About the house

I hope by posting about this I'm not jinxing it. But it's been one heckuva week!

We signed an extension up to the 6th. Figuring that since the foreclosure auction was scheduled for the 7th, surely if we were to get the house, it would be done by the 6th, right?
Wrong.
It started with the banks not even attempting to get back to us until after Christmas. They wanted more money. 10K more and were being stick in the mud about it. We went up a bit, but they were firm. Fine, we said.
Then, on the 6th. Mid DAY, the second lien holder decides they want more money. Won't sign papers till they get it.
Umm, dudes, you can get some money from us purchasing the house through short sale or NONE if it goes to auction. That's right. ZERO.
The real estate agents, desperate to close the deal and get paid are thinking humans and offer some of their commission. They are smart enough to realize that something is better than nothing.
First position says fine, pay all you want, we get it all.
Banks are greedy goobs. Greedy obnoxious goobs. I could say more, but I try to remain somewhat family friendly.
Anyway, 11th hour, the bank files papers to cancel the forecloure auction. As in, 1 hour before the auction, it got cancelled. C of course, was already on his way there. Took a day off work. They said we could sign papers that afternoon.
Paperwork got to the final bank last night. They closed and went home.
In theory we could sign papers today.
I'm not holding my breath. I have a life to live.
On the funny side, the real estate agents have been using my pregnancy as some sort of leverage. They tell the bankers that they need to not add stress to my life because I could go into labor. Seems they are heartless goobs as well.
Want a heads up on who NOT to bank with? I'll tell you after I have papers in my hot little hands. It's a small world, you never know, ya know?

Oh, yeah, I have a blog

Who knew?

Life has been crazy here of course. Not too long after my last post, I took the 3 boys to the coast with my parents. Dad has great pictures at PapaCoyote. So I'll just direct you there, and you can look at his awesome pictures! Who, Me? Lazy?
On the 27th, we celebrated G's birthday. He's 4 years old, people! 4! He got a skateboard and went right out, got on it, and started trying to learn how to do tricks. Naturally. Sheesh. My mom made him a great blanket, Aunt J bought him pads to wear with the skateboard, and GramRe and PaR gave him a Cars playset. And, he got books and clothes. None of which are nearly as exciting a big ol' sugary cake.
Which he begged for for breakfast the next 2 days running. For some reason, the rest of the cake disappeared soon after.
The next day, Sunday, we blessed E at church. It was awesome to have mine and C's parents, and Aunt J there. And our ward family, of course. E wasn't too keen on having all these men put their hands on his head when they could just as well toss him in the air and play with him (I mean, Really!), but he did very well. Next step is a trip to the temple to have him sealed to us.

In other craziness, we have decided to sell this house and buy another before baby comes in May. Yeah, craziness. But I don't want to move with a newborn, or 4 children period, really. And I don't want to give birth in a remodel. We may have found a house. I always assumed we'd move up close to Portland, but in writing out my reasons for moving up vs staying here, the list looks a little pathetic. We have established lives here for 5 years now and there are a lot of really good reasons to stay. Not least of which is our awesome neighborhood. So we have been talking about the house up the street. Is it silly to move 3 houses away? But it's 2,300 sq feet, 4 bedrooms plus a den, and a gardening-ready backyard. As in-greenhouse, garden area and mature apple trees. And who knows what else is in there. The house has sat vacant for about 3 or 4 months now and it's hard to see through all the weeds.
When we went into the backyard (tresspassing, I know!), the kids had a blast. So M said he definitely wanted to buy it. A few days later when we were talking about the amount of work the house needs, he caught something about yard work to be done. "You mean you'd cut out the jungle?" When told we would, indeed, "cut out the jungle," he expressed that any house is as good as the next then. LOL
So, anyone out there an expert in buying a pre-foreclosure? Know of someone who is? Any tips and advice? I'd love to hear it!
But, now I need to get to work getting this house put into shape to sell. And interviewing a few handymen to do the work on things like the shower, ducts and whatnot.
Hey, at least I have my midwife and love her. I can give birth, I just need a home to do it in. That brings me to something else. I want to do some posts about natural birth. Any questions about it? Things you'd like me to cover? Questions about homebirth? Shoot. Even you, David.

My new washing machine

10 years ago, when we found out we were expecting M, we figured a washing machine would make like a whole lot easier. Given our student budget, I think we did very well in our Sears machine. It was tiny, but it served three people very well and survived several moves.
A few days before leaving for Idaho though, it started screaming at me. Literally. You could hear it through the whole house. I called the repair guy and he guessed at the problem over the phone and said it would be in the neighborhood of $150 to fix. Much cheaper than a new machine so I almost said yes. But after talking to C, we agreed that we had gotten our money out of the old one, and it was time to upgrade to something bigger.
We did some online research, I talked to my mom who recently bought a new machine, and we did some legwork in Boise. I decided on the GE Profile based on the recommendations of the salesguy at Jim's. The great thing is, that when we got home, I got a great deal.
I called a few places around the area, trying to stick with non-box places, but I did call Sears too, just for a reference. Walt's in Sherwood gave me the best deal. They normally carry the washer for $549, but had it on clearance for $499. Jim's quoted me $548 for a contractor price. To sweeten the deal, delivery and hauling of the old machine is only $50. And get this, when I asked when it would be delivered, the woman asked if between 1 & 4 would be okay. Today?? Yup, same day. So I had my new machine up and running by 3:30 that day. Good thing too! I had 4 big Rubbermaid roughtotes in the living room brimming with laundry. All that? 5 loads. Wahooo! I'm in love. And it's sooo quiet. Due to the extended spin cycle, the dryer gets done at just about the same time too.
Now for the real experiment---
M has decided that unloading the dishwasher is horrible and boring. Well, he decided that a loooong time ago, but I digress. I made up a list of the chores that have to be done. He picked laundry. No joke. We'll see how long it lasts. He did his and G's laundry yesterday. I don't think I really want him to do mine and his dad's. I can see that being a bit of a disaster. He of course refuses to have anything to do with washing diapers. Wimp.

Honesty

Lanna said she appreciated my honesty. Here ya go!

The kitchen-in a state I call "not really all that bad."

The living room. After being cleaned yesterday--see the floor?? It's been vacuumed!

What is happening to the window Mom found so offensive she cleaned it. "Look, Mommy! I make a face!"

It must be Spring...

because only in Spring would you wake up to snow in the totally mild Pacific Northwest, right? I thought I must have heard C wrong when he called the boys to come see the snow. He was right. Go figure. I called my mom in S Idaho. No snow there.




True Confessions time. I have posted pictures of my nice clean house and organized spaces many times before. I look at pictures other people have posted of their nice clean houses and newly organized spaces too. Lovely. Really. This is the truth:
This was taken sometime around 11am.
pajamas (dirty) still on: check
all the blankets and pillows on the floor: check
stuff under the couch that we'll forget about: check
small chocking hazards all over the floor: check
unfolded diapers and dirty clothes in the corner: check
Still the same today: CHECK!
But I do want you to notice the couch with room to sit. That is impressive is it not?

Christmas is coming....Aaaack!

So, once again, I've ignored my rational voice that says to start Christmas preparations early. It is now mid-December and I am just now starting. Granted, I have few excuses I can whip out. New baby? Sick baby? A husband who was going to leave town for two weeks and mom and mom-in-law were going to be here the whole time to help with kids while I prepped and packed like crazy? Yes all of those. But still, if I had started back in July, like my rational voice said, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Yeah, poor rational voice.
What would also help is if I didn't have this compulsive need to craft things for Christmas. Yes, I could go to the mall and find all kinds of things for my loved ones. But then I think how much more meaningful it would be if I made something. This year, I'm buying more than I usually do. If you are one of those getting a purchased gift, please don't hate me. It just means that your yarn or fabric will have to wait for next year. Maybe I'll stack it up at the top of the pile and it will be ready by July! Yay!

One of the things that does seem like it will get done (well 2 things) are the crowns I'm making for kid1 and kid2. I was actually searching for a hat pattern, and came across this. I just had to make it. One for each of course. But it's pretty fast work. And it's not plastic, not made in China, no lead, and doesn't have small pieces to worry about in the next few months as E gets bigger. Just felted wool. And 2 of course for obvious reasons. I'm making them out of grey wool and if I get them done and have spare time, I'll stitch on some felt or polar fleece "jewels" to make it look a bit fancier.


I moved some stuff around in the living room (well scooted the couch over after getting a rubbermaid box out to the garage) and decided that an entry way bench would be ideal. After searching around on the net, I found this adorable bench from Ikea. Great price, perfect size et al. The next thought through my little brain was "wait, it would be so like my kids for M to convince G to get inside on some pretense, then close the lid and sit on it. And feel immensely proud of himself. Then wonder why I am yelling like I want to rip his head off." On to look at more benches. This seemed like a much more logical choice. Small cubbies so everyone has their own and too small to fit anyone inside. Does this say more about my kids or my parenting abilities? Please say kids. A friend of mine says that 3 kids is where you officially cross the line from "normal" size family to large--where you consider things like whether or not kids will lock siblings in furniture you are contemplating purchasing. What fun.

Oh, and further complicating Christmas prep is the cold we have all come down with. It's yucky. I felt awful last night, but a little better today. But that means that the food gifts I was planning to make today and tomorrow are further on hold. I mean, do I really want to cough and sneeze all over the gifts for the neighbors? I think not. Maybe I should work on Christmas cards instead. Only I forgot to buy them at Costco so I need to buy them somewhere-which means going out with my sick self and hyper-sick kids. Yuck again. And the printer and computer are no longer on speaking terms-which means no letter this year unless I forward it to C to print at work and hand-addressed envelopes. No biggie on that since I keep losing my address file. Hmm, a digital family Christmas card is starting to look mighty appealing. I can even say we are being environmentally friendly this year. There, you've been warned not to expect a paper card. You can thank me when there is one less card to deal with in January!

Post placement visit--finally!

Our social worker called last week to set up an appt for a post placement visit finally. I was starting to wonder. A postplacement visit is a visit by an adoption agency to see how the family and child are adjusting to life together after an adoption placement. We need two visits before the agency can file the recommend for finalization.
So, since she is coming on Monday, it seemed like a good time to pick up a bit around the house and recover from TG.
Here's pictures to prove it. I know it's not totally clean. I still need to fold the blankets on the couch so they can be unfolded again by kid1 and kid2. And I've decided that my kitchen counter will never, ever be clean. Until we move out. But I do have a crockpot of soup on! Turkey and dumpling soup tonight!

Trying to be positive

G starting an apparent fitness kick. Like he needs to burn more energy.

"Can I drive, Mom?" "Sure honey, just don't scratch the paint!"

My new and improved diaper pattern. PUL on the outside, flannel on the inside. The center soaker is just like my polar fleece diapers. These are a size small.

This has been the hardest labor day weekend in memory. Ugh. At least we (that is C and a fabulous coworker of his) got the garage cleaned. I mean, just look! We can fit our car and everything in there and still have room to roam. I went out there yesterday just to look. He's amazing.
I also went through all the kids clothes and sent 4 garbage bags of clothes to Goodwill. Yeah, I coulda had a yard sale, or sold them on Craiglist or something, but that would have taken more time and motivation. And I have very little motivation right now.
Still waiting for a phone call with news. I am nervous that the longer it takes to get a phone call, the worse the news is going to be. Or is that just my paranoia? I am looking at the phone, willing it to ring, and checking obsessively for messages. Just in case I didn't hear it ring, or the ringer broke, or I don't know.
But there is some good news. We did break the agency record for homestudy completion. In fact our background checks took only 10 days. They often take 2-3 months. So we have a completed homestudy. Just waiting for a baby to go with it. Thank you all so much for your thoughts, prayers and kinds words. You are all wonderful and I love you so much. I will post news as soon as I have it. Well, after I call C and let him know of course.

Food!

One of my big concerns with having a baby around is the lack of time to prepare food. Most people can have someone bring in a meal, or even swing by somewhere and get take-out. Not us. We have to deal with allergies to gluten, milk, eggs, nuts, corn, potato, sesame and other sensitivities. Eating out is a mine field. And the time it would take to teach someone to cook for us is well, it would just be easier to do it myself. So I decided to be smart and pre-prepare some food to have on hand to get me through the rough days. I am so proud of my accomplishments. I didn't get everything on my list done, but when I see what I did get done, I'm pretty happy. Besides, I can make a few really big meals the next few days and throw 1/2 in the freezer.
Here's my list of foods I have made in the last 2 days:
Meatballs-5 pkg
Cream of mushroom soup-6pkgs
honey mustard chicken-5pkgs
stuffed pork loin slices-7pkgs
chiken coconut curry-3pkgs
marinated pork strips-4pkgs
biscuit mix-2 gallon bags
pancake mix-1 gallon bag
pizza crust-5
spaghetti sauce-3 quart jars
chicken veggie soup-7 quart jars

There are no complete meals, but all I really have to do is crack open a pack of frozen veggies (from my well stocked freezer) and make noodles or rice. Even M can make dinner! I'm feeling much better now.

And, in the more good news department. Our birthmom has already been to the hospital with contractions, so our placing agency was getting a little antsy about paperwork. I wasn't really getting anwhere with our in-state agency so had placing agency call them directly. Worked like a charm. Last night our social worker came by to do the homestudy update interview and walk through. All we need to wait for now is our background checks to clear. Yay!!!
I got an email from in-state agency. To quote, "We are getting there! If this homestudy is completed within the next two weeks it will be the quickest one we have done since I have been with the agency – completely due to your diligence and tenacity in getting the paperwork in!" In other words, I've been a b**** to work with, but it's getting things done. I just want to say though, "IF?!" Of course it's gonna get done. That's my positive mantra for now. It's gonna get done.

I think I'm nesting

For those of you who don't know, because I've been too frazzled to make sure everyone knows, we're adopting again. G's birthmom is due in September and wants us to adopt the baby. Since she is scheduled for an induction on the 11th, that means this is the fastest I've ever had a baby. Most people have about 9 months to prepare. We did with M, and it was just right. With G, we had two or three months, I can't remember. A little tight, but we did it. This time, 3 weeks. THREE WEEKS!!! So I have a lot of nesting to accomplish in a very short amount of time. On top of regular baby preparations such as digging through the garage trying to remember exactly which box is the newborn clothes and where the heck all those cloth diapers I knew I had went, we have paperwork. See, you can't just take someones baby even if they ask you to. Why not? Well....
First we need a homestudy and criminal background check and child abuse check. So our placing agency (the one where birthmother is) has to send a list of requirements to our in-state agency (where we are). In-state agency has to receive our application, 3 letters of reference, physicals for C and me, and background check paperwork. They send off the background checks to the state and cross fingers that someone at Oregon DHS isn't too busy with something else to process our paperwork which has been marked "RUSH". Then they have to decide as an agency that we are a good family to open a file on (or -re-open in our case). Then they have to send out a social worker to our house to ask a million questions and check to see that we have a house and it won't explode or isn't a hazardous waste dump and that we have a minimum standard of cleanliness (hence the nesting which we'll get to later). Then the social worker has to write up a report on us recommending us for adoption. This report has to be faxed to the placing agency (in Utah) where they shove it in a file and say, Great! Because at that point the baby is either already born or about to crown.
Then we get to stay in Utah for a while. Parental rights cannot be terminated before 24 hours and even after that, Utah, Oregon and our lawyer and our agencies have to have prolonged conversations which amount to, "adoption can be finalized in Oregon and the family can leave the state." After 2 more visits and another mountain of paperwork, we can call our baby ours approxamately 6 months later.
I think pregnancy was far easier.

Anyway, all this leads me to my nesting projects. For any of you who saw these two rooms in question before, you will be shocked. The sewing room really scared me. Terrified me. But I am so proud of the final result. Our dear friend volunteered 2 days of her time to help me. She is amazing and deserves much chocolate.

Here is the boy's room. I had a hard time getting good shots. Sorry. And the beds aren't made-but ya gotta pick your battles and for me-the bed ain't one of 'em.

My sewing room. It truly was scary before. I'm not kidding when I say I'm getting rid of a pickup load of shtuff. Most of it trash, and a bunch of Goodwill donations. I feel free!

The After

I promised and here they are (Dad). It looks better. To me anyway. It really does give us more room and our stuff is better organized.
Please note (Grandparents and aunts and uncles) that these are very full bookcases. There is no more space. This is it. It is all. There is no more. Please be advised that large gifts will be looked on with frustration. Repeated violations may result in no-gift policies.

The fun begins

Ikea is here! Yippee!
So now we have all new furniture for the south wall of our house. Our dining room and living room are kinda the same room and share one long uninterrupted wall. I'm very excited to be replacing the furniture. It's good enough and has served us well for 11 years and countless moves. I think I counted up 8 moves for the entertainment center. One of them involved getting dropped out of the back of the truck and getting rolled down the hill to our apartment. Gotta love EQ.
Anyway, the new furniture is home and waiting to be put to use. We've gotten pretty far in the cleaning and clearing stage. C put all the books in two of the new bookcases so we have a hint of what it will all look like when it's done. I also moved out the old pantry and scooted the cupboard we used for homeschool materials over to the pantry location. Now I just have to put all the food back away. Whew. A few more days and it should look pretty decent. Right now it looks awful of course. There are so many piles of stuff everywhere. And it's tricky to get from the door to the rest of the house. But, it will all come together and look good right?
I do have piles of books I really don't need anymore though. Any takers??

The Before Pictures
I never really appreciated how bad it looks until I see a picture. 99% of that is my lousy housekeeping I admit.

See how the garden grows, always changing, every day

I have finally been able to have a real garden this year. My sweet husband went to so much work just for me! He re-leveled the ground, tilled it, laid out landscape fabric (to control weeds and heat things up for the heat-luvin plants) AND he bought plant starts and planted them. Wowsers! So I guess this is kinda his garden. I did buy a few additional plants and plant those. Mostly I've just been getting excited about all the yummy fresh food we have in our own backyard. I decided to take some pics to share of our efforts.

Here's the main part of the garden. In the front you can see the cukes, cilantro, delicata squash, zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes. There's also peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon and pumpkins.

We had one section that wasn't covered by landscape fabric and not sure what else to plant anyway. C bought a couple of packets of wildflowers and I scattered them in this area. It is so pretty and the bees love it. I need to cut some and bring them inside. Actually I did use some of the white flowers to accent some roses I bought.

I've never grown eggplant before and I have been fascinated watching it grow. It is such a cool plant that I may (*may*) be okay if I don't get any edible fruit from it. Here's a close up of one of the purple flowers. One flower is already turning into a real eggplant.

We planted sunflowers a couple of summers ago and they keep coming back. Good ol' sunflowers! They are beautiful and we can see them creep up outside our S window. I took this picture because I've been worried about the poor bees. It makes me happy to know I have several plants they enjoy.

Me peppers, Me Peppers! I can't wait for fresh salsa with my tomatoes and peppers and cilantro.

Couple of pictures as promised. First, here is the finished product of M's efforts in the glass blowing shop. Didn't he pick great colors? This will look so awesome hanging up in his room.

Here is where we have been living the last few days. Its been pretty warm out and our a/c doesn't work. So I bought a pool at Target, C found this great table at Costco and we set up the tent today--mostly because the neighbors set theirs up so we had to, y'know? In the back right side you can see the beginnings of our garden. We lost a melon or two, but everything else is limping along okay I think.

M is taking a class called Math-a-Mania taught by an architectural artist named Alice Cotton. This term the class has studied bridges. So, for the end of the year fun, we all got to go on a bridge tour in Portland. The woman who guided us on our tour has studied these bridges for years and was a wealth of information. In the picture above, she had groups of people stand in a circle and touch toe to toe and hold onto each other's shoulders. This made a triangle. She then demonstrated tension by having everyone lean back and slip their hands down to the elbow and then the wrists of the person next to them. The circle held! Then they reversed and leaned in until they were touching heads in the center of the circle. Very cool!
Then we headed off to the ODOT office in Portland where we got to sit in command central and see some of the 150 cameras in use to monitor traffic in PDX. Their job is to keep all 1 million cars on the move. If they see an issue they can have a truck sent out relatively quickly to provide free gas, battery charge, flat tire service, or help the stalled vehicle out of the flow of traffic. We also had a crash course in bridges. We learned that Portland has all 6 kinds of bridges right in town. No wonder they call it Bridgetown!
Then it was on to the Morrison bridge. Those under 9 climbed the stairs to the control tower and met with the bridge operator. They learned about the history of the bridge, what all goes on in the tower and some of the history of the tower itself. Then we learned about bridge rising procedure. Finally, we got to see the bridge raise and lower with a bird's eye view. It was so amazing!
Adults and kids 9 and up got to go down to the pit to see the inner workings of the bridge. The gears, motors etc. C got to go down and reported that the biggest gear is 36' across and the counterweight is 900 US Tons!
It was a fun tour and then we just hung out and enjoyed the waterfront for a hour. I love homeschooling!

Muck and Mud and Guck

We have a large section of our backyard reserved for a garden. That means that this time of year we have a large section of our backyard reserved for a mudbox. "What is a mudbox," you may ask? Well, it is a section of the backyard reserved for playing in the mud. Similar to the sandbox. Only with a sandbox, kids sit and play in the sand with toys and their friends and dig to China, then go on about their other outdoor play. They wash hands and need to brush off when done.
However, with a mudbox, the kids go out and sit and play with toys in the mud and dig islands and moats and ditches and riversand dams. They also dig pits and roads and bridges and make more mud factories. But then, they cannot go on with their outdoor play. They need mom, NOW! to help them remove their muck-muck boots and every stitch of clothing in the garage. Then it all needs to be carted to the laundry room and put IN THE MACHINE NOT ON THE FLOOR DON'T TAKE IT UP TO YOUR ROOM WHAT DID I TELL YOU?! Then they need to get to the bathtub without touching the walls and be completely washed head to toe, yes even the hair even if we hate washing hair. How they get that much mud up there I am sure I never really want to know. Then they need a towel and clean clothes. We still have to remember to return the towel to the bathroom to be hung up on the towel rack.
For some reason, mom still is the one who gets to wash all the clothes and remember to put it all in the dryer. This goes relatively smoothly as long as there isn't another load of laundry in the machine when they come inside. Chances of success are also improved if there are no tears about being told to come inside due to dinner time or hitting neighbor kids with shovels.
And I ask myself again, "do I really want to live on acreage?"

Bunches of pictures to try to catch up

Here's one more snow photo. I forgot to put it up earlier. It was our first Oregon snowperson!



Now that the weather is back to normal-ish, we get out to ride our bikes and such. G loves his trike and zooms around making "vroom-vroom" sounds.


Here's that pantry photo I promised earlier. I am proud to report that it still looks pretty much the same.


The three of us in the big cozy chair.



We had a great trip to Idaho. The boys were disappointed that there was no snow, but oh well.
I'd write more, but baby is sooo fussy.

More organizing

I must be on a roll. This week, my saint of a sister in law came over
and helped me with my pantry. So now I can find all my food. WooHoo!
I guess it is technically not a pantry. The dolts who built this house never planned on anyone actually using the kitchen. Therefore there are cupboards for dishes and such, but no logical place to put food. So I improvised by erecting a shelf unit in the dining room. Due to my lack of housekeeping ability, stuff just got thrown on it for the 3 years we have been here, but never really was organized or cleaned very well. We shall see if my attempts at organizing it this time work out for the long haul.
This is getting to be a good game. Wonder what I should work on next?

Tuesday we leave for a week with the family in Idaho. The boys are very excited to see the grandparents and cousins. I am happy to be getting a break too. M says we need a "change of scenery" and I agree.

Although I threaten to send my children off the public school when we're having a rough day, I am beginning to see how much I would hate that. I am teaching a class at Village Home, as well as M being enrolled in several classes. When we began planning our trip to Idaho, I initially wanted to speng longer there. But, due to our committments to VH, we can't. I had the realization that, in public or private school, I would totally be at the mercy of someone else's calendar. That would drive me insane! Then I would have to rebel--'cuz that's me. Good ol' homeschooling!

Speaking of homeschooling, we just started learning about Shakespeare. I have mentioned Shakespeare to M before and of course we have run accross quotes and references to his plays and sonnets before. Just recently he read the Magic Tree House book, Shakespeare on a Friday Night. We got a stack of books about Shakespeare from the library and dove in. He is loving it! I am really surprised. I would not have predicted something like this to fascinate him. I think he is really enjoying the history side of it more, but Ol' Will really holds his interest too. Amazing.