Sunday, March 29, 2009

3 weeks..

is a long time without food, water, a good poop, and certainly a bath.
It has been about 3 weeks that my girls decided the tub was far too scary to ever go in again.. and quite frankly, with all that I've had going on, I couldn't take the time to really fight them on it.
I guess I should back up, you might wonder what could scare 2 almost 3 year olds into not wanting to get into a nice warm tub. It's simple. Toe cheese.
On the night of their last willing bath, I put the second, younger twin into the tub with her sister, and about 5 seconds later they both erupted with screams when they saw the lint that had been securely hidden between their toes, linger up to the surface. I tried scooping up the toe cheese, and explained it was only lint, but they couldn't hear me over their screams. That was it.
So for the last couple of weeks, I've been wiping them down with wash cloths, and trying every night to lure them into the tub. I offered to take one with them, I brought out a bunch of toys, I even bought Elmo bath bubbles. I'm blaming exhaustion, and having to move 4 kids to a new house on why I didn't try harder!
Tonight, after being asked by pretty much everyone I know, who knew the dilemma we were facing, if they had taken a bath, I tried to remember who was in control here, and just put them one by one in the tub, screaming the whole time. It was quick, and it was painless.. no toe cheese was visible through all the bubbles I put in the tub.. and afterwards, they were so proud of themselves, telling everyone in the house that they had bathed. Big whoop.
I'm hoping that tomorrow night, when I try again, there will be less tears, and maybe we've moved passed the scary toe cheese incident. My next big thing with them will be to get them in their own room... yes, we've been here almost a week, and they have yet to sleep in their own beds.. nor has my husband slept in his new bedroom with me.. all in good time.. really..

Uncomfortable..

This is one of my favorite pieces that my husband did. It's been in our basement behind a blanket for the past 7 years.
Currently, it's taking center stage in our living room. I hung it a few days ago, while he was at a show and the kids were sleeping.
My oldest son woke up the next morning, and informed me that the painting makes him "uncomfortable". When I asked him why he said "Because they're NAKED" duh. I tried to explain to him, that they really weren't even people, they didn't even faces.. still, it made him uncomfortable.
3 days later, it's still hung up, and we are all getting used to our new house, and the naked people in it. We are all getting comfortable.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Props..

I gotta give some props to the person who made the selling of our home happen.. My realtor.. Cindy Gibb.
We would not be here if it had not been for her.
She is an amazing realtor, who immediately I felt gave us 110%. She made an incredible website, and kept in touch with me everyday. Even if there were no showings.. she still let me know that she was working for us. We felt like we were her only clients.
When we lost the house we thought we would be living in, we were devastated. Not many people witness me in tears, but she did. I know she felt horrible, and sad for us, but she trudged on. One day she sent me an email about the first house we had looked at. A house that we soon realized was out of our price range. The owners had taken it off of the market, until spring, hoping to get a buyer when the warmer weather hit. Cindy suggested that if we liked the house (which we did) to make a low ball offer and see where they stood..
Eventually we met in the middle somewhere, and now I am in the house that I will raise my 4 kids in.. a house that I never thought we would be able to own.. Thank you CindyMay!! I know if I had any one else selling my house, I would still be there! If anyone needs a realtor, and wants one that totally rocks!! (oh, and btw, she's gorgeous.. I'm just sayin.. nothing wrong with having someone representing you that is beautiful as well!) ;) check her out!! http://165bunkerhillave.com/

4 Days Later..

And I am still unpacking shit.. lot's of it!
Tonight Mike is at a show, which has given me free range on the decorating.. you would think a guy wouldn't care, but he is after all, an art teacher so he is quite proud of his decorating abilities (or lack there of as I certainly see it..)
It has been an insane week, as I'm sure you can imagine with packing up a house, having 4 kids, and unpacking a house.. with 4 kids.. shit. I swear, if I wasn't already medicated, I would have been in the E.R. begging for something!
The move went incredibly smooth (as I may have already mentioned) The closing was a nightmare that lasted for 3 hours!! The one on our house was about 30 minutes, and I have officially decided that the douche bags that bought our place, are in fact, HUGE douche bags.. but whatever, my old house is their problem now, and I could care less.. Our new house though.. gotta say, I LOVE IT! I was worried about the space, and moving my kids, but after being here for a few days, I am in house heaven... The first night we were here, the kids in the neighborhood came by to introduce themselves, and moments later, my boys were outside playing with them. The only cars that come by are neighbors.. I think I saw 2 cars drive by my house today while the boys were at school.. I'm where I want to be.. where I want to raise my family.. finally.. so YAY me!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

eight hundred five eight eight two three hundred..

Turns out that being plagued with that ridiculous and hugely annoying jingle holds no benefits for anyone in my zip code.. they don't service this area, and I could really use some new carpet on my stairs! frick.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

We're Home!!

We are finally in our new house.. after a 3 hour closing last night, an appropriate ending to this nightmare of a home sale, we are getting settled in our new place. I love it! It's been a ton of work, and we have more shit in the garage then we do in the house.. but we're on our way! Happy to be on line again.. I'll post pictures when I find my camera in this mess!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Almost There..

It's amazing how one day you can be so down and out that you literally don't know what you're going to do with your family and your life.. and the next day you are bouncing along with a new outlook, and a new hope.
It's manic.
And as happy as I am right this second, I have no idea if the rest of today is going to bring me down again.. We are "almost there" as my mortgage broker is saying.. I have scanned, and emailed, and scanned and emailed some more.. I don't think there's a sheet of paper in my house that I haven't forwarded to my broker. But I am willing to do whatever it takes at this point. The issues with my student loan seemed to have been resolved. Thank god for that. Today we should know for sure, and despite the fact that I have lost most of my faith in my broker, she is confident that we will have our approval and commitment letter today. We shall see..
I want to thank all my wonderful friends who offered words of encouragement and support.. Brian, you really surprised me with your Abe Lincoln quote, but I loved it.. and all the other comments, and the emails.. thank you! You all rock!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

On the Verge of Being Homeless..

I woke up this morning realizing this. We are quite possibly going to be homeless come next Monday.
I got a call from my mortgage broker last night saying that the bank is questioning my credit. We are supposed to close in less than a week, and NOW they are wondering why my credit is less than perfect.
My mortgage broker KNEW this.. She's had all my info for months.. literally.
I spent my night writing letters to people I don't know, trying to explain why I have an outstanding debt that has followed me since I was 18. It was all I could do not to just beg and plea to please give us the loan.. we have 4 kids.. and we have already sold our home.. we will have no where to go.. And yes, I sound pathetic, but that is exactly what I'm feeling. Pathetic. Low. Scared. I didn't sleep last night, I just kept thinking about my kids and how my house is not going to be mine anymore, and if someone at the bank doesn't think we should be given a loan, then we won't be.
I'm not quite sure how I'm going to make it through today.. I've got all the kids, and it's been all I can to do to keep my own kids from seeing me cry.. The medium told me that March was going to be stressful. Yea, I get it..

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

I'll never move again!

Who knew it was going to be almost impossible, and very costly to insure an authentic log cabin? Certainly not me. And who also knew that an appraisal would take over a week to get back. Not me again.. And who knew we would miss our financing deadline and stand to lose over 4 grand? Definitely not me.
It has been one of the most stressful weeks of my life, and it's only Tuesday. I've been on the phone with all different sorts trying to get everything ready for our big move next Sunday, and the closing on Monday. Yesterday I dropped too much money and had a dumpster delivered because we have too much shit that I refuse to move with us. I also found out that my youngest son's bus will not drop him off in front of our new house, but 2 doors down, even though they will pass my house after he's dropped off. Apparently they don't have the 2 minutes it would take to save me a trip up the street dragging 5 kids with me. I've got to get in a really bitchy mood and call and complain. I'm well on my way, believe me!
We had our new house appraised last Monday, and still don't have it back. This is making the sellers, as well as ourselves, very annoyed. And as far as insuring it, that could be very difficult. But I'm working on it..
This time next week, I'll either be unpacking at our new house, or a rental which we might be forced to do.. I can't imagine it's going to go down like that, but it's possible. It's not all terrible though. My husband attended the school budget meeting over the weekend, and it looks as though his job is going to be spared. Thank god for that. Ok, I gotta go and make more calls, do more packing and see what else I can do to make this happen.. ugh..

Friday, March 06, 2009

She is certainly not helping me pack!

I've been trying to pack up almost 7 years of ours lives, with 4 kids.. It ain't easy. The hardest part, at least for me tonight, is sorting through things that make me reflect, in turn which make me very sad. I've been working in my kitchen, where I found a casserole dish that used to belong to my grandmother. I never use this dish, and the only reason I keep it was because on the bottom, in her handwriting is her name. Inside this dish, I had forgotten that I put one of the many remembrance cards I had saved from her funeral in it, along with her picture case from her wallet.. and my first pair of baby shoes, which had my initials on the bottom, again in her handwriting.
I miss her. everyday.
I know she is walking with me.. but damn, I have a lot to do, and I would just like it if she would stop interrupting my packing efforts! jeesh..

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Distractions..

I can't blame this one on facebook! My sister in law and pregnant niece stopped by for a visit today. I hadn't seen them in quite some time, and despite my verbal pleas, I still managed to fail to get outside to get my 5 year old off the bus.
By the time I got to the door, after realizing what time it was, it was just heading down the street. My efforts to flag it down went unnoticed. A couple minutes later I got the call from the school, and ended my visit short to go pick him up.
The entire way, I was fearing the worst. I haven't been this nervous probably since my adolescence. I expected to find my son, a heaped over mess on the bus, in shock that his mother had not been outside waiting for him, too flustered with tears to be able to even talk to me.. Naturally, the opposite was the case, and thank god, some other parent had a "miscommunication" as well, so he wasn't the only kid on the bus being sent back to school. Ugh.. I swear, if this happens again I am going to turn myself in to child and family services, because clearly, I am not fit to be responsible for anything living! jeesh..

Deadlines and the rest of my shitty week...

Today is the buyers deadline. They have to report back to us, what, if anything they want fixed. They never did the septic inspection, so yay for that! I've started packing, although it's hard with all the kids around.
Yesterday my husband came home and told me that next Saturday the town where he teaches is going to vote on whether to keep art and music in their town. Meaning that he might not have a job next fall. I never thought the economy and cut backs would ever effect us. But it might. Naturally, I'm freaking out.. we are about to move, and he might be unemployed. I'm hoping that the parents do the right thing and keep art and music in their school. I wouldn't want my children going to a school where there was no other extra curricular activities besides P.E. Really, who gives a shit about gym. I mean, I don't have any good memories about being in grade school and the awkward gym class. Right? Art, however, and music was something I loved being a part of. We shall see.
One more thing that has also bummed me out this week, I went to work the other day, and tried opening my journal on my work p.c. only to find that it was deleted by some scanning device for "profanity" I've had this draft journal going in my microsoft outlook for over 8 years. I considered it mine. I know it was on their computer, and that technically, they owned it. I just never thought because I swore in my own personal journal, that it would get deleted. I started a new one though, the next day, and as much as I wanted to curse, I refrained. It didn't make me feel any better though, as that was the only written collections of my life and my families life for the past 8 years.. son of a mother fucking bitch.. I'm pissed!
Anyway, now I'm off to try to get some more cleaning and packing done.. it feels bittersweet though.. but what ever is meant to be.. yada frickin yada..

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Rocking out with their Daddy..

Yesterday my husband and his band played a benefit show at an indoor rock climbing place. It was a family event, so I brought all the kids to see their dad do what he does while they are usually sleeping. It was great to see my boys so excited to hear their dad's music. With each new song, my oldest son would yell to me, while covering his ears, that he's heard his dad practice this a million times. It was really cute. I sat in the back of the room, with both girls on my lap, pinching the shit out of my hands, while their dad played.. The boys were running wildly after the first couple of songs.. they are after all kids, and their attention span did not mature just because their dad was playing in a band..
I must mention, again, that this was an indoor rock climbing facility. And while there was a band playing, and a guy there making balloon animals, there were still rock climbers there.. As I sat in the back of the room, on the floor, I had to be vigilant, as there were literally kids falling from the sky! Or the ceiling.. whatever.. it was mildly annoying (to say the least) but only my oldest got clobbered from a falling kid.. jeesh. All in all it was fun.. I'm glad that the kids got to see their daddy rocking it out..