Private Journal Entry

First, I will have to just get it right out there and say how pathetic my post is today....I have found myself putting my daughter's room back to "neat" and found her journal. Hidden strategically under a big pile of stuff. What a find, considering I wasn't even looking for it...didn't even know she was writing in one.

Upon reading it - (Of course I read it. What self respecting Mother wouldn't?) I decided that I have to share what I found. It's too funny not to share.

Let me set the stage:

Cold night.
Lighting fire in fire place. OLD fireplace.
For the first time in 2 seasons.
Parents nervous children wouldn't know what to do if we caught the house on fire.
Went over "Fire Exit Strategies" with said children.


Journal Entry:

"Feb. 6, 2007

I just practist a fire drill. how lame!!! I mean who does that enymore?"

New Houses :-) New Neighbors :-(

New houses.

Before furniture is moved in, they are so clean.
Cleaner than they will ever be when owned by you.

New Neighbors.

Some are known by you and are already good friends. They may or may not come over immediately. After all, you're good friends. That's not necessary.

Others....oohh, the mystery. Who are the people that live in the beautiful houses around you?
In your own little world you imagine that they are all so nice and lovely. They are all so mysterious.

Some quickly come out to meet you.
They offer anything to you that you may need. They let you borrow a wine opener because you have forgotten yours. They are truly sincere when they say you can keep it, and reiterate how you should have kept it when you return it the following day.

Others, wave jovially as they drive by.
Some come over when they catch you in the drive way and love it that you have invited them in so they can get a look inside.

They even quickly try to show you how you are already connected - your mother-in-law taught their child.

Others send their hellos via an agent with the state's Department of Pesticide Regulation and Control. Because the substance that has been placed on the ant hill next to your mail box could be dangerous.
It could have been used incorrectly by not being "watered in".

It could be anthrax.
It is, after all, next to the mail box.

It could also be a way of poisoning lots of things around you because the offending substance has been used within 4 feet of the rainwater drain (that drains to the back of YOUR OWN YARD).

All of the other neighbors (the nice ones that aren't mysterious anymore), upon hearing of this most fantastic "Welcome to the Neighborhood Telegram" know exactly which mysterious neighbor said her hellos in such a manner.

Apparently she's "harmless".

However, her warm welcome has consisted of me having my own personal meet and greet with a state official.

So that a photo could be taken of the offending ant killer: used by us: left by the previous owners: and I'm sure purchased from our "Local Home Supply Store".

Luckily we did nothing wrong.
We followed the label as we should have.
We have violated no HOA rules.

We just have a CONTROL FREAK for a neighbor.

This welcome also allowed the state official to meet my brother.
Because he was the person who actually put out the offending ant killer.
And his signed statement had to be obtained for "the file" so that the claimant could know there was no malicious intent in the powdering of the ant pile.

Except to kill the ants.

And this meet and greet of state official and brother had to take place 20 miles or so out of the way of the state officials' normal routine. Because that's how far away my brother is. I think she was as baffled as we are about this whole thing. I think I can probably scratch this woman off the list of future potential buyers of the house - thanks to "Control Freak Neighbor".

We hadn't even owned the house for 7 days when we received the phone call from the state - much less moved in yet. Well, I say to me...Welcome to the Neighborhood!

Friday we had a neighborhood child over to play. Guess what happened?
He got stung by an ant from another pile!

So what did I do?
I powdered two more ant beds with the same offending ant killer!

I triple dog dare my lovely, mysterious neighbor to call the state on me again. Because I will be the one quickly going out of my way to catch her in her driveway for my own version of a personal meet and greet. I won't be so mysterious to her if she dares make call number 2.

So much for the honeymoon, huh?

A.P. (after post) Quick FYI - there weren't even skull and cross bones on this ant killer packaging.

Post Procrastination

I have got to get over the "need to have a picture to post" feeling.

Don't you think?

I have some pictures to download, but just haven't moved that task far enough up the list yet. I know some of you may be wondering what the front of our new house looks like, and that it NOT a picture I have taken yet, which may be leading to my posting procrastination.

Well, we did close on the house last Thursday. We got insurance to cover the 900+ finished square feet on the ground floor (hazard insurance, not flood insurance). Which is very exciting being that we didn't think it could be covered, and it's going to house some furniture for a guest room and playroom (and all of the electronics that go into having a playroom). That takes our total insurable square footage to around 3700, instead of 2700.

We don't know when we will move in. We want to scrape the popcorn off of the ceilings (don't want to tackle that with furniture in the house) and we want to bring our pretty pink master bath into the '00's, and update the kitchen as well. Our contractor is supposed to get us numbers for all of this stuff next week.

The pool is also in need of a major overhaul. The deck has issues and the plaster is in need of a redo. That contract is getting faxed to the pool guy today. Of course, the pool's issues won't slow our move-in progress.

We did spend last Saturday with our new purchase. All day Saturday.

We tackled a few small things (more on those items below), but it was mostly admiring. And unfortunately for those that stopped by to admire it with us, the best (only) seats in the house are the hearth or the side of the tub in the master bath. Needless to say, our legs were very tired of standing all day long.

We have purchased 1 coffee table, 2 end tables and 1 bedside table to go "downstairs" (we only have a downstairs because our house is raised with a drive under garage - to get us above flood plane). And that is all that we have moved in at this point. And picking those up was one "non admiring" thing we did on Saturday - and that's just because when we purchased these things from the furniture store they needed to be moved out of the furniture store pronto.

Of course when we got them to the house, we stepped back to admire some more.

These tables aren't the only things in the house. The former owners left us a queen size mattress/box spring/metal bed frame, a grill (with a golf ball sized hole in the side of the cover) and a working central vacuum system. They had represented that something was wrong with it, so we thought we had a broken central vacuum system. Upon looking on Saturday, we discovered that just the beater bar attachment had a bad connector. So - BONUS! We thought we would have to buy a new motor if we wanted to have a central vac. And that want was WAY down the list. Learning that the system worked could be considered another important, "non admiring" thing that was accomplished on Saturday.

Two more "non admiring" things that were done Saturday. . .

Bryan is currently on a treasure hunt to find an in ground irrigation valve (its function is to switch watering zones on the irrigation system). After giving a valiant search on Saturday, he's decided that he wants the glory of finding this thing without calling for help from the previous owners. He has been all around the area where it's "supposed" to be; poking with a metal tool trying to find it.

He says that if anyone else finds it, he doesn't want to be told where it is. He is definitely on a mission.

And...Dad and I gave the garage doors an adjustment. My GINORMOUS suburban lacked about a 1/2 inch clearing the opening to get in. The car got all of the way in except for the rear cross rail on the luggage rack. A quick adjustment and !VIOLA! My suburban has a garage to live in (when we get there). We adjusted Bryan's too in case the "Burby" ever needed to get in the other side.

We have also eaten 3 meals there. Pizza on Friday night. "Delivered right to the door", which is a huge treat for my children being that in the country that luxury doesn't exist. Subs and chicken (for lunch), and take out fast food lunches. The kids think these floor picnics have been fun.

The children know lots of other children who live in the neighborhood, and haven't been able to find anyone at home to play with yet. Saturday was "Winter Break" for most of the schools in the area and many kids weren't home. Legare's mission when we are at the house is to go play with his friend from his class. We don't get in the neighborhood well before he asks when he can go to his friend's house. Hopefully it won't be long.

Well, I hope this post has satisfied a bit. I promise to do better later.

X O X O X O

Happy Valentine's Day
to you all!

Only one more day until I get the biggest Valentine's present ever - the new house! And Bryan doesn't usually give Valentine's presents. He's really going all out this year.

Though I will just be admiring it from afar for now.

Lots of X's and O's to you!

Seeing is Believing

BEFORE
(very excited to get her glasses -
this is Julia's serious/focused/REALLY excited look.)

"OH MY GOSH"
(what she said when she put the glasses on -
she couldn't hide the excitement behind her "Serious Wall" this time.
My heart was overjoyed to see this reaction from her)

AFTER
(back to her serious/focused but really excited look)

OUTSIDE
(this is when she realized just how much she hadn't been seeing -
she kept saying everything looked so much closer)

PURE JOY!!

A.P. ("after post" - instead of "PS"): I didn't post anything earlier about her glasses because they were back ordered - we just got them this afternoon. Turns out too, her best friend in class may have to get glasses as well - there'll be safety in numbers!

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley arrived to visit my Mom from New Hampshire the other day. We decided to take him around Charleston.

We took tons of pictures with him, with Carriage horses, at Rainbow Row, on Cobblestone streets, at the Market, with the submarine Hunley replica. One of my favorite pictures is this one. It is a a really good one of Stanley. He was really pleased that he didn't get washed out by the glare of the sun.

He is at St. Michael's Church at the grave of John Rutledge, signer of the US Constitution. Below is a picture of him, Mom, Legare and Julia. He got to meet Julia with her new glasses.

Student Appreciation Breakfast?

Once a month, the parents at the O'Quinn School provide the teachers with a breakfast. February is the 5K classes' turn to host and we did it today.

I provided fruit.

Yesterday when I was purchasing the fruit I was quizzed by Legare as to WHY I was buying this fruit.

I told him it was an appreciation breakfast for the teachers thanking them for all of the hard work they do.

To which he replies with GREAT disbelief, "Why aren't you doing the breakfast for the children, we are the ones that do all of the work."

I didn't quite understand what he was getting at. "What do you mean, Legare? The teachers do plenty of work."

"Well, we do like 10 pages of work and they do like NO pages."

The Best Music Video Ever

We Tivo Saturday Night Live.
We often laugh really hard.

This is one of the things from back in December that STILL has us laughing. My friends think I'm crazy for still watching this.

And knowing all of the words.
(And some of the dance moves).

And since I found it on YouTube, I thought I would share it with you here.

Most of you have heard about it, if not already seen it. Makes me finally enjoy the phenomenon that is Justin Timberlake.

He's singing about his "junk" "In the Box".

The "Big E"

You know....

I have had several times in my life when I wish I hadn't read all of the pertinent info on a subject. Being a bit clueless about some things is not all bad. I don't know why I feel like I should always arm myself with as much info as I can.

Instance 1: When I had my first c-section, I hadn't read word one on what to expect. "They" always say that you'll have labor like your mother. Well my Mom had her babies in 4 hours and in two. Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy! So was I.

Wrong.

After 18 hours of labor, I was in for a c-section. Not a horrible thing except that I had no idea that my arms were going to be strapped down and that I would be able to see nothing.

Once home, I pulled out all of those pregger books and started reading up on c-sections. Time after time they were saying how you shouldn't feel guilty, c-sections were normal, don't feel like you weren't part of "the club", etc, etc.

Well, I didn't feel all that until I read up on c-sections....Thanks Docs!
Of course, I'm over it now.

They didn't mention any perks to the sections. Like how nice life was going to be after the section when I didn't have scars, skin tags, numb spots, etc "down there" like some of the other "vjay-jay" delivery moms. I'm truly the lucky one I think on that aspect. The books just didn't get into that part of the sections.

I always say that if you need some info, "Google" it. You can get your dime store doctorate on the Internet with a good Google search and about 15 minutes of your time.

Instance 2: So today, I found myself feeling mostly o.k. with an issue. But now that I've gone for the doctorate on this subject I'm sitting here, feeling on the verge of tears. Everything is truly fine, but Mommy Mode is kicking in.

I'll bring you up to speed: After an overheard conversation in the car between the children, I learned that Julia was having a hard time seeing the board in her class (that was last Wednesday). Today, we visited a great Opthamologist to test her vision and I was truly blown away by what I witnessed.

Julia, "Miss Good Grades" 2nd Grader, wasn't doing so well on the eye chart. To date, the only test she's ever flunked.

I was kind of shocked when, with both eyes, she was having to read as far up the chart as lines 3 and 4. But with the individual eyes looking at the chart, she was barely seeing the "Big E" at the top of the chart with her bad eye (left). This equates to 20/400 vision.

That's right - 20/400.
The good eye is 20/80.

Luckily she's nearsighted (sees things close, not far). I guess that explains the good grades. All the reading is done in the range of visioin that she does have.

Of course I Google the 20/400 to see what I could find.

"20/ 400 is double the legal blindness numbers of 20/200" was quoted on several sites.
O.K. - quick freakout/mild panic. Feeling of some tears building, but I do not cry, because I know my child is fine.

I keep reading.

Luckily, Julia's vision can be corrected back to 20/20 with glasses. This correction back to 20/20 with glasses means she's not considered blind. YAY!

But I knew she wasn't blind.

This does explain why the doctor reiterated several times with a bit of glee that he could correct her back to 20/20.

So because of the Doctorate just received by me, I am, for the first time, seriously going over things in my head to see where I missed the signs that my precious child could not see. But I truly could have done nothing sooner. I heard last week about the problems seeing. I got an appointment for today.

Scary how a little knowledge and a Dime Store Doctorate can cause you to doubt yourself.

All I can say is, if she's this good at the things she does with that kind of crappy vision, I look forward to seeing her work at full capacity.

She (and I) are very excited about her getting glasses. We have ordered some mighty cute ones that should be here by Tuesday. I'll be sure to take a picture and post. I can't wait to hear her reaction when she realizes how many things she's not been seeing.