coupons (because there is NO WAY every single person on that show gets ALL of their q's for free), and I don't have the space for all those products in my home.  Clutter is costly!!  My goal in couponing is to get the items we already use (or something similar) at a reduced cost.  And I achieve that.  So I'm happy.

And when Mama is happy.....

Thank goodness that's over!

FINALLY!  After several hours, I FINALLY got my coupon binder organized.  It's been awhile since it's been so neat and tidy!  And I'm so excited about it!  Now to plan my grocery list and menus for the week.  Ok, I have more to write later, but I was so excited about coupons and had to tell someone.  Or no one as the case may be here. :)

I heart coupons!

After we moved to Maryland, I was blessed with a HUGE assortment of grocery stores.  In Kentucky, we had just one...a Super WalMart.  And that's where we did *all* of our shopping.  So moving to MD was so exciting!  We did our grocery shopping at Giant Eagle where we'd earn $0.20 off of each gallon of gas for every $50 we'd spend and at the gas station, we'd earn 1% off of our groceries for every 20 gallons of gas we'd pump.  So we really earned a lot of benefits!  And Giant Eagle doubled all my coupons up to $0.99!  I became a coupon queen!  I'd been couponing a little before Maryland, but after I realized how amazing Giant Eagle was...I was hooked on coupons.

And then we moved to North Carolina.  And my coupon dreams crumbled.  :)  We are so blessed to have a brand new Food Lion about a mile from the house.  It was just built last summer and while it's not huge (read: lacks some variety), it's so nice to have a decent grocery store so close.  But Food Lion doesn't double coupons.  And because they don't have the variety of larger grocery stores, I have lots of coupons that don't get used.  

I could shop at a bigger grocery store up in Sanford that I found online that looks super great, and doubles coupons, but it's nearly 40 minutes away since it's on the north side of town.  Driving so much with gas so expensive would quickly cancel out any grocery savings.  Darn it.  

I miss couponing.  I miss the excitement of saving money.  I recently signed up through a really great company to get my coupons delivered to me in bulk once per month.  This saves the huge hassle of trying to find the newspaper on Sunday.  It seems the Sanford paper doesn't carry all of the inserts and neither does Fayetteville...so I have to find the Raleigh paper and they seem to sell out and/or aren't carried in my closest gas stations.  Plus, it gives me coupons that are better in value than I would get just buying my local paper.  

Tonight, I went through 6 weeks of coupon inserts and cut out the ones I'd need.  I still have to sort through them and organize them in my binder, but it definitely reinvigorated my love for my q's and I'm hoping that I can get better at using them...even if I won't be saving quite as much money as I was before.  :)

"I WON SOMETHING!!"

Soooo, my oldest son has his own laptop.  It was his Nana's old one and given to the boys for Christmas, but he's the only one that has any interest in it.  He's frequents Boy's Life (it's a Scout site) and when he's there, he enters just about all of their MANY ongoing contests.  He always gets very excited about it and more than once he's been CONVINCED he would win this super great prize.  :)  He was disappointed awhile ago when he realized he was not the winner of a Nintendo 3DS.  Anyway, tonight I was downstairs with the other kids when he starts yelling for me in a way I know he needs something.  Turns out, he finally did win a prize from Boys Life!  He won a set of autographed books about baseball!  I was very excited for him, though I couldn't help but think about how cool it would be if he won something he truly had his heart set on and it didn't take long for him to express that sentiment to me as well.  But we were both very excited about the prize!  I hope that there's a way the books can get here soon (I'll be grateful for them whenever they arrive, of course) as his baseball season is winding down and I know he could use the inspiration.  It's been a tough season and sometimes, a Mom isn't quite as encouraging as someone else who's actually played baseball.  :)

This weekend we have a baseball game and a few baseball practices.  Fortunately, there's about 27 hours between the two so we can do something else for a change.  :)  I'm voting for staying home and getting stuff done around the house and I'm sure the boys wouldn't mind a break in being busy but they'd also like to get out and do something, too.  We'll see what option wins out.

I've mentioned to Adam more than once that I'm having a hard time finding my place here in NC.  Things are different for us and I guess it's just taking me awhile to get settled.  But I can't really blame him if I'm not doing anything to make myself feel at home here...because it's gonna be home for us for awhile.  A very long while.  I guess I need to work on that instead of blaming him...shhhh, don't tell him.

Anyway, off to watch HOP with the boys and work on my newest yarn project...a baby blanket for a baby on the way (definitely not mine...that ship has sailed!!)...I just love new babies!!  :)

Puppies need to eat!!

Over the weekend we participated in a Cub Scout Camp-o-Ree.  It was so much fun!  We got there on Friday night and got our stuff set up.  It was pretty chilly (and really just cold overnight!) but it's nicer to camp in cool weather as opposed to smoking hot weather.  Saturday was filled with cub scout competition activities.  Adisson's pack did pretty well, gaining trophies in nearly half of all events!!  We left early on Saturday to run home, shower and clean up so we could attend a cook out thrown by Adam's coworker.  We had a great time there (and we got to see our lone NC friends!) and got back to the campsite right on time to see the Order of the Arrow ceremony.  Wrapped things up on Sunday and made it home with a few hours to spare before we had three hours of baseball practice.

Adi had a game on Monday night (loss...again) and we were supposed to have scouts last night but it was cancelled because we just had the camping trip.  So we mowed the yard instead (ok, I say we because I actually did help...I mowed the part of our neighbor's yard that meets ours, it's not much but I hate to leave it undone...he's mowed our entire front yard before!).  It DEFINITELY needed it, so I'm happy about that.

Tonight is another baseball game.  Woot. (not really)  Tomorrow night, we volunteered to take a donation of dog food to an animal and rescue organization.  I've been looking for a service project for us to do as a family and I think I might have found one.

A few weeks ago, we took Buddy in to the animal hospital for a check up and some shots.  He also had to have some blood work done because he is considered a "senior" dog due to his age.  He has a clean bill of health!  He has some arthritis in his knees and in his hips (which we knew about) and due to his discomfort in moving around a lot sometimes, he's put on some weight, but it's still in the healthy range.  We have a joint supplement for him now, too.

While we were there we saw a dog that had been brought to the animal hospital due to severe neglect.  She'd been so starved that when rescued, they estimated her being just hours or a day or so from death.  And for Adam it was love at first sight.  I'll save more of a discussion about her on another post but since then, we've been very animal aware around here.  When a local no-kill shelter posted on their facebook that they were running out of puppy chow, I thought that buying food and taking it there would be something that my boys could understand in regards to charity.  It's hard to find a charitable act that I can explain to my kids so they comprehend it, but little boys understand puppies and that puppies need to eat. :)

Anyway, today we have lots to do.  We're working hard on some scout stuff for Adisson and stuff to do around the house and school stuff....the list goes on and on!! :)

You've got a friend in me

The new school room is nearing its completion, just a few final touches should put us right where I had envisioned us being. :)

On another note, I have got to make friends in North Carolina.  I was so sad to leave my friends in Maryland, I guess it just felt easier to not make any friends here.  But we aren't leaving.  This is likely home to us for awhile. And I guess I need to accept that and start getting cozy.

But I miss my Maryland friends and my longtime Ohio friends desperately.  :(

I've got an idea!!

Over the weekend, we decided that we needed to so some rearranging.  By we, I mean me.  I decided that we needed to do some rearranging and my husband just said ok and moved stuff. :)  Currently, we have three bedrooms and a "bonus" room.  Our bonus room is a room above our two car garage, so it's the same size as the garage.  Just off of the bonus room is a smaller room referred to as an office.  In the bonus room there are also three decent sized closets.  When I started house hunting in January, I decided that we wanted a three bedroom with bonus room/office combo so I could set it up a certain way.

One bedroom, the master, went to the boss and I, of course.  We have a master bathroom, too.  Down the hall is the hall bath (that the boys and any guests use), keep on walking and you'll get to two doors across from each other.  One door leads to our guest room (we have a guest room!!) and the other door to our very full, very busy school room.  On down the hall leads you to the bonus room.  All the toys are in the bonus room and Zander and Jaxon's beds are in there as well.  Adisson was given the "office" as his room but due to the safety of my very busy toddler, the french doors were removed and black out curtains were put up instead.

It seems most evenings, you'd find the five of us hanging out in the school room.  The smallest room in the house.  Someone on the computer, someone at the school table, some of us on the floor playing with stuff.  And I thought, why on earth are we in this tiny room when just a few feet down the hall is the largest room in the house not being used??  So I talked to the boss about my idea and while he wasn't thrilled with the amount of work it was going to take (he often gets the heavy, ugh part of the work), he agreed with it being a better use of space.

So here's what we needed to get done:
School stuff to the bonus room, Adisson's stuff to the empty school room, Zander and Jaxon's beds to Adisson's old room.  It took alllll day on Sunday and we still didn't get it done.  I'm hoping to post pictures of our new school room when it's finally finished.  Hopefully, we get it all done by tomorrow night.

But this week's schedule is baseball game on Monday, Scouts on Tuesday, baseball game on Wednesday, FREE ON THURSDAY, camping all weekend with scouts starting Friday, baseball game on Saturday, work function Saturday afternoon/evening, baseball practice for both boys on Sunday.  :)

Lovin' it!

Let's play ball!

Ohmygoodness.  I'm going to give you, imaginary reader, a rundown of the next several days for us.  Today, we're having lunch with Adam at work, going over our wills with an attorney, doing a tiny bit of shopping before coming home to quickly get ready for baseball's opening ceremony tonight.  The tomorrow, we have three baseball games.  Sunday, a two hour baseball practice.  Monday, a baseball game. Tuesday, cub scouts.  Wednesday, a homeschool meeting and a meet and greet with a political candidate (for NC).  Thursday, a baseball game.  Saturday, a baseball game.

This is our first experience as a baseball family.  :)  I'd like to say we'll continue playing after this year, but honestly, I'm not sure.  I can see now why soccer definitely suits us.  Hopefully, we'll be able to find a soccer league this fall.

Honestly, not much else going on that isn't baseball related.  Tonight, I get to see my boys in their uniforms for the first time.  :)  I can't wait.

I guess there's been so much going on in the last month, but then not a lot to talk about. :)  The boys have been signed up for baseball.  That's a new thing for us, we've always been more of a soccer family and this is our first time trying out baseball.  I was a little concerned that Zander wouldn't like it (we had an episode last year when we took him to his first soccer practice and he quit without setting one foot on the field) but he's done sooo well and he's so cute!  Adisson's been trying hard at baseball, but it's hard to start a new sport at nine when everyone else has been playing for years.  He also has some not so encouraging coaches, but we're trying to deal with it the best way we can.  Tomorrow night is the big Opening Ceremonies thing at the ballpark and I'm so excited to see my little guys in their uniforms for the first time (they don't have them yet!).

Adam's parents came down to visit over Easter weekend.  It's the first time in 9 years of marriage that we've had a guest room and people stay in it.  :)  It's so nice to have a guest room!  We were super busy and got to do some fun stuff.  We also managed to get to the park and get some nice spring pictures taken of the boys.  I hope Adam gets them finished up soon so I can post them.  It's just so nice to have family visit.  Adam's parents always make sure they do the best they can to visit us during the year.  They usually come down to visit twice a year and we make it up to Ohio twice a year.  It makes me kind of sad that the only grandkid experience they get is kids living far away.  :(  Anyway....

So the next 6 weeks will be a blur of baseball games and Cub Scout meetings.  Plus Adam's got several weeks of training coming up that will keep him busy for half of May, most of June, and half of July.  :)  Then....it's vacation time!  We're going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee!!  We've never been there before and I'm SO excited!  We'll be vacationing with my brothers, their kids, my Mom, my Grandma, my Aunt & Uncle and hopefully my cousin, and then my in-laws will be coming down for the weekend.  The boys are going to have SO MUCH FUN!!

Anyway, I've got to sew belt loops on to Zander's baseball pants.  He's sooo teeny tiny that there's no way I could have bought him pants without an elastic waist, but those with an elastic waist don't have belt loops and he has to wear a belt for his uniform.  But I'm pretty sure I found a decent tutorial online to sew belt loops on to baseball pants.  We'll see how that goes. :)

I totally ate my frog today. :)

Oh my goodness.  I've been reading One Bite at a Time.  It's amazing.  Really just a great book.  The premise is to tackle 52 different projects to change, challenge, improve your life.  I bought it awhile ago but it's been so hectic with Christmas and moving that I just started reading it.  And I love it.  :)  Really there are so many things that I want to change about myself and how I'm living my life.  I don't prioritize well, I lack lots of motivation, just so much.  In the interest of being completely real, to the 0 readers I have, I'm a horrible housewife.  I mean, ugh. I stay in my pajamas until about 4:30, when I hurry up and get showered and dressed really quickly before Adam gets home around 5:15.  Ugh. :(  I never want him to come home from work and I'm still in my pj's but why on earth do I wait so long to get ready?  It takes the same amount of time either way, but I feel so much better when I'm ready for the day.

I hate to clean. Like oh goodness hate it.  I do whatever it takes to get by or less.  And that's not how I want my boys to grow up.  I want to be able to welcome people into my home whenever, not when I've been given a week notice. :(  In my defense, things aren't gross or anything, it just gets untidy and I let it get and then stay that way.  I'm trying VERY HARD to do better, to be better, but I'm 30 ....which means that I'm undoing habits that have been ongoing for decades.  But I'm trying.

And the book just gave me the kick in the pants I needed to get moving.  I don't honestly know why this book among the MANY I've read, but it worked. :)  I hope my husband knows how much I *want* to do well around here.... :)

Comfy cozy

Ok, so we're settled in to the new place. :)  Things have found homes (mostly) and the kids and I have found our groove.  Adam works a lot more now so we see him a little less, but he's really happy with his new job and they are already talking to him about some definite longevity...so that's a huge plus!

The neighborhood is mostly great!  Adisson loves that there are so many kids around to play with.  I'm leery of other kids so while I like that he has new friends, I hate that I don't know them enough to know whether or not they'll be talking to my kid about "mature" subject matter while they are playing silly games down the road.  But he's happy... :)

My friends, Hillary and Robyn, came down from Frederick to visit me for my 30th birthday!  It was so amazingly wonderful!  It was a surprise visit (to me!) and I just was so happy that they did that...just because they love me.  We went to dinner, we got pedicure's, we went shopping, and to a painting class...sigh....amazing. :)

There's a lot to tell, but I tend to over type when I'm catching up...so I'm skipping that part and just getting started back up again.  Starting today.  Welcome back, Nicole....why thank you, Nicole!

Bzzzzzing right along!

I'm a BzzAgent and one of my campaign's right now is Smarterer.  :)  It's so addictive!  It's a quiz game where you're racing against the clock to get the most points.  Plus, I'm SO competitive so I can't stop answering the questions!  I know more about being a BzzAgent than I ever have before so super fun and informative!! :)  But, that's pretty typical of BzzAgent!!

Welcome to NC!

We've made it.  We moved to North Carolina!  It's been a chaotic, busy, hectic week, but we're here!

The boys love the house and as soon as we get their room unpacked, they'll love it, too! :)  I'll post pics and more info as soon as I have a minute to sit and type for an hour! :)

It's getting close...

Getting a little anxious.  The next 7 days are going to be so chaotic.  And there's no way we can finish the table before we move so it has to wait.  But that's ok.  I'm just overwhelmed and under-energized.  :)

Sigh.

I can be a handyman....errr, handywoman!

Ok, so I left you hanging with my last post.  :)  It's been a crazy few days since then!

On Sunday I went up the road to buy some chairs I found on craigslist.  I thought they were white with blue cushions, but they turned out to be cream colored chairs with tan gingham cushions.  I loved the cream color of the chairs but the cushions had to go.  Too bland and boring.  But I was excited because I scored them for a great deal.  One of the backs was broken but I was certain Adam could fix that!  (He was not as sure because it was broken and splintered...but as expected, my man came through in a big way!!)

Our next step in the plan was to build a new table.  Our current table is a metal frame and pressed board/veneer covered top.  We were going to take the top off of the table and get a big piece of wood to replace it.  Then stain and seal and voila...new table!  But then I got the chairs home.  And they are HUGE.  I mean HHUUGGEE next to our table.  Crap.

So I was back to looking for a table.  And I emailed everyone and their brother on craigslist that had ANYTHING that might work.  Nothing.  Not a single emailed response.  Heart breaking.  :(

I've been OBSESSED with tables for days.  :(  I hate that feeling.

But today I got to get out of the house with my lovely Hillary.  Likely for the last time (I try not to think about it because it makes me super sad!).  We had lunch at The Wine Kitchen (ohmy.  Amazing.) and then hit up a few antique shops downtown.  Let me just say...the first one we went to...one of the grossest things I've ever seen.  Like really.  And like previous searching had already informed me, antiques are ugly and overpriced.

We ran to a few more places and then over to the new Goodwill in town.  We were just there on Saturday and didn't see anything, but Hillary wanted to see the new store so we ran in.  There in the furniture section was a dining room table.  It looked like it might be big enough...had all four legs (so that's a plus!) and after some searching we found its missing leaf over on some chairs.  We stretched it out and tried to measure it.  But we had no tape measure and the great guy at Goodwill had lent his to someone earlier in the day and it had since walked away.  So, because we're so resourceful, Hill pulled up an app on her iPhone to help us measure....but we couldn't figure out how to use it. :)  But we did see that the iPhone screen was three inches, so we measured it that way (and got a few chuckles out of other Goodwill shoppers) and it seemed like it might be the right size!

For $20, I figured it was worth the risk.  But it was a big risk.  The table was gnarly.  Peeled off stickers, TONS of crayon marks, pen marks, food stains, sticky glass rings...it was rough.  But Adam ok'd it and I brought it home.  And he didn't make me give it to Hillary when he saw it.  After a trip to Lowe's (and $40 later), we started the refinishing.  And let me just say...it is going to be LOVELY!!! :)

"Mom? Are those balls in the dryer??"

Now on to drying.

A few weeks ago we were shopping at Toys R Us (the boys have birthday and Christmas money to spend!) and   I had some TRU Rewards to spend from Christmas shopping.  The boys picked out their new toys and as we were heading toward the cash registers, I saw that they had the Totally Toddler items Buy One, Get One Free so I snatched up two boxes of dryer balls.  I'd been wanting to try them out.

I immediately put two of them in the dryer.  As far as softness goes, I don't know if I've ever pulled my clothes out of the dryer and thought "wow, these sure are stiff clothes..."  So they've done their job as far as that goes.  One thing they don't do so well at is reducing static.  So I looked up a few ways to combat that.  I settled on a rag pinned with a few safety pins.  And that's not really working either.  So my next step is to use 1/2 c. of vinegar in the rinse cycle of my washing.  Even with the static, we're still using the dryer balls.

The cost of the dryer balls was $10.98 each, BUT they were buy one get one free (2 balls come in each package) so now it's $10.98 for two packs.  I had coupons totaling $9 off my purchase so I paid around $2 for two packs of dryer balls that should last me AT LEAST a year per each set.

Score!

My new way to do laundry

At least a load a day.  That's how much laundry I need to do to keep up with a family of five. At least.  If someone has an incident with urine (I have an occasional night time pee-er) or a toddler decides to spill his sippy cup on my bed, I have another load of bedding to do.  My boys seem to go through a ton of clothes, too.

I used to make my own detergent. Before we moved to Maryland from Kentucky, I made my own detergent from Borax, washing soda, and Fels Naptha.  I made larges batches of it at once.  It was super cheap to make and relatively easy.  But it's cleaning ability...well, it wasn't the greatest.  I didn't notice it at first, but after awhile I could see that my clothes seemed kind of dingy and didn't appear as clean as with commercial detergent.  It really wasn't as effective as I was hoping.  I know some people, well, lots of people, make their own detergent and LOVE it!  I'm just not one of those people anymore.  :(  Which is too bad...it was the most cost effective way to wash my clothes!  (Price comparisons will be at the end)

Anyway, I buy Purex or Arm & Hammer detergent, when it's on sale and I'll occasionally have a coupon (for Arm & Hammer).  I've had a nice little stockpile of detergent going on for awhile, but when we realized we'd be leaving here sooner than originally anticipated, I realized I needed to use up my stockpile before we moved.  You can't have detergent packed by the movers.  So I'm down to my last bottle.  But....I've found something new to replace my bottles of detergent.

Soap Nuts.

(insert a head tilt and a "huh?" here)

What on earth am I talking about, right? Soap nuts are dried shells from the soapberry.  The berries are the fruit from a unique tree species.  The shells contain a substance called saponin that produces a soaping effect. These "nuts" have been used for a very LONG time by people in the Himalayan region and have been recognized throughout the world for their green way of cleaning.  Ok....that may be a lot of talk that doesn't say anything so I'll give you my take on soap nuts.

Soap nuts are little dried round "nuts" that when used in your laundry release saponin into the water and clean your clothes.  That's it.  And here's how you do it.  You order your soap nuts (unless you know of a place that sells them locally, which I don't) and wait impatiently for them to arrive.  :)  When it's time to do laundry, you place 4-6 soap nuts (I use 5) in a drawstring muslin bag (that you'll likely get with your order).  You throw the whole bag in washer and that's it.  They get wet, the release the saponin, and clean your clothes.

So I know you're skeptical and thinking...uh, no way.  But I'll tell you...they work!!! :)  Now, if you have a tough stain, you'll need to pre-treat, just like you would with regular detergent, but the soapnuts work!  They have a slight vinegar smell, but my clothes have never smelled like vinegar.  They don't smell like anything...they are just clean.  They say your soap nuts will last for 4-6 washes (more for cold water, less for hot water).  When they turn light tan, get squishy, fall apart.  Then you replace them.  I will say that I'm on load 7 of the same nuts and I wash 90% of our clothes in cold water.  I'm a soap nut convert.

Ok, the price comparison:

Homemade laundry detergent:
I calculated out what it took to make a batch.  I don't have the calculations anymore, but I know the cost was less than 2 cents per load.  Yep, that cheap.  So, by far, the cheapest detergent.  Unfortunately not the most effective.

Commercial detergent:
My price point for store bought detergent is $2.50-$3.00 for a 32 load bottle.  At $3 that averages out to 9.3 cents per load.  

SoapNuts:

I bought 1 pound of soapnuts for $19.95 (I've since found them a little cheaper, but it is what it is now. :)  I counted how many soap nuts that was for me, the count will vary each time based on the size of each individual nut, and I had 155 nuts.  I use 5 nuts per wash so that will give me 31 refills.  (155/5=31)  If each refill gets me 8 loads (I've already done 7 and I know they will go at least another load) that will give me 248 loads of laundry. That is 8 cents per load.  If I can get each refill to last just one more load, my cost goes down to 7.1 cents per load.  If I would have scored my soap nuts at a better price (but I'm happy with what I paid) then my per load cost goes down again.

So, I no longer have to buy bottles of detergent.  It saves space (not a ton, but space is space when there's five of us!), saves on the use of plastic bottles and commercial additives.  Soap nuts are green, cost effective, easy, and kinda fun! (I'm a dork, I know!!)  I hope I continue to be pleased with the results.  :)

Ok, next post on my dryer update!

Mama's gotta work (to save the money...)

Ok, so here are the other things I wanted to talk about.  So as a family of five on a single income, I'm forever searching for ways to stretch our money.  Any saving I can do on our expenses, to free up some money for getting to fun stuff with the boys, is what I work hard to do.  Here are some of the things that I've been doing lately to save some of our hard earned moolah.  :)

Mystery Shopping
I've only had the opportunity to do this once locally.  I hope to get one more shop in before we move.  I visited a local salon and had a shampoo, cut, trim, and my eyebrows waxed for free.  :)  I paid the total and tip after my service, came home and wrote up a report and submitted it.  They checked it out, approved it, and sent me a check.  Ok, so that didn't "earn" me money, but I got to get some pampering done and it didn't cost me anything.  :)

Using ShopAtHome
So over the holidays, I did nearly all of my Christmas shopping online.  It's very difficult to get out and go shopping for gifts with three kids in tow.  Especially if the gifts are for them.  This year, I really took advantage of using ShopAtHome for my purchases.  If you aren't familiar, this is the general idea...you go to ShopAtHome, sign in, find the store you're looking for and start shopping. Then ShopAtHome pays you a percentage of cash back.  The percentage is based on the company.  For instance, at Toys R Us, I got 1% back, but at Snapfish, I got 12% back.  It all adds up and when you get to $20, they send you a check.  Over Christmas, I earned $45!  It doesn't cost anything and it's super easy...so I LOVE it!!

Ooma
What on earth is Ooma?  :)  Ooma is Free Home Phone Service.  You buy an Ooma device (looks like a black box), you hook it up to your cable/dsl internet connection, you hook the other end up to your regular home phone...now you have phone service.  You pay a one time fee to buy an Ooma box (which is then yours to have forever).  The box can seem costly to start with ($160 for a refurbished model directly from Ooma), however, the savings are great.  After you buy the box and hook it up, you have home phone service...for FREE!  Ok, the disclaimer here is that you still have to pay applicable taxes every month.  But it's not fees that Ooma charges...they are the Regulatory Compliance Fee, 911 Service Fee, Federal Universal Service Charge, and State and Local taxes.  And it's about $3.47 a month.  Less than $4.00 a month for phone service.  Now, I know lots of people are cell only families, but to me, I want to have a reliable phone for my boys to use should there be an emergency.  And we've been a VoIP family for years now, so this isn't an adjustment for us.  Saving $30 a month will be wonderful, though. :)

Ok, I have a few more things to blog about, but this post is already longer than all of my posts from last week combined.  So, I'll wrap this one up and blog again tomorrow...about SoapNuts and dryer balls.  :)

So busy, but I haven't forgotten you, my lonesome little blog...

Sooo, last weekend me and my homegirl Hillary drove down to Fayetteville to find me a house! :)  I haven't been on a kid free road trip since before I had kids.  :)  We had such a great time!  On Saturday, we visited five houses.  Of the five, one was a "uhhh, no", two were, "Oh, HECK NO!", one was "eh" and one was "doable"....so not the best house hunting trip.  So, I checked out a few houses online and asked my lovely real estate agent if he could look up a few more for us to see on Sunday.  He did and we went to visit a few more houses.  One was too small and the other....well, it was just right.  :)  And we applied and we were accepted and it's ours!!

So here is a link to the house (with lots of pictures available):

Our New House!!!

We're so excited!  It has all the space we need and then some and the boys will have a HUGE room to play in!!

I have more things I want to blog about, but I've gotta eat some dinner.  In the best words of Mr. Schwarzenegger, I'll  be back.

 

Moving Goodies!!

Adam started the clearing process today.  That's military speak for "started getting ready for the move".  He got some cute goodies for the kids and they were pretty excited!  It's times like these when I realize how great the Army can be.  Sure, it's a small thing, but it's just another way they show they care about even the youngest people affected by a PCS (errr, that's a move for you civilians).

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jaxon!!

Elmo and Cookie Monster Cupcakes that Hillary and I made today!!

It's my 200th post!!! :)

I don't post with much regularity or really have anyone that reads what I write anyway, but this is officially my 200th post here on my blog.  I started to keep in touch with Adam and with family since we live out of state, but Adam couldn't tell you my blog address if someone paid him and I'm nearly certain that none of my family members have ever stopped by.  But it's totally fine, I blog because I wanna.  I blog because I like to write...though I never write about anything that interesting to others...just my life with the boys.

Tomorrow Jaxon turns 2.  Already.  My little guy is growing up so fast!  It's hard to believe that we'll never again have little baby clothes to hang up in the closet, or a cute little swing in the living room, or a brand new baby to hold and snuggle.  Sometimes the finality of our decision to stop having kids is sad.  Sometimes the thought that I'll never have a daughter is a little more than sad.  But the constant reminders of my amazing life with these amazing boys is overwhelming and wonderful.  I'm so blessed.  The idea that we'll soon be able to go places without worrying about diapers and sippy cups does sound pretty exciting.  :)

Today we finally got started on school work again.  We took a break for Christmas and because we were outta town and we definitely needed to get back on track.  Because we'll be moving in just three weeks, I'm trying to keep things light and not too overwhelming.  I'm hoping to get the next six weeks planned out this weekend.  Adisson did ok today, but grumbles so much about math that he ended up doing twice as much work because of his attitude.  I don't want to use school work as a punishment, but I want him to understand how great it is that he learns at home.  Even with extra work today, we only schooled for three hours.  I mean, he got to spend a chunk of his afternoon playing the xbox with his Dad.  You think he would have been a little less grumpy. :)

Zander did his school work today.  He's learning to write his letters and I told him after he's done with that, he gets to work on learning to read.  He seems pretty excited.  I'm excited to be the one who gets to teach him to read.  I get to be the one that sits beside him as he learns how words go together and as he figures out what it's like to read.  To be a reader!! :)  It's an exciting thing for me!!

I didn't have my treatment today because my hemotologist's office didn't get my insurance referral secured before today's appointment.  :-/  It was a little frustrating because my old doctor's receptionist would have never let that happen.  She took care of everything for me.  And I miss her.  :)

So I guess it's about that time.  I'd like to get some cleaning done tonight so I can sleep in a little tomorrow before my favorite 10 month old comes over.  But that would mean Jaxon would have to quit terrorizing me, the dog, his dad, his sleeping brothers....in order for me to do that.  :)

If only I knew how to say "gyro"....

I had SUCH a good night with my girlfriends.  I try not to think about leaving them because when I do, it just breaks my heart, but anyway....

I FINALLY got my coupon binder updated and reorganized.  It looks so pretty!  Plus my girlies got an impromptu coupon lesson tonight after dinner.  (Hey, they asked!!)  

And I finished proofreading Heidi St. John's book and sent her my suggestions.  It felt kinda weird...telling a published author what errors you found in her book.  I don't handle criticism well, so I hope I didn't sound critical in my email back to her. It was such a good book!  It had so many great tips and ideas that I can't wait to implement after we get settled in North Carolina.  

I think my treatment is tomorrow, but my doctor's receptionist never calls me anymore to tell me when my appointment is.  :(  I got moved to a different doctor at the center after my doctor left and it's been a crazy mess since then. I'm hoping it's tomorrow since I already lined up childcare.  :)

Jaxon's birthday is on Wednesday.  I need to get him a little gift since his "big" gift (little table and chairs) is taking its sweet time getting delivered.  Hillary is going to come over on Wednesday afternoon to help me make cupcakes.  We're going to make cupcakes like Elmo's face...hopefully they don't look a complete mess when we're done.

So I think I'm making a road trip to Fayetteville this weekend.  One of the houses on my list had a huge rent reduction today so I really want to see if it can be the house we need.  I started thinking this afternoon that we maybe shouldn't wait until we get there to find a place.  Adam's uncomfortable not having a definite house prior to arrival in the area. I talked to him about making a super fast road trip and he seemed ok with the idea.  I hope to get down there, check out as many houses as I can, then get back home and have Adam help me decide which one we like.  Then maybe get something official lined up.  We'll see how it all goes.  

Anyway, time to sleep.