An Excerp from a letter to my sisters

I'm a tad homesick for Idaho, but even if I wasn't this is locked in my memory as the most therapeudic place in the world for me, doing what I love to do best...beside dance all night at a dance hall which is far and away completely opposite of this picture. (Why is it that the number 1 and 2 choices of relaxation for me are totally opposite of each other?)

"I love you guys. I find myself day dreaming about Idaho Falls. When I meditate I find myself on that road that turns into highway 30 by the  airport runway on one side and playground on the other but I'm running in the direction of Reed's Dairy. I'm headed to the fields just outside the residential zone between Kenna and Robbie's house. I must be making up a road bc I can't place it, but maybe if I ever move back I'll find it. It's late afternoon, early evening and I'm running by golden fields silently bending to the breeze coming through and the sky is big and blue, spotted with fluffy white clouds, every now and then I find a patch of sky streaked with the sun's rays. I can smell the air- warm, but crisp and clear. Maybe some dirt kicks up every now and again and probably Reed's sneaks in. And I'm just running. I can hear the dirt road crunch, crunch, crunch under my sneakers. Every now and then I lick the dirt off my lips. Mmm,  tastes like a good night to be alive. I'm telling you, nothing beats an Idaho summer. Don't take one night for granted. You guys live in the best town on earth. "

Keeping Posted

Blogging is hard to keep current, but my friend Jessica is so good at it. She's keeping me motivated. Oh this is rich, my baby just woke up and is wailing.

Okay, well that is how my life is going. Throw in some PB&J's and that's about right. Kids, kids and more kids; some pools, beaches, libraries and a funeral for my Granny.  Oh and CANNING PEACHES!!!That sums it up. But I'll just have you know in my head I'm keeping up with my blogging.

Here's a cute line from Lydia today: "Thanks Mom. You are the best mom in your whole life."

Love ORECK!

Chello!!! Totally saved my carpet/pet delima. Let me let you in on a little secret my friends. When dogs sit or roll or do whatever dogs do on carpet, their oil gets into the carpet making it really hard to permenately get the odor out. Water makes it worse (so does the humidity. yuck, it smells bad when it's really humid), SO DON'T STEAM VAC your carpets. Oh wait, the mangement already did. Then I put down some water based disinfectant. It's not so bad if it's a stain or clean-up from a quick soil, but if it's landed in the padding you shouldn't use water based solvents. HAHAHA. My situation went from bad to worse. Does anyone ever feel like the more you find out about the problem the more holes you find in your sinking ship?

But here's the good news- they have a non-water based solvent that guarentees to work. WAHOO! Oh, yeah. Super cool. Sweetness...

I do love my Oreck. I do soooo love the store. I think I shall even roll around on my floor like a happy puppy once we finally figure this out. Rollie, rollie like a little puppy! Okay, now back to the grind. I got bit again last night by a spider. Time to hoe- down on those creepy-crawlies.

ps- I lost a little weight. Nothing too big at all, none- the- less- super happy about that.

Ramblings

No new pictures, even though I have SO many to catch up on. Yes, they are still on the camera...I may hate to upload pics. Maybe.

I like it here in Indiana. People are nice. Just nice, decent people. Sometimes it smells a little funky in the morning. I don't really know why, but I can live with that. I love all the water. Really want to rent a motor boat and go tubing. Tom is gone alot. Nah, wasn't planning on him being home anyway. But he's home enough and this weekend we did lots of fun things and he got to have a lunch with us the other day, so really it's just hit and miss. The cool thing is, Tom gets free food from the hospital and he brings us home m&m cookies. heheheh.

 The house is coming along. The vent system is going to be blown/cleaned out with a microbial treatment this week...or next...hopefully. I guess there is a good amount of cat hair hanging out in there. Kind of gross, no? But not to worry (no I'm not breathing through a mask at this moment...why would you ask?) they will be squeaky clean and I'll be able to start hanging pictures and the rest of the cleaning. Speaking of cleaning..I have stalled deep cleaning since my vents will be blown and I don't want to re-clean the walls and such. BUT I only have lights, windows, walls, and baseboards left...oh and behind the stove. This is a beast to pull all the way out bc there is an old vent that blocks just your standard pull out. This will require Tom and I to lift and pull. Ugh, I know, but I refuse to consider my kitchen is clean until we do so. Oh CRUD, and the stinking carpet in the fam room. Pet urine. The chemicals will come on Tuesday. Wednesday they shall be free from pet whatevers.
Can I just say that all of this paranoia could be avoided if people would just NOT have pets in the house. I don't want to offend you my friends and I don't feel so in your house, but in mine...it just has to be pet free.

Sorry about the ramblings. Sometimes you just have to let your mind reel.
Um...I'm ready for a 5k. Okay, I'm not ready to RUN a 5k. Let me clear that little diddy up. I'm ready to TRAIN for a 5k. Yeah, I'm still out of shape and my baby is 6 months old. Yeash, am I getting old or is it just really hard to battle the bulge?

Why do we always feel like we have no money? I'm determined to live on less and be grateful too. That's like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time. I'll let you know how it goes in the next three years.
That's all. Do you miss me? I miss you too. Starting a new life is hard. It takes some patience and a lot of down time with the kiddos. I make them kiss me at least 10 times a day. It's a lot easier moving with kids though. I feel more grounded and have more direction than the last two times I moved.

Oh, and the library here is killer.

Just call me Mr. Clean

ya know, sometimes I think I'm getting a great picture and then this happens. Arg. Oh well. Cute Julia. Had to include that blurred picture. Cute nonetheless. Okay, so really I've been cleaning like my mother in law who just entered an abandoned hotel. Some screwy things went on and it's a long story, end of it is I'm cleaning the whole house. Yep all 2000 plus square feet. She's gonna be a beauty in the end, but check this out. Of course my before and after pictures of the floor are messed up.

Here's the clean floor. Comet man. Comet. That's an after picture.

Oh, this is cute. this is the back room where the last tenants had pets. YUCK. Oh throw up. I will just pause to say that the lease had a hard core no pet policy. I think they are getting the worst end of the stick. Luckily, we took up the that nasty carpet and are putting in tiles tomorrow. I'll post some after photos in a few days...weeks.

and this is the lovely before shot of my floor. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO MOVE INTO THAT? But really, I love the manager. she's heaven sent and has cut me some sweet deals. In return, I clean my way. So here's the stats:

1st bath: 2 hours

Tiles of front entry, kitchen and hall: 4 hours

Carpets: 4 hours and counting

Back room:5 hours.

Yard: 2 hours and counting yes, I found a 13 gallon bucket of dog poo outside the house by, get this, recycling!!! If it wasn't so gross I'd really think that was funny.

Sweeping hard wood floors: 1 hour

Kitchen in general minus stove: 5 (that's plus unpacking)

Oh, I have so much more to go. Like weeks. But that's okay. I've gotten things clean my way and stuff is being sorted out by my kids, they are really pitching in. Paul and Lydia unloaded all of their books in the study room. RIGHT in the Middle of the study. Love that. And I've really had to stop and play pirates, swing on the porch swing...really love that, make trips to the library and kiss baby toes and make dinner and do piles of laundry, so that's why we are moving so dang slow. That's okay though because Tom informed me he'll be a ghost for the next 6 months. I guess I have a bit of time right? When I get through this train wreck I'm gonna post some really clean picts. like so clean you could eat right off the floor...in the back room. ha ha ha.

Moving Day

It's coming. I'm packing and dang it, I'm crying. I'm so sad to leave my home, and that's funny because 4 years ago I'd never consider it home...

The official day, May 26th. Like it or not, I'm becoming an official Hoosier.

Happy 6

Tom,

Happy 6 -great- years- together- day. I've never known how deeply someone can love until I met you. You may not gush, or buy me roses or chocolates, or write romantic poetry (although what you write is poetry to me).

But you love without bounds. Your love for me exceeds what I ever thought love would be. Hollywood seems a shaft, a laugh at what surrounds me. I'm open, honest, frank. I dream huge and lavishly. I'm embarrased and shy, crazy and as always a bit quirky. I'm sincere and I can cry like noneyabizness. I'm naive, bubbly and seem to always find my feet in my mouth. This is who I am and more and you know it. You know every cranny of my soul.

You are patient beyond measure, years ago I learned that you don't yell, lash back, or try to throw the point. Your actions envelop your love for me. For that I am smitten, every single day. Everyday you kiss me, even before I brush my teeth(so gross). you kindle my beauty by making me blush, it's the simple "you are so beautiful today" when I haven't even looked for the makeup bag. Or jus the way your hold your arm around my waist when we are out and about. but most the time it's just that look I get from you in the spare of the moment.

You strengthen me even when I want to wallow...I'll be honest I never thought your firm approach to my mudholes was/is inspiring, but somehow you know me better than I do.

I could go on. Okay, so I did, go read my journal for less generic blogging. This post doesn't do justice to who you are to me. That's okay, we still have an hour and some of pillow talk before the day is done ...and like always you know I'll get it all out there. Then you'll remove the toothpicks from your eyelids, tell me, "No, I'm not sleepy" and sack out two seconds after I kiss you goodnight. I love that you try so hard to stay awake for pillow talk and I have to laugh too. It's better than roses.

I love you Tom. Unreserved, I love you.