We have been busy

with millions of house projects. The kitchen cabinets are done (cleaned, glossed and fixtures switched). Ben finished the trim in the dining room and changed out the lighting. The walls in all the main rooms have been washed and holes puddied. There is new carpet in the livingroom and 2nd bedroom (we still need to fix the masterbed’s carpet). Tile and grout has been scrubbed clean. The books and cds have been organized. Still on the to do list:

• Take care of the mold problem under the kitchen sink.
• Tackle the laundry room. AHHH!
• Stain the deck.
• Fix the wiring in the main bathroom’s light.
• clean bugs out of kitchen and livingroom lights.
• paint bakers rack in kitchen
• find corner shelf for entryway
• replace toilet lid in masterbath
• make plants look good
• puddy/paint the walls in the masterbed, bath and laundry room.
• Buy window treatments for livingroom and diningroom.
• Find something to put in that space between the top of the kitchen cabinets and the ceiling (I hate that space! Why not just pull the cabinets up to the ceiling?)
• Clean out filing cabinet and move it out.
• store extra bookshelves in storage unit.
• find a new vacuum
• fix main bath’s toilet issues.
• hang/buy pictures for walls.
• replace holey window screens
• stock main bath with a couple more towels and a new rug
• buy candles for staging
• buy bedskirt to hide clothing bins underneath masterbed.
• replace ugly eco friendly lightbulbs on bathroom vanity with pretty ones.
• and last but not least, STAY SAIN!!!

Phew! That’s all I can think of for now. I had it all written down in a notebook, but that notebook went missing over our recent mini-holiday. Ben starts teacher training next week, and ideally we’d like to get this stuff done before he starts work again, but we’ll need lots of prayers and a miracle for that to happen. We are doing projects daily, but it’s difficult to keep up with real life (kids, meals, dishes). Plus with the extra expenses for hardware (paint, sanding sponges, light fixtures, cleaning supplies etc) we’re having to really pinch the pennies. We appreciate your prayers very much.

On the lighter side of things, Miss Mira is officially weaned! YAY! She enjoys white colored juices (apple/white grape) and soy vanilla milk. For food she goes for applesauce, beans, peas, hummus, yogurt and mashed potatoes. It is a joy and delight to see her so happy with her new diet.

Mira

Ophelia Grace has come into her own person-ness and keeps us amused with her “isms” and general take on life. She is especially keen on having us read to her and seems pleased with the new order of our home.

Ophelia and Soldier

Ok, back to work for me! It’s 9AM and the clock is ticking!

To Do:

Charles came by to do a walk through today. We are mid-de-junking, so while the house is clean, it’s still seems dirty. Tomorrow, Nathan and Ben are moving a lot of our ’stuff’ into storage, which should help. After that we have a list of things we need to do before we can put the condo on the market. The deck needs to be refinished, the paint generally needs to be touched up/holes puddied/etc, we need to take care of the mold problem under the sink, gloss the kitchen cabinets, organize the bookshelves, find a place for our many pets to camp out, fix the storage shelving in the pantry and laundry room, get a new dining room light, re-carpet the joint, get window treatments and stage the begeebees out the place! I’m so tired tonight! Ophelia has been asleep for awhile now, but Mira is doing her best banshee impersonation. Pass the tylenol, please!

Chaos

We decided to try and sell our house. Which is very exciting and means that we are very busy! We’ve already found an adorable little farm house that is for rent, which is why we are in such a hurry to sell. Today we are heading out to rent a small storage unit to stash all our not-so-walk-through-friendly furniture. I think it will actually be great to purge our home of things we don’t use or enjoy. Then on Friday, our Realtor is coming by to tell us what else we need to do before we put the condo on the market.   In the midst of all this, I am trying to wean Mira. She is still waking up about 3 times a night and it’s killing me, so we are trying to put a stop to it. Not last night, but the night before, she woke up 3 times, but I only fed her once. Last night she woke up once, and I didn’t feed her until morning. Yay! She is getting better with baby foods and now I just need to get her drinking juice so I don’t have to worry about dehydration. Like the Little Train that Could, I think I can.

Vacation Pictures

We are starting to settle back in since we got home yesterday.  Until I get back in to our routine, you’ll have to content yourself with billions of pictures.

Click here to see Vacation Album.

Camden Yards

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go see the Baltimore Oriols play the Red Sox at Camden Yards. The last time I saw a live baseball game, it was the Boise Hawks in the late 1980s. You have to understand that I am not much of a sports fan. I am also not a fan of large, noisy crowds. I shy away from carnivals,  rallies, parades.  It can be quite stressful for me to go to concerts or shopping at Walmart. Going to a biggish game was WAY out of my comfort zone. But it was fun. At first, it was too hot and we sat way up high, which was good for the noise/smell aspect, but I also get dizzy from heights. But after getting some water, and around 9, it started cooling off and people started going home and then I downright enjoyed it. It was fun. I’m looking forward to seeing another game in the late 2020s.  You can see some pictures at my facebook mobile site by clicking HERE.

Ophelia hanging with Nadia and Lysa

Overdue

I know, I’ve been slacking on the blogfront. We’ve been busy. We took a vacation up to Rhode Island last week which was fantastic! (I’ll upload pictures as soon as I find my camera cord) This week I’ve been very busy with Ophelia who is going through a bit of a rough patch. Yesterday she accidentally broke my nose while we were playing with Mira. Mira is doing really well, though. She is sitting up on her own now and is on the verge of crawling and pulling herself up to standing on purpose. Ben was painting all this week and I think he enjoyed doing some good old fashioned physical labor. We are still trying to get our car repaired but friends have graciously lent us their vehicle for the time being so we’ve still been able to get around. Yay!! Ben just stepped out to get some $5 pizza for dinner. Praise God for good friends and amazing husbands!

Opheliaisms

We have Ophelia’s daily prayers in little frames that hang above her bed. Her naptime prayer includes the Apostles Creed. Ben took the frame off the wall the other day to read it in the livingroom and hadn’t replaced it. Today Ophelia found it…

“There’s my spirit! Mom, I found my spirit!!”

Oh dear

I’m guessing whoever created this is the speller in the family that nobody talks about. Still, I chuckle.

Opheliaisms

“I got troubles.”

Opheliaisms

Today we went to KFC for dinner. Something about Memorial Day and junk food just seemed right. Ben and I decided just to get a fried chicken meal. As we pulled up to the ordering window….

Ophelia: “Gettin’ chicken nuggets?”

Me: “Nope! Something better!”

Ophelia: “BLUE CHICKEN NUGGETS!!!”