Thankful 2010 - Part 4

• 12/10 - A great ward.
• 12/9 - An Offer on our House!
• 12/8 - A fun night with my Beehives.
• 12/7 - Relief Society Activities Where I come home with More than I left with.
• 12/6 - TV - Sometimes you just need to Veg.
• 12/5 - Nursery
• 12/4 - My Family
• 12/3 - Kids who Don't hate me for serving Pizza two nights in a row.
• 12/2 - My Christmas Piano Recital Running Smoothly.
• 12/1 - A Husband who is Always willing to Help Out.

Family Pictures 2010

Preview of our Christmas Card Pictures for 2010:

(No, this one isn't actually going on anything. It just made me laugh, so I had to include it here.)

Thanks to Lexie (Alexis Merritt Photography) for doing a fantastic job, as usual. Check her out here, or on my sidebar.

Happy December!

Happy December! Have you missed me? Things have been pretty normal (i.e. crazy) around here, and I've had good intentions of posting that have never materialized.

We had a great Thanksgiving, the "G" cousins came to visit - braving horrible weather (which caused more than double the usual travel time) to be with us. It was great, and the boys are really missing their cousins now that they've gone home.

We also spent a couple of weeks during November, being sick. The girls of the house just had colds, but my boys each got to battle bronchitis/a salivary gland infection (I know-weird right)/and a sinus-ear infection respectively. We've had our fill of antibiotics around here and thankfully are all healthy again. (minus the usual cold weather runny nose)

It also snowed here last week. Just as the boys were getting healthy enough to send back to school - they got 2 snow days. We got a couple of inches (my Utah readers are laughing, I'm sure), and the roads were nice and icy for a couple of days. The boys loved that they got to stay home some more though.

Other than that, we're just plugging away as usual. The house is still for sale. Lots of lookers, but no takers. We're still praying for something to happen soon.

I've been working on lots of Christmas crafting too, but Most of my projects are in a state of "almost-finished". I'll post them as I get done. Watch for my 365 blog to be updated too. I have been taking some pictures, just not posting them. But, that will be remedied soon (gotta keep the grandparents happy).

FYI from later in the day - The 365 blog has now been updated!

Thanks for reading. Until next time....

Thankful 2010 - Part 3

• 11/30 - Thoughtful People. - We are truly Blessed.
  
• 11/29 - Routine. - It feels so good to go back to normal life. I love the break, but it makes me remember that I like the structure too.
  
• 11/28 - Peace.
• 11/27 - Order.
• 11/26 - The Ability to Provide Christmas gifts for my Kids. - I always find it humbling to be able to go out and buy presents for them.
  
• 11/25 - Family Who was willing to brave the Elements to Spend Thanksgiving with Us. And a pharmacy, and walk-in clinic open on Thanksgiving. - Buggy had nasty infection in his jaw, and I was grateful not to have to take him to the ER.
  
• 11/24 - Good Friends, and Date Night - We have really awesome neighbors who let our house full of people invade while someone came to look at our house. Also, got to go to Forgotten Carols with my Sister and Brother-in-law. Fun night.
  
• 11/23 - 4 Wheel Drive - Snow in Seattle. 'Nuff Said.
  
• 11/22 - School! - I forget how much I appreciate it until I have them home sick for a few days, and then get to send them back.
  
• 11/21 - A Full Freezer and a Husband that Can Cook

Thankful 2010 - Part 2

• 11/20 - Quality Time With My Sewing Machine.
• 11/19 - The Ability to Be At Home With My Kids - Especially when they are sick. I'm really lucky to be able to take care of them. Even, when they drive me nuts.
  
• 11/18 - Doctors and Good Insurance
• 11/17 - A Handy Husband - I show him an idea, and cut the wood, and he has it put together in an evening.
  
• 11/16 - Projects Checked off My List - 3 Pairs of Christmas Jammies. Check!
  
• 11/15 - Good Friends
• 11/14 - Christmas Music
• 11/13 - Good Mexican Food. My life would be incomplete without it.
• 11/12 - The availability of a great hearing loss school for my daughter.
• 11/11 - Those who fight so I can be free.

Thankful 2010 - Part I

• 11/10 - A sense of humor. I love laughing, and things that make me laugh. (we rented the movie Grown-Ups. I giggled through pretty much the entire thing)
  
• 11/9 - Technology that allows us to talk, with video, to my parents who are literally half-way around the world.
• 11/8 - A charmer of a daughter who makes me smile - a lot. (It gets her out of heaps of trouble)
  
• 11/7 - A new clutch in my husband's car. Even if it cost more than we planned, the car will run well again for a little bit longer now.
• 11/6 - Getting to spend the afternoon and evening hanging out in the kitchen with my family, canning applesauce. Also, making some serious craft project progress.
• 11/5 - The chance to have breakfast with a friend.
• 11/4 - Good friends who offer help that makes my life easier. (I did not want to drive 30 miles late at night to take my husband's car to "the shop")
  
• 11/3 - The good feeling I get when I work out.
• 11/2 - Being able to live so close to a Temple (and babysitters who allow us to attend)
  
• 11/1 - A King size capacity washing machine. (because we had an all night mega-puker)
  

Today I'm Thankful For... 2010

Good Grief!! Is it seriously November again? For real? Okay, I'm really stuck back in like August, or maybe September. It's not supposed to be November already in my world.

No, I don't have all (or really any) of my Christmas shopping done. I haven't even pulled the Christmas music out (yep, I'm one of those people) A few years ago, this wouldn't have been me at all. I guess that is what three kids, and a crazy life does for you.

Not complaining though, just reflecting on the fact that I have changed a little. Hopefully in some good ways too... Anyway -

One thing that hasn't changed yet is my "Thankful" series (found here and here).

It's taken me a few days to get it up and running, but you will find the current entries on my right-hand sidebar - and a post with them every 10 days from now until the end of the year.

It seems to me like there has been a lot of talk about gratitude lately, (I'm sure it's the time of the year) but its always a good reminder for me to go back and see how many good things I have in my life. It makes the crappy things seem a lot more bearable.

So feel free to join me - just blog about something you're thankful for everyday from now until the end of the year. (Be sure to leave me a comment to so I can follow along!) Have a great day.

Tiered Skirt

So, I talked my mom into leaving her serger with me while she was gone. I've had it since August, and finally figured it out enough to finish a project with it. I love this little tiered skirt that I made for Baby Sister. So cute. I actually can't wait to make her another one (and maybe even one for me too). I used the tutorial found here.


Sorry the pictures aren't great. She wasn't being very cooperative, but it is much cuter in real life.

Happy Halloween

Happy belated Halloween from Snow White, a Pirate, and a Vampire (complete with "scary vampire face")

I hope you all had a wonderful, safe Halloween.

Mission

Some of you might remember this post, where I mentioned that my parents were going to be serving a mission in Indonesia. Well, (obviously I'm behind on my blogging - but) they finally made it to Indonesia last week. Just in time for an earthquake, tsunami, and volcano eruption.

They earthquake and tsunami happened right before they got there, and the volcano actually erupted while they were in the air, on their way there.

Because of their calling as the humanitarian coordinators for the area, they have obviously been very busy since their arrival a week ago, but we got to talk to them on Monday (skype is so cool) and they are really happy and doing great. It is so amazing to hear about their experiences there.

Which brings me to their blog. I don't know how many of you out there will be interested (I know some of you will be, though) but my Mom has set up a blog where they will be posting about their mission experiences, pictures, etc. I will also be adding the e-mails that they send to us, and things that we get from during calls and whatnot. You can check it out here:

http://melvinandmuriel.blogspot.com/

Baby Shower Crafts

Earlier in the month (October, that is. Is it seriously already November?) I got to help out with some decorations for a special baby shower.


Samantha Grace was just adopted. Her family has waited a very long time for her to join their family. Adoption is such an amazing blessing.



I was really excited to make blocks and a banner for her, and I am very happy with how they turned out.

Quick Update on Our Crazy Life

Well, it's been a few days - so here's what we've been up to.

The Van: After driving (and complaining about it) the rental van for 5 days I ended up in a fender bender with it. Yeah, I know - right (that car sucked). Anyway, I got a replacement van that I've liked a lot more (actually drives good, not scary) and hopefully will have my car back (yay!) today or tomorrow.

Last Weekend: Last weekend after soccer we took the kiddos (and went with some friends) to a corn maze. It was my kids' first time - they loved it. (Hopefully I'll get off my lazy butt and unload my camera so I can put up the cute pictures I got) Speaking of lazy butts...

Me: Still sore. Still seeing chiropractor. Went to the doctor today for some muscle relaxers so I can actually sleep at night. I have good days, and less than good days, otherwise doing pretty good.

This Weekend: Grandma and Grandpa 'Tano are coming to visit (yay!) The boys can hardly contain themselves and it will be really nice to have some visitors to break up the monotony of our normal lives.

Otherwise, we are still just plugging away. School, work, housework-You know, the usual. Bug has parent/teacher conferences next week, I'm a little nervous to see how things have changed between Kindergarten and 1st grade. The house is still on the market, we had a ton of lookers at first and then the showings have kind of dropped off lately, but we are still hopeful for something to happen soon.

Anyway, I'll be back again soon with some new crafty projects and fall pictures. Until next time...

Sister

Just a couple of recent pictures of our cute now-eighteen-month-old-girl. (Hooray for being nursery age!)

Today - I Feel Like I've Been Hit by a Truck...

...Because I have.

So really this story starts, as usual, with us running late on Sunday morning. Seriously - we have 1:00 church, and yet we still manage to be rushing out the door each week. Anyway - I had the house mostly ready for a showing that was happening after church, but then the kids ate lunch (ie: made a big mess) and I left it for when we got home.

Well, then of course, I get a voicemail halfway through the meetings, and when I check it - it's someone else who wants to see the house, before we were going to get home. So, I decided I would run home really quick during Sunday School, pick up the big mess, and be back before I was even missed.

Moral of the story: Don't skip church. Just let them see your house messy.


As I was heading back to the church, I was stopped at a stop sign when a kid in an old beater truck tried to come around the corner going too fast. He lost control, didn't turn and crashed into me instead.

I'm okay, the teenagers in the truck are okay, that is what matters.

Thankfully, my neighbor (who is also my friend, and happens to be my insurance agent, and goes to church with me) was headed home to pick up something she had forgotten and saw me shortly after the accident happened. She got me back to the church with my car seats to pick up my family.

Thankfully, I was only really a block from home, and didn't have to drive my crunched car very far.

Thankfully, my chiropractor is also in my bishopric and told me to come in first thing in the morning, and to call him if I needed him sooner.

Thankfully, we have really good friends who had already offered to feed us dinner, and who conveniently had two cars at church.

Thankfully, I have zero fault in this accident, and the other driver's insurance will pay for absolutely everything.

Thankfully, I was alone - no kids in the car (a rarity) and I was in my big car, not my husband's little tin can with wheels.

Thankfully, even in a bad situation, I was being watched out for. And I am safe.


I am pretty sore today. I hit my head on the side window at the impact. I went in this morning for some x rays. My neck is pretty messed up, but otherwise nothing too serious. I feel lucky.

My car...is not so lucky. It looks pretty sad. The collision messed up the whole front end, so the driver's side door only opens a little, and the passengers side door (although there isn't much damage over there) won't open at all. The driver's side quarter panel is smashed, and my bumper and grill cover are hanging on by a thread only. The hood has been totally displaced, and the quarter panel on the passengers side has subsequently found a new place to live. Not at all a happy situation.




The insurance company should be coming out to look at it tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have a rental minivan. They tried to give me a sedan, but I put up a stink (have you ever tried to get three car seats in the back of a sedan? Not very easy). Anyway, it isn't even really a cool van, and it didn't take me very long to remember why I love my SUV. It just drives differently.

It's only been a day and I miss it already.

All in all, I'm glad everything is okay. My car should be fixed soon, and I have something to haul the family around in until then. Even if I do feel like a dork in it. I will be seeing the chiropractor quite a bit for the next little while, but the personal injury insurance covers massage (something my regular health insurance doesn't) so there is a small silver lining in all of these storm clouds.

And just for a touch of sheer irony... Somebody stopped by last minute to see the house today - and yeah, it was totally messy.

The House

This post has been a while in the making, it's been a little bit hard to figure out how to write.

So, I'll use pictures.

This is our house:
Here's the front door:

This is what the front door looked like as of 3 weeks ago:

Here's what our yard looked like as of last Friday:

Yep, our house is for sale.

It wasn't a decision that we came to easily or lightly, but it's one that after much prayer and deliberation, we feel good about.

See, we bought our house in August of 2007. For any of you out there that also bought a home in 2007, that is probably all I need to say. But, I will continue.

So, when we bought, the bank got creative with our loan (more than we had any realization of). Now three years later we are stuck in a toxic mortgage with literally no other way out.

Our payments are skyrocketing to an unreasonable amount. We have lost too much value for a traditional refinance (we've tried, and tried) and the "private investor group" (ie: greedy pigs) that own our loan are "unwilling to offer" a loan restructure. Because the loan is privately owned and not backed by Freddie or Fanny, all of the government help out there is unavailable to us.

To put it frankly, we got hosed.

We've been feeling strongly for a while that we need to be focused on getting out of debt. And this will put us one step closer to being able to do it. No, it's not ideal be we've made our peace with it and that is what matters.

We will be renting for a while (I absolutely don't want another mortgage after being burned so badly with this one). We have a few prospects out there, but if anyone near us knows of any good rentals available - please let me know.

So that is where we're at. It's the reason I haven't posted much lately, and it is why my days are filled with paper work, phone calls, and making sure my house is clean while trying to still be a Mom, wife, and all other titles that I fill at this point in my life. My prayers are for things to move quickly, and for a really good outcome. Any other prayers on our behalf (for a good outcome) would be much appreciated.

Thanks...

Ooops!

Has it really been 18 days since I've posted. Ooops. Sorry! Things have been crazy here. We've been super busy, so rather than try to catch up on everything, I'll fill you in on the highlights and move forward from there.

First day of Preschool- He was nervous on the first day, but has done fantastic since then.

No pictures of the Bugg's first day. He wouldn't let me. But now (2 weeks in) he's doing great. We had tears for the first few days (these early mornings have been a little bit hard on him). He doesn't have any friends from last year in his class, but he has started to make some new ones, and he says he gets to see his friends at recess, so all is good.

First day of Soccer

The boys started Soccer the Saturday after school started (on the 11th), they are both playing this year because there is no way that Beefy would have let us go another year without signing him up. They play in different leagues, because Buggy's league doesn't have a U5 team, so we've had a bit of a problem with overlapping schedules. But, they are having a great time and it's good for them (added bonus).

The Tooth

Tooth #3 finally came out this week. It's been wiggly since before school let out in June and has just been holding on for a couple of weeks now. He showed it to me at breakfast on Monday, but wouldn't let me pull it. We talked about what to do if he lost it at school, and I sent him on his way. Sure enough he came home holding his little tooth case, grinning from ear to ear. he was so happy that he got to loose his tooth at school, and go to the nurses office. It was the first day since school started that he come home with some of his lunch left (apparently loosing a tooth while eating a sandwich tends to cut into your lunch time, and heaven forbid you miss recess).

And finally, just cause she's so silly:

The Smile

This is the baby's newest trick. Whenever you say "smile", this is the face she makes. Stretched back cheeks and bottom teeth sticking out. It is hilarious - the picture so doesn't do it justice. So I guess you'll just have to come over to see it for yourself.

Anyway, that's a little of what's been going on in our neck of the woods lately. Until next time...

Venting

To the lady at the bank's call center who took my call yesterday:

Thank you for taking the time out of what I'm sure is a most stimulating existence (answering phones and taking information) to speak to me, and subsequently ruin my day. I hope it gave you pleasure.

I appreciate that you think that it is your business to advise me on how I should spend my money so that the refinance I am seeking would not be necessary, but frankly - IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

I guess I can see where you don't understand how I can tithe 10% of our income to our church; but, I am appalled that you think it was alright ask me to consider "cutting that donation in half", and then (after I told you we were unwilling to do that) for you to tell me that I "need to consider whether it is more important to be in good standing with [my] church, or put a roof over [my] kid's head" (seriously, a direct quote).

It's bad enough that you had the gall to take a stab at my faith, but when you call into question my fitness as a parent as part of it, that is when you go from tasteless to downright inappropriate. I can promise that our less-than-desirable mortgage situation is not so desperate that I am willing to listen to your criticism.

Last time I checked, Religious discrimination was illegal in your line of work (yes, I have worked in the banking industry, thank you very much - although I have no experience in a call center. Maybe their standards are different.) Also, I'm pretty sure that a company that allows their employees to suggest how a person practices their religion is not a company that will be getting my money for much longer if I can help it.

I guess it is a good I spoke to you so that I can know how to be a better parent. I'm sure it must feel like a blessing to have the talent of being able to tell people how to take care of their family after only a few minutes on the phone with them. You must be so proud.

Please expect a call placed by me (or possibly my husband-he's almost more angry than I am) to your manager. Just call it a testament to your fantastic customer service.

Have a nice day!


For those of you unfamiliar with sarcasm, the previous is dripping with it.

Also, thanks for letting me vent a little. I feel better now.

Baby Gifts

I was invited to (count them) 3 baby showers this week. ('Tis the season I guess). Anyway, it was two girls, and a boy - and I wanted to break out of my mold of doing a hooded towel, or nursing cover. So, they got fancy onsies. The girls got ruffle butts (gotta love 'em) with a matching hair clip. And the boy got an awesome yellow submarine (very loving it) and a Binky clip (no hair-bow for him). I actually had a lot of fun making these, and am kind of proud that they turned out as well as they did. Now, let's just hope the recipients like them.







And just to have in my files:
Some tutu's I made and donated to my sister's preschool classroom.

Blackberries

So this is, literally, just outside my back door.

Aren't we lucky? That entire hillside is completely covered in wild blackberry bushes. They grow like a weed here, they are everywhere. It's fabulous. Free blackberries, and they taste awesome. Can't you tell:

He picked a ton, and ate way more than ended up in the bowl. Gotta love the purple stained fingers.

Anyway, Sunday was stake conference for us, and since we are used to 1:00 church, we weren't quite sure what to do with the day when we were home by 12:30. So, we walked outside and picked blackberries with Grandma and Grandpa.

Showing off their purple faces.

The kids had a great time, and we got enough to make (and can-I'm totally getting into this canning thing) a batch of Blackberry syrup. (My kitchen smelled amazing.).
MMMMM. I think we are going to be eating a lot more pancakes. The best part...There are so many berries that I will still be able to do jam, and they will be on 'till almost the end of September. Now, if only we had Raspberries that were the same way.

I love where I live.

Deception Pass

They speak for themselves. Mostly.

Hiking (actually more like a sort of steep nature walk) down to the beach.

Looking up at the bridge, from the beach.

View from the beach.

They're "fishing" (for pokemon)

I finally gave up after 6 attempts at getting a good picture. This is the best we got.

Showing off his fishing pole.

Trying to get a picture from the bridge. Didn't work out so hot. I think we were all a little nervous to be up that high.

This picture could be titled "Mom, trying not to have a coranary". Don't let him fool you though. That bridge is up really, really high. He stood there long enough for the picture, then - he was ready to leave. And we were on the edge - pretty close to solid ground. I don't think I could have bribed him to go to the middle if I tried.

So, I have to say - This place is absolutely stunning - beautiful. The day couldn't have been more perfect either. Not to hot, but sunny. It made the fog (that is, I guess, nearly constant there) stand out even more prominently. Amazing. I am almost ashamed to admit that we have lived here for 4 years, and never been to deception pass.

We came home across Whidby Island, and rode the ferry home. The boys loved it. Once we got back to Mukilteo we stopped at the lighthouse for Grandma (she loves lighthouses) and finished off the day with dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Awesome day.

Riding the Ferry.

From the top of the lighthouse.