Looks like a day of cleaning (*sigh* if I must) and reading. Maybe even a little craft time. My sewing machine has been feeling lonely lately…

Thankfully, I had an idea that we might be experiencing some rainy days so I ordered Hali and myself several books apiece on amazon.com a week and a half ago. Yay! I love that my girl gets just as excited about new books as I do! So we are both going to be curled up with new books today.

It’s because I haven’t changed that blog header up there since the holidays. And I’m embarrassed. I’ve spent a couple of nights hunting down freebies to throw up there and I am just very unhappy with what I come up with. Some where in the uploading-to-photobucket-and-trying-to-make-it-work process I become frustrated after too many errors and give up. 

So, I am thinking of having someone take a look at the ol’ blog and giving her a makeover. Then maybe my embarrassment will lessen. So until then, rest assured, my guilt will be eating at me.

Speaking of eating:

Best batch of homemade bread I’ve made thus far. We had a cold snap a couple weeks ago and I knew it would be the last one, so I baked up a storm. Baking is a lot less fun here in the summer. It’s just too dang hot to have your oven on for long periods of time.

The past few months of driving around every weekend, searching, a few arguments, stress, paperwork, saving money, moving money around, and hoping have all come down to today. We are supposed to be closing on our very first house this afternoon!

I am so worried something will happen last minute and it won’t happen- that’s what has been going on ALL week. There were countless issues to sort through with the underwriters. I’m not going to bad mouth anyone, but our loan officer could have been a tadmore prepared and better organized. And by tad I mean a LOT. Hee.

So hopefully, in a few hours, we will be the proud new owners of a beautiful new home! Then I will tell you all about it in mind numbing detail!

But hardest of all is what to do with Hali’s old things? Do I box up and keep her old clothes just to drag them along with us so that they may spend their eternal slumber in a new attic- destined to never see the light of day again?  Right now we have no plans on them ever being used by this family again.

It’s difficult to weigh the sentimental against the practical. And I gotta tell you- the practical almost always wins. I’ve already given away all but her most recently outgrown clothes. So I guess I know what I have to do. Anyone need some size 5 girls clothes?

Also to toss? All those little dust collectors. Little statuettes and things that were given to me as gifts in the past seven years. They’re just not me. I love love LOVE home decor. But I love functionality more. Most of my decorative items also serve a purpose. I have a fondness for white ceramic and milk glass dishes, vases, pots, etc.

Having said this, the husband mentioned the other day throwing out our pre-marriage memorabilia. Don’t get me wrong, there is not a lot that has made it this far and it all fits into a little(ish) box. But it seems like a shame to throw out my husband’s yearbooks, my senior year scrapbook, senior year pictures, etc. These memories are all too quickly fading, and I know that when my daughter is experiencing those things herself I am going to want to look back at my high school experience- and I may need the help that these things offer to trigger the memories.

If the seven (well, eight counting this one) moves in as many years have taught me anything, it’s to keep the clutter level low. The more stuff you have the more stuff you have to pack and move.

I just realized that when you get in a pool? One generally has a swim suit on. And while I can suck in my gut just as good as the rest of them, I can’t get my thighs sucked in or my arms to quit being so friendly (they wave back).

So I have resorted to bribing myself to get on my treadmill every day. At least one mile a day. Plus my classes at the gym I normally take. How sad is it that I have to bribe myself to consistently work out?

The really sad thing is that after I work out? I feel AWESOME! I mean, I am just one happy camper after I step off that treadmill. Must be due to the chemicals your body releases or something. But the next day I keep putting it off. It’s like there is something in my brain that has equated exercise with unpleasantness and I can’t get around it.

On second thought, it could be that  I am just glad to not be looking at my measurements that I wrote down and put on my treadmill to give me motivation.

As I was critiquing my body ( hey, it’s not the best way to go about things, but it gets you motivated), it got me thinking. What part of my body do I like the most? The least? You hear this question asked all the time. I would say that I like my hair the most and my lower stomach (my mama pooch) the least. Now you.

This weekend we decided that out poor over tired and over stressed family needs some quality family chill out time. This weekend we aren’t worrying about taking care of anything or anyone but ourselves. Phones will be off tomorrow morning. 

We are going to have a nice leisurely breakfast complete with cinnamon rolls. Then we may even eventually get out of our pajamas and do some shopping. Furniture shopping! With the sales going on this weekend, I can’t resist taking a look. After all, our loan is in underwriting and we are about to be the proud new owners of a much larger house than the one we are currently in. This calls for more furniture! I love furniture.

And let’s not forget that it being Valentine’s Day mean lots of dessert and treat making. I have strawberries for dipping in chocolate at the ready. We may even get ambitious and do some cookies.

This? Is the extent of my plans for this weekend. Doesn’t it sound wonderful?! A weekend of doing NOTHING!

Crafting and sewing sound like welcome activities for Hali and I to do Sunday and I bet a nap will be a necessity for Jeremy!

Here are some crafts from last Valentine’s Day that never got posted:

Valentine’s paper heart garland strung together with a strand of red sequins!

I believe this was purchased at Hobby Lobby. It’s made of wood which Hali painted red and then we hung it from the light above our breakfast table.

Heart shaped cardboard boxes that we decorated with paint, glue, glitter, stickers and ribbon. Hali and I both thoroughly enjoyed making these and they really are a great craft for you to do with your kids- everyone can work on their own, they are reasonably cheap and they turn out cute. Fill them up with treats and give them away or keep them for yourselves. Or both- that’s what we did!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’m not sure what exactly the little black squiggly line was supposed to be in Hali’s mind, but I know what it looked like to me… I just could seem to help myself from doing the Nazi salute to the coloring book and cackling like crazy. Poor Hali. She chose to leave the room rather than put up with my odd sense of humor.

In fact, I think that 25 was so great, I am going to do it again. This year, I will be turning 25. Again. Instead of reaching 29 and staying there for a few years, I am going to start doubling up. I will actually only have a birthday every other year.

Unfortunately, the husband does not think that this is as good of a plan as I had hoped. I suppose that within a few years that would work out to make him even older than me than he already is. That and the math would quickly work out to him having made me a mama when I wasn’t even old enough to date.

Oh, well, it’s not like 26 is even slightly old, right? Right?!

Family turmoil (not the three of us- other family) that we just can’t seem to avoid despite our wishes.

Some news from a friend that has me worried and heart broken for her. I’m a fixer and I hate it when there isn’t anything that I can do to fix a problem that someone close to me has.

Changes with Jeremy’s job.

The whole home buying process is a big deal for us as well. It’s our first home purchase and it also means we are soon going to be parting with a good chunk of our beloved cash that we have been squirreling away for months. Between a sizable down payment and closing costs, we’re feeling slightly sick to our stomachs about it.

But it does help that we are completely enamoured with our new home. Yes, the house has things here and there that bother us, but most of it is fixable for a relatively low price. So says she who is still waiting to hear back from the inspector.

My excitement over what a fabulous house we’re buying is evenly tempered with my dread. What if the financing doesn’t go through? I can’t believe the debt we’re putting ourselves in! What if something happens and we can’t afford it? So, I promise myself that I won’t get too excited until it is a done deal.

But then I go show the house off to a friend and join her in screaming at how fabulous the house is. It really is an awesome house. I don’t want to sound like a braggart ( I do so detest those people) so I won’t go into detail, but it really is something- especially for a first home.

And for over a week now I seem to be utterly incapable of not thinking about the fact that my baby will be going to school this summer. Kindergarten, folks. All day kindergarten. When I share this with anyone, they usually just raise their eyebrows and suggest that maybe it’s finally time to have another baby. That’s not it. It’s not that I won’t have a baby at home to take care of all day, it’s that Hali, my baby, isn’t going to be home all day. There is a difference. I’ve been fighting off the depression of this for days now.

All this complaining has made me thirsty. Perhaps I can find comfort in my very favorite drink, Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi? No? Oh, that’s right- I’ve quit caffeine. I know, right! Maybe the timing wasn’t the best, but I knew my soda intake was getting ridiculous, so I’ve cut back on the amount quite a bit and have quit drinking caffeinated soda all together. Or, as we here in the south call it, coke. Do I drink Coke? No, but all sodas are referred to as coke down here. Odd, right? That’s one Texas oddity that I do not participate in. I call it soda, thanks. Less confusion that way.

I am just itching to decorate! I do love home decor. And eating. And, well, adult relations which I can now have because the father-in-law is no longer staying with us! So just a really good week all around.

So now the moving house ordeal starts again. I am a professional at this- with eight moves in the seven years that I’ve been married, one would have to be. 

A purging of all unwanted clutter before we move is something that is done every time. I am being particularly picky this time about what little dust collectors I really and truly like and which ones I don’t. Will things like that frame come back in style in a few years? Should I just keep it in a box in storage for a while? I’m questioning myself.

I’ve even packed up a few nic-nacs and such. Hali saw the boxes and was adamant that she start packing up her room. So I let her put her pictures, nic-nacs, etc. in a box. She was quite pleased with herself. I think moving every year or so is just a fact of life for poor Hali, so I feel good about having a more permanent home for our little family soon.