Hellooooooooo. Anyone out there? I know my mother is as she's been fussing at me to update the old blog.
Well, we were given the wrong dates for the foreclosure auction. It was actually last weekend. Joe and I were both exhausted when it was over. I found it stressful as not one single document in the packet we were expected to get signed duplicates anything we've ever seen before. They had some "training", but I have concluded that escrow officers just have no clue how to do that properly. The information we got was very piecemeal and I found myself having no earthly idea what to do when the training was completed. But, a couple of the signers helped me out, God Bless Them, by explaining things to me and I muddled through from there. We fell short of our $1000 goal. I did 5 signings and Joe did 4. So, we made $900. We'd sure be happy if the money came in NOW! But, we know it will be weeks, maybe as long as two months, before we see that money. The other amazing thing was how COLD it was there. It was held in one of the older casinos in town, the Plaza, upstairs in their meeting rooms. I thought I would have frostbite before it was over. It wasn't just me--most of the signers were cold and even the customers were complaining. Saturday we suffered, but Sunday we were all armed with two shirts or jackets or sweaters or sweatshirts!
Doing that auction kind of really messed up my schedule at work. I left early Thursday but it's been so long ago, I don't remember why. I took Friday off, planning to rest up for the auction. Worked Saturday and Sunday at the auction, and then took Monday off to recuperate. As it turned out, I had William with me Monday which was just fine. I worked Tuesday-Friday this week so the paycheck should flesh out a bit (I hope).
Monday with William was fun. He, of course, had a lot of fun watching TV. We did some math homework and he did well with that. Of course, we had the obligatory fast food lunch from Burger King.....yucko!
Friday turned out to be exciting. Jennifer was out of town for some reason and Jason had the boys. At 5:28PM I got a call from Jason saying Jennifer's car wouldn't start and the boys had to be picked up. Of course, they had to be picked up by 6:00PM. I jumped in the van and took off. I know Day Care places get cranky if kids aren't picked up on time and crankier on Friday afternoons! I was just turning into the street from which the parking lot can be accessed when Jennifer called me. The school had called her, worried that the boys hadn't been picked up. I couldn't believe I'd made it across town in 32 minutes--must have been the praying that God would move all the other cars out of my way! At first Atticus didn't want to come with me but when I told him we were going to go find Willie, he decided that would be okay. So, we collected Willie and were then confronted with the problem of how to get the boys home. Several weeks ago, Joe was moving something and had folded down the back row of seats in the van and had removed the middle row of seats. He'd put one of the middle seats back in and I thought we could use it. My plan was to put Will in the front seat and let him ride with just the regular seatbelt--I think he's close to the legal requirements for that--and put Atticus on that back seat with Will's carseat. Well, Joe had set the seat in place but it wasn't fastened down. There was no way I could put Atticus in that seat. I ended up buckling both boys into the same seat belt in the only available seat, next to me, praying over our safety, and praying for temporarily blinded police officers and drove them home. Everything turned out fine, but today the middle row of seats is installed!
As it turns out, Joe had tried to install the middle row of seats but couldn't figure out how. And, you know how men are--NEVER read the instructions til all else fails. So yesterday as we were driving he had me pull out the owner's manual and read how to install the seats. Well, as it turns out, the seats are not interchangeable. Each seat, left, right, and middle, is separate and distinct. The left seat will not install in the middle or on the right. The middle seat will not install on the left or on the right, and so on. Armed with that information, he was able to get the seats in there properly.
We took the boys to the apple orchard yesterday. I had fun and I hope they did. At least, we got some apples this time! Mostly they were very small, but still, we had the fun of finding them and picking them ourselves. As usual, Atticus provided the entertainment. THe orchard gives you a plastic bag to put your apples in, but, for picture taking, I'd borrowed a big white basket from Jason. Atticus was convinced that HE and HE alone should carry that basket. However, after just a few feet, he started to fuss and he handed me the basket. I let him toddle on after me and he continued to fuss. Then I heard the dread word "up". So, I handed the basket to Will and carried Atticus. He is so short that the tall grass in between the rows of trees was up to his hips. He must have felt like he needed a machete to cut his way through the jungle. At least, I THINK that was the problem. Later, as Grandpa picked him up to carry him back to the car (thank goodness--that kid gets heavy after a while!), I noticed marks on his shorts......... uh-oh ......... time for a diaper change. That could easily have been the reason for his fussiness........ he doesn't like to have a dirty diaper on. Strangely enough, Grandpa volunteered for the clean up duty and it was some clean up! I think it took 4 wipes to finally get the kid clean. Jason had done a good job, though, of packing what we needed. Last time we had Atticus, he gave us wipes that were totally dried out and when we mentioned that to him, he suggested we could just wet them with water. Well, there was no water in the middle of the apple orchard but thankfully the wipes he provided this time were wet and fully functional. He even thought to give us a change of clothes for Atticus and the clean shorts were most welcome! After all that, I'm sad to report I didn't get many photos. Grandpa stayed behind in the van to try to get the one seat that was in there properly attached. Carrying a toddler and trying to take photos simultaneously just doesn't work out all that well. I got a few which will show up in future layouts.
Joe had put the back row of seats up in the van and that is how we transported the kids. Of course, we no more than got going before Will wanted to watch the one and only video CD we have. No problem. We turned it on for him and he put his headphone on and he was a happy camper. But, Atticus has reached that stage where he wants to do everything Willie is doing. He spotted the other set of headphones on the seat between he and Will and started saying "mine, mine, mine" and waving them around. Well, of course, the batteries in that headphone were dead. So, since we had stopped for gasoline, Joe went into the service station's mini market and tried to buy more. Now you know they had every size of battery EXCEPT Triple A's which is what we needed. So, we had to drive to the 7-11 across the street to get those--would you believe $5 for two teeny batteries?? I have some of the cutest pictures of Atticus with those headphones on. He didn't seem to care much about the picture on the screen, but he sure liked the sound. We finally got on the freeway, headed to the area of town where the orchard is and within minutes, Will came out with "Grandma, how much longer?" Of course, to him it seemed we'd been on the way forever. But most of the time had been spent at the service station and at 7-11.
Things at work are about the same. I would appreciate your prayers with regard to one thing there--the air is literally blue with swear words. I know all those words and I can only think of one that hasn't been shouted while I was there. The other day Matthew had some of what Joe calls "crap rap" on and it was really foul. We have prayed about it, but so far have not seen the answer to our prayers. I am extremely uncomfortable with it. I really have the feeling Matthew does it just to aggravate me. Greg swears too, but I don't have the feeling that he is waiting for me to react; for him, it is just the way he talks and so, somehow, is not so offensive. It is Matthew who fully understands what it means to be a born again Christian and that I am one and how very offensive I would find that language, beyond which, it is totally inappropriate in an office. I have been trying to use some headphones and listen to sermons as a way to counteract the other audio input, but I can't spend 4-5 hours a day in headphones. For one thing, the cord on the headphones is too short and I have to remove them to file an invoice or if someone else wants to use the computer. The other thing that is a problem is the temperature in that tiny office. If Matthew gets there first, the temperature is set to the lowest the a/c can handle. I literally have been wearing a sweatshirt at work because it's too cold to think without one.
We are still dealing with a month that lasts longer than our money. We seem to be getting the bills paid just at the moment they are about to be past due. We are watching every penny. We are so glad the weather is cooling a bit as that allows us to cut back on the watering outside and we actually even hear the a/c shut down every now and then. Poor William. One thing he's always been able to count on at Grandma's house--his favorite snack, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Well, last Monday when he was here, there was no Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. And, chances are pretty good there won't be any the next time he comes either. We seem to be about out of everything in this house. I spent $80 at the store last week and almost choked as there was very little extra, just the main things we needed for a week's worth of meals--meat and a veggie. I had to send Joe to the supermarket for some things that I won't buy at Sunflower--dog food, laundry detergent, etc., and he spent another $64! We are actually making "payments" on utilites such as power and water. We send what we have and it seems to be enough for us to continue to enjoy air conditioning and showers.
But, in the middle of all that, we are still being blessed. We have a garage full of carpet, given to us. We have a new-to-us love seat and sofa, and a beautiful black 5 piece wall unit, all free to us. Thursday I was given 10 gallons of paint. The retail value of that paint is $360! I am probably going to decide it is the perfect color to go with the sofa and love seat which is kind of a dark honey color. But, to my eye, the paint is a bit yellower than I would have chosen. In theory, we're going to slap some up on the wall today to see how it will look. If I don't like it, we'll add some chocolate brown to it to tone down the yellow a bit. I am hoping to have enough paint to do at least the hall bath, the hall, and the living room/dining room. I know there are estimates on the internet of how many square feet of wall a gallon of paint will cover. I'll just have to research that again and then measure the wall space we want to paint. I'm hoping to do the woodwork pure WHITE which will look good against the beige walls, I think, particularly if we decide to darken the paint.
In the scrapbooking world, I am as busy as a one-armed paper hanger. First, I lost ALL of the organizing I'd done over a period of many months. So, since I am so dependent on that to scrap, I have been spending hours and hours on that. My first plan of attack was to get everything from Amanda and LaWanna into the system so I could work with it on quick pages etc. Next, I did all of Cori's stuff. Now I'm fighting my way through the mountain of stuff I have from A Cherry on Top. I'll keep working my way through the things I have from creative teams and then start on the other stuff. It's an overwhelming task.
Amanda has put out two kits and two paper packs in the past two weeks. One kit and two paper packs just came out today so I've got to get some stuff done for her or I'll be fired from her CT. Just joking about being fired, but I have a commitment to keep.
Cori, as usual, has put out another gorgeous kit. I swear, that girl is SO talented and SO prolific. She amazes me. And, of course, she's a sweetie to boot.
When I blogged last time, LaWanna had done a cute kit called Back Pocket Plunder. She followed that with an apple-themed kit. Just yesterday she came out with a kit called Fallishness. Some gorgeous fall colors in there! I've scrapped a page with it, but it's not up in the galleries yet.
Nina has been sick. She's down with pneumonia! Needless to say, she hasn't put out any new kits!
Claudi is still at it--she just put out a gorgeous fall kit. I've got to do something with that today!
I'm doing a guest CT gig for Tracy Blankenship who is doing templates at Funky Playground Designs. I really hope she lets me hang around! I hadn't been using templates a lot, but since I've been working with hers, I'm excited about using them. They make things so easy.
Deb Fisher hasn't put out much new, but the ladies at NDISB have been busy. I need to post two layouts I've done for them. I normally post early in the morning and it conflicts with getting ready for work! I hate that!
Well, how about some layouts? I haven't posted any for a while so it must be time.
While on a retreat with his parents and baby brother, Will, my city-bred grandson, had the opportunity to hang with a group of boys and just do boy stuff--like climb trees! I love it! I used LaWanna Desjardin's new kit, Back Pocket Plunder, for this page--I love this kit too! I also used a template, much modified, by Tracy Blankenship. LaWanna's designs are available at Scrapbook-Bytes. If you scrap for little boys, be sure to check it out! All of her boy kits, including this new one, are on sale this weekend.
We made a trip to the apple orchard last year in October, too late to find even one apple. I think I will organize the tribe to try in September this year! I used Last Day of Summer by Claudi Designs for this page. Last Day of Summer is this month's club kit at Digital Freebies.
On the Sunday after the 4th of July, we walked through the Bellagio Conservatory. Their theme this year was all about trains, particularly trains in the wilderness. I thought Nina's new kit, Nature's Beauty, was perfect for these photos--just the right rustic touch. The cardboard, screws, and staples are by Amanda Rockwell. You can find Nature's Beauty SOON at NDISB and O Scraps.
In August, DD and her husband and the boys spent a week in Northern California. Atticus got to model his lion sweater, hand knit by an African Lady. I used Crisdam Designs "Danny" kit for this page. I also used a template by Ronna Penner.
Mission San Diego is the oldest of the California missions and it beautiful. It is hard to imagine that for a period of 15 years, horses were actually stabled in this sacred and beautiful place, but they were! I used "Jeany", a beautiful kit by Claudi Designs, for this page. "Jeany" is available at Digital Freebies.
I had planned on posting another page or two, but Typepad is getting cranky. I'm going to post what I've got and call it all good. At least, I HOPE I'm going to post what I have..........
