Our Weekend...

Have you ever had one of those Starbuck's double shot energy drinks with guarana? I tried a mocha one today... boy howdy was that thing good. Unfortunately... too good... and I drank the whole thing, at 5:30, quarter t' 6. So now its 12:11 am... and I am *boing* wide awake with no signs of slowing down, actually my body is exhausted... its my brain that is wide awake. So... what do i do? Log onto my blog to let the world... well that teeny tiny part of the blog-o-verse that reads my blog know how our weekend went.

Saturday we went to lowes and got drywall to finish up the bathroom, and boy.. we had so much fun with that trip that 2 hours later we went back. That time we got ceiling tiles and mud (cause I forgot to mention to the dear hubby that I was almost out *smiles*) We worked on the bathroom trying to beat the storm when his parents showed up to drop off some stuff. Wish the visit could have been longer but we had so much to do and the sky was getting darker and darker. Luckily we were able to get almost all the drywall up before we had to wrap for the day. Electrical storms and powertools do not mix well =P.

Sunday we got up, packed stuff in the car and went to visit the new house. Its truly lovely! The owners are very very nice and seemed excited to meet us. We didnt get to meet their cat but their dog Lady who is 16 years old was very tolerant of our young pup and said pup actually behaved himself rather well ( I think he was only at half energy due to the length of the ride.... lol). She only barked at him at the end of the visit and we were told it was because she was jealous of all the attention "he" was receiving... so we made sure to give her even more lovens... she was so sweet it wasnt hard at all to do. *smiles*

The house is awesome... I know we will be very happy there and I just cant wait till we are all settled in our new home. Today was pretty much a trip up to sign the lease, show us gals the house, and we dropped off a few things for Paul as he will be staying up there this week as opposed to a hotel room. We made sure to take a table into the house first and we enjoyed our first meal there together. We also each took one thing for the house to kind of let it know what to expect from us *laughs* Paul took his chess set, Maddy, one of her favorite fairies, Leen took one of her buddhas, and I took one of my windchimes. I think the house likes us *wink*

Guess thats it for now, hope you all had a wonderful weekend...
~Regi

PS... think i am gonna fit in well in our new neighborhood ... she (the landladyess ) invited me to a class she was holding in her back yard tomorrow night... meditation with crystal bowls. Its amazing how the universe works isnt it? I so cant wait to move!!!!

Around and around we go...

Todays list of "things to do"

~shower
~pack
~sand the walls in bathroom from H E double toothpick
~take eldest to doc and see if I can convince her to do the meningitus (spelling?) shot today as opposed to taking her back a week from friday. This way i dont have to listen to her moan about a shot for 7+ days
~pack (yes i said this already... so? have you seen the amount of crap we have accumulated in 11 years lol)
~call and get electric switched into our names on new place
~research internet service in new home
~research phone carrier (we are going to need one as cell phone coverage is pretty terrible there)
~pack (did i mention that we are pack rats?)
~write a nasty note to hubby and suggest he come home and pack and I take a mini vacation
~call bank
~call around for a moving van
~call and make arrangements for Jasper to go to doggy camp this weekend
~return overdue library books
~grocery store
~hire a taxi so that when i go out tonight... after attempting all this stuff... i dont have to drive on the way home if you get what I mean.

ok so im kidding about the last one.


*smile*

Update on us...

We took lots of pictures of the house we looked at on Sunday but have decided pretty much we wont be taking it. The biggest reason we said no was heating that house would cost an arm and a leg and perhaps a torso or two. The pellet stove not only wasnt in yet... but they hadnt ordered it. So that would mean the house was heated entirely with propane and its one huge house. The fireplaces dont work at all and it was very ramblely... rambly... spread widely out... sheesh!

I fell in love with it though, it had so many period features. Beams to hang flowers and herbs to dry, cast iron bathtub, original pieces in the fireplace to hang pots on to swivel them into the fire... a iron box built into the hearth to bake bread... the history buff in me cried... "Mine... mine... all mine" *smiles* But, the mom inside me looked at how the house was laid out, the distance between the rooms, the various problems that still hadnt been fixed and put her heels into the ground and said no way! So I listened to the mom in me. *cries*

We have 3 other houses we are in contact with owners about... Paul is looking at one on friday before he heads home. So I am keeping my fingers crossed and I know that the right place will come along eventually.

The bathroom is coming along slowly but surely now. Packing is progressing ... the list of things we want to do to the house is shortening every day... so things are moving on that front.

Eileen has finally gotten to talk to her roommate at college, which has set her mind to rest on that front. She has put in notice at her job ... and she is engaged.

Yes.. eileen, at the ripe old age of 18 is engaged.. her young man spoke to Paul and I before he asked her, assured us that they were definitely waiting till after college graduation to get married, but that he was joining the national guard and wanted to make a commitment to her before he made the commitment to them. She is happy, looks at us as if we are insane if we even mention waiting till after grad to get married... "of course we will mom... sheesh!" so things are ok... but scarey on that front. Not sure I am ready for my child to be engaged, I really wanted both my girls to get out there and taste life a bit before settling down, and I am worried too about Shaun and being in the national guard. He however feels strongly that this is something he needs to do. Not only to help the two of them financially... but to be there in support of our country. I know my father would like this kid... Wish he and mom were around, they would be so tickled with all their grandkids.

Maddy says she is excited about going back to public school... but I feel sad about it. I seriously enjoyed homeschooling her, and feel its a wonderful option in todays world. I have struggled with this decision for some time now... but we are going to give it a try. We have heard wonderful things about this school, it will give her a chance to meet kids in this new place we are moving to where we know no one. It will remind her what public school was all about... and if for any reason it doesnt work... we know homeschooling works for us. Hopefully this time we can find a support group we feel more comfortable in. The old one was nice but we just never clicked. Maddy herself has already requested that we continue studying things on our own... she really liked the whole child led education, we spent a heck of a lot of time on colonial new england and the revolution... not because I wanted to... but because she was absolutely fascinated with it. Anyways... as soon as we know for sure we are moving into the district I will call and make an appointment for a tour and any testing they might need to perform.

Maddy's first day of school will be Aug 27 (paul and my 20th anniversary) and Eileens first day of college is Aug 29th.

Paul is still loving his new job... the company puts him up during the week in a hotel so he has a lot less commuting to do... but its still a long haul for him, and we definitely miss him being home during the week. I cant wait till we are all living in the same space again.

Guess thats all from this front...

~Regi

A gaggle of girls

Miss Sarah came to stay with us for a few days this week while hubby was up in Winthrop. I truly love this kid... and have since the day she was born. She is my sister's oldest child and happens to be almost exactly 2 years younger then my oldest. She has the prettiest dimples and when young they could get her out of all sorts of trouble.

Last night we were waiting for hubby to come home from work. He had stayed up near winthrop for the last several nights but decided to come home at the last minute so we waited supper for him. The girls were all outside with the dog waiting patiently. They wrote welcome home dad on the driveway in chalk... chased each other... sat in the road and giggled while waiting to see a particular van pull onto our road.

"Is that him? I think its Dad... no its the wrong car. Is that him? Maddy dont push me... Dang it... where is he? Oh look its a car... is that him? Sarah dont step on my drawing" Anyways it was very cute to watch... Finally Hubby arrived and I bet he was a bit surprised to see the gaggle of girls lined up and waiting on him *smiles*

The two oldest dyed each other's hair, they all have done each others make up, gone shopping at the mall and out to lunch, watched movies till they fell asleep in the living room at 1 am, slept in late, loved on the dog... giggled, fought, smiled, whispered, and just made me grin watching them.

I really can't imagine anything better then a gaggle of girls.

Harried days and the long commute.

Cell phone~ white screen of death, fixed by tech department at verizon

Disposal~ refuses to grind up food or even rotate, replaced

Dishwasher~ refuses to drain ( directly related to new disposal put in over the weekend ) waiting on hubby to return from winthrop area... take out new disposal and pop out plug that is *supposed* to be popped out if you have a dishwasher feeding into disposal. With the plug the water cant drain. *sigh*

Loss of internet~ chooses weird times to just not work... and then is working fine 20minutes later

loss of phone~ someone unplugged the cord that goes from the answering machine to the wall... I kind of enjoyed the lack of constant ringing *smiles*

Check coolant light on car dashboard~ checked coolant... level is fine, sometimes the thing is on... sometimes the thing is off. I am ignoring it in hopes that it will just eventually go away.

Outside faucet (of course the one on the second meter for use on lawn and pool) wont shut off so every time we water i have to turn it off inside the house at the meter using the shut off valve.

wii wont connect to the internet~ probably related to the on again off again internet access.

I am afraid to even wonder what will go belly up next.

On a different note... hubby seems to be really enjoying his new job. The commute is really a lot to handle though ... especially on extremely busy days so he is staying up in winthrop area this week and will be home either tomorrow or friday after work. Once we can trade in his old car for a more fuel efficient one perhaps on less stressful days he can sleep here and commute... but right now they are smack dab in the middle of end of month/end of quarter for one of their biggest customers so its kind of crazy there.

I cant wait till we can get ourselves up there and in our new place. Havent found it yet... heck havent listed this house yet... waiting on this dang bathroom. Soon as its done or even at the stage where the walls are up but need mudding and painting we can list it. But with it not even close to being done we are in a holding pattern. Hopefully hubby can get the subfloor in this weekend. If things werent so expensive i would hire it out... but we just cant manage that right now.

Things are looking up for us... I just keep telling myself that we have to be patient a bit longer.

Endings and Beginnings...

The graduation party for teengirl and her boyfriend (teenboy) went very well, filled with tons of food, tons of loved ones, lovely neighbors, sunshine and an ever popular moon bounce. Hubby and I worked our butts off getting ready for the event, our yard never looked so fine, the house was ok as well... but the main setting was the yard. The peonies were beautiful, the lupine gorgeous and the lawn green and lush. We had so much food it was amazing, hamburgers, hotdogs, pulled chicken, shrimp, salsa rice, bean dip, chips, crackers, cheese, fruit salad, potato salad, grapes, strawberries and a host of goodies headed up by pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and a pumpkin roll. We had so much food that an entire dessert tray was forgotten inside the house and not missed. The graduates loved the moonbounce... they even shared it with the other kids... and some adults as well *ahem* Even Jasper the dog had a party guest... Teenboy's grammie brought her dog and Jazzy was in heaven.

The next day was fathers day and it was very low key... so low key in fact we are celebrating it next weekend. We had to run to the mall and get hubby all outfitted for his new job which started today. We got him lots of new dress pants, dress shirts, ties and so on.

This morning dawned bright and early in the Smaht household with a phone call at 5 am. Our lovely neighbors Linda and Maryanne kindly gave us a wake up call. They are up every day at that time... so they offered to make sure we were up too *smiles* I adore these women, I truly do. A few minutes later I looked out the kitchen door and what do I see on the porch railing? Two cups of coffee covered by tinfoil to keep them hot.

We have truly been blessed with these women as our neighbors for the last 9 years or so. I will miss them terribly when we move and have been trying to convince them to move north with us. So far they arent budging but who knows...

So hubby is off to his first day on the new job, I hope he really loves the place... Good luck baby!

*blink blink*

Teengirl has graduated, done her project grad thing... the big family grad party is this weekend... I hope i survive it.

Hubby got the job in Winthrop... omg... hubby got the job in Winthrop... omg. *smiles*

hubby got the job....

so we have to get the house ready to sell, Sell the sucker... find a new place to live, get caught up on the stuff that tends to fall in the wayside when you arent working... find him a car that doesnt guzzle gas... has airconditioning or at least windows that work right... and is road worthy (always a good thing) ...

omg hubby got the job in Winthrop...

The weekend of the 21st we have orientation at Leen's new school... she is going to be staying in a dorm... hubby and I will stay in a hotel, Maddy will be with her Mimi Linda.... and Jazzy is (hopefully) going to go stay at the kennels he has been to before where the doggies get to play in a yard all day long with other doggies... he loves it there so very much. They fit dogs that match in temperament... and have two different doggy yards. They sleep in individual large doggy crates at night with blankies they bring from home and their special toy. He will come home exhausted but in a very good way.

omg hubby got the job... WOOT!

Soaps are doing fine... I need to take teengirl to the fabric shop to get the stuff for her quilt... She wants a log cabin like maddys... but she gets to pick out the colors herself. Heck if i get good enough at this everyone will be getting some kind of quilted thingy for holidays... (just gotta get the quilting part of it figured out...)

Guess thats all for now...

~Regi