Guess what we did on Valentine's Day?
Our favorite things (*sigh*) lately!
MOVE
Well, this time WE didn't move
But we moved his parents from their house to this apartment
I say this because that's where I am now
Cheryl and I--in the loosest sense of this expression
Packed the kitchen "together"
And only 4 boxes later... technically 5
(that's a whole lot better than 7 or whatever the crap I had right?)
We came over here and UNpacked it
What a novel concept
It's something I hope to maybe do someday
Unpacking is a whole lot more fun than packing!
So her kitchen is all set up

And I tried to make her get rid of a bunch of stuff
So by the end we did have the whole table full of stuff for Burrito to take away ;)
We managed to get rid of a few bowls, cups, and cutting boards
(the woman had six of them... We're down to 4 now)
And I finally convinced her to get rid of about 10 mixing bowls
But today I found two other stacks of bowls underneath the microwave cupboard
*sigh*
I haven't told her yet
I think I might not
Is that bad?
I have been married to HM for like a year and half
Engaged for a year before that
And dated for like 6 months or so before that
And I have NEVER even seen these bowls...

I mean really, the woman has so much cool stuff
She really does
The problem is she doesn't even know she has it!
So she has like 6-10 sets of mixing bowls
All with lids
And she uses one ratty old small red one
And that's it

The ones I found today were two more "sets" of them
One set of colored casserole type bowls
And then some all white solid glassish stuff
Pretty cool
But I put the kitchen together
And I know there is no room over here

So this is my theory:
There are many things that can be deemed "valuable" to us
But think about it
In 5 years, will you think to yourself"
*sigh* I sure wish I still had ____________
Then you should keep it
If it's your son's champagne glass with a candle in it from Junior Prom
THROW IT AWAY
No one will notice or care that it's gone

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Their apartment does look pretty good
I gotta admit
Especially considering that only about 1/2 their crap is over here
LOL LOL LOL
It is way cool here though
Much smaller for them
Much more appropriate
Cheryl's pictures make it seem like a museum of pictures
LOL
It's seriously wall to wall pictures...
Craig hates it--says there are too many
But hey, I think it actually looks good

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So we got home from church today
And Boogie had pooped 10 different times
No exaggeration: I counted
And peed so much it was forming a puddle
Fortunately we had him locked up by the bathroom
But it was GROSSSSSSSSSSS
Papa is driving out this weekend I guess
To come and take him back to Texas
Poor dog
I think he will be much happier there

I locked both him and Andre outside today while I cleaned
And man,
Boggie will NOT make friends with Andre
Andre tries to lick his face, his butt, his whatever
Nothing works
Boggie just barks at him
Never bites him
But gets mad whenever Andre even gets close
And believe me
Andre is PERSISTENT
He still hasn't given up hope that Boggie and him will be BFFs
LOL....

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My kids have their final draft of their 10 page Research Paper
Due Tuesday
And man, I am so excited to be done with this crap
I think there are some kids who might never forgive me
For even assigning it at all....
It kinda sucks that way sometimes...

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Bakersfield is funny
Today we had tons of rain
Torrents of rain with wind and everything
The works
So on the news, they are doing this discussion
Giving advice about how to handle our tough lives
Tonight we are on "Storm Warning"
Lol... I mean really?
Poor us... it's stormy... Batton down the hatches folks!

So more updates on the house:
Yes, it's still in the ward
In fact it's on the opposite culdesac from the Nelson's house
Akers and Berkshire--really only a block or two from our old house
So that's good

We're still waiting on paperwork
But starting to do some planning and figuring things out
HM went and saw it yesterday in the daytime and I guess there are also some plumbing problems
But hey, we are way excited.
Since it's already a kinda Spanish style house
We are going to keep with that same tradition and decorate it like a Spanish Hacienda :)
So I'm supposed to be coming up with a color scheme for HM

It's funny how things work out though
We got this house
With a bigger lot and tons of other things
for the same price as we wanted to buy the other house
How is that for cool?

Yesterday my kids had their 2nd draft of their research paper due
So they are really close to being done
One of my students, one of my new ones
Cute skinny girl
Seems like a super good student
She kept missing class
One day she told me it was because she had to have surgery
She was embarrassed about the why so I didn't press her
Yesterday she comes to me and says she really needs to talk to me
Says it's very important
So finally today, it calms down enough that I get a minute
And she tells me:
Sorry I haven't turned in my research paper yet
I've been so busy and stressed because... well
I'm pregnant
HA....
Ah.... well, okay then....
I think I'd be kinda stressed too if I had to write a 10pg research paper
and in the middle of all that, trying to get it done...
I find out I'm pregnant? haha... ya, not fun
Add that to her other medical problems--surgery actually had nothing to do with the pregnancy
Just a perk :)
Poor girl....

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So we've been looking for a house
Looked at a few
Made an offer on one
It's been two weeks: nothing back from the bank
It's a short sale though so who knows
So we're waiting and waiting...
And Monday SN and I go out and look at a few more

I gotta be honest
I didn't want to go
I was sick of looking for houses
Busy with a million other things
Trying to get everything done
In a world that constantly is moving
(no pun intended)
EVERYONE it seems is moving
All we have been doing is packing and then unpacking
For the last month....?
Has it only been that long?
But I went anyway,
I thought, whatever, it's only a couple
It'll be good, Sadie was asleep in her carseat so better to let her be

So we went and looked at these houses
First one
You walk up and there's a courtyard with a fountain
The front door is actually beyond the courtyard
With a wall and a wrought iron fence in front
Pretty cool

The inside has big old spanish tiles
big lumpy uneven ones
And the kitchen too--all red tile, all cute
Big windows and two sliding doors
The bathroom has an old style bathtub
And a sink that looks like a copper water basin only with a drain

The bedrooms have lofts--we're guessing that's where you put the beds
So the "downstairs" is just for your living space
Pretty cool actually
Master has a walk in closet,
Cool bathroom and another sliding glass door

Outside is a covered porch the length of the house
Huge pool to the left
And a palm tree about every 5 feet :)
Beautiful beautiful yard
Needs some fixing up
But nothing major
But really really cool
To the other side is a lot that is big enough
For HM to build a shop for his business
And for me to have a big garden
So so cool...

I had HM come see it that night
He didn't like it at all
He loved the yard
But said the house reminded him of a doll house
Said he didn't like the floor plan
Honestly, I was like, what??? really???
K, it is kinda small
BUT
With the lot as big as it is
You could add on really easily

So we brought Dude to come see it
He loved it
So I think that made a big difference to HM
So we decided to make an offer on it

We already had an offer on this other one
By the park
But, we hadn't heard back in 2 weeks so we said
Hey, let's just see which one we hear from
And whoever gets back first
That's the one

So during lunch today I get a message from HM:
We got the house.

YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY
pictures coming soon :)

So now we wait for Escrow
But whew...
We did it

Imagine that every time your kids did anything
played in a game
did an assignment in school
Went to a dance
Were on a team
spoke in church
got a handout in sunday school
ANYTHING
you put it in a shoebox or a drawer
And you never ever cleaned it out
So every little toy or trinket
They ever got from the 4th of July
Valentine's Day
St. Patrick's Day
Easter
You kept.

Every poster from homecoming
Every picture of every girlfriend or friend
Every invitation to every birthday party you ever went to
Every note someone ever wrote you
Every bill you ever received from five years ago
Not to mention any and every picture ever taken of you at any time with any person
You kept.

And say that you worked on scrapbooking
All the time
And so no one ELSE ever threw anything away
Because they would think to themselves:
She'll want this for the scrapbook stuff someday
So they kept EVERYTHING on your behalf
And put it into shoeboxes
And you put it in the closet

Then someday
When your kids are trying to move you to a new house
They will feel
Like I feel now

When I took Sadie to the doctor's on Friday
The doctor, Dr. K, who is a tall skinny southern woman
Said to me:
Nothin' personal honey, but you don't look so good yourself...
So Wednesday, I woke up and went:
That's it, I'm done.  I gotta go to to the doctor's

So I called in sick to work
And went to the doctor
And the lady doctor who finally saw me
Examined me and then said she wanted to have my lungs x-rayed
Because she was suspicious that I had pneumonia.
Great...

So I walked down to be x-rayed
and the x-ray technician was this 70 year old woman
Who giggled through everything
I has to stand in front of this plate thing
With nothing on top but this paper shirt right
So I'm half naked, standing there
With this lady adjusting me here and there
And she finally pronounced:
Oh honey, this is going to look just wonderful!
LOL... am I getting my portrait taken???
She was hysterical

Anyway, I don't have pneumonia
But I do have Broncitis
Just like Sadie :)
So I got some wonderful drugs
And I am actually feeling better and better
I feel pretty good during the day
But then it hits about 8 or 9 at night and I am OUT
Feel kinda bad for HM
It's been nights and nights in a row when I don't even remember
when he came home or when he came to bed
Sadie and I are just unconscious upstairs...

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L and CR are finally out of here
We finished cleaning the final area: the garage, yesterday
And she supposedly left early this morning
And we just got a call that she was almost there...wow Lace, good job!

Last night we all went out to pizza as a farewell
It's gonna be odd not having them around
I gotta say
Kinda odd to just have us
It's rather quiet around here...
HM and I were talking the other day
That man, we're going to start making some new friends or something
We need to invite people over on Sundays or something
Now it's just HM, me, Dude and Sadie
His parents, CA and Jessica
Only seven people....
Only a couple months ago, there were 13...

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Happy SuperBowl today...
Three years ago today HM and I talked for the first time...
Awh...

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Andre is not having a good time here
Boggie and him don't get along
And get in fights on a regular basis
So Andre spends most of his day outside in the yard
When he's not crying at the back door
He gets to come inside sometimes
But he and Boggie are also having pissing wars
So they both take turns peeing on EVERY freaking thing
And stinking up the whole house
Especially Andre's, his marking piss smells like a skunk...
Gross gross...

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It's definitely interesting going from a huge house
to a tiny little bedroom
It's like 1/4 of the size of our old bedroom
In fact, it kinda feels like we moved into our closet...
I must say it sucks.
But again, hopefully it's all temporary

We finally turned in our keys and got our money on Friday
It was the same guy who came and took pics of our house that one time
And he traded me and gave me my check and said:
We sure are sorry about all this
It's really a shame and our whole office is just upset that things turned out the way they did
Well, I said, tell them Good LUCK!
We're going else where...
Hope they sit on that house for years...

It really is sad though
Are houses alive?
I felt like ours was.
I always felt like it was some big animal that we lived inside of
Maybe I'm weird...
And now it's all sad and empty
Poor house....
Hopefully somebody will buy it soon
and will love it as much as we did

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So we have been looking at houses this last week
Saw a lot of good ones I thought
The one we finally decided we liked the best
has a pool, a hot tub, a coy pond w/ a bridge
and a side yard that HM can pull his work things into
It has tall flowerbeds all around
And even little garden area on the side
Tile floors, big kitchen w/island in the middle
and two big family room places
Not the same open format as our old house
But still pretty cool I think

And it needs some work
Not tons, like some we have seen
But some paint and some repairs
But it'll be really cool
So wish us luck... hopefully this bank will be a little more agreeable to work with...

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