Summer Days are osome (awesome) because no of no school.
And no homework to do.
Summer lasts for sixtie days because june and july are 31 days, so 30+30=60 and 1+1=2 so it's 62 days of summer.
Vacation is going to be osome, so osome.
(** note from me.... going to try really hard to post more stuff like this, esp kids art pics, you won't believe some of the things my kids make. Nate recently constructed the flim-sim-de-fur from Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, and Susie was recently told her artwork is college level, no joke.)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Decisions, decisions.
I probably ought not post this, as my thinking is my hubby will kill me for even saying it out loud LOL!
I can't help it though, i am so confused as to what we should do and would like some opinions, so here is your chance to share what you think (within reason of course lol ;) )
As you know we are no longer house hunting. 8 weeks ago that came to an abrupt halt when we found out there were stipulations to the loan we were getting which basically made it impossible to obtain at the time. We have since found out that we can still get said loan, however we have to spend a certain amount of $ (for 1) and 2 we have to wait until August. The first part is no problem as we would need to spend at least that to get the size house we need anyway thats in decent shape (able to pass VA basically) however the waiting until August part not so much.
For one we had already decided to add on a laundry room here and have spent every last penny we had in savings (minus a very small emergency fund amt) to get that accomplished. It will by far make this house more livable and easier to sell if and when that need ever arises. the problem is that while this address's one of the issues, it does not address the other 2 major issues.
Those 2 major issues are this....we need another bedroom AND another bathroom in order to live here long term. As it stands right now I have the 4 little kids in one of the big bedrooms together. This would be no big deal if they were all the same gender, however they are not. Right now seeing as the oldest is 6...we have maybe 2 years before this is a problem. The second issue, while major is slightly minor in the fact that we have only 1 bathroom for 10 people. I would go into why this is a major PITB but I'm guessing its fairly obvious right now? LOL!!
In short....we need these 2 things (minimum) OR....we need a bigger/different house.
I honestly could not tell you what we are supposed to do at this point. This has been a huge source of stress for Dean and I over the last 2 years as we have tried to figure out what to do.
Our options are buy a second house and move (like we had planned) OR, add onto this one. So far adding onto this one (which is my first choice because we would not have to move, nor would we have to take on a second mortgage. This is ideal in many many ways above the first option. While I'd like to sit here and only focus on the *positives* I can't tell you that there are any at this point. Not because I refuse to find them or I'm not looking but because there really are NOT any. We would love to stay here and add on but its impossible at this point because the banks we have spoken with refuse to loan any $ on home improvements right now thanks to values having dropped. This puts our family in a huge predicament. I spoke with one of those mortage payment lowering people on the phone yesterday and I told her what Dean's income was and she was like yeah....you don't qualify. I said ya know what, I get that but what i don't get is why family size isn't counted?? Lets face it, my hubby makes great money but we have way more expenses than the average family (namely groceries!). Anyways, before I get on THAT soap box LOL, it puts us to high to be helped and too low to be able to pay out of pocket for an addition (unless I save for like 5 or 6 years...and that's not going to cut it I'm afraid).
So in essence we are really baffled which direction to go in right now. I'm at peace with staying here for now, as is Dean but that peace is not long lived, especially with fall/winter approaching in 3 more months. I can't even tell you how cramped this house is with all my kids locked up in the house during the winter. It's maddening. I'd love to sit here and tell you that i smile through all of it but I refuse to act like everything is *ok* in order to keep face with people, kwim? i try really hard not to discuss our problems, as I know they pale in comparison to many others, however this is a big one for us right now. I don't know what to do, but feel the need to head in some sort of direction one way or the other.
Do we stay here and try to save the $ to add on? (this one is laughable honestly)
Do we buy a 2nd house and risk a little for a possible long term financial benefit, or on the flip side possible financial ruin??
option 3...is there one? LOL
I'd love to hear suggestions...i'm out of ideas.
I can't help it though, i am so confused as to what we should do and would like some opinions, so here is your chance to share what you think (within reason of course lol ;) )
As you know we are no longer house hunting. 8 weeks ago that came to an abrupt halt when we found out there were stipulations to the loan we were getting which basically made it impossible to obtain at the time. We have since found out that we can still get said loan, however we have to spend a certain amount of $ (for 1) and 2 we have to wait until August. The first part is no problem as we would need to spend at least that to get the size house we need anyway thats in decent shape (able to pass VA basically) however the waiting until August part not so much.
For one we had already decided to add on a laundry room here and have spent every last penny we had in savings (minus a very small emergency fund amt) to get that accomplished. It will by far make this house more livable and easier to sell if and when that need ever arises. the problem is that while this address's one of the issues, it does not address the other 2 major issues.
Those 2 major issues are this....we need another bedroom AND another bathroom in order to live here long term. As it stands right now I have the 4 little kids in one of the big bedrooms together. This would be no big deal if they were all the same gender, however they are not. Right now seeing as the oldest is 6...we have maybe 2 years before this is a problem. The second issue, while major is slightly minor in the fact that we have only 1 bathroom for 10 people. I would go into why this is a major PITB but I'm guessing its fairly obvious right now? LOL!!
In short....we need these 2 things (minimum) OR....we need a bigger/different house.
I honestly could not tell you what we are supposed to do at this point. This has been a huge source of stress for Dean and I over the last 2 years as we have tried to figure out what to do.
Our options are buy a second house and move (like we had planned) OR, add onto this one. So far adding onto this one (which is my first choice because we would not have to move, nor would we have to take on a second mortgage. This is ideal in many many ways above the first option. While I'd like to sit here and only focus on the *positives* I can't tell you that there are any at this point. Not because I refuse to find them or I'm not looking but because there really are NOT any. We would love to stay here and add on but its impossible at this point because the banks we have spoken with refuse to loan any $ on home improvements right now thanks to values having dropped. This puts our family in a huge predicament. I spoke with one of those mortage payment lowering people on the phone yesterday and I told her what Dean's income was and she was like yeah....you don't qualify. I said ya know what, I get that but what i don't get is why family size isn't counted?? Lets face it, my hubby makes great money but we have way more expenses than the average family (namely groceries!). Anyways, before I get on THAT soap box LOL, it puts us to high to be helped and too low to be able to pay out of pocket for an addition (unless I save for like 5 or 6 years...and that's not going to cut it I'm afraid).
So in essence we are really baffled which direction to go in right now. I'm at peace with staying here for now, as is Dean but that peace is not long lived, especially with fall/winter approaching in 3 more months. I can't even tell you how cramped this house is with all my kids locked up in the house during the winter. It's maddening. I'd love to sit here and tell you that i smile through all of it but I refuse to act like everything is *ok* in order to keep face with people, kwim? i try really hard not to discuss our problems, as I know they pale in comparison to many others, however this is a big one for us right now. I don't know what to do, but feel the need to head in some sort of direction one way or the other.
Do we stay here and try to save the $ to add on? (this one is laughable honestly)
Do we buy a 2nd house and risk a little for a possible long term financial benefit, or on the flip side possible financial ruin??
option 3...is there one? LOL
I'd love to hear suggestions...i'm out of ideas.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
random list update....
1. I LOVE mornings, I swear I have 10x's the energy before noon than after lol.
2. its HOT out, but thankfully we have been swimming a lot so thats good.
3. went to zoo yesterday alone with 8 kids, what was I thinking?
4. did i mention yet that Lettie is walking? its so cute, omgosh is it ever cute.
5. her hair is down to the middle of her back and she is only 14 months old....no lie.
6. I love bootcamp. the first week kicked my UU and this week I'm noticing huge differences.
7. my kids broke my scale and I doubt i'll be buying a new one.
8. Nate is really really good at baseball, and so is JP. We discovered last week that JP can actually hit a pitched ball versus just the T stand, he's such an amazing little guy!
9. if my kids fight over their go-go crazy bones one more time i'm going to kidnap them all and hold them for chore ransom.
10. Dean is nearly done with my laundry room <3 I seriously do not deserve my amazing hubby.
11. Susie is enrolled in MHS for next year, no more homeschool. When i took her in for reg. they were seriously blown away at her drawings. She was recently told too that her stuff is college level ability. I need to post pics of her stuff.
12. reminds me I have a TON of pics to post,...yeah same old time story inserted here lol
13. I think I've finally realized that having a best friend is over rated and I'm pretty sure I'll never entertain the idea ever again.
14. my van needs a tune up BAD.
15. next saturday is my first marathon, I'm really excited. This bootcamp has def gotten me into shape for it. Dylan is running it too, he is getting really fast....totally faster than me lol, but thats ok because he has cross country in the fall ;)
Thats all I have time for, class starts in 45 and I have kids to get ready for the day.
2. its HOT out, but thankfully we have been swimming a lot so thats good.
3. went to zoo yesterday alone with 8 kids, what was I thinking?
4. did i mention yet that Lettie is walking? its so cute, omgosh is it ever cute.
5. her hair is down to the middle of her back and she is only 14 months old....no lie.
6. I love bootcamp. the first week kicked my UU and this week I'm noticing huge differences.
7. my kids broke my scale and I doubt i'll be buying a new one.
8. Nate is really really good at baseball, and so is JP. We discovered last week that JP can actually hit a pitched ball versus just the T stand, he's such an amazing little guy!
9. if my kids fight over their go-go crazy bones one more time i'm going to kidnap them all and hold them for chore ransom.
10. Dean is nearly done with my laundry room <3 I seriously do not deserve my amazing hubby.
11. Susie is enrolled in MHS for next year, no more homeschool. When i took her in for reg. they were seriously blown away at her drawings. She was recently told too that her stuff is college level ability. I need to post pics of her stuff.
12. reminds me I have a TON of pics to post,...yeah same old time story inserted here lol
13. I think I've finally realized that having a best friend is over rated and I'm pretty sure I'll never entertain the idea ever again.
14. my van needs a tune up BAD.
15. next saturday is my first marathon, I'm really excited. This bootcamp has def gotten me into shape for it. Dylan is running it too, he is getting really fast....totally faster than me lol, but thats ok because he has cross country in the fall ;)
Thats all I have time for, class starts in 45 and I have kids to get ready for the day.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Are we done yet?
The answer to that is a big fat NOOOO. :/
Gosh I hate being this busy,...I seriously need to finish this madness called summertime projects and call it good.
The kids are done with school as of Wed. It was a half day and thats it for the year. Part of me is happy with this, part of me not so much. The happy part is less running around, more time together as a family, the not so fun part is I didn't get my projects completed and so I have to figure out how to do those on top of keeping everyone happy/occupied/safe etc.
The laundry room is about 70% of the way done. The roof took an extra week because right as Dean was pulling the old boards off to replace this horrible storm hit with what I would describe as jungle rain (not exaggerating either! lol). I ran outside to help throw tarps on everything and we did get several roof leaks which meant back out into the rain to adjust the tarps and re-nail them. When it was all said and done it looked like I had been thrown in a lake, not an inch of me was dry (same for everyone else too). Anyways the rain has been pretty consistent in the last 2 weeks so it wasn't until last weekend he finished it on saturday just before a really bad storm hit our area saturday night. There were tornadoes in our area, one hit the town of Dundee and did quite a bit of damage and hurt several people. Our town got hit in certain places...our neighborhood got pummeled pretty bad....trees were twisted and snapped off, branches covered the ground, 2 cars were totaled, downed power lines everywhere. We lost power for about 18 hours, of course I did just grocery shop friday afternoon, figures. Thankfully it wasn't long enough to harm anything and we kept the freezers shut. My big tree out back stood tall and strong though, that mighty maple has lost but 1 branch in the 5 years we have been here and we have had many storms like this in the past. It's odd yet comforting as well seeing as if it did go down half my house would be gone. The tree diameter is probably about 3-4 feet no joke. It's probably been here almost as long as the house has been.
In other news I started body bootcamp. I'm sore everywhere but I know that means its doing what I hoped it would so its all good lol.
Sadie turned 6 yesterday. So hard to believe.
I have pictures to update with but they will have to wait until I have a moment (read get above named projects done).
Nate and JP are in baseball right now, so that on top of BC, zoo teens, and the projects well yeah you get the picture. So sick of being this busy.................
Gosh I hate being this busy,...I seriously need to finish this madness called summertime projects and call it good.
The kids are done with school as of Wed. It was a half day and thats it for the year. Part of me is happy with this, part of me not so much. The happy part is less running around, more time together as a family, the not so fun part is I didn't get my projects completed and so I have to figure out how to do those on top of keeping everyone happy/occupied/safe etc.
The laundry room is about 70% of the way done. The roof took an extra week because right as Dean was pulling the old boards off to replace this horrible storm hit with what I would describe as jungle rain (not exaggerating either! lol). I ran outside to help throw tarps on everything and we did get several roof leaks which meant back out into the rain to adjust the tarps and re-nail them. When it was all said and done it looked like I had been thrown in a lake, not an inch of me was dry (same for everyone else too). Anyways the rain has been pretty consistent in the last 2 weeks so it wasn't until last weekend he finished it on saturday just before a really bad storm hit our area saturday night. There were tornadoes in our area, one hit the town of Dundee and did quite a bit of damage and hurt several people. Our town got hit in certain places...our neighborhood got pummeled pretty bad....trees were twisted and snapped off, branches covered the ground, 2 cars were totaled, downed power lines everywhere. We lost power for about 18 hours, of course I did just grocery shop friday afternoon, figures. Thankfully it wasn't long enough to harm anything and we kept the freezers shut. My big tree out back stood tall and strong though, that mighty maple has lost but 1 branch in the 5 years we have been here and we have had many storms like this in the past. It's odd yet comforting as well seeing as if it did go down half my house would be gone. The tree diameter is probably about 3-4 feet no joke. It's probably been here almost as long as the house has been.
In other news I started body bootcamp. I'm sore everywhere but I know that means its doing what I hoped it would so its all good lol.
Sadie turned 6 yesterday. So hard to believe.
I have pictures to update with but they will have to wait until I have a moment (read get above named projects done).
Nate and JP are in baseball right now, so that on top of BC, zoo teens, and the projects well yeah you get the picture. So sick of being this busy.................
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
I should be sleeping rambler.
It's 4:41 am as i begin this post.
This weekend was crazy busy. We started the new laundry room, it is about 60% of the way there at this point and would have been more like 75 had the rain not come today when it did.
Dean has to head back to work today so it remains unfinished, sadly. The roof, siding and interior are still left, but we have walls windows and a door!! :)
Note to self....self, if you ever plan another major home improvement in your lifetime, let's keep a few reality checks in mind.
First...things do not go as smoothly IRL as they do on HGTV, nor do they go as quickly.
2. Always always plan and budget about 20% more than you originally shoot for, as things crop up that you didn't expect frequently.
3. Never ever order pizza again for dinner...its why your awake right now thanks to that high gluten flour, um yeah.
Speaking of, before this whole weekend shenanigan took place I was on a roll with trying to figure out some stuff in terms of helping Dylan. I should post *over there* in i heart Dyl pickle blog-land but no time for that at 4 am I suppose. Anyway i read Jenny McCarthy's book about her and her sons journey and I was really inspired to do more for Dyl. Not that we don't already do a lot...we do but I definitely have felt for a long time he was not getting the social skills/training he needed. The PS is of no help, lets face it. I have turned to some outside webrings of other parents of asperger's kids and have found a new hopeful avenues to pursue. Now...to just work that into my already hectic schedule. I won't go there right now........ LOL.
I'm exhausted from these house renovations, and I'm ready for this crap to hit the road, seriously!! I have 2 major , no wait 3 to finish... 1 is painting the house trim, 2 is the gutters (more on that in a moment), 3 is painting the boys room (it is primed and ready though!). I also have window treatments to get and hang for 3 or 4 more rooms but then i'll be finished so thats good. I'm hoping to get most of this done this week as summe break begins in 6 more school days. I'm actually looking forward to this summer with my kids hanging out and having fun. The last 2 summers were not like this for me so its a good refreshing pace of mind if nothing else.
Gutters...ok so 18 months ago when my dh cleaned out our gutters (we have XL trees in our yard that dump a TON and I mean 10 MILLION tons of those stupid helicopter seeds everywhere) for the 3rd time since we bought this house, he begged me to consider gutter guards. Seeing as we pay for pretty much everything with cash (or we don't get it!!) we were running low that summer and I said *no*. Well let me just tell you, i got the pleasure of getting up on a ladder today and cleaning out 2 20 ft sections of this stuff and oh GAG-OH-RIFICAL stench from hell! *puke* It was seriously one of the most vile things i've ever smelled on the planet no joke. Well now I feel obligated to at least do most of it myself, including installing the guards so we won't have to do this anymore. So sorry Dino...should have listened to ya lol.
With that said, I think its time to head back to bed and try and sleep...if not I'll probably go put on my gym clothes and go workout. I only got 1 day in this week thanks to the projects needing to get done. Thats ok as i have a bootcamp coming up in another week , hoping to see those last few results i want come to fruition soon.
Next weekend begin baseball season games, tball, more family visits, end of school, bootcamp and swim lessons for a couple of the kids, its gonna be a fun summer :) and i think I'm finally tired........
This weekend was crazy busy. We started the new laundry room, it is about 60% of the way there at this point and would have been more like 75 had the rain not come today when it did.
Dean has to head back to work today so it remains unfinished, sadly. The roof, siding and interior are still left, but we have walls windows and a door!! :)
Note to self....self, if you ever plan another major home improvement in your lifetime, let's keep a few reality checks in mind.
First...things do not go as smoothly IRL as they do on HGTV, nor do they go as quickly.
2. Always always plan and budget about 20% more than you originally shoot for, as things crop up that you didn't expect frequently.
3. Never ever order pizza again for dinner...its why your awake right now thanks to that high gluten flour, um yeah.
Speaking of, before this whole weekend shenanigan took place I was on a roll with trying to figure out some stuff in terms of helping Dylan. I should post *over there* in i heart Dyl pickle blog-land but no time for that at 4 am I suppose. Anyway i read Jenny McCarthy's book about her and her sons journey and I was really inspired to do more for Dyl. Not that we don't already do a lot...we do but I definitely have felt for a long time he was not getting the social skills/training he needed. The PS is of no help, lets face it. I have turned to some outside webrings of other parents of asperger's kids and have found a new hopeful avenues to pursue. Now...to just work that into my already hectic schedule. I won't go there right now........ LOL.
I'm exhausted from these house renovations, and I'm ready for this crap to hit the road, seriously!! I have 2 major , no wait 3 to finish... 1 is painting the house trim, 2 is the gutters (more on that in a moment), 3 is painting the boys room (it is primed and ready though!). I also have window treatments to get and hang for 3 or 4 more rooms but then i'll be finished so thats good. I'm hoping to get most of this done this week as summe break begins in 6 more school days. I'm actually looking forward to this summer with my kids hanging out and having fun. The last 2 summers were not like this for me so its a good refreshing pace of mind if nothing else.
Gutters...ok so 18 months ago when my dh cleaned out our gutters (we have XL trees in our yard that dump a TON and I mean 10 MILLION tons of those stupid helicopter seeds everywhere) for the 3rd time since we bought this house, he begged me to consider gutter guards. Seeing as we pay for pretty much everything with cash (or we don't get it!!) we were running low that summer and I said *no*. Well let me just tell you, i got the pleasure of getting up on a ladder today and cleaning out 2 20 ft sections of this stuff and oh GAG-OH-RIFICAL stench from hell! *puke* It was seriously one of the most vile things i've ever smelled on the planet no joke. Well now I feel obligated to at least do most of it myself, including installing the guards so we won't have to do this anymore. So sorry Dino...should have listened to ya lol.
With that said, I think its time to head back to bed and try and sleep...if not I'll probably go put on my gym clothes and go workout. I only got 1 day in this week thanks to the projects needing to get done. Thats ok as i have a bootcamp coming up in another week , hoping to see those last few results i want come to fruition soon.
Next weekend begin baseball season games, tball, more family visits, end of school, bootcamp and swim lessons for a couple of the kids, its gonna be a fun summer :) and i think I'm finally tired........
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