Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Optimistic Realist

A few of you wondered what was going on with the houses.
We are going to try to sell the big house. The market is miserable right now. There are a few homes with the same square footage and acreage right down the street from ours that are listed about 200K less than we owe on ours. The only things we have going for us is those are right next to the freeway and they are in a less favorable town. (I know that is a matter of opinion, but for some reason it affects the prices here just because they are in a different county) But for a smart person who didn't have to worry about the school district, you'd think they'd get the cheaper home. There are so many short sales going on that no one wants to pay a real price for a home. Who can blame them. I certainly wouldn't do it. So we are praying for a miracle and expecting the worst.
We had some wonderful help getting moved and are mostly all out of the big house. We started sleeping at our old house last Thursday night. I think my body had to acclimate to the warmth because I sweated like crazy the first two nights with the thermostat set at 70F. And having automatic hot water is like a miracle! I am astonished every time I turn the faucet to hot and it actually gets HOT! We really take our blessings for granted.
It could be easy to wish we had never bought the big house, or to say we could have avoided a lot of problems and hard-times if we hadn't. But I am so grateful for the wonderful friends I made in our big house and the incredible lessons I learned about service and love. If those were the reasons we needed to go through some of the uncomfortable times we went through, then I gladly accept. What more important lesson can we learn then to be more christ-like and charitable? So even if we end up having to give the house back to the bank and ruining our excellent credit scores (780) I feel at peace that we are doing our best and trying to live within our means. I know things will work out. I don't want people to feel sorry for us and I'm not blaming anyone else. Obviously we can't see the future, so we couldn't foresee this happening with the economy, but with all things there are inherent risk. We took a chance. I am grateful my husband is still healthy and able to provide for us. I know there are people in much worse situations than we are in and I am very thankful for our many blessings.
In the house we are back in I had put vinyl letters up in the dining room a few years ago that say " Count Your Blessings" and I always felt it was true enough to remind yourself of it daily. But I feel it resonates even more true to me now that I have been in this precarious situation.
We had not planned on moving back, but now find it a blessing that we have a home to move back to. We hope this will put us in a much more secure position.
I hope all of you are healthy, happy and prepared for whatever lies ahead. For if you are prepared you shall not fear. :)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Excitement at the Big House

Things have been really exciting around here. We are moving out of the big house and back into our subdivision house. Hooray for our 'old' friends, and we are grateful for the new friends we've made. I have been so thankful for all of the sunshine we've had because we ran out of propane about two months ago (thus no hot water and no heat) and the weekend it was freezing and it snowed, we were bitterly reminded of the miserable winter we spent here last year. But when the sun is shining and there isn't a lot of wind, the house warms up quite nicely. I am so grateful for the gorgeous weather we've been having!!
Abram finally sold the hummer and now we are enjoying being a one-car family. We've actually been selling lots of our stuff on craigslist. It is liberating to be free of stuff in lieu of cash :)
On Sunday I was trying out a peanut butter cup recipe and unbeknownst to me, Aisling gave Lachlan a spoonful of peanut butter. You know how babies rub their food all over their face, well Within a few minutes he had broken out in these hive-like things and his eye began to really swell. He was still breathing ok, but his eye was getting worse and worse. His eyeball itself was actually swellin up in this gelatinous goo-like stuff. We were going to run to the store and buy Benadryl ( you know, our ox was in the mire!) but Abram was so freaked out he ran him straight to our optometric physician (who just happenes to live across the street :)) and he luckily had on hand some awesome eye drops that saved the day. So Hooray for Lachlan being ok, but bummer for the allergic reaction. I LOVE peanut butter and it will be so hard to keep it away from him. I hope he outgrows it or something because I'm selfish enough to want to keep it around. Obviously not if it is life-threatening, but a little hives never hurt anyone, right? j/k
I have to admit is is all my fault for him having the allergy. Whenever I judge others for having something with their kids, I always get it in my own kids. I should learn by now just to have a heart full of non-judgmental thought and then I won't be humbled so often. :) Honestly, not a week before this I was murmuring at co-op about how we can't have peanut butter at the school because 1 child is allergic. Little did I know.... :)
I am determined to find a cure for him somehow. Anyone know a good voodoo doctor?
Oh and while we were at the neighbor's house observing lachlan's eye, the dogs got into the house, ate the whole pan of peanut butter cups, got into the chicken I was cooking and made an overall mess of the house and chewed a few shoes. We had left the house in such a hurry, we left the garbage open and the door didn't get shut tightly. Thankfully my bro and sister-in-law invited us for dinner. Abram said he hadn't enjoyed a steak like that in a really lomg time, and I loved the homemade mashed potatoes. Having them on thanksgiving just isn't enough. The pumpkin bars cake was so luscious and we always enjoy visiting them, we always over stay our welcome. :0

Hope you're all enjoying the economy and having fun this fall.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Ride 'em cowboy

Halloween lights
Dracula in training
The girls got invited to visit one of our neighbor's farms. He got his goat out to pet and let the kids have rides on his horse. Aisling was older than all the other cuties and got to help lead the horse around. Then he even let her ride the horse 'alone' with bridle. She had a wonderful time feeling like a real horsewoman. It is a continuing dream of hers to have horses and horse riding lessons.
It was REALLY cold, but the kids had a terrific time.
Last night as Aisling was heading up to bed she said, "I don't want to go to sleep, I want to go to Halloween."
After Abram had chased the girls around in a dracula cape, Aisling said, "you scared my guts out!"

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

here they are (pictures)





sorry the lighting is not good

Monday, October 6, 2008

Monumental Milestone


Today Lachlan pushed a toy car across the floor. He played with it for about 10 minutes. (which is a long time for him) Now he is on the road to becoming ' ( In the words of Pinocchio) 'a real boy'. It was very fun for us just to watch him be a 'boy'.
He has been really sick and feeling quite miserable with a bad cold. Combined with the fever, the runny/stuffy nose and a cough, the poor guy has been very unhappy. I'm pretty sure he has a sore throat too. In fact, he may even have strep. Pobrecito! (anyone speak spanish?)
here are some pics for Amberlie of the seat. And here are two of the "plush peanuts" I made.

For some reason blogger is not allowing me to post any more pictures. I'll try again

Disney vs. Families

Just kidding, i'm not trying to villainize Disney, but have you ever noticed how many of their animated movies have hero/heroines with only one (or less) parents?
This is not a complete list, but just what comes to mind.
Snow White: orphan
Cinderella: orphan
Aurora: raised like an orphan (Prince Philip missing mother)
Ariel: mother gone
Toy Story's Andy: father gone
Nemo: mom dead
Bambi: mom, then dad die
Brother Bear: Koda's mom dies, do the three boys have any parents?
Lion King: dad dies
jasmine: motherless
Meet the Robinson's
Fox and The Hound
Cars (just kidding)
Peter pan
Enchanted (ok, that's not fully animated, but both Edward and the little girl are missing parents)
Pete's Dragon
Belle
Let's throw Pirates of the Caribbean in there for fun. Elizabeth's mom is gone and Orlando is an orphan.
i'm sure there are more, but since we don't actually own any Disney animated movies, it is hard to remember them all.
I know most of these stories are probably fairy tales or other stories that disney studios didn't actually write, but still, it's kind of a strange recurring theme.

Anomolies:
Mulan
Robots (is that Disney?)

Which ones did I miss?

Friday, October 3, 2008

3 Little Pigs


My silly girls.
Lachlan has been a slug. He has a fever and is just laying around feeling crummy. Poor guy. I guess maybe he's getting a tooth? It keeps me from getting a lot done, but I feel bad for the little fellow.
I made those homemade marshmallows. The girs loved them. Not that they are gourmands, but I think they were a hit. Kinda fun to try something new anyway.
I reupholstered a little seat. I think it looks pretty. it is my first try at that kind of thing and something I've wanted to learn how to do. Pretty basic but it is a start. Now I can move on to chairs and couches. Ha ha!