Just Call Us the Economy Stimulators

As I mentioned on Facebook a few days back, I don't think anyone can accuse us of not doing our part to spend more money and help our economy along.

Just this week, we bought ourselves a new vehicle. It's an '05 Suburban (one of my dream cars, along with a Mitsubishi Eclipse, a classic Ford Mustang, and a Nassau Blue Corvette). But the most important thing to remember about this new truck is that it has AC. The Nastymobile did not; it was on its 2nd summer AC-less. I was eager to get rid of it, as we were taking it shopping in last week's 100+ degree temps. Even the salesman told me he couldn't send me home in that thing in good conscience (which was another way of getting me to drive his vehicle, but you know what? I was okay with that!). Anyhow, we're really excited about our 9-passenger ride. ROTFL
Here's a picture of our old car (which is actually newer than our "new" car). I love my Corolla. It makes me very happy, especially since we didn't have to trade it in after all, which we thought we might have to do to get a decent car. This is a nice alternative for me and Sariah when we're running errands during the day when all the other kids are gone. It eats way less gas, but I think that's pretty self-evident. :)
And last, but certainly not least: my new house. It's got 2300 sq feet, an extra large garage, and a totally cool master suite. The subdivision is relatively new, so there are lost of empty lots that my kids run around in (and collect impossible-to-remove Oklahoma red dirt in their duds). It looks crooked in this picture, but that's because we live on a hill. Someday I'll post pics of the inside. In the mean time, you should consider yourself lucky to see this much of it, and thank my friend Misty for nagging me.

Attractive

Monday, June 29, 2009

Today's Writing Prompt: Attractive

Think about the most attractive person you know. What is it that makes them so attractive to you?

Without a doubt, kindness, courtesy, and respect always grab my attention. It doesn't matter if the person is old or young, greying or a Greek god. The way he treats other people makes all the difference.

?

Where, oh where is the new car for me? I know you are waiting for me to buy you. Where, oh where can you be?

The Shoe Files

I haven't posted one of these in awhile. Technically, this is from early May, but I've been a little busy.

The first pic are, in order, Rex's old shoes, Rex's new shoes, and Elisabeth's shoes. I just do this to highlight Rex's feet. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but this kid has the longest, relative to size, stinkin' feet I've ever seen on anybody. He's 4 years younger than Elisabeth, but his feet are the same size! Anyhow, note that Rex's old shoes weren't really all that worn out; they were just waaaaay too short!
Meanwhile, here are Caleb's latest trade in. Boys are really, really hard on shoes! They were so pretty new!

Frogtape

A note about the Frogtape I mentioned in my previous post. Do make a point to go to the website and read all of their tips. There aren't a lot of instructions on the container, and you really do have to make sure you secure all the tape with a putty knife (or in my case, something like unto it). Learn from my mistakes, and you'll be much happier. ;) Happy taping!

Reader

Sariah (also known as Cousin Itt) has a new favorite pastime of late.

Voila!

We finished the girls' room today. No pictures of my new house yet, but I do have pictures of the big accomplishment. It was hard to get a really good pic because the room is oddly shaped, but you get the general idea.

Those lines really are pretty sharp. I did some touching up, but not very much. I love Frogtape!

Oh Well.

Okay, okay, so all I got done yesterday was some laundry (thanks to my friend) and most of the stripes in the girls' bedroom. And I read a book and indulged in an ice cream sandwich and laid around for a little while. And my best friend visited, and we ate Girl Scout cookies together (I need to fish those out from under the bed, where I hid them from the Cookie Monster, a.k.a. Sariah). Not a bad day, though I didn't get my list done.

However, I should definitely finish the girls' room today. Only one more stripe to go. Hooray! Then, who knows what. My whole house has fallen apart in my absence. Haha!

And Bob has finished weeding the flower bed and disposed of all the cardboard boxes (from the dining set) around our front yard, so I should be able to take some decent pictures today. We'll see about that, eh?

And P.S. No unplanned trips to Lowe's or Home Haynes. No planned ones, either. :D

Agenda

As to yesterday:

• Painted the girls' room: check. Now, it's on to the stripes. And no I'm NOT bitter that we discovered the hard way that our walls are NOT primed.
  
• Picked up the van: check. Still hate it, especially after spending more money on it, but at least nobody can hear us coming from a mile away anymore.
  
• Laundry: check. Sort of. I guess according to the parameters of my goal, 2 loads count.
• Netflix: check. Bonus: I even bought stamps and mailed all my bills, too!
• Library: check. I only took 2 of the kids, but that's okay. We'll probably go back today, too. Note to self: NO MORE NEW LIBRARY BOOKS FOR ME! My stack is growing out of control. Must finish the ones I have. ROTFL

On the agenda today:

• Painting stripes in the girls' room.
• More laundry. Maybe I better set an observable goal, as in clear my bathroom floor of dirty laundry.
• Doing the handwash dishes. Ugh. I hate that.
• Hanging blinds in the kitchen, study, and entryway.
• Another trip to the library with the rest of the children.
  

Yep. That oughta keep me busy for awhile.

Agenda

On my agenda today:

• Painting the girls' room. They're ready for furniture given that we found a scorpion in their room last night. (Not that that would prevent a scorpion from climbing into bed with them....)
• Picking up the van from the mechanic. The brakes needed repair. And then it's time to hunt for a new vehicle. You know, one with AC and no monthly repair bills. Although, I guess there's not a whole lot of difference between a monthly payment and a monthly repair bill. Except the security and peace that comes from knowing you're WAY less likely to break down on the side of the road. But I digress....
• Catching up the laundry. Okay, okay, not really. More like doing SOME of the laundry. We just need clean underwear, right?
• Mailing back my Netflix flick so I can get a new one. I would ask for suggestions but my queue is about 100 movies long right now. And growing.
• Taking my kids to the library, so they can have new books, which means the girls, at least, will quit following me around asking what they can do. For some reason, they never want to clean the bathroom, do the dishes, pick up dog doo-doo, or vacuum.

Wow! I'm not sure I will accomplish everything on this list today. I get distracted so easily. It's the 5 kids, I think. :D Hugs to all!

Overdrive

I think I'm headed into overdrive, and I'm not sure how to stop. Wait, scratch that. I AM in overdrive. I need to stop. But I think my brakes are locked. I don't even know if that analogy makes sense.

The cream of the cake came this morning when my dog bit me. Not Jonah. Junebug, the "obedient" one. I don't think she meant to. I think my leg was just in the way. She couldn't get to a loose dog because I had her on a lead, so she tried to get to Jonah, who was also on a lead, instead. And I was in the way. It was the last thing I expected in a very long week of unexpected things.

I'm really cranky. It's why I haven't been blogging. I'm exhausted. It's why I haven't been blogging. But I miss my "old" life. Not the old house, but the structure and order (believe it or not) of knowing where everything was and where everything should go and what needed to get done at a particular time. I miss not having to go to Lowe's or Home Depot or Ace every day. I miss blogging regularly.

I know things will get better. They really will. It's just a matter of getting there intact, right? So in an effort to achieve that, I'm going to try to get myself back into the swing of things I really love, like blogging. Just bear with me for a little why if my posts are gloomy and grumpy. You don't even have to read them. Come back in a few weeks and see if things are perking up, as they are bound to do.

Hugs to all!

Sigh.

I think I live in a state of perpetual exhaustion these days. If it's not one thing, it's another. Oh, and meanwhile, I'm living in boxes. I promise pictures of the new house, my babies, and all those cool things we've been doing. Now, if I can just find my camera.... :)