Flowers from My Yard

I am very happy to see that my pink peonies and old fashioned roses have started blooming before I leave for a little visit to family & friends with my daughter. The lilacs have been blooming as well. A couple of lilacs bushes have bloomed last week and now another couple bushes (different varieties) are blooming. The old fashioned rose bush will bloom several other times this summer, but the peonies are just once. I planted these years ago and missed seeing them last year. I picked them out & planted them, the blooms haven't actually opened all the way yet, so you can't see the bright yellow in the middle of the pink petals. 

My daughter was super excited to see that the rose bushes had more flowers on them and when I showed her the peonies she started giggling and squealing with excitement. I am really beginning to believe that she could grow up to be a botanist. When she was a baby we could take her outside to look at the leaves on the trees and it was calming to her and as she grew into a toddler I would take her outside to look at the bushes to stop a tantrum. She is always asking to go outside and she loves to collect leaves, sticks, seeds, flowers, etc. and loves to plant. It's just that these days she will get upset if I tell her we have to go back inside, although the promise of going outside is will brighten her mood.

Travel Plans & Deals

Since I won't have time to post things when we go travel since I will have access to primarily just dialup for a while (gasp!), I thought I would do it ahead of time.

Our travel plans are local (somewhat, well, our home state & friends & family in a neighboring state).

We are starting out our time at the MN Landscape Arboretum. Isabel is so into nature & flowers, so this will be perfect. We are using the BOGO coupon in the Entertainment book and Isabel is under 15 (obviously), so she is free. So, it will only cost $7 for all three of us to go there. They also have a special family event on weekend (linked above) and we will get to make minature May Baskets while we are there and plant them. So, that will be a fun thing to do.

Afterwards, we are going camping at a KOA . I didn't get any deal here, but we plan to make the most of our time there. It's only for one night, but we'll get there a little early probably (called to make sure that was ok) and stay until checkout. We are staying in a Kamping Kabin, so no tent or air mattress to deal with. My in-laws and a BIL are coming with, maybe even a nephew. But anyways, I chose the particular campground I did because they had an indoor heated pool (which I called to verify was up & running). So, we will be going swimming several times.

The rest of our vacation time is spent staying with family & friends, so I don't have lodging costs, just gas costs. Depending upon how our days shape up, we plan to go to the NEW Zoo in Green Bay on Wednesday night, it's free after 4pm. We went last year (using our zoo pass from another zoo, which has now expired) and it was a very nice zoo. We also plan to go to Bay Beach Amusement Park (we went here every summer at least once when I was a kid) and now I have taken Isabel the last 2 summers and this summer will be no different. The great part about this place is that it is VERY affordable, 25 cents a ticket and most of the rides Isabel will go on will be 1 ticket, a few are 2 tickets, but I will probably only need to buy $3 in tickets for both of us.

I am not sure if we'll do it the same day we go to the amusement park or if we'll make a separate trip, but I'd like to take her to Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary. It's free. I have not taken there before.

As we head down to visit some friends in the town we lived in last year, we will stop in Sheboygan to see my sister & her family, but not before we stop at the Old Wisconsin factory store (probably). They have some really great bargains in there and Isabel loves their sausage.

Then it's to stay with friends. We will be getting in late there, but we will still have 2 full days to hangout. I don't know what we will do exactly. I do have a pass to the YMCA that we once belonged to, which has a nice little waterpark in it. So, we may go there. I do know that we will stop at the Brownberry Outlet before we leave & stock up. The prices there are far better than in the store and I love Brownberry breads. I can print off a 20% off coupon from Entertainment.com, so that will be even more helpful on the budget in upcoming months.

Other things we will do will be to visit my favorite area cheese factory, Springside Cheese, and get some curds & string cheese, and hopefully they will have some good specials while I am there. And the other place I need to stop is the Sausage Haus (they don't have a website that I could find) and pick up some fantastic sausages that they make there to grill. They are no bargain by any means, but they are mighty tasty.

I am sure there will be a couple more things we will do, just because I didn't make any concrete entertainment plans with our friends. So, I will have to blog about them later. And I wish I could find something to stop at for an hour or so to do with Isabel halfway across the state (or further), it would help break up the trip and give us ample time to stretch our legs and see something. Anyone know of anything fun to do in Abbotsford or Wausau areas?

My Vegetable (Lasagna) Garden

Having a big garden has been long overdue for me. Last one I had was the year Isabel was born. Then the year after that I didn't plant one because we were planning to move and the year after that (last year) we were living in WI. So, now I can have one again. 

I planted it yesterday and hopefully am free of an frost danger now. Over the years I had been working on establishing a lasagna garden. The first year we started it we didn't know that we got a BIG (two pickup truck loads worth) load of bad compost. It wasn't sifted and we didn't really know to make sure it was sifted and it had a lot of weeds & thistles in it. Now we pay the price because we have a thistle garden. We had been mulching layers on the garden and had it covered for over a year, but that didn't get rid of all the thistles. Actually, the wind blew over some of the cover and the thistles just sprouted up. It was really unsightly when we moved back. 

We kept piling on layers, hoping to continue with the lasagna garden and smother out those darn thistles. They aren't too bad yet, but I will have to keep up with picking them. I decided against spreading roundup on the entire thing because 1) I didn't want chemicals on my garden 2) because of the mulching layers the roundup might not really reach deep enough for how deep the roots need are 3) the roundup could spread to other parts of my garden.

I thought about having it tilled up, but then I asked at my organic gardening class and they said tillingwon't work to get rid of them and may just make the problem worse. They said to dig down & get all the roots or I would have to resort to chemicals (you could almost hear the gasp in the room as they suggested that.) I went online and did some research and everything was pretty much confirmed. You don't want to till the thistles because the roots will be chopped and MANY new plants will sprout off those chopped roots amking your problems worse. Whew! Glad I didn't do that!

So, we added more layers and I have to get out there & pull. The good things is with the mulching layers in a lasagna garden the roots of thistles don't have a very strong hold on anything like they would in black dirt, so pulling them out is a cinch. Pulling out the thistles in my herb garden that is not mulched, not so easy.

Yesterday, I bought 480 pounds of peat, sifted compost, & dirt to mix together to create mounds on top of my layers to plant my plants & seeds in. We also bought some straw (looked to be free of seeds, but you can't guarantee a few don't get in, so hopefully that won't be out next issue) to add another layer to the garden. We will continue to add grass layers throughout the summer.

So, what did I plant. In the garden I have some Big Beef Tomatoes (seedlings bought from Menards), sugar baby watermelon & cucumber (seeds we started at home), and the rest are seeds we planted: zucchini, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, pumpkin, cantloupe (Isabel was insistant we plant this), green beans, yellow beans, lettuce (that free seed thing that came on the back of the summer kraft food & family), peas & turnips. 

In the herb garden we have chives, sage, tarragon, & oregano that come back year after year. We also put down some parley & dill seeds and some sunflower seeds (saw that 2 of those came up).  We plant the sunflowers for the birds. We planted some raspberry bushes this year too, two of them.

In my hanging pots I have cilantro (bought fom a local nursery), and then planted seeds of: spinach, basil, & nasturtiums. In other pots on my deck & cement patio we have roma tomatoes, banana peppers (both from seeldings I bought), some red pine seedlings (free from McD's last month), more nasturtiums (you can eat the flowers on those), basil, mixed greens, & lavendar, and several pots of flowers. And then I have these 2 hangings bag things with seedlings I bought that have cherry tomatoes & strawberries in them.

And since the baby isn't due until the end of October I should have time to do a bunch of canning . Maybe canning & freezing will be my nesting this time instead of cleaning.

Homemade Coasters

So, these are the coasters I mentioned yesterday that I made. They are made from tiles, spray adhesive, spray laquer (I went the spray route for both because you can get thinner coats and it dries faster - but it would have been cheaper if I didn't), and stick-on felt pads, oh and napkins. I bought the napkins at Longwood Gardens while visiting Kendra and this was the craft idea I had for a thank-you gift for her. Actually, the napkins were the single most expensive item.

I still plan to make a set for ourselves, but I have to get back to Lowe's to buy more tiles. So, she is getting one set and my friend Jessi is getting the other set to go with the rest of her bridal shower gift. 

I had also sent Kendra a package before arriving of Caribou coffee (she can't get  that in PA and loved it when she lived in MN, although I suppose she could order it online) and 3 different jams & jellies I made (grape, strawberry & basil). I had to send the package because I knew it would probably get tossed (the jellies at least, since they are "gels") from my carry-on at the airport and I wasn't checking anything.
This is the complete 2 sets. Click on the pictures to see them up close.

My New Clothesline

Last weekend I had Andy install my clothesline. Actually, he had to dig the hole 2 feet deep (which wasn't easy because we have VERY ROCKY soil) and then set the holder in stones & cement. The actual line itself collapses down and can be removed from the holder for easy storage & to keep it from being a constant eyesore in the backyard or from getting in the way of the mower. So, today I used it for the first time. Right now you can see I have 2 loads of laundry on there. The first load was almost dry, as we have a nice gentle breeze today. I have one more load to go on there yet and a fourth load of jeans/pants that will go in the dryer (those just get too stiff and I know Andy would complain if he pants were stiff.) So, I am happy. I hope this helps us do more of our part to help the environment and save us some money on electricity too.

I've actually had a pretty productive day today. We visited with a friend this morning and gave her a belated wedding present (hey! we have a year and she was only married 2.5 montsh ago). Then we went to storytime and picked out some new books & a couple of videos (I am having a hardtime stomaching many of these shows we tivo for Isabel. I have gotten sick too many times while I heard their theme songs and it made a negative psychological imprint.)

Then we went grocery shopping and to KFC for lunch. We came home and put groceries away and started laundry. While the first load of laundry was being washed we laid landscaping fabric in a small area, planted 2 raspberry bushes there and put down one bag of cedar mulch (I need to go buy another, the area was a little bigger than I thought.) Then we planted 2 rose bushes in the front of the house, and a couple tomato plants in pots and 6 strawberry plants in a hanging bag (never done this before, so we'll see). 

Then it was time to switch the laundry & hang the first load. Then I started working on a coaster project. I made 2 sets of tile coasters (which I will post about after they are dry & I take a picture).  I bought part of the supplies while I was on vacation in Philly when the idea came to me as a thank-you gift to send Kendra. And today while I was thinking about what I was going to get my friend Jessi for a bridal shower gift, I thought I would make her a set too (originally I bought 2 sets of tiles because I was going to make a set for us but that can wait, gifts for others come first.) Each set is a little different, but I think I know which set I like better.

Then, switch the laundry again, get the mail, play some in the yard with the kid. The inside for storytime & a snack. She's resting now while I type this (I should rest too!) and the last load is in the washer.

Trip to Pennslyvania

Last week Thursday through Sunday I traveled to Pennslyvania to visit with my dear friend Kendra. She picked me up from the airport and we went back to her cottage to rest for a bit until we met Tim for dinner at Buckely's Tavern in Centreville, DE. The next day we spent the morning walking around West Chester, PA. And that afternoon we want around (in mist & sprinkles) touring Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. That evening, Don came over and she made us some vegetarian tacos. She made me lots of wonderful vegetarian meals my entire visit. It was such a wonderful treat to have someone else cook for me (& do the dishes!) And that evening we watched the movie Twilight. I am not sure how much they 'really' wanted to watch that movie, but they knew I just finished the books and wanted to see the movie. 

On Saturday, we started out our morning by going to a park (in Brandywin, PA, I think) to walk around. Then we went to Philly and did some shopping there (I bought a new maternity dress, something to wear this summer). We did a lot of walking. We figure about 3 miles walking around Philadelphia. Then we went to Don's apartment (& went to see the house he is purchasing) and he made the three of us dinner. He was very sweet & made scallops since I mentioned I was hungry for them. Afterward, we went for another walk around the city and went to Capogiro for some dessert.

The pictures here of Kendra's cottage are just taken with my camera phone. I only took pictures of the main level & sent all these to Andy, but upstairs there is also 2 bedrooms & a bathroom. She rents this cottage out in the country on a horse farm.

I had a really nice time and was glad to have spent some time with her. Unfortunately, I never did take any picture with either one of us in them.

First Flower of Spring

Here is the first flower of spring in my yard. It & the other 4 flowers that were near it didn't last long, because Isabel thinks she can pick any flowers we have in the yard to bring in the house to put in a vase. I told her several times not to pick the flowers, but then after about 10 minutes I think she forgot and went & pick them. Oh well.

After taking this picture I did pick out all the dead stuff from this flower bed, but still have plenty of other flower beds to pick out. 

Birthday Freebies Haul

Ok - this year I am getting a lot of offers in my inbox for my birthday this Sunday. Most of them came this past Sunday and are good for 2 weeks (week before & after your birthday). Check them out and see if there are places that you have/haven't signed up for:

Buca di Beppo (free dessert with entree purchase)
Noodles & Co (free entree, no purchase required)
Qdoba (free entree, no purchase required)
Pizza Ranch ($5 off, good for 30 days)
Culver's (free one-scoop sundae, no purchase required)
Ponderose Steakhouse ($5 off entree & pop)
Cold Stone Creamery (Free cone, no purchase required)
Dairy Queen (BOGO 16oz. Blizzard)
Caribou Coffee (free drink on *ACTUAL birthday, no purchase required)
Fazoli's (free dessert, no purchase required)
Arby's (free roast beef with purchase of same & pop)
Champps (free slice of Mile High Ice Cream Pie, no purchase required)
Old Country Buffet (BOGO buffet)
Timberlodge Steakhouse ($10 off)
* Menards (free multi-tool tool)

Of course, most of these will never be used. I used the Noodles & Co. one today when we met Andy for lunch after seeing our play. I will probably use Caribou Coffee, Culver's, Timberlodge & Pizza Ranch since those are all within a few miles of us. I don't see getting to most of the rest since they are a much further drive & they have to be used by next Sunday.

*If I get any more in my inbox I will add them to the bottom of the list and put an asterix at he front.

Suzy Homemaker

Here is a picture of my sprouts. The picture was taken over a week ago. They were very tasty and I am going to buy more seeds and maybe try some other kids of sprouts. Next time I will halve the amount of seeds because I made twice what you would get in a container in the store. A container of organic sprouts will cost you $1.50+. I paid 75 cents for organic seeds for this double batch. So, really I save about 75% by growing my own. Plus they taste much fresher and last longer (since they are not on a store shelf).

Here is another shirt I customized for Isabel. I actually made two of them. One for her and one for some friends we are seeing this week. This one I used fabric, heat-n-bond, & fabric paint.

Growing my own sprouts

So, I bought some alfalfa seeds from the organic food store I go to. I bought enough to make one jar full of sprouts. Although, I think next time I will use half as much. So, here you can see the pictures of them so far. It is supposed o take about 6 days, but because we had cloudy days for a couple days, I think it might be 7 days before mine are ready to eat. I am using the instructions on this website to grow mine. Isabel helped out with pouring in the water & seeds & covering them.

Plastic Bag Flowers & Recycling & Composting

I got this idea from Daily Danny. I have really found this blog and have really been enjoying it. I have gone back and read all his old posts. These are super simple to make. I think I made these five in 10-15 minutes, and that's with explainging to Isabel what I was doing & showing her slowly & taking these pictures. My favorite one was made from a bag from Harry & David.

The excess pieces that I cut off can be recycled. I recently found out that the natural food co-op we are members of collects bag (grocery bags, bread bags, fruit bags, cereal bags, water softener salt bags, etc.) to recycle. So, that is really cutting down on what goes in the trash because before those things we were not recycling.

I am proud to report that that last 3 weeks we have only filled one bag of garbage each week plus the empty bag from dog/cat food/litter (seems like each week there is one of those bags that gets emptied). It helps that the kid is potty trained and we don't have all the diapers in there. But I have been working on composting even more items, like napkins and popsicle sticks. I was composting food waste already (what dog didn't eat). I also recently started washing out my plastic sandwich bags and reusing them, thanks to the Christmas gift (bag dryer) Andy made me.

Plus we freecycle & donate a lot of items we no longer use/need.

Birthday Freebies

Here is an updated list. I have only included things that are available in my area. So, I am sure there are plenty more out there.

Kid's Birthday Freebies:
California Pizza http://www.cpk.com/register/
Denny's http://www.dennys.com/en/cms/DZonereg/93.html (must fill out application)Toys'r'Us http://www5.toysrus.com/bdayrus/brus_ad_gbc.cfm (ages 2 – 10)
Sonic http://wackypack.kidsbirthdayclub.com/index.cfm?TheLogout=1
Ringling Brothers http://www.ringling.com/offers/
Cold Stone creamery http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/birthday/
Hollywood Video : Free Rental on your b-day http://www.hollywoodvideo.com/specials/default.aspx
Dairy Queen http://thedqcentral.com/
Pizza Ranch http://www.pizzaranch.com/gift-cards-deals/?id=19
Madeline Fan Club (get a b-day card): http://www.madeline.com/mad/form.cfm
Perkins: http://bakerybuddies.kidsbirthdayclub.com/
Boston Market: (they still have it but you can't sign up right now)http://www.bostonmarket.com/specials?page=kidsBirthdayClub
Burger King: http://www.clubbk.com/Register/Default.aspx
Target: https://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/page.jsp;jsessionid=B1YI4QE22PT0DLARAAV5X5Y?title=birthdaycentral_signup&_requestid=16993146
Chuck-e-Cheese: http://www.chuckecheese.com/

I already checked the links to make sure they were still valid & took out the ones that weren't & updated anyones that needed it.

Here's some for adults:
Caribou Coffee: https://www.cariboucoffee.com/asp/youraccount/emailsignup.asp
Old Country Buffet: http://www.oldcountrybuffet.com/eclub.htm
Cold Stone Creamery: See above, sign up entire family at once
Dairy Queen: http://www.blizzardfanclub.com/
Timber Lodge Steakhouse: http://timberlodgesteakhouse.fbmta.com/members/UpdateProfile.aspx?Action=Subscribe

Canadians Aren't So Bad After All.....

They make Nutella. Yum!

I made myself a cup of Macaroon-flavored coffee and a bagel w/ Nutella and was going to imagine myself somewhere somewhere exotic, but then I ruined that image by looking at the back of the label and saw it was made in Canada. Ok - not helping as they are colder than us. Maybe the coffee? Well, that package doesn't tell me where this warm weather crop of coffee came from, just that it was distribute by Target in Mpls (bah! I'm here already!) The bagel? Lake Mills, WI. Seriously people, I want to imagine myself some place warmer.

So, maybe I'll add some Irish Cream. It's actually from Ireland and the high for Dublin today is 47 degrees with rain.

I'll take it! That's a good 50-60 degree difference today.


Mmmmmm! Booze in my coffee at 9am. We're off to a great start!

And at this point, the Irish are pretty cool too!

HGR Ctd.

Everyone goes to so much work to make Christmas gifts for us and we really do appreciate them and I like to give them some recognition for the time & thought they put into making us these gifts.

Horse-stick from Grandma S. for Isabel

Lori & Rachael made Isabel some flowers.

Grandma M. made Isabel this bathrobe.

I made Isabel this super hero cape.

Homemade Gifts Received

Handmade soaps from BIL Tony.

Leg Warmers for Isabel from Godmother Jessi

Romper Dress for Isabel from Grandma M. (the shirt is store bought)

Andy made this plastic bag drying thing for me.

These are gifts my mom made for us, slippers on top & an alchoholic fruit/drink called Bounce on the bottom.

Homemade Gifts

Isabel & I made ornaments this morning. She made the beaded ones and I made the metal ones. We have one of the metal ones hanging on the tree and all of the other ornaments are being given away as gifts. I got the idea for the metal ornament from Natural Home Magazine.

I acutally made three of these capes. I got the pattern/idea from this website. This is the one that Isabel is getting for Christmas and I also made ones for 2 of her friends.

St. Lucia Day Meal

We're not Swedish (not that we know of), but we decided to celebrate St. Lucia day regardless. It gives us a chance to taste different foods and have a meal that is not quite the ordinary. Plus, it is a chance to educate Isabel about other cultures & traditions.

The above picture is of the St. Lucia Rolls that I made. They were pretty tasty. These rolls seem to be the cornerstone for any St. Lucia meal, other things vary from family to family, but these rolls are a must.

You can go search about St. Lucia, but I will give you the short version of the story. St. Lucia is from Sicily and lived during a time that the Emperor was persecuting Christians. The Christians hid in underground tunnels to avoid persecution, but as a result were starving. St. Lucia (not a saint until after she died, of course) would wear a crown of candles to light her way as she traveled these tunnels with a basket of these rolls to feed the Christians. She was killed by the Romans because she was feeding the Christians. Apparently they tried to burn her to death, but that didn't work (guess fire was her friend) and then they killed her with a sword.


Andy & Isabel made a St. Lucia candle crown (out of paper) earlier today. But we did light all the candles in the dining room and ate among them. It is nice to eat with candles burning.

So, I mentioned Swedish above, but St. Lucia was Italian. Well, as it turns out the Swedish really celebrate this holiday, much more than the Italians.

To round out the rest of our meal I made a warm vanilla pudding sprinkled with cinnamon (tastes yummy to dip these rolls in this), some Brie cheese (also yummy on the rolls) and sausage & cheese plate, some wine, & a Margarita pizza. I think next year I would just expand on the meats & cheeses and make another kind of bread thing in addition to the rolls.



What's funny was that as I was researching (today) other foods to serve with the rolls, it mentioned many of the same foods we ate last night at our dinner party (like a Christmas ham & meatballs, which we had both plus many other yummy things.)

Our next fun meal will be next Sunday for the Winter Soltice. For that meal we have invited some neighbors over to join us. Isabel & I will make a Yule Log Dessert as the feature item. Plus, we'll eat by candlelight. The difference for this meal is that we will eat only by candlelight as I will turn out the overhead lights. Plus we'll have some mulled wine and some lasagna & spaghetti. When I researched the Winter Soltice it seems that the only thing that is a must is a Yule Log of some sorts, whether it be a real Yule log in the fireplace or something edible. I'm going for something edible. Plus, candles are a must too.

Last Night's Dinner Party

Since we have moved back we have now one again begun the dinner parties that we have quarterly with friends from Grad School. It was a good time and we had good food & beverages. We hired one of our babysitters to be here with the kids (Isabel & April's boys) while the adults had our own fun. It was nice to hold conversations and only be interrupted by the occasional child coming in to check to make sure we were still there.

Top Picture: Andy & Jason

Bottom Picture: Molly, April, Me, Traci

Flower Patch Kids?

So, does anyone remember what the "name" of these dolls were? Someone told me they were Flower Patch Kids and they were the imitation Cabbage Patch Kids.

Craft Projects

Isabel & I made 4 of these today. I made these ones first for my nephew & niece as part of their xmas presents and then Isabel helped me make 2 more, one for her and one as a present for her friend Rachael for xmas. The idea came from here.

The second thing I made was this holiday wreath, which is hanging just outside out door. The pine & pinecones I used on here here came from one of the pine bushes in our landscaping. No one came around this year selling wreaths (I think the Boy Scouts do that). So, I decided to make one for myself. I think I did a pretty decent job.

New Haircut

Side View

Yesterday I got my haircut. Here is a picture. I think it is fun & cute. It seems like EVERY December I get the itch to change my hair by cutting it (still am not crazy enough to put in bangs though).

It is based on the trendy Victoria Beckham haircut, but with curly hair. With curly hair you don't see the slant/angle quite so much. So, it's longer in the front and gets quite short in the back. It's so weird washing my hair with the different lengths like this. I can still pull the front up into a ponytail, which is necessary for doing downward facing dog.

Back View

Fat Cat Bed or Dog Bed, Whatever.....

We bought this for Molly, but apparently she has to share it with Larry. Larry loves it.

Free Starbucks for Voting TOMORROW

I first heard about it on FB and then checked their website to make sure it was real.....it is....You can watch the advertisement on their website.

http://www.starbucks.com/

So, after you vote, go to Starbucks and pick up your free coffee. I imagine they may want to take/see your "I Voted" sticker.

Pirate Costume

Well, I dug out this pirate costume I bought about 4 years ago and never wore. So, now it was finally worn to a Halloween party we went to last night. It was a fun a party. Andy was a Groovy Gyno. Isabel stayed home with grandma & grandpa, but wanted to get on her fairy princess costume while we were getting into our costumes. There were a lot of really clever costumes at the party.

We did a lot of Halloween celebrating this year with Isabel. The next holiday is Thanksgiving which doesn't seem to have as many things going on. I am sure we'll be celebrating Christmas the whole month of December.

WTH?

So, Andy blew up Isabel a balloon from out of our bag of assorted balloons that we bought about 9 months ago (they are not almost gone) and check this one out. Andy admits that he did blow the stem up quite a bit, as we think it is actually supposed to be a heart balloon, but that is not what it looks like. It's very phallic.

So, Andy told me that I would see some pictures on my camera that he took. Look what I found.

Another Room Re-do

So, this is a small room in the basement. Once upon a time it used to house the drum set, guitars, & bookcase of CD's & bookcase of movies. Now it is the arts & crafts room. When we thought we were moving Andy sold his drumset and his electric guitar (he brought his acoustic guitar into the office) and the bookcase of CD's and all the movies got moved into the living room area in the basement. So, I didn't think of taking a picture until I already started cutting in with the primer, so it didn't really look this shitty the whole time.

Remember, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them and see them larger & in more detail. Since the cash isn't flowing this too had to be done on the cheap. So, I finished off the primer that I used in the playroom & in the bathroom (oh, we fixed the wall in the main bathroom upstairs, which meant we had to repaint 2 walls, so we left 2 blue and painted 2 a high-gloss white). Then I took the leftover paint from the playroom and mixed it with the leftover high-gloss from the bathroom (which makes it washable and we need that in an art room). So, it's a lighter shade (& shinier too) than the playroom.

I used some leftover wallpaper paste to put up these borders we bought a long time ago for a penny a piece. I needed 3 borders, so that was 3 cents well spent. On the floor I put these foam puzzles squares that Target sold as part of their College series. I got them for 30% off, so the 2 packages (each makes a 4x6 area) cost me $35. I am using the bedrail on the wall again (mainly because I couldn't get one of them off) but this time I found some kind of metal trim in the garage that I spray painted with some leftover silver paint and nailed to the wood. Add a couple of magnets (which later we will make some kind of decoration to attach to) and we have a fun way to display her artwork.

The easel we had at the lake house rental with us; I got the little table & chair from Freecycle; the desk was mine when I was a kid & the chair was something I bought a several years back at a thrift store for $2 and painted black, and we are using the cabinet that once had movies in it to store art supplies.

Oh! And I put a set of double hooks I bought a long time ago for some other project (that obviously was never used) that holds her smock & some old t-shirts to use as smocks. And I think I literally paid 12 cents for that clock on the wall at Office Depot. Oh, and I bought a couple of bins (not pictured) for 75% off at Target.

So, for under $45 I have completely transformed this room and we are going to have a lot of fun with it. Isabel already found her crayons & a coloring book in the desk and was coloring in there tonight.

Cholesterol Levels

So, I had my annual physical & pap smear this past Friday. With that I had a cholesterol test, which I was curious about the results because the last one I had was in 2005 before I got pregnant. At that time was borderline high, but they were not concerned because my HDL level was so high that they were happy and my triglycerides were very low, which they were pleased with. My LDL level was borderline high but because of the super high HDL they just weren't concerned.



Then the next couple years I could not get a test because I was pregnant or nursing and apparently that can give different levels. I'm not sure why that is, but I went with it. So, now in 2008, I finally had another cholesterol test and wouldn't you know it, but it was almost the exact same numbers.



You can learn about cholesterol levels here:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=183#total



Calculate your risk for heart disease here. I have a less than 1 percent risk of heart disease in the next 10 years. The big things were that I am young, a non-smoker, have really great blood pressure and high HDL. It is the excellent blood pressure (usually around 106/65) and high HDL numbers that really lower my risk.

They say you are supposed to determine if you have a good LDL to HDL ratio and want it under 5:1, but with best level being 3.5:1. Well, Mine are just under 2:1. Pretty Good.

Levels:
Total - 221
HDL - 70
LDL - 138
Triglycerides - 63

To firgure out your total cholesterol you do this calculation:

Total cholesterol = LDL cholesterol + HDL cholesterol + [triglycerides/5]

So, I guess my cholesterol is 220.6 and they just rounded up. My total level in 2005 was 220. So, it is basically the same and all the other levels are basically the same.

Since heart disease is common on my maternal side of the family I want to stay on top of my cholesterol levels. My mom had 2 siblings die of heart attacks before age 50, which is pretty scary. Although they both lead pretty rough lifestyles which contributed to their demise.

Kudos to HyVee

So, I went shopping with Isabel at HyVee this weekend and being on a budget (but even if I wasn't I would still do it) I pay particular attention to sale prices and make sure I am grabbing the right item and comparing prices.

When I got to the checkout there were 2 errors where things were coming up different than the price labeled in front of them in the aisles. The first was diapers, which did turn out to be on sale which they gave to me for free (store policy to give you the item for free if something that is on sale does not come up as free at the register due to human error of NOT entering it.) The second was some Kleenex with lotion that was labeled on sale, but turns out that variety was not on sale. They gave me the sale price because the label was indeed in front of it.

So, I was pleased that they took care of things and I wasn't punished for something that wasn't my fault. The manager then took notes on both these items and made corrections in signs & in the computer.

I was just glad I didn't need to go back & look for new stuff, as Kleenex was one of the things I specifically stopped to buy. And I wasn't going to just say that they should grab me any ole box because I would have wanted to know the price beforehand. It's just who I am.

The New Playroom

So, above are the before pictures. I thought of taking pictures after I took down the wallpaper border that was along the top. This is now the THIRD time in 7 years that we have repainted this room. When we first moved in we painted in a cornflower blue color and had a wallpaper border along the top. That didn't last that long because we didn't like it too well and then we painted it this brown color and put up a different wallpaper border and that was how it remained for about 5 years when it was our bedroom and then as a guestroom.
And now it is painted again and is a playroom for Isabel. Yes, that is a red light in the background. I thought that seemed more fun. This time we didn't do a wallpaper border and just primed and painted and then brought in all the toys. Isabel is very happy to have this playroom in the basement. I still have an area rug to put down in the middle which will be nice in the winter to give an extra layer against the basement floors.

Star Tribune Has Bad Customer Service

Today is my day to complain.....

So, before we moved I went online a started a Sunday subscription to the Star Tribune (a Twin Cities paper). That was at 8am on Saturday morning and I selected "When to Begin Service: Immediately". So, I figured immediately meant I would get it that Sunday. NOPE.

So, I called that Monday and asked and they said that online orders are only processed M-F during work hours. So, I understood and they said I would get a paper on Sunday.

Sunday came and there was NO paper at 8am (neighbors had one so I knew they delivered them.) I called and reported this and was assured that they would deliver a paper to my doorstep right away. We left and came back at 12:30 and there was NO paper. I called again and they said the only thing they can do now is credit my account because the cutoff to report non-delivered papers is noon and it was past noon. I told him I already reported it wasn't delivered and I was supposed to get one to my door & this was the 2nd time that day I did not get my paper.

He said there was nothing he could do about it. I got this sad excuse for 'Sorry for the inconvenience'. There was no offer to make it up my giving me a free week or anything. So, I cancelled my subscription and said I was going to go with the Pioneer Press (the St. Paul paper) and his reponse 'do what you need to do'.

Now today I get a call from the same customer service rep that promised to have it delivered to my door asking if it was delivered (yes, 4 days AFTER!). I told her it didn't and that I was very upset about all of that and how I called again at 12:30 and they wouldn't do anything. I just wanted a damn paper! She asked if I lived in an apartment or townhouse and it went somewhere else. I said, "Nope! I have a very large Victorian house that you can't miss." She aopolgized and assured me it would be there this weekend. I told her I cancelled my service last Sunday when they did not deliver my paper two times and she said "Oh, you cancelled. Ok, Bye." And then she hung up the phone.

I still haven't called the other paper and not sure that I want to.

I will have to think about if there are some good customer service things I can post or at least good reviews of products to balance out the bad reviews.

I Will Never Do Business with Coldwell Banker Again

So, our first relator was from Coldwell Banker Burnet and while she was nice and communicated with us a lot, she had a small office and just couldn't do much to advertise our house. The next Coldwell Banker Burnet office was AWFUL and we should have cancelled with them a long time ago. Here is the short list (yes, there is a long list) of why they were AWFUL:
* Didn't call us after open houses
* Didn't call us after private showings
* Didn't get info from people coming to open houses
* Never sent copies of ads to us as promised
* Typos & errors in the listing
* Didn't keep brochure box filled (was always emplty when we visited)
* Wouldn't return our phone calls or emails
* Poor at following up with prospective buyers
* Let our listing EXPIRE & we had to call them!
* Took several days to get us the cancellation paperwork
* Left their signs at our house for 2 months!!!!!!

The last is what I am complaining about today. The guy who they rent the solar sign from came today to retrieve to pick up his stuff & all the rest of their signs that they had planted. He was apologizing profusely saying he never got a call 2 months ago when the contract was cancelled or last week Monday when I called or this week Tuesday when I called again (all these calls were to the relator office.) What made him respond was the email that I had Andy send to him (since he has his email on a sticker on the sign.) After he got that email he called the relator office & they said "Oh, we meant to call you about that."

But you know what the office told me - they said they called him last Monday & on Tuesday this week. I don't believe that shit for one second considering the reputation of the office to not make calls in the first place.

When I called the office on Tuesday I told them if it wasn't removed in 24 hours I was reporting the property as trespassing to the police and then the signs would be removed by a garbage collector at THEIR expense (I knew this was the protocal as I had to call the police about a trespassing issue previously.) This is exactly what I had Andy email the sign guy & also that we had called the relator office several times & what they said.

The sign guy was very sorry and upset with the office, but at least someone does what they are supposed to do and he was apologetic, even if it wasn't his fault.

This particular Coldwell Banker Burnet office has left such a sour taste in my mouth that I will never list a house with them again and will NEVER recommend them to anyone else. If someone is interested in knowing what particular office & relators this is, please post in the comments. I will be glad to tell you which office in the Twin Cities it was.

Back to MN

Well, it's final. Andy accepted a job offer back in the Cities and we are moving back in our house and taking it off the market.

We are sad to leave all the wonderful friends we made here in the Mke area, but it is finally good to have a job & house in the same state.

We honestly didn't think our house was going to sell at this point and we were just going to be squandering away our savings trying to make it happen and we could end up still being stressed about the house & the lack of funds we have.

He put in his two weeks notice today and we will head back to MN after that. We haven't decided on the exact date we will move back, but shortly thereafter. It's time we stop being freeloaders.

We'll have some time in-between jobs to be a family and relax. But he'll start at the end of August so our benefits with that company will start on Sept. 1st so that we don't have any gaps in coverage.

So, that's it. It's done and may be we can catch our breath.

Kitchen Re-Do

If we move back to MN, the first thing we are going to tackle (& by we, I mean mostly me) will be the kitchen. We won't have a ton of money to re-do it, but look at the difference some paint can make. This lady used $30 in paint and completly transformed her kitchen. Check out the
slideshow.

What we would do would be not too different. We would take down all the wallpaper (huge difference just in that) and paint it a nice solid neutral color. Then we would paint the cabinets (Andy says white, but I am not sold on white exactly.) We have all nice new white appliances, so I think those will be just fine. Next we will take down the other 2 brassy light fixtures and paint them black like I did over the eat-in space.

The next part will cost a bit of money because we REALLY need better functioning countertops. The small tiles don't work for making bread or rolling out cookies and it's a pain in the arse to clean in between the grout lines. We certainly wouldn't be doing anything fancy, just neutral & functional.

And I would really like to have better hardware for the cabinets. I like what I have on the drawers, so those will stay, but I think I can come up with something clever to make for handles so I don't have to spend a small fortune since there is so many to replace.

Fun (cheap) morning out with mommy

Isabel I started started out our morning kinda relaxed and slowish. Then we went to storytime at a nearby library, which is free. The lady sings a lot of songs & has puppets, so Isabel enjoys that. Then we went to Noodles & Co and used a certificate Isabel got from her library reading program to get a large bowl of Mac & Cheese with grilled chicken for free. We shared that, but we still had leftover. And afterwards we went shoe shopping. I have a little girl who loves shoes like her mommy, so that's fun. Anyways, my MIL gave me a coupon for $10 off $10 at Famous Footwear that she couldn't use before it expired. We got there and all shoes were BOGO half off. We tried on shoes and for $10 each, we each picked out a pair and with our coupon it ended up costing me $5.26 for 2 pairs of shoes. So, I think it was a pretty cheap & fun morning.

Updates......Are there any really?

We are still living with my cousin with some hopes of moving out during August.......we have been looking at places for rent and may start actually looking at houses for sale, not that our house has sold (because it HASN'T), but because maybe we will find a house that the owner will rent to us with a contingent offer. We really don't want to move again and have to move AGAIN. We want our next move to be final. Isabel & I are going to go look at a house tomorrow that is FSBO that would consider doing what I mentioned.

August is supposed to be the second highest month for home sales in the area our house is in, so if our house doesn't get sold soon & we are able to move all our stuff out here into a (hopefully) permanent place, then we may look into renting out our place. We won't rent it with all our stuff in it.

We found a couple of places we could live in, but wouldn't be the permanent move we wanted.

In other news, the city (after over a year) finally approved the sale of a small piece of our property to our neighbors. Now, we just need to get that letter from the city attorney to get that finalized. Could this be the start of stuff falling into place?

Andy did interview at a couple places in the Cities last Friday and is/has gotten offers from both. The first one he is turning down. Although, the second one said an offer is coming and is trying to make it as attractive as possible, which means getting the blessings from the right people to do that.

We have pretty much decided at this point that we want to stay here, but if we can't find suitable housing and he gets a really good offer from this place, well, we might just head back to MN. Andy still has a couple more irons in the fire for the job search, but we are just getting tired & worn out and ready to call it quits. Andy is still very optimistic about staying here. I think my spirit is too broken. It gets lifted temporarily and then it just falls apart again. And we haven't had anyone look at it since we turned down the CFD offer.

So, that's it. Maybe by the weekend I will have more to say.

Catch a Break?

So, this lady that went to look at the house and loves it and it's perfect for them. Her issues though are that she only 10K to put down (as the old boyfriend swindled her out of 27K) and she has a house of her own that hasn't sold. She has a good job that she makes good money at and can make the payments and needs to be in the area because her job has her on call (she works at the hospital) and her old house is an hour away. Oh, plus she has 5 kids, so they need the big house.

She wants to do a contract for deed, which I really don't want to do. As what happens if the roof (which will need replacing in a couple years) becomes an issue and she bails on us (she told us she is juts going to foreclose on the other place, so why not screw us over if things are bad or she needs to move again.) According to the bank, until she pays us off, we hold the deed and pay the mortgage and insurance and taxes. Oh, and get this, according to or relo stuff, a contract for deed is not a real sale so they don't pay any relator commissions. Andy is working with his manager & HR to see if they can get that changed. Otherwise, if that is the case, we cannot accept a contract for deed because the only reason we could lower our house to the price it is at is because they were paying relator commissions. If we have to pay them, then we will be in the hole big time.

So, the lady called Andy and said something is coming our way, whatever that means.

Our relator is supposed to be working on creative financing to get her a mortgage to pay for the house so we don't have this CFD crap. And if the company says they won't pay for relator commissions on a CFD, then the deal is done unless she comes up with a loan.

Andy is all excited because the house might actually "sell" (I am using that term loosely) and he can keep his job that he loves. I am crying because this is all too much. I just don't see any of this happening in our favor. I don't want to get my hopes up and find out that we have to pay the relators 15K because we just want to be done with the house (maybe) and still risk her bailing on us.

Sometimes I feel like I am the only one trying to make sure we don't go broke and in the process I feel like it makes me the bad guy. I kinda want to cry & go puke now (although that won't feel good for my strained back). I just feel sick to my stomach.

Ups & Downs

Today, after walking down the stairs I bent over to put down Isabel. Nothing unusual about that....but that WHAM! It felt as if the middle of my back was stabbed multiple times on both sides (not that I know that feels like.)

And down I went and up went the pain. I had no idea what was happening. All I knew was the no position was taking the pain away and the tightening back muscles were pulling so hard that I could hardly breathe. I briefly thought, how do I get to a phone (or get my kid to come quickly enough & follow my instructions) to call for help.

After a few minutes, I was able to get up from my fetal position on the floor. I still had to slip on some shoes & get some on Isabel & get out the door to check out a furnished duplex. I thought maybe the car ride would be enough time to relax my back. It wasn't. I called Andy to meet us there so he could carry the kid (it is an upper and she isn't fond of stairs these days.)

Anyways, it still hurts. It's been about 2.5 hours. No sudden movements or pain shoots through my middle back. It sucks. I took some Aleve right afterwards and maybe that is helping. I don't really know.

So, we are at the place and previously we thought we could move in August 1st or a few days earlier (maybe), but now it looks like it is more like August 1st or August 15th. Well, when you are already kinda homeless, another half a month is a big deal. And I am not about to ask my cousin to stay past August 1st. So, I guess we will have to see what happens. If all else, we can go live in a hotel for a month. My spirits went down when I heard the possible change in date.....kick me while I'm down.

And we lowered the price on our house A LOT and received some interest, but no one has actually made an appointment to tour it with our relator. The only up is that when I get back there is a email voicemail message (we still have our vonage number and our voicemail get emailed to us) and it is a woman who saw the craigslist ad who lives & works in the area and has 5 kids and is looking for contract for deed and HAS some money to put down (the other people who emailed didn't have anything to put down and wanted CFD or R2O - bah!). So, that brought my spirits up a little.

I think she will like the house once she gets in there and hopefully our realtor can work out some other financing with her so that we don't have to do CFD. I really want to stay completly away from that.

So, now I am going to spend the rest of my day down and hope it feels better later. I really wanted to take Isabel to a park this afternoon and this weekend we are going to be with family and had lots of plans for swimming on Saturday & Sunday. At least on the weekend I have Andy to help me, so he could do more with her then.

Peace Jam

This last week, Isabel & I made jam with some friends. I had this weird sense of peace over me that afternoon after doing that. I didn't get to can anything last year due to moving & everything. But I like canning. I like preserving food for our future consumption. I told Andy it makes me feels like I am preparing & providing for us. It is my peace jam.

I never knew that canning had that affect on me. But I also really miss my plants & garden. I bought green plants while we were here, but now they are being taken care of by someone else. And last year I only did container gardens of tomatoes & peppers because I knew we would be moving out of state that summer or fall.

I miss my crafting supplies & sewing machine......my hobbies & interests. And I want them back.

This Is It......

Well, we are pretty much down to the wire and decided to lay down our cards and let the chips fall where they may (any more cliches I can get in there?)

We contacted our realtors and told them to lower the price to basically what we owe, which puts the house at the next lowest search price point. So, maybe we will generate some interest from people who couldn't afford it. So, that price gets lowered today.

We also told them to hold an open house (since this may be a different group of people) coming through. Our open house this weekend brought NO ONE! And we told them to take a couple of new pictures and update the description so that everyone who might have this in their saved search will get notification of changes to the listing and maybe go check it out.

The company Andy works for said there is nothing more they would do for us, as they have a corporate relocation policy and that's it.

In the meantime, Andy is interviewing with a company in the Cities. He is at the stage for a face-t0-face after two phoners. The hiring VP is out of town this week so the F2F won't happen until next week. Plus, there are still a couple other places out there he is interviewing with as well (those are out of MN & WI.)

So, this is it. We want to stay here and we ar doing what we can to make that happen. So, someone needs to buy the house at this low price or we move to where the next job offer is.

In an ideal world none of this would have come into play and we would already be living in a house here, but it's not. If things would work out now, we would get an offer on the house in the next 2 weeks (before he has to make a decision about an offer) and we could stay here.

So, that's it. We made the decision to get this house sold NOW and if that doesn't happen, we move (whether it be back to MN or to another state is TBD.)

We figure rather than squander our savings away on paying for two places and being in limbo still for however long, that we would just make a huge price drop on the house and use our savings towards a down payment (if we can.)

So, we hope to know what state we are living in by the end of July. Until then, we are living with my cousin (we move in there today.) We certainly don't want to overstay or welcome, so we have explored our option here for August 1st (if we happen to be still waiting) and at that point we will live in a hotel until the house is sold or a new job offer takes us elsewhere or we will move into corporate housing until the house closes and we can find something new.

It feels good to have made some decisions. We could have stayed in limbo for a long time and tried to make more money on the house (although, at what cost to our sanity and our pocketbooks since we would be paying double anyways.) We just had to face up to the fact that maybe Mke wasn't it for us. We're doing what we can to influence that, but it just might not be so.

We pretty much decided this all at church this weekend. It was like the sermon was directly to us. And we had to decide how we could influence these issues and do it. So, we did.

It still isn't fun living out of suitcases and without our stuff or our animals or a place of our own. So, we need to change that. Our life is done being on hold.

Quit Your Bitchin'

So, we were at church on Sunday and the series over the next few weeks is the Fruit of the Spirit and one of the sub-topics is Joy (last week it was Love). They read & discussed a scripture passage in which Paul & Silas were joyful in praising God even through they were flogged, inprisoned, and shackled (tough times, not sure I could make it.) But the point of it all was that they were joyful in spite of all these awful things and how we have bad and awful things happening in our lives and we can't let that consume us and we have to find joy in spite of these things.

So, I thought I would express some of the things I am thankful for and find joy in even though we have a lot of stress in our lives and are kinda homeless. (Yes, I am a wee bit buzzed after a girls night out, but sometimes the best honesty comes out through that.)

I first have to say that I have been blessed with a wonderful husband and daughter. I love them both so much and am so thankful they are in my life. The most important thing is that the three of us are together and we can figure the rest out. It might not be how we wanted it to go (& it hasn't), but we make it work and and are thankful for how they have worked out. I am joyful that Andy chose a good major & career path (thankfully he decided against a music major - seriously, that was his major when he first started....we would be in a very different place if it still was, not that a music major is a bad thing, but I might not have the opportunity to stay home with Isabel if he had chose that.)

I am blessed I get to stay home with my beautiful and intelligent daughter. I amazed by her all the time. Yes, there are stressful moments and there will be more. But there are so many joyful moments.

I have been blessed with so many awesome friends. Not just here, but also in MN. My friends in MN are doing such a wonderful job watching over our house & caring for it. They are also my neighbors. I seriously doubt we will ever find neighbors/friends so wonderful. And then there are my friends here in WI. Can you believe how great they have all been? What did I ever do to deserve such loving & caring people as friends. I have people letting us house sit for them, offering their homes to live in, inviting us over for meals, taking in our possessions and animals. I sometimes feel like I am not a good enough person to deserve everything they offer me.

Our families have been wonderful and offering to help out wherever they can. Andy lived with my sister & BIL for a while, my in-laws have the cats, my parents have the dog, and there are numerous other offering they have bestowed upon us as well. And soon we will go live with my cousin. It amazes me that he will open his home to us....not that he wouldn't, but that it is just such a gracious thing. I am still not sure I deserve the generosity.

I am joyful about the church we found. At last I don't feel guilty about not going (residule Catholic stuff), but I want to go. I want to know what God wants me to do and how I can be a better person. I feel blessed they have such a great kids program that Isabel loves. It feel really good to go to this church and to praise God. I even found myself singing one of the songs from church this week while at "home". I keep calling everything "home" to Isabel, because I finally get it -- 'Home is where the heart is'.

Seriously, it just feels right for us to stay here. We feel so blessed and so whole. The sticky piece is our housing, but we're making it work and hopefully not upsetting anyone (I don't think we are, but I don't like to think that we are an inconvenience to anyone.) We might be back in a hotel room with 2 beds, but that's ok. We are together and that is what matters really.

I kinda feels weird to not be joyful or blessed over anything material.....we don't really have anything that we "need". We have our suitcases we take from place to place and we make do (although every place has been very comfortable, we by no means have had to sacrifice.) I do kinda miss our stuff, but it can be replaced if it has to. It is my relationships with my husband, my daughter, my family, my friends, & God that I am joyful over.

What to do?!?!?!

I don't expect anyone reading this to have the "wise" answer. I don't presume there to be one out there even.

So, we fired our relators. We had these ones for 11 months and they didn't get out house sold. Now we are onto our 3rd relator. Not sure that I have any confidence that he will do any better, but we had to change something. Actually, this is the first relator that TOLD US what to price the house. Neither of the other two would do that, even when we specifically asked them to. This guy also offered suggestions on little things to fix or tidy up, although it's too late for that. We just can't go back to MN every week to trim around all the landscaping & pull weeds. The neighbors are graciously mowing the lawn, we can't ask them to trim around everything. Plus there was some thing in the bathroom he thought we could fix & replace a couple of shingles that blew off this winter, but other than that (oh, and dust the entire place -- what so I can have to go back in 2 weeks to dust again?!?!) he thought the house was great and beautiful. Now, if either of the other 2 would have given us ANY suggestions we would have been there and done them. But that didn't happen. Too bad we didn't have this guy right from the get go. Maybe our house will have a chance of selling with him.

So, we'll see.

But here is the next dilemma. So, we're still basically homeless in WI and are about to begin our 3rd housesitting stint and may live with my cousin for a couple weeks. We started looking for places to rent and some places just won't allow any pets (we need to being the cats) and some places require a year lease and won't budge on that (we'd like the freedom to *maybe* buy or find that nice long-term rental when the house sells). We have been paying double rent/mortgage & utilities for too long.

Right now the best solution we may have come up with is to live in a hotel for the month of August and then move back to the lake house. They said they plan on taking our the oil furnace and putting in forced air because the heating bills were so high this past winter. We couldn't really afford to move back there if they didn't do something about the heat. They said they would love to have us come back and stay there and then we know we have a place with plenty of space, that is furnished and we can have the animals with us again (although I think the in-laws want the cats gone soon, cats have quite the personalities and Larry's personality is a big one.)

We went to look at a house for rent today. It would be like living in my own personal wood paneling hell. What the heck is it with Wisconsin & wood paneling? It's just not cool! Not at all. This house was wood paneling on every wall in every room....and the house is only 7 years old? C'mon people. Who does that? For the price it was, it would be cheaper to go back to the lake house.

We've called on a couple of other places...even *grumble* apartments.....although the thing is - we have a toddler who loves to dance & play steam roller and jump/hop. We just can't get an upper unit with out having neihgbord below us who hate us.

I have lots of emails & messages out there to places with ads online or signs outside the place.

Now, Andy & I have pretty much decided we want to stay in the Mke area and he wants to stay at his job, but if this one company he interviewed with (the one that will buy our house after 120 days) offers him an obscene salary, we might just have to move to another state.

We can find some mediocre palce to move into on July 15th, but then we are stuck living in a dump for a year (or at least paying rent there) when our house could sell. If our house isn't sold by Nov. 1, it probably won't sell until the spring -- that is just the way the housing market goes....nobody *sane* moves in the middle of winter in MN.

I'd like to see what kind of rabbit this new relator could pull out his hat so that we can find that permanent house to live in. Although I am afraid the rabbit is dead....Hey, I know I am supposed to be positive, but it's really hard not to be cynical.

Once we only have one payment, then we can afford much more than we could with two. Well, we can't afford two, it's our *in case we need it* savings being eaten away (so, Andy better not lose his job or we could end up in the poor house.)

This is my place to vent about the situation and try to sort things out. I don't talk about it much with my friends because it's just too hard and I already feel so indebted to everyone for how much they have helped us already.

I just finished reading "Stop Whining, Start Living" (for the reading program at the library, otherwise I may have never picked this up) and you know what I got out of it (in my words using some of the authors):
"Whine if you have to -- ONCE -- then shut up and suck it up because some people have it worse than you and some have it better. Then start living, keep doing what you do, because whining & complaining isn't going to change your situation. Pretend everything is great if you have to, and it might start to feel that way."

So, I may whine & complain a lot here, but I can. And you can choose to not read it if you don't want to. But I can't whine & complain out loud to people. So, I do pretend and I get a lot of "How are you handling this? You seem to be doing great." It's all pretend. I cry a lot.

And this is our choice...we could move back to MN at any time (especially now since we have no lease anywhere).....and Andy could find a job there (but it's not quite that easy or quick). But we are choosing to stay in WI and with the job here and leave behind the house there. So, Andy & I need to pretend things are find and keep living, but I worry about my baby girl and how she is really handling this and if she'll wake up tonight as she sleeps in ANOTHER new bed. She doesn't get a choice in all of this and has to come along for the ride.

Well, enough complaining. I feel like I sometimes type the same things over & over again. Maybe I do, or maybe I just think about it so much that it seems like I do, but I probably do.

Time to finish packing for our next stay.

Updates.....

Not sure how much there is to update......things are still chaotic......we are still house-sitting......our house in MN has still not sold......and Andy is interviewing......I guess that is something new.

Although, he did come to the realization yesterday during the day his phone & face-to-face interviews, that he really likes working for the company he works for. He likes living in this area and he likes the friends we have made and bascially, overall, just want to stay here.

But that darn house is what my mom said very accurately, "Is the stone around our neck."

Andy is in the process of firing this relator. Our contract is not up, but he certainly has not held up his end of the contract, so hopefully he lets us out of it without any issues. Andy will work on finding a new one through the referral the relo company gave him. So, hopefully that will happen soon.

While he does that, I am trying to find a place for us to rent. It's hard because we need to find a place that will allow the cats (both the cats and dogs will be very hard). At this point we are squandering away any savings on paying for rent. So, we need to keep it low at this point so that we can make it last as long as possible. But c'mon, I don't want to move again and then again once we sell the house. Because once we sell the house we can afford more and the house/apt/townhouse we find to rent might not be the most ideal (but works for the interim because it's cheap). We would love to find a place where we don't have anyone living under us, because - let's face it - we have a toddler who loves to jump & play "steam roller" and dance and downstairs neighbors probably won't appreciate her getting rid of her energy as much as we do.

In the meantime, both a cousin & his girlfriend has offered up their homes to us for the end of July in case we don't find a place that we can get into until August 1st.

I have been scanning craigslist & the newspaper for ads, but I know there are more places out there that are for rent than have advertisements. So, I think this weekend we will spend sometime driving around finding places. One of my friends says there are 2 houses near her that are for rent.

I really wish we could buy, but it's pretty much impossible at this point and we will have to spend the next couple years building up our savings again to be able to buy something.

Well, our playdate should be arriving soon. Time for some bounce house fun!