The Life Beyond my Blog

So it's been what, like 6 weeks since I posted last? Yeah, it's been awhile.

If you think my posting habits were the only thing that changed, you're wrong. Everything has changed in my life... even down to the location of my computer.

Unless you don't want to read a list of things that have changed in the past weeks, skip down to the end of this blog where it says, "posted at such and such an hour." That's the part of the show where this post will come to an end.

Those of you that are still reading, here's my bucket list completed...

The kitchen changed. It grew a new pantry and the bliss it brings is almost as unbelievably miraculous as the magic beans in the Jack and the Beanstalk story. (In case you are as uneducated as I was until recently, you can ask my kids that story. They're pretty up on that story since they ask Toby to tell it every night after supper.)

On that same note, my knowledge of Jack and the Beanstalk changed... I now know the story. The rest of the story.

The dining room changed. A doorway was blocked off, boarded up and filled in with a book shelf on both sides and a china cabinet flanking the edges of the old doorway. Yeah, a picture is worth a thousand words so I'll just shut up until I get a picture to post. Another doorway was bored into the wall and for days several hours it rained lathe and plaster dust. You could write your name in the dining room table and come back later and write something else.

A new stair way was etched into the blue print of our house and at last, the "stairway leading no where just for show" (a Fiddler on the Roof moment there, sorry) had a place to end up: the new "stair room" as we seem to call it. It's our old room and is simply an extension of the dining room now but we're still adjusting to the newness of the stairway location. You can still catch Toby (and myself, I'll admit) heading through the kitchen to "go downstairs" since that's where our old steps were. One day Toby did that with an arm load of 12' long pieces of lumber. Talk about going the wrong way on a one way street. (our kitchen is only about 6' wide....)

Our room is changed. Our old room is no longer a bedroom; our new room is no longer what it was before it was our room. I know that sounds confusing but if you think about it, it makes sense. At least to me it does. You see, our new room used to be Janae's room and a play room and a storage room for a bunch of stuff that would fit in the tiny closet and under the low bed. Toys littered everything. Clothes covered the toys littering everything. It was rarely a pleasant site. Now it's practically a honeymoon suite. And the bed is high, which was a big deal to me since I have always always always wanted a high bed.

Our house now has a hallway. A big feat for our tiny abode. And because it now has a hallway, our bedroom and bathroom now present themselves as a master bedroom suite. It's so sweet.

Organization has changed. Basically, organizing is happening around here at last, folks. I have always loved to organize and find just the perfect canisters and boxes and bins and baskets to fit everything just right. Now I have room to actually put all the organizational boxes and bins and baskets and stuff away. I was so excited that I didn't know where to start. So I went to the store one day and while looking at 12" high containers to store dry goods in, I noticed that the container was dishwasher safe: TOP RACK dishwasher safe, that is. And it all made me wonder what kind of scam that was to get you to buy an item with the assurance that you could actually conveniently wash it in a dishwasher. Have you checked your top rack in your dishwasher? There ain't no 12" clearance in mine, I'm afraid. Needless to say, I washed it in the sink... the old fashioned way.

Our marriage changed. We gained an anniversary and have ended up in the "6 year of marriage" bracket. Due to pre-committed to plans, we had to delay the celebration of our anniversary until a later date which we commenced upon at the earliest convenience. We had a lot of fun eating without 3 children spilling their drinks and dropping food and begging for egg nog. (Janae's latest kick.) We talked uninterrupted about the serious things in life like survival in the case of disaster, the importance of water sanitation and what to do in a nuclear attack. We went to Menards. We balanced the Menards trip with a quick stop at TJ Maxx. We like to maintain a sense of balance in our marriage. (that's why he's tall and I'm short(er).)

My brother and brother-in-law left for their last stint of training before heading to Iraq for a year. It's a weird mixture of hope and sadness and admiration that I feel when I think about that. A blend of emotions not often experienced in life. We pray for them daily and trust God to keep them safe. And bring them home!

I became an aunt to a pea sized baby. (compliments of my sister before her husband left for Iraq).

I also became an aunt to bean sized baby. (compliments of my sister-in-law who is a little farther along than my sister.)

And I even became an aunt to a 10-pound-bag-of-potatoes-sized baby. (compliments of another generous sister-in-law.) This baby is close by though and is the snuggliest, sweetest, darlingest little guy you could ever meet. I feel partial to him because he looks a lot like my boys did and in some ways feel like I could legally kidnap him and get away with it since he is very much Nelson.

(All these babies appearing in my life make me feel left out and like I should be joining in the baby boom.)

We have a guest room now. A little bed-and-breakfast-suite-guest room right off our front door. If you should ever need a place to stay while in these parts of the world, we have a bed for you. And a few pillows too. I guess because I have no tiny baby to consume my time with, I can focus on completing projects and organizing and painting and decorating. Something I haven't done for a few years.

Our cat had kittens, raised the kittens and then moved the kittens on. Well, she didn't do all of that by herself of course but you know what I mean. Our cat also was declawed which makes the level of stress in our home go down to about -0 since she can come upstairs without savaging the leather recliner.

What used to be a leaky basement with ugly cement walls now is our family room, a very compatible-to-life laundry room, a semi-organized storage area and a nice clean office space for the husband. Like I said, everything pretty much has changed around here.

Our basement project is complete... at least for the next 5 years.

And finally, even my blog has changed: it has a new post. With all that change going on, it seems that a change in my blog would've just happened -- I mean, if even my tiny kitchen could grow a pantry, surely my blog could just grow a post, right? Well, now it's happened.

Thanks to all who check back often to see if I've updated. I really hope to never leave you hanging for so long. But, in the event I do, here's some of my favorite blogs of the week to visit....

The mom to that 'Pea Sized' baby

An amazing kitchen make-over for $10

Life in a Shoe

Tammy's Recipes (it doesn't just have recipes either.)

A friend of mine who lacks consistency in blogging (but what she does have, old though it may be, is still worth your reading time.)

A friend of mine in the tropics of central America supporting families pursuing homeschooling (lots of fun pictures... except they do eat guinea pigs there.)

For fear I may leave out certain blogs that I don't intend to slight, I'll stop right there with my list of favorite blogs this week. There are a ton more I'd recommend and enjoy but I need to move along and cease from hyperlinking anymore links into this post. Duty calls...

The Mad Sad Bad Glad Blog

Blogging.... ahhh! One of things that for some people is a steady diet, for other's like a cup of coffee: you only do it when it's hot, strong and fresh. And you can just really enjoy that cup, wax nostalgic and not be interrupted by 29" and 36" and 43" long people.

I'm the cup-of-coffee blogger -- it has to be hot, strong and fresh on my mind or else it's just not a good blog post. Right now, between trips and weddings and projects and sewing machines, I have so many things to blog about. Seriously. My mind is full of blog thoughts but there are too many things to think about.

I've said before that when I'm mad, sad, bad and glad all at once, I cannot blog. And that's how it is now.

If I'm mad about something, I better cool off before I write about it. If I write about the things I'm sad about, they'll come across selfishly pathetic. If I write about the way I think about some topics, I'll come across bad. And if I write about what I'm happy about while I'm still in the midst of gladness, it comes across belittled because of a gitty tendency to explain my happiness.

To complicate this, if I write about what I'm mad about while I'm sad about something else, I'll send a pitiful message about a topic that probably could be a lot more light hearted than I make it sound like. If I write about something I'm glad about while being "bad" in another area, I'll overlook the joys and humor in the happy topic and allow the "bad" thing to shadow over delightful topics.

I know: it's complicated and you're probably getting ready to delete me from your blog favorites and send a notice to my county nurse and have me sent to an institution but really you should be impressed that I have figured all this out about myself at such a young and impressionable age. At only 25 years of life experience, I have learned the absolute truth that the thing called "life" just is complicated sometimes. And I've had a lot of life around me lately. So that explains my blog hiatus.

You're probably thinking you had heard it all when it comes to reasons/excuses why people don't update their blogs from time to time. Before I leave you entirely shaking and scratching your head and saying this is by far the most unbelievable excuse, I'll mention a few titles that keep flashing through my head over in the "Blog This" category just so you know I am still an official blogger since my mind does still have the ability to think in "blog thoughts"...

You may notice I won't always tell you what is making me glad, mad, bad and sad. That is for me to know and you to just not find out.

---Mice in the basement walls are better than mice IN your basement. These Wall Dwelling Mice do not get into your things like food, storage, clothing, etc. I'll admit right now this makes me glad because if I HAVE TO have mice, I'll take the wall kind.

---Just because you are fortunate to have Wall Dwelling Mice, doesn't mean you only know about them because you have a good memory of seeing your cat pull out the screeching live Wall Dwellers on a pretty regular basis. Rather, you may be hit with the reality that you share your home with another family/race/creature every time you open your basement door. It doesn't take a hound dog to smell mice pee and I know this for a fact because I happen to not be a hound dog and I can smell mice pee and recognize it's origin the second that door swings open.

---I have had heavenly impulsive visions of tearing out the entire stair landing and replacing the flooring and anything else that could possibly be tainted by mouse pee.

---I hate to publicly announce an absolute must be done now project a possible job on Toby's honey-do list especially when I know how much he can't wait to make me completely happy by eliminating mouse pee from our house how busy he is right now. And, I have to hate to admit that Mice Pee makes me mad, sad and bad.

---If I can smell things on a regular basis -- especially disgusting things like stale cigarette smoke in our walls, mouse pee downstairs and a poopy diaper in the trash, I tend to go crazy with impulses like completely scrubbing down the bathtub or vacuuming every carpet fiber in our house or dusting all the woodwork. We all know that scrubbing your already clean bathtub is a sure way to eliminate mouse pee odors from your basement.

---Knowing that no matter how many spring cleanings I do a week, my house will still stink so I may as well drink coffee, sit at the computer and wish I could live in a single family dwelling and not share our little home with entire generations of 4-footed-pee-producing creatures.

And so ends the spurt of blog thoughts from the "Blog This" category of my brain. I had no idea mice pee fumes could intoxicate a human brain was such a big topic in there until I mentally opened that file and found how full it had become. I'm just glad those peeing mice are only in our basement.

(Now you see how I'm mad, sad and bad about those stinking mice (literally) but glad that they're not upstairs. Thus proving my whole Mad Bad Sad Glad theory and the reason why it's too complicated to blog when I share all 4 emotions at once.)

When Lemonade And Potty Training Are Hard To Do

When Life Gives You Lemons -- Just hope the lemons are good enough to make lemonade out of. This Old House has been, well, an experience. We are on standstill AGAIN. Although this time, the rooms and the entire perimeter have been framed, electricalled and the new stair way built and we were ready to drywall. And then the rain came. And then the floor leaked. And then we knew our problem was not fixed. Back to square one, here we come! We are making plans to just build an ark instead so that whether rain or shine, we will be dry. And so will our house.

Potty Training 101 does not work 100% all the time. If it works on Child #1, it is not guaranteed to be successful with subsequent children in your family. It may have just been a coincidence that it worked even just once. Or, it may only work for a select handful of boys. Or, it may only work for one boy. Or, worst case scenario, it may not work at all. Just thought I would throw that disclaimer out there.

Facts That Until Now Were Unblogged

March 2 Was A Big Day For Landon. He turned 4, started Sunday School and shared a birthday party with 2 cousins who also share his birthday month. He even got a guitar that day.

Janae Hasn't Participated In Any Breaking News. At least for a few days now. And that in itself is worth commenting on. (Knocking really hard on wood right now...)

Alex Has His Own Room. Or, at least is the only one that sleeps in the living room. He gets a whole full corner to himself which is actually a big deal because our living room only really has 1 full corner. Best of all, he is sleeping so much better now... or should I just say that I am since I can't hear him everytime he cries or makes noise during the night.

Our Basement Will Soon Be Listed In The Guinness Book Of Records. Seriously, it has got to be the world's most challenging basement to waterproof. The Basement Professionals have been here going-on-three-times and it won't be until the middle of March before we know if the problem is fixed. I wouldn't be surprised if they just throw in the towel and give us our money back and advise us to just put a swimming pool down there.

Our Van Demanded A Replacement. If you are wondering why, I'll just say that it would take less time to tell you what was right/unbroke/safe about it than to tell you what was wrong/destroyed/damaged about it. The Lord blessed us with a perfect solution and we were glad to find just what we were looking for right away.

We Made Flubber. And I thought it was a good idea until I went out of the room to talk to Toby (I should've known better) and came back to find blue flubber all over the floor, the table, our bed, up and down and around Janae's pajamas and deep within the fibers of a few spots in the carpet. If you don't know what Flubber is, here's the recipe and a video. The kids spent *literally* hours playing with it.

Toby Is A Really Good Husband. But I bet you all knew that already? Even after 5 years of marriage, it still dawns on me during the few quiet spots in my day that I am married and live with a charming and good husband. I still can't believe it.

Last And Least I Have No Interesting News On Me. So, I guess that's all I have to say about that.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Just Hope Your House isn't One of Them... or your husband's computer

It's funny how you can have plans for a day, make arrangements, prepare, perspire and even pray about an event and then have everything change.

That's what happened today.

We were scheduled to have a major event take place in our basement aka: The Water Hole. We were getting a high class drain tile system put in so that we could use our basement and keep our socks dry. Not only to keep our socks dry but also to store a few kids down there.

This was our list before the basement people came:

1. Clean garage
2. Clean out basement and put everything in pre-cleaned garage
3. Dig 2 large holes next to exeterior basement wall
4. Cut 2 large holes in basement wall
5. Install 2 large windows in the holes in basement wall
6. Sweep up the entire mess
7. Repeat sweeping
8. Do all laundry
9. Move washer, dryer, freezer, non-garaged storage items to center of basement
10. Make plans to leave for the day
11. Resign to having a house full of dust upon arrival home
12. Surrender to vacuuming, sweeping, dusting dust for several weeks from the basement
13. Dust, dust, dust, dust, dust, dust, dust...... etc.

All the above was completed so everything was in order, right? Wrong. Little did we know about the predicament of a very important little thing: the structure that made up the footings, walls and floor of our home. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Toby planned to run errands today in preparation for the upcoming home show. Now, the home show is a big event for us. We advertise our business there and have done so 4 out of the 5 years we've been married. I have a little animosity for the home show. Yes, it helps my husband bring home the bacon and all that good stuff but the home show and I are competing for the same affection: Toby.

You see, we were married February 15, a mere week after that first home show Toby and his brother participated their business in. I was not aware this would be a yearly affair. I was a gullible, young, girlfriend that thought getting married was simply picking a date and establishing a wedding that would transpire into a marriage. I forgot about the anniversaries that always follow a wedding.

So, I said all that to say that every year, the home show falls right before, on or after our anniversary. EVERY SINGLE YEAR. The home show people and I must have been thinking the same dates when we both planned for our big events.

As Toby planned the errands he had to run, I looked forward to cruising around Lincoln with him in a loud, big truck. How romantic! Especially with 3 screaming kids. Well, make that 2 kids and 1 screaming kid.

We woke up this morning to a Nebraska Prairie Blizzard. After the almost 50 degree weather we had the two days before, 8 degrees above zero was pretty cold. (at least we were still above zero though). Toby said his plans had changed because of the weather and he would just stay home and do book work. Fine with me since I knew we'd still all be together like one big happy family.

Then the basement people got here and got right to work. I could here machines running, guys talking and real work going on down there. I ran to the grocery store to get coffee and milk and braved the frigid weather and bad roads.

Arriving home I could hear nothing but Alex screaming loudly in the highchair. He was saying something about being left alone, everyone leaving and wondering why everyone hated him. Tears were literally spraying off his face.

I could hear no work. No people talking. No machines. The silence sounded interesting. I made coffee, consoled Alex and put groceries away while Landon and Janae ransacked the packaged groceries. A ripped package of beef caused by a child's finger and another child wanting to open up a cake mix because he promised he wouldn't eat it was making my day a tad stressful.

And then Toby came up and broke the news to me. I couldn't understand all the logistics but it had something to do with the fact that our basement was originally constructed wrong. The footings were not being used like they should and the floor was in the wrong place. They couldn't install the drain tile. Bummer, especially when you can't just move the floor like you can move a wall.

The crew was waiting on a supervisor to get here before arriving to a verdict and Toby wallowed in a big pool of What Are We Going To Do Now. It sounded bad. This cute little bungalow we bought last year was a lemon. And when you want a house and get a lemon, that is not a good thing. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade but how do you make lemonade out of a lemon house? We figured we'd just have to do that by tearing the entire basement out and starting from scratch. But, how could we do that? We couldn't afford that. So much for new bedrooms. So much for a new kitchen. Poor wasted egress windows already installed in the basement.

The head honcho guy got here and had a few solemn talks on his cell phone outside in the frigid wind and snow. The guys downs stairs started hauling their tools and machines and noise outside back to the truck. Toby looked like he was preparing for a long swim in his What Are We Going To Do Now pool. (that look is similar to what most people would look like when they prepare to attend the funeral of a loved one.) I was trying to find a recipe for lemonade but I had none of the ingredients except for one big fat ugly lemon.

Finally, a verdict was made. The supervisor head honcho guy became the hero. Superhero. He explained the situation of our walls and that there was a product available that would be used in situations like ours. And the best thing was this: the new product (though it cost a tad more) was installed via Epoxy on the existing floor! No jack hammering out the perimeter of the basement floor! No dust! No waiting a week for 18" of cement to dry on the perimeter of the basement before we could build rooms! No more lemons!

Never before have I felt like worshipping something other than God but a part of me wanted to utter reverent praises to Thrasher Basement Systems. They truly saved the day and our house. The only draw back was the fact that they couldn't get here to do that installment until the middle of February. But, what's the big deal? I mused... we already have the home show then, our anniversary and Valentines day... why not add another historical event to that week?

Shortly after, the sun came out. The landscape was covered in a fresh blanket of white snow. The blizzard stopped. It was so pretty. Toby got back to work on his book work. Just then, his computer froze and began to flash really weird. It then wouldn't turn on. Another lemon. Why the computer? Why Toby's computer? He needs his computer for book work just like you need money to pay your bills. He needs his computer for work. For that home show. He doesn't just need a computer; he needs it to work. So, he made plans to take it in and get it looked at.

He went to our reliable, steady van only to crank the key and hear nothing but a dead battery. He decided to try my computer and began to transfer files from his portable hard drive. Word shut down unexpectedly. He had gotten none of his bookwork done all day and it was now 1:30 pm.

Finally, the van battery got charged and Toby left for town. I told him I still wanted to be a wife by the end of the day so please, stay safe and don't have anything else bad happen. He couldn't promise anything and mumbled something about being jinxed.

So, with that, I kissed him goodbye, found a cup of coffee and sat down and blogged. That's my way of making lemonade when life gives me lemons. Aren't you glad?

----------------------

Just for the record and because of the context of this blog, I almost posted this twice to Toby's blog because I didn't see that he was signed in on this computer and not me. I signed out and signed back in twice before it worked. It is a miracle that with all the copying and pasting, this post actually survived it's traumatizing journey to the wide web world.

Trying to Describe the Indescribable

There is something indescribably glorious about living in your home while remodeling. It's not the transformation taking place before your eyes. Or the divine before and after pictures. Or the transforming beauty that can come of dirt, dust and debris. Nor is it the thrill of getting something new.

No. Those are not the indescribably glorious reasons. Those are obviously glorious reasons but that fact that I described them indicates they do not fall in the "indescribably" category.

The indescribably glorious thing about living in your home while remodeling is the feeling of "I can do this" that overtakes you at the end of everyday, and at the dawn of every morning. The feeling of "I am actually surviving" that you feel when you walk through a haze of thick dust just to get to the shower that night. The feeling of "If this doesn't pass soon, I will lose my mind" that you feel on a gloomy day only to have everything feel right that night when your husband comes home and completes the current phase of your project. And that horrible feeling you get in the midst of a long day when you think it all will never end.

The experience of living in a mess. The experience of eating dust. The experience of bathing your kids twice a day because of the dust cloud in your house. The experience of feeling dirty all the time. The experience of not getting enough sleep and working too hard. The experience of insanity.

But, the crux of this indescribably glorious reason about remodeling your home while living in it, is the experience of experiencing all of the above and actually thriving in your survival. I see now why people devote their entire blogs to their latest in home house remodel. It's like running a marathon and winning. The new kitchen, the new basement, the bigger floor plan, those are all secondary. The bliss of it all is looking back and saying, "I did it. I did it. I actually did it."

Some Things I am Learning

-- The busiest times of my life seem to make it even easier to blog. Or maybe it's just that life is more interesting and I can say, "hey, that's one thing I've never blogged about before..."

-- Newer kitchens these days seem to be getting away from themes. Like, gone is the 90's trend when every room was defined by a theme. Especially kitchens.

-- The cottage look is in.

-- Updated houses are avoiding wall paper.

-- And doubly avoiding boarder.

-- A second sink in a kitchen is nice.

-- A second sink in a kitchen that's lower than standard is really nice. When you have kids.

-- A really scheduled baby is a really happy baby.

-- Wall cupboards are often hung at different heights. I wonder if this is just a trend or if it will stick like antiques do. They never go out of style.

-- I am really digging the 50's look. Polka dots and pastels all the way.

-- You can actually change/adjust/rearrange your kitchen lay out because of a 5" high window that you can't even see out of.

-- You can also consider buying a new stove for $1,000 just to fit it below the 5" high window that you can't even see out of.

-- You can have a 5" high window (that's about 4 feet long) in your kitchen that you can't see out of and that you are constructing your plan around, spending extra money on in order to incorporate it in your new kitchen plan and not even know exactly what to call that window. I call it a "barn window" because all the Wisconsin dairy barns have these 5" square glass block windows in the cement part of the walls. Where I come from, these glass blocks are widely known as Barn Windows. Toby asked me one day what in the world I had just called that window.

-- You can have an argument with your spouse and not even disagree on the topic.

-- You can debate with your spouse and not even disagree on the topic.

-- You can give the silent treatment over a topic you argued and debated but didn't disagree on.

-- The silent treatment doesn't always mean that you are quiet and avoiding your spouse. It could also mean that you just let them talk and explain them self better.

-- Just because it sounds like an argument doesn't mean it is one.

-- A scheduled baby is a happy baby. (did I already say that?)

-- A happy scheduled baby means a happy house.

-- A happy house means a happy spouse. (that goes for both the husband and wife.)

-- I just found out our house does have a mouse. Or two. It eats all the dog food.

-- A young cat can create a million tiny holes in a corner of your new leather recliner in just one millisecond. And ten minutes later it can match the contrasting corner with the same design of claw prints. Bad kitty.

-- A centipede that you can hear is a big centipede.

-- 4" of snow in Wisconsin is not a bad thing; 4" of snow in Nebraska is not a good thing.

-- Having the baby move out of our room never sounded so good. Or, so possible.

-- A 3-year-old with a screw driver can take his toy box apart. He really can.

-- And he can do it while you're blogging. Seriously.

-- Quiet children are a bad sign.

-- It means they are probably losing the screws they took out of the toy box.

-- I'd advise that you should probably more than likely end your blog so you can inspect the unfortunate toy box. And the busy children. And find the screws.

Wow. A Published Post

There should be a law against more than 5 saved drafts in your blogger post list. There really should. Because, if there were a law, I would be guilty and would go to jail and that's not such a bad idea because no one would stop me from finally getting a nap.

No seriously. This is ridiculous. I have so many "save now" blogs that I am getting tired of blogging anymore because my blog moments last about 3 paragraphs and then they're gone. It's like getting to the punch line of a joke and forgetting the punch line.

Or, if I do still have the thought running in my head, the baby is ready to be fed, or the phone rings, or the cat scratches Janae, or my husband comes home, or Landon cuts his finger with a razor blade and comes upstairs with blood running all over his hand, or it's suppertime and the food is burning, or it's time for bed, or the kids wake up from naps, or I unexpectedly go offline for no good reason, or I run out of coffee in my cup. Constantly, there are things pulling me from my blog.

Okay, where was I? Oh yeah...

So. I decided to not do that anymore. You know, do that. By that, I mean, well, what do I mean? Should I ignore the baby when he needs food? Should I run and hide in the bathroom when hubby comes home neglecting to kiss him... "just wait a sec honey, this blog moment is giving me a headache..." Or, should I just not start blogging ever? Or should I post everything I start even if it's not concluded?

I'm just not sure how to get around this one.

But, while we all think on this, I will say that my mind is very overwhelmingly filled with a whole new set of worms, so to speak. We are remodeling our doll house sized kitchen and completely doubling the space. If you've never set up an entire kitchen from start to finish, you should try it sometime in your spare time even if you don't have any spare time. Even if you don't have an old kitchen to remodel, you should still try it. As a Beginner Kitchen Planner Expert, I can assure you any thought you put into your imagined kitchen is well worth any sleep you lose over it now. Let me know how many drawers you decided to have in your kitchen and if you thought having your trash pull out in it's own separate drawer/cupboard/slide-out-thingy was the most awesome idea ever. Oh, and if you thought it should pull out towards the sink or the stove because you certainly couldn't have it pull towards both.

The reason we can actually change the kitchen is because we are changing everything else in our house except for the four outside walls and all the bed sheets. Actually, we are leaving the living room, a bedroom and the bathroom. Even the back door is moving and the basement steps. You can imagine all the plans, decisions and ideas we are concocting. And all within a budget, of course. We are gaining 2 bedrooms, losing one, building a closet and expanding the dining room one way and shrinking it another. We are also eliminating the leaky basement through proper water management which I am hoping will eliminate the snakes as well.

So, if I go on another unannounced blogging strike in the near future, you will understand that either I a) lost my train of thought or b) have absolutely nothing to blog about or c) am just too busy to blog or d) lost my computer in the mess that is sure to be our home for the next several months.

Okay, I think that was all I was going to say so I'll end here with, The End.

now to just find that button that puts this on the web and not my draft list....

Update of Fate and Snake Hate

I have a blog
I have a dog
I neglect my blog
and feed my dog
aren't you excited
my priorities are righted?

I have kids
they play with lids
they play with pans
they play with cans
they play with pots
they play a lots

I have a house
without a mouse
I like to bake
without a snake
my house you see
it has some snakes
and that is bad
oh, that is sad

It is such a pain
to hear the rain
it comes right in
and that is sin
the floor is wet
and the snakes they get
wet snake bellies
and eyes of wet jellies

We are taking the time
to spend a dime
to fix our home
and the snakes that roam
the water will leave
oh I can't believe
my house will be dry
the snakes go buh-bye!

With another dime
(I love this rhyme)
our kitchen so small
is expanding a wall
a bigger and better
(oh, I just love this letter)
is coming to us
such a happy fuss!

Without further adieu
let me say to you
that writer's block
it has a lock
where I like to think
and put to ink
the things I think
and the thoughts that dink

With a small fight
I broke the tight
block of lock
that block of mock
that kept me quiet
I hope you didn't buy it
that I wasn't busy
or perhaps even dizzy

And here I am
a blogging ma'am
coming to you
with a rhyme that's new
to tell you that
my work is fat
my work is full
my work not dull

My kitchen a mess
(the heart of this nest)
is getting some work
and I must not shirk
on making food
for my handsome dude
or watching my kids
play with my lids

So all that to say
that from this day
I will try to blog
(and feed the dog)
but I may not be
very frequently
updating this site
so go fly a kite!