spirited…….

So, I tried to fix our shower the other day because it was leaking.  It has been leaking for about hmmmm, 8 months and I have felt extremely guilty about all the water we were wasting.  Not guilty enough, apparently, to fix it though.  So, it is really hard to fix because the nut and washers and stuff is recessed in the wall about 5 inches.  I managed to get a socket in there to loosen the nut but I had nothing to pull it out with to replace the washer (this was at 12:30 in the morning of course, while the kiddos were sleeping) so, in all my brilliance, I decided to just tighten that nut as hard as humanly possible.  I figured that would surely make it stop leaking……

Well, it stopped leaking.  It also stopped the cold water from turning on at all.  Even after I went back in and loosened the nut, no cold water.  So, the next logical thing to do (to me) was to demo the only other functioning bathroom we had at the moment.  So after demo. was complete, we realized we had only the nasty bathroom downstairs to take a shower in (it is extremely painful to take a shower when the only thing you can turn on is the hot in the upstairs bathroom).  So after 2 days, naturally, that shower began to leak water all over the hall floor.

Needless to say, I was at my wits end.  So, I came up with the brilliant plan of just going to Home Depot and buying a fiberglass shower surround to just plop in the downstairs bathroom so that we had 1 functioning shower.  The trip was o.k.  the kids were pretty good at Home Depot (for being kids).  They did start to melt down a bit at the end but that was good considering we were there for 2 1/2 hours!  I also got a pedestal sink and some faucets.  Of course, half the stuff I needed was sold out as it always goes at Home Depot, but we did get a lot of good stuff and the shower!

So, after that, we rewarded the girls by going to the Zoo.  The Garden City Zoo is really awesome.  It only costs $3 for a car or truck and you can drive and park and then walk, or if the kids are fussy, you can just drive through and look at the animals.  We tend to drive to the end and walk around the middle. 

Of course, in the middle of the zoo, where there were no bathrooms in sight, O had to pee.  Well, we were in the middle of a grassy area looking at the giraffe with no one around so she just copped a squat right there.  I know that isn’t the best thing to teach her but I didn’t have a change of clothes for her and I didn’t want her to pee her pants.  Should that happen in the future, I might pick a spot more out of the way and conealed though….LOL……

Anyway, so we had a marvelous day and we were on the way home.  The kids were sawing zzzzz’s we had just eaten and my mom and I were having a lovely conversation when we felt a thump.  A quick glance in the rearview mirrow showed a very large white box flying through the air and then skidding across the highway.  I quickly turned around and then ran into the middle of the (2-lane) highway and started trying to push the box onto the shoulder as my mom pulled it. 

I am sure it was hilarious.  All these semi’s started stopping as well as a blue car that pulled up in front of us.  My mom and I were excited because we thought someone was going to help us.  After we worked on it for a few minutes and finally managed to shove it back into the back of the truck, we left (with no help from the looky-loos).  Who would have thought?  This box was probably 4 feet by 5 feet and really heavy.  Who would have thought it would just whip out of the truck and become airborne like that? 

So, after recovering our beautiful white shower that was supposed to restore the sanity, we realized that it was broken.  At that point, I decided to sell the house.  I thought it was a marvelous plan.  We could use the money to buy a brand new trailer (no maintenance) and some land and maybe build a house later.  Of course, by the time we got home, I had come back to my senses and realized the humor in it. 

We were very lucky.  After flying out of the truck at 70 miles per hour, there is only a small corner that cracked off.  Luckily, my dad works on fiberglass all the time (when they fix airplanes) so he can make it functional and we could just put a row of tile across the bottom to cover it up.  It all turned out o.k.  But, should anyone ever buy a large box full of fiberglass shower surrounds, don’t just pick up the straps and toss them out of the way, it might be a good idea to actually use them to tie the sucker down.  Apparently, anything will fly out of a truck at 70 miles per hour:)

Today, we were out visiting our friends in the country when their dog found a hole with baby bunnies in it.  He carried one away with it crying and O managed to not notice.  There was a nearly dead bunny still laying in the hole and O stool over it saying, "how cute, a baby bunny, look at the cute bunny!" over and over again even though there was blood coming from it.  Then Buddy (the dog) came and snatched the mamed little bunny and carried it away and killed it.  O cried and cried.  I felt so sorry for her and kept thinking how very sad it is that at the ripe old age of 3, she saw a cute little baby bunny get axed.  I had no idea what to tell her.  I thought it was very sad too….

So, the only thing I could think of was to take her and her little buddy, Gianna to go and look for more baby bunnies.  That seemed to pacify them.  Of course, we never found any and I just told them that we were all probably sleeping in their little bunny houses underground……I still feel kind of weird about it like I should have given her some insight or something to make her feel like everything is still right with the world…….

there is no more pooping on the potty.  no sooner than i had gotten excited about it, it stopped.  i think we are having some jeoulosy issues.  suddenly, everything Eve does, O wants to do…..hmmmm, hopefully this is related to the ear infection.

hmmm….today has been kind of hectic.  my eardrum burst yesterday morning (i woke up with blood and puss and earwax in my ear) so apparently, i must have had an ear infection.  that would account for me being so grumpy.  it kind of sucks that my threshhold for pain is so high because, otherwise, i would actually treat things when i noticed i was feeling crappy and maybe not be so grumpy.  on the other hand, i don’t really mind labor, it is the pushing the baby out that i am not particularly fond of. 

anyway, i think O has one also as she has been VERY cranky and clingy and whiney (may GOD help me and give me patience!).  So, the two of us both being cranky and her being whiney and clingy has made for a very long weekend.  finally, today, i had enough and i took her to the health food store for some probiotics and some garlic oil for her ears.  it is amazing the transformation!  she and Eve are now finally at peace playing kitchen.

so the kitchen is nearing completion just in time.  our shower has been leaking for months so the other night at 12:30 am, i decided to fix it.  well, i fixed it, the leak anyway.  unfortunately, the cold water has ceased to work.  so you can take a shower so long as you can stand the scalding water.  we have another shower downstairs but it is nasty and (of course) needs work.  so, i guess we will be doing the bathroom next…..i am o.k. with that though.  our bathroom is really quite nasty and i will be much happier once it is gutted and reno’ed…..

on the up side, our upstairs living room is finally finished!  well, mostly, except for some pictures that i still need to hang, everything is done!!!  it looks amazing.  i had a dream about Ray yesterday night which put me in a particularly nasty mood all day and gave me some really lovely flashbacks.  i guess in order to chear me up, when we were at walmart shopping for accessories for our living room, jon let me buy anything i wanted.  there is this vase that i have been eyeballing since we did our house in manhattan that was a little bit expensive that i finally got!!!  anyway, it is nice to have one little corner of the house done.  well, mostly, we do still have to reupholster that recliner:)

we got a new dishwasher this week.  it is awesome.  it actually gets the glasses clean and doesn’t leave that white residue on everything.  it is amazing how happy that makes me!  i am, however, starting to feel like a charity case.  my parents keep giving us money and buying us things (like dishwashers).  i guess i could always say no and perhaps it is time……..i guess i should let them too, i mean, maybe they do it because they remember what it was like to be a young family and how hard it is and if they want to help, should i let them?  i guess it is just pride.  i want to be able to forge my own way in the world and stand on my own two feet.  that sounds hypocritical since i don’t work doesn’t it?  well, i guess i figure that jon and i are a team.  he works outside the home and i work too.  i mean i babysit and do the drycleaning (so does downy wrinkle-release) and i am the maid (so is wilma our whirlpool dishwasher…ha ha…), i also do the lawnmowing, the tiling, blah blah blah. 

well, better go, the natives are getting restless…

Oh happy day!  Today, I finally bribed Olivia to poop on the potty instead of her diaper.  I promised to take her to the movies (she LOVES the movies) to see Shrek 3.  She dutifully marched right in to the bathroom and pooped.  Then, she wanted to know when we were going so I went to call the movie theater only to realize that it isn’t playing yet.  AHHHHH!  Luckily, I talked her into watching Shrek 2 at our house if (Olivia only agreed on these terms) I promised to also buy Skittles and green pop (some 7up knock off that she is only allowed to drink on special occasions and with her poppop AKA grandpa). 

Anyhow, she pooped on the potty three times today and I have to say it is awesome.  It is much easier to help her wipe than to do the whole diaper bit!  I can’t believe how much she has grown up.  She just weaned in Feb., turned 3 in Apr. and now she is potty trained!  Of course, she still wears a diaper at night but I still count that as potty trained.  I don’t want to wake up covered in urine so I don’t know when we will start that…….It just seems like lately, things are happening so fast.  So many huge milestones all at once.

Anyway, Olivia got a monster water slide from her pop pop (AKA grandpa).  It is 21 feet long and drops 72 inches at a time.  The back side is a rock-climbing wall so she should have a fantastic summer.  It only took her 1 day and Riley (the 5 year-old little girl next door) before she was going down it and doing all kinds of interesting tricks.  I have a feeling we are going to have all the neighborhood kids over all summer long! 

I have been busy gardening which makes me very happy.  Some friends were throwing away a ton of dianthus and I rescued them from them and my mom gave me a ton of salvia and vinca.  I also splurged and got an herb garden and some perennials for the front yard.  Olivia and I planted some Basil and today we planted some Sunflowers.  I am glad we got this house because it has nothing.  So I can do anything I want with it and not feel guilty for tearing up something that was perfectly fine (like nice grass). 

So, I have big plans.  I am going to plant a beautiful butterfly garden for the girls next year with a little arbor.  It is going to be a big square with a hedge all around it so it will be their little secret garden and we can have tea parties out there when they get older.  There will be lots of plants that they can eat (nasturtium and herbs) and plants with texture (lambs ear) and color for the butterflies and maybe even some strawberries or maybe grapes?  We will see.  Luckily, I have this whole year to plan and then I will wintersow the seeds this winter.  Hopefully I will be far enough along on the house that I will have more time to garden next summer!

We did plant blueberries.  They aren’t doing so well though.  They are supposed to have good drainage……Olivia has been hearing the "Baby Olivia Story" about the raspberries and blackberries from our house in Manhattan and how she used to go back there and pick them right off the vine so much that she really wanted those again.  Unfortunately, I could only find blueberries.  They will likely die though and I can order some blackberries mailorder…..

today we went out to one of our friends’ house that lives out in the country.  we turned on the sprinkler for O and her little friend, G, to play in.  they had a marvelous time and Eve got the muddiest of all!  Today she has started to just stand up in the middle of the room so I have a feeling that these 2 and 3 baby steps from place to place is going to be over soon….

by the way, O LOVES to pee outside.  if I am outside, she comes out with me and takes her pants off, pees, and then puts them back on.  Of course, when she does it in the front yard, it is a little embarassing but at the same time, how fun!  how liberating would it be to be able to just cop a squat wherever you happen to be and let her rip!  ahhh, to be 3 again!

Well, little Eve started walking last night. She took 5 steps from me to Jon.  So today she is taking steps all over the place.  I can’t believe it.  She is only 9 1/2 months old.  It is interesting to see the little personality that is beginning to bud.

Olivia had a big day too.  My mom has been helping us with some trim the last couple of days and apparently, she has been saying a couple of choice words when she gets frustrated and today Olivia decided to make the exasperated commented, "oh, sh##".  I wanted to laugh so badly but of course, I told her that we don’t use words like that because it isn’t nice and gave her a couple of expressions she could use instead but it was pretty hilarious.

Jon got home early tonight at 5:30.  It was a grateful respite since he has been getting home at 7:00 or later lately.  We ordered pizza because 20% of the proceeds go to Greensburg Tornado victims and are just hanging out.  Things are looking up today.  I think it is because we finally got the tire aired up so that I could go somewhere and I got outside and mowed our gigantic expanse of a backyard and we took a walk today. 

The nicest thing happened yesterday.  I drove about an hour outside of town to help a mom who was having some problems and then I called to check on her yesterday and she sounded so much better.  That is the best thing in the world, and then I got some flowers from her a couple of hours later.  That really made my day.  It was truly enough to know that I had helped someone.  I truly love LLL.  I love helping moms mother their children the way that I have so much enjoyed mothering mine.  To have a mom, start to appreciate the joy of nursing and have things start to work out and see their relief, is awesome.  (of course, getting flowers was really icing on the cake!)

So, I am thinking about starting up and AP group here.  Of course, no one knows what AP Parenting is so I will have find my book and maybe in a couple of months I will be able to find some mamas.  I really miss hanging out with other like-minded mamas.  Those Wed. playgroups in Manhattan were awesome.  I am sure, I will eventually find some like-minded stay-at-home moms here, I just have to figure out where they are hiding…LOL!

so, here we are again.  nothing too exciting to report.  Eve has started taking steps to get from here to there.  she will let go of the coffee table and take a little step to latch on to the couch.  scary. olivia is doing well.  she is learning letters and what sounds go with what letters and what words the letters and sounds make.  she is so incredibly good with Eve and helping her and playing with her.  she is such a good little girl, i have truly been blessed.

 jon has been working later hours and golfing a lot with dad.  this is making me crazy.  I guess because I am home all day by myself and then by myself on the weekends too.  i miss our sat. morning breakfasts together and just doing things together on saturdays now that jon has to work.  i shouldn’t complain because he is usually home sat. afternoon sometime but,this is a lot of time alone.  i don’t think it is just me, i mean everyone would go crazy if they had just a couple of hours of human interaction a day right?  i mean, i am just a borderline introvert/extrovert so i am not extremely outgoing but i do need people. 

i don’t know what is wrong with me.  i just feel like crying all the time.  hmmm..is this what it is like to be premenstrual?  it is been soooooo long.  hormones….i guess we will find out soon enough……

we went to a new church last sunday.  we went to the first baptist church. it was o.k.  they had an awesome little nursery for olivia.  she loved it.  eve didn’t so much like the baby nursery and babies aren’t really welcome in their service so i don’t know what we will do about that church.  jon wasn’t really thrilled about hugging my ex-boyfriends dad during the service either (there was a part in the sermon where everyone had to hug eveyrone and we just happen to be sitting next to the Webb’s because they were in the back and there were no other open seats in the back where I could get out easily).  so we will see what happens with that.  they have a lot of activities for Olivia which would be really good for her but i don’t know.  every church has it’s pros and cons right?

so, luckily, my mom has only a couple of weeks left of school and maybe i will be able to hang out with her some during the days.  it doesn’t help that the kids have been sick lately so that makes for a very tired mama.  they haven’t been sleeping and they are tired and very whiney.  that makes for a very long day and night and a cranky mama! 

the good news is that, our kitchen is nearing completion.  i installed the under the cabinet lighting and now we are just cleaning tiles and installing some hanging things and we have touch-ups to do and we will be finished.  Well, there is still the island to finish building but we are making progress.  at least it is functional now and we can use it!  Yeahhhh!!!

i think I am sad about my brother leaving for iraq.  i know it is kind of silly, but i am just worried for him and his family.  i mean (sorry if you are reading this lexi, i have nothing to complain about!), i just worry that i haven’t had enough time with him and i didn’t work enough on our relationship or visit him enough and what about his kids and his wife and things that could happen and blah blah blah……i have no reason to complain really, i mean, i am not his wife or daughter, holy crap, i can’t imagine what it must be like for them!  anyway, i guess i better go, if you feel the urge, please pray or send happy thoughts for my brother and his family as he gets ready to go and in the next 12 months as he is there……