Well, we have an accepted offer on a house!!! Can't hardly believe it! We will close June 10 and will move after that sometime (not in a hurry as I am hoping to move a room at a time.)
Swingset, sandbox, fenced in back yard, room for a humdinger garden (!!!), four bedrooms, finished walk-out basement, a big pantry, (woo-hoo, no more storing cans in the coat closet!), family room, game room (will be our school room), and it even has an office for John. We're so excited! The only negatives are the commute for John and the lack of woods for the kids to romp around in. They'll miss that. I'll totally miss our view here also. I've had the curtains flung open to soak in the view here while we can. Soon there will be nothing to see but another house right across the street. Oh well. Ya gotta weigh those pros and cons, dontcha?
And as I said before, my chickens and goats are out. That's probably for the best! Did I mention that one of the houses we walked through had goats?! They kept 'em in the garage of all places! lol! That would have been a neat hunk of land (it was three acres or so), but the house was not what we would have liked. It had a bowed-in basement wall, not enough kitchen cupboards (though it did have a pantry), and the master bedroom was an enlarged landing on the second floor. No doors. Weird, but the house was also over a hundred years old. Made John about have a panic attack seeing all the "projects" to be done there... lol! (But it had rhubarb and currant bushes and cherry trees....) *swoons* ;o) I guess I can plant my own though, right?
I'm so looking forward to setting down some roots and not being afraid to put a nail in the wall. Also looking forward to having places to put stuff. Our realtor is going to have someone till up my garden for me as a house-warming gift. Even offered to buy us some tomato plants! :o)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Where's Waldo, er, Shelly?
Sorry. Awol again.
My laptop died.
I've been in mourning.
Thankfully my hubby is a geek, and saved my pictures, but all my bookmarked websites are poofed and I'll have to scrounge them up again. My two favorites I had to find right away as they have become my right arms (allrecipes.com and tammysrecipes.com) So, since I have no 'puter of my own right now, I've had to wait my turn for John's or the kids'. (Well, not really, but I do confess I'm rather lost on anything other than my own, so it has made me not as eager to hop online these days.)
Oh, and we've been looking for a house! We might actually have a basement! Woo-hoo! I'll keep y'all posted on that one, but I've sure been having fun! :o) We've even looked at "goat-friendly" houses. (Those of you who know me well know that goats and chickens have been dreams for a long time...) But, well, did you know that those farm house types need WORK? Uff DA! I did not marry a carpenter or handyman, and so, after oohing and aahing over the awesome gardens and acres, I have decided to stick to looking for a house in town. The kids' only request had been "neighbor kids!" so, the farm houses weren't appealing at all for them that way either.
Dad is hanging in there. On top of all his troubles, he cracked a rib and the arthritis in his neck has gotten so bad in the last month that he can't lift his head up. His chin sorta hangs in his chest. The kids and I made a trip to see him once last week, and I'm hoping to squeeze another on in this week, but we'll see how the house situation progresses. He's been on some strong pain meds for that cracked rib, and they've made him rather out of it. Not fun stuff, poor guy.
That's where I've been. Lots of stuff going on, and all the same old laundry to do and kiddos to feed. And burp. (Ok, well, Adam does a good enough job on his own...) ;o)
My laptop died.
I've been in mourning.
Thankfully my hubby is a geek, and saved my pictures, but all my bookmarked websites are poofed and I'll have to scrounge them up again. My two favorites I had to find right away as they have become my right arms (allrecipes.com and tammysrecipes.com) So, since I have no 'puter of my own right now, I've had to wait my turn for John's or the kids'. (Well, not really, but I do confess I'm rather lost on anything other than my own, so it has made me not as eager to hop online these days.)
Oh, and we've been looking for a house! We might actually have a basement! Woo-hoo! I'll keep y'all posted on that one, but I've sure been having fun! :o) We've even looked at "goat-friendly" houses. (Those of you who know me well know that goats and chickens have been dreams for a long time...) But, well, did you know that those farm house types need WORK? Uff DA! I did not marry a carpenter or handyman, and so, after oohing and aahing over the awesome gardens and acres, I have decided to stick to looking for a house in town. The kids' only request had been "neighbor kids!" so, the farm houses weren't appealing at all for them that way either.
Dad is hanging in there. On top of all his troubles, he cracked a rib and the arthritis in his neck has gotten so bad in the last month that he can't lift his head up. His chin sorta hangs in his chest. The kids and I made a trip to see him once last week, and I'm hoping to squeeze another on in this week, but we'll see how the house situation progresses. He's been on some strong pain meds for that cracked rib, and they've made him rather out of it. Not fun stuff, poor guy.
That's where I've been. Lots of stuff going on, and all the same old laundry to do and kiddos to feed. And burp. (Ok, well, Adam does a good enough job on his own...) ;o)
Saturday, April 05, 2008
English Wave Heats
It's been beautiful here the last few days. Last week we had a blizzard, and this weekend, the robins are twittering outside the windows.
The other day the kids were out in the yard playing, and Adam poked his nose in the door and shouted, "Mama! It's a Wave Heat out here!!" and then he went back outside.
So his English isn't perfect yet. But he's trying. It is actually pretty good lately, to tell you the truth - he's been a lot more careful with his pronunciation and thinking his words through. He's still wanting to dump half of the words when he's excited or in a rush, like instead of saying, "Would you watch me do my exercises?" just tonight he said, "Wou'y'watch me do m'ex'c's? But he said it beautifully when I asked him for a repeat.
English vowel sounds are killers to anyone, and Adam has struggled with them hard. Pen/pan, bus/boss, etc. have been really hard to differenciate in his speech. The other day he said he wanted to wear a "pen" on his head for a "het." He of course meant a "pan" for a "hat." He can say and hear the difference though, when we ask him to try again. We just today asked him to say pen/pan and he said them both like any good ole Yankee would.
His r's are still causing him trouble too, though he can do them really well on a "repeat." They just take a lot of effort, you know. ;o) I have no idea how to describe how he actually says his "r's" when he isn't thinking - It's like he tries to do away with ANY /r/ sound at all, and just skips to the next vowel. Initial /r's/ are hard, but at least he does them. The ones buried inside of words are usually skipped altogether. Like, um, let's see... a "storm" would be a "stome;" an "arm," is an "ahm;" a "girl" is a "gull." He'd make a really good Brit, actually, lol! (You have to remember, we're really nasally midwesterners up here, so those "r's" are extra thick to us natives.)
But he's coming along. Just in the last year, he's really come a long way with his speech, and some have said they've noticed big changes even since Christmastime. Slowly but surely...
The other day the kids were out in the yard playing, and Adam poked his nose in the door and shouted, "Mama! It's a Wave Heat out here!!" and then he went back outside.
So his English isn't perfect yet. But he's trying. It is actually pretty good lately, to tell you the truth - he's been a lot more careful with his pronunciation and thinking his words through. He's still wanting to dump half of the words when he's excited or in a rush, like instead of saying, "Would you watch me do my exercises?" just tonight he said, "Wou'y'watch me do m'ex'c's? But he said it beautifully when I asked him for a repeat.
English vowel sounds are killers to anyone, and Adam has struggled with them hard. Pen/pan, bus/boss, etc. have been really hard to differenciate in his speech. The other day he said he wanted to wear a "pen" on his head for a "het." He of course meant a "pan" for a "hat." He can say and hear the difference though, when we ask him to try again. We just today asked him to say pen/pan and he said them both like any good ole Yankee would.
His r's are still causing him trouble too, though he can do them really well on a "repeat." They just take a lot of effort, you know. ;o) I have no idea how to describe how he actually says his "r's" when he isn't thinking - It's like he tries to do away with ANY /r/ sound at all, and just skips to the next vowel. Initial /r's/ are hard, but at least he does them. The ones buried inside of words are usually skipped altogether. Like, um, let's see... a "storm" would be a "stome;" an "arm," is an "ahm;" a "girl" is a "gull." He'd make a really good Brit, actually, lol! (You have to remember, we're really nasally midwesterners up here, so those "r's" are extra thick to us natives.)
But he's coming along. Just in the last year, he's really come a long way with his speech, and some have said they've noticed big changes even since Christmastime. Slowly but surely...
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Barb L; update on my dad
Barb L! (And everyone else reading this!) ;o)
I accidentally erased your comment instead of publishing it... I'm so sorry about that - I keep hitting the wrong buttons on this thing. I thought I had it right, but it didn't show up... *groan* I don't have your email, or I'd have written you there, but I wanted to fill you in regarding Dad. I was kind of vague in my post, and you said you kept your parents updated...
He's not doing so well. He has hepatitis C (from previous blood transfusions as he has hemophilia). The hepatitis has attacked his spleen, (somehow, no clue how), and the spleen has been "eating" Dad's platelets, literally swelling his spleen to be larger than a football. Not so great for a hemophiliac to be losing platelets... He now gets nose bleeds by putting on his shoes...
Meanwhile, Dad's heart is failing, and will probably need surgery to replace his aortic valve, which was replaced 10 years ago with a pig valve. That valve is now failing. He is having an MRI tomorrow, and his follow up appointment is the day after that. He has been getting pneumonia easily (because of the heart failure), and has been easily winded, etc. because of it.
Before they can even think about fixing the heart, they need to take care of his platelets. The doctors want to try to shrink his spleen by injecting some jelly-like substance into the blood vessels leading to the spleen, thereby suffocating and killing part or most of the spleen. Sounds a lot easier than just cutting him open and surgically removing the spleen (bad choice with the heart/blood situation), but this procedure is incredibly painful. His doctor said it would be as painful as a heart attack, and will last about ten days. (He'd be in the hospital that long, while the spleen is being killed and reabsorbed into his body). The bummer about this procedure (aside from the pain), is that it has never been done on an almost 80 yr old, (it has only ever been done on children), and has never been done by this doctor, or at this hospital, and certainly never on a hemophiliac. But he was the first hemophiliac to get a replaced heart valve 10 years ago, so he should be used to being a guinea pig by now, right? *sigh*
Doesn't look so good. He is so weak, I can't fathom him enduring ten days of that kind of pain. (Granted, they have promised a good morphine drip...) We'll know more after his appointment this week, but probably this will all be happening in the very near future. When he recovers from the spleen ordeal, then they'll do the heart surgery. Doesn't look like it's going to be a very good year for him. Tough roads ahead... He's in good spirits as always, though, and that will take him a long way. Regardless, please keep him in your prayers...
I accidentally erased your comment instead of publishing it... I'm so sorry about that - I keep hitting the wrong buttons on this thing. I thought I had it right, but it didn't show up... *groan* I don't have your email, or I'd have written you there, but I wanted to fill you in regarding Dad. I was kind of vague in my post, and you said you kept your parents updated...
He's not doing so well. He has hepatitis C (from previous blood transfusions as he has hemophilia). The hepatitis has attacked his spleen, (somehow, no clue how), and the spleen has been "eating" Dad's platelets, literally swelling his spleen to be larger than a football. Not so great for a hemophiliac to be losing platelets... He now gets nose bleeds by putting on his shoes...
Meanwhile, Dad's heart is failing, and will probably need surgery to replace his aortic valve, which was replaced 10 years ago with a pig valve. That valve is now failing. He is having an MRI tomorrow, and his follow up appointment is the day after that. He has been getting pneumonia easily (because of the heart failure), and has been easily winded, etc. because of it.
Before they can even think about fixing the heart, they need to take care of his platelets. The doctors want to try to shrink his spleen by injecting some jelly-like substance into the blood vessels leading to the spleen, thereby suffocating and killing part or most of the spleen. Sounds a lot easier than just cutting him open and surgically removing the spleen (bad choice with the heart/blood situation), but this procedure is incredibly painful. His doctor said it would be as painful as a heart attack, and will last about ten days. (He'd be in the hospital that long, while the spleen is being killed and reabsorbed into his body). The bummer about this procedure (aside from the pain), is that it has never been done on an almost 80 yr old, (it has only ever been done on children), and has never been done by this doctor, or at this hospital, and certainly never on a hemophiliac. But he was the first hemophiliac to get a replaced heart valve 10 years ago, so he should be used to being a guinea pig by now, right? *sigh*
Doesn't look so good. He is so weak, I can't fathom him enduring ten days of that kind of pain. (Granted, they have promised a good morphine drip...) We'll know more after his appointment this week, but probably this will all be happening in the very near future. When he recovers from the spleen ordeal, then they'll do the heart surgery. Doesn't look like it's going to be a very good year for him. Tough roads ahead... He's in good spirits as always, though, and that will take him a long way. Regardless, please keep him in your prayers...
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