excuses, excuses

We're having a hard time with going to bed these days. Perhaps it is the promise of summer and an extension of the bedtime. In any case, I've heard the full range of excuses. I'm too hot. It's too cold. My bed is lumpy. I need a drink. My pillow is itchy. There aren't enough stuffed animals in my bed.

Yes, we've heard it all, or so I thought. Derrick, who has taken to sleeping in his underwear lately, came up with a new one tonight. "My eyes are too hot." So I pose the question, can eyeballs really get hot? I wonder.

by the numbers

I really enjoy when April does her "by the numbers" posts, so I thought I'd give one of my own a try. Sometimes it is easier to document the goings-on when I can quantify them.

2 days left of school, after today. I'm very anxious for this year to be over. Having one kid going full day and one kid going half day is rough. Next year will be wonderful.

46 invitations that I mailed yesterday for a Scentsy party that I'm throwing for a friend next week. I've managed to go my entire married life without having to throw a Pampered Chef or Stampin' Up party, although I have attended my fair share! I guess you could say that I'm due. In any case, all you sisters and sisters-in-law will be getting your catalog shortly. Of course I don't expect you to come, but if you'd like to order anything let me know and I'll tell you how.

60 bags of bark that Jon finished putting down around the border of our backyard over the weekend. It feels so much better out there now! We still have a strong dislike for the front yard, but that will have to wait.

18 weeks pregnant, plus two days. Still waiting for the yuck to completely disappear.

1 week until we have our ultrasound, and hopefully find out if we've evened out our numbers or not.

random

After some gentle prodding from Emily and a remark from Jon that he was "sick and tired" of reading about me being sick and tired, I realize that I must post. Somehow the end of the school year just seems to be busier than usual. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I feel better yet. I reached 17 weeks yesterday, and despite my hope that my nausea would disappear, it hasn't yet. I can't be too surprised, though, because it has gone on longer with each pregnancy, so if the pattern holds it will likely linger a bit longer. We have our ultrasound scheduled for May 27th, the day after we get back from our Memorial Day excursion to Richfield. We're hoping for a boy to even out our numbers, but of course we'll be happy with whatever it is!

On the church front, I survived my organ debut a couple weeks ago at Stake Conference. It actually went really well. A couple days before we actually got a brand new organ and sound system in the stake center. Not that I have much to go by, but I really like it. Of course there has to be someone to spoil all the excitement, though. A couple days ago I learned that someone stole a $1700 sub-woofer from the chapel. It really makes me sick, because it had to have been someone who had access to the chapel and knew that the equipment was brand new. I really can't see how it wasn't a member. And that makes me sad, and angry. Anyways. Jon got a new calling at Stake Conference. He is the new Stake Executive Secretary. I guess that goes to show that you can run, but you can't hide! Anyways, he now has meetings every Thursday night from about 5:30 pm until 9:00 pm. He seems to be enjoying it so far.

About a week ago we heard what I think is kind of sad news. The guy that Jon used to work with that passed away about a month ago...apparently his wife is pregnant. From what we understand, Shane died before she found out. Under normal circumstances, a new baby would be so exciting, but in this case I just can't help but be sad for her. Sad that he died without knowing, although I'm sure he knows now. Sad that this baby will never know their father in this life. And sad for his wife, to have to add this to what she is already dealing with.

Back to happier topics, on Saturday I went and signed the kids up for their summer activities. Both Derrick and Abbie will be doing swimming lessons again, although I learned my lesson about getting them signed up early, because all that I could get in to was the very last session in August. Oh well. Abbie decided to give girls T-ball a try this year. Derrick opted for tennis, which makes dad very happy. I think they will both have a great time. I especially hope Derrick will like tennis. He has had a hard time in the past when his team doesn't "win". He is still interested in team sports, but I think an individual sport may just be right up his alley. That way he is in control of how well he does.

I must go attend to my house now. I took yesterday off, and Jon had gone in to work at 4:00 am, so he was really tired all day. That means my house got severely neglected and needs some TLC. More timely updates soon.

sick and tired of being sick and tired

I'm really hoping to gain back some motivation and energy soon. I just passed my 13th week of pregnancy and I'm just one big blob of laziness! Let me ellaborate.

My house is a disaster. Granted, we just moved a few weeks ago, but to be honest it looks pretty much as it did about a week ago. However, my laundry piles are behaving like bunnies. It's not just dirty laundry, though. Yes, I have clean piles and just not enough energy to actually fold them. The trick is remembering which ones are which.

I have also cancelled piano lessons now for three weeks in a row. My students and their parents are going to wash their hands of me before too much longer! Although at this moment I've dropped down to 6 students and can honestly say that as of right now I don't plan to pursue any more. I'm just going to let them drop off or take off the summer and then evaluate come fall. It's just getting too hard with my kids, and will only get harder in October.

I have procrastinated a very important task due to my laziness. In some ways I was hoping it wasn't actually happening. Remember last year when I was dreading having to learn the organ, then I moved out of the ward and thought I was off the hook? Well, back in February I was talking with our Stake Music Chairman, I am a Stake Music Specialist, when she informed me that she was planning on me being the organist for the adult session of stake conference in April. I didn't really respond at the time, I think I was too surprised. I turned right around and called my mother in a bit of a panic and said, "She does know that I don't know how to play the organ yet, right?" Yeah, she knew, but it was time that I learned. So, I make my organ debut at stake conference. Anyone want to trade? I'm actually feeling pretty good about the two songs that I have to play, given that I still have another week and a half to practice. But our life has been so crazy the last little while, this whole organ thing was just one more thing I didn't have the energy to deal with until about now. Wish me luck.

Jon has been working overnight this whole week, which just really throws a kink in the flow of our days. He's tired, and I'm even more tired, although I can't explain why. It will be over tomorrow night, then he gets Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. Maybe we'll get pulled together this weekend.

These last two thoughts are necessarily laziness related, but I wanted to note them.

Welcome back to homeownership! I have a guy coming tomorrow to fix all the missing shingles on our roof. Why, because yesterday we had crazy wind gusts of 50 mph that blew them off in various sections. It was fun to listen to them flapping around up there on the rooftop, trying to guess when they would finally give up the fight and just come off already. The best part? We got it the worst out of all the houses in our area.

Finally, we got some crazy news this morning. Jon was trying to sleep when he got a phone call and then a text message from one of the girls he used to work with over at Walgreens. When he checked them he came out and told me that Shane had died in his sleep overnight. Shane was the head pharmacist that Jon worked with for about a year and half over there. He still talked to him quite a bit when his family would come in to Target. This morning his wife woke up and he wasn't breathing. They tried to ressucitate him but couldn't. We don't know what happened, but it is likely just one of those crazy things. The part that is so hard for us is that he has two little girls, 5 and 3. Shane turned 31 just three days ago. Needless to say, Jon couldn't go back to sleep. I just can't even imagine what his wife is going through. How do you process something like this? One minute you're going along, things are normal, life has a plan. The next, your life is changed in a way you never imagined. It just helps remind me how much we don't control. I need to be better at living in a way that I would be proud of, should the unthinkable happen. Don't my earlier complaints just seems a bit trivial now?

ever felt this way?

I just received the following in an email from a friend. Sooo funny because it is true!

Mormon Women:

If you, or someone you know has ever felt overwhelmed by all they feel they need to do, Vickie Gunther of Redlands , California , wrote a hilarious poem, Dr. Seuss style, about how much LDS women try to take on. David B. Marsh used it at Women's Conference, and Vickie has given permission to share it.

The Girl in a Whirl by 'Dr. Sue' (a.k. A.. Vickie Gunther)
Look at me, look at me, look at me now!
You could do what I do if you only knew how.
I study the scriptures one hour each day;
I bake, I upholster, I scrub, and I pray.
I always keep all the commandments completely;
I speak to my little ones gently and sweetly.
I help in their classrooms! I sew all they wear!
I drive them to practice! I cut all their hair!
I memorize names of the General Authorities;
I focus on things to be done by priorities.
I play the piano! I bless with my talents!
My toilets all sparkle! My checkbooks all balance!
Each week every child gets a one-on-one date;
I attend all my meetings (on time! Never late!)
I'm taking a class on the teachings of Paul,
But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all,
I track my bad habits 'til each is abolished;
Our t-shirts are ironed! My toenails are polished!
Our family home evenings are always delightful;
The lessons I give are both fun and insightful.
I do genealogy faithfully, too.
It's easy to do all the things that I do!
I rise each day early, refreshed and awake;
I know all the names of each youth in my stake!
I read to my children! I help all my neighbors!
I bless the community, too, with my labors.
I exercise and I cook menus gourmet;
My visiting teaching is done the first day!
(I also go do it for someone who missed hers.
It's the least I can do for my cherished ward sisters.)
I chart resolutions and check off each goal;
I seek each "lost lamb" on my Primary roll.
I can home-grown produce each summer and fall.
But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all,
I write in my journal! I sing in the choir!
Each day, I write "thank you's" to those I admire.
My sons were all Eagles when they were fourteen!
My kids get straight A's! And their bedrooms are clean!
I have a home business to help make some money;
I always look beautifully groomed for my honey.
I go to the temple at least once a week;
I change the car's tires! I fix the sink's leak!
I grind my own wheat and I bake all our bread;
I have all our meals planned out six months ahead.
I make sure I rotate our two-years' supply;
My shopping for Christmas is done by July!
These things are not hard; 'tis good if you do them;
You can if you try! Just set goals and pursue them!
It's easy to do all the things that I do!
If you plan and work smart, you can do them all, too!

It's easy!" she said and then she dropped dead.

beans

You may have been wondering...where have I been lately? I have not given up blogging, despite how it may seem. To put it simply, I've been a little busy since the last post. But before I recap, there are more beans to be spilled. I've been harboring a little secret, a secret which has placed me on my husband's "list" for the last 8 weeks. You see, Jon has a hard time keeping secrets, especially ones he is excited about. I, on the other hand, don't mind waiting a while to share some things. The first three times we had this secret, it was only a matter of days before the news had been spread to anyone who wanted to listen. This time, I thought it a bit more prudent to wait until, oh say, the end of the first trimester. After all, I am getting older and it's not like it's the first time around for us. That's right, baby number 4 is on the way! We finally told our parents this last weekend. I'm only 12 weeks along, but I think Jon honestly feels like I've been torturing him by making him wait to tell. To be fair, some of our siblings and close friends knew a little while ago. I had to give a little bit to keep Jon from going crazy. For some reason, it seemed like we still had a secret when we told people who lived far away. He doesn't understand why I wanted to wait, and I can't necessarily explain it myself, but it doesn't really matter anymore now.

While I love my kids, I am currently in the stage of pregnancy which makes it easy for me to say that number 4 is likely to be the last addition to our family. I have been driving my husband crazy since week 6, when the all-day-long-yuck kicked in. One thing I've learned doing this 4 times now is that the pregnancy books are liars when they say that it gets better with each pregnancy. HAH! Mine has definitely gotten worse each time around. I'm like a useless blob, which is no good when you have to pack and move in three weeks (more about that to come). Anyways, my exhaustion has definitely increased as well. I'm sure that has nothing to do with my other three kids, though! The other thing the books lie about is the 12 week mark as the "magical" point when all of these unpleasant early symptoms disappear in favor of more energy and the hey-my-nausea-is-gone-it's-a-miracle feeling. Last time around, I kept looking toward that 12 week mark, telling myself "just two more weeks and I'll feel better." But, it came and went, and I still felt awful. I actually reached the point where I talked to my doctor about taking Unisom to help with the nausea. I never actually did take it, but came really close. You hit the point where you decide that you're just never going to feel good again and you try to block it out. And then, one day, you notice for the first time in a long time that you feel normal. For me, that point came between 16 and 17 weeks with Grace, so I'm resigned to at least another month before it gets much better. In any case, despite my complaining here, we are very excited about this new addition. My due date is October 19th, but given that I've delivered 2 of my 3 kids about two weeks early, I fully expect to have this baby closer to the beginning of October. Now, on to other news.

As I alluded to earlier, we have moved, AGAIN. But, this move will be a more permanent move than most of our other 16. At least I think it is 16, you kind of stop counting after a certain point. Anyways, the day after we took back our offer on the first house, we made on offer on another house. It was accepted without any problems, and we closed about 3 weeks later, on March 27th. We have spent the last month or so wrapped up in all that goes along with buying a house and moving. We are still settling in, but I hope to to be completed with that soon. As soon as I find my camera, I also promise to post pictures of the house. I would use the ones that were on the internet from the listing, but I'm sure it has been taken down by now. We are very excited to be in this new house, and to be homeowners again. While it is not our dream house, it will suit our needs for the next 3-5 years and hopefully propel us towards the type of house we really want down the road.

While I have so many other things I should post and catch up on from the last couple months, it is currently past my 8:30 pm bedtime (I wasn't kidding about being exhausted right now!) and I really must turn in. I hope to have more energy soon, because Jon is tired of trying to talk to me when he comes to bed and having me get upset that he is trying to keep me from sleeping. I hope to be normal again soon.

indian givers

This morning we took our fate back in to our own hands, and rescinded our offer on the house. Why? Because we both had an uneasy feeling about it. Because our agent warned us that she was seeing too many red flags with the seller and his need to be in control. But mostly, because despite our like for the house, it wasn't a love worth going through you know what for, and we are fairly confident that our next three weeks would be a nightmare if we allowed it to move forward with this guy. Basically the seller indicated that he was going to come in and sign our offer, even though he was worried about it appraising for the amount we were offering. But, he also said that even if it didn't appraise for that amount, he wasn't going to accept less for it. The funny thing is that our agent seems to think he has this house paid off, plus he built it 5 years ago for about $65,000 less than his current asking price, so it's not like he has to be difficult for financial reasons. I don't really know what he is smoking, but I just wasn't willing to give him the opportunity to lock us in to anything, so our agent scrambled to get our signatures before he could sign the offer back to us. Square one is not my favorite place to be, but I guess it beats buying a house from someone who seems to think that markets, lenders, and appraisers are nuisances that must only be paid attention if he likes what they are telling him.

fabulous!

OK, I've freed myself of the secret and now all of these posts that I've been stewing over for the last month are going to come pouring out, I'm afraid. Starting with an Abbie funny, which actually happens to be house-hunting related.

So a few days ago we were driving around just to see what a certain part of town was like. The following conversation occurred.

Abbie: "Can we just turn around and go home?"

Me: "Not yet."

Abbie: "But none of these houses are our style."

Me: "And what is our style?"

(picture Sharpay from HSM2, with proper inflection)

Abbie: "Fabulous!"

I'm afraid that Abbie is in for a big disappointment, we will not be buying a pink house!

delinquent

I haven't truly posted since my return from Hawaii...eek! A while back I read this post from Kelly and she said the following which sums up my excuse for being delinquent.

"Sometimes there are things that you can't quite blog about yet, for whatever reason. Yet, it's an all consuming thing in your life, and you can't really think of anything else to blog about. And it just sort of becomes a vicious cycle."

So this has been me for the last month or so. And now, the cat is out of the bag, so to speak. You see, we are house-hunting. Not necessarily a problem, unless your good friend and landlord also happens to be your bishop's wife and they care whether or not you stay in the ward. When we moved in here, it was with no contract and was wide open as far as how long we stay, provided we give them a little notice when we leave. So, I wasn't worried that they would care about us moving out of their house. No. The problem is that there are not a lot of houses for us to buy in this ward. Jon has only been EQ President since November, so we feel a little guilty if we happen to buy in a different ward. But we don't feel like we should buy our real estate based on ward boundaries, either. And, we have looked at houses in every ward here. I haven't wanted to say anything until we actually had a contract in place, but yesterday at church I was talking with my friend and she brought the whole topic up out of the blue. She said she had just figured out that we were looking, although enough people around town knew about it (our mortgage office is full of people in the other wards) that the beans could have easily been spilled by someone else. In any case, they know, and now I can blog freely.

We have looked at a minimum of 30 houses, I kind of stopped counting. It's a challenge to balance Jon's must haves with mine, and find something that works for both of us. At first this whole process was fun, but it quickly became stressful. After seeing pretty much everything on the market that meets our criteria, with only a select few even making the "maybe" list, you get kind of discouraged. I guess that is one of the burdens of living in a small town, there are only so many neighborhoods out there that we are comfortable living in. It's not like we can go 10 miles north and just have a longer commute. That puts us in Olathe, and I think not. I honestly want to fast forward a few months and just have all the decisions made for me. Can anyone make that happen?

We actually have an offer in on this house. It is For Sale By Owner, although he is willing to allow a buyer's agent. The seller is a bit of a control freak, though. He wants to get full appraised value without having to make any concessions, which I think is totally unreasonable in this market, especially considering that the house has been on the market for about 10 months. While we have made a reasonable offer, and we like the house, we feel like we are the only ones willing to negotiate in this deal and a part of each of us is actually hoping that it doesn't work out.

We should know our fate by tomorrow afternoon.

another day perhaps

Life has been lived, but not recorded. Making a list. Will catch up soon!