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.
Friday, February 11, 2011
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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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