How many fire posts can a person have?

Since the last post we have moved into a rental home. It is actually bigger then our home but we decided not to furnish the entire thing. It is nice to have some room to move around in.

Friday we got the first round of houses to go look at. One was nice and one was crap. Did not go for either one. Sunday was the day that we found this house and the owner was willing to do a three month lease. Tuesday we signed for the house and Wednesday we moved and got the furniture and applicances delivered. It feels like we are living in a bubble. We don't have cable right now. We have dial up for computer access. This is so strange. First off we don't have the usual things around us. Second home is just down the street. It is just different. It feels so strange to go and check on the house. It is really cold in the house since the heater does not work. And it is still in a state of shock. The house that it. I know strange, but that is what it feels like.

We got a Christmas tree. A dear friend set aside some decorations for us. It looks like Christmas in our rental home. But still something is missing. We went today and it seems the heating guy has been looking at the heater, we don't know if we are going to need a new one, or if it is fixable. The ducts will need to be cleaned.

We are hanging in there. Although, to me sometimes it feels like we are in a bad dream. I wonder if I am going to wake up and be in my house. Nope still here. We went to the grocery store this week and the girls and I all had the same feeling were we going to go home to a house on fire. Luckily everything was fine. I wonder how long it is going to be until this feeling goes away. Will it ever go away?

So that is where we are, around the corner from home, but in a home nonetheless. We heard so many horrible stories this week about what others are going through. We will take our inconvenience any day. We are all healthy. We have been blessed.

Fire Update

Today we found out that we had to move out for at least two months. We are in another city until they find us a house to rent. Tuesday they come and pack every single item in our house, take it to some place to be repaired and then we we get the house back they will come and put it all back. I have to do nothing.They are basically gutting the house, scraping the walls sealing mudding and repainting the ENTIRE house. The BRAND new wood floor has to come up and out, carpet in some areas are being replaced but we are going to pay the different to get new stuff in the areas that it will not be replaced.It was very interesting to see this whole process of haggling over everything. I am so glad that we decided to hire an adjuster to protect our interests because the homeowners adjusted did not want to give us a lot of things. But it all worked out. So we are houseless for a bit, but it should all work out.

Fire in the house

AUGH! The dryer caught on fire while I was not home. It was at the end of the cycle so I went to the store and left it running. I came home 45 minutes later and opened the garage door and there was black smoke billowing out. I turned on the hose and put it on the clothes that were on fire and ran inside to save the pets (2 dogs and a cat). Shoved them and the cat and Princess Girly Girl in the car. Princess Seriously was outside the car.

I did not think there was much more damage until I looked up and saw a flash of orange and realized that it was going through that part of the house by way of the beams. Came back outside screamed for Princess Seriously to call 911. She did and I was racing to put the fire out. The fire trucks came and took over and there is major damage to the garage and Princess Seriously’s room. I have a huge hole in the roof. We have smoke damage and will have about 2 months of repair work ahead.The good news, I came home when I was not going to. I rescued my animals. I still have a home, smoky, but I have a home....I am so blessed and we are so loved by God. Our friends have been good to us.....

I believe in Santa

So I truly believe in Santa based on what I witnessed this weekend. We went to Arizona to do the Polar Express over the weekend. So Princess Girly Girl decided that, THAT was the day that she was going to take a picture with Santa. Now mind you, this kid does not do characters. We went to Disneyworld and she would only see the princesses and then decided Minnie was ok. So we RUSHED her to the long line of kids waiting to see Santa.

We got in line behind this adorable, about 7 year old boy. He was awfully quite. He turns around and signs to his mom. He is deaf. His mom and I start talking. He forgot to tell mom that his hearing aide batteries were dying and now he could not hear. He was a little worried about Santa being able to talk to him. Mom kept reassuring him she would help, if she needed to. He was so excited. We were in line for a bout an hour (Princess Girly Girl was trying so hard to be brave) So the mom and I are chatting and he keeps asking, Mom you will help me right? Then he asks what we are talking about. He is learning to lip read, so he was having a hard time, but his mom kept telling him it was so loud in there that he should be glad he could not hear all the noise and he would laugh, and say sometimes it is really nice to be deaf.

So finally we are up to the front. He is jumping up and down, Santa, Santa! He climbs on his lap and mom stands right in front. The little boy starts signing and mom starts talking for him and Santa stops her. Then looks right into this dear little boys eyes and signs back to him! OH TEARS! Mom is in tears, I am in tears, DH is in tears and the photographer is in tears. They are talking away. He wants a train and a car. This little boy was so excited! Santa can talk to me! He is grinning. They finish talking and off he goes, then runs back and says thanks Santa!!!!

I truly believe in Santa :)

Oh BTW Princess Girly Girl really did sit on Santa lap! They talked about her being brave!

OH My HECK!

So it has been over a week since I have written! But I am soooo stinkin tired that what I need right now is sleep! I will catch up tomorrow as I am stuck here all day waiting for the TV repair guy to come. The window is 9 am to 1 pm. That should leave me PLENTY of time :)

So we will catch up then!

Shopping and more shopping

So I am like one of the NUTSO people that get up before the butt crack of dawn and go shopping the day after thanksgiving. I used to do it with a friend but she had to move out of the state so I usually end up doing it alone. DH thought about going with me, but when I told him I was leave at 4:30 am, he um, reconsidered *cough*.

So I have learned a few things in my years of shopping, first if irritates the HECK out of people if you are a kind, nice, sweet person. For those of you that have known me, know I can rip a person apart is 10 seconds or less (I know not the nicest). I think it starts a few year ago when this guy was being so nasty, I asks him if he was always this way or was it because he was up so early., He was shocked to say the least! He said he was just looking for the best deals. I asked him if he thought being mean to the sales people was going to get him anywhere, faster? He grumbled a sorry to the sales person and I thought WOW! SO I set out to be that extra nice annoying person. LOL

SO this year I was out and about. I have fun being nice and getting to all the different places and seeing the crazy people out there. But I am done, no more shopping!!! YEAH!

Giving Thanks

This year was a different thanksgiving dinner, we decided to do ham instead of turkey. The girls sure had fun eating it up. Princess Girly Girl was a little concerned because it might not be a real thanksgiving dinner without the turkey. We assured her it was going to be just fine.

This year at dinner it was just our little family. That was really fun. We started last year getting the Christmas stuff out after dinner. We decided to do that this year also. We have so much fun looking at all of our Christmas treasures especially the things that remind us if Christ. Last year we were so excited to add the Willow Tree navitity set. That always gets a place of honor in our home :) The hardest part was to take out the Christmas stockings and see what was lef tto remind us of what was not with us this year. Menji. Poor DH, he had such a hard time with seeing her stocking and her fur all of the stuffed animals. It will be a different year to not have her be the reindeer. Every Christmas eve she would be the one to make sure the kids were in bed and asleep, then come downstairs to drink the milk and eat the cookies and be sure to leave just eh right amount of crumbs. She would also help us eat the carrots and make sure they were chewed and bit just right to toss around the yard. She will be so missed this year.

This is also the time of year that we begin to reflect and ponder about where the year has taken us. This year has taken us. This year has been so full of twists and turns but we have landed on our feet and are truly grateful for Heavenly Fathers love in making sure that we are where we need to be.

I am truly grateful for our family and friends. We have been so blessed to have so much love. I am so grateful that I can be home with my kids and to be the clothes fairy for. (When clothes magically appear in their drawers. I am grateful for so many things and we are so blessed.

An e-mail

This is what I found in my email today....

Babe,

Thanks for lunch and breakfast! I loved the sandwich and MY CHEESE!!

Love you

So Ever since Dh started his new job, I have tried to be a good wife and get up and feed him. Now you need to realize for the last 7 years he has worked at home and traveled. This going to work thing is a new thing to us. Did you know that if your DH has a "JOB" that he has to go to, it is really hard for him to pick the kids up from school? You can't ask him to be home at a certain time so you can go off and play...

So back to the good wife thing, I have gotten up and made breakfast and the past few days, his lunch. Today it was harder to get up as I was really tired. When I asked him if he was ok to do it, he sweetly answered yeah, I am fine, I can have some toast. That was said with concern for me and not being snippy at all. Well it worked, I was up and making breakfast for my sweetie. Then I woke up enough to make his lunch and to put his favorite cheese too. (tillamook pepper jack). Just when I think that I can not continue to be a good wife, I get this sweet note....

So I need to go to bed, me and the cheese have an early morning appointment :)

Missionaries

So most of you know that I am LDS (Mormon). We do lots of work with the missionaries in our area. We love having them over for dinner and doing what we can to help. Today was a hard because we had to send one of our favorites home. Well it was time for her to go home. I guess after her family not seeing here for 18 months, they do have a right to see her. (Yes you read that right, I said her.)

Emily came out here at Christmas last year. She was only here for 6 weeks then got send out to other areas. It seems like she was here so much longer. We were dang excited when we found out she was coming back into the area! YEAH! She got to stay here until she was done. Princess Seriously adopted her as her BIG sister. Emily is such a wonderful person!

So today, I had the honor of being the one to take her to the mission home for their last night as a missionary. I was so lucky I was with her all day. We went to see someone that she was responsible for baptizing! What a GREAT person this women is! It was so fun to see someone whose life Emily had touched.

We got to have lunch and do a little shopping! Wouldn't you want to burn your clothes if you had worn the same thing for the last 18 months? Then we were off to drop her off. I HATE saying goodbye. I really do. I am sure that she thought I was completely strange because all I wanted was to not cry! Augh!

So off Emily is, back to her life. But I sure will miss her.... She is a great friend. I am so grateful to her for her sacrifice that she made to come and spread her love, her testimony and her time with the people out here.

Via con Dios Emily :)

Life...

This past week has been especially busy. If you could cram it into the week then it was crammed in there somewhere.

DH started a new job. It is going really well. He is so happy. Things work so well when they are happy and happy at work :)

Friday was a long day! There were two major events, Joan's CM open house. I work for Joan, as her assistant. We had planned for weeks, mailed things out, set up and then worked the open house. It was fun. We did reasonably well.

Before that we setting up for a wedding. A friend daughter was getting married. We need to get it all set up on Friday for the wedding on Saturday. It looked so beautiful. After that was run to church to get is set up for the big women's craft day at church. That was lots of planning and getting things together. It went really well. But boy was I tired! After that is was time to run off to the wedding.

Things I learned this week...

-Make sure friends are hanging in there when their daughter is getting married.
-Remember to eat lunch, if you don't you get really cranky
-Remember to thank the people that are helping you, they need it too
-Remember that the kids need to eat, if they don't they are cranky!
-Remember to tell you DH that you love him because they miss you after a while...

and last, remember to check email because there is got to be something in there to make you laugh!!!!!

The Ring

So when DH and I got engaged he had a ring for me. We just had to pick out the band. We had one made to match my ring and the setting. A couple of months into our marriage I took the ring to be cleaned and found out it was the worse possible diamond that you could possibly get. A cubic ziconia would have been better. I knew at that point that DH had no clue about this. I just knew it. This diamond came from his mom. She gave it to him when he was old enough. I knew at that point I was not going to say a word. I went NINE years without saying a word. I would go get it cleaned, they would tell me it was awful and I would just smile and thanks, but you can not replace sentimental value. So in our ninth year of marriage we were buying a emerald ring for me for mothers day. I was so excited. They asked for my wedding ring to clean and I handed it to him and then FREAKED! OH no! DH is standing RIGHT THERE. I politely ask the guy to just clean it. No need to look at it, I loved my diamond. NOOOOO, he had to inspect it. He looked straight at DH and said you know this diamond is crap. Dh looked at me and asked me how long I knew. He was shocked. He knew I had taken my ring in to be cleaned. I just looked down and told him nine years. For our anniversary that year I got a new diamond. We ventured into Los Angeles and got a great diamond for a good price. It was at that time, I realized I would like a new setting. I looked and looked for years. Well this year we hit our 13th anniversary, today, I picked up my new setting, had my diamond put in it. I was so excited. But for the briefest moment I was sad. Sad to be taking off my original ring. Sad to put it away. Then the sparkle of the new ring called. I think I will be putting my first ring away for the girls. They can decided what they want to do with it. Until then I will enjoy my new ring. I will enjoy it like I have enjoyed most of my marriage to my DH. He is a great man. I adore him. So here is to another 13 years.....

Princess Seriously

I remember what it was like to be 11. I think that sometimes I forget. Sometimes I wonder what runs through Princess Seriously's head? Did those exact things run through my head? Did my little brother get on my nerves as much as Princess Girly Girl get on the nerves of Princess Seriously? I mean did I push my brother and think I was going to get away from it. I do remember thinking that I was a good kid. Princess Seriously is a great kid. I think she is a normal 11 year old. Was I as annoying to my mother? Did I talk as much as she does? Probably not, I don't remember my mother talking to me as much or not wanting to listen to her. Princess Seriously is always talking, I know that is something that we taught her to do. I love that she rambles on about her day. I think I need to listen more. I need to remember more about what matters to her. I know I zone it out when she starts drumming on things. That drive me insane. She really is a good kid. She works hard, especially when she wants to. I know that she loves us and I know that she loves to spend time with us. I think sometimes it was hard for her to be alone with us for 6 years then to have a sister come into her world and change everything. But I also know that she loves to play with her sister when lets loose and had fun. So for what it is worth, she is stuck, she chose us and we love her. So forevermore is mine to love and adore.

*sniff* Mom, I don't feel good

When I picked up Princess Girly Girl from school today she informed me that her throat was hurting. She mentioned it before school but did not make a big deal about it and was happy to go to school. I felt bad. We had to go pick up Princess Seriously today and we came home. Princess Girly Girl comes aback to me to tell me she is cold. Well at this point she is burning up. Off to urgent care we go. Don't you just hate when your kids are sick. We wait. Then they see her. She is burning up. SO much that they want to give her Motrin before the doctors sees her. Poor kid. They decide to swab her throat and she is in tears at this point. I hate that. Good news, I think, is that it is viral so that means nothing can be done at this point. We will live off Tylenol and Motrin for a couple of days and then reassess. Off to sam's club to stock up on meds. We decide to turn it into to movie night. She is off watching the new big tv and here I am when I should be helping Princess Seriously with the stuff that needs to be done around the house.

We are STILL doing laundry. I hate laundry. I hate that we have to wear clothes just to get them dirty. Princess Seriously is such a good kid, I think I need to tell her that more. Sometimes you just hit a rough spot, they act up and as a parent you just shut down and decide that you are done. Tonight she had to miss swimming to go to the doctor with me and Princess Girly Girl. Poor kid. But here she is helping me out and getting the house back in order. Well there goes the first 3 day weekend that we have had for a while. I bet it will actually feel pretty good to hang out at home and do nothing.

So we will be at home this weekend. I think I should stay in my jammies.

Jury Duty

Thank goodness for postponement! I am off until February! Yeah I could not have fit everything in to today. So here is how today went. Got up, took Princess Seriously to school, cleaned the kitchen, rushed to make the laundry pile bigger in the garage because the cable guy was coming. (that is ANOTHER story for you!). Took Princess Girly Girl to school. Ran to sams club to get a new chair to sit in for swimming. My chair was awful. Picked up the 4 pizzas that I ordered and ran home. There was DH and the missionaries. They moved a piece of furniture for us. SO we agreed to feed them lunch, pizza, chips and klondike bars :) Had one of the sisters hang out with me for a bit. Went to get Princess Girly Girl and here I am. I am making dinner, a chicken soup and then it is off to swimming and then later tonight I will go with the sister missionaries to teach someone.

I am so thankful I did not have to go sit and do nothing waiting for them to decide if I was going to be a juror.

Can you say OVERWHELMED?!

Oh my goodness. Today had been a day and when it gets like this I get sensitive and weepy. Life gets to be too much. Princess Girly Girly (5yodd, I am still not quite sure I want to use names here) woke up with a headache. I checked her temperature and it was up a tiny bit. Gave her meds and sent her to bed. No school for her today which means that I am stuck here at home all day. Ended up not being that bad of a thing because I got some laundry done. Cleaned the house and just had to take it easy.

Then 4pm rolls around, time to get ready to get Princess Seriously (11yo dd and that is her favorite word right now that drive me up the wall) to swim team at 5:15 across town. Pack the two princesses up and off we go. When I get back I have to call in for Jury Duty! GRRRRR I have to report in a 1:30pm. Great this is not going to fit in at all. How does a mom with a kindergarten do jury duty? On top of that thing are still touch and go with Aleksei. Get home cool a fast dinner, thank goodness for prepackaged stuff! Have some family time and off to a church meeting. At that meeting there is so much going on and only so much that I can help with. It is stake conference this weekend and we are getting new leadership. That means, extra meeting. two on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Plus I have to bake 3 dozen cookies for the open house on Sunday evening. I was instructed that they needed to be homemade. I begged to see if break and bake would work. They will :)

Ok so breathe, I will get through this weekend. Then next week starts. Which is only too full. Princess Seriously's first band concert, Pampered Chef party, CM open house and a big church activity, Super Saturday. Look at the calendar for the week after, nope that is not any better either. The princesses go off track (got to love the year round school) and thanksgiving.

I am thinking that Tylenol PM needs to be my really good friend tonight. If I keep thinking I will cry.

Tomorrow is a new day and I will be grateful for what I have. ... Oh did I mention that at least 6 missionaries are coming tomorrow to help us with a project and I need to have lunch ready for them?! *gasp*

Laundry...AUGH

So why does a person let it pile up so then you don't want to do it? I hate folding the clothes. Why I have no clue! When I was growing up there was a laundry room, that was attached to the back of the garage, So it was NOT attached to the house. If you did anything at night then you were out there in the cold morning trying to get your stuff. Not to mention that in this room there was clothes EVERYWHERE. They were piled on the floor. It was so gross. It stunk in there. Augh. I often wonder how it got so bad. Sorry I am digressing. So now when I see a pile of clothes I want to gag. But does that make me do the laundry any faster? NOOOOOO. I want to get to the point where I am doing on load a day. That is if I stayed home long enough to actually do that! A girl can dream can't she? So today as I wash clothes and fold them all, I must remember that someday I will get to that point of one load a day. Until then, me and the washer are friends :)

The Fortune Cookie

So since DH (and today he is a dear) took the day off we decided to go to lunch. Actually I think I badgered him into it but it worked :) We went to Pick Up Stix. Can you say cream cheese wontons? I decided to eat my fortune cookie first. Of all things guess what the fortune was inside? "Do not rush through life. Pause and enjoy it." Wow, what a statement. Of all things. I know that I cram too much into my days. I know that I need to take time and sit and fun have with the girls and yet that is one of the hardest things that I can do. Pausing, why is that so hard for me?

Aleksei

As I sit here there are tears streaming down my face. It has been a rough day….

Aleksei is the child of our dear friends, he was born at 24 weeks of gestation. Mom's water broke and it has been up and down since October 26th.

Aleksei has had some setbacks. While he has not had PDA (a heart thing) he has, had this week the intestine set back. He had a hole in his intestines and the had to put the bag thing in it for what could be about 3 to 6 months. He has 8 days of rest before this happened. Eight days to gather his strength. He did really well that night. It was very optimistic. His mom and dad have been very hopefully and trying so hard to focus on the positive. That was also the night his mom found out she was having the beginning signs of mastitis, the nurse there at the hospital are so good, they called her dr and begged him to call in a prescriptions so they could fill it and so she could stay by Aleksei’s side. This was the day I made his sign for his door. Mom was looking forward to him finally having a name sign. This was Thursday I believe.

Today they did his brain scan. When he was born there was some brain bleeding. They rate it from 1 to 5, 1 being the best. And there is a number for each side. Today that number was up to 3 on each side. Today is when the CRUSHING reality came crashing in. Today has been the down side to all of this. Everything was outlines, including please start making arrangements for Aleksei because the possibly is there that he may not make it through the week. And at the same time he was brought up from 50% of living to 60%. Also the chances went up of him having mental problems if he does pull through. Everyone at this point will take whatever we can get. Normal or not. We just want to love him so much, we want to hold him, touch him and we want him to be well, in whatever form that is.

To make this all harder, the baby next door went back to Heavenly Father. That was the most awful thing I have EVER witnessed. This poor dear family. There was SOOOOO much sadness. This was happening when I went up. I picked up on all this sadness and death and PANICKED! I stayed with Aleksei as long as I could. He was so agitated. He felt it too. They had to sedate him more. I went to DH and just sobbed and told him that he had to go be with the dad. (Mom had to go pump).

My heart is aching. I wish I could make it all better.

Why do bad things (and I am not ever sure bad is the right word) happen to GOOD people? They have suffered more in the past 11 days then we have even thought of suffering in our 11 years of parenting. My heart is heavy. I can just cry and sob to Heavenly Father.

So WTH would a plain old boring mom....

what with her own blog. Well maybe I am not so boring. Maybe I have more to say then what I tell dh, the kids or even my friends. Maybe there is a ton going on in my mind that just needs to come out. Maybe all those useless bits of info that are just wandering in my head need a home. Maybe I just need a place to vent and a journal is not the place. Maybe I just wanted to be in the in crowd.

There are a ton of Maybes, MAYBE you just have to wait and see.