Another Reason To Dislike :( Utah

So I'm trying yet again to get the kids' grades from their former elementary school in Utah. The school board doesn't have them and apparently the school employees are chilling and not answering the phone. Cause they packet they sent me was filled with useless information. Fun! Not.

So it's cool for a SCHOOL to handwrite grades into files if they don't understand the grading system the district has in place.

And I thought I was now living in redneckville....turns out I moved from there too.

Urgh

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We B Home, Again

So last night we rolled back into home. I tell you, 12 plus hours on the road this time cause of my potty break happy kids. But we are finally home. I loved walking into this place, spacious and no clutter at all. Still doesn't feel quite like home home yet but that will come once I am here more and have really settled in. The past month has been in and out. That said, I came home to a yard that needs mowing again, dang East Texas rain.

Today is finishing up papers on that decisions class for the last time. So ready to be done with it and send in a scathing class review, I have truly hated this class.

That plus laundry equals busy me.

But I did take time this morning to help my eleven year old Princess shave her legs for the first time. Oh my gosh, I was totally against it but Dave was right. It was time. Dang it. Now I'm feeling way old.

Greeeeeeeat. As payment she is making me cookies today, lol. I always win in the end.

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Road Trip 3003

So last night we bowled....today we're bouncing at a jumper place and hanging at the park. Tomorrow it's another day on the road, sigh....my goal is to make it home in time to soak in the tub and crash before dark.

So I'm working on travel options here, we could go one way and it's 13 plus hours (according to google) or another way is 11 hours but I know I can shave a little time around Dallas cause I figured out a short cut.

But the best part.....Princess' best friend from Oootah is in Texas visiting her daddy and I really thought I'd have stop in Dallas for a couple hours so these girls could meet up. Honestly, this is a great kid and one I was very pleased to let my kid hang out with. But turns out they actually live an hour/half from us so I'm just gonna wait till Tuesday and go pick her up for a playdate with us. Less travel drama for me and Princess will get her playtime. Gotta remember to get lots of pics!!!!

But otherwise, we're cleaning his rv and packing up so we can head out when the rooster crows in the morning. I'm ready for my tub and my bed. Cause it's freaking hot up here in the panhandle of Texas, I miss the coastal breezes. And Murphy misses his king sized bed.

On the road all day tomorrow, travel mercies for us please.

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I Miss My Bed

My back is killing me but I'm ignoring it cause I do so love to snuggle up next to my guy at night. Even though Murphy and me took all the blanket and left him freezing under the "H4G fixed ac". While I don't miss living in this rv, it's so nice to be with him. Now I can't wait for him to be home for awhile. He hasn't actually been in the house since I finished putting everything away. It's going to be a treat for him, for sure. Plus there is the matter of a "honey-do" list I have put together since he refuses to let me get some tools out of his toolbox to take home. Dang, thought I'd slip that by him but no such luck.

Wish me luck, we're bowling tonight and then old fashioned skating at a local link. I'm a little paranoid that I'm gonna break something. Pray for me please.

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BFE

So we took off for a few days to see my dearest hubby who is currently working in BFE northern Texas. When I say BFE I do mean it, I drove for like an hour past a town into what appears to be the middle of nowhere in a shanty town kind of place. If this were the wild west this place would have tumbleweeds blowing through it and a few dead looking guys asleep up against a saloon. Mr. GPS and I didn't agree on the drive so I managed to cut 3 hours off the trip going my way via an atlas. Really, the use of an atlas is a lost art. I love an atlas. And when I forget any of the 3 I own????? I love my mom sitting in front of hers, guiding me through, as she totally speaks my travel language... which includes sentences like: look past "town" and find this tiny little farm road, yeah no not that one, another one....starts with a 5 I think...yeah that one, it'll route me around traffic.

So we make it here and we got to see him for 30 minutes last night before I fell into a coma. Poor guy is a little flustered having us and Murphy with him though because between digging through all this crap we travel with trying to get ready for work and taking Murphy outside before he leaves, he managed to leave his sandwich in the fridge, he'll be starving tonight.

So we're resting today and then tomorrow we're driving a ways into a real town to watch a movie and do some tourist stuff. Fun!

However, it's worth it cause we get to hang with our guy. Who hopefully in a few weeks will have a couple weeks off before traveling to the next jobsite. Luckily these are quick turn around jobs so he'll have some time down. What a blessing.

I got to sleep a little and then it happened... we woke up in this little town with an average temperature of 100 and Satan and the rv ac seized up. I suffered for about an hour before I used a fork to disassemble the ac unit and got a hairdryer out. I can't deal with sweating to death inside, it's different out of doors.

So I'm gonna go work on my explanation to Dave about why there are metal boxes and cords hanging from hole in the ceiling. Opps....

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Really...Someone should step in

So today I was a productive little bugger. I got up early and took my baby boy off to the groomers cause he was a nasty little hairy thing. Seriously starting to look like the wolf boy! So since I was up, I went on down to the local courthouse to renew our tags and lo-behold turned out that half of the better citizens of the area was there too. After driving around and around for half an hour, I finally squeezed into a far parking spot and then after a very brisk walk with my kiddos and one stuffed bear (Mr. Teddy) we approached the security setup. Duchess was so impressed to go through a metal detector while Mr. Teddy road through the xray machine. Considering how utterly packed the parking lot was and with people coming and going with a bunch of papers, I thought it'd have a line at the security but nope....turns out it was arraignment day for all alleged criminal matters both small and large. The place was packed but strangely vehicle registration was empty for once. Yeah me.... the only good thing about not being able to take a licensed gun into a courthouse in this instance was the knowledge that all the other people couldn't possibly bring theirs in too....relief!

So before 10 am, I had accomplished so much of my daily goals that I treated myself to a yummy (Princess is mastering GF baking so I'm eatting like a queen around here). Except I ran into a little problem....

My dang big arse yard is growing too fast thanks to all the rain around here. Well crap. Since I don't have a shed to park a lawnmower in, I haven't bought a lawnmower (did you know that you have to put those things together?????? they come in a box....geez, lazy manufacturers). And since I couldn't get any lawn guys out to give me a quote, I finally got desperate and borrowed my sweet neighbor lady's mower. I was gonna do it myself.

So she pushed it over to me and I walked out the back door....and had to really put on my "good Sunday southern girl" face because oh my gawd, I'm pretty sure the mower in question was used by Moses on the deck of the Ark. The back wheels are three times the size of the front wheels, it apparently was of the "push" variety that must have been way before propelled mowers because all the rage and to turn it off I had to use my shoe to disconnect the spark plug (learned that the hard way after the bastard shocked me).

I have an acre of a yard people. I haven't sweated that much since giving birth to a kid who was determined to stay where it was warm and dark. Good grief. This is where I point out that I'm not afraid of hard work....I grew up mowing our yard, picking veggies in the garden, and generally helping my mother keep things standing (helluva woman, my mother)....but Dave has always taken care of the man stuff. This probably explains why he locked all the tools up in his toolbox and took them with him on the road. He left me a freaking RUBBER MALLET instead of an actual hammer and no drill. But I got this...... I can do anything I put my mind to, so here I went.

I mowed the damn yard and with help from Princess thankfully didn't kill myself but I really tried. Nope, not kidding. I started this with high hopes, my ipod and some comfy shoes. But the shoes started rubbing a blister, and this was after a rock popped back and cut the back of my heel. So I had Princess do a few laps while I switched into flip flops. That worked while I mowed the deep arse ditches but it went badly for me when I hit a huge patch of fireant hills. They ate my self up. And when I went running, screaming across the damn yard heading for the hose to wash my feet off....that dang mower kept running, cause you know...spark plug. So then I got smart and pulled on some knee high rubber boots. I started mowing again just to have three cars stop in the middle of the street in front of my house just to stare at how utterly ridiculous I looked out there....one old lady actually got her glasses out to get a better look. But I got a good stride and although I thought I was losing feeling in my legs at one point I managed to work through the pain. Princess and I got done and sat on the steps, dazed stupid and too tired to lift our arms to actually open the door.

And turns out it wasn't sweat pooling up in my right rubber boot, it was blood from my heel. Frankly it was gross and I thew up a little in my mouth. But all in all, I did good. I got the yard looking fabo amazing and Princess/I got our exercise.

And as soon as Dave called, we began the delicate process of demanding a riding freaking lawnmower.

Cause frankly, I'm too damn delicate for this kind of work.

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Here I go......

So last night I saw 3 a.m. and still didn't get finished with all the schoolwork for this week. I'm finishing up today and I must say that I will never ever do 4 classes evah again...Amen.

It's to the point now where my butt has a hard chair indention from sitting at this dining room table. Good God, I must tell you how sick I am about sitting here working on this dang stuff.

I'm slowly going insane.

What fun, and I'm slowly but surely burning out on this stupid decisions class. I personally can't wait to get that end of course review!!!!!

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The New House....part 2

So see, I can totally follow through. I charged my battery and here you go, the rest of the pics. Minus things like the laundry room, the big ole long hall, the attic, and the empty front hall because I have nothing to put in there. Fun times. So here you go, a peek into what has taken me forever to accomplish....

So this is the master bathroom, it's a long corridor thingy with two closets and an alcove at one end, and since the other two look similar, well I'm too lazy to go take pics.

So the look for the new house is "minimal clutter", and since before we put everything into storage last winter, we gifted alot of our stuff to others I'm running a little short on some things. Like surfaces to put things........Dave must have seen this as his one chance to whittle down some of my tables, cause I had a ton and it wasn't until this week that I finally noticed they were all gone. Hmmm, obviously I'm a sharp tack. And since it was evening when these were taken, please notice Murphy and Princess laying like broccoli after having a long day of work.

And another note: Jeromes' furniture of California is STILL my favorite furniture store evah because I bought these couches when I was pregnant with Duchess who is now 7.5 years old peeps. These are some seriously rocking quality couches. I seriously hope I still have them when I retire. Love them.

Pretty empty corner which needs a table, reading lamp and something....but for now will have what we call the baby rocker, our first brand new piece of furniture after we found out we were gonna be parents. And the entry wall into the front hall holds my lovely little armoire that is FULL of other pottery and such cause I have no where to put it. Hi Duchess, hiding in the hall.

Princess got a bigger girl room. Looks better in person than pics but we gave up all our black IKEA furniture and spray painted her bed so that was the extent of my help. The rest of this room was all her. I kept my hands off. Although she gave me a list of things she needs: rug, artwork, different curtains.......OKay....

The other side of her room. Kid has her own walk in closet... it's almost as big as mine. I'm not sure that is a good thing.

Other than a new desk chair, Duchess is complete. Pink and purple paradise......frankly since she is at the very end of the house her room get SOOOO much sunlight that between the light and the bright colors, it hurts my eyes to go in there. Get a good look cause I doubt we'll see it this clean ever again.

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The New House...part 1

Part 1 cause my battery just died on my camera so opps..... meet my favorite area of the new house....big arse kitchen. I love the floor, the counters, the amazingly large prep space.

Still not sure where to put all my appliances so this is kitchen set up #1, I'm sure by the time I hit set up #75 I'll have it just perfect. As you can tell, I got the whole Louisiana decor going on in there....

And cause I keep it so real around here, here's my messy cluttered dining room. I'll get that cleaned up real soon.

Oh pumpkin, there's mommy's boy.........

Livingroom although I have yet to replace the tiles on the coffee table that broke in the move so it's not complete. Plus, Dave gave AWAY all my little tables so I have nowhere to put my drinks now, I'm on the look out...

So this is part 1 while I charge my camera battery so I can spit out the rest of the pics. Once took 2 weeks to get everything completely unpacked and put away. Whew, I'm exhausted!

So there are decorating gaps and such for now but I'm working on it all........just not in any hurry, lol.

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Gasp....

I love me some True Blood:

"I will not die because of your shitty girlfriend and a Mississippi pothole!"

which is even better than:

"She's a f-ing diaster, we could be twins."

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Warning, Warning

I'm getting bored.

This is usually the start of bad things to come. Seriously, it's not good when I get bored. And it's not like I don't have a million and one things to do, still bored.

This is my first summer not working since I was 16. Now granted I took some time off after each baby was born and whenever we were transferred it was always a month or so before I found the perfecto job so it's not like there haven't been times when I wasn't working. But this is different, the husband now makes it to where I don't have to work but I keep thinking about it. I really should just shut up at this point, cause honestly like I don't have enough to do with keeping apts and running the kids here and there.

I think if I could get a bead on this house it'd be different. I'm dragging my feet. Honestly I think it's because I done got spoilt and miss Dave. Another is that actually decorating a new place always makes me crazy cause this crap doesn't come natural to me.

So in an attempt to chase the boredom away, I started doing projects. I refinished a wood painting I found at an antique mall and changed it from a god awful rooster scene to a chalkboard for my kitchen with a really cool frame. I'm put my library up in my bedroom which really makes me happy, I love my friends (I mean my books, opps). I've sketched out two paintings I want to work on this week as soon as I find my paints (closet maybe? attic?).

But it's the other things that are bothering me...I need an outside shed and since I'm cheap and miserly I caught myself actually googling it, looking up directions online and even printing them. It was when I was attempting to do the math on the amount of wood needed that I realized how utterly outthere this is.

I am not a builder. I paint, canvases (that aren't that good) and my toenails....not buildings. I have a hammer and a small socket set because my husband locked all the major tools up in his toolbox and took them with him.....cause he needed them? NOPE, pretty sure he did it so I couldn't maim myself while he is gone. Yet, here I was seriously considering how I needed a small table saw to build this dang shed.

This is the part where me being bored = stupid.

So yeah, talking sense into self is really hard, especially when self is as gunho as I am when I get my head wrapped around an idea. And frankly, I hope Dave doesn't read this post cause he'll promptly order me a freaking shed off the internet and have it delievered and then I'll see the bill and pass out.

It's a cute idea that one of my bff's could totally do on her own (ohhh maybe she'll come help me....) but me... um no, I busted a fingernail with a hammer trying to build bookshelves from a stupid kit.

This is the same thinking that gets me into all sorts of trouble and then Dave has to a. rescue me, b. finish the project, c. red0 the entire project, or d. all the above.....so no shed for me.

Now that the shed thing is completely and honestly dealt with, could someone please talk me out of redoing my coffee table on my own.......cause the marble tiles broke in the move and it needs to be retiled and I sliced open my thumb today trying to get all the old ones off so I could prep the board for new tiles. Which I haven't bought yet.

I'm obviously a danger to myself, lol. Dave is probably hearing angels sing right now cause I have never admitted that outloud or in writing....lol

But seriously, how hard it is to redo a coffee table, right?

Maybe I should just start on that flower bed.....

Or I could just go ahead and quit stalling and deal with hanging all my house decor myself, lol.

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There is No Excuse...

For my behavior....I'm a former military wife...this house should have been ship shape a week ago. I am digusted with myself.

So what do I do.......go buy bookshelves I have to put together (hello Target $26 book shelves on sale, yes) and then watch Girls Just Want To Have Fun instead of putting them together.

At least I hung one shower curtain today, once I get hangers for the other it'll be up too.

I'm exhausting myself just thinking about my to-do list here.

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Dear Satan:

Just because I finally got my kitchen unpacked and all my recipes out and ready does not mean I was ready to bake blueberry cobbler, cookies, and ribs tonight.

I blame you

Be gone devil and take any potential weight gain with you

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No Way

Unpacking pictures I came across our engagement photo. Taken a long freaking time ago before Dave headed off to bootcamp. My kids freaked out, lol. I kinda did too..........

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Hello Texas

So I wanted to move back home closer to seasons, real weather, and trees...oh the beautiful trees. But man oh man, I totally forgot about the rain.

You see in Utah and California rain was more of a large sneeze.

And then I get here and it's real rain. Good lord, rain!

Interestingly enough, since I noted that it's rained for about 3 days straight. I need a canoe for my yard and now I totally remember why you have 3 foot ditches along your property.

I finally broke down and bought an umbrella.

I love Texas.

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It Really Gets Interesting Around Here....

So we found our great house in Texas. We picked out the perfect school for the kiddos. And I got all our stuff moved here to the little South East Texas town we love and it happened.

The company Dave went to work for showed their true colors.

And frankly that is a problem that had to be dealth with immediately; see Dave has a moral code that he won't budge on and when push came to shove....he resigned.

And I've never been prouder. And God truly listens to the prayers of his children because the morning before he resigned, the phone rang.

He was offered a job with his old company in the Cadellac division. Before he worked for the Ford division apparently, but this company was something he was to proud of. He enjoyed the heck out of the work and frankly he had respect for the people who run it.

So he's on the road working again, except this time it's shorter more intense projects and he just a few hours away instead of states.

I'm so excited because he's happy and he's in a good place.

And even though it is amazing to me that we have done a 180 turn here, it feels right.

So here we are, in a similiar but very different situation. Except now, we will go for long weekend visits and he'll be home for weeks or a month at a time. This works well for me considering that while he's working, he's really working....I absolutely love how my guy goes out there and gets the bacon...he busts his butt for us constantly with his eye on the prize.

Frankly, it feels good. So I'm working on setting this house up and getting things moving along here. Getting the kids' settled here and ready for school. And as usual, I'm plugging away at my degree, which will hopefully finally be finished in Jan/Feb timeframe.

Which considering I've applied to school for my masters it's a good thing.

I think I'm addicted.

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Road Trip 3002

So I flew last week into SLC to go about the process of moving my household goodies. Dave was absolutely tied up with his new company so it was up to me. Since the babies were already scheduled for church camp with their grandparents it was time for me to move and move quick.

So I flew into SLC (I think I said that already didn't I?) But stupid me booked myself on the 6ish am flight and driving from the lake is a several hour trip so I didn't get myself any sleep at all. But the real drama came when my frugal nature had an argument with my packing choices.

You see, you have to pay for luggage checked now. Are you kidding me? Like these people aren't ripping the crap out of us already....I digress, sorry. So I realized that I couldn't check both my gun and my clothing considering my carryon was my laptop bag containing all the homework I needed to accomplish during the move.

So what would any good southern girl do?

I went with the gun.

And flew to SLC with my checked gun and no clothes.

Because honestly, I wouldn't be caught dead without my gun during a cross country move. There is no way on earth I was willing to do that.

So I was going naked.

I had the clothes on my back and that's it.

(Thank you mother for loaning me clothes and taking me for shorts/shirts!)

So I was sleeping walking at the point Dave dropped me off at the airport at 4 am. And since noone was working yet, I carried my gun safe upstairs to ask someone in security how to check it since the regulations constantly change.

The sleepy TSA guy smiled so sweet at the security checkpoint and asked what I was carrying, when I said handgun, he freaked. OMGawd did he freak. He yelled at me that I wasn't allowed to bring a gun upstairs and all the TSA people at the checkpoint got a nice little wakeup as I screamed back at him that I didn't know and how the hell was I to ask when nobody was downstairs but the guy cleaning the floors who didn't speak English.....it was entertaining to say the least.

They calmed down when I flipped it upside down and shook it to show them it was all safely locked up and promised them it was unloaded then directed me to where I needed to go and get it checked.

So finally I got my gun checked and loaded onto the plane. I refused to give up my aisle seat to a grumpy arse lady and then got a look that promptly told me she hoped I fried in hell....I smiled and gave her a thumbs up cause I believe in sharing the love.

Laying over in Denver was fun, especially when I realized that they had a smoking lounge. Hello, then after a couple smokes and a coke I realize I have 10 minutes to make it 10 gates or the plane would leave without me.

Turns out, I should really wear my glasses in situations like this. Turns out I got in at gate 31 and flew out of 91.....why did I read that as gate 41? Interesting. So yeah, I ran and I ran like a bad guy in the movies, taking out little old ladies with my laptop bag, hopped over several carry ons left in the aisle while their owners ordered lattes (really could have used a latte at this point) and finally because I can not lie, I rounded a corner and ran smack into a pilot who was apparently running late too cause we went down like two freight trains meeting in a tunnel. OMGawd....this wouldn't be quite so bad except he was like old and little and I totally was horrible and jumped off taking off leaving him in the middle of the corridor, cause I suck. Sorry little pilot man, I was late...........really really late and I suck.

I made it to the plane and boarded last. Figures. Then realized my seat was the last row, aisle seat on a small plane.

Like small as in "pack of gum with wings".

Seat didn't recline and my seat mate was apparently a BYU football player. Huge young guy.

So I get settled and then promptly turn to mr. football man and told him in my best stern mother voice that he was in my seat and frankly I paid for my WHOLE seat so he needed to hug the window and put the armrest down.

He balked. So I gave him the look and then before I could speak a very sweet adorable flight attendent totally put him in his place, quoting the FAA regulations for the armrest. So I got my seat and football man went to sleep, only drooling a little. I really envy people who can totally put themselves to sleep asap like that.

Anywho, so we get settled and then the little adorable flight attentant guy totally put the seat down and snuggled up to me. Cause you see, the flight attentent seat was a fold down from the back of the bathroom door making the last row actually 5 seats wide. And after I caught him reading the new Janet Evanovich over my shoulder, he introduced himself and announced that he was my new gay. I was thrilled, we shared my book, ate M&M's, talked shoes and promptly had us a great time the whole flight. It was a fab time and got my mind off the wildly small plane.

I landed in SLC and there was my amazingly great bestest friend in the world to welcome me back to hell. Looking like a million bucks since we both left our old company, I was so excited to have some girl time.

We had a great lunch, we totally acted up and talked about everything under the sun. We looked at shoes. We went to the gun range and blew the other girls away cause we some serious pistol packing mommas. Then we went shopping somewhere that I swore I won't put on my blog....but it was her idea and I didn't buy a thing, thank you very much. Almost, but didn't. And when she dropped me off to my momma and daddy, I was so glad to catch up.

Then at 7 pm I shut down and literally fell asleep in a blink which is so not me. I slept for 12 straight hours too, which is also not me.

The next day was all packing.

My daddy picked up our truck. My momma and I loaded all my house from that storage unit into that Penske truck in 4 hours. The three pieces we couldn't move wound up being the easiest when their friend showed up with a truck that had a hydrolic lift. OMGawd, I gotta buy one of them things. Awesome!

So when it was all said and done, Daddy and I pulled out of SLC less than 48 hours after I arrived driving the Penske truck to Texas.

Step 1 was complete.

And you might have wondered why I didn't make time to blog....cause we all know I blog just about everything. lol

Step 2 tomorrow, my fingers are tired.

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Oh Boy...

Where to start? Um we camped out in our new Texas house. I sent my Princess to church camp, got her home. 4th of July at the lake, ate a 10 lb catfish that my girl caught all by herself. Left kids at lake to go to another church camp with Grandma and Pappy while I flew to SLC. Mom and I packed up my Penske truck in 4 hours....took 2 weeks to put it into storage and 4 hours of some cajun sweat to move it to a truck, we rock. Daddy and I drove it to Texas. Daddy flew home. Unloaded truck. Working on setting up new house. Dave changed companies. In Ok heading to pick up girls and bring them home.

I'm exhausted.

More to come, with pics.........

Hang in there with me.

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Hang In There With Me

Heading to lake for weekend...family time, drop kids off for week of church camp time...then I'm flying to Ooootah to get my poop and drive it back with my fabulous-o daddy who is coming to help me drive a big arse uhaul truck. I'll be out of hand for about a week. Then I'll have pics, news and gossip. Hugs.

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Internet, House Stuff and What Exactly Is A Best Friend?

Liftoff.....I have internet peeps. In the new house. Beware!

Also while internet man was bringing that blessing, the UPS delievered my "incredibly cheap, luxury bedding" I got for my new bed from that little internet secret place where I get all my linens extremely cheap. Oh it was a glorious moment. I have the curtains hung (cause I didn't get matching curtains last time and could never find the right ones to match) and the bedspread smoothed out, it looks very bed and breakfast in there right now.

But the highlight of my day came while working on a paper for school while listening to Sex and The City on disc in my computer this morning. Anyone watched session 2 lately? Cause honestly, if you want to know the meaning of "What Exactly is a Best Friend?" you need to experience this moment.

This is a girls' blog and I keep it real, so I have to tell you....after this overheard conversation between my 4 fav girls, I totally shouted out loud...

"That is what a best friend is all about"!!!!!!!

Carrie: I need help, it's embarrassing but I got a new diaphragm and it's stuck. Now listen, I'm either gonna have to make an emergency visit to my gynecologist or one of you is gonna have to give me a hand.

Samantha: (pointing to the bathroom) GO! .... And I just had my nails done......(sigh)....you are so buying me dinner.

So peeps, I know it's a little personal but can you count the number of friends who'd slug back a martini and then go after a stuck diaphragm for you? Those are your true friends.....call one of them up and tell'em you love'em and you'd help a girl out too.

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Boonies

So one draw back to living in the boonies, no internet.

Working on getting internet, but noone down here seems to be in a hurry.....for anything.

So I'm hiding out in the old rv park's shower room plugged into their internet and electric to charge my laptop and post my school stuff....and facebook surf. Turns out sitting at Barnes & Nobles for 3 hours doing school will bleed your laptop dead.

Dang......

Be back as soon as I get air, I mean wifi..

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Hello Little Town

Oh what is a girl to do when it's raining and Murphy is hiding in her lap, Duchess is still snoozing and Princess isn't due home from church camp till this afternoon.......

Why she should catch up on True Blood and Hawthorne episodes online.....of course.

That aside I've been up to my eyeballs in crazy around here these days.

We got our rental house.

Then I made arrangements to fly up and get my household goodies out of storage in Oootah.

Then I realized that I blessed a good family friend with my 10 year old bedroom suite that I absolutely loved but Dave said was on it's last legs. Oh it was a beaut. Honey wood, gracious me alive that bed was beautiful, wrought iron and 4 posters. It was a birthday present from Dave a bout a million years ago and had been through about a million military moves.

So Duchess and I made hay while the sun shined and after a million and one furniture stores, I finally did the smart thing. I asked my hairdresser, Lance, where to find a good bed and not bleed money. So there we went and there it was.

A big ole beautiful king sized all wood, Ashley sleigh bed on clearance being the last one in the store. It was insane that it was still on the floor, but once I left the store it was sold baby sold.

So we got it all delivered yesterday and set up in the new house. The bed is gorgeous and even more so because it was so dang cheap....but seriously I am in love with the new bed. I surprised Dave by taking him over after work to see the new bed, put together, in the new room, in the new house. And he promptly took off his shoes and tried to take a nap. Now he's pushing to have us move in asap. He's ready for that bed.

I'm ready for the showers, baths, 3 toliets, and yeah the bed.

However, it's the kitchen that has been featured in several dreams. You see, it's massive...seriously massive. Countertops for days. A dishwasher and all the usual kitchen stuff.

So after our house "visit" last night, we tried out our new neighborhood's super walmart. And I realized that I'd left my old must have square plates that I just had to have with my renter at the old house cause frankly they were a pain in the butt to wash and basically live with. So at the new house I would be living with more paper plates, plastic cups and utensils. I did what any sensible woman would do, I purchased a walmart set of plates. And man oh man, it become the biggest conversation and debate Dave and I have had in weeks. We swiftly agreed on the fabulous white, thick, 50's style diner dish set for 19.99 and then we talked about how much we've progressed from "buying it cause we can" to now, being uber frugal and cautious with our spending, just because we want to.

Overall, I have to say I absolutely was worried about how this new move would turn out for us. Except, it's shown me that we can still be somewhat normal, putting ourselves back into society without conforming to everyone else's standards.

This weekend, starting a move in on the new place........then on the 5th I'll be going up to Utah to drag my stuff back and people.....it's gonna get crazy after that, trying to set up house.

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Whew, Finally Get A Breath

I've been running nintey to nothing for weeks now. Finally this afternoon, I've been able to sit back and take a deep breath. Dear Lord but has my summer been insane. As Duchess says, "I'm so glad your home all the time to take care of me..." Good night, how do mom's stay at home and get all this done. I've juggled parenting, work, and marriage for years now. This is the first summer I've had off with my kids and I have never been busy!

Princess is now knee deep in youth at our new church. She is going to weekly summer youth camp and today right after church left for a 5 day spirit filled youth camp past Houston. Today for the first time in our Sunday morning service, I saw my kid (sitting with the youth group) raise her hands to the Lord during a praise and worship song. I teared up and was weeping like an old lady watching my baby interacting with the Lord. What an amazing moment for a mommy!

So youth camp each day includes devotional, music lessons (this week was trumpets), community and/or church service and then they spend time helping the youngsters with their devotionals. The confidence and maturity is already blooming in my pre-teen. I love seeing her so happy. I don't think I realized how much of a social butterfly Princess is.

Duchess spends her day helping me with errands and has special playtime when Mommy is at the gym.

Both kids were the driving force in our finding a house here locally. Since we're not traveling with Dave's new job, the kids and I were having a hard time justifying the rv. And people, we needed more than one bathroom.

We are so blessed. We got an amazing place down here. It's simple, out in the country on the edge of a fantastic little town. We were so worried about how we would manage this new move. We were anticipating being on the road for a year and a half. Six months into this, the Lord had other plans. And here we are.

The first person to call on a house listed with no pics, the first to see this little gem and even though he is working 70 hour weeks my sweet, dear Dave made the time to go see it the same night. We called and told them it was ours. We're leasing it, considering we have our house in Utah under lease to a renter. We signed the lease and paid our monies yesterday. It's fantastic and it's ours.

Best of all, it's in a great school district so now we don't have to put our kids into private school. When we began broaching the idea of settling down, Dave was insistent on the kids going into a private Christian school. I would work to pay the tuition and we'd settle down. The areas we looked over never felt right. Until this house in the country and this small flourishing school district. Now, I can work parttime eventually to stay busy and the kids can get back involved in a school, making friends. My sweet babies are chomping at the bit. We didn't realize just how much they missed it. You know it, it being normal life....

But while we're settling in, we're doing it our way. I have found that carving our own path is much better for us in the long run.

So I have to get plans made to return to Utah for our household goods, get my kids to their final summer camp in July and get our happy butts settled into a real live house....a house with 3 bathrooms........love me some bathrooms....

And now I have a ton of school to catch up on...

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A Different Way of Life

We are listening. And we are stepping out on faith......

Tonight, I'm going to sign a lease on a Texas house.

It's in a very very small country town, 10 minutes from the big city and 30 miles from Dave's work.

It's got a fabo school district.

It's got a HUGE yard.

It speaks to the part of my soul that has been longing for simpler times and getting back to basics.

HUGE change.

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Round the Corner

So here we are again, leaning over the edge wondering where to go from here.

So once his contract ended and he got his new safety manager job, it has become very apparent that this is a long term permanent local thing.

We've joined our local church, got the kids involved in youth/kids activities and joined the local gym.

Now we're pondering whether to strike out and find us a rental house since we have our house in Utah rented. RV living is cool when you travel but not so cool when you're staying put in one area for a long time.

Cautiously dipping our toes in the water, we're scouting the local area. But mainly, we're waiting on the Lord. We walk on faith around here peeps.

And tomorrow I'll fill ya in on all family stuff we gots going on down here in the God's Country as they call Texas.

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