This is it!

So after a couple of weeks of packing, I think I have done all I can do. The rest is up to Dave to lug downstairs and over to my parents' house. I have to say, though, I REALLY like the house empty and devoid of all our STUFF. It feels so clean and open and fresh! Maybe the blues I have had all winter are due to the overwhelming MESS that accumulated over the 6 years we have lived in this house and with 4 people and a dog, I couldn't take it anymore! I am looking forward to having a large and spacious home when we are done with the work.

Happy Days are here again! (I hope!) :)

Conflicted

I am so conflicted about our moving. On one hand, I am thrilled that we are going to be getting a much bigger house and have tons of space to spread out. Our plan for the addition to the house should make it big enough to live in for the rest of our lives. We also get to move in with my parents, which is also a mixed blessing. I love that my parents are going to be around to help me out with the kids (because I am on the verge of losing what's left of my little mind), but I am going to be living with my parents! I haven't done that in YEARS! There will be a lot of compromising going on. I guess that is the other hand. I am experiencing a great deal of stress from lack of communication with Dave and the weather being so inconsistent and the contractors waiting out the weather to get started and not having an exact date for being out of the house and .... I could go on for pages...but I won't. The point is I have great anxiety about our situation.

The good news is that I found a new babysitter. Dave's youngest cousin, Max, is going to come over twice a week to watch the kids while I tutor. The extra money will help pay for the really cool part of a new house....walls, carpet, electricity, toilets, and yes...my favorite part...A BATHTUB!! :)

Off to pack up some more stuff that should just get thrown out.........

Normalcy returns...I hope

So far things seem to be pretty calm. I keep waiting for the second shoe to drop, but my tension is lessening as the time passes. We have had a couple of incidents, but nothing very out of the norm. I ran a red light on my way home Sunday afternoon. Yes, I was sooooo stupid I did it right in front of a police officer. He pulled me over (no surprise there) but told me that I should have just stepped on the gas and gotten over the crosswalk before the light changed. He said he had to pull me over because others were watching and he didn't want to look bad, but he let me go with advice on how to be more successful in running lights. :)

We also attempted to get our first inspection on the house. Typically, Dave let it go too long and our permit expired. So, he had to go downtown to City Hall and renew it and then schedule the inspection. The inspector came yesterday and decided to call his visit a "consultation" rather than an inspection so we don't have a negative report on the record. He gave Dave some tips and suggestions on fixing the problems. It was all pretty simple stuff to fix so hopefully Dave can get it done pretty quick.

I have been trying to get our stuff moved for the big demolition and rebuilding of the 2nd story. I packed up the movies (for those of you that don't know we have a lot of movies--6 boxes worth in both DVD and VHS format) and moved most of the books from upstairs to the playroom. I still have so much to do! I would love it if a work party just showed up at the door and said, "We're here! Let's do it!" Oh, well...I better get some more boxes and get to it.

The good news about this remodel is that our new upstairs will have a pre-school playroom. I would like to start a Preschool At Home program here where a couple of days a week (like t/th) some moms and I run a preschool for our kids. I am working on a whole plan for this, but I don't know if any other moms would even be interested in something like this. Almost ALL of the moms I know around here are talking about preschool or have their kids in one already. Well, more on this later if anyone shows interest in it. :)

A Calm in the Eye of the Storm

Not sure what it is about today, but I have a feeling that the string of bad luck is not yet over. Today was unusually calm though. We had no catastrophes and though Jayden was typically Jayden and Eliana was acting a little different, it seemed like a pretty good day.

Jayden has a bit of a rash on his rear...we think it is scratched from the diaper rubbing it and then he scratches it and it looks worse. I put some Hydrocortesone on it to make it feel better. So he bumped his leg and to make it feel better he squeezed about half the tube of cortesone on it. He got it EVERYWHERE! But, all in all, not a disaster...just a big mess.

It was a cold day in hell!

Yep! Yep! The bad news continues here at Lake Stahl. Well, it's not all bad. Dave managed to fix the kitchen sink and we have agreed to move in with my parents. So that's the good part. But, because we have dilly-dallied so much on the work we are doing, our permit expired. We are supposed to have an inspection at least once every 180 days in order to keep the permit active. But, Dave in his infinite wisdom, tried to save money and wanted them to inspect it all at once (it costs $100 every time they come out) and he waited too long. So, Dave has to go downtown tomorrow and renew the permit then get an inspector out here. In the meantime, we need to pack to move out.

In other news, I went to the park today thinking that it would be nice to get some fresh air and let Jayden run around a bit. Well, the fresh air was nice, but GOOD GOD IT WAS COLD! And, to top off my day, I took a wrong step and twisted my knee. I am in a lot of pain right now, but it seems to be subsiding throughout the day and I suspect it will disipate altogether in the next couple of days.

Enough of today's episode of "You're in hell and you can't get out!" Tune in next time and find out if the Stahl family can find the hidden escape pod.

If things can go wrong....

They still will! After all that has happened so far, one might think that the reign of hell is over. BUT, NO!!! Tonight as I was making dinner, I stepped into a puddle of water. Hmm...how did that get there and why is it getting BIGGER???? The frigging pipes under the kitchen sink separated from eachother and water was leaking EVERYWHERE! Yes, Lake Stahl is located under my kitchen sink! Lifejackets required; no lifeguard on duty!

Other than that, Eliana's dr. appointment went well yesterday. She is healthy save for a yeast rash that we need to get ointment for. Her height (26.5 inches), weight (17.5 lbs--seems to have dropped a bit), and head size (43 cm) are all in the 75th %ile. Dr. A says she is big and healthy but won't necessarily be a tub-o-lard when she gets older, so stop worrying Lynda! She is such a chunk that I get concerned. I was nothing but skin and bones but largess runs in my family.

Everything else is going same as before. Perhaps with the exception of our plan to rent the neighbors' house. We are seriously considering camping out at Casa de Kaminsky (my parents' house) instead of spending needless $$ on rent. Bummer, though, I was rather hoping for all the super amenities of the ExtendedStay Deluxe. Oh well...not my luck, ya'know?!

Things haven't changed much around here, but yesterday was fun. I had a Pampered Chef party (presented by my cousin--well, my husband's cousin's wife--Katie) here at the house and we had a good time. I am lookig forward to seeing what neat litle gadgets everyone ordered! They will be delivered to my house....OH GOSH! I hope the roof is still on when they get here! I just thought of that!

Anyway, as for all the things in my last post, there is no advancement on those issues....including the rain. It was coming down in sheets last night. Today is beautiful, but it's very wet outside. I don't know if it is going to stay nice or start raining again. Nor do I know if they guys are coming out to work today. I am not really sure what they need to be doing before the roof comes down, so, I leave it up to them.

Eliana goes to see Dr. Armstrong today for her 6 month checkup. I suspect all will go well. I don't have many concerns. She is growing very well...I can tell by her height and weight! She is every bit of tank that Jayden was at that age. I am concerned a bit by her inablility to sleep through the night, but I guess I am just unlucky that way. And the other thing I want to ask about are her eyes. She seems to be a little cross-eyed. I thought that should have straightened out by now. Oh well, we will see what he says!

Here's hoping today is a good day!

Murphy's Law is in Effect!

Yes...If it can go wrong, it will! As of yesterday, the compressor for our air conditioner was frozen over, the furnace wasn't working, the T1 went down, there were termites searching for a new home in our bathroom (since their old home was disturbed by the stucco removal), Dave's tooth is broken and may need a root canal, one of the two lamps in my kitchen is not functioning, the neighbors are asking way too much for their house to rent (but we will probably do it anyway) and they don't allow pets (what are we going to do with Shayna?), and Jayden threw up all over himself and his carseat and my car yesterday on our way to get pictures taken.

Yep! Fun times around here!

Oh yeah!! And it's RAINING!

Amendment--Not 30 minutes after the original posting of this message, we got a call from our bank. Someone has accessed our online information and stole $19,000. Yes...there is more going wrong still...How much more can the Stahl Family take? Tune in next time with "You're in hell and you can't get out!"

Bang Bang Bang goes the Hammer!

Well, construction did not begin on Monday as planned. Rain poured from the sky for two days before the sun broke through and dried up the air! Bright and early this morning, the crew showed up and now it's "BangBangBang goes the hammer! Crunch crunch crunch goes the stucco!" They are ripping the stucco off the side of the house. I am going to be living in a mess of tarp and mud! :(

Still no answer from the owner of the house next door. We are hoping to rent his house for a couple of months, but we can't seem to get him on the phone. All we have is a voicemail number. He has to be around though. He had workers over there for the last couple of days.

Well, here's to construction! :-)