I went by the lot today and they do have the wood forms up for pouring the foundation.  It wasn't until I saw those forms that I realized how big this house is going to be.  We didn't have very many lots to choose from in the neighborhood because of how wide the house is - there were only 3 or 4 lots that were wide enough to accomodate the floorplan.  We will have a very nice sized front yard, and our back yard does appear to be bigger than I originally thought as well, but we have absolutely no side yard to speak of on either side.  There is maybe a space of about two foot between the house and the property line on the left side and maybe 3 feet (steeply sloped) on the right side.  I took pictures and when (or should I say, If!?!?) I get a minute I will upload them to this entry.

 

I hope everyone is having a great day.  I have to get back to packing the living room.  According to our project plan (I'm such a geek!) it has to be packed entirely by lunchtime tomorrow.  Then I have to do the dining room in the rest of tomorrow and Thursday.  After that I allowed one room per day until the house is entirely packed.  This way the storage bin will be packed by room, which should make unloading it more simple.  The very back is "incidentals", all of the gratituitious stuff that I have had packed for a while now, then a layer of toys, then living room, dining room, etc...  Pretty nifty, huh?

 

HEY!  Stop thinking I am anal retentive!  I am just organized and a tinsy bit of a perfectionist, ok?!?!?!  LOL

 

HUGS, Jen

There is so much to be excited about right now!

 

We had our pre-construction meeting with the builder on Friday, his name is Bob (seriously).  My kids are amazed.  Bob THE Builder is actually building our house!  At the end of the meeting, Colleen shyly came up to him and in a voice so small you could barely hear it she said, "I love you, Bob The Builder"

 

Colleen tells everyone that Bob The Builder is making her a castle and it is going to be blue and tink (pink), and it is pweety and she is going to dance, dance, dance like a dancing SIN-cess!

 

The forms for the foundation should be up by Monday or Tuesday and the foundation should be poured by the end of the week.  That means only 4 to 6 months before it is finished.  Wild!

 

I have an appointment with the first candidate for the real estate agent to sell this home on Monday.  I think I am going to speak with only 3 or 4 total.  Two that charge less than 6% commission and two that charge the full 6% commission.  I want to get the best represenation so that we get a fair price, but I also want to hold on to as much profit as possible, which makes the 3.5% commission brokers attractive.  We'll see.  Our goal is still to have this house on the market in March. 

 

Shawn is officially 30 now, we went out to celebrate tonight.  Dinner at our favorite Mexican place, quick stop at Target for a DVD (The Prestige, I enjoyed it, but guessed the plot twist very early on), and then to Dairy Queen for icecream.  Jess-Jess kept the kids for us.  She said that Wes didn't cry at all when I left (progress!) and Colleen had problems with her listening ears a few times till Jess hit upon a technique that I am sure to use in the future.  When Colleen would refuse to do something or to listen to Jess, Jess told her that she wasn't acting like a Barbie, that Barbies would do what Jess was asking of her.  Amazingly, it worked like a charm.

 

Bribing Colleen with a trip to the park with the big slide if she stayed in bed once I tucked her in also worked tonight.  And if she stays in her own bed all night (as opposed to sneaking in to cuddle with me at some point) she will also get a trip to MONKEY JOE'S!  Monkey Joe's is a big warehouse full of those big inflatable jumping things - slides, castles, obsticle courses.  It is Colleen's dream come true to go there.  Hopefully it is incentive enough to keep her in her room tonight.  I do love snuggling with her, but it is not a good habit for us and we need to put a stop to it before she gets too much older.  Besides all that, she is a bed hog who takes up 3/4 of a king sized bed and somehow also manages to kick off all covers, leaving me shivering all night!

 

Wow I am all over the place with this post.  I suppose that is all for now.  Tomorrow I need to do some painting so that the realtor isn't totally appalled when she sees the place on Monday!  LOL

 

Love, Jen

#1. Drive unfamilar rental car while exhausted on a stretch of highway you don't often travel

#2. Get on and off said highway several tmes in succession for bathroom/food/drink/diaper changing breaks

#3. Don't pay attention to speed as you get back on highway for 3rd or 4th time and get settled into the middle lane

#4. Check speed as you prepare to set cruise control, all the while fumbling with strange cruise control setting mechanism

#5. Hit brakes as you realize you are going 80 in a 65 zone

#6. Check mirrors guiltily for police officers, hoping that no one realized how fast you were going

#7. Try not to cuss as you see police car turn lights on and head straight for you

#8. Pull over and attempt to remain calm as all car occupants loudly protest the stop

#9. Nervously tell police officer that you are driving a rental car that drives a lot faster than it seems to be.  Police officer looks understanding.

#10. Continue blathering on nervously, saying that you were going that fast because you set cruise control, (when you actually mean that you were compensating for the problem of car going faster than it seemed by relying on cruise control).  Watch understanding look on officer's face be replaced with disbelief, then annoyance.  Learn that officer clocked car going 79 in 65, struggle for thankfulness that it was 14 over limit instead of 15, at least fine will be lower.

#11. Fork over driver's license and patiently wait for officer to write out citation

#12. Fight unwarranted paranoia that officer will run social security number in system and find numerous outstanding warrants racked up by identity theif, and thus haul self out of car and arrest in front of impressionable children

#13. Accept copy of citation along with instructions on how to call the number in a week to find out how much the blunder is going to cost.

#14. Struggle with frustration for the 7+ hours remaining in the drive home, especially since I AM the conservative driver in the family, scared to go more than 9 over the limit in any circumstance, and usually not exceeding 5 over.

 

Just follow those instructions folks, and you too can get your very own speeding ticket!

 

If you are lucky you can also follow step #15, which is Alternatively glare and smile at understanding husband riding shotgun who thinks the whole fiasco is hilarious and won't stop laughing.

OK, am I the only one that clearly sees what is going on here?

 

#1. Britney - postpartum depression

 

#2. Anna Nicole - Killed by Howard K. Stern, just like her son was.  The baby should be safe until he gets his paws on whatever inheritance he can, then it's lights out for the infant as well.

 

#3. Isn't anyone else bored of hearing about other people's racist or intolerant views of Jews/Blacks/Gays?  Why are these tirades garnering so much media attention?  At this rate they are going to need to reprint the manual all of the celebrities get when they become famous, they need a whole new section on how to get tabloid attention (as if partying without underpants on and going to rehab more often than taking a shower aren't enough!)

 

Seriously, though.  Postpartum depression is not to be joked about and I am shocked that no one (who writes about her antics) has made the connection yet.  I beleive that if she gets treatment for that first and foremost, she will likely revert back to the girl she was before and will only do stupid things several times a week (as opposed to the several times an hour rate she is going at now).

 

As far as that obsessive, greedy murderer is concerned, he'll answer for his actions at some point.  His legal expertise may protect him here on earth, but he is going to (literally) have hell to pay in the hereafter.

 

 

/end rant

Hi, everyone, we're back!

 

Last week was one of the busiest I have had in a long while.  My mom came down last Monday, which was a God send because I was having a hard time without Shawn.  We had lots to do every day.  I had this brilliant idea that since we would be in Cincinnati taking my mom back home over the weekend that I should throw a surprise 30th birthday party for Shawn while we were there.  So last week was a blur of doctor's appointments for the kids, doing new house stuff with Mom, working like mad to get homeowner association meeting stuff done, AND pulling together 30-40 of our nearest and dearest for a party on Saturday.  I got the party room rented, cake ordered, everyone notified, etc etc without Shawn realizing a thing.  HA HA!

 

He was so surprised.  I don't think I have ever surprised him about anything before this.  He kept saying "You got me!  You got me!"  It was great.

 

We are finally home and almost caught back up on our sleep.  That trip takes a lot out of you.  Shawn still has that eye infection so I had to drive all the way there and back.  It took us 9-10 hours each way.  Ugh!

 

OK well it is back to the Laundry for me.  Gotta get stuff caught up after our week of fun and games! 

 

Love, Jen

Happy valentines day everyone!

 

Big Hugs and Smooches!

 

Love,

Jen

Just have a minute, here are the highlights:

 

Mom is here safe and sound, kids are thrilled, I am beyond thrilled, all is well

 

The neighbor-called HOA meeting went really well last night - I was a nervous wreck before (and even after) but I got a round of applause when I said my piece and everyone agreed unanimously with all 9 points I made (which is unheard of - they like to bicker about everything!)

 

Coco's denist appt is in an hour, I had better get going!

 

Talk to you later!

Today was a better day overall.  We each had our moments, but for the most part we all minded our manners and didn't lose our tempers.  Whew!

 

Colleen's little friend, Megan, came over to play this afternoon.  We were supposed to do this project where you take the paper off of old crayons, break them up into smaller bits, put them in a silicone baking pan, bake at 250 degrees until melted, take out, cool, and then you would have these funky tie dye looking crayons in cute shapes.  That didn't turn out so good.  Lessons for the future: make sure to use just one brand of crayon - they melt at different temperatures, be sure not to use too many dark colored crayons - the end result is that it mostly looks black or this awful muddy brown.  Sigh.  We tried.  I ought to take and post pictures so you can see how truly awful these crayons turned out.  We played Barbies instead, and that went over fairly well, except Wesley wanted to use a car instead of a Barbie and was getting very frustrated that the girls wouldn't let his car sleep in the bed or sit on the couch or take a bath in the luxurious Barbie soaking tub.  LOL

 

Then we had a disagreement over who's turn it was to wear the tiara with the LED lights that flash on it (I call this the seizure crown).  Wesley wanted a turn, but Megan insisted that boys couldn't wear crowns, and Colleen was upset because it is HER CROWN and she is the "Sin-cess" and no one else should even dare to think that they could have a turn, for goodness' sakes!

 

So I distracted them all by introducing our new pet... Toe Toe.  Toe Toe the Turtle (because ToeToe is what it sounds like when Colleen says turtle).  It is one of those that start out fairly small, you put it in water for 3-10 days it grows up to 600 times it's original size.  They were fascinated.  They love their pet ToeToe.  They kept insisting that I put ToeToe's home down on the floor so that they could look at it.  ToeToe lives in the bucket I use to make the pinesol water for mopping the floor, so ToeToe has to stay up out of reach of little hands.  Besides the fact that it is a lot of water to have one of them accidently spill all over the floor, I am terrified (irrationally so) that one of them will some how dunk their head into the water and drown.  So ToeToe stays up on the counter, far away from curious, disaster prone children.  I set the microwave timer for 20-30 minutes at a time and when it beeped the kids could come look at ToeToe.  He is not much bigger yet, but he feels very interesting, almost slimey.  The kids all think he is real and Colleen is convinced that he bit her already.

 

After a while we took Megan home and stopped by my neighbor Carol's house for a minute to show her Wesley's new shoes and braces and to show off how well he can walk now.  He is a total pro!  He even tries to run, it is so funny to watch.  He usually gets his top half moving faster than his bottom half and face-plants, but it doesn't faze him, he just pops back up and gets back to it.

 

After that the kids and I went to Cici's (Shawn, please don't give me grief, it was only $7 and we needed to get out of the house!  Sorry I didn't tell you when we were talking on the phone, I knew you would give me a hard time!  LOL) and we weren't ready to come straight home after dinner, so we took a ride to the community that has the model home in our floor plan.  Colleen asks to go see her new house a lot.  She knows right away which one is "ours" and it seemed to make her feel better to have seen it.  Afterwards she asked to come home.

 

Now the kids are in bed (thank goodness!) it is nice and quiet here.  I want to straighten up some before I go to bed.  My mom is coming down tomorrow to visit while Shawn is out of town.  It was a last minute thing, we were able to find a very cheap flight, she missed the kids, I need an adult here before I completely lose my mind, so it all worked out.  Her flight leaves at 6am, and gets here at 10:45.  The kids are very excited to see Mam-maw.  I am too.  I joked that I was going to drop her and the kids off at home and dissappear for a couple hours of much needed kid-free quiet time, but in reality just having her here will do the trick.  We are going to have a lot to do this week.  I'm not sure if Mom is exactly prepared for how non-stop it is around here. 

 

Tomorrow is low key, I am watching the preschool bunch for Janice from 8:30-10:30, then popping down to the airport pick up my mom, then a quick stop at Wal-Mart to get her coffee and diet root beer, and all the other stuff that she likes that I don't normally have on hand, then we are headed home so the kids (and maybe even Mom) can take a nap.  After that Colleen needs to do her preschool work and then she and Grandma can do arts and crafts.  Colleen's favorite medium is watercolors and she is actually quite accomplished.  Her sense of color and balance is very good.  And that is not just a proud Mommy talking (well... maybe it is, but still!)  Then Monday evening I am going to a pre-annual meeting for neighbors concerned about the HOA and the upcoming annual meeting.

 

Tuesday Colleen has a dentist appointment (standard cleaning, she loves seeing the Tooth Doctor!) and then a quick stop home for a nap, then Wes has physical therapy.

 

Wednesday the people come to measure this house for the new carpet and vinyl kitchen floor, then the kids are off to Janice's and Mom and I are doing the house tour - model in other neighborhood, design studio to see our exact choices, then the actual neighborhood we will live in to meet our sales lady and see the lot.

 

Thursday Wes has physical therapy in the morning, then home for naps, and then I am going to try to get my car into the shop for an oil change and tire rotation in the afternoon.  The HOA annual meeting starts at 7pm.  Color me excited.  :(

 

Friday Shawn gets home at 6am, I think I am going to take Mom and the kids out for a while so that he can sleep.  If Mom is up for it, Shawn and I will go out on a date Friday afternoon/evening and she will stay at home with the kids.

 

Eventually (either late Friday or early Saturday) we are all going to head off to take my Mom home and have a very short visit with everyone, then on Monday it is back to the grindstone, once again.

 

Mom was a little worried about feeling cooped up in the house or bored while she is here, I don't think she has to worry about that!  LOL

 

Well, I had better quit putting it off... I need to get my rear in gear and clean this place up so that she isn't horrified when she walks in tomorrow.

 

HUGS!  -Jen

delete the post you wrote it in.

 

GRRR I am having a bad week.  Let's just say the fun never stops and leave it at that because I do not have the energy to put a positive spin on anything lately.

 

Part of me knows it all will be funny someday, but right now is most assuredly NOT someday.

 

 

You know those little statues of Budda where he is sitting "indian style" and you rub his big belly for good luck?  You know that smiling happy expression on his face?

 

I am wearing that expression right now.

 

Wesley couldn't fall asleep tonight.  He would manage an hour here, an hour there, but he kept waking up.  He can talk well enough now to tell me that his "sleeping boots" (Ponseti/Mitchell Brace) were hurting his feet.  I made an exception tonight and took them off.  He was in his "walking boots" (plastic SMO brace) all day with a new pair of shoes (the pair in the pictures is a size too big), and I think his feet needed some "breathing room".  So I took his brace off and asked him if he wanted me to snuggle him for a bit before going back to bed. 

 

He said yes, so I hugged him to me and sat on the floor by his bed.  His head was turned so that he could look at his night light, which is a big ceramic house made to be Hey Diddle Diddle's Fiddle shop.  He loves that lamp.  His stereo was playing his night night music (never leave home without it!) and it was dim and quiet and peaceful.  I rocked him and cradled him with my arms around him and my head bent over him, imagining him surrounded by love.  I tried really hard to imprint all of the sensations into my brain (his warm little body, the way his hair smells, how his breath tickled the hairs on my arm when he exhaled, Shadow the cat nuzzeling and rubbing on us as we sat there). 

 

After a few minutes he told me he wanted back in his bed (he is still in the crib).  He told me "night night" in his sweet baby voice, settled his blanket under his arms and was already drifting off as I backed out of the room.  He softly called "night night" again as I shut the door.

 

I left his room with the big Budda smile on my face and had to come write about it.  That little boy brings me joy untold.  Little moments like these make it all worthwhile.  I don't hardly mind at all now that he found colored pencils and colored all over every surface he could find today.  Or that he pooped in the tub yesterday and I can't figure out how to sanitize the foam tub toys from "Cars".  Or that he.... you get the idea!  LOL

 

And now that I have had my dose of happy I'll tell you all that the home owner's association situation is really wearing on me.  I am your typical peacemaker type person and somehow I am in the middle, listening to neighbor's concerns and complaints, listening to board member's concerns and complaints.  Caring and wanting to see it all turn out well, but also keeping one eye on the prize... the new house with the new association that will be builder controlled for at least the next couple years untill construction is completed in the neighborhood (a good thing - less room for personal agendas like we are dealing with now).  Why do people have to be so mean spirited and uncivil towards eachother?  There is nastiness on both sides (home owners and the property management company, which "speaks" for the board, as well as one of the board members).  I personally feel that the property management company should be calm, professional, and neutral in all discussions, but the reality is that the guy who owns it is severely lacking in people skills.  How he gets and retains clients is a mystery to me.  I can get along with nearly anyone and even I dislike him.  I sincerely hope that good things come out of the meetings next week and perhaps things will settle back down and this can be a friendly, neighborly community once again.  At any rate my responsibilities end as of February 15th and that day can't come fast enough for me.  Cross your fingers that my Tums supply doesn't run out before then!  LOL

 

My mom is coming down to visit on Monday for a week.  I am looking forward to it.  It is so lonely around here with Shawn out of town.  He is due back at 6am on the 16th.  I miss him so much.  It will be nice to have Mom here to help keep an eye on the kids and for adult conversation.  We are also going to set aside a day to go look at all of the new house stuff, I am excited because I have been looking for an excuse to go "play" with it all again!  While she is here I am going to get started on the painting - we are going "neutral" and getting rid of all of the blue.  I have also picked out the replacement carpet and vinyl flooring for the kitchen.  All of the tan colors coordinate nicely together.  :D

 

I hope everyone is doing well!  Talk to you later,

 

Jen 

Shawn spoke at a conference for work called TechReady today.  He did a presentation on troubleshooting and debugging LCS2005.  I am very proud of him.  Shawn is a soft spoken, in the background kind of guy and it took major guts for him to get up in front of a big room of people and talk.

 

I am very proud of him for doing such a good job.  He sets the bar very high for himself and yet always manages to exceed it.

 

Kudos, Shawn!

 

HUGS -Jen

As you all have heard (over, and over, and over again) I have been sick for a week and a half now.  Ugh.  Today was the first day that I felt halfway normal again.  I am still weak and the tissues are still ever present, but I had enough energy to tackle the house today.  It is a testament (to what I have no clue) that it only took me an afternoon to set the place back to rights again.  I even swept the kitchen and vacuumed the carpet.  Laudry is all caught up and packed away, toys are back in their proper bins, and there is only one small load of dishes awaiting their turn in the dishwasher.

 

I even had time to get Kokoro most of her swimming suits and I reread a good portion of To The Nines (illness demanded books, so I started rereading all of the Stephanie Plum books in order, I was averaging one and half books a day when I could use not feeling good as an excuse to sit on my duff and read all day).  All of this after I drove Shawn to work and went grocery shopping!

 

All of these accomplishments served to provide me with a deep sense of inner peace.

 

On the way to go pick Shawn up from work tonight I kept noticing things that made me happy.  For instance, there is this building that I drive by as I am getting on the highway and the top floor has this big white chandelier.  It is this funky design and it must be huge in person for me to be able to see it so well from that far away.  Seeing that wild light fixture makes me happy.  Almost always having enough people in the car to be able to ride in the HOV lane makes me happy.  Having a dependable car and gas to run it with makes me happy.  Having a husband and a job to pick him up from also brings me happiness.

 

Shawn happened to have cash on him tonight and as we were deciding who was going to run in and get the slushies versus who was going to stay in the car with the kids (getting the slushies is the preferred job - the kids are a tough crowd during the wait), he gave me the five and said that I should be the one to go in so that I can buy a lottery ticket.  Shawn knows that I love buying lottery tickets.  I always feel like I am holding a piece of paper worth millions every time I buy them.  I am convinced that I am going to win the big jackpot, despite the odds, despite all of the times that I have never won.  Shawn has a more realistic view.  He is pretty sure he is never going to win the lottery and would rather have an extra slushie than a piece of worthless paper for his dollar, so it was extra nice of him to send me in on my "mission".

 

Between you and me, I don't see how winning the lottery could make me feel happier or luckier, but if I do happen to win tomorrow night, I promise to share it with Shawn.  :D

 

HUGS -Jen

Yesterday afternoon was the party at Shawn's work, Microsoft, and they were having a big celebration for the release of three major products.  They called it L.O.V.E. - Launch Office Vista Exchange.  It was a 60's themed party with tie dye and peace symbols and big far out flowers.  They had a huge heated tent in the parking lot with cotton candy, popcorn, pizza, drinks, and all kinds of games for the kids and they had a nice buffet in the cafeteria, for those of us who wanted to stay extra warm.

 

We got there about 3:45pm and met Shawn walking in (purely by fate, which was neat!).  First off, they did the flag raising.  In the center of one of the parking turn abouts there is a garden with four flag poles.  The highest one always has the American flag on it and the others usually have the North Carolina flag and a Microsoft flag and usually a flag for one of their products.  When we first arrived only the American flag was up.  The M.C. for the party (The "voice" of NASCAR - The guy who says "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!") told the crowd that the family of a coworker that suddenly passed away in December was going to raise the Exchange flag, since he had worked on it.  The M.C. told us that the music that was playing was his favorite song.  It was wonderful of them to honor an employee like that.   It didn't feel sad, maybe a little bittersweet, but mostly it felt right.  I was proud that Shawn works for a company that would remember an employee and include his family in the celebration.  Then they raised the flags for Office and Vista.  One of Shawn's teammembers got to raise the flag for Vista.  He had worked on every Microsoft operating system - wild!  When the final flag was raised they had all of the children let bunches of helium balloons go to float up behind the flags.  It made a pretty picture and Colleen & Wes were happy to participate. 

 

Next came the bird release.  There is a bird sactuary (Shawn - is that the right word for it?) called Carolina Raptor Center and they work to rehabilitate injured birds of prey and release them back into the wild.  They do have quite a few permanent residents as well, but they try to treat and release as much as possible.  One of the Exchange team employees got to do the honors and released the hawk.  The bird flew majestically into the sunset.  We all clapped and cheered.  It was pretty exciting to see the animal flying free again.

 

Then it was time for the big rocket launch.  If I remember right there were 8 rockets.  One for each team at the Charlotte campus.  Shawn did the rocket for his team (with some help from a coworker).  First they announced the winner of the decorating contest... IT WAS SHAWN'S!!!!  He was so excited!  Then they launched the rockets.  All but one launched successfully (and they did finally get that one to go as well).  Shawn's rocket also won the flight portion of the contest - it launched perfect, and the parachutes opened right and the egg inside the top did not break.  His team will get a plaque for winning the contest - cool beans!

 

Then we went inside and I got to see Shawn's cubicle for the first time.  It was pretty neat.  Shawn put the rocket on his desk and then we went off to find his friend, Manu, who was visiting from India.  Manu took Shawn under his wing when Shawn was in Bangalore and the two of them have become buddies.  He was very polite and we had an interesting conversation about washers and dryers.  Some people in Bangalore have washing machines now but no one has a dryer.  They dry their clothes outside on clotheslines.  We talked about the differences in the methods, pros and cons and I tried to explain dryer sheets and static electricity from the dryer.  Manu told us about a Krishna temple he visited and promised to send us photos from it.  It was remarkable because that temple was not intended for one specific God, you could pray to whichever God you choose to during your visit there.  I would love to see it in person some day, it sounded awe inspiring.

 

Then we went and got in line for the buffet.  The line was long, the kids mostly behaved.  We got our food (chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green beans, bread, salad, banana pudding, and I am sure I am forgetting stuff).  We had just enough time to eat and then they made the announcement that it was time for the fireworks.  We bundled up and went out to see the display.  Colleen was thrilled, and was almost as charming as she was when she saw the fireworks at Disney World in November.  Wesley was petrified.  You could barely hear his screams over the sound of the fireworks, though.  He alternated between wanting to cling to me for dear life and wanting to burrow under the blankets in the stroller for safety.  He was relieved when it was all over.  Colleen asked when the next show was! 

 

After that we made our way back to the car and headed home.  Traffic was quite bad last night, which reinforced the thought that it will be SO NICE when we live close to his work.  :)  All in all, it was a wonderful party, my medicine did it's job for the duration of the festivities.  Shawn and the kids had a good time as well.