Sprucing Up The Place...

It's finally begun...


This is the approximate color of the boy's bathroom. Master bedroom, with an accent wall of this color. Boy's Cardinal baseball bedroom. Office and laundry room, but more blue than teal. Second master and playroom, with accents in the playroom of the Cardinal red.

Eric is out right this minute purchasing paint for our master bedroom, the office, the laundry room, the kid's bedroom and bath, the playroom, and the second master! I know it's a lot of work to be done, but I'm totally up for it! My friend Athena came over to look at the house this afternoon because she has an eye for color and design that's out of this world! She gave me a few pointers and we both curled our noses at the horrendous smell of turtle urine in what will be the boy's bedroom, bath, and playroom area.

Apparently, the teen who lived there previously had a turtle in a terrarium and it smells awful! I am going to clean the carpet and if that doesn't get the smell out, we'll have to pull it out and put down laminate, which may be the better option anyway.

Speaking of carpet cleaning, I went over this evening to borrow my sister's steam carpet cleaner. Just as I pulled out of her subdivision, the thing turned over in the back of my Tahoe and I could hear the water sloshing around in it. So, I stopped on the side of the road on the outskirts of Pocola in the dark to go set it back up. When I opened the back hatch, the darn thing rolled right out onto the highway!!!!! Well, I guess it didn't roll, so much as crack, smash, bang...it broke the whole front off of it, the little suctiony vacuum part! I called Eric expecting to be bawled out, and he just said that these things happen. WOW! Is he great or what? I mean, don't get me wrong, he wasn't happy, but he totally took it SSSOOO much better than I thought he would! Now, not only is he purchasing paint, but picking up a new cleaner as well. Don't worry, Sis, it's all good!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I mean duplex, Eric's mother called and I talked to her a bit . I told her about the cleaner incident (that's how we'll refer to it in the future, the "cleaner incident"), and she said to have him tell me about the time he borrowed his aunt and uncle's bbq grill for a graduation party, turned a corner too short, and dumped it out in the middle of the road! I guess we're just a whole family of truck dumpers!

SO MUCH HAPPENING...

Eric and I closed on the house Friday! We are expecting a phone call this evening to go meet with the FORMER owner and get the DL on how to work the sprinkler and alarm systems, etc.

We ventured out with the boys in the terrible weather yesterday to purchase goods for our new home. We are moving our old skinny kitchen set to the "study" for a computer and work area. We ordered a new custom counter height kitchen set with bar stool seating from WoodCo in VanBuren. We will use most of our old kitchen bar stools at the actual bar area in the kitchen...I'm already planning to custom create cushions and whatnot to decorate their dreary old selves! Also, we finally decided to go with Ashley bedroom and living room furniture...can't really afford much else and it's pretty. Will place order this week. And, to top it all off, we ordered our new stainless dishwasher to replace the highly questionable one that nearly cost us the house in the first place! SSSSSOOOOO...I took the boys to Lowe's Thursday and let them pick paint colors for their room and their bathroom. Red (Cardinal) for the baseball bedroom and blue for their Cars bathroom. I hope it turns out the way I've pictured. If not, paint is relatively cheap and I don't mind the work! :0)

This week, I've been obsessing over a new blog I found called the nester, or something like that. Her motto is that it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful, and I plan to use her decorating style in the new house...hope it works as wonderfully as I picture it!

Back to the old grind tomorrow. I can't stand that I still have two more months at KJH! I want school to be over so I can spend more time crafting, creating, and decorating!

At the Fire Station...

I had forgotten that Uncle Matt had invited our boys over to the Pocola Fire Station almost two weeks ago to take a peek at the fire trucks. As you can see, Garrett Jake was terrified that someone was going to turn on the siren or blow the truck horn. A while back, we were downtown crossing a street when a firetruck drove by and blew its horn. Garrett has been upset about firetrucks ever since! The boys had a good time and Erica and I got to take a peek at an old truck Matt had been told once belonged to Papaw that was sitting out back.

South Logan County Health Unit...It's a long post, but worth it...

Well, well, well...

It just so happens that the Logan County Health Dept. is just as questionable as the Sebastian County Health Dept.

I have finally finished all of the necessities in getting Braden prepped for early kindergarten enrollment in April. The last step was taken care of today in Booneville, AR. For any of you who are not familiar with our illustrious health dept. in Fort Smith, it's nearly impossible to get an appointment within a decent time frame, much less actually be provided service within three hours of said scheduled appointment. And it's gross...you all ARE familiar with my phobia of "public" places. Check that...public government sponsored places. Anyway, thanks to a tip from Michael and MaryKate, we learned that the Logan County health dept. is a pretty sure bet for a short wait in a non-crowded waiting room...good thing 'cause it was TINY!

So, the boys and I packed up in the gas-guzzler (AKA Tahoe) and trekked on down to Booneville, location of said health department. Upon arrival to the town I've been to (according to Eric) but don't remember (according to me), I was immediately lost! And, Garrett kept asking me if I was lost...I just admitted that I was and kept driving. The directions on the internet specifically said this place was at the corner of Center and First Streets. So, that's where I went. Know what I found??????? A dead-end road and a trash dump, or a salvage yard...what's the difference, really? SSSSOOOOO....I kept driving, thinking that perhaps I had made a right when I should have made a left, but no. In desperation, I called Eric for the address ("Didn't you check before you left?"). Yes, I checked. I asked Eric for the number, called while frantically staring back at the questionable-looking chaps sitting on a sagging front porch, and it turned out that the address on the internet was wrong!

I was feeling pretty confident when FINALLY I saw the sign for the South Logan County Health Unit...until I saw the house sitting across the street from it with the man who resembled a character from Deliverance sitting out front...amoung his collection of trash and various small farm animals. Creepy. I rushed the children inside, only to find a caucasian female yelling (really, yelling) at her FOUR stair-stepped children! I immediatel nicknamed her "Babymaker" in my mind...saving details for this blog, you know. While I checked in for Braden's immunizations, Babymaker continued her rant to the point that my own sweet babies huddled around my legs, which they seemed to be using as sheilds from the vile rant going on right before their innocent little eyes. Just when I thought I had seen the worst of it, her neighbor (for real, next door neighbor) comes in with a little one on her hip. They talk, chat, laugh...and then Babymaker's boyfriend calls her on the cell phone. Yep, the same cell phone that's supposed to be silenced due to the fact that we happened to be in a public domain. I'm not familiar with the ring tone, but I know for a certainty it had the word "freak" in it...nice. In said phone conversation, Babymaker mentions to Boyfriend the child who is at school who needs to be picked up and brought over. Swear...she's got five kids, one little stair step after the other! ARGH!

At the point of phone disconnect, Neighborlady pipes up about whether or not Boyfriend will be bringing child #5. This is when I decided to really take a good look at Neighborlady...wish I hadn't. Popbottle glasses from the eighties, yellowish teeth, mustache, pink tanktop over flabby arms, and , get this, hair that I promise had not been combed in at least two to three days. It was short and going EV-ER-Y-WHERE!...and not in a cool, punky, chic kind of way either. So, she noticed me looking and I quickly averted my gaze to my two munchkins who decided they HAD to go to the bathroom. Of corurse they did...a bathroom they hadn't been to. It was just too tempting.

So, I got up to reign in the boys when the nurse called for us. Babymaker says, "Ma'am...they're calling you ma'am." Now, this made me very uncomfortable. She was calling me "ma'am" and I had only just arrived, was being seen, and she had been there God only knows how long wrestling her herd of babies. How did that even happen? She should have been first! I guess it takes less time to round up shots for one than it does for five? Whatever the reason, I got that look again...just like at the social security office...like I had no business there because I combed my hair and tucked in my shirt tail! I hate that feeling of reverse descrimination. It could just be me, but maybe not.

At the very least, twenty minutes, arrived and gone, few tears, and one big boy who was so brave he earned McDonald's for lunch! And, I let the boys play for nearly two hours there...it was pouring rain, what else was I going to do? :0) So, we're now officially ready for kindergarten enrollment and I simply can't believe the time has come. WOW!

Post script:
Garrett expounded all the way home from Booneville on his entire plan for avoiding the last round of immunizations he's due next year before enrolling for kindergarten himself in 2010. He was so glad to hear from the nurse it wasn't his turn today, but literally gave her a go to you-know-where look when she mentioned he'd have to go through it all next year!

Much Ado About Nothing Much...

We have just been hangin' in until spring break...finally! It's been hectic trying to plan around the marathon of parent/teacher conferences until 9:15 (ARGH!), t-ball preparations and initial practice, house information and trying to get to the closing date (still not exactly sure when that'll be), and Eric's new plans for minor renovations to the house before we move in for good. My favorite...planning to remove carpet from the master bedroom and put down wood laminate! Pretty!

Anyway, a little funny...

We were in Sam's Club for the THIRD time this week. Braden and I were shopping for Easter outfits for the boys while Eric and Garrett were scoping out cereal bars. When we met up again, Garrett began excitedly showing me the HUGE box of three different types of cereal he'd talked his daddy into purchasing. Eric whispered in his ear to tell me something and this is how it came out...

"I'm coo coo for poo poo cuffs!..." to which I replied..."Coo coo for poo poo, huh?" Very interesting the way things come out sometimes!

First t-ball practice was a hit. That is until Braden came in to the bleachers to sit with me...Coach Daddy didn't know it until he began threatening Braden from afar that if he was too tired to play, he'd go straight to bed when we got home. Braden pretty much went right back. Poor baby, so tired!

OH, and the BIGGEST news of all...

Eric cleaned up vomit!!!!!! Way to go, BD! Garrett got sick around two Friday morning. While I consoled the screaming child, Eric acutally got out the carpet cleaner and just went to it! I love him for that!!!! :0)

FINALLY...

We've got a home! We have been bickering back and forth with the current owners of "our" home ever since I last posted. Eric and I have been really stressed out over homeowners who heartily disagree with the home inspector's decision that the dishwasher not only doesn't work, it doesn't even close! The latch is broken! When we first looked at the house, there was a towel stuffed underneath and the dishwasher itself wasn't attached to the counter...it was just sitting there. Anyway, SEVERAL phone calls between realtors later, we've come to some sort of a compromise that everyone can live with.

We're still looking to close at the end of March and move in over the course of April. Any of you who helped us move last time, rest assured that there won't be NEAR the mess to move this time!!!! :o)

On another note, Eric is holding the first t-ball "practice" at church next week...we're so stressed out and strung out over so many projects and meetings and practices, etc. I also found out this week that I'll not only be travelling to Las Vegas in April, but also Dallas in May. We are totally busy and it just keeps getting worse. So...

keep us in your thoughts and prayers...life is getting way too hectic for me!!!!!

Searching for Furniture...

The family and I were out today browsing the local furniture stores, checking out living room, bedroom, and dinette possibilities. I, personally, am pretty disappointed in what's out there right now. We found a couple of possibilities, but nothing that either of us just fell in love with. The Ashley showroom on Rogers seems to be the best of what we've seen. We also looked at WoodCo in VB, Midland and Goins. If any of you know of somewhere else we can find quality (ie, not cheaply made) furniture, please, let me know!!! We purchased from Tom Bull for our Blackjack Drive home, and have been nothing but disappointed in the Flexsteel recliner...mildly disappointed with the "stainproof" sofa. Again, suggestions appreciated.

"Headshot..."

Each day when I pick up the boys from preschool, I automatically check each folder for the day's news, good or bad. Today, Braden's folder held a somewhat unpleasant suprise...his daily report, under "reiterate at home," stated that his teachers want a "headshot" of his mother! Now, I don't know what little project prompted this request, but it makes me nervous. I don't generally like to have my picture taken and not knowing what's to be done with my headshot makes it worse.

So, I began searching my computer files for available photos and came up with this one from Christmas. I had to edit Eric out (sorry B.D.). I tried several times to bring up the Sony editing software that came on the computer, but it is now saying it's not available. I swear, this computer is probably about to crash. Eric keeps talking about getting an external hard drive...it's time, Hon! Anyway, I gave up after a while and brought up my handy dandy Picasa editing software, courtesy of Google. I think this el chepo (free) software did a fine job, don't you? It even made me look better, which is really saying something! :0)