What Else?
O.K. lets see where it all started. I love our home. The good Lord has been very good to Adam and I. I am very grateful! I especially love our floorplan! D.R. Horton our builder does a great job with floor plans! That said, we've had a few problems as of late and well...here goes!
The other day was a normal everyday kind of day, until I heard a loud crash. Running out of our room, from behind a closed door I came wondering what was going on. Well, it wasn't the house it was the dog. She, Ginger had knocked over a plant stand that had a gallon plant on it, so there was soil and plant all over the floor. Along with a shattered 10" glass plate that sat below the plant before it was thrown from it's place.
Shortly thereafter I had my turn. Before noon, I had broken a small glass and a coffee mug from my brand new dinnerware set for Christmas that I opened early so I'd have them for a Recipe Exchange party with the girls. (I didn't want to use paper since there weren't going to even be any kids :) The glass was no big deal, and it wasn't very big though it made quite a mess and actually made it back up on the counter, or at least shards of the glass that made it that far after the glass made impact with our hard, tile floor.
Did I mention that our hot water heater is already not running. Our house is only 3 years old and our hot water heater is already broken. My husband keeps fixing it, but then it brakes again. I have already made up my mind that I am going to get it replaced tomorrow!
So, school was O.K. today, and other than a few broken dishes, no big whoop, right? Right. I am going to get dinner going. So, Adam is wrapping outdoor electric because there must be stuff out there that isn't suppose to get wet??? He went down the road to help a neighbor and in my bustle dinner got delayed. However, I did finally get the water boiling, and the beef cooking. I was making spicy beef dish, and cracked open the box of Penne with Omega 3s. Yum! I put the pasta in the boiling water, set the timer for 8 min. and away. Well, I just so happened to walk past the pot and noticed mealy worms floating on the surface of my pasta water. Ugh!!! So much for pasta in a more earth friendly box instead of the sealed bags :( So, I dumped the pasta down the disposal with the hot water and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but cloudy water and no draining of the pasta, oh my dear!!! So, I grabbed another pot, boiled more water and grabbed another box of pasta with Omega 3s. I tried checking the box and didn't notice any creepy crawlies, but after putting the box in the boiling water, again I had floaters! I learned my lesson the first time, and I drained this pot, and dumped the pasta in garbage can. No more pasta in the box for me! Now I am on my third pot of boiling water and a BAG of pasta, no more penne which works best with this recipe, but whole wheat spaghetti noodles will have to do.
Adam is at this point in the bedroom trying to book Polar Express tickets with afore mentioned neighbors, which we didn't get because though we almost booked several times, we delayed and now they are sold out for the 8 people we were trying to book tickets for. This itself again would be no big deal, but...
So, I tell Adam that I have clogged the disposal with pasta, but we decide to eat before we deal with it, maybe the pasta will get even more mushy and decide to go down. So, we eat, I boil water for doing the dishes and Adam gets to work on the disposal. Now in our 11 years of marriage, I have learned not to put carrots or potato peelings down the disposal because they don't go down either, but cooked pasta, who'd a thunk?
Now, I am behind Adam ready with pots that I know I am going to have to hand wash with my boiled water, not because I used them to cook, but because I clogged the disposal. I had to go use the restroom real quick so I told Adam and ran to the bathroom. While I was washing my hands I hear the man in the other room begin to blow his top. I know nothing about plumbing, but something that was suppose to twist pulled and it pulled right off, and our kitchen and under the sink was flooded with water, so am grabbing towels from all over the house, and bath mats anything that would absorb water, yucky pipe water laden with bits of pasta, and remember I don't have hot water to wash them with. So, anyways we finally get all the water up after emptying all three cabinets, and tossing out stuff that was ruined by the water. Adam rigged the pipes back to the way they were installed. I went to wash my hands in the front bathroom and remembered that we have crummy faucet in there. We had to shut the cold water off in that bathroom, because otherwise the faucet leaked. So now because Adam shut the hot water off so it doesn't continue to leak out of the hot water heater there isn't any water coming out of the front bathroom faucet. Thank goodness for having more than one bathroom!
So, now I am trying to wash the yucky towels and bath mats and forgot about the water situation, and our washing machine starts making a noise I have never heard before and is flashing some kind of code or something on it's little digital screen. So, I try to pause it, and then stop the load from running and I can't get it to quit! Great and I think our 3 year warranty just ran out last month. Adam was about to unplug it when I finally got it to quit. I realized I had put the machine on Sanitize out of habit for anything yucky. Unfortunately the no hot water thing wasn't helping because we had the hot off. So I reset the machine and figured I'll just run it through a couple of times. Praise God the washing machine didn't break too, just some minor set backs. I went in the bathroom and leaned my head against the mirror and realized that it had a lot of give. Uh oh! I remembered at that moment that Adam sold our model to a client whose master bath mirror came crashing down. I think after I call Mark our general contractor/handyman. I will make a trip to the Home Depot for some adhesive or those little screw in mirror holders that you would think would just be a requirement as a fail safe for if/when the mirror adhesive ever let's loose. If I was the builder I would put those kind of things in and I would put that water drip pan under water heaters too! So you save a few dollars per house, but come on!
All this to say that I do love my house, and I love my neighborhood! Our lot is good other than the poor drainage the builder again and the giant gap under my fence that they started me off with and then wanted to fine me for when I tried keeping wild animals out of my yard and my dog in. The builder did come and fix the small area in front of my back yard fence, so it doesn't look bad in the front yard at least. I also noticed that there seems to be less pokey cactus our community park, for which I am grateful! I am trying to focus on the good stuff, but I had to journal about that crazy day!
Santa Magnet
So, I've had a Mr. and Mrs. Claus refrigerator magnet in with the Christmas decorations for a few years at least, and it was still in it's original packaging. This year after putting up the tree and placing the decorations around the house, I noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Claus were hanging on the frig. I knew I didn't put them there, so I asked the kids who hung them. Sebastian said he did, the magnet is kind of sweet, Mrs. Claus holding Mr. When I asked him why he decided to hang it he said, "I thought it was funny. It looks like Santa is trying to get in the frig and Mrs. Claus is holding him back." His friend Loredana was at the house and listening to the conversation, and said, "If Santa was my husband, he'd be Workin' Out!" I had a good holly, jolly laugh! Thanks Sebastian and Loredana!
Back Rubs
Friday, the kids were rocking and rolling on school, because they had a field trip in the afternoon. During our school day they can "take a 5" which is a 5 min. break to jump on the tramp, relax, whatever it takes to rejuvenate so they can get back to work. Sebastian decided to spend a 5 giving his sister a back rub with awesome, relaxing, classical music he enjoyed so much from his music lesson that he wanted to share with his sister. The kids set a timer so they don't get distracted with their 5 and have it turn into a 20. Well, while Sebastian was waiting for Victoria to get ready for her back rub, his timer went off, and he started crying because he didn't get to give Victoria her back rub. So I of coarse let him turn it into a 10, so he could give his sister a back rub. Tears and all! I love how well they get along and I love their servant's hearts!
Bicycling Atrocity
How sad of a world is this? I came home the other day to find our other vehicle parked in the driveway. I was away working, and knew my husband didn't have to go anywhere. He was suppose to be studying, which is why I was working to begin with. After I pulled in the garage, I went directly to ask my husband why the other vehicle was in the driveway, in case I needed to pull it in, though I couldn't imagine why it was out of the garage to begin with. He said, "Well, the kids wanted to ride bikes so I pulled my car out of the garage so they'd have enough room." We live in one of the most rural as rural can get areas of Las Vegas. Our neighborhood hasn't had any problems that I know of, I'm sure they are out there, I just haven't had to hear about them. Well, I guess my having said that is exactly why, as sad as it is, that our kids are riding their bikes in our garage!
Flowers for Mom and Other Such Sweetness
This isn't the first time, but who knows when the last time will be. Sebastian picked me a flower today from the yard. The other day he picked one and put it behind my ear :) I have the sweetest boy. Adam says that's what makes a ladies man. My prayer is that he will be a one "lady's" man. I know whoever she is, and I am praying for her whoever she is out there, that she will love God and love my son!
I can't believe Victoria is "1/2 way grown" I say this loosely! I don't care how long she wants to stay with us. She is a peach of a girl. Sweet, girly, soft in spirit, and sometimes she's got a little bite to her. Tonight she helped her brother move a twin bed. They tried lifting it back on top of the other twin in his room, returning it to it's rightful bunk bed position. Adam said wow that looks better, funny that was my thought, and we also shared the same, "Wow, that looks better," when we made them two single beds, Leave it to Beaver style. I guess great minds think alike, or change is just down right good sometimes. Whatever it was I let the kids stay up until 10 because they were being so sweet and helpful to each other. It is so nice to witness, just like last week. Adam and I watched them dancing together and singing some of Victoria's voice lesson music. It was so fun to watch, and they were having fun, smiling, laughing, and grabbing arms and dose e doe-ing. That was another night I let them stay up a little later than usual. It seems that the more time they spend together alone the better they get along. It reminds me of the relationship two of my younger siblings share, a brother and sister. To this day he is closer to her than anyone else in our family of 12. I hope my kids can have that kind of relationship :)
First blog other than 30 min ago in 1 1/2 yrs
I haven't blogged in a while. Boy has it been a whirl of a year and almost a half! I am so blessed to have a God who cares so much for little ol' me. Our two wonderful children continue to be such a blessing, and my husband and I keep growing together closer to God and each other. The kids get along so well though they have their mishaps. We have been homeschooling both of the kids this year, though we are technically not homeschooling. We are part of a virtual academy. I know how blessed I am that I am able to be home with our children. They are thriving and it's wonderful to watch them grow and learn. They both love to read. One of our favorite places to go is the library. I never get a complaint. We are able do a lot of field learning. Yesterday we visited the Old Mormon Fort and got to hear Harriet Tubman speak. I am looking forward to an Abraham Lincoln celebration tomorrow night. We'll round the night out with an evening with the kids friends spending the night.
I wanted to write real quick about each of the kids real quick. Sebastian is growing up so fast. He laughs so freely. He sometimes gets Adam and I laughing about something we don't even find funny, but his joy bubbles over and spills into our lives everyday. He is a wiz at video games. His math comes so easy to him in school and he stays pretty focused on finishing, though he does have it a lot easier than Victoria this year. He has waited patiently for the tooth fairy to come for a week now, to see if he/she will take his 4th tooth. He was very excited when it fell out. I'd say as excited as when it happened the first time. He made Victoria a sandwich today. He holds doors like a gentleman. He is excellent about washing his hands in the bathroom, even out of a dead sleep! One of my favorite mommy things is that he still asks for the mmm song, a wind up of his bear that he took to about 2 years ago. It was a bear that use to be Adam's. Before he gets into bed this winter he started asking one night after I did it once for a warm up, before he crawls under the covers. A warm up entails me doing the wax on wax off quickly to the sheets to get rid of the chill before he climbs in. It's all part of our bedtime ritual.
The other day one of Sebastian's teeth chipped and he asked if the tooth fairy would come for his tooth chip, and I told him it had to be the whole tooth. However, unbeknown to me, Victoria told him to put the tooth chip under his pillow and she snuck into his room in the middle of the night and brought something, filling in for the tooth fairy. Adam saw her sneaking into his room late at night and when he asked her what she was doing, that's how we found out or we might never have known!
Victoria is taking ballet this year from Bethany Breed. She loves ballet again! We took ballet at Nevada Ballet last year and she was less than thrilled about ever taking ballet again. It's nice to see her enjoying dance again! She is doing well in school. She loves to read. She has become even closer with Eliza Carder and still hangs with Emma Citizen. She met a little girl that lives across the street and 3 doors down named Holly. They seem to get along well. She loves chocolate chip cookies and made some today pretty much all by herself for our company that we had over for dinner. (Kirby's family, minus Kirby and Daddy, Gloria, Kale, and Riley Ensser) Victoria and Sebastian are both so good with kids of all ages. It's wonderful how age is not a determining factor in who their friends are. It is wonderful to have such beautiful children and most importantly on the inside!
Playing Mommy
I use to love playing house, and now I get to play everyday! I wish I always had this feeling of being a little girl with the peace and calm of being a mommy. Being a "mommy" before I was a mommy was very different. I now have babies that breathe, though sometimes labored. I have a prince charming to kiss, though he sometimes smells like a cigarette and he doesn't even smoke. I get to put the dishes away wherever I like and hang things together like pants with the other pants all facing the same direction and matching coffee mugs from matching brass hooks inside the glass cupboard. I get to teach my children which one is the CUPBOARD to put the glasses in and which one is the CABINET where I store the pots and another to store the pans. I get to play school everyday and I always get to be the teacher ;) Maybe one of these days I'll let someone else have a turn. I do get plenty of practice sharing though, my yummy dessert, my bed, my time, and my what could be an organized life. I get to write checks and real ones with the address where I live printed on the front below mine and my husband's name. I am the mommy, which means like when I was a little girl that I am the wife and no one else gets to be the husband except the man I married and vowed to spend the rest of my life with, for better or for worse, in sickness (no matter what kind) and in health. He's not as easy as Raggedy Andy use to be, but he sure is a lot more fun, he makes me laugh without coming up with the jokes myself, and I prefer his hair, style, and well being his wife! I am joyful because just like when I was a child there are ups and downs, but each day is an adventure, and I don't ever have to stop playing mommy! Even someday when my children are grown and my oldest is half-way there I just realized the other day, I will still be there mommy, and I will still be a wife, and I will get to play grandma, which I have never played before, and I hear it's even more fun than playing mommy, if that's even possible!
