Mom's Baggage

Thursday, July 09, 2009

MY EYES!!! MY EYES!!!!

Or I could have titled this one simply "EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!"

This morning I jumped into the shower for a quick clean-up only to have Ms. Em come into the bathroom to ask me where our hamper was...life is confusing when you're four and your mom and dad keep moving the house around. Upstairs at one end of the hallway is a simple little built in cabinet that just looks like a side table with a lamp and such but instead of having a drawer it opens up as a laundry chute. The clothes used to drop down to the first floor into my Rubbermaid hamper but now that we have a cabinet there the clothes are all hidden away. Poor Ms. Em hasn't figured out that her itty bitty body can't/won't reach those doors and she can only either ask for help or go up the stairs to put clothes in the hamper.....I know, I know I need to explain but being as I was in the shower trying to wash my face I didn't feel it was the most opportune time.

So, needless to say, after a bit of confused silence over my disjointed answer she closed the bathroom door and went about her business. I finished my shower, dried off and walked out into my bedroom. I heard a sound and figured for sure I'd find Ms. Em parked in one of our chairs but a quick scan found her neither in our chair nor in our bed.....

Mmmmm....what is that noise?

Well, it was Brenden. Standing in the doorway. The open doorway. Of my room. With a magazine. And did I mention an open door? And me. In. My. Birthday Suit.

"MY EYES!!!! MY EYES!!!!" was what I read written all over his face.

Needless to say, Ms. Em did not get a lesson on the hamper this morning but a lesson on remembering to close Mommy's door when she leaves the room. Poor Brenden. I think his skin color matched his hair color this morning. Oh well....just a little more baggage to add to his therapy list for adulthood.

P.S. There will be no accompanying picture for this entry...I'm sure you'll understand.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Mmm, yum! Meatloaf!!

So, I guess I make a pretty darn good meatloaf 'cause I got my window!! :)

Have I mentioned to you bloggy friends out there that my husband (the banker????) is uberly talented with...um, well I'd say hands...or maybe power tools.....I'm struggling here to keep this clean......He is very gifted at home improvements. How's that? No blushing? Good....

Where was I? Oh, yes. He made magic with the 2x4's I took nails out of and made a frame for the window and AND INSTALLED THE WINDOW!!!!! Serious dancing going on around here!!! I have a window! I have a window!! I'm so happy. I did, however, have to hang a bit of makeshift curtains over it because there was so much light streaming through there this morning but a shower curtain rod and old curtains later....my eyes are okay again.

Cousin Lene saved me from myself today by coming to visit, play and have lunch. I did pull/scrape/remove 12 more lovely peel-n-stick tiles and the three layers below that before she came over...in the hopes, of course, that more lovely cabinets can go up over the weekend. That remains to be seen...I'm serving fish sticks and macaroni tonight so I don't know if smooch can be buttered up for work on that food or not. :)

After a nice visit with Cousin Lene and some delicious cookies and milk for snack (cookies courtesy of Lene....thanks again...they were great and, yes, I did save some for Perry), I removed a bit more tile and some sheetrock to see what yummy termite dining had been done and would need to be repaired....So far just the paper on the sheetrock. YEA! Have I ever mentioned you should NEVER (EVER, EVER, EVER ) trust an inspector in Texas? (Though I could be just a bit biased).

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Shhhh! Don't tell him....

I just got back from buying a window at Lowe's! Subtract the $10 coupon, merchandise credit for things we didn't wind up using and the cash leftover from selling the old kitchen cabinets on Craig's list and whala...you have a window the tightwad way! But don't tell smooch....I plan to butter him up with homemade meatloaf for dinner first.

Robo-NCIS

An original work of art by Big Red.

Can you tell we love NCIS in our house? Put aside that Gibbs is a major hottie.....did I say that outloud?

Here you will note that Ziva is larger than all the rest of the characters and she is also Gibbs-slapping both Gibbs and Tony....I think Big Red has the hots for Ms. Ziva. What do you think?

Feelin' rather bloggy....

Okay, today is the ultimate in SAHM freedom around here...I slept in and then after dining on some powdered donuts and coffee (and definitely breaking the "no breakfast after 9am" rule) I piddled in the garage, pulling nails from old 2x4's and pouring down sweat (hoping beyond hope no one saw me raising my shirt to use it to mop the sweat 'cause frankly I was too lazy to get a rag to wipe it with). My background music was a combo of Jack FM and three kids playing on the slip-n-slide and eating freezer pops.

We saved and saved for our kitchen cabinets and we had enough for them saved plus a small cushion leftover. Sure, they were unfinished and yes, we had to go get them and we are also installing them but it fit our budget...and sure, that budget didn't include the countertops (yet) but we did it paying cash and no credit, the goal. However, sweetie's ac going out wasn't a factor in our math so imagine the mechanic's surprise when we showed up with a baggy full of change, all the cash in the house, a coupon and a debit card to pay for Mr. AC. Hey, you gotta do whatcha gotta do and we were determined not to break out the plastic to pay for it. So, here we are waiting for payday to take care of the windows....I tellya, living within your means is tough (GM execs didya hear that?).

Initially I was going to give our old cabinets away on Craig's list or Freecycle but after the ac repair I decided to see if I could get a little gas money/Sprouts money for them to hold us until payday. I had a dozen replies wanting to buy our old cabinets. YEA! So yesterday we bought three gallons of milk and two week's worth of produce at Sprouts. I love it when a plan comes together (Hanibal from the A-Team anyone?)

With a little planning, pulling some nails from some previously loved 2x4's and other devious, tightwad plans I think I have a way figured out to pay for a window BEFORE PAYDAY!!! Sorry, was I yelling? Please forgive...something about the duct tape, plastic and plywood covering the hole in the back of the house! :)

So, ya think smooch would bellow loudly if he came home and found a 3x3 window parked in what use to be the breakfast nook (which desparately needs to be called something other than the "used to be breakfast nook" or "where the bay window used to be")?

Monday, July 06, 2009

Kitchen pics

Now you see it....

Now you don't...no more bar in the middle of the kitchen. YEA!!! Just a big empty space where it used to be. I still don't think I want an island but we'll see.

Our new bar area will be here where this little wall is, remember there used to be a full wall here. Cabinets on one side and a bi-level bar just big enough for the kids to eat or do homework above it.

THIS is the pantry of my dreams!! :) The double doors (top and bottom) on the left are full of my dishes and things as are the double doors on the bottom right. However, the double doors on the upper right open up into the hole in the ceiling we cut in almost four years ago to drop laundry in to....(anyone want to buy my plastic laundry hamper?)...and I am unbelievably pleased and happy about this set up. It holds lots of dirty clothes but it very well concealed and discrete.

The stove wall...We took the old countertops and split them to fit over the new cabinets. We ran a strip of duct tape down the seam to keep anything from falling into the drawers through the cracks....Smooch and I had a grand time with the "You know you're a redneck" jokes about the duct tape on the countertop....that's okay....we had duct tape covering a bad spot on the tile for the last several years. :)

Grand kitchen, Gran Torino and grand dissapointment

Grand Kitchen....Three day weekends are notorious working weekends for us and this past weekend was no exception. The 'whoo-hoo' moment was Wednesday (after our four dentist appointments) we picked up our kitchen cabinets. It took two trips with our little trailer, the truck and the van but we got them all home. The bad part was partway through the little adventure of picking them up Smooch's AC went out...not good when the highs over the weekend were 101. With our funds hitting a big fat zero with the AC repair, we couldn't do all that we had hoped in the kitchen. We still have two windows to buy and the necessary supplies to finish them out; however, we still made good use of our weekend. The worst was the tile removal where we did put cabinets in. Our poor knees and hands really took a beating scraping that mess up but it was well worth it. We have the large pantry/laundry chute in and two stove cabinets. The small pantry is set in place but not attached since there's still much to be done on that side. Just having those cabinets in I was able to move all my dishes and items from the old cabinets into these new ones. We are still using our coat closet for a food pantry but once the rest of the cabinets are in we can change that. The biggest change? Pulling that bar out....the kitchen feels HUGE!!!! I CAN"T WAIT to have my grand kitchen all done and show you all what I see in my mind when I think of how it will look...now to start saving for some kitchen counters! :)

Gran Torino...so, after working our tales off on the kitchen we sent the kids upstairs while we watched a 'mommy/daddy movie'. We watched Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood. I loved this movie, though the ending was a bit surprising and maybe a bit unfulfilling, especially given how they built his character up as a vengeful/angry type of person. The story was really good and I think the only reason it gets an 'R' rating was because of how foul the language was but by the same token, given the story line and character building, especially that of the main character played by Clint Eastwood, the language was a necessary evil. It wasn't violent at all, especially compared to some movies.

Grand dissappoinment...Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. I so tired of all the news on Michael Jackson. At one time he was an inspirational performer, talented and skilled, but then it seems it all went to the wind, wrapped up in a warped adult-child-Freudian-field day. I feel sorry for his family in losing their son, I feel sorry for the children being embroiled in such a messy world but I feel even sorrier for those people so wrapped up in this they have forgotten about the "real" world. There is still war going on. We still have loved ones going to Afganistan, fighting, serving, dying....a serial killer in NC....people without food, electricity and more. The premature death of a man who alledgedy had an ongoing love affair with various prescriptions medications, plastic surgery and small children should rank much lower on the national news media' radar than it has. Seriously, tickets to his memorial? Live coverage. NBC apparently didn't decide until the last minute but now the evening news anchor is also anchoring his memorial service. Sad, sad, sad (embarrassed and shameful head shaking right about here). Life is short enough without focusing on the passing of a sad and confused man who had the potential to be a real legend in a positive way. He could have used his fame and fortunes to the betterment of many many people but instead he died a rather sad and perverse legend.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Stinkin' hot in Texas!!

So I just had to share....It's been sorta hot around here. How hot? Glad you asked (and if you didn't well, we'll just pretend you did).

These little flower pots were on my back porch waiting to be tossed in our missing recycle bin (evidently the storm a few weeks back carried the bin into the land of missing socks from my laundry room, never to be seen again).

So, pardon me if I 'hibernate' for the summer!

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Serious cute!!!

Nuff said.

Some summertime happens'

So it's been hot, very, very stinkin' hot but we've not been letting it get us down (most of the time).

Uncle Keith and Aunt Susie were gracious enough to let us take a dip last weekend in their backyard pool. I must say FABULOUS! Even I, Ms.-I-can't-stand-to-wear-a-swimsuit, put a suit on for this little adventure (although I threatened to go after any cameras with a John-McEnroe-style beating).

The kids LOVED IT (dragon-tales sing-song here) and didn't want to leave the pool. Jacob and Brenden were delighted to have a pool big enough to jump, dive, and cannon-ball into. Jacob was climbing on Dad's shoulders and Nestea-plunging into the water. Emma took a bit but finally got a little more comfortable. She went from noodle to life preserver to floatie and everything in between but her favorite was on the step where she felt safest. She, by the time the day was over, was comfortable enough to stick her face and eyes in the water, jump to day and float with the noodle. Progress!

It was 105 that day but we all sunscreened up with

some of that spray on sunscreen. That stuff does a good job except....well, except for wear we "rubbed" it on our faces. :) Since you're not supposed to spray it on your face we sprayed our hands and rubbed it in...Perry had a neat little pinkish/red area across the top of each shoulder (where I missed) and then just above the eyebrows and down the center of his head. :) Emma had a sunburn on the part of her head. After both parents either having suspiciuos or confirmed skin cancer areas removed, we are trying to be even more diligent with our sunscreen usage.

We are hanging out today...me going crazy even trying to get one little bloggy update in....I just had my fourth "Mom!" in the last couple of minutes...UGHGHGHGHG! Sorry, mild expression of frustration there. We're having five dental appointments this afternoon (Have I mentioned I LOVE our dentist and the fact they will see us all on one day for cleanings?) and then we go to pick up our kitchen cabinets (whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo!). No big plans for the fourth unless you count banana pudding and kitchen cabinets. >O)

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

T O W A N D A!!!!

Have pry bar, will travel!

So, almost everyone who comes to our house and learns of our plans to remove our bay window wants to know why. No matter how much we explain how it leaks, lets in hot air and more, the romance of a bay window overrides all other reasonable thoughts....maybe these pics will help.

My first thought, as I tore into this sad excuse for a barrier to the great outdoors?

"Yum, said the termites."

The bay window was made up of three separate windows. To give you an idea of how bad the rot was from the water and termite damage I was able to pull the first window out...the nails were rusted and no longer in solid wood but rather piles of splinters. The pry bar was barely needed for this one.

Smooch had to use some brute strength to get the other two windows out but together we have demolished the bay window and the bricks below it. We currently have plywood covering a hole in the back wall of the house until we have a nice long weekend (fancy that, there's one of them there nice long weekends comin' up!) to frame and install a small "normal" window.

The fortunate (good) part? Our full on termite treatment for the whole house....no active, live termites.

And, with some major pathetic hip swirlin' going on here, our cabinets should be ready tomorrow or the next day for the kitchen!!! YEA!!! We achieved our Dave Ramsey'ish goal of saving the cash for them and found a place within budget for unfinished cabinets.....have paint brush will stain???