Still unpacking

Goodness! As boring as our life has been over the last few weeks you'd think that we'd be all settled in. Though there are several personal touches in place around here, I'm finding new pleasure in looking at them as I pull new ones out in our attempt to organize our various storage areas. The little spice rack my grandfather made for me, the stool with the fold-down back that my mom cleaned up for my kids to use (said stool having been used since I was a wee one), a framed wedding photo, the family home even chart I painted for a relief society activity. It's surprising how much home I really did have all along. I just needed to learn how to see it and cherish it. We havn't seen some of these things since July so it's almost like they're new again. I started a Norman Rockwell puzzle last night which I intend to frame but I think that project is still a future event.

Princess is getting ready for a birthday soon and I'm wondering if I ought to be super functional and throw a party for her. If so, it'd have to be the Saturday afterward b/c I'm so not prepared for something in just a couple of days. We also don't know anyone except for one nice girl up the street who is 2 years younger. They play well together and her mom and I get along swimmingly, so I guess I shouldn't be too picky. ;) A package came from her great grandparents the other day and now suddenly her birthday is an imminent reality for her. Tag keeps asking if "we" can open her presents after her birthday. It's a hard thing for him to understand that the togetherness of opening Christmas gifts doesn't apply to birthdays. It's a good thing his birthday isn't too far behind! We watched some old videos of them from a year or two ago and I marveled at how much they really have grown. They don't look different at all, just older and more mature. Does that mean I look older and more mature?? Man seems to think so. ;)

Christmas bells are ringing!

Ah, what a joyous and uplifting time of year. Relief Society this past Thursday was wonderful. We enjoyed some great preformances by sisters in the ward, both of singing and the spoken word. Yummy treats and visiting were enjoyed by all. Over at my house, our little family spent a nice though short evening together watching a video about the first Christmas, and drank snowman soup (hot cocoa with a hug, a kiss, and a couple of marshmallows thrown in). Christmas morning was actually rather late since our little ones are too young to wake themselves up extra early on days like this so we spent a lazy morning poking through our stockings, opening up and assembling presents, and generally enjoying each other. The afternoon brought a trip to see my grandmother and her neighbors who take care of her. My grandmother gave me a beautiful tree skirt that she made many years ago with a nativity scene depicted on it. It was so nice to visit her again. Christmas night saw us all tucked in our own beds, exhausted from the long weekend, and happy to savor a simple and relatively uneventful day. -sigh- How I love simple, beautiful days.

Not for the squeamish or faint of heart

This is a warning. If you are squeamish or do not enjoy tales of sick people, read no further on this post. I'm going to post a nice happy one about Christmas etc, but this particular one is about an illness I had and a funny story about one of the kids being ill.

First, just to make sure everyone gets the story from the horse's mouth yes, I did have an abscess. Man's family and my family know, at least from second hand knowledge that I was sick over the weekend. About a week and a half ago I got a bug bite that didn't fade. It got larger and painful until I finally went to see a dr. It was cellulitis and was still in a stage treatable by antibiotics. The nurse practitioner prescribed me an antibiotic that is commonly resisted nowadays, so I found myself on Saturday trying to get a hold of my dr so I could get my prescription changed before things got too nasty. She was out of the country so her nurse suggested that I simply go to the ER. Haha. Since the darn thing was starting to turn black in the middle I knew something had to be done soon. After a 2 hour wait I finally got in to be seen only to be told that I had an abscess that needed an incision and drain which meant the dr got to pretend that he was an overgrown teenager popping an overgrown zit using a small saber instead of a needle, and I got to play with nitrous oxide. It was the first time I've used that stuff before and it hit me like a ton of bricks and made my whole body tingle. He numbed me up and when I recovered my senses I had experienced my first "procedure." I am now old, ladies and gentlemen. I have had a difficult time releasing a lot of my emotions from the past year or so but being drugged brought all of it up to the surface and instead of laughing from the gas I ended up sobbing for the next day. It felt good to get a lot of it out. The dr said to come back if I got sick, but otherwise come back in a couple of days to get the (10-12" of) packing out. Of course I got pretty sick b/c they kept me on the antibiotics that didn't work in the first place and now the infection was in my blood from the incision, so we spent another 3 hours in the ER just to have them switch my meds to something that works. 4 hours after my first dose of the new stuff and I feel like a million bucks. Christmas day I got my packing out and now things "ought" to heal just fine from here on out. Whew! Yeah, that's gross stuff.

Anyway, Princess has been feeling a bit under the weather the last few days with some sort of eye gunk illness. Tonight, about an hour after the kids were all asleep (in the same room) I heard Tag start crying. I thought he just fell out of bed and would crawl back in with no problems. After a minute or so he cracked his door open to report that Princess (who sleeps on the top bunk) had thrown up on his bed (which is the bottom bunk). With some chagrin and a speck of disbelief Man and I went to assess the damage. We flipped the light on after the smell confirmed the presence of vomit only to see that Tag's pillow, comforter, sheet, the ladder, and a good part of Princess's bed were all covered. Even better, they have a wood floor in there which made a fantastic splash surface. Man and I looked at each other and just cracked up with laughter. Man said "you know, of all the terrible ways to be woken up..." and we kept laughing. Pebbles woke up and got hysterical almost right away, Tag cheerfully boomed out his opinion on the situation, Man and I kept laughing, and the little vomitor slept through it all until we pulled her out of bed and put her in a warm shower. I'm glad we were given the gift of seeing the humor of the situation while in the midst of cleaning it up. We spent the day today cleaning up after a long weekend of ER visits for me and the Christmas mess.

I think tomorrow we'll clean some more, fold all this laundry that we're washing tonight, and just watch Pinky and The Brain and eat chicken nuggets, laughing our weaselly black guts out.

Tag and Princess now have their heads at opposite ends of the bunk. What's the worst way you can imagine waking up?

Advent calendars

For some reason, this year I've been fascinated by advent calendars. I absolutely love Christmas and this year, with all of the stress and emotion we've been dealing with, the season is touching my heart a little more than seasons past. To help my children get into things one day at a time we've been opening a little window on their chocolate advent calendars every day (they look a lot like these) I made a bunch of little advent ornaments for our mini tree (paper clips glued to the backs of fun buttons, felt candy canes, and some mini ornaments from the dollar store), but I'm still looking for ideas for next year. This website (here) has a very cute idea that wouldn't take up storage space, can hold things besides candy, and is infinitely personalizable (<- is that a word?). On the other hand, there is virtue in being able to reuse an old calendar (here, second craft down). The longer lasting ones look like more work to make though. Princess Butterfly just loves a paper chain that they made at church and faithfully takes one link off every day without prompting from me at all.

Does anyone else do the advent thing?

This year I'm missing some things that had become tradition for my side of the family. The huge dinner at Uncle S and Aunt C's house, Christmas morning at my Grandparents' house, collaborating on the stockings with my mom. It's kind of fun this year to know that we'll be able to do our own thing for Christmas. What will we do? Where will we go? What will we eat? This is our 6th Christmas as a Man and Me unit (though we've more than doubled in number over the years) and we have yet to have a Christmas where we have selected all of the events of the day. I'm feeling just a bit lost but excited, and keenly missing my extended family but really looking forward to a day of just us. I'll be sure to take pictures. ;)

Digital oddity

I appreciate digital technology. Before we got a digital camera I threw away about half of the pics I got developed. With the old film you could occasionally get some weird light effects that made no sense in the final print and I finally have a digital version.




This is totally untouched. Straight from my camera to your eyes.

Training little taste buds

It's never too early to cultivate good taste in kids.

Today I was scrounging around for lunch when I decided to use up some leftover mashed potatoes, add some cheese and an egg, and fry it in patties (the patty idea didn't work out, but it made a yummy fried cheese mess overall). Princess Butterfly took one look at the mix I was mashing and said:

"Ew! I don't like that stuff."

Now, having lived with these friends, I decided to try one of their tactics.

"Good, Princess. Now I can have all this yummy grown up food to myself. It's so good, that if you don't like it I'll go ahead and eat it all and you can have this peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

Well, she ate her sandwich and after my concoction was done being scraped out of the pan she wandered over to see how it turned out.

"So... mom, what is that?"
"Oh, it's too yummy. Potatoes and cheese."
"Are you going to share it with Pebbles?"
"Maybe. She might like it. What do you think?"
"I think she would. [pause] If she likes it, maybe I'll try a bite."
"Oh, really? Maybe you could take a teeny bite and let me know if she would like it, that way it won't go to waste if she spits it all over the place."
"Ok. Just a little bite."

Said bite was taken. Princess gets a very thoughtful look on her face.

"Maybe I could have another tiny bite. Because, maybe it's a little bit good."

In this manner I shared a plate with her and made another batch. Pebbles hasn't gotten any of it. ;)

The many faces of bliss

Today's fun moments:

Walking to the commissary today, it rained! I know this isn't odd or uncommon here in the winter, but it was fun to walk through the drizzle and chuckle at the thought that this might actually be considered a "heavy" storm.

Breakfast: roasted garlic focaccia, avocado (the avocados here are the size of my fist, folks!), red chili sauce, and toasted nori and sesame seeds.

Catching the trash truck just in time. Those nice men waited for me to dash out with my trash bin.

Finding out that nori sheets are $1 per pack here, rather than the $7 at the grocery where we lived before.


Having all boxes out of sight. Man has asked that rather than going through things and putting them away as I open the boxes, that we stash everything and then go through it afterward. Ah, clean home. Just don't open my cupboards or storage room.

Lesson learned for the day: don't give babies dried mango, no matter how tiny it's chopped. Goes through them like senna tea and epsom. Sad baby.

Second lesson learned for the day: Never underestimate the power of a young boy to tell whether it's a bus or a trash truck out the closed and shaded window. My ear is not so discriminating as Tag's. That boy has a spidey sense when it comes to these things.

Long time, no typey!

Well, here we are, all moved and partly settled. It's so strange to be in a place so big all to ourselves. It's funny how having kids can make a place shrink somewhat. After all the hoopla about making sure we didn't have too much stuff, I ended up renting a truck two sizes too big and we coulda bought another 2000 pounds of stuff without even really coming close to our weight maximum. The casualties of the move were small (relatively) and after a couple of setbacks this place is really starting to take shape. We swapped two bedrooms (which took a whole day) and had to buy a new clothes washer. The other one was very old and going out before we moved anyway. The land here is amazing. We have a park in our backyard, a eucalyptus tree mere yards from our back door, a view of the ocean, a tomato plant in the front yard, a carport, within walking distance of the grocery store, and within a 3-10 minute drive of everything we could possibly need.

Things I miss:
1) The family. Grandfolks, parents, sibs, uncles and an aunt. What a hoot y'all are and I miss you guys tons.
2) The family we were staying with. Their cheerfulness, love, the companionship, and I have had to seriously cut back on how much food I cook. It's kinda fun to pretend that I'm cooking for a mess hall.
3) The snow. Not much chance of that happening here.

Things I'm glad to leave behind:
1) The ICE!!! Love snow. Can do without the ice.

And that's all I can think of. Weird.

I think Princess Butterfly has grown about 3 inches in the last 4 months or so. She put on some pants yesterday that she hasn't tried in a long time. They used to flop off the ends of her feet by at least 3 inches but now they fit perfectly. Tag is also starting to outgrow some of his clothes but it totally oblivious to that when it comes to his favorite white pajamas that his Oma got him. He insists on wearing them every night no matter how cramped they get. Pebbles took a few days to get used to Man, but will now fall asleep in his arms if she doesn't have any other needs. I'm still her favorite, but I was Tag's favorite for a long time as well. All three of them love all of the space here. We're still making things baby-proof, especially since we have found that one single packing peanut, in the hands of a little baby, can make a spectacular mess. At least we don't have the melting kind around.

By the way, my couches look great in the living room here, and the bed is pretty dang comfy.

Someone I knew from the university town we lived in moved and was able to put her home together within three days. I thought about that, the third day after we had moved, and looked around at all of my boxes and pictures that had yet to be hung.

Oh, well. I'm glad someone out there can do it. :)

Moving and leftie updates

Well, folks, we're getting down to the wire with this move. A few hitches: the snow storm that's due tomorrow (think/pray/meditate the ice off the roads before I have to drive a truck that's hauling my car!!!) , the travel reservations place called and left a message saying that my plane tickets are not only not on the day I chose, but I have two separate arrangements for two separate days and I need to call to pick a day and arrangement (did that make sense? thought not. ), and I'm finally starting to get nervous. My kids are excited to go see Man, and my grandmother who lives out there called to invite us to spend Christmas with her. What fun! I haven't spent a Christmas with her in... wow, like 17 years.

I left a note in Tag's daily folder for his preschool teacher, asking if she has noticed any hand preferences. She said that most of the time he uses his left hand, but after he picks something up he tends to switch between them. Leftie? Ambi? He has both in his genes, so the jury is still out concerning which hand he'll choose.

Toy sushi. Tres cute!

Southpaw!

He seems to use both hands equally, but this afternoon preferred the left over the right with no prodding whatsoever. His preschool teacher sent home these papers to help him with his cutting skills. We'll have to see if he tries his new skillz on his hair.

And a pacifier update:

I found another two in my backpack. And another one I forgot about was in my uncle's truck and he says that I managed to lose another one at his house.

Yes, dear reader, it would seem that the only vacuous space is right between my ears with a door leading to it labeled as follows:

pacifier finding (in)ability: caution beyond this point.

Ok, ok, took permission off

Alright, Man has said that we should still do no names or locations regardless of security, and I noticed that far fewer people were able/willing to come pay me a visit with the passwords up.

We're back open for business as usual!

Lasik

There is a great price on Lasik out here, a price I never thought I'd see: $299 per eye. As soon as I saw that I scheduled an appointment for an evaluation. New recliner or lasik? It's in the bag, folks. I drove through three highways, braved Big Man In Little Car and his road rage, trudged through yards of parking lot and started on paperwork only to be told that I would just have to wait to get it until I havn't been nursing for 3 months.

What?

Yes, that's right, and what's more, I ALREADY KNEW THAT!!! When getting an eye exam and new contacts and glasses before Pebbles was born, the optometrist told me to get another exam after she was born and then again after I stop nursing. Something about pressure in the eye changing the geography of it.

I also got to learn about the newer technology which was cooler, more effective and exciting, and $1700 per eye plus change.

-sigh- Getting the old technology would actually save us money in the long run. With the cost of a contact exam, cost of two eyes' worth of toric lenses, and another chunk on (ok, relatively cheap) glasses, my eyes cost us a tidy bundle every 12-18 months. Let's just say that getting the old technology would pay for itself in less than two years.

Are your eyes expensive?

The pacifier vacuum (cross post)

When Baby was immobile (how many months ago was that? geez.. ) I was always able to find her pacifiers after her nap. How far can a little person really throw those things? They would sometimes roll around and I'd smile complacently knowing that they could all be found. I prided myself on the fact that until she was 6 months old, I had all of the pacifiers we had acquired since her birth accounted for.

Then.

She learned how to crawl. (ominous theme music plays)

I have purchased 10 pacifiers to work with her older mouth and, this very afternoon, could account for one (1). And that one was the emergency only pacifier. I began to think of all the places where a little person like her could have left those things, to what little spirit did she sell them for pieces of candy, to what small worm hole did she toss them with glee, and most importantly, can I find one before nap time.

She always loses them in one particular room in the house. I need to just sit and watch her one day to see where they all end up. Perhaps tomorrow.

So this evening I went on a mad hunt for these things. Couch cracks, between furniture and walls, under everything, between everything, even going so far as the crawl around on the floor to see what she might see. I think everyone around me was starting to get a little worried about my skulking about, ranting and muttering about vacuous space where some day I'm going to find millions of pacifiers tucked away in an alternate plane of existence.

I determined that I would search the house top to bottom until I had found at least half of the pacifiers I know I own, wondering what sort of pain I was actually promising myself. I took a break to tuck the older two kids in bed when I saw a brown and blue little object winking at me from my very own bed frame.

Could it be?

Of course it was! Yay! As I stashed it in my pocket I just had to laugh when my hand came in contact with my second discovery: the one I lost before dinner. Two! On a roll, I looked behind my bed and found another 3, including that silly ribbon that's supposed to clip the darn things to her clothes.

So, now I know where 6 pacifiers are. I'm missing a pink, a blue, and two yellows. I just thought it was kinda funny that the vacuous space I was ranting about would be under my own bed.

No passing the buck on that one. :)

First day of school

Well, Tag is at his first day of school. He isn't officially enrolled yet since this is an extended evaluation for the special education program. He'll be going three days a week for all of November. It was kind of funny to see everyone eye-balling my armload of asthma treatment paraphernalia and epi pens.

As I walked away from the school I tried to sort through my feelings. A little anxiety, a bit of relief, but mostly I wondered how well I did with him up until now. They're going to see all of his little quirks now and I won't be there to explain it, reassure him or them, correct it, etc. Suddenly someone else has the authority and responsibility to teach and shape my child. I hope they love him. I was very impressed with his teacher, Mrs. O. She radiates capability and cheer.

Princess Butterfly is disappointed that Tag gets to go to preschool and not her, but I've assured her that I'll do my best to get her in after we move. At the very least she gets to start kindergarten in the fall. It's hard with the little friend we live with also going to preschool. PB is already lonely without a playmate.

And can you believe it? I forgot to take pics of Tag..... -forehead smack-

Moving update, blog security update

Yay! Blogger has finished its beta and we now have a secure blog. We'll have to see if Man will allow names now. If you know of someone who would like to be able to view the blog, email me with their contact info and I'll see what I can do.

Moving date is set! We'll get the truck December 1st, and the kids and I will fly out the following Tuesday. I chatted with a nice young lady from the housing office and asked if there was some way to adjust the moving date so we could aviod paying over half a month's worth of rent when we won't be living there, and she got the date adjusted double quick. She even said that when we got there we could look at a few different houses and pick the one we would like to have. Yay! Many thanks to M at The Parks housing office.

Best. Magazine. Ever.

I love Family Fun magazine! I just treated myself to a year's subscription for $10. I seem to find the $10 subscriptions for one mag or another every year, switching magazines so I can continue to get a montly treat for cheap.

Further moving update: My parents have agreed to help with the move, but Man and I are still in negotiations concerning the precise modus operandi we will employ to get our bodies out there. Should be interesting to see how this works out.

Moving update

Well, Man has expressed continued interest in us getting out there, since there is a date in the middle of the month when, if we havn't moved in to the house, we have to start paying rent on it if we want to reserve it. So, I just need to make sure I have someone to drive out with me (still in negotiations), pack a moving truck, and drive on out. And hopefully this is the last time in my life when I'll have to pack my own moving truck. Ever. Hopefully.

Anyway, I'm stressed and out and busy which either means I won't be on the computer at all, or I'll spend all my free time trying to mentally detox by playing. Let's see.... I'm sitting here, editing pics and typing on my blog. Which option do you think I'm taking at this exact moment?

For your viewing pleasure:

His face has gone through the toddler -> kid transformation.

Movie star pose with sad baby:

Just took this one this morning. Those eyes are just enchanting.

What if we were told to move...

... And you only had a couple of days? Would you be able to do it? Most of my stuff is already in boxes. All I'd have to pack is one room.

This is all (mostly) hypothetical, by the way.
Man called and there is a house waiting for us, provided it wasn't a pet dwelling. ;)

Teaching the kids at home

Technology has made it easier than ever to find free resources for teaching children at home. Starting tomorrow, I'll be working with Tag on his numbers, shapes, colors, and alphabet. Princess Butterfly already has a head start but I'll be working with her at the same time as a refresher, just in case I can't get her into preschool until next semester. Tag will be starting some more intensive evaluations next week and since he's my first to actually start attending public school, I'm anxious to start good habits now for staying involved with his education. Who knows... maybe if I get good enough at teaching him and PB and getting them out and involved in the community, I might consider some form of homeschooling. It would all depend on how much exposure to society and different minds they can get while getting homeschooled. Please feel free to send me any links to helpful websites that you have found, as well.

Starfall

Donna Young, with some good writing practice pages, among other things

(more links forthcoming)

The Energizer Me

Do you ever feel like you're going, and going, and going, and going... And it just doesn't look like an end is in sight? I think I've finally gotten used to the idea of never sitting totally still while in my own home unless I decide that it is time to sit still.

I feel tired. But I like staying this busy, oddly enough. Just enough time to cuddle and play, take care of life's little neccessities, and do a couple of projects every now and then.

I spent the day at the local fort getting insurance taken care of so Tag doesn't run out of his medicine and then took a look around the PX and commissary. Cool stuff, and there are sure some great deals to be had if you look closely. I almost bought a high chair, almost bought a crib (the other one received irreparable damage, Pebbles sleeps in a travel crib for now), you know the story. Good deals everywhere. One of Man's fav quotes: Elephants for $2! It's a great deal if you need elephants and have $2.

In Tag words

T: Mommy! Here's a present for you.
M: Oh, thank you! -reaching for invisible present inside a dollhouse- What is it?
T: Birthday cake!
M: Thank you! -snarf down invisible cake-
T: Ew, mom! Don't eat the box! (apparently the cake came in a box)
M: Oh, sorry. -fake ralphing noises to get box back up, open the box, then snarf cake again-
T: Ew, mom! Don't eat the plate!
M: -more fake ralphing, hand him the plate-
T: There you go. Was it yummy?

One small road trip for a woman

I have lived a life of fear, though now to a lesser extent than in the past. Today I did something that I'm very proud of. I drove a pickup truck from one city to another and back again to bring home something that I chose to buy on my own. Let's break down that accomplishment.

1. I drove a truck! I hate driving large vehicles and goodness knows how glad I am that I didn't have to park it anywhere small. Normally I avoid driving anything larger than our sedan if I can possibly help it. It was actually quite fun and I enjoyed the get up and go of the thing, nodding sedately to other truck drivers as we passed each other on the road.

2. I drove it from one city to the next. While it isn't so unusual for me to get on a highway and drive nowadays, it's still something that fills me with anxiety.

3. I chose to make a major purchase on my own. I studied, prayed, looked around, and got what I wanted.

4. I identified something I wanted. Some of you will understand the enormity of this better than others. I wanted it. I wanted it! I could say that, work to get it, and love it when I got it. I was able to deliberately declare my desire to obtain this thing, and intentionally go and obtain it. It's taken me years to learn how to say that I want something without feeling guilty about it, or even acknowledge that I want something in the first place. Now I just need to pick out pillows to match. :)

The kids were so dang cute tonight in their Halloween costumes. We only did three streets but their bags were full enough for kids their age from this generous neighborhood. Tag was Robin Hood and Mog was a conglomeration of all the things she really loves: butterfly wings, princess crowns, leotards, tutus, and pink tights. I think she was telling people that she was a dancing butterfly princess. It was a lot of fun this year, telling the kids they could be absolutely anything they wanted. Tag never did really pick. We just sort of talked up a costume that was already available. Pebbles went as an adorable baby and slept most of the time. Pictures forthcoming.

That gives me an idea. Mog is now Princess Butterfly, or PB if I'm in a hurry. Mog is such an odd sounding name for such a pretty girl.

Love this comic

Does anyone else have iTunes?

If you don't, avoid the trap now! It's addictive. It's interesting to look through my song list and see which songs I'm really feeling right now. I've played Somewhere Over The Rainbow arranged by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole more than twice as often as any other song, followed closely by Five for Fighting, Vanessa Mae, and Dido. Ojos Asi by Shakira is quickly climbing the ranks since it's fantastic cleaning music and great exercise to dance to.

Reason for outage

My Man wants a low internet profile. Apparently we have to keep his language and any aspect of his job under wraps (not that I've really told you guys anything about it) but from now on, all anyone knows is we have a Soldier in the family and no, thank you for asking, he isn't deployed. For my part, as I already said I wouldn't talk about, I won't be mentioning his comings and goings. Any suggestions for a misnomer for him? Calling him "My Man" seems silly somehow but nothing creative is running off the top of my head.

Now on to fun stuff! We've been playing with ideas regarding how to move and get moving truck, self, kids, and sanity out to our new home. My mom has said that the kids and I could fly and then she and my dad would take our car out and fly home. Afterall, they want to visit my grandmother anyway and this would be a great chance to do so. My mother in law has also mentioned that a sister in law and her family will be trekking out there later in the year, and the thought of a caravan is far more attractive to me than going el solo. I can still take food, toys, and cold medicine with me and it'd be safer at a hotel to have a friend in the next room over.

Yesterday I had a feeling like I needed to head back on over to Lawrence to start collecting some needed information and happened to stop at the old furniture store there. Lo and behold, a couch and love seat that were in near-to-new condition that were almost the exact same model as the ones I was looking at over at the new place were on the floor. (did that sentence make sense? Thought not. Hopefully you know what I mean.) I raced back to the sales lady and claimed them right before another lady raced on over to the sales lady to claim them. I didn't know I was racing until after the fact, but for once in my life I didn't feel guilty about beating someone to a great deal. At 1/3 of the cost of new, this 95% new purchase is a major steal. I also found all of the components for a new bed. Still having a hard time finding a desk I'm completely in love with (price and all) and entertainment centers are another difficult decision, but things are really starting to come together. I've put a bit of a dent in refinishing this pretty old dresser I found. So far the wood underneath is looking better than the stain I'm stripping so I'm excited to see what I have underneath the old glop. Here's a huzzah for natural wood! I'll take pictures after it's finished again.

Notice of confidentiality

Ok, chatted briefly with My Man. I have all previous posts saved somewhere but removed them after Man mentioned that it would be better if the blog were just about kids and me. Man has a job, and it's somewhere in North America, but other than that he is anonymous. Everything about what he does just doesn't matter, including what he's doing where ever he is. I asked him before posting about a certain detail regarding what he's doing where he is, but he asked that it be removed tonight and not really spoken of.

Why? Well, safety, mostly.

So, this blog is officialy all about me and kids. Man is fine and everyone has new names. I'm Me, then I have Mog (My Oldest Girl), Tag (That Amazing little Guy), and Pebbles. My Man is who he is and no news is good news.
I'm considering starting a new blog, but using a different company and format for it. When I make a decision and set up a new place I'll send everyone invitations. You all know me, so email me if you're interested in continuing to read about the great adventures of Me, Mog, Tag, and Pebbles and I'll be sure to get you an invite.

This message will self destruct in about 3 days or so. ;)