Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

In no particular order, things that have been happening around here lately:

-We gave L the boot from our bedroom.  Yesterday morning, she woke me up 57 too many times after I had gone to bed very, very late.  I had begun to suspect that my proximity to her (her twin bed pushed up against my side of our bed) was actually encouraging her to wake up rather than sleep through the night.  Actually, it may have been more than my personal proximity.  It may have been that our bed is much much more comfortable because it has a tempurpedic mattress pad and her bed is hecka uncomfortable.  As a result, she was constantly stealing my spot and leaving me to sleep in the twin.  As of yesterday, we moved her twin into M’s room (now known as M’s old room, L and M’s new room, or as I said repeatedly yesterday and today: the room with TWO! BIG! GIRL! BEDS! YAY!!! CLAP!! CLAP!!)  So far, so good.  Who knows, maybe one of these days I will even get to get lucky on my tempurpedic mattress instead of the fold-out couch.  A girl can dream, cant’ she?

-I have concocted a new scheme that requires us to sell our house and live in a much crappier house for several years.  On some level, I think I can not bear to live in this house now that it is all fixed up and ready to sell.  My theory is we should sell, buy a new crappy house in the neighborhood (3 blocks over) we want to live in FOREVER, then when we have enough dough in 4-5 years, do a full-gut renovation and add an addition to double the size of the imaginary house.  I have already had my hopes dashed on two different houses: one was already in contract, the other is apparently full of exposed asbestos.  It would actually make the most sense to wait until spring to move forward with this plan, but I can’t stop obsessively searching browsing the MLS listing.  I am aware this scheme is a bit wacky.   I lived through my parents building a house when I was in high school.  That was when I witnessed the biggest argument in the history of their entire relationship, which was about bathroom fixures.  And seriously, do you think that my dad gave a rat’s ass about bathroom fixtures?  Building/remodeling can make people crazy.  You would think I would know better.

-Did I mention that we are going on vacation with my parents, sister and niece in a few weeks?  Given the recent tensions over the church thing, this may be the perfect setting for a lovely knock-down drag out argument.  It might end up being like high school all over again.

-Mr. A just walked in the door from work at 11:42 pm, so I am going to go visit with him for a few minutes before bed.  They seriously do not pay him enough to work such insane hours. 

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

Earlier this week, I was browsing the local real estate listings.  I wasn’t looking for myself, I was looking because my parents have been kicking around the idea of buying a condo nearby.  As someone who would like to increase my access to free babysitting, I am taking the bull by the horns.

While I was looking, I bumped into a house in a perfect location that had potential, but only cost a little more than our current house.   And by potential, I mean I was imagining doubling the size of the house and adding a second floor laundry (because isn’t that The Dream?) in a few years with a full-gut renovation. Ahem.  

I was interested enough that I called a neighbor who is also a realtor.  I was bummed to find out the house I wanted was already in contract.  But the realtor convinced me to look at several other houses that were twice as expensive.  Since I have been drooling over two of the houses in question, I agreed to look.  Besides, who doesn’t like to poke around other peoples’ houses? 

Inside, the houses were not exactly what I was expecting.  One house REALLY was not what I was expecting. 

 When we walked in, M looked at a vase that was sitting on a table and asked “Is that a PINEAPPLE?”    And the answer is no, it was NOT a pineapple.  It was a vase covered in breasts.  Very lovely, well-proportioned perfect breasts.  The overall effect *was* a little pineapple-esque.

Well then.  That was a bit of a surprise. 

As we walked through the rest of the house, I noticed more boobs.  Most of them were in paintings or prints sprinkled here and there.  Most were a bit more tasteful than the titty vase. Until we got upstairs, that is.

As I walked with our 60 year-old lady realtor into the master bedroom, I glanced at a print on the wall.  When it registered what I was seeing, I actually gasped. 

It was a hard-core kama sutra illustration framed and hanging on the wall.  (If you are curious as to which one, I think it was another more well-endowed version of the one in the second row, second one over in that link. Obviously, that link is not work safe.)

Now, you know I am no prude.  I worked at planned parenthood.  I used to survey teenagers about their sexual activities, including anal sex.  I even owned penis models once.  I am sex positive, really I am!

But here I am with a five-year old who was REALLY interested in looking at a stranger’s belongings and an older woman I had met only 10 minutes before.  I swear, the realtor looked like she was about ready to faint when she got a good look at that print. 

I quickly hustled M out of the room and the rest of that house is nothing but a blur in my memory.

But the giant picture of PENIS in VAGINA, now THAT is burned into my brain. 

Seriously, what are these people thinking?!?  Who can focus on buying a house with boobs and penises accosting you from all sides? 

I now know a leeeetle too much about those particular neighbors now. 

Actually, I am off to google them to see if he is actually a porn producer or something. 

Bomp-chicka-wah-wah.

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

I never went back and posted the updates of our home improvement projects from the spring.  The biggest change we made was having the bathtubs resurfaced.      Here are the before and after photos:

 Lovely pink tile with 50s designs.  I kind of liked the designs but they had to go.

 The tubs are about 50 years old and the entires smooth surface was worn off, not to mention the corrosion around the drains.  They are small and ripping them out and re-doing the bathrooms would have cost a minimum of $5,000 each.

 This is the upstairs tub.  More sexy 50s tile.  Stained and corroded.  It was really hard to remove the stains because the surface wasn’t smooth. 

This is what one of the tubs looks like now.  This one used to be pink.  On this one, they sprayed the metal around the drain because it was in such bad shape.  On the upstairs one, the drain still has a metal ring around the drain hole.

The resurfacing cost about $850.

 We are VERY pleased with the result.  The only thing we have to be careful about is not using any bleach or abrasives to clean them.  So far, so good.

We also repainted the downstairs bathroom.  It used to be a rather satanic red (with pink tile!?!).  Now it is just neutral.

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

This weekend has kicked our asses. 

Actually, the punishment started on Thursday when my mom came to watch the girls.  I spent the entire afternoon on a 2-story tall ladder painting the chimney.  Did you know if you are above the roof level, it is really, really hot?  And that standing on the next-to-the-top rung of a 20 foot ladder holding a cup of paint in one hand and painting with the other?  Kind of scary. 

After that job was finished, I spent a good hour scrubbing mortar off the bricks on the front steps with some kind of very dangerous acid.  Next time my dad and I do bricklaying, I will keep a wet rag and a bucket of water handy to wipe off the extra mortar, even if it is november and very cold.  Because that acid stuff and a wire brush 5 months later? Not fun.

On Saturday, I edged all the landscaping (and we have a LOT of landscaping). Then, I powerwashed our front walk and back patio.  Mr. A made several trips to pick up at least 30 bags of mulch and some paver sand.  He filled in the mulch, while I filled in the bilzillion giant gaps in our brick sidewalk and patio with a hundred pounds of sand.  Then we edged the back yard (more landscaping…why??), planted an herb garden and made a few flower beds.

Today, the fun continued with removing all the storm windows, painting all the window trim, painting the entry ceiling, washing all the windows, installing the screens and cleaning the garage.

Right now, even the muscles in my fingers are tired.

Thank goodness for the amazingly perfect spring weather.  Just a few more small jobs and the outside of the house should be good to go. 

While I was doing all that work, I was thinking of this post.  And this one.  And these two (one and two).  Oh, and one more here.

Once my finger muscles recover, I am going to try to make something coherent out of all the feelings those posts stirred up. 

I am writing that intention down so my general laziness will not get the better of me. 

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

I talked to Mr. Neighbor today. 

They didn’t end up keeping the dog!!!!!!  It is Gone GONE GONE!!

Needless to say, I am thrilled.  I am so happy, I don’t even care that Mrs. Neighbor is clearly still very pissed and not speaking to us. 

It is such a relief to let the girls play in the yard without worrying when a big dog was going to jump the fence and eat their faces off. 

Hooray for us!

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

Last weekend, Mr. A swore he heard a mouse in our kitchen. 

Because we live on a kind of wooded lot, this is not that surprising.  We usually get a few mice each fall, but every once in a while one of the greedy little bastards will sneak in during other parts of the year.

I still wasn’t convinced we had a mouse, but I told Mr. A to set up the traps anyway.  Then yesterday, the trap was sprung with no dead mouse in sight.  By that point, I was a believer.  Last night we set the trap again.

This morning, as I was lying in bed, I heard Mr. A scream “NOooooooooooooooo!”  followed by a terrified cry from L.  

I grabbed my glasses and ran downstairs.

By the time I got there, Mr. A was frantically scrubbing L’s hands in the bathroom sink.

“What the heck is going on?” I asked.

“She…was……..holding the mouse!!!” Mr. A said with a shudder.

Apparently, the mouse had dragged the trap out from under the counter before it died.  Then L found it and walked up to Mr. A.  She was squeezing the actual dead mouse in her hand. 

Both Mr. A and I were thoroughly grossed out. 

I hope that was the only one.

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

As of a conversation with Mrs. Neighbor this morning, they intend to keep the dog. 

I also plan to pursue every possible legal way to force them to obey the local vicious dog ordinance.  They obviously made this decision with no regard to our feelings (or finances because this might wreck our property value), so I don’t feel any obligation to care how they feel either.

They will be out of town for a week.  If they haven’t changed their minds by the time they get back, we plan to put the house on the market by May 1.  

I am currently trying to convince myself that it is absolutely necessary that I buy myself a Le Creuset dutch oven.  You know, for staging.  To help sell the house.   If I saw a house with a Le Creuset dutch oven, I would definitely want to buy it.

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

I don’t know if other people do this, but from time to time I find myself in the middle of an emotional, somewhat irrational fit.  You know, the kind where you can kind of float outside your body and think “Self, you are really getting too carried away.  You should dial it back a little.  This is too big of a reaction for the thing you are upset about.”   And still, the ranting and crying continues? 

Yeah, I had one of those moments today.  It turned out that the situation in question provided some much needed perspective, but it was still upsetting nevertheless.

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Before we move forward with this story, I am going to set some ground rules for the comments.  I *KNOW* some people will be upset by my reaction.  I don’t care.  I don’t want to hear 87 reasons why I shouldn’t be upset.  I can give you 98 reasons myself, but they don’t make a damn bit of difference because my emotions are thoroughly in charge.  So think hard before you comment.  I don’t want to hear your reasons why I shouldn’t be upset or how I have offended you.   I will delete those comments.  If I am feeling especially cranky, maybe I will do something worse to the offenders.  (I don’t know what I really have the power to do, but don’t tempt me. Heh.)

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So you know how I was bitching and moaning about not wanting to leave my house?  Well, today I decided we were going to sell it no matter what.  I didn’t want to stay here another day. 
What could make AmFam feel that way, you are probably asking youself.  The answer?  Our next-door neighbors told us they now have a one year old p.itbull.  Mr. Neighbor didn’t want a dog at all, but Mrs. Neighbor brought it home anyway.  They have apparently been arguing over it for the past week and Mr. Neighbor had pretty much surrendered.

I TRIED to be rational and polite when I heard this news, but I sort of failed.  It took about 20 minutes for me to go from annoyed to 100% freaked out and demanding that we sell the house.   Images of my babies with their faces mauled off were dancing in my head.

I like dogs, really I do.  We always had a dog growing up and I miss it.  There are many, many kinds of dogs I would love to have living next door.  But these neighbors, who are generally nice people, are exactly the kind of well-meaning people who should NOT have a p.itbull.  They barely supervise their children, never mind providing proper discipline and exercise for such a high-intensity dog.  Also, the hadn’t done any research.  And they only have a pickett fence separating their yard from ours and the other neighbors. 

In my revved up state, I was pretty sure I could never, ever let my kids go outside unattended again on the off chance that the dog would escape their yard and kill them.   And the nice, secluded, kid-friendly yard is one of the things I love best about my house.  Even now, when I am calmed down, I know that I will never feel safe letting my kids out of my sight as long as that dog is there.  If the dog is outside, we will have to go immediately back in the house.

There was a bit of a discussion between me and Mr. Neighbor.   Actually, Mr. Neighbor and I had THREE discussions before Mr. A came home, each more emotional than the last (and with crying in the final two).

Thank god for Mr. A the fancy-pants lawyer, though.  He did a bit of quick research and learned that in our county, p.itbulls are considered “vicious dogs” and require special, locked containment.  Each violation (failure to have proper fencing, dog escaping the enclosure, etc.) can be a $1000 fine.  P.itbull owners in our county are required to carry $100,000 worth of liability insurance.  We also discovered that many home owner’s policies won’t cover homes with p.itbulls.  

Mr. A, being the good cop to my insane emotional cop, went to share this information with Mr. Neighbor.  Mr. Neighbor was shocked because Mrs. Neighbor had neglected to research the situation.  He also mentally calculated the costs associated with the information that Mr. A supplied.  By the time Mr. A was done talking with him, Mr. Neighbor thanked Mr. A for the information.  We will have to see if Mr. Neighbor or Mrs. Neighbor wins the fight for the dog.  Clearly, I am rooting for Mr. Neigbhor and his pocketbook to win.

In the end, this is all a good thing for me though.  Because I saw how very quickly I could disengage from the importance of living in THIS house.  In less than 10 minutes, I was ready to live in a variety of other houses and apartments in different parts of our neighborhood or in another city.   So tonight, I did home repairs with an unconflicted heart.

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On second thought, I am closing the comments because I don’t think you p.itbull lovers and owners will be able to help yourselves.  I know there are many nice p.itbulls, heck, I have even had friends who had them.  I used to live next door to a couple crack-house p.itbulls and I wasn’t particularly afraid even though I knew they were mistreated and used for fighting.  It is the possibility of my CHILDREN getting hurt that makes this so terrifying.  I will not discuss p.itbulls further.  I am only sharing this story because of the realization I had about the house.

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

Ok, so I am going to slowly work up to some posts about the work we are doing on the house.

Today the topic is lighting.  Specifically, the chandelier over our dining room table.  The dining room is not formal at all.  It is open to the kitchen and the dining room.  You can see a glimpse of the old light here. 

Pay no notice to the blue counter. I don’t know why anyone would ever have installed a BLUE counter.  It is in the process of being remedied in the next month or so.  Also, disregard the table and chairs.  The table has been replaced and I am ordering chairs later this week.  They are modern and plain from crate and barrel.

I like things in my house that are very simple.  VERY plain and VERY simple.  No curliques, no fanciness.   But I need to buy a new chandelier that is going to be appealing to the AVERAGE house buyer. Not to me.  

So I need some advice.

If you were looking at a house, which of these lights would you find least offensive?   Or, if you hate them all, what would you like to see instead?  It needs to be brushed silver of some sort to match other things in the house.  Also I am not going to spend much money because we will not be making any profit on the sale of this house.   I am looking to spend about $150.

 Personally, I prefer the third one (pointing down), then the second one, then the first one.   I have no love or investment for any of them, so please feel free to be honest. 

More on why I am preparing the house later.  I am to bitter about it tonight….

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

Thanks for the help.  I spent the morning at Benjamin more selecting little pots of sample paint and I think I found a color for the stairs.  It is a little darker than the kitchen, but still in the fawn/taupe family.

If I were my own therapist, I would say what happened is that I painted over the red stairs and then panicked.  I don’t WANT things to change.  I don’t want to move. And I want my stairs to STAY RED just like I want everything else to stay the same.

Did I mention that when Mr. A sent in his application for the job, the BIG BOSS sent word the same day that he is very excited to see Mr. A’s resume?  And also Mr. A should call on the Boss’ personal number early this week so they can DISCUSS WHICH AREAS Mr. A is MOST INTERESTED IN?   This is a place where they get HUNDREDS (maybe thousands) of applications for each open position, for crying out loud.  And Mr. A gets to talk personally to the big boss and discuss which position might suit him best.  Sometimes I wish he wasn’t such a damn overachiever. 

I threw a little tantrum about it all, last night.  But this morning, I am back onboard and ready to paint.  So this train is moving forward, red stairs or not.

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

I am notoriously bad at selecting paint colors.  Most recently, I have successfully painted two rooms (kitchen and office) with a color I stole from Chicagomama’s house.  It is a neutral, modern cement color.

I thought I would also use that color to paint M’s room (which was previously a dark lavendar) and the stairs and upstairs hallway (previously a wine/red color).  I liked both colors, but I thought they were too strong to sell the house. 

I primered both rooms with the cement color and I HATE it.  I hate it in both the hall/stairs and in M’s room.   I am especially sad about the loss of the red on the stairs because it matched the red accents in the livingroom (rug & lampshades).  The new color is also too close to the color of the white trim and built-in dresser upstairs.  And it appears to make the stairs look extremely steep (which they are)

Now I don’t know what to do.  I am very close to painting the stairs BACK to red.  I need some internet help, please.  Is red an awful color?  Would you be horribly offended by red stairs?  You can see them as soon as you walk in the door.

Here is a tiny glimpse of the color

And M’s room, I guess I should either paint it a mossy green or a light pink to coordinate with the new bedrooms stuff she has.  She has a dark pink beadspread and a quilted pillowcase with light pink, dark pink and a touch of green.  The wall color below are what I am considering. Either that or an icey pink.  Would pink be too girl-specific for staging a house to sell?  Would light pink walls with a dark pink comforter be too much pink? 

 God, I am just not a visual person at all.  I totally need to just copy someone else’s ideas. 

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

I am continuing to move forward with the long list of home repairs that need to be completed if we end up having to sell the house.  On a realistic day, I am aware that my skills do not reach far beyond painting.  On a more unrealistic day, I am convinced I can re-tile our bathtubs myself.  So far, I am mostly just painting, but occasionally I find myself shopping for wet saws on ebay.  (Stupid Ebay.)

Since we are continuing to do home repairs, it appears that Mr. A and I have NOT decided NOT to move.  We haven’t actually decided to move either.  I think what is most likely going to happen is that Mr. A is going to apply for the job he wants in Chicago, Washington DC, and Denver and we will see what happens. 

When I agreed that he could apply, it was only under the following conditions: 

A) He will only stay at the job for 3 years.  If he can’t get the value from this job in three years of sacrificing our comfortable lifestyle and living near family, then it isn’t worth it.  There will be a huge financial incentive if he gets this job, but only AFTER he leaves and goes on with that experience to a big-paying company.  I can do just about anything for three years, but 5 years (and staying until my baby M is out of 4th grade!) is too long.

B)  I will not work the first year, even if it means we end up using credit cards or something.  Uprooting the girls would be stressful enough, but it would be too much to ask of little L to go into full-time daycare under those circumstances.  Her attachment is good (great even!), but she still bears the scars from the trauma of losing her previous life.  If we can’t find a way to do it that is safe and healthy for L, then we can’t go.  Also, if I am not working, it will be much easier to bring the girls back to visit our families.  Plus, you know, there is the fact that I don’t really like to work.

C)  After the three years, Mr. A will agressively look for work back here in this city.  We know that there are only a limited number of jobs at a level he will want to consider.  We also know there is only a limited opportunity for him to advance here for more than one or two more jobs, unless he is extremely lucky or his dream job changes.  We still want to do everything in our power for the girls to have a chance to grow up near our families. 

That being said, there is only one job that Mr. A is applying for that is worth moving.  That job is extremely competitive (we’ve heard an estimate that at least several hundred people apply for each opening), so it isn’t like applying means he has a good chance of getting the job.  Mr. A will also look for jobs here too.

It is kind of like we are living in a suspenseful movie and we have no idea what the ending will be.  At the very least, the house will be prettier in the meantime.

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

So Mr. A and I are continuing our due diligence on the move or don’t move thing.  I have learned a very valuable lesson in this quest for information:

Where we live is insanely cheap for the amenities and lifestyle we have.

Or rather, big cities are insanely expensive.  Seriously. 

I have been researching San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington D.C.  Chicago is the only one that seems to have housing available for people who are not willing to lay down $800k-$1million dollars to live close to where the work is. 

Good lord, city people, how do you do it?

Even Chicago seems insanely expensive compared to here.  It looks like we could MAYBE get a decent three bedroom condo there, in a close-in suburb with good schools for about $400k.   (Which is about double our current mortgage and would be difficult to manage, but better than throwing away $2,000 a month on rent.)

Do you know what $400K buys you HERE??  A McMansion, that is what – if you are willing to go out a little farther in the suburbs.  A 4,000 square foot new build monstrosity with a lovely new kitchen and 47 bathrooms in nationally ranked school districts.

Do you know what $400k buys you in San Francisco?  A closet.   410 square feet three feet from a highway. 

It isn’t like this should be such news to me, we lived in San Francisco for about five years.  But we didn’t have a kid then and I didn’t have to take neighborhood safety and schools into consideration.  Back then we were quite pleased to live in a shithole as long as we had enough money left over for sushi and wine.  Ahh, the good old days.

For the record, I don’t want a McMansion.  My little 1800sq. foot house is looking more and more appealing, the more time I spend on Realtor.com .  Especially since I started doing some long-neglected repairs in case we have to sell it.

I know there is no where I want to live in the Bay area that we can afford (which is very disappointing).  I found some possibile suburbs/neighborhoods in Chicago, but there are some other drawbacks that aren’t so appealing. 

Is there anywhere affordable in the DC area where a family can live close to public transit, with good schools, in a walkable neighborhood? 

Because right now, Denver* is looking more and more appealing even though we know nothing about it besides the fact that its cost of living is similar to here.  And there is an almost-affordable chinese immersion private school there.  And it isn’t an enormous metropolitan area.

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*The list of cities that have the specific job Mr. A might be interested in are as follows: Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco,  New York, Philly, Boston, (All too expensive,).      Miami (too hot) Atlanta (too southern), Fort Worth (texas–too conservative) , Salt Lake City (too white, too religious, too conservative), Chicago (Maybe) and Denver.    

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

I have had blog block in a bad way over the past two weeks, so I am resorting to a meme.  Since I spent all day today doing home repairs, the house meme: 

When you walk in your front door, which room do you enter?
Our front door enters directly into the staircase.  I don’t know why an architect would think that is a desirable view, but whatever.

Do you have a dishwasher?
Yes.  His name is Mr. A.   We also have an dishwashing machine to assist him.

Is your living room carpeted or does it have hardwood floors?
Hardwood with a rug from Target.  While it isn’t the sexiest rug in the world, it did clean up nicely when M was in her spitting up phase.

Do you keep your kitchen knives on the counter or in a drawer?
On the counter in a wood thing.

House, apartment, duplex or trailer?
House

How many bedrooms is it?
Supposedly four.  We only use two as bedrooms.  The other two are now an office and a playroom.  When the playroom gets moved downstairs, then we will have a guest room.

Gas stove or electric?
Gas

Do you have a yard?
Yes, a fairly small kid-friendly yard.  Even though it is small, it is really a bit more than we can handle.

What size TV is in the living room?
I don’t know.  Maybe 36 inches?  It is big, but not enormous.

Are your plates in the same cupboard as your cups?
No, we have 50 year old cabinets and they are rather small.  They won’t fit in the same cupboards.

Is there a coffee maker sitting on your kitchen counter?
Yes.  It has probably has an inch or so of cold, old coffee from this morning.

What room is your computer in?
Office.

Are there pictures hanging in your living room?
Two rubbings supposedly from Angkor Wat, but probably really rubbings from carvings the rubbing sellers made.  We suspect this because one of the non-hanging rubbings we had ”cambodia” written in English as part of the picture.  We have three photos which need to be updated to include L in frames on the wall.  I also have some framed, mostly abstract paintings that M made hanging over the fireplace.

Are there any themes found in your home?
Not really.  Maybe just a consistant attempt to control the mess that threatens to get out of control.

What kind of laundry detergent do you use?
Whatever is cheap and fragrance free.  Era maybe?  We also have some we get for free because one of my cousins works for Procter and Gamble, so they get some free samples from time to time.  I think I currently have 4 bottles of fabric softener from Thanksgiving, which we rarely use.

Do you use dryer sheets?
No

Curtains in your home?
I have some IKEA curtains in the living room and dining room.  We also have wood blinds on some windows.  My two favorite rooms with the most lights have no curtains or blinds because I crave sunlight.

What color is your fridge?
Black.

Is your house clean?
Some parts are clean, some parts are cluttered, some are downright disgusting (e.g. the basement bathroom that I have not cleaned or used since we moved in 3.5 years ago).
What room is the most neglected?
Besides the basement bathroom, probably the office.  It looks like a bomb went off in there. 

Are the dishes in your sink/dishwasher clean or dirty?
Clean, thanks to Mr. A the excellent dishwasher.

How long have you lived in your home?
3.5 years.

Where did you live before?
A small but cute two bedroom apartment in a building that was once a hospital many many years ago.

Do you have one of those fluffy toilet lid covers on your toilet?
Nope.

Do you have a scale anywhere in your house?
In the downstairs bathroom. 

How many mirrors are in your house?
One in each bathroom (3), one in the dining area, one randomly leaning against the floor in my bedroombecause I never hung it up, one full-length one in storage in the basement.

Look up. What do you see?
Painted wood paneling.  We need to repaint it once I come up with a new design scheme for the office.

Do you have a garage?
Yes, but we have only parked the car in it once.  It is a narrow one-car garage so it is too hard to get the girls in and out of car seats in there.  There is no door to the house from it, so it would be a hassle even if it wasn’t so small.  

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

I stole a couple child-free hours to try to get some Christmas shopping done.  I swear, I am doing everything in my power to get it completed before Thanksgiving. 

I made the mistake of going to the mall.  I loathe the mall.  I probably go to the mall less than 5 times a year and every time I regret it.  Today was no exception.

First of all, can I just say that nothing annoys me more than the way the stores are already decorated for Christmas?  Since when did the Christmas season begin the day after Halloween?  Christmas decorations have  no business making an appearance until after THANKSGIVING. I know Christmas is fun and all, but do we really need to dedicate one sixth of the entire year to it’s glory???? /soapbox

Second, what happened to the time when the mall’s hallways were a place to walk?  Now they are a place where I feel constantly harrasssed.  Today, kiosk sales people tried to stop me to a) straighten my hair, b) rub lotion on me, c) sell me a cellphone (while I was ON a cellphone) and d)throw a boomarang.  Not to mention I almost got decapitated by a remote controlled kiosk helicopter.  Did I mention I hate the mall?

When I came home, I was so overwelmed by the consumerism I immediately convinced M to help me purge the extra junk in the playroom.   

Compared to some other families we know, we don’t have thatmany toys.  Though, I think we still probably have a lot more toys than I had when I was 4 years old.  The consumerism aimed at kids makes me crazy, so I feel like I really have to act as a gatekeeper to keep all the junk out.

All M’s toys (with the exception of maybe 5 stuffed animals and all the books which are stored in her bedroom) are kept in the playroom.  L’s toys are in the livingroom.   M did a great job deciding which toys we would donate, throw away and keep. 

This is the pile for donation (another small box was set aside for a baby-having friends):

We managed one large trashbag of junk.  Can I also say how glad I am to get rid of atrocity that is the purple, green and orange Dora couch.  God, that thing is hideous.  (It was a gift.)  Getting rid of all that junk made the rest of the playroom seem much more organized and tidy.

This is the main toy storage area.  Puzzles, Chinese lesson supplies (top shelf), art supplies, etc.

This is the auxillary toy storage area.  The top shelf is toys for L when she gets a little bigger.  This is whwere the games live.  Also, where the new stuffed animal/doll area has been relocated.  That is one place where we are a little out of control, but both L & M are fixed with stuffed animals at the moment so we can wait until next purge to cut back some more.

We got rid of about 1/4th of the toy kitchen junk and put together all the cutting veggies.  It is still a lot, but it gets played with often, so I don’t mind.

 Usually, the top of this cabinet is covered with so much junk you can’t see it.  It is looking a lot better now.  Also, when I cleaned it, I found a nice kanji painting I forgot we had.  Maybe I will try to hang it tomorrow.

 This is all of L’s toys and books.    I really should get rid of the shape sorter but I am still hopeful that some of those shapes will turn up some day.  I can’t wait to get rid of that car that L loves.  I will keep Rody for a long time though.  He is one of the most-loved, best-value toys we have ever purchased.

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

I was going to write a post full of post-lots-of-socializing introvert angst, but I am too tired.

This afternoon my dad came over to help me fix three loose bricks on our front steps.  Once we started messing with them a shocking number of other bricks also became loose.

At last count, there were 60 bricks laying in my front yard. 

Each brick has to have all the old morter chiseled off before we can re-stick them to the porch.  In case you were wondering, chiseling brick morter is hard work.

While we were working, my dad told me that my great-grandfather’s job (in addition to being the handyman for a one room school house where he met my great grandmother) was collecting old bricks, cleaning them and selling them. 

That job must have really sucked.  

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

Ok, here is the second half of the day:

The Living Room at 6:30pm

Pretty much the same as before.  In this photo you can barely make out the basket of socks that has been in the living room since April when I started wearing flip flops.  I will probably match them up around September.

The Living Room at 8:30

 Back to baseline.  Not too much mess to build on for tomorrow. 

The Shoe Area 6:00pm

This whole area wasn’t too bad today.  I straightened it up after the kids went to bed, but that black toiletry bag is still laying on the stairs.

The Table at 6:00

Dinner on the table.  THe purple stuff is purple mashed potatoes.

The Table at 6:30

The aftermath.  You can’t really see it, but L’s highchair is slathered with corn and watermelon chunks.  Notice the dental floss box to cope with corn bits in the teeth.

The Table at 8:30 PM

This is how Mr. A left the table after he did the dishes.  Are all the dishes washed?  No.  Is the table clear? No.  That corn is going to sit out all night because cleaning up after dinner is HIS job.  I would be even more self-righteous if he wasn’t still at work at 11:30 pm (he goes back to the office after the girls go to bed).

The Breakfast bar at 6:30PM

Mail has now migrated to its’ long-term home.  Other random crap including used dental floss.  Blech.

 The Bar at 8:30PM

Dental floss is still there. Now we have added a used baby bottle that will certainly smell funky if anyone bothers to pick it up tomorrow morning.

The Kitchen at 6:30PM

I make dinner so this mess is pretty much all mine.  BUT! Mr. A and I have a deal that I will make decent family dinners (main dish and some sides) if he cleans up and does all the dishes.

Pizza pan and muffin tin still there from earlier.

 Meat juice on the counter, onion peelings, left over green pepper, two used cutting boards, two knives.

More dishes in the sink. Purple potato peelings and bits everywhere, rice cooker (for steaming potatoes)

The Kitchen at 8:30PM

This is after Mr. A cleaned it and did the dishes.  Pizza pan and muffin tin still there.  Watermelon still on the counter. Onion still on the counter.  I finally put away the produce because I was annoyed after I took the photo that it was still there.

The sink.  Dishes washed and piled.  Rice cooker still not put away.

The Playroom at 8:30

You can’t see it very welll, but all the toys in the blue box are now on the floor next to the couch.  Random other crap strewn about, including the sink from the play kitchen.    This is how it looked after the kids went to bed.  Tomorrow I will get M to straighten it up.  On an average day it would be about 2X more messy, but today we spent 2 hours in the park and then Mr. A took the kids to a store after dinner.

I will admit, it wasn’t that bad today.  We spent more time than usual out of the house because the weather was very nice.  We also managed to avoid most art projects that involve paper and cut up shreds of paper.

After taking these photos, it was much easier for me to see what things need to be cleaned up.  It also became clear that if I picked things up after lunch, before dinner and after bedtime, it might actually be manageable around here. 

In the interest of full disclosure, the worst room in the house is the office.  I didn’t take pictures of it because the desk is such a disaster it is embarassing.  It is also ALWAYS a mess so one day isn’t going to make much of a difference in the grand scheme of messiness.   Also, I should note that Mr. A is usually the one who acutally does his jobs while I leave my share of the junk laying around the house. 

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

Our house is pretty much always a mess.  For the life of me, I don’t know how this happens, but it always does.  Today I decided to take pictures of our big problem areas at various points during the day.  I am trying really hard not to cheat much by cleaning up more than I usually would.

 The cleaning people were here yesterday, so this is as clean as it ever is.

The suspected perpetrators:

The Living Room At 8:30 AM

This is as clean as the living room ever is.  You can’t see a big box of toys behind the chair, but they are sitting there waiting to be strewn about.  The things on top of the TV are two remotes and a pair of sunglasses.  The white thing at the bottom is a box of outlet covers laying on the floor.

 The Living Room at 1:00 PM

M is now home from school.  She is watching TV and somehow the living room is slowly working its way to ruin.

  The Shoe Area 8:30 AM

We have shoe storage in the closet that is about 2 feet from this area, but shoes are usually all over this stupid rug.  Today there is also a stuffed pink bookmark and one of Mr. A’s green flip flops.

The Shoe Area at 12:45 PM

My shoes are now on the rug, but so far not too bad.

  The Table 8:30 

I kind of cheated on this one and put away the breakfast dishes before I took the picture.  They usually lay there until lunch time. I think that thing laying there is a rubber band.

 The Table at 1:00 PM

Box of blueberries, newspaper, bib and sippy cup, wallet and mail. 

 The Breakfast Bar 8:30 AM

This is the worst mess in the house. It is where all the mail ends up, along with any other random small things that don’t really have a home.  The mess ususally builds during the two weeks until the cleaning people come again.  There is a pile of crap near the window that has been there for several months.  We throw things away, but any mail without a home languishes there for freaking EVER  There is also a small radio there and a bowl that is supposed to hold keys but really just holds more junk.  And the phone base is there. 

In this picture, you can see two sets of keys not in the key bowl, Mr. A’s phone, a silly putty egg, and headphones from our trip to china.  I have no idea who put them there.

The Breakfast Bar at 12:45 PM

The only real difference is that I had to fish some of the mail out of the trash when Mr. A called and requested it.  It is wet and covered with coffee grounds.  Eww.

The Kitchen 8:30 AM

Our cabinet doors never really end up being closed.  In this pic you can see (from left to right) muffins left from dinner last night, a can of formula, L’s vitamins, brown bananas to make banana bread, the fruit bowl and another bag of organic bananas that didn’t quite make it to the fruit bowl yet.

 The Kitchen at 12:45 PM

Lunch begins the degradation.  Muffins now eaten, but pan still on the counter.  Juice bottle, pizza remnants, cup, Mt. Dew Can and now a papaya also laying on the counter.

 The Kitchen Sink at 8:30 AM  

This isn’t too bad because I actually put the breakfast bowls in the dishwasher.  The green thing is a soapy sippy cup.  YOu can also see our big knife, a bottle ring and a bottle cleaner. 

 The Kitchen Sink at 1:00 PM

Mr. A does all the dishes, including those we dirty during the day when he is away.  Here they are waiting for him.  Yes, I really am the world’s worst housewife.

The Playroom at 8:30 AM

On the table you can see a rubberband and an old price tag.  Why I didn’t just put those away, I will never know.

 The playroom at 12:45 PM

Still not looking too bad.

 I am going to post updates throughout the day, as I get time.   I am sure you will be waiting with bated breath to see just how messy we can get.

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

Everyone on my bloglist is talking about food.  All this talking makes me hungry.  Since lovely L came home, I don’t have much time to make decent meals, so I have been looking for delicious but easy meals from the freezer section or preprepared foods aisle(s).

I have been sampling some of the Trader Joes frozen entrees and have found them to be quite superior to anything from the regular grocery store.   I tried both the Chicken Teriyaki (5 minutes in the microwave) and the Gnocci with Gorgonzola (8 minutes in a skillet) and thought they were both delicious.

Let’s help each other out.  What are your favorite quick, tasty and easy to prepare dinners?  By quick, I mean it can be prepared in less than 30 minutes while lugging around a (heavy but adorable) baby. 

(This is a total cop out of a post, but give me a break. It is friday.) 

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

Current body count from Mr. A’s basement massacre killing spree bug hunt.

House Centipedes: 3

Spiders:5

I still haven’t ventured down there.  This may end up being my excuse to permanently skip out of laundry duty.

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In other news, things will L are going very well.  About two weeks ago, I think that all the pieces started clicking for her: she started to show she could understand what we were saying, she started signing, she started hugging, she stopped screaming bloody murder when Mr. A picks her up. 

When we first met L, she clearly had some receptive understanding of Chinese.  Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to recognize or acknowledge our attempts at communicating with her in Chinese (except for “clap your hands” which she still does enthusastically.). I can’t really blame her, because I butcher the tones and use random wordsbut can’t use them coherently to create a sentence.

We started signing with L almost immediately.  We had huge success signing with M when she was small, so we knew how much a kid can communicate before they can speak with their mouth.  (I think M had about 100 signs at around one year old.  We had to stop teaching her, because we couldn’t remember all the new signs.)  We started L out with Milk, More and Eat. 

Last week, she figured out the sign for milk.  More wasn’t far behind.  Now that she is comfortable with them both, she has become a bit giddy with the power of signing and has added a few new words to her signing vocabulary.

A typical conversation happened between us this afternoon:

L:  eh. eh. whine. eh.

Me: What do you want? YOu just ate?

L (signing): MILK!!

Me: No, L. You just had milk.

L (Signing): MILK! MILK!  More!

Me: Are you hungry?  Do you want something else to eat?

L(signing): MILK!  MILK!

L(Using both hands to sign):  MILK! MILK! MILK!

L: MORE! MORE! MILK!

Me: No, L.  No more milk.  You will puke.

L (rolling her eyes, with a big teenager-sounding sigh):  Fine.  CRACKER! CRACKER! CRACKER!

It is my hope that she is using the sign for “cracker” to indicate that she would like to eat a cracker. 

On the other hand, she could just be using it as a racial slur directed at me because I wouldn’t give her more milk.