I know I haven't blogged in a while, but looking at my last post, that is seriously old news.
So an update on what has happened since we last sold our house. Everytime I even think about complaining about this or that, such as the massive heart attack I have everytime an enormous bug, such as a spider, cockroach or cricket jumps out of my cupboards, I just have to remember, we are lucky, we sold our house!
We moved from our house that I miss dearly, back in April. That was sad. The kids were sad, Aric and I were sad, but to be honest I didn't have time to mourn for my house until after we moved to Oklahoma. There was work to be done, and I had to do it. Patching the walls, cleaning, the floors, remembering how my husband painstakinly transformed the backyard from a terribly slopped wast of space into this beautiful retreat where we watched the stars and roasted marshmallows. A home where Brecklen grew up from a tiny toddler into an amazing boy I am proud to call my own, our girls were born there, and grew up, all the playdates at the "castle" where superman whould be the hero, or spiderman would save the day. The many princesses who were saved from the "highest tower", the many times I was called down by shreeks from children only to be met by giggles and laughter by young children who would point at the spider painted on the wall. The many long, cold winter days spent in our warm sauna taken away from the land of freezing cold air into an oasis. The many times our kids have spent in that sauna which their breathing problems that kept me up all night sick with worry. So many memories, great and small, good and not so good. Such a wonderful house that I wish I could take pieces of it with me, like my beautiful AC that works so well. I could use it here in Oklahoma in the 110 degree heat. On the day we left our house forever, my little one, Madelyn, said "I miss our house." I miss it too, so many wonderful memories. Thank you to all my friends and familiy who helped create those memories. I will mis the playdates especially. My kids were never bored, but when friends were over, there was constantly some fun taking place and that mad me so happy.
But alas, we knew our time in Rochester would end after 6 years in Minnesota. Living in an apartment our last two months in Rochester was different. My kids adjusted well, and we all looked forward to moving to Oklahoma even more, to be somewhere more permanent. Althought we knew we would miss our friends dearly.
So here we are, in Oklahoma city. It has been over a 100 degrees, mostly closer to 110, but it is slowly cooling down to low 100's, and hopefully cooler in the near future. It is funny how I spent all winter cooped up in our warm house, and know as we left Minnesota at the most beautiful time of year, to having those same feelings and thoughts of "when can we go outside?" here in the heat of Oklahoma.
The kids had a very short summer, School started August 1st. I am selfish in thinking that I don't want summer to end, because I am not ready for it to end. I am not ready to get up at 6:30 every morning, I love my sleep. I am very much a night owl and LOVE to stay up late. These early mornings are killing me, but We have all adjusted to going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. I do look forward to sleeping in on saturday, but since my kids like to still get up early, even my saturday morning sleep is being taken away from me. Breck started 2nd grade, and my Hannah started Kindergarten. Both have done beautifully with their transition to Oklahoma, and seem to enjoy their school and are making friends. It was news to me when we moved here, and 3 weeks later to start school that they would not be in the school district that i was intending. But their school startes August first, and they have to wear uniforms, and Hannah will have all day kindergarten. They were pretty tired from the first couple of days, with it being over 110 outside, and no AC inside because of some remodelling. They would come home sweaty and red-cheeked, and crash when it was time for bed. i was pretty hesisitant when I dropped off Hannah in her classroom on the first day to leave her. Her classroom was sweltering, but the kids can't go outside to play because it's too hot, they can't eat in the cafeteria, because it' too hot. So what did they do all day? They stayed in their classroms from 8-3. Yup, they ate lunch in their class,and they didn't have recess. Those teachers are saints for putting up with these kids in those conditions. For about two weeks this was the way it was. Now they have AC and can go outside to play for short periods of time. Bless their teachers' hearts. I am sure that was not easy, yet they all did it with a smile! I was not certainly as graceful about it. Our AC has not working well, it was on average 87 degrees downstairs, and 90-91 upstairs where we sleep. I was not doing well, the heat triggered my migraines big time, and I was miserable, sick, nauseous, and even threw up to the point I took a prego test just to be certain there was no little Murphy on the way. I am happy to report I am not pregnant, and am just fine with that! Finally putting up with the heat for 2 weeks Aric hunted down a window AC for the upstairs (a very hot commodity, and out of stock at every home improvement store), and since then it's been a cool 75 upstairs, and my migraines have mellowed out. Note to self- my head does not like heat.
Our favorite activity in Oklahoma city is swimming. That is pretty much the only time we step outside except for the walk to the bus stop. Hannah is a great swimmer now, and Madelyn learned to swim after being here one month. So, my 2 year old can swim on her own, but yet she refuses to be potty trained. Go figure. Madelyn sees Brecklen and Hannah swimming all over, and naturally wants to do what they do. She is a very determined 2 y.o. and is stubborn and fiesty like her older sister.
Aric is loving his fellowship getting to continue to do oral surgery and expand his scope of practice to craniofacial, and cleft surgery. The Very highly known and well recognized Doctor Smith he trains under does more Clefts than anyone in the country, and He is such a down to earth, humble man. He invited our family out to his vineyard a few weeks ago to pick grapes. It goes against my philosophy of having to get up early, but I was excited to meet Dr. Smith, and for my kids to see what harvesting grapes is all about. One of our family's favorite activities in the fall is picking fresh apples, but not just any apples, the Honeycrisp apple. I miss honeycrisp apples and this grape picking was able to fill my nostalgic quota of picking fruit. So here we are at 7 in the morning already hot at blazes, picking grapes. The kids enjoyed that, and the fact that they got to see how grape juice is made, and then fermented and turned to wine. Quite an interesting process to see.
We are loving Oklahoma so far. I think I love it because I have never seen my husband so much since he started Dental school in Indiana. Our family has sadly never had so much time together as we do now, and I LOVE it. I may not have any friends, but I get to see my husband. I am sure all of that will change once i have written this, because that's just the way things go. But for now, it"s nice to enjoy our time together. Having seen him like 5 or 6 weekends in a row now is a miracle. Surely makes the weeks go by faster, and I actually look forward to the weekends. Aric and the kids are heavily engrossed with playing legos. Our entire livingroom is covered ith them. There are piles of lego people, and piles of green bricks, and brown bricks, now that we have acquired a blue lego base, it will only expand the lego building out to sea.
I'll have to post some pictures soon about the past little while, But a few days ago Breck celebrated his 8th birthday. We partied all weekend, and had lots of fun. We went to a restraunt for dinner that was called Nhinja sushi and we all loved it. Such a cute, clean fun japanese/chinese restraurant. The perfect place to celebrate for our little ninja.
As I was tidying up Breck's room to put up streamers and trash it again with balloons, paper and such, I found Breck's old school folders that his teacher sent home on the last day of First grade. It almost made me cry. Sweet friends who wrote notes to Breck about how they will miss him, and cute pictures of them playing togther. I dearly miss my kids' friends.
Madelyn's birthday comes up next month, and I can't believe my baby will be 3! It's just not right. She's certainly not a baby anymore. That's all to share at the moment.Stay tuned for more, hopfully the wait won't be so long as before. Happy summer to all.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Home
We Accepted an offer last night on our house!!!!
I could not be more thrilled. Besides marrying my husband and the birth of our children, this the happiest moment in my life!! Although it only took 6 weeks to sell, this has been the craziest and most stressful 6 weeks of my life. I hope to not sell a house too many more times in my life. I'm not cut out for it. I did not enjoy having to make my house spotless every time I left the house. And I am sure that my children will be thrilled to have their mother back, instead of this possessed women who would freak out if they made even the tiniest mess.
Although I would have to say that this has taught my kids to help out around the house and put away their stuff. And this experience has taught me that I have too much stuff and I have felt much more at peace knowing my house was clutter free and that I could have people over anytime without wondering if my house was 'presentable' or not. I may keep up on the clutter free part and general cleanliness but I am done being a Nazi freak. I didn't enjoy that so much.
So let's hope our inspection goes well. I don't think I have anymore energy left in me to clean my house for another showing.
We have to move out at the end of April. So if any of you know of a place for us to rent, let me know.
I could not be more thrilled. Besides marrying my husband and the birth of our children, this the happiest moment in my life!! Although it only took 6 weeks to sell, this has been the craziest and most stressful 6 weeks of my life. I hope to not sell a house too many more times in my life. I'm not cut out for it. I did not enjoy having to make my house spotless every time I left the house. And I am sure that my children will be thrilled to have their mother back, instead of this possessed women who would freak out if they made even the tiniest mess.
Although I would have to say that this has taught my kids to help out around the house and put away their stuff. And this experience has taught me that I have too much stuff and I have felt much more at peace knowing my house was clutter free and that I could have people over anytime without wondering if my house was 'presentable' or not. I may keep up on the clutter free part and general cleanliness but I am done being a Nazi freak. I didn't enjoy that so much.
So let's hope our inspection goes well. I don't think I have anymore energy left in me to clean my house for another showing.
We have to move out at the end of April. So if any of you know of a place for us to rent, let me know.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Mcd's
Since our house has been on the market some 20+ days, we have been kicked out multiple times and left stranded (well, not really) with no where to go. So my kids always ask "Can we go to McDonalds!" to which my reply is always (long pause, thinking of somewhere, anywhere better to go...) "yes, I guess so."
If I see another Cheeseburger, McChicken sandwhich, or Mc anything I may hurl. I always think I'm going to get something different this time, like a salad, but as the employee asks what I want, I never look at the menu, I just order the first thing off the top of my head because after 31 seconds of taking 3 happy meal orders, I've already ruined their streak of 15.7 second orders, it's too much pressure! So here are some pictures with good ol' Ronald McDonald. These do take place over the span of 3-4 visits in January, but really, who cares.
The best part for my kids is the marker tatoos done by a cranky woman who complains that she has lost her hearing working in the playplace. But really anyone would be cranky working there. It always smells like dirty diapers, and inevitably someone child has managed to spill their entire cup of chocolate milk (but of course that would NEVER be from MY child).
Usually the worker tells my kids that they have already maxed out their daily ration of 2 marker tattoos. To which my kids come crying to me to remedy the situation. To which I have to tell the worker that those were from yesterday and thanks for pointing out the fact that I am an awesome mom.
Hannah and her good friend Hallie
Madelyn and Ron have been good friends
Wait for it...
And there's the hug :)
Hannah, Mady, random girl in pink shirt, and Hannah's friend Ellen (in purple)
Breck and Hannah enjoying the delicious cookies that I may now have an addiction to.
Good times at McD's. For one or two hours I can mentally check out with the exception of the occasional glance to make sure they are still in the building, and playing nice.
If I see another Cheeseburger, McChicken sandwhich, or Mc anything I may hurl. I always think I'm going to get something different this time, like a salad, but as the employee asks what I want, I never look at the menu, I just order the first thing off the top of my head because after 31 seconds of taking 3 happy meal orders, I've already ruined their streak of 15.7 second orders, it's too much pressure! So here are some pictures with good ol' Ronald McDonald. These do take place over the span of 3-4 visits in January, but really, who cares.
The best part for my kids is the marker tatoos done by a cranky woman who complains that she has lost her hearing working in the playplace. But really anyone would be cranky working there. It always smells like dirty diapers, and inevitably someone child has managed to spill their entire cup of chocolate milk (but of course that would NEVER be from MY child).
Usually the worker tells my kids that they have already maxed out their daily ration of 2 marker tattoos. To which my kids come crying to me to remedy the situation. To which I have to tell the worker that those were from yesterday and thanks for pointing out the fact that I am an awesome mom.
Hannah and her good friend Hallie
Madelyn and Ron have been good friends
Wait for it...
And there's the hug :)
Hannah, Mady, random girl in pink shirt, and Hannah's friend Ellen (in purple)
Breck and Hannah enjoying the delicious cookies that I may now have an addiction to.
Good times at McD's. For one or two hours I can mentally check out with the exception of the occasional glance to make sure they are still in the building, and playing nice.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Oh the joys of selling a house
We put our house on the market at the end of December. We spent the weeks leading up to it getting it prepped and beautified, painted walls, got some new pictures to replace our family photos once hung on our walls, did all the little projects that we have been putting off. Even had our carpets cleaned by a stellar 70 year old who had real classy customer service. See the previous blog post to read about that fun day.
Our realtor ( we will call him D.) decides that he wants to have an open house on January 1st, I believe it was a Saturday. We go for it because he seemed confident that it's a great day. Well our pictures were not even up on the Internet yet, and there was of course no advertising accept for the signs he stuck in the snow as he is driving to our house late of course. So begins the journey on the wrong foot. We have had an open house every Saturday and for the past 2 Sundays. I HATE open houses!
Every Saturday I am again prepping my house to sell, so my realtor can catch up on his tv showing( more on that to come, keep reading..). somehow my realtor kinda slips it in our conversation that he is going to get one person or another to try to come during the open house that he hasn't cleared with me. He makes it seem like I should automatically know that there is an open house this Saturday between 11-12. You know, 'the usual' time. I don't know actually because ya never told me.
So my realtor kindly brought over his wet vac/ steam cleaner vacuum - whatever you call it, because the guy who cleaned my carpets did a really crappy job. It has been taking up space in my house for over a month now. Exactly what I have been trying to get rid of, stuff. I asked his every week for the past three weeks to please kindly take your vacuum. And it's always there when I get home after he has been at my house. The problem is that when he brought it over, he realized that he didn't have a very crucial part for the vacuum to work. So he said he would leave it here until he found it or ordered another part. I have never even had a chance to use it. I finally was at my wits end with this thing, I wanted it out of my house now. I texted him yesterday and told him that if he doesn't take his vacuum this weekend, I'm taking it to his office Monday morning. It disappeared! Yeah!
The first two weeks of having our house on the market were full of too much excitement. Everybody in our family got the stomach flu, or some viral illness really bad. Hannah was the first to throw up, which she did sitting on her bed after we just had sausage for dinner. And she threw up continuously for the next 2 days, Mady decided to join in the fun on the second day, which was really awesome because we had two scheduled showings. So between cleaning the house, laundry and cleaning up vomit we finally got out of the house. I couldn't go anywhere, I couldn't go home and risk them throwing up on the carpet. I stayed in the car ( it was like 10 degrees outside) with my girls the entire day. They were a pathetic sight to behold, throwing up every few minutes. Around lunch time they had not thrown up for a little while, so Hannah was asking if she could have a little bread to eat. I thought I could make it into Daubies for a minute while Hannah was asleep in the car. Mady decided to throw up in Daubies as I'm ordering some bread. I just held out her hat and she threw up in it. I was so appalled and embarrassed that I just walked out without a word and added the hat to the mass mounds of throw up laundry (in trash bags) I had in the back of my car. Maybe looking back I shouldn't have chanced going into Daubie's. It was an awful day, But we got throughout it.
I got sick shortly after then Breck and then Aric in the span of two weeks. Someone was always throwing up.
We have had lots of activity and lots of showings, great feedback, but alas no offers. That's fine, we have some unique features and we are just waiting for the right person. One person said our house was too modern, another too big, and another didn't like the hill in the back. It's hard to see the landscaping in the back with our record amounts if snow.
Move forward to almost a month after we have had it on the market. I feel like I'm in the movie 'Groundhog Day.' I get up and clean everyday. Those of you who have been through this experience must be having traumatic flashbacks.
So for the past four Saturdays our Realtor 'D' has scheduled open houses. Most of them he told us about, once or twice he said we have someone coming during the open house, to which I'll inquire about because he never asked us about scheduling one. He had an open house a week ago on Saturday and Sunday. That same weekend he also scheduled for a realtor to come by one evening and never told me about it. Thankfully we were eating out that night celebrating Aric's birthday because on his actual birthday we were all very ill. I would have been alot more upset if we were at home when the realtor showed up. How unprofessional.
I do have point I am getting to, so keep reading, the climax is coming...
Yesterday, Sunday, I took the kids to church. I always make sure the house is show worthy when I leave because I often get calls that someone wants to come by while we are out of the house. Aric had to go into work that morning to perform surgery on a patient and decided to go home to take shower, since we still live there. I get a text from Aric asking if we were having a showing or an open house. I said no, nothing was scheduled. I had even checked online Saturday night on my own house, on a website that my realtor said would have the most updated info. Since his communication hasn't been top notch, I thought atleast I would get accurate information from an approved source. Nope nothing planned Sunday. Aric said there was an open house sign in our front yard. Why!?
Funny enough 5 minutes after Aric texts me, realtor D texts me and says he'll be finishing up in 10 more minutes, the people thought the house was too big. I don't know if these were the people we've been waiting for to come into town that liked our house. He still hasn't told me. I would have had NO idea what he was talking about if it wasn't for Aric driving home and seeing the open house sign and his car.
The best part:
When I got home Aric and I were trying to figure out what happened when he turned on the tv to watch a big football game that was on. Funny thing is that when he turned on the tv, it was already on the football game, and the tv was on a format that we NEVER use. Then we see little pieces of silver foil wrappers on the coffee table and the floor from hershey's kisses that we leave in a bowl for potential buyers. Wow! Not only was he in our house when he shouldn't have been, but he eats our candy and decides to relax and watch a game. He is so worth the $$ he will get paid. Apparently since he knows that we are supposed to be gone at church for a 3 hour chunk, he can do whatever he likes. I'm so glad that he asked us when our church is, and has keys to our house. Maybe next week I should just leave him a beer and some snacks and say 'help yourself.'
Atleast he took his freakin' vacuum with him!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Our realtor ( we will call him D.) decides that he wants to have an open house on January 1st, I believe it was a Saturday. We go for it because he seemed confident that it's a great day. Well our pictures were not even up on the Internet yet, and there was of course no advertising accept for the signs he stuck in the snow as he is driving to our house late of course. So begins the journey on the wrong foot. We have had an open house every Saturday and for the past 2 Sundays. I HATE open houses!
Every Saturday I am again prepping my house to sell, so my realtor can catch up on his tv showing( more on that to come, keep reading..). somehow my realtor kinda slips it in our conversation that he is going to get one person or another to try to come during the open house that he hasn't cleared with me. He makes it seem like I should automatically know that there is an open house this Saturday between 11-12. You know, 'the usual' time. I don't know actually because ya never told me.
So my realtor kindly brought over his wet vac/ steam cleaner vacuum - whatever you call it, because the guy who cleaned my carpets did a really crappy job. It has been taking up space in my house for over a month now. Exactly what I have been trying to get rid of, stuff. I asked his every week for the past three weeks to please kindly take your vacuum. And it's always there when I get home after he has been at my house. The problem is that when he brought it over, he realized that he didn't have a very crucial part for the vacuum to work. So he said he would leave it here until he found it or ordered another part. I have never even had a chance to use it. I finally was at my wits end with this thing, I wanted it out of my house now. I texted him yesterday and told him that if he doesn't take his vacuum this weekend, I'm taking it to his office Monday morning. It disappeared! Yeah!
The first two weeks of having our house on the market were full of too much excitement. Everybody in our family got the stomach flu, or some viral illness really bad. Hannah was the first to throw up, which she did sitting on her bed after we just had sausage for dinner. And she threw up continuously for the next 2 days, Mady decided to join in the fun on the second day, which was really awesome because we had two scheduled showings. So between cleaning the house, laundry and cleaning up vomit we finally got out of the house. I couldn't go anywhere, I couldn't go home and risk them throwing up on the carpet. I stayed in the car ( it was like 10 degrees outside) with my girls the entire day. They were a pathetic sight to behold, throwing up every few minutes. Around lunch time they had not thrown up for a little while, so Hannah was asking if she could have a little bread to eat. I thought I could make it into Daubies for a minute while Hannah was asleep in the car. Mady decided to throw up in Daubies as I'm ordering some bread. I just held out her hat and she threw up in it. I was so appalled and embarrassed that I just walked out without a word and added the hat to the mass mounds of throw up laundry (in trash bags) I had in the back of my car. Maybe looking back I shouldn't have chanced going into Daubie's. It was an awful day, But we got throughout it.
I got sick shortly after then Breck and then Aric in the span of two weeks. Someone was always throwing up.
We have had lots of activity and lots of showings, great feedback, but alas no offers. That's fine, we have some unique features and we are just waiting for the right person. One person said our house was too modern, another too big, and another didn't like the hill in the back. It's hard to see the landscaping in the back with our record amounts if snow.
Move forward to almost a month after we have had it on the market. I feel like I'm in the movie 'Groundhog Day.' I get up and clean everyday. Those of you who have been through this experience must be having traumatic flashbacks.
So for the past four Saturdays our Realtor 'D' has scheduled open houses. Most of them he told us about, once or twice he said we have someone coming during the open house, to which I'll inquire about because he never asked us about scheduling one. He had an open house a week ago on Saturday and Sunday. That same weekend he also scheduled for a realtor to come by one evening and never told me about it. Thankfully we were eating out that night celebrating Aric's birthday because on his actual birthday we were all very ill. I would have been alot more upset if we were at home when the realtor showed up. How unprofessional.
I do have point I am getting to, so keep reading, the climax is coming...
Yesterday, Sunday, I took the kids to church. I always make sure the house is show worthy when I leave because I often get calls that someone wants to come by while we are out of the house. Aric had to go into work that morning to perform surgery on a patient and decided to go home to take shower, since we still live there. I get a text from Aric asking if we were having a showing or an open house. I said no, nothing was scheduled. I had even checked online Saturday night on my own house, on a website that my realtor said would have the most updated info. Since his communication hasn't been top notch, I thought atleast I would get accurate information from an approved source. Nope nothing planned Sunday. Aric said there was an open house sign in our front yard. Why!?
Funny enough 5 minutes after Aric texts me, realtor D texts me and says he'll be finishing up in 10 more minutes, the people thought the house was too big. I don't know if these were the people we've been waiting for to come into town that liked our house. He still hasn't told me. I would have had NO idea what he was talking about if it wasn't for Aric driving home and seeing the open house sign and his car.
The best part:
When I got home Aric and I were trying to figure out what happened when he turned on the tv to watch a big football game that was on. Funny thing is that when he turned on the tv, it was already on the football game, and the tv was on a format that we NEVER use. Then we see little pieces of silver foil wrappers on the coffee table and the floor from hershey's kisses that we leave in a bowl for potential buyers. Wow! Not only was he in our house when he shouldn't have been, but he eats our candy and decides to relax and watch a game. He is so worth the $$ he will get paid. Apparently since he knows that we are supposed to be gone at church for a 3 hour chunk, he can do whatever he likes. I'm so glad that he asked us when our church is, and has keys to our house. Maybe next week I should just leave him a beer and some snacks and say 'help yourself.'
Atleast he took his freakin' vacuum with him!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Crazy carpet cleaner
We had a very non-exciting Christmas. It was quiet and we had boatloads of snow. I have been working from about 7 am to 3 am every day for about two weeks to get the house ready to sell just after Christmas. I worked up until 5am Christmas day. Pretty much took Christmas off to make sure the kids didn't feel like we glossed over Christmas. They opened their gifts, and were Sooooo excited to finally get the pillow pets they have been asking for awhile now. We went to see the Rapunzel Tangeled movie, which the kids loved. While the kids were playing with their toys in the evening, down came the tree and all the decorations. I was surprised that they didn't really care. Aric and I moved furniture around and I started painting more walls that night after the kids were asleep of course. I tried painting while they were awake on e and that didn't go over too well. Mady has a way of getting into things she shouldn't and started painting walls the wrong color. My budding Picasso.
My favorite, or least favorite, story, how ever you want to put it, was when the carpet guy came to clean the house. He shows up, and he looks like he is about 70 ( later tells me is 64- keep reading..). Now in Minnesota, everyone takes their shoes off when you walk into someone's house, or the service guy will put on clean booties over their shoes. Apparently not this carpet guy. Not only does he not take off his shoes, but tracks snow all over the house. It was almost painful for me not to point out the fact that he still has his shoes on, and there's snow everywhere. Whatever, he's making his job harder. He starts cleaning and I notice that the is using a rug doctor. A RUG DOCTOR people. You can rent one at Walmart for like $20. Now I have a bad feeling. But then I think, ok, maybe this is a commercial cleaner for professionals. No, I know what a professional steam cleaner looks like and this isn't it.
So after he does the top floor in about twenty minutes, I go and review the stellar job he did. Our carpet is only a few years old, so I just
want to give it that brand new look to it, it's not really dirty, but boy did he not only do a super crappy job, but when I ask him to go over the stains again he breaks out the target brand carpet spray to remove stains. Awesome. Then he gouges my VERY freshly painted walls. I hear my kitchen sink running and him moving my dishes around in the sink. A little weird. He rinsed out his dirty water in the sink. Use the bathtub, or as me where he should pour filthy water out. I am fuming at this point. What to do? I call my realtor, who talks to the guy. This only made it worse. While he's finishing his crappy job, I call my neighbor and ask him to call me make in a half an hour to make sure we are still alive. This guy is putting out some scary vibes, and if he was younger, I would be thinking serial killer. He is not happy to go back over his work, if you can call it that. So, he knocks off $30 off the bill because he knows I'm not pleased. I went over many of the stains that I was hoping he would do( while he was there) and it came out no problem, if he actually did his job, he wouldn't have had any issues. Due to his age alone I would have happily paid him full price if he would have been a nice person. But alas, did I mention he was probably a retired serial killer?? So after he hands me the bill, I tell him there is no way I'm going to pay this amount. I'm kinda shaking at this point because he starts yelling at me. I tell him that I though he had professional steam cleaning equipment and that he was being slightly dishonest. He says he was yelling at another guy who had the same problem ( really?? Someone else had a problem with his work?). I would expect this level of quality work from my four year old. He yells at me again, when I'm trying to calmly tell him his job is unacceptable for the price in a nice way. I am not good with confrontation. I finally stood up for what I knew was right. I also showed him 3 of the gouges in my walls, and he just said that he wasn't perfect, and it happens. He finally said pay him whatever I feel was acceptable. $30 wasn't even acceptable. I paid him $80 so that he wouldn't try to break my windows. I was shaking so bad as i was writing the check. As he was leaving I opened the garage so that he wouldn't try to back into it. I thankfully had a baseball bat of Aric's that I needed to put away in the garage, so I picked it up and pretended to look for a place to put it. If I knew what a panic attack was, I would say I was probably having one. I was so glad he was gone! I don't remember being afraid for my life before. I made sure all my kids were accounted for before he left. Scary dude!
So when Aric came home I told him what happened and he called the guy. He was so rude to Aric, which was surprising because Aric is good with crazy people like that. Aric just said he didn't care what kind of job was done, but that you shouldn't yell at clients. So what does this guy do? He yells at Aric and hangs up on him!! Wow! I bet he gets alot of return customers with his top notch customer service. Awesome.
So irregardless of the carpet job that was done ( my Kirby vacuum does a better job), we had two showings today. We heard back from one of the realtors. All positive. They loved it. They were looking at houses for their son and his family that will be in town in two weeks, and that they hope it is still available. Yeah!! So hopefully all of my many late nights will have paid off. I just hope someone will love our house as much as we do.
My favorite, or least favorite, story, how ever you want to put it, was when the carpet guy came to clean the house. He shows up, and he looks like he is about 70 ( later tells me is 64- keep reading..). Now in Minnesota, everyone takes their shoes off when you walk into someone's house, or the service guy will put on clean booties over their shoes. Apparently not this carpet guy. Not only does he not take off his shoes, but tracks snow all over the house. It was almost painful for me not to point out the fact that he still has his shoes on, and there's snow everywhere. Whatever, he's making his job harder. He starts cleaning and I notice that the is using a rug doctor. A RUG DOCTOR people. You can rent one at Walmart for like $20. Now I have a bad feeling. But then I think, ok, maybe this is a commercial cleaner for professionals. No, I know what a professional steam cleaner looks like and this isn't it.
So after he does the top floor in about twenty minutes, I go and review the stellar job he did. Our carpet is only a few years old, so I just
want to give it that brand new look to it, it's not really dirty, but boy did he not only do a super crappy job, but when I ask him to go over the stains again he breaks out the target brand carpet spray to remove stains. Awesome. Then he gouges my VERY freshly painted walls. I hear my kitchen sink running and him moving my dishes around in the sink. A little weird. He rinsed out his dirty water in the sink. Use the bathtub, or as me where he should pour filthy water out. I am fuming at this point. What to do? I call my realtor, who talks to the guy. This only made it worse. While he's finishing his crappy job, I call my neighbor and ask him to call me make in a half an hour to make sure we are still alive. This guy is putting out some scary vibes, and if he was younger, I would be thinking serial killer. He is not happy to go back over his work, if you can call it that. So, he knocks off $30 off the bill because he knows I'm not pleased. I went over many of the stains that I was hoping he would do( while he was there) and it came out no problem, if he actually did his job, he wouldn't have had any issues. Due to his age alone I would have happily paid him full price if he would have been a nice person. But alas, did I mention he was probably a retired serial killer?? So after he hands me the bill, I tell him there is no way I'm going to pay this amount. I'm kinda shaking at this point because he starts yelling at me. I tell him that I though he had professional steam cleaning equipment and that he was being slightly dishonest. He says he was yelling at another guy who had the same problem ( really?? Someone else had a problem with his work?). I would expect this level of quality work from my four year old. He yells at me again, when I'm trying to calmly tell him his job is unacceptable for the price in a nice way. I am not good with confrontation. I finally stood up for what I knew was right. I also showed him 3 of the gouges in my walls, and he just said that he wasn't perfect, and it happens. He finally said pay him whatever I feel was acceptable. $30 wasn't even acceptable. I paid him $80 so that he wouldn't try to break my windows. I was shaking so bad as i was writing the check. As he was leaving I opened the garage so that he wouldn't try to back into it. I thankfully had a baseball bat of Aric's that I needed to put away in the garage, so I picked it up and pretended to look for a place to put it. If I knew what a panic attack was, I would say I was probably having one. I was so glad he was gone! I don't remember being afraid for my life before. I made sure all my kids were accounted for before he left. Scary dude!
So when Aric came home I told him what happened and he called the guy. He was so rude to Aric, which was surprising because Aric is good with crazy people like that. Aric just said he didn't care what kind of job was done, but that you shouldn't yell at clients. So what does this guy do? He yells at Aric and hangs up on him!! Wow! I bet he gets alot of return customers with his top notch customer service. Awesome.
So irregardless of the carpet job that was done ( my Kirby vacuum does a better job), we had two showings today. We heard back from one of the realtors. All positive. They loved it. They were looking at houses for their son and his family that will be in town in two weeks, and that they hope it is still available. Yeah!! So hopefully all of my many late nights will have paid off. I just hope someone will love our house as much as we do.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Hannah's finger
Hannah woke up yesterday and showed me her finger. She looked like she had a pimple on it. I told her I need to get the infectious pus out. A huge "No!!" followed by lots of tears.
This is her finger at the end of the day. Her finger is so swollen. Painful, and the infection is twice the size as it was in the morning. This picture doesn't even do it justice.
Hannah was in pain. Even though I told her that we would have to go to the hospital if she won't let us take care of it, she wasn't letting us do anything. Even reminding her how awful her hospital stay was had no effect. Even telling her that her finger falling off a great probabilty- nope, no budging. Her finger was getting noticeably worse by the hour. What is a parent to do? We drug her. Benadryl is a parents dream in situations such as this. Along with some Tylenol, we hope it will help her pain.
Here's Breck Trying to do his best to show Hannah that it doesn't hurt to poke your finger.
Here's Hannah trying the needle out on a normal finger. I even let her poke my finger.
She's taking a 'stab' at her puss-filled infection. Sounds so awesome right? Not happening.
She was trying to be brave. She tried. I can't blame her. I read a book to her after she's exhausted from crying her eyes out. After she fell asleep, Aric comes in to do some minor surgery and open the thing up.
This morning Hannah showed me her finger and it has greatly improved. It has drained, and her finger isn't twice the size as normal anymore Looks drastically better. Yeah! Sometimes parenting isn't a pretty job.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
This is her finger at the end of the day. Her finger is so swollen. Painful, and the infection is twice the size as it was in the morning. This picture doesn't even do it justice.
Hannah was in pain. Even though I told her that we would have to go to the hospital if she won't let us take care of it, she wasn't letting us do anything. Even reminding her how awful her hospital stay was had no effect. Even telling her that her finger falling off a great probabilty- nope, no budging. Her finger was getting noticeably worse by the hour. What is a parent to do? We drug her. Benadryl is a parents dream in situations such as this. Along with some Tylenol, we hope it will help her pain.
Here's Breck Trying to do his best to show Hannah that it doesn't hurt to poke your finger.
Here's Hannah trying the needle out on a normal finger. I even let her poke my finger.
She's taking a 'stab' at her puss-filled infection. Sounds so awesome right? Not happening.
She was trying to be brave. She tried. I can't blame her. I read a book to her after she's exhausted from crying her eyes out. After she fell asleep, Aric comes in to do some minor surgery and open the thing up.
This morning Hannah showed me her finger and it has greatly improved. It has drained, and her finger isn't twice the size as normal anymore Looks drastically better. Yeah! Sometimes parenting isn't a pretty job.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Snow, Lots of snow
Love the snow, but I could really go without the blizzard today.
Outside my front door. Looking out the window.
Not really sure how anyone would get to my front door....
My back door.
My kids taking advantage of the weather to catch up on some tv watching.
I'm not really looking forward to shoveling all that snow today. Usually I don't mind shoveling snow. I usually think of it as a 'workout'. It's my way of pretending that I'm actually getting some exercise.
Oklahoma sounds pretty good at the moment. They get a few inches of snow and people don't know what to do. As much as I love Minnesota, there are a few things I won't miss, like the massive amounts of snow I must shovel throughout the lengthy winter.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Outside my front door. Looking out the window.
Not really sure how anyone would get to my front door....
My back door.
My kids taking advantage of the weather to catch up on some tv watching.
I'm not really looking forward to shoveling all that snow today. Usually I don't mind shoveling snow. I usually think of it as a 'workout'. It's my way of pretending that I'm actually getting some exercise.
Oklahoma sounds pretty good at the moment. They get a few inches of snow and people don't know what to do. As much as I love Minnesota, there are a few things I won't miss, like the massive amounts of snow I must shovel throughout the lengthy winter.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
THE BIG NEWS!!!!
Aric accepted the fellowship at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma!!! His one year fellowship in Cleft and Craniofacial Surgery will start in July 2011. We are so excited!!
During the lull of post-fellowship interviews, the waiting was unbearable at times (although it was only a few weeks and shorter than we expected). We started second-guessing things. We are planners, or should I say Aric really, there's only so much I can do. We were coming up with plan B-F if things didn't work out. Although we both knew he would get an offer from somewhere, we were not quite sure from where or when we would hear back.
I guess I need to do some homework on what my husband will actually be doing. I have been so focused on him getting IN a fellowship that I really didn't pay close attention to all that the fellowship involves. Now that the decision has been made, i can finally ask my husband, "what will you be doing exactly?" In general, I know he will be doing surgery on kids who have cleft lip and palate and also cranial/facial deformities. I'm pretty sure there's more to it than that.
Now I just have to look into apartments, and schools. Get my house ready to sell.... so much to do and so little time.
I am sad that this officially means our time in Rochester will come to a close eventually. The kids have been great sports about it. But they know that there is no fellowship available here in Rochester, so we kinda have to move.
I could probably live in Rochester permanently if it wasn't for these freezing cold winters though. I mean really -50 degrees? I feel like a cave man because we just go about our business when it's -20, but if it's 80 degrees here in summer, it's a heat wave. I'm not kidding, it really is, i feel like I'm going to die of heat exhaustion. We'll probably never win with weather, unless we move back to San Diego. That trully is the perfect place, except for the fact that it's expensive as heck to live there. I didn't know how good I had it growing up. BUT I love experiencing fall, and a brief snow on christmas would be great.
I think I finally got this whole fellowship thing started when I turned in an application for Hannah to start Kindergarten at Washington Elementary next year (it is a highly coveted spot), and I'll probably keep her registered until papers are signed and an apartment is found ... maybe until our house sells, who knows. I turn in the paperwork and I'm thinking to myself "I'm going to jinx this whole fellowship by doing this."
All of the sudden an hour later I get a call from Aric, saying that he is offered a spot at West Virginia and Oklahoma, and before the day is done, we know we are going to Oklahoma. We took our kids out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, HuHot a Mongolian grill. They love getting their uncooked food prepared to let some non-mongolian-probably spanish-person cook their meal over a fire. I wish I could get my kids to get excited to help me make dinner at home. they would probably say something like "yeah, but it's just not the same at home." I agree for a different reason, i love any dinner that I don't have to make.
To get a nostalgic about our lives, it's actually crazy to think that we started out on this path of higher, higher education 10 years ago. Aric started Dental School a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed eager student. When my mom told my dentist who has sadly had to see my mouth since a young child that my husband is in Dental school and wants to be an oral surgeon, he told her, "that's what they all say." The truth is, he didn't know my husband, and my husband likes to be challenged. When he puts his mind to something, he does it. Aric (and I) am no longer the young bushy-tailed kids that started out on this journey, but 30-somethings worn and alittle rough around the edges, him by working 80 hours a week for residency, me, by my wonderful children, and the fact that I'll never get a decent night's sleep ever again.
Thank you so much to our kids that are so awesome and are willing to share their daddy with those who need him. To our family who have supported us from the beginning. To all of our friends and neighbors who have become our family here in Rochester. We are so blessed.
During the lull of post-fellowship interviews, the waiting was unbearable at times (although it was only a few weeks and shorter than we expected). We started second-guessing things. We are planners, or should I say Aric really, there's only so much I can do. We were coming up with plan B-F if things didn't work out. Although we both knew he would get an offer from somewhere, we were not quite sure from where or when we would hear back.
I guess I need to do some homework on what my husband will actually be doing. I have been so focused on him getting IN a fellowship that I really didn't pay close attention to all that the fellowship involves. Now that the decision has been made, i can finally ask my husband, "what will you be doing exactly?" In general, I know he will be doing surgery on kids who have cleft lip and palate and also cranial/facial deformities. I'm pretty sure there's more to it than that.
Now I just have to look into apartments, and schools. Get my house ready to sell.... so much to do and so little time.
I am sad that this officially means our time in Rochester will come to a close eventually. The kids have been great sports about it. But they know that there is no fellowship available here in Rochester, so we kinda have to move.
I could probably live in Rochester permanently if it wasn't for these freezing cold winters though. I mean really -50 degrees? I feel like a cave man because we just go about our business when it's -20, but if it's 80 degrees here in summer, it's a heat wave. I'm not kidding, it really is, i feel like I'm going to die of heat exhaustion. We'll probably never win with weather, unless we move back to San Diego. That trully is the perfect place, except for the fact that it's expensive as heck to live there. I didn't know how good I had it growing up. BUT I love experiencing fall, and a brief snow on christmas would be great.
I think I finally got this whole fellowship thing started when I turned in an application for Hannah to start Kindergarten at Washington Elementary next year (it is a highly coveted spot), and I'll probably keep her registered until papers are signed and an apartment is found ... maybe until our house sells, who knows. I turn in the paperwork and I'm thinking to myself "I'm going to jinx this whole fellowship by doing this."
All of the sudden an hour later I get a call from Aric, saying that he is offered a spot at West Virginia and Oklahoma, and before the day is done, we know we are going to Oklahoma. We took our kids out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, HuHot a Mongolian grill. They love getting their uncooked food prepared to let some non-mongolian-probably spanish-person cook their meal over a fire. I wish I could get my kids to get excited to help me make dinner at home. they would probably say something like "yeah, but it's just not the same at home." I agree for a different reason, i love any dinner that I don't have to make.
To get a nostalgic about our lives, it's actually crazy to think that we started out on this path of higher, higher education 10 years ago. Aric started Dental School a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed eager student. When my mom told my dentist who has sadly had to see my mouth since a young child that my husband is in Dental school and wants to be an oral surgeon, he told her, "that's what they all say." The truth is, he didn't know my husband, and my husband likes to be challenged. When he puts his mind to something, he does it. Aric (and I) am no longer the young bushy-tailed kids that started out on this journey, but 30-somethings worn and alittle rough around the edges, him by working 80 hours a week for residency, me, by my wonderful children, and the fact that I'll never get a decent night's sleep ever again.
Thank you so much to our kids that are so awesome and are willing to share their daddy with those who need him. To our family who have supported us from the beginning. To all of our friends and neighbors who have become our family here in Rochester. We are so blessed.
Friday, October 15, 2010
iPhone
I kept hinting that an iPhone would be a really awesome Christmas gift but alas, my cell phone died last week and I got the ok from the hubby to just go and get the iPhone already. You don't have to tell me twice. Yesterday morning I dropped Hannah off at preschool and off to At&t I went. I had already picked out the cover for the phone so this was a pretty quick buy with only one standard iPhone color to choose from.
I noticed my 2 year old, Mady , get that far off stare that children do when they are about to go # 2. I proceeded to tell the salesperson that this better be quick because my daughter has a present in her pants and you REALLY don't want to find out what it looks like. As he is finishing the sale which of course cost much more than I had anticipated. Because you HAVE to buy the apple warranty and also MUST buy the car charger. Apple is very clever. Walking out much poorer than when I entered I left the store in a much stinkier state that it wouldn't surprise me if there was a NO toddler allowed sign in the window next time I walk by.
I spent the last two days loading on contacts & schedules, music, and apps, preparing my mini-computer for action. I will never buy a different phone again that isn't compatible with the iPhone. i
It's not be because I don't love it (which I do) but because I never want to waste this much time again loading info onto my phone, ever.
If I can get it to work I am going to try to post pics I took of my kiddos. It's going to take some getting used to. Blogger is not iphone friendly. I guess no pics today.
This blog was 'sent from my iPhone'
I noticed my 2 year old, Mady , get that far off stare that children do when they are about to go # 2. I proceeded to tell the salesperson that this better be quick because my daughter has a present in her pants and you REALLY don't want to find out what it looks like. As he is finishing the sale which of course cost much more than I had anticipated. Because you HAVE to buy the apple warranty and also MUST buy the car charger. Apple is very clever. Walking out much poorer than when I entered I left the store in a much stinkier state that it wouldn't surprise me if there was a NO toddler allowed sign in the window next time I walk by.
I spent the last two days loading on contacts & schedules, music, and apps, preparing my mini-computer for action. I will never buy a different phone again that isn't compatible with the iPhone. i
It's not be because I don't love it (which I do) but because I never want to waste this much time again loading info onto my phone, ever.
If I can get it to work I am going to try to post pics I took of my kiddos. It's going to take some getting used to. Blogger is not iphone friendly. I guess no pics today.
This blog was 'sent from my iPhone'
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
2009 cont... and 2010
This was a post I never published from the beginning of this year. 2009 sucked, and the beginning of 2010 was even worse. Now I know why I never published this post, it's so depressing, but really just a journal entry from my life at the moment. Right after this journal entry below at the beginning of january 2010 I got the flu so bad that I lost like 10 pounds, and then of course I got my vertigo and headaches again, which continued to go on, and on, and on forever, until February 1st, 2010 I finally had to see my physician. I refused to go to the ER, even though my neurologist brother told me to go. I was lossing my mind, my headache was so bad I couldn't eat or sleep for three days, nothing helped, I was literally going crazy. Smells made me sick, food made me sick. Imagine that you have all of the worst symptoms of a pregnancy of everything makes you sick, smells, food, you name it, than have an incredible migraine on top of it that you don't know how to fix. Know I know why we need sleep, it is very important. I went to see my doctor, with my pediaylte in one hand, and my vomit bag in the other. I was in a very bad place, I had what they call a "status migranosis" which is basically the worst headache ever, and can induce a stroke or other very bad things if not treated because the blood vessels in my brain were working overtime. I was finally able to get the attention and treatment from the right doctors who could not ignore my symptoms anymore. It was a mixed blessing in disguse that I hope to never go through again. Before this, I had not been able to get the right treatment because my symptoms were all over the place and they didn't know how to treat me. It is nice to be able to talk about it know, it wasn't until July I can say that I am back to normal. I still have migraines all the time, but my meds are helping tremendously and I will probably have to take them for the rest of my life,or else suffer from migraines daily and vertigo.
It has been 2 and 1/2 years since my first vertigo attack that has changed my life for ever. This is my new life, and that's ok. I know how to deal with it now, and knowing that I will never have to suffer like I did the past 2 and 1/2 years is very comforting in itself. I was starting to get some anxiety from the fact that I never knew when my vertigo was going to strike and keep me down for 6 weeks. I never have to miss out on life again. Yeah!! No more anxiety, I just carry around my meds with me. I had a migraine yesterday, and possibly having one come on today, but I know that I can receive treatment and medicate myself to stop the migraine, vertigo, or both, or lessen it atleast. Thank you to modern medicine, I love you, i love you, i love you!!! I can finally say that life is great again, it's a great feeling. By the way I was offically diagnosed with Vertiginous migraines, meaning I have vertigo and I have migraines, that may or may not happen at the same time. I could have told them that. But I didn't realize how nice it would be to have an official diagnosis, it only took a dozen doctor visits at Mayo Clinic with neurology, ENT, and multiple specialist in both areas, lots and lots of testing, and $10,000. But hey, now I know, and knowing is have the battle. I am such a stronger person because of all this, if I can survive that while trying to care for my kids, I can do anything.
Original post 1/12/2010:
Well we have had some great things happen in our family, and some not so great things. 2009 has by far been the toughest year of my life. I had several reoccurances of Vertigo that have just rocked my world. Most of 2009, beginning in January, I have been ill with Vertigo and had severe problems with my eyes, that I would say that I am so happy to see 2010. I hope that this year things will be better. I don't understand what is going on with my no-name illness that I just call"Vertigo". The first half of the year I spent sick to my stomach and very weak due to so much vertigo, just to be replaced by a rediculous nonstop horrible headache the entire second half of 2009. Lets just say I will never go on a rollercoaster again if I don't have to. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster this whole past year and at the moment I am glad to be off. I really count my blessings and am so grateful for my health when I feel good, or really, when then the world isn't spinning. My family has been great. There have been good things to come out of this. My children have been somewhat forced to learn to take care of themselves when it comes to it. Brecklen is so sweet. He is so proud of the fact that he can make lunch for our family when I really need him to. He is such a sweetheart.
I had a neuroconsult last January and an MRI in February. That was a scary time. I was trully afraid that I may have a tumor or something. But my MRI was clean and to be honest the neurologist didn't really know what to tell me. I can't belive that was a year ago.
Most of my time is either spent sick , getting over my vertigo and the affects of it, or planning for the next one since I have had them so often. I hope that I will have some more free time this year to actually see my friends and pursue a hobby even. I really just need to clean my house.
I think the hardest thing about the vertigo has been that I just can't take care of my kids the way I would have hoped. I have fallen short of my expectation, and through many tears and conversations with my sisters and mom, I am still trying to cope with the fact that I am only doing my best. I miss my mom dearly when I just need an extra set of arms. When things are good, I try to make up for it, but this really weighs on my conscience. Taking care of Madelyn has been the single biggest trial. We have survived. I don't know if it has neccisarily made us a stronger family, I hope so, but we have all learned how to help one another when in need. For that I am grateful.
It has been 2 and 1/2 years since my first vertigo attack that has changed my life for ever. This is my new life, and that's ok. I know how to deal with it now, and knowing that I will never have to suffer like I did the past 2 and 1/2 years is very comforting in itself. I was starting to get some anxiety from the fact that I never knew when my vertigo was going to strike and keep me down for 6 weeks. I never have to miss out on life again. Yeah!! No more anxiety, I just carry around my meds with me. I had a migraine yesterday, and possibly having one come on today, but I know that I can receive treatment and medicate myself to stop the migraine, vertigo, or both, or lessen it atleast. Thank you to modern medicine, I love you, i love you, i love you!!! I can finally say that life is great again, it's a great feeling. By the way I was offically diagnosed with Vertiginous migraines, meaning I have vertigo and I have migraines, that may or may not happen at the same time. I could have told them that. But I didn't realize how nice it would be to have an official diagnosis, it only took a dozen doctor visits at Mayo Clinic with neurology, ENT, and multiple specialist in both areas, lots and lots of testing, and $10,000. But hey, now I know, and knowing is have the battle. I am such a stronger person because of all this, if I can survive that while trying to care for my kids, I can do anything.
Original post 1/12/2010:
Well we have had some great things happen in our family, and some not so great things. 2009 has by far been the toughest year of my life. I had several reoccurances of Vertigo that have just rocked my world. Most of 2009, beginning in January, I have been ill with Vertigo and had severe problems with my eyes, that I would say that I am so happy to see 2010. I hope that this year things will be better. I don't understand what is going on with my no-name illness that I just call"Vertigo". The first half of the year I spent sick to my stomach and very weak due to so much vertigo, just to be replaced by a rediculous nonstop horrible headache the entire second half of 2009. Lets just say I will never go on a rollercoaster again if I don't have to. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster this whole past year and at the moment I am glad to be off. I really count my blessings and am so grateful for my health when I feel good, or really, when then the world isn't spinning. My family has been great. There have been good things to come out of this. My children have been somewhat forced to learn to take care of themselves when it comes to it. Brecklen is so sweet. He is so proud of the fact that he can make lunch for our family when I really need him to. He is such a sweetheart.
I had a neuroconsult last January and an MRI in February. That was a scary time. I was trully afraid that I may have a tumor or something. But my MRI was clean and to be honest the neurologist didn't really know what to tell me. I can't belive that was a year ago.
Most of my time is either spent sick , getting over my vertigo and the affects of it, or planning for the next one since I have had them so often. I hope that I will have some more free time this year to actually see my friends and pursue a hobby even. I really just need to clean my house.
I think the hardest thing about the vertigo has been that I just can't take care of my kids the way I would have hoped. I have fallen short of my expectation, and through many tears and conversations with my sisters and mom, I am still trying to cope with the fact that I am only doing my best. I miss my mom dearly when I just need an extra set of arms. When things are good, I try to make up for it, but this really weighs on my conscience. Taking care of Madelyn has been the single biggest trial. We have survived. I don't know if it has neccisarily made us a stronger family, I hope so, but we have all learned how to help one another when in need. For that I am grateful.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Happy endings...
I saw a quote today I liked :
"Every story has a happy ending. If your not happy now, then your story isn't over. " :)
"Every story has a happy ending. If your not happy now, then your story isn't over. " :)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
2009
2009 seemed to last forever and fly by at the same time. I haven't done much blogging in oh 9 months so here are the highlights of our year:
Madelyn has gotten bigger and bigger. Really she's actually just gotten taller. She's a tiny little thing (16 months), with a cute little tiny head. It has been fun for the whole family to see her grow up from rolling over, sitting up, to crawling, to walking and even turning one year old in September. Her favorite word and pretty much only word is "MAAM" which she likes to yell loudly when I am out of arms reach. I wish her hair would grow, but alas, she has grown a baby fem mullet, which I sadly decided yesterday that I must cut off. I hated to cut what little hair she had, but it had to be done. The fem mullet is not a good look for anyone, no, not even a baby of mine. Mady loves chasing Brecklen and hannah and joining in their play, and doesn't love it when they smother her in love, but I do!
Hannah turned three, started preschool and is still as cute as ever with her big brown eyes, the cutest voice that makes you laugh when she speaks, and is usually seen in a princess outfit. Hannah has most notably cut her hair twice in 2009, which we are still growing out. Honey, lets go for zero haircuts in 2010, ok? She is my little helper and we love to hang out. Everyday she asks me if it's a family day and I say "yes, it is." She claps and cheers when we get to hang out, as we do everyday. I love her enthusiasm. She is quite the fashonista and loves to wear a dress everyday, or atleast be very sparkly and girly.
Brecklen turned 6 and started kindergarten and is reading so well and is my big helper. He lost his first tooth, and the replacement is starting to grow in. He is an amazing big brother and a very caring and sensitive person. His prayers are always outstanding, and even brought grandpa to tears this past christmas. He is very concerned about the poor and homeless this winter and wants everyone to have a home and food to eat. He is such an amazing example of christ and I so get it when the scriptures say to be more like children, they are so humble, and caring of others. On a different note, Brecklen really wanted a camera, so santa got him his very own camera for christmas, and when we got home from visiting grandma and grandpa Murphy after christmas, Brecklen and Hannah each got to pick out two fish. So we now have 4 fish, that are still alive, and it's been a week. I am very proud of myself.
Aric graduated medical school this past summer and started his fifth year of residency (only a year and a half more... I can't contain my excitement), and completed not one but two triathalons this summer. Such an amazing accomplishment,I am so proud of everything Aric has done.
Me, I turned 30. Yeah, not so fabulous, but not horrible either, I feel more secure and sure of myself that now I understand when people say 30's are the new 20's. No? don't they? Well, I am.
We finished off the year by celebrating our 10 year anninversary on December 29th. It's amazing that the past ten years have gone by so quickly. Here we are living in Minnesota, have 3 kids, own a house, and Aric is almost done with residency. We are grateful, I am so grateful, to have such a wonderful family, and wonderful friends.
I wish I could have been more faithful in blogging these wonderful memories, and I will probably be posting pictures at some point of these times. I am so excited to actually be posting something, I will continue with 2009 on a different day. Happy 2010 to all of you, may it be all you are hoping for!
Today is Aric's 32 birthday. Happy birthday dear. I love you!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The sweetest husband in the world
I have been a little under the weather lately. Sunday I had another Vertigo spell, during church actually. Aric took me home as soon as he could to get me medicated promptly. I slept all Sunday and dreaded Monday morning because Aric will essentially be gone all week, lots of overnight call and long days in between. Atleast he is delivering babies, I think that would be a fun job to have. The patients are happy to be there (or atleast after birth) and getting to witness so many little miracles would be awesome.
I get weird during my dizzy spells. I still don't have a good term. Any suggestions?
I slip into a dark mood. I am cranky, moody, my body is exhausted, and I just want to sleep for a week solid until my body has recuperated enough to function, but I have 3 little ones who have enough energy to keep the world spinning. Actually they keep me going. They give me a reason to smile, to laugh, and to cry over the spilled milk that I would truly rather leave on the floor than clean up.
Then there is my sweet husband who gets so worried about me when I'm sick and calls to make sure I'm doing well and I know it kills him that he can't be there for me 24/7. He runs to the hospital to get me the medicine that we hope will actually make me better instead of just treat the symptoms. But instead the meds pretty much knocks me out so I can't function which would be great if i didn't have to be functionable.
Today I just had a meltdown. I am tired, cranky, sick of being tired and cranky, and want to be better. I want to be me. Now I know how two years old feel when no one can understand how they feel. My poor husband text pages me to see how I'm doing, and boy does he get it! I will not disclose my colorful text, but I'm crying, he's perplexed, and we are both apologizing. We rarely ever fight. Thank goodness because I hate it.
I had to go to an eye appointment this afternoon and told my doctor I need some good news because it's been a crappy week. We are pretty much on a first name basis after 4 or 5 appointments in 2 months. Well, my eyes are not better and have to see him in yet another week. My eyes have "infiltrates" in them (whatever those are- annoying?)and I have to stay out of my contacts for probably a few more months. I am beginning to wonder if he's just making it all up.
When I get home there is a lovely message saying someone wants to deliver flowers. Flowers? Well alright come on over! I told the kids someone may be coming by and Brecklen is my little look out. "Mom, there is a human in our driveway, and he's really old with white hair!" (see blog on humans below for my child's definition of 'human' if ya don't get it).
My beautiful bouquet of flowers. This picture just doesn't do the flowers justice. I love daisies, they are one of my favorite flowers. They just make me happy. My kids are super excited about the yummy chocolate that came with it. Me too. I love chocolate, especially anything with mint or carmel, and there was plenty of both. Yummy!
Hannah and me fighting over the last chocolate carmel turtle. Wait for it...
wait for it....
And the winner is.....Hannah. At least she let me have a bite. 
I get weird during my dizzy spells. I still don't have a good term. Any suggestions?
I slip into a dark mood. I am cranky, moody, my body is exhausted, and I just want to sleep for a week solid until my body has recuperated enough to function, but I have 3 little ones who have enough energy to keep the world spinning. Actually they keep me going. They give me a reason to smile, to laugh, and to cry over the spilled milk that I would truly rather leave on the floor than clean up.
Then there is my sweet husband who gets so worried about me when I'm sick and calls to make sure I'm doing well and I know it kills him that he can't be there for me 24/7. He runs to the hospital to get me the medicine that we hope will actually make me better instead of just treat the symptoms. But instead the meds pretty much knocks me out so I can't function which would be great if i didn't have to be functionable.
Today I just had a meltdown. I am tired, cranky, sick of being tired and cranky, and want to be better. I want to be me. Now I know how two years old feel when no one can understand how they feel. My poor husband text pages me to see how I'm doing, and boy does he get it! I will not disclose my colorful text, but I'm crying, he's perplexed, and we are both apologizing. We rarely ever fight. Thank goodness because I hate it.
I had to go to an eye appointment this afternoon and told my doctor I need some good news because it's been a crappy week. We are pretty much on a first name basis after 4 or 5 appointments in 2 months. Well, my eyes are not better and have to see him in yet another week. My eyes have "infiltrates" in them (whatever those are- annoying?)and I have to stay out of my contacts for probably a few more months. I am beginning to wonder if he's just making it all up.
When I get home there is a lovely message saying someone wants to deliver flowers. Flowers? Well alright come on over! I told the kids someone may be coming by and Brecklen is my little look out. "Mom, there is a human in our driveway, and he's really old with white hair!" (see blog on humans below for my child's definition of 'human' if ya don't get it).
My beautiful bouquet of flowers. This picture just doesn't do the flowers justice. I love daisies, they are one of my favorite flowers. They just make me happy. My kids are super excited about the yummy chocolate that came with it. Me too. I love chocolate, especially anything with mint or carmel, and there was plenty of both. Yummy! 
Frankly I didn't deserve the flowers and immediately started crying because that is one (of many) of the sweetest things he has ever done, and I didn't deserve them. But I'm glad he sent them because they did make me happy. I text paged Aric with a big thank you and told him I HAD to see him tonight, if possible. I missed him so much. He was gone all day, and going to be working all night so I wouldn't see him until afternoon the next day and I couldn't wait that long. So I round up the kiddos and we drive down to the hospital to see him for 5 minutes in the car. It was worth it.
Hannah and me fighting over the last chocolate carmel turtle. Wait for it... wait for it.... And the winner is.....Hannah. At least she let me have a bite. It would not surprise me if she ends up being an actress.
Brecklen trying to give Madelyn a bite of chocolate. Don't worry dear, you'll be hooked soon enough.
This is for you Aric.
Thanks for the wonderful surprise. I love you.
Thanks for the wonderful surprise. I love you.
This is a 'shout out' ( is that acceptable for a white person?) to all my friends who helped me, watched my kids, and brought dinners yet again. For your thoughts and prayers, and to those who will be angry with me for not calling and telling you I'm sick. I love you all and am doing much better. Don't worry, there will always be a next time.
Here is Hannah digging into the goods about a second after my friend left today. I should have taken pictures of everyone's awesome dinners. Thank you all again. I don't know how I would literally survive without you. Hannah would probably find the scissors and cut all her hair off, her dolls hair, and move on to Brecklen who probably wouldn't even notice that his hair is gone because he has playing XBOX all day.
Love you all and enjoy the rest of your spring break!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Hannah's new do
I guess I'm catching up on my blogging today.
Last Thursday Brecklen had a project for preschool. I thought I would let him write out the words and cut and color the whole thing on this own. I gave him the scissors and the crayons to do the project. Brecklen asked me to print something off for him, so I went downstairs to our office (he was upstairs in the kitchen).
I could not get the printer to print. I have no patience for these types of things. I fiddled around, but it still would not print. I had this thought in my head that the kids are being good. It's so quite, maybe I should work on the computer down in the office more often. I am rarely on the computer because as soon as I get on children swarm around me asking when it can be their turn.
I got tired of messing with the printer. I go out to the playroom and I see Hannah. There is hair everywhere!! all over the ground, her pants, It is just falling off in clumps. I run to get the camera. This is what I first see. I all I could think of is: OH MY GOODNESS!! WHAT THE....
I surprise myself because I am so calm. I think when "big" accidents happens I am too stunted to be mad. I am still freaked out, and so sad.
She cut the hair off up to her ear, both sides. She now has la fem-mullett
Yes, she cut that big chunk to the scalp!
another pic. of the fem-mullet
This is most of the hair I collected from around the house
Thank goodness her hair doesn't look too bad in this picture. But don't be fooled.
Last Thursday Brecklen had a project for preschool. I thought I would let him write out the words and cut and color the whole thing on this own. I gave him the scissors and the crayons to do the project. Brecklen asked me to print something off for him, so I went downstairs to our office (he was upstairs in the kitchen).
I could not get the printer to print. I have no patience for these types of things. I fiddled around, but it still would not print. I had this thought in my head that the kids are being good. It's so quite, maybe I should work on the computer down in the office more often. I am rarely on the computer because as soon as I get on children swarm around me asking when it can be their turn.
I got tired of messing with the printer. I go out to the playroom and I see Hannah. There is hair everywhere!! all over the ground, her pants, It is just falling off in clumps. I run to get the camera. This is what I first see. I all I could think of is: OH MY GOODNESS!! WHAT THE....
I surprise myself because I am so calm. I think when "big" accidents happens I am too stunted to be mad. I am still freaked out, and so sad.
Here are some more pics:
She cut the hair off up to her ear, both sides. She now has la fem-mullett
Yes, she cut that big chunk to the scalp!another pic. of the fem-mullet
This is most of the hair I collected from around the houseThank goodness her hair doesn't look too bad in this picture. But don't be fooled. Here's the kids before they went out side to play bubbles in the freezing weather. Hannah spilled two containers of bubbles before coming inside. That's my girl!
Upon further investigation I ask Hannah why she would do this. Her reply : To be a big Princess! (with her beautiful smile that melts your heart. How can I be mad at her?)
So I sit down Brecklen and try to ask him what happened.
Me: Brecklen, what happened?
Breck: I don't know.
Me: You don't know?
At this point I notice that he has hair all over his shirt. I look at his hair and he has Hannah's hair hanging over on his face. I pick off the hair and he knows he's busted.
Me: So you had nothing to do with this?
Breck: I can't remember.
Me: You can't remember?
(I am on the verge of laughing. Now I know I how my parents felt when I lied about something. Do you think I'm stupid?)
Breck: Well, I did cut a TINY little bit. BUT Hannah did the other side (meaning the bad side).
Me: Did you realize that maybe you shouldn't be cutting her hair?
Breck: No answer.
Hannah, Brecklen, and I had a conversation about not cutting hair. Scissors are for paper and only when supervised, not hair.
I am kicking myself because I NEVER leave scissors out unless I'm around.
When I text paged Aric that Hannah cut her hair, his reply was "atleast she didn't cut her ear or nose." Well, he has a point. We are lucky she didn't hurt herself, but did she have to cut her hair? I guess It's a rite of passage when your a kid. I shouldn't talk. I let my younger brother cut my bangs off. Really, my bangs were like a millimeter long, and I was about 8, not 2.
We haven't trimmed her hair yet, Thankfully it looks ok pulled back in a ponytail with lots of barretts. Well, I'm glad I got pictures so I can show her when she's older.
Humans
A week ago Hannah started to get on this kick of calling strangers "humans." Almost as if she is talking about aliens. It may not sound too weird until your at the mall and your 2 year old daughter starts yelling "mom, that human is blocking my way. I can't see the purple purses!" In my embarrassement I just pretended to not know this child or what she is talking about and hoped that the woman doesn't speak two-year old.
The next day we went to McDonald's for lunch. We pull up at the drive-thru and order and then procecced to the cashier. "Mom! Did the human get my chicken nuggets?!" Yes dear I ordered what you wanted. At this point I can feel my cheeks getting red and hope again that the man did not hear what my daughter just yelled from the back seat. Over the course of the past few days she was contantly using the term "human", even to the point that Brecklen was using it. I have no idea where she got this, probably from some movie.
Me: So who is "human?"
Hannah: daddy and Breckt (what she calls Brecklen)
Me: so what are you?
Hannah: A princess!!
Me: So what am I?
Hannah: A princess!!
Me: So everyone else is just a human besides you and me?
Hannah: YA!!
Okay that sums it up. I guess I'd rather be a princess than "just a human." Now if only I could get one of the humans in my house to do the dishes...
The next day we went to McDonald's for lunch. We pull up at the drive-thru and order and then procecced to the cashier. "Mom! Did the human get my chicken nuggets?!" Yes dear I ordered what you wanted. At this point I can feel my cheeks getting red and hope again that the man did not hear what my daughter just yelled from the back seat. Over the course of the past few days she was contantly using the term "human", even to the point that Brecklen was using it. I have no idea where she got this, probably from some movie.
Me: So who is "human?"
Hannah: daddy and Breckt (what she calls Brecklen)
Me: so what are you?
Hannah: A princess!!
Me: So what am I?
Hannah: A princess!!
Me: So everyone else is just a human besides you and me?
Hannah: YA!!
Okay that sums it up. I guess I'd rather be a princess than "just a human." Now if only I could get one of the humans in my house to do the dishes...
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Solicitors
Someone knocked on our door this morning and I asked Brecklen to see who it was. He didn't open the door because he didn't know the person. I wasn't feeling well and Aric happened to be home between surgeries to check up on me, so I called down to have him answer the door. He was cleaning up the kid's toys and he had a foam baseball bat of Brecklen's in his hand that looks just like a real one. He answered the door with the bat in his hand (wearing his scrubs that show his huge biceps). It was a Jehovah's Witness spreading God's message. Their interaction was brief and the man handed Aric a pamphlet and left. I was laughing when Aric shut the door and I said "Did you know you were holding the bat?"
Aric said "No, but he didn't stay long did he?"
Aric said "No, but he didn't stay long did he?"
Monday, January 19, 2009
Cinderella
Usually when we eat dinner the kids are done with their food long before Aric and I are done. Tonight was no exception. All of the sudden I see Aric have this "look" on his face. I turn around and see salad on the floor that used to be in a bowl, on the counter. My kids are throwing salad at each other, ripping it up, and then tossing it back and forth. Opening drawers and proceeding to throw it in the drawers as well. I can't even imagine what went through their heads. It must have been something like "wow let's have a salad fight and get it everywhere! I bet I can mess a bigger mess than you!" Brecklen and Hannah are in this phase right now where everything is a contest. Brecklen will say something like "hey Hannah I bet I can drink more OJ than you, or I bet I can hit you harder than you can hit me!"
... At first when I saw this huge salad mess I told them to clean it up while I finished my dinner. They each took a few cups each out of the drawer that they just threw salad in and procceeded to put the salad in their cups. It was too funny to watch. They were still having fun, and cleaning their mess. Yeah!! I really didn't care how they got the job done, just that it was done. I have to give them kudos for creativity. At this point they were ready to leave the rest of the wilted salad for me to clean. Oh no sister, I'm not cleaning this mess today...
A few of you might recall that I became sick with (I think) a random ear illness that put me out for 6 weeks during the summer. Lucky me it came back mysteriously on Friday. It is not even as bad this time around, but still not so fun.
So now getting back up to speed....
I hand Brecklen a wet paper towel and said "Get to work Cinderella."
"I'm not Cinderella" he says.
Of Course Hannah pipes in "me Cinderella?" (She loves anything to do with princesses).
"Yes, you Hannah Cinderella. Get to work you two."
For some reason, it worked and my floor is clean. No fighting, no crying, they just did what I asked them too, that doesn't happen everyday! Hannah even cleaned under the table, which was a bonus. I told her she didn't need to, but she just kept on going.
It's too bad there are child labor laws. I am actually kidding on that. But I did realize they are capable of so much more. Out of my moment of desperation, I finally got them to listen and not whine. I love those times, so far and few between! I will cherish my moment of Victory.... until tomorrow, when the next cup of juice tumbles off the table. Maybe I'll make them draw straws to clean up the mess. Let's see who will be more carefull now! Haa Haa Haa (Evil laugh!)
... At first when I saw this huge salad mess I told them to clean it up while I finished my dinner. They each took a few cups each out of the drawer that they just threw salad in and procceeded to put the salad in their cups. It was too funny to watch. They were still having fun, and cleaning their mess. Yeah!! I really didn't care how they got the job done, just that it was done. I have to give them kudos for creativity. At this point they were ready to leave the rest of the wilted salad for me to clean. Oh no sister, I'm not cleaning this mess today...
A few of you might recall that I became sick with (I think) a random ear illness that put me out for 6 weeks during the summer. Lucky me it came back mysteriously on Friday. It is not even as bad this time around, but still not so fun.
So now getting back up to speed....
I hand Brecklen a wet paper towel and said "Get to work Cinderella."
"I'm not Cinderella" he says.
Of Course Hannah pipes in "me Cinderella?" (She loves anything to do with princesses).
"Yes, you Hannah Cinderella. Get to work you two."
For some reason, it worked and my floor is clean. No fighting, no crying, they just did what I asked them too, that doesn't happen everyday! Hannah even cleaned under the table, which was a bonus. I told her she didn't need to, but she just kept on going.
It's too bad there are child labor laws. I am actually kidding on that. But I did realize they are capable of so much more. Out of my moment of desperation, I finally got them to listen and not whine. I love those times, so far and few between! I will cherish my moment of Victory.... until tomorrow, when the next cup of juice tumbles off the table. Maybe I'll make them draw straws to clean up the mess. Let's see who will be more carefull now! Haa Haa Haa (Evil laugh!)
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Thanksgiving
Cousins having a dart war in the castle in our house
Our thanksgiving
Now that thanksgiving is so over I can post my blog, since I have about a 2 week lag time these days. Plus it's so much more fun to relive those memories that have past, right? We had a great Thanksgiving. Aric's brother, Mike, and his wife Lynn and their three wonderful kids came to visit. Our kids rarely get to see their cousins, so it's always a special occasion when they get together. It was truly a stress free weekend, and so much fun.
I love having people over for thanksgiving. To me the more the merrier. There's something special about being together with people you care about on Thanksgiving. For the past three years Aric's family (whom ever can make it) has been able to join us for Thanksgiving, and I had love this tradition. For some reason I get so excited to make the whole dinner and be the hostess for the weekend. This is the only time I get out Aric's grandmother's china and silver. It's fun getting out all the fancy plates and silverware and dressing up the table. That is a rare event in our house.
We just hung out all Thanksgiving day, and Then on Friday, the day after T-day, we went to see Bolt (which is really cute) and then looked at Christmas lights at a campground in Zumbro Falls, which is about 20 minutes north of us. We drove through a mile long drive full of Christmas lights with scenes of all four seasons. It was a fun way to kick off the Christmas Season.
We did make the mistake of stopping in at the campground barn where we were told they were serving free cider. The cider was free, the cup was a $1. While we sipped our cider the local High School put on a concert for us of the "Top 40" songs of the 1980's. I guess if I had known any of the students singing it may have been enjoyable. Hannah liked the music and thought the girls looked like princesses and kept dancing on her chair, it was cute to watch her. I don't think any of us wanted to be the first to say "let's go", just incase someone did actually enjoy it, but then my 14 year old nephew said he couldn't stand the music and dancing any longer, so we left. Saved by the teen. I would definitely go see the lights again and skip the talent show.
We had such a fun weekend. Our family was sad to see the Kansas Murphy's go.
On a sad note, Aric's Grandma died last friday, December 5th. She will be missed. She was 91 and had moderate dementia for quite sometime. Grandma Harry truly is in a better place. Aric is taking Brecklen to Kansas for her funeral this Friday.
When I take out Grandma Harry's China for next Thanksgiving I think it will be even more special to use it. To be able to think of her and her wonderful life, and the cherished gifts and memories she has given to me and her family. We love you Grandma Harry!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
kids pictures
Here are some pictures we had taken in November by a friend of ours, Mark Zollinger, who is a talented photographer. Aric was suppossed to be there, but got called back into work, so unfortunately we didn't get a family picture. Here are some of the best pictures.
This is my favorite picture out of the whole session. Hannah is so photogenic.
I had Mark just take a quick picture of me and the kids. When Aric saw this he started laughing and said I looked like a single mom! (I think he felt guilty for not being there).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)