The bet

You, my dear readers, yes all three of you, are now witness to the craziest bet in history. For some incredibly strange reason, my dear husband is obsessed with minivans. Obsessed as in that is what he wants for our next vehicle and has talked about it for nearly 5 years. Even after we test drove one and I cried half way through because I just couldn't take the implications- that I'm a mom!!!

Anyway, I do have a point to the story. We made a bet on whether we will be in the house by October 19th. That means the house is live able (running water, electricity, gas, air conditioning, household appliances working, toilets installed, etc) and we have the certificate of occupancy from the city. If we are in the house by October 19th, our next vehicle will be a minivan. And since dear husband has decided we will never finance another vehicle, I'm sure it will be a lovely late 1990's vintage with 60,000+ miles on it. However, if we are not able to move into the house by October 19th, he will prepare all dinners and do the dishes from dinner within 12 hours of the dinner until the baby is born in March.

Still homeless

Stairs Entertainment center
Fireplace in the living room
Beginnings of the kitchen
More kitchen

I haven't posted about the house lately because it depresses me to think about it. We're still crashing at my folks and the carpenter has still been s l o w l y plugging away. IF the rain can hold out, we should get a driveway and sidewalks tomorrow. All the prep work for paint has begun inside and most is complete outside. The tile guy has been working out of sequence and has completed 2 of the 4 bathrooms and made good progress on the other 2.

The garage door for the back is installed and the correct panel put in place for the main garage door. We picked out carpet and wood and should be getting the damage done for that soon (we have good taste). They will come measure for counter tops this week and we'll select those on Thursday. All that leaves for us is pick out all the hardware for doors and cabinets, sinks, and toilets. I can finally see the end.

Sick, again

This is the second day in two weeks that I had to call in sick to work. I seem to pick up whatever is floating around and there is always someone sick at work. Hubby's the culprit this time, though. Would have moved to another bed in the house, except they are all full. New activity starting at the house- will post pictures soon.

Big time

Second grade, seven years old and the nurturing is over. The boy gets graded on his school work and will receive a letter grade instead of excellent/satisfactory/unsatisfactory. I can tell a huge improvement in his work. His behavior? Not so much. We get notes home from the teacher every day- the boy doesn't listen! He was misbehaving in line! He won't stop talking! Please talk to him! Might be time to have a talk with her. Good luck lady!

We're not throwing in the towel, but this is something we've struggled with since he was in preschool and if the school counselor, principal, district counselor, and pediatrician were unable to provide helpful advice, well, talking to him isn't going to make an impact. We've talked until we were blue in the face, taken everything away, paid for good behavior- he just does not respond to the typical reward/punishment theory.

Baseball season has begun and instead of the coach gently lolling the ball for them to hit, a machine pitches at 35 mph. Instead of rotating the coveted game ball each game so every player receives one, the recipient has to earn it. Instead of rotating positions so that each player gets good experience, the coaches decide the best player for each position and they keep that position the entire season. Instead of letting each player bat each inning, players will get outs and scores will be kept.

Welcome to the big time!

Bean counting

I am finally caught up on my accounting for both businesses after spending one entire evening last week and most of the day Sunday working on it. I haven't had formal training in accounting, but I did hire a tutor. With a finance degree and several accounting classes under his belt, my husband would seem to be the logical accountant, but since his idea of balancing a checkbook is to round the checks to the nearest dollar, I decided to take on the task.


I started by purchasing QuickBooks Pro and then entering the data in a way that made since in my engineering mind. I then met with a bookkeeper, an expert in QB, and had several sessions until I was comfortable enough to continue by myself. I met with her several times a year the first year to make sure I was on the right track. Now I have her review the books at the beginning of each year before I hand them over to the tax advisor to prepare our taxes.


It started off taking me 7 or 8 hours to complete one month. This past week, I did four months in a about 5 hours. Not too bad, but not something I enjoy. I do enjoy the feeling of satisfaction after I finish however and it gives me a much better understanding of where we stand. Neither business is where we'd like it to be this year, but now we can start working a plan to get them both back on track.

Thumb

Friday, I went to a genetic counselor for the new Ultra-screen test. It is much more accurate than previous tests to check for Downs Syndrome, Trisomy 18 and other chromosomal disorders. And since my risk of Downs increases each year and I'm not quite the spring chicken I used to be, I opted for the test. That and because I get another ultrasound ;)

The technician had to take so many measurements and because the baby was not cooperating and was sleeping in a tight corner of my uterus, the ultrasound lasted quite awhile. She was finally able to wake him up (and I use 'him' in the loosest terms since it's still too early to tell) and he swam over to another area and started sucking his thumb. So cute!!! Even if he did look like an alien. The measurements were all within normal and he's several days ahead on growth, but I'll get the official results sometime this week.

The next ultrasound, hopefully the one I find out whether to pick out pink or blue, will happen the beginning of November.

Something

I really don't have anything to post about, I just need to fill up some space so I don't have to look at my darn toes every time I open my blog.

I did just add a new link to the right- Because I Said So. A friend first forwarded her EBay auction which had her blog address and it's some funny stuff!

Unfortunately, not too terribly much to report on the house. It feels like NOTHING has happened in the past two months, even though a few things have. Funny thing is- the builder gave our name as a reference and hubby spoke with her last night for almost an hour. I'm just shocked he thinks at this point we'd give a quick, good reference.

I am moving offices at work, so I get the joy of packing it all up this afternoon. Haven't had enough packing in the past few months, so I'm totally overjoyed.

And in other news, my clothes don't fit anymore. 11 weeks and I definitely look pregnant. Or extra fat. And of course my maternity clothes are in the utmost unreachable spot in storage and the last thing I want to do is buy more maternity clothes. Argh. @!#$@#$ builder. Should be in our house by now, all settled and happy.

Baby corn

I'm walking in through Wal-mart, minding my own business and managed to get into a fight with a can of baby corn. And the corn won. I'm not sure the picture does justice but I was wishing for a morphine drip all day yesterday. I am able to walk today, but not sure when I'll be able to wear shoes again. Anyone want in on the bet if I lose my nail or not?

Goodbye

My cat of 12 years, the one hubby gave me as a Christmas present when he lived in Florida, had to be put down on Tuesday. He hadn't eaten much in a few weeks and at first, I figured he was eating a neighboring cat's food. Last week, I called the vet and they recommended giving him baby food and then gradually mixing in with his food. It worked briefly. He didn't eat at all on Sunday or Monday, so Monday evening I opened up a can of tuna for him- his favorite food in the entire world. I immediately became alarmed when he wouldn't eat it.

I dropped him off at the vet Tuesday before work fully expecting he'd need some medicine, maybe even a surgery for whatever ailed him. He just did not seem that sick. I received the bad news right after lunch. He likely had a tumor and his chest cavity was filled with blood, he was severely anemic and only had about 10% of his lung function left. I immediately drove to the vet to see him and to say my goodbyes. The vet had to lightly sedate him in order to examine him and he was put on oxygen for an hour afterwards because he barely made it through that. I opened up the cage and he could not stand up, but managed to crawl over to my shoulder and nuzzle under my hair, his favorite spot.

The vet offered to let me take him home and said he could pass at any moment, but I knew not only could I not handle seeing that, it would affect the kids in a traumatic way. I had to leave before they put him down. The girl asked when he arrived home where he was and I explained that he had died. She hasn't shown any reaction at all to the news. The boy took it much harder. He cried and then was upset with me for telling him. He didn't eat dinner that night or breakfast the next morning and has been extremely clingy with the dog. The dog wanders around the house, searching for the cat. He checks where his food used to be and where his litter box was, all gone.

I still think I hear the thump as his paws hit the floor when he jumps off my bed. I still expect to see him laying on the bed, waiting for me to come home. He was always the one to comfort me when I was sad. He is very much missed.

Guitars, drums, and bermuda grass

A lot of activities planned for this afternoon. We are meeting with the landscape architect so she can present our plan. I am excited to see what she has in store for us. One of hubby's requests was bermuda grass in the backyard. I'm thinking it would make a lovely putting green for me.

After that meeting, we're off to dinner with a friend before the Rush concert. I've lost track of how many Rush concerts I've been to, but they never disappoint. Since it is at The Woodlands, I'm hoping to catch a quick cat nap on the way out so that maybe I can stay awake past 9:15 this evening.

Confirmed

Arrival anticipated March 23, 2008

Shamu, here we come

I am so excited. I just made reservations for a stay in San Antonio for a trip to Sea World. I've been wanting to take the kids there for years, well, ever since I saw the adorable scrapbooking accessories for Sea World.

We have not had an elaborate family vacation since Disney January 2005. Last summer, right before school started, we took the kids to Schlitterbaun in Galveston. It was a quick, 2 day vacation, but they still have not stopped talking about it. Made me realize that vacations don't have to be big productions to have an impact.

Teensy bit of progress

Garage door arrived and was installed. Unfortunately, it was not manufactured to my exact specifications and they put in the wrong windows. Nothing wrong with, but not what I ordered. They will replace the window panel. The windows should be squares, not rectangles. I am now convinced it is too much to ask for anyone to get it right the first time.

And wood has been laid on the stairs. Most of them anyways.

I'll have to take pics of the railings and the mantle over the fireplace. I even have one kitchen cabinet now. (I'm sure the sarcasm reads through even via text).

And maybe someday, somehow, somewhere, Yellow Freight will find my dryer. But I won't hold my breath.

Stress level declining

We are done with the old house. Moved, cleaned and keys turned over. And we are all getting settled at my folks and it is fairly comfortable. Even better, I have two extra sets of hands when hubby is out of town. And miraculously, my laundry is washed and folded almost as soon as I place it in the laundry room.

I am getting over the hump at work- I should have the bulk of it finished on Monday and can see the pace slowing a bit. As I've stopped talking to the builder and even going by the house regularly, the denial is helping with that as well.

Be watching for big news to be announced at the end of next week.

Alive, barely

We made it through the move. Three intense days of packing, moving, cleaning, and more packing. We had been packing and sorting since April, so we were completely amazed how much work was left to do. The little things seem to multiply as you pack them. The majority of our belongings are either sold, donated, or in storage and the four humans plus dog plus cat are living with my parents. I was hoping to wake up this morning and this would all be a nightmare, but no such luck.

In other news, things are still not progressing well on the house (and any schedule delays are amplified by the fact that we are living with my parents). Tile was started on Saturday and fortunately my folks stopped by to check progress because the tilers were working without a level, without snapping lines, and without spacers. Needless to say, everything was a bit off. I called the builder and had him remove the amateurs from the job. So now we're even further behind. Sigh.

Did I mention that everything for work is due this week as well? Calgon, take me away!

Marketing geniuses

I wonder if Apple is used as a case study in business school on how to market. After the hype died down a bit about the iPhone and everyone who would camp out in line for when the store opened or pay $3000 dollars on EBay has already purchased theirs after just a glimpse on television ads, Apple has moved on to phase II of the blitz.

I just received an email about signing up for appointments with personal shoppers to get all of your questions answered about the iPhone or attend an iPhone workshop or to find out which stores have it in stock. Since the impulse buyer craze has passed, time to target those that need more information in order to purchase.

I'd be even more impressed if they targeted cheapskates like me and were able to convince me I needed one.

Last to know or best kept secret?

I was able to sell a few pieces of furniture through advertising at work. I decided to put the remainder on Craig's List. I had heard of it before and had even been to the website once or twice, but I had NO IDEA how well it worked. It was incredibly simple to post my items for sale and the postings are free. Within hours, the weight set was sold. I've had 10 emails about the treadmill and it will surely be gone tomorrow. Someone is coming tomorrow to look at the bedroom furniture. Only have the squat rack and weights left without any potential.

The money for all the stuff we can't use anymore is nice, but the fact we don't have to move it is the best!

Mailbox

I need to select a mailbox for the front of the house. I haven't lived in a house where the mail man delivers to an individual house since I was a kid and it seems so quaint. That would pretty much describe the neighborhood, as it is one of the original neighborhoods for Sugar Land, built in the 1910's for the Imperial Sugar Factory.

Anywho, my issue is which mailbox and I can't decide, so I need some help:

A)
B)
C)

Bars

Took a look at the house Sunday and I was shocked when I walked in the door. I have no idea what they were thinking, but the window sills were in and each one hung outside the wall about 3 inches. It looked like each window was a little serving bar! I called the builder and he assured me it would look right when they installed the trim underneath the windows. I asked if he had seen it yet.

Hopefully they will be fixing that today. Also a miscommunication with the builder and the carpenter about the cabinet doors for the bathrooms and kitchen. Hopefully he hasn't started building those yet.

And feeling a little frustrated because no one was at the house yesterday. 11 more days until we move out of our house. And no one is working. Each day is precious and I'm trying to remain calm, but it is taking all of my energy. I really, really, really want to be in and relatively settled by the time the school year starts. And I really, really, really do not want to live with our folks for very long.

Paint

The exterior is painted! And I'm not quite sure how I feel about the color. It goes great with the stone, but I was so used to seeing white, it just throws me off.

Here is my gynormous whirlpool bath tub, or should I say swimming pool?