Hummingbirds.

We had a hummingbird in the garage on Sunday. At first Massimo wasn't sure what it was. Then the bird slowed down enough for us to see him. I think the poor thing was really confused. Finally he/she found its was out. I put up a Hummingbird feeder and saw it again this morning investigating the feeder. I hope to see more of the little bird.



Here are a couple other good pictures of the family I got this weekend.

Kitchen!

We didn't have any blinds or curtains on the glass doors in our dining room. On one hand it is nice to have the view of the countryside, but the east morning sunny was blinding us at breakfast every morning. So i ordered some curtains from JCPenneys. I had to leave my beloved vintage tab curtains at my last house. So I went with the same style. The valance on the small window matches and I got a second one for the small window in the laundry room.

New hair style.

I had been feeling a little blah about my hair and hair color. I haven't done anything to it for a long time. So I went all out and got this done to it. I really like it. It is very fun!

Here lies Slyvester.

So this weekend we finally got around to exploring our entire piece of property. Now you might think we would have done this already. No. We didn't realize there was an opening in the treeline at the back. We also were more concerned with the house and inspections so we just hadn't done it yet. WOW!! We were missing out. If we would have walked the whole thing when we saw it the first time there would have been "no if ands or buts about it". Here are a couple cool photos I took of it.

We found a grave stone that was man made and must have been the previous owners dog or cat. It was really sweet. It was next to an old bench. Also to tell you how cool this property is. You can't see this back field and creek from the house. You have to walk down the path/road to get there.

My hard drive died.

I am so sad. I lost everything pictures of my kids, documents, my recipes I had accumulated. Even my old stuff that I thought we had backed up. It turns out that DH had rebuilt his machine and it was gone. I am just sick about it. Luckily, we did have a backup of our Quicken (checking account, financial stuff). At least that is a small comfort.

:(

On the bright side, we love our new house. I planted some flowers this weekend. DH went on a wasp killing spree. There were nests all over the house. My daughter got stung by one on Thursday so we played inside the rest of the day until my husband could get medieval on their asses. LOL!

Friday, the owner came and they got rid of all the trash. They also burned a huge pile of wood trash. They started in the daytime, were here until after 11pm. Then it rained during the night and the fire was STILL burning slightly in the morning. We got to meet them and talk to them. They are real nice people.

I'm back!

Wow! What a week it has been. I have had no internet since Saturday and that was probably a good thing. I have gotten a lot of unpacking done.

We moved on Saturday. It took all day and lots of people. THANK YOU! to everyone that help. We couldn't have done it without you.

Sunday we had to pick up the fridge with the moving truck. Our driveway is a hill, so when we were unloading it we almost lost it. It was starting to roll off and I had to stiff arm it to keep it from crashing to the ground as DH frantically pulled to stop it. Finally we get it to the house and it is almost too wide for the door. The solution was to take it in sideways after removing the door handles. Then to take the truck back and go to our old house to clean up and get our final items (vacuum, brooms, etc..). Another long day indeed.

Monday DH headed back to work, although he came home early. The spigots on the washer hookups were both leaking badly and had to be replaced. They were only $6 each but I had to wait for them for doing laundry.

The rest of this week I have been making slings, unpacking boxes, delivered a sling, finding my way around a new area of KC, went to the library, saw some cool trains in Belton and trying not to lose my mind.

Our house still hasn't closed. Another bump in the road has come up with the loan/title companies. The buyers were renting and needed a place to go. We let them move in already, I can't say early as this is when they were supposed to move in. However, they haven't closed on the house yet. We ended up calling them directly. They are very grateful that we let them move in. What else could we do? We need the deal to go through and we have moved in early to this house as well. Pay it forward, you know? They have two young boys so I understand their feelings and issues.

T minus 24 hours till the move

I wish I had a picture of a chicken with the head cut off. That is what I feel like. Whew. Actually today is going pretty good. Our agent called last night and said that the appraiser did a second drive by and they appraised the wrong house. So they needed to come by between 6 and 10 this morning. They knocked on the door at 6:09. I was still in bed. The kids were still asleep. He said everything was fine, just a time crunch.

So since i have little time. Here is the link to the pictures to the house.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24599218@N06/?saved=1

See you in Missouri!

Pictures of the boys.

Here are some cute pictures of the boys I took this week.

Dominic wanted to help me sweep, cowboy hat and sword required.
Luca was eating plums and decided it was lotion, so he rubbed it on his face and hair. Then I gave him a kitchen sink bath. He thought it was hilarious!

On a roll.

Since I have been on a good roll of blogging everyday I figure I might as well keep it up.

Today was supposed to be my down day. We still had swimming lessons, but nothing this afternoon. Well my friend called this morning and wanted me to watch her son. He needed drops in his ear and the camp wouldn't do it. So he has been here. The morning was kind of crazy, but the kids are doing good now. I actually got 5 boxes packed. I think the master bath is done now and more of the kitchen. Then... I ran out of packing tape. DOH! So I have to run up and get some after DH i home. I am doing creative meals this week, to try to clean out the fridge. The less to move the better right?

Tomorrow we have the new house inspection so I have to go there. Thursday we will go to eat lunch with DH at his company picnic and then go buy or new fridge. Friday we close on this house. Saturday Move. Sunday collapse in a heap. LOL!

SLINGS!

So since I am not busying packing, I am gonna make slings. *yeah right*

But really i am not complaining just really really busy. I got an order for 9 slings for my friends store HappyBottomus. Then I sold a new sling today to a friend, another friend bought an older discounted sling from me as well, but she wants a new one made also. For those with a calculator that is 12 slings. Oh wait, and a girl that I am emailing who wants one. I am just not sure which one she wants yet. So 13 slings to go out the door in the next couple weeks. I have 3 done. 2 almost done. So if I am not packing, I need to be sewing.

If you haven't had the pleasure of checking out my slings, you can go to the website.

www.bambinoslings.com

Packing Packing and packing.

Happy Fathers Day to all!

We have been packing everything. I feel like we got most of it done this weekend. We scored a bunch of boxes from Price Chopper and then some more today from Walmart. Nice. I think we have several people lined up to help out with the move.

This afternoon we went swimming. I had Luca in the sling. He liked it, then he slept most of the time. The big kids had a blast.

We are looking for a fridge. We have to get a new one for the house. I think we found the best deals at the Sears Outlet. They will deliver it and also we can charge it. We need it right away, but need to pay for it later. Our goal is to get to all cash purchases after we move, but for right now we have to save our money for the house down payment.

FINALLY! The good news.

Finally! These sellers are so slow. Finally the good news.

We have a contract on the house. I finally feel like I can share all the good news. It is a house with 8 acres. Very nice. Newly redone on the inside.

The best news of all. They are going to let us move in a month early (july 1st) so we won't be homeless! They are asking for a hefty deposit on the house, but that is ok. I chalk it up to the same as rent. We only are going to have to move once! HOORAY!!!

Here is a link to it. HOUSE
The pictures don't really do it justice because they were taken in the winter. Now it is beautiful and green with all the trees. I will take more pictures on Wed. when we go out for the inspection.

UGG... This is making me crazy.

So we signed and faxed over the counter offer Wed. night. We have still not received it back with the sellers signature on it. I am really just feeling sick to my stomach about it all. The real estate agent for the seller did call to say today that it is in front of the sellers and they are looking at it. I am not sure what there is to look at. Everything we wrote is what they emailed to us saying they wanted. Please just sign it so I can move on with my life! We went ahead and scheduled the inspection for Wed. I figure it is easier to cancel it than to schedule it last minute.

After that we have to sign the papers to close on this house. The buyers said they would like to do a final walk through this week to make sure everything is still fine. So we have to go back through and clean up really well this weekend. It has been a real headache trying to keep the kids from messing things up. Last night Dominic wrote on a cabinet drawer with a permanent sharpie. Luckly DH saw it RIGHT AWAY and they got it off with Magic Eraser. Whew! We bought 10 rubbermaid tubs at Walmart tonight to finish packing in, hopefully that is enough.

House looks great. Done deal.

These are the words the appraiser said about our Gardner house this morning. I was not worried, I know it looks great. The real estate market is so weird right now it just makes me feel good to hear it. So that was the last step in selling this house, having the appraisal. So now it is just moving and closing/signing the papers. YEAH!!

That means in about 10 days I have to move! HOLY CRAP! But really, we are working on it and I don't think it will be a huge big deal. I am going to ask our Homeschool girl that babysits to come babysit the big kids that day. AKA...keep them out of the way. Maybe she can even watch the baby some.

Counter offer.

Our offer on the house expired at 9pm last night. At about 7pm, the other agent emailed saying he was still trying to get ahold of his clients. We were glad to hear from him. Still, we called BS and hoped that what it really meant was they were trying to get together a counter offer. This morning we did in fact receive the counter offer, which was totally fine by us! HOORAY! We have a contract.

Our agent suggested we also talk to the owner later in the week about seeing if we could take early possession in the form of rent for one month. Then we could move in once and be done with it. That would be great!

Otherwise, I think we have arranged care for all the pets while we stay with friends or hotel.

This week the radon people came and fixed it all up. I wrote them a hefty check. Oy! Not fun. :( So we are ready to go with the selling stuff.

A month without a home.

Well we are still waiting to hear back on our house offer. The agent said they really want to sell it, so I figure they will take it or counter offer. We should know later today what they say. If we can make an offer go through we won't be closing/moving in until the end of July. So we have a month with no home.

Our plan is to stay at a corporate hotel with a kitchen and/or with friends. Probably a combination of both. We thought of trying to find a rental house for a month but then we would need our beds and such. Unpacking for that is not really an option. DH has to go to St. Louis for work occasionally, so he is going to try to get it to happen in July. Then we would have a week of hotel for free in St. Louis. Nice.

I have been wanting to do a month of blogs so I think this is the perfect opportunity. The homeless month of daily blogs. :)

We are very fortunate that we have a few friends that have offered to let us crash for a few days/weeks. Also some that have offered to help with our dogs if needed.

If anyone has any creative solutions to our temporary homeless problem please post it in the comment section!

Makin an offer.

Well I am excited, today we are making an offer on a house in Peculiar with land. We looked at it a while back. It was one I mentioned before, but we had a couple hesitations. We looked at a couple more houses on Saturday and ended back up at the Peculiar house. My husband and our agent walked over to talk to the neighbor. He was able to tell us about the history of the house and about himself. He is the only visible neighbor. There is also some trash out back in the field. The neighbor said the original owner was a pack rat and slowly the current owner has been getting rid of it. The sellers agent said it would all be removed if we buy the house. So that is good.

When we were there last week we saw a deer, and a turkey with her babies. Cool! The kids found snails and we all got ticks on us. Not so cool, but we are going to us my friends natural bug spray. It worked the last time we used it. Also my plan is to get some chickens/guineas (probably next year) and they will eat all the bugs. Nice!

We have grand plans for this property. It has 8 acres with a creek and trees. DH plans to build a cool firepit and camping area. Then our friends can camp at our house. We can have weinie roasts and cook outs. There are trees to climb in! YEAH! We are getting excited. Now its just up to the contracts and banks.

Not the way its supposed to work.

Well life is always throwing you curve balls right? Just when you KNOW what path you are going to take it all changes. We have been dreaming of building a earth contact awesome home, but the economy is getting in our way. It would be another thing if we thought it would turn next year, but i really doubt that. I think it will be several years.

Massimo went and looked at 6 houses yesterday. They ranged from pretty cool to should be condemned. The worst was a foreclosure house, so we knew it needed work, but it was really bad. He videotaped it. Siding was peeling off, mold in the basement, water in the basement, rotting wood on the deck. The best thing was that the next property in your backyard basically was the firestation. A big firetruck to turn its sirens on night and day, anytime they get a call. Those that don't know, I have two big dogs who howl every time they hear sirens.

The best was out of two. One was 8 acres, big brick ranch house with finished basement and fireplace in the basement too. The second was an earth contact house, very nice, could use a little updating. It has 20 acres, a couple barns, 3 car garage etc.. The downsides to the earth contact were a pond close to the house and the price.

Building has been either put on the back burner, or may not ever happen depending on if we find a house we love with land.

Many items.

Our June is jam packed. This week is full of appointments and shelling out money. First we have an electrician coming for various small items. Tomorrow the heating and cooling guy. Then the Radon people. Yeah, our radon test came back positive so we have to take care of that. It is not cheap either. Blah.

We are going to go look at a rental house tonight. Sounds great. 20 miles from DH's work and in the country. Nice. Fun for the kids. No more info on the house building scene. Its hurry up and wait at this point.

Then next week is Vacation Bible school. I am actually looking forward to that. Both D and G will be in it. So Luca and I will have 2 hours every day to ourselves. I plan on getting some major packing done. I think I can keep L busy while I pack boxes.

Then the next two weeks we have swimming lessons for both big kids M-Th. After that is moving time. So i know it will go fast. We didn't sign up for any homeschool classes this summer because of our busy schedule already. I want it to be fun and not stressful.

We went camping this last weekend and it was pretty fun. We just went one night and went swimming.

Slip n Slide

The kids have been dieing to try out the new slip n slide. So today was finally not cool and not rainy so we did. Here are a few awesome pictures.

Looking at houses.

Wow. What an evening. We went to see two houses. The first house was an Earth Contact home straight out of my (and DH's) head. I mean it was exactly what we want to build all the way down to the secret safe room and central raised fireplace. I still can't get over it. It was 5 miles from DH's work. He could drive his electric car in any weather with the heat and cooling.

The down sides: It is only 2 acres. We own 12 now and were hoping to build on it, but it is 25 miles from his work. It is much more expensive than we planned on spending. It is a corner lot, next to two streets. DH said we could privacy fence a large section of it and we could, but it would cost more money. It is embarrassingly huge.

The second house was out in the country near Peculiar, MO. 35 acres and a house. The house was built in 1880 and was totally redone on the inside. They also added a basement space and built a new kitchen above it. It has original hardwood floors in it and was just an amazing house an property.

The experience however was kind of weird. So on the way out there Jeff (our agent) says, yeah the realtor said that when she heard kids she said the owner had said this: The man came come in first, the wife should stay in the car with the kids. Then she can come look at it. But the kids should stay outside. Ok.... well we thought it was weird but didn't worry about it, because the agent was the one meeting us at the house. We get there and NO it is the owner meeting us there and she kind of freaks out about the kids. Saying they couldn't come in. Then she says something about being an educator for 35 years so "its not that she doesn't like kids". well she is making enough of a fuss that Massimo was pissed. Jeff says, Do you want to just skip it? Massimo agrees, but I said, come on, we drove all the way out here. One of us should go in and check out the house. I have the baby in the sling, so I say Ok. I will go in, "the baby is fine right?" The lady says Absolutely not. I had a lady almost fall down the stairs with the baby. I just can't take the risk. So fine, I hand the baby to Massimo. He is pissed, but I am just trying to kill time so the kids don't have to ride in the car for a few minutes. The weird lady suggests the kids wait in the car, I said, No they have rode in the car a long ways to get out here.

When we go inside she is very nice. Telling me to take my time, look around. After we get in the door, she asks me to put on booties. The blue kind that go over your shoes, such as you would wear in a hospital. *Must make clean* *insert Macbeth jokes here* Not jeff, he can take off his shoes because he is wearing socks. I have to do this because I have on sandals and can't have my shoes or barefeet in her house.

Oh and after I was finished looking at the house she says, "sorry about the inconvenience. Do you want a Hershey bar or anything? " I just laughed and said no.

The house was wonderful. We will not be buying it for two reasons. One it has foundation problems, because it is over 100 years old. So understandable, but not something we want to mess with. Second, because it was WAY out in the boonies and the roads would not be conducive to Massimo driving his electric car to work and that is something we care about.

So thanks but no thanks crazy lady.

Powell Gardens

Last week we went to Powell Gardens with some homeschool friends. It was really great. I didn't get to see it all because we left when Luca got sleepy. Its an hour drive so I really needed him to sleep in the car. We took a guided nature walk and it was great. Very age appropriate (Pre-K and K) and we saw great things.

This giant pile of dirt is actually an ant hill. The kids were really intrigued by it.


It had been wet, so we saw lots and lots of snails.

After the hike, we played in the fountains. Gioia found this pool full of tadpoles. Each of those black specks is a tadpole.


And finally the highlight of the day! Playing in the fountains! I love this picture. The fountain would get small then big again. As it got bigger and higher the kids ran from it screaming in delight. :)

Up? Down? North? South?

Indecision is the word of the day. Or maybe its poop....we will get to that later.

After hearing about the obstacles facing us in financing our new home building, we are now looking at all our options. Since houses are such a bargain these days, why don't we buy another house, says my husband. WHAT!? Well, wait he has a pretty good idea. If we could buy a foreclosed house, or something on some acres maybe that would be a good thing. Even better if we could find a earth contact or other energy efficient type of thing. OR we could still rent for a year in a house and save, save, save and try again to build next year. Regardless we are going to have to move more than one time. I am ok with that.

Now on to the poop. I know you all are waiting on the edge of your seat. Today, after we woke up, I was reading online on the computer and baby was sitting on the floor playing happily. He started fussing and I look down. He was in a mess of poop all over the carpet! AAAHH! So I change him, his clothes, wash his legs, feet and hands. Yes his hands...ewww!! It was a real mess so I didn't even try to clean the carpet, instead I was planning to call my friends down the street with a steam cleaner. About an hour later we are making breakfast and he has a blow out on the carpet again! DOUBLE GRRRR!!!! WTF, Mate??

Oh, but we aren't down yet. So I borrow the steam cleaner and get the carpet all clean. Then Gioia comes to me with wet hands and says "Is it pee?" I was like, "I don't know, go wash your hands." She says, "I can't the bathroom floor is wet. " Uh, what???!!! Yes, the toilet overflowed and the bathroom was soaked, it also dripping through the vent onto the basement floor. So we spent some time cleaning that up.

So. I am done. Done with poop and cleaning up messes for today.

The saga begins.

SO we have a contract on our house! Hooray! Now the moving/building stage begins. I have heard horrible stories about couples building house and I am determined that will not happen to us. DH and I are pretty smart people. We like to research things, come up with creative solutions and do new things. With all that in mind I think we can make this all work.

I have a plan that every night we will work about 30 minutes together on house stuff. We also might assign each other certain tasks and things to get accomplished during the week. This way we are chipping away at things a little at a time and not stressing, putting things off or arguing.

Today I sent an email for some radiant heat/geothermal pricing. DH made a call to a guy who might end up being our builder. He also called our friend in the mortgage business. Here is where we cue the hysterical laughing. Mike said that none of his lenders are doing construction loans right now. OUCH! Uh.... well that sucks. But apparently established builders like the man we called are not having problems getting loans. Also we called the bank that gave us our land loan and they said it should not be a problem getting a loan with them, since we are customers already. WHEW! Ok. So we have some options.

I found a few listing on Craigslist for rentals that I am going to call later today or tomorrow.

Big Trees and Big Changes.

Wednesday night we went out to our land because the nursery was coming to plant the trees. We don't have water out there yet, so it was something we were trying to figure out. My friend had some rain barrels she sold us. We got smaller 35 gallon ones. Then we just used a new garden hose and siphoned the water out. The kids thought it was great fun watching the men plant the trees. We also got to meet one of the neighbors. They were polite but not all that excited to meet us. Hopefully they will either be nice to us or we can all ignore each other.

In other news, we have a contract on our house! Yippee! I will admit that Yippee is pretty forced. The offer is not stellar but we can live with it. Also now we have to find a rental, get cracking on the house building and all that. I will be excited when the house starts going up.

Handme down clothes.

Handme down clothes are the best thing since sliced bread. Not only do they save parents TONS of money, but it is convenient too. Today my daughter was complaining that she had no shorts. So I decided to go through the stuff my sister in law had given me. Since Gioia has been born, we literally have never had to outfit her. Barb has given us all her girls clothes. We occasionally buy a new dress, underpants or PJ's, but thats about it. Again, we hit the pay load a summers worth of clothes and winter as well in a box.

Dominic hasn't always been so lucky as we don't have lots of boys to recieve handme downs from. This last season though a friend had some 3T-4T stuff. So I said I would like them. Dominic was so excited this morning when he got his own box of clothes to go through. He is also outfitted for summer and the upcoming winter.

We have continued the tradition by passing on Gioia's clothes when she outgrows them. Dominics are being saved for Luca.

Oh and do I even need to mention the headache it saves not having to take small children shopping for clothes. OY! Thank you Lord! And Thanks to everyone who has ever given us kid clothes!

New jersey folks and cousins.

My sister had her wedding reception this weekend. Congrats Mel and Scott! It was so fun. My cousin surprised us with a visit. He is in the Air Force and we didn't expect to see him. I got to meet tons of Scotts family for the first time. He has an Uncle from New Jersey named Mike. Uncle Mike had never been on a farm before. He loved it. He had also never been to a dance/wedding reception in a hay barn, with a live band. He kept saying it was unique. :) I guess the band played until 1:30. Their tour bus is an old school bus. My kids were playing in it Sunday morning. The band was too drunk to pack up and drive home so their girlfriends and such took them all home. This is called being country. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried! LOL!! When the band was setting up they let Dominic take a whack at the drums. He was so excited. The drummer said he was really impressed and Dominic has good rhythm.

The pictures below: Melanie and Scott, Gioia and Rory (Scotts niece) they were peas in a pod, and Dominic drumming.

Weekend at Grandmas.

Well we are heading out this afternoon for a weekend at my moms house. The kids are excited. Even better we get to sleep at my Grandma's house. The kids haven't ever had a sleepover there, so they are excited. My sister is having her wedding reception this weekend at Moms. She and her husband went to Las Vegas at the end of April and got married. Both sets of parents were able to be there as well. They are having a fire pit, food buffet and a live band playing. It will be lots of fun.
My siblings and I got my mom an outdoor swing with a canopy top on it. So my brother and husband get to put it together tomorrow. Hubby is also bringing his fishing gear. I should have lots of good pictures to share Sunday when we get back.

The house selling. It is still going slow. TONS of showings, now we just need that elusive offer.

Ticks!

So the ticks are already bad this year. Great. Every time we go to our land one of the kids gets a tick on them. They are the teeny tiny microscopic deer ticks. Yuck. I am going to try to remember the bug spray from now on to see if it helps. Gioia has had two, Dominic one, and now Luca one.

Luca's I found yesterday after we had been there for Mothers Day. It was on the back of his neck. So i get the tweezers and try to get it off. I broke and the head was still stuck. Now, however, it is even a tinier object than before. Great. :( I called the Dr. and they said 99 dollars just to come in about it. Forget it! 100 dollars? Seriously? Maybe I will just pay a neighbor 50 bucks to hold my kid down and get this off him. Give me a break. Anyway, at bedtime I was able to finally get it off. I actually just used my fingernail and worked it out. I slathered a little antibiotic cream on him and we are tick free. Until next time.

New look.

I have been contemplating making a new blog to blog about all our house/land stuff. Instead I decided to just change this blog up and go with it. If for some reason I get a following from very many strangers, I can make it more secure or create a new one sometime.

I hope you like the new look. I plan to try to blog more often.

Mothers day on the farm.

The rain held off on Mothers Day so we were able to spend the day at the farm. We headed out in the morning and had a weinie roast. Gioia spent most of the time in her favorite climbing tree. Our fruit trees are doing great. The rain has been nice for them. We have 3 more trees that we had to decide where to plant. For now we are just planting them down the property line. We walked around the property, finding plenty of poison ivy. That has to go. I am highly allergic to it. The little neighbor dog came and walked with us for a bit. He is a little Toto dog. I got a few nice pictures. The first is looking towards the back of the property. Our piece goes all the way back to the farthest trees. The second pictures is looking towards the front, the van is parked by the road.

3 good, 3 bad things.

Well things are really going pretty well around here. So even if I feel like complaining I think I really shouldn't. So I am going to do the 3 bad, 3 good thing, to make it all fair.

Good:
1. My dad got a clean bill of health today after a little scare. Yeah!

2. My husband has a good job.

3. I have 3 beautiful babies that I get to stay home with every day!

Bad:

1. My glasses broke today.

2. Me, my son and my husband who is out of town with aforementioned job, all have horrible sore (possibly strep) throat. We are fighting it and winning with homeopathics, but it still sucks especially when i have single parent duties for 3 days.

3. I went to a lot of trouble to get the grill out, move cars out of the garage, just to make some hamburgers only to find out I was out of gas. Bah humbug.

See I told you the good would make the bad look like piddle. Oh well, but sore throat, broken glasses and no grilled burgers all in one day is not fun. :) But if thats all that happened today i guess I am doing pretty good.

Oh and I got all three kids to bed and asleep before 9pm and my husband isn't even here to share it with me. You know what I mean.... *wink, wink* *nudge, nudge*. LOL!

TREES!

I am so excited! We got a flyer on the door a couple days ago. It was for this place called Narrow Tree nursery. They mostly sell to contractors and are not usually open to the public. Well it is their May sale and they are open this weekend and next. Also a free climbing rose bush for Mothers. So we went to look. It is a really nice place.
www.narrowtree.com

Well we ended up with 3 trees. One blue spruce, one elm and one other evergreen tree. They are all BIG. Maybe 8 feet ? Anyway, they would have been super expensive but they were some bargain clearance trees. The elm is not perfectly straight, but you have to look for the imperfection. Whatever! It is a gorgeous tree. The evergreen and the spruce I couldn't find the problem with them. Anyway, all that to say we got them for $75 each! Then $100 for them to plant all 3 of them. $60 for delivery to our farm. Planting includes the tree stakes and mulching them. Wow! Plus I got my free rose bush.

When did I get this old?

Today in my moms group online discussions we were talking about how you know that your family is complete and you are done having kids. It was a very interesting discussions. The general consensus was that you just know. There were people on all sides, some getting vasectomies, some waiting in case they changed their mind later and some open to as many kids as god gives them. We are in the middle, probably want one more and after that will not do anything permanent but definitely will be using methods of prevention.

The real questions is this, When did I get this old? How is it that I even old enough to talk about being done having babies? It is very surreal and out of body type of feeling. Its like I am in someone elses life and i am really just a teenager/young adult still. Just 6 years ago I had no children. Now here I am talking with my mom friends about how you know when your family is complete. Wow. Crazy.

My baby is crawling.

He will be 8 months in another week. He just seems so little too me. I guess he needs to keep up with the other two.

No 4 wheeling in a minivan.

So today I met some friends out at our property to hang out and plant trees. We had 6 fruit trees, a red maple and some baby trees that are flowering trees. I got there will all my supplies, stakes, fencing, water, etc. Our friends met us there and we all were ready to go. We started unloading the van and walking to the tree planting spot. I decided it was solid enough to drive on. It would have been....in my Durango, but you see I got a minivan this week. So I make it through the little driveway, turn into the grass and STUCK! DAMN! After trying for a few minutes to get out I parked it and we planted trees. It went good for the most part. It was hot and the kids were getting whiny and bored.

I had brought my camera but didn't get a single picture. I was too worried about trying to get done before my baby overheated. I was also worried about getting the van out. We tried again later but it was still stuck. I called my husband and he suggested packing loose dry grass around the wheels. I wasn't stuck deep, just spinning in the mud. So the grass worked! We were free!! He told me, You aren't supposed to be 4 wheeling, its a minivan! I said, I miss my Durango. :) I do really like my van. I just have to realize it has limits.

Boy with a cowboy hat on.

I love this picture. He is too sweet! He is working on getting the two front top teeth. Ouch! Those are always hard for the little ones. He just wants to be held all the time. He is also trying to crawl. Seriously! He goes from sitting on his butt, to hands and knees, rocks back and forth, then back to the sitting. It won't be long until he figures out how to move his hands and legs. Then we will be in trouble!

How time flies.

My beautiful daughter will be turning 6 this summer. It has been awesome being her mom for the last six years. It makes me all teary eyed to think about it all. I took this great picture of her when she was 21 months old. So here we are 4 years after that, I took another picture in front of the same tree. She is still just as sweet!

Product evaluation.

I do online surveys for a place called Pinecone Research. What they do is when a company has a new product they ask peoples opinion on it. The survey has questions about the look of the product, the believability of the advertising, if you would try it, what you think you would like or dislike about it and that such thing. They always ask you if you would try the product if they send it to you. Well they sent me something. This is the third time I have received a trial product. Due to confidentiality I can't say what I have received specifically. The first time it was a new juice. The second time it was a baby product. This time its a personal care item. Each time I have received things I would actually buy so that is nice. I think this company does a really good job with sending trial things to people that would buy them. That is pretty remarkable since I am pretty picking with the things I buy.

Oh and I do get paid for this as well. It used to be $5.00 a survey. Now it is $3.00 a survey and sometimes they do drawings for lump sum prizes like $100 dollars. I have never won that of course.

Making things.

Well if you are reading this blog you know that I make 3 things well. Food, kids and sewing projects. Not necessarily in that order. So today this post is about making things. Again, food and sewing.

We are getting the Door to Door Organics box. One thing I like is that I get to be creative with my meal planning again. I have to use the things they bring me. Yesterday I noticed that the carrots were getting rubbery, so I had to use them. I baked them in the oven with brown sugar. MMM! They were great! Today the subject is Kale. I have only ever used Kale as decoration for the salad bar when I worked as a waitress. So I did what any good 21st century housewife would do. I searched the internet. Mostly I found soup recipes which had cream in them and I can't eat that right now. Finally, I came across a pasta recipe. It sounds great. I will post it here for you.

1 large red pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups finely chopped Kale
pinch of dried basil
pinch or two of red pepper flakes
olive oil for cooking
Feta or Goat cheese crumbled on top (could use parmesan also)

Serve over your favorite pasta.


On the sewing note, I have an order for 4 more slings for HappyBottomus! Yeah! So I bit the bullet and just bought a whole bolt of Muslin at Joanns. It was cheaper this way and I even had a good coupon. I have a 50% off coupon for this coming week and I am going to buy the more expensive muslin because it is a higher thread count and I think will make better slings. I will buy a bolt of that too!

Easter.

Easter was lovely. First we weren't sure we were going to be able to visit our family because our car ended up in the shop Wed. evening. Our guy thought he could get it all done Thursday, but he didn't get it finished until Friday around noon. Whew! We left town Friday around 4pm.

We went to Massimo's moms house. We all had a great time. His brother and sister bought came with their families. I got to see our new nephew again. He is only 2 months younger than Luca. We both had homebirths with the same midwife. Nice bonding experience don't you think? We took a picture to send to our midwife. Also, we got some great pictures of the kids. So I will post a few.


Here are the babies. Mine is the one kissing (eating) the others face.

Door to Door Organics

LOVE IT! I know that everyone I know has blogged about this. Well ok then me too. I am just too excited about it. Having groceries delivered to your house is just too sweet! We got the Bitty box (small) and it is great! I am really surprised at how much we got. The guy had to call me because he couldn't find our house. I got him here ok.

3 Tier skirt

I wanted to make Gioia a skirt out of some really nice fabric I had. It turned out good. I wish I had made more pleats in it to make it more wrinkly. She loves it though, that is all that matters. Here is the tutorial. I like this tutorial because you can make it for any size because you take your own measurements. Like I said, next time I will make each tier longer around than they suggest to give it more body.

http://christianhomekeeper.org/blog/home-style-tiered-skirts/

A super productive day.

I had a wonderfully productive day today. I like days like this. It makes a gal feel like she has her shit together. HA HA! For our homeschool activities Gioia read me If You Give A Pig A Party. Then we played a rousing game of UNO, in which we worked on numbers and colors. Dominic is FINALLY getting his colors and he even got a few of his numbers right. I think we are going to play this everyday for a while. Gioia also finished her paper doll craft. We had lunch and I made a Quiche up for dinner. Then someone called me about her slings. I had already done the two kid slings for her, so I hopped downstairs and sewed up her other sling. I sent the kids outside to play in the afternoon. I cleaned up the house. Later I made her a new skirt for Easter. We had a showing of the house this evening. While the showing was taking place we went to vote. We have a hot election going on for Mayor and City Council here in town. I am anxious to find out who won. We hung out at the library for about 30 minutes then came home.

Plays, easter bunny and birthday parties!

We have had lots going on. We are trying to sell our house as I mentioned before. So that takes a lot of our time keeping it all cleaned up. Last weekend we had ice and snow on Saturday. A lot of snow, about 4 inches or so. Sunday it warmed up, melted and by Sunday evening you couldn't even tell it had snowed. Crazy! That is Kansas and Missouri weather for you.

This week we went to see my mom in a play. It was called The Pajama Game. Its a musical and it was put on by the Gallatin Theatre League. My mom has been in several. She was the lead in Gypsy and Annie Get Your Gun. Gioia was especially thrilled to see Grandma Elaine. She said she loved all her pretty outfits! Here are a couple pictures from that.

First picture is my mom in the middle with the yellow PJ's on . Second picture is the entire cast.



Tonight we went to a birthday party for a couple kids. It was really fun. Gioia and Dominic didn't want to leave. It was at Wonderscope childrens Musuem, always a huge hit! I will post some pictures of that later.

Oat crust pizza with Goat Cheese mozarella.

So what is the worst thing to have to give up when you are dairy and wheat free? Ice Cream? Bread? Pizza! The comfort food of Americans everywhere. I can however have goat cheese products and they have every flavor of cheese made from goat milk now. So I got some goat cheese mozzarella and we had pizza last night.

Oat and Rye flour crust

2 cups oat flour ( I did half oat and half rye)
1 cup warm water
2 tsps yeast
1 tsp honey
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

It doesn't really rise that much, but does get some air in it. Make it pretty thin when you roll it out. Pre-cook for about 5-7 minutes on your pizza stone. Then top with your favorite toppings.

We used sausage, fresh basil, fresh thin sliced tomatoes and the goat cheese mozzarella. Cook on 400 for about 15 minutes.

Tastes just like traditional pizza.

Oat pancakes.

Well we found out what was up with Luca's rash. He is allergic to Dairy, Wheat and almonds. So I can't eat those things since he is breastfeeding. Its a good thing we are breastfeeding since formula is made from cows milk. He is only moderate on the wheat and almonds, so i can have wheat about once a week unless I start to notice it bothering him. So I think i will start posting some of my alternative meals that I make. Here is the first.

Oat Waffles with Strawberry Jam and Agave
1 cup oat flour
1 egg
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup soy milk (or other milk alternative)

Mix and let stand for about 5 min. Mix again and cook like standard pancake mix.
We topped it with Strawberry jam and agave nectar.



On another note. Here is a silly picture of Dominic. Yes, his sister helped him get into this outfit.

Two ends of the spectrum.

We homeschool. My oldest is 5 1/2 so obviously we are new to this. I don't feel like we are new to it though. I joined a homeschool group when she was only 3. We have know since she was born that we wanted to do this with our family. Gioia has been super easy to homeschool because she is very academic minded. She likes to do worksheets, read, all that stuff. She is very smart and picks things up pretty much the first time it is explained to her.

Then you have my son. He is also very smart, but a totally different kind of learner (so far). Granted he is only 3 1/2 and it will change I am sure. He only in the last 6 months or so has gotten really interested in books. For example, today we are at the table "doing school". I write his name on a paper and have him repeat the letters to me. He did it but wasn't really interested. He won't even try to write letters, coloring pictures is of no interest to him. But he is kind of a child prodigy at playing the drums. He can listen to a rock song, pick out the beat and copy it on the drum. I am going to try to get him into some drum lessons. I think he would take off with it. I asked him if we could play puzzles. He took the letter puzzle, got the letter L and told me it was a gun. :) So there you have it folks.

Busy days.

Well our house is on the market! YEAH. Link here: HOUSE

Today I am also going to my friends store to sell my slings. I hope I sell one or two at least. We will see. Depends on how much traffic she gets in there.

We had a showing of the house last night. Then we have another today. That is pretty good I think.

Karma, my old friend. We met again.

When I was a kid my sister and I were supposed to paint the shed and cellar for my parents. We decided it would be funny or cool to paint the shingles. Yeah, my parents were mad. I think Dad yelled something at us like "We can't have nothing nice with you guys around!"

So flash forward 20 years. We are planning to try to sell our house starting this week. Gioia asked me if they could paint today. I said, well ok, but we will do it outside. After lunch she goes to get the paints. I was nursing the baby and I said, Paint outside on paper! She says ok! This is my first mistake. My second was letting them continue unattended for 10 minutes. Next she starts to come in the house with green paint on her feet. I stop her and go see what is up. OH MY GOSH! They had painted themselves (expected) and the wooden swingset (not expected). WTF?! So I get to spend the next 15 minutes hosing it off and hoping that it comes off and does make the swingset look like crap. Then I get to wash them off with the cold garden hose (I only did their feet.) After that I stuck them in the shower.

Oh and Dominic decided to shove on the screen making it rip out of the frame. SO I get to fix that in the next couple days as well. Nice.

House for sale.

Well we are going to be listing our house for sale on Thursday. YEAH! It is exciting. I hope it sells quickly. However, that also means that we need to get really going on our plans for our other house. We also need to start looking for a rental to live in for the meantime. We won't start building our new house until the old one is sold, signed and in possession of the new owners. We just can't take the chance of ending up with two houses.

We spent all day getting stuff finished. We still have quite a bit of final touches to make. DH got the garage all cleaned up. So that is a huge project done. We need to finish organizing the basement a little more and then general pickup. We rented a storage space to put some of our clutter and garage stuff in to make it look better. My hubby predicts we will get a contract on it in 3 weeks. I am hoping so too. So we are putting positive thoughts into action. I will post the listing when its up so you all can pass it on to anyone looking for a great house.

Pearl Jam misheard lyrics

So I was listening to Pandora and Yellow Ledbetter played. Love that song, but does anyone really know all the words??

Here is a video of this songs misheard lyrics. Enjoy.

Headbands.

I found an awesome Tutorial online. How to make headbands. Here is the link. http://www.kcquilts.com/blog/2006/09/reversible-fabric-headband-tutorial.html

I have made several for Gioia already. I am making some for me as well. FUN! I am making extras to sell to any of my mom friends that want them. I am only charging $3.00 each for them Target and Gymboree charge 6 to 7 bucks a piece. These are cuter even!! Really I am only charging for the fabric and supplies. They are also reversible so they can be worn two ways.

My mom is going to love these. It drives her crazy when Gioia has her hair in her face. LOL!

Fabric yumminess!

I got these yummy new Micheal Miller fabrics in the mail this week. I have a couple more coming I am soo excited. I LOVE THESE. The Andalucia ones (with the pinks) will become part of a giant King Size quilt for our bed. I plan to mix in some solid brown and such but it will look awesome.

Here is some baby yumminess to go with it. He has started wanting to eat food. So far he has had some banana and now some oatmeal. He chewed on a cracker and an apple the other day and had great fun with that as well.

Rash part 2.

Well we decided to go ahead and do the finger prick blood test to see what the rash is all about. Going off all the suspected foods has helped. His tummy is almost clear the back is better but still there. To quote my friend Kristen the rash is "pert near, but not plumb" gone. Ha ha.

He was a trooper, didn't cry or fuss. We will know in 1-2 weeks what the answers are. In the mean time, I am to stay on the diet. It isn't as hard now that I am getting used to it. It has been a full week now.

Can you believe how awesome I am?

My daughter said this to me just now. :) "Can you believe how awesome I am? I can roller skate. I can read books. I can make drinks for people. I am only 5 years old but I can do all this awesome stuff.

Ha ha. She makes me laugh. All this was said because she got a chair, made me a glass of ice water with no help. I didn't even ask her to do it. She thought of it all by herself. She is pretty awesome. :)

Speaking of awesome. It is 63 here today and supposed to be 74 tomorrow. Nice!!

Elimination Diet

Luca has had a rash on his tummy and back for over a month now. After trying various things I took him to our Naturopathic Doctor. Dr. Shelton, whom we love! He took one look and said what I already knew. Jaime, its something you are eating. AKA, he is getting something in my breastmilk that his body doesn't like. Great... Now the hard part, what the hell is it? So I am on an Elimination Diet. That means I can basically eat meat and veggies. That is it. Doesn't sound so bad huh? No wheat, no dairy, no eggs, no citrus fruits, no tomatoes, NO COFFEE! So.....

So... Thursday night I started the diet hardcore. Friday I had one cup of half caf coffee with plans to not have any the next day. I was usually drinking one cup in the am and one in the early afternoon. So Friday I just had the one half strength. I also didn't eat any of the other things on my list. So Friday night I started getting a headache. Saturday I had a full on migraine and thought I would throw up. Took Excedrine Migraine, it helped a little. I took a nap with Luca. By afternoon I could function again but still had the headache. Sunday morning guess what??/ Still had some of the headache, but after eating and drinking some water and EmergenC the headache FINALLY went away.

We went to run errands and I stopped at Whole Foods. I bought some expensive wheat, dairy, soy, egg free Granola bars and cereal bars. They are pretty good. They taste like a treat and that is what I need. I also can't have chocolate (it all has dairy in it). :( I also bought some Asian rice noodles to have instead of pasta.

The rash? Looking a little better. I better see some MAJOR progess in the next week.

Baby milestones.

Luca has hit a lot of milestones lately. I posted a while back about him rolling over. Well he can go both ways now, tummy to back, back to tummy. He hasn't realized he can use this method to get to things, which is fine. :) Now he is sitting up by himself. ALSO he has two teeth. He got the first on on Valentines day. The second the next week.

I also took him to the doctor today because he has had an ezcema type rash on his body. It has been there for about a month now. He took one look and said, Yep its something you are eating. Swell. :( So now I get to not eat a bunch of stuff and figure out what it is. So basically I can eat meat and most veggies for two weeks. Not tomatoes, wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts, etc.. I guess it could be worse. Hopefully we will figure it out quickly.

He has also not be sleeping the best, so I hope with the offending allergen gone it will get better.

Bubblegum Making.

For our homeschool class this week, we did bubblegum making. It was really fun and messy. The kids had a blast. I even let Dominic chew gum for the first time. He never swallowed it. He chewed it for about 2 hours. Pretty good! Here are a couple pictures that show the fun. We melted a bubblegum base and the ingredients in the microwave. Then you kneed it like bread in powdered sugar. Fun! We made cotton candy, watermelon and bubblegum flavors.

Fixed a coat.

Doesn't so super exciting does it. Well it was a job! That is for sure. My dad asked me to fix his new coat. It was about 2-3 inches too short for him. It is a heavy duty chore coat for the farm. Quilted on the inside. The coat is green. My mom found a pair of old coveralls, same material but tan. I thought it would look crappy when done, but was assured that it was just for work and they didn't care. Ok. So I put it off for weeks. Then I did it today. It was much easier than I thought and actually came out looking decent. Not something I would want someone to examine for perfection. But it will work and it doesn't look stupid. :)

I also got an order for 2 doll slings. So i did that tonight as well. I can get so much more accomplished when the kids are in bed. On that note I am heading off to bed as well.

Mile-a-minute quilt DONE!

Ok. I made a list 2 weeks ago. I did finish the first task on my list. Finishing my Mile-a-minute quilt. I have to be honest. It was not as fast as the instructions or name makes it sound. I think I do better with a pattern, instead of just sewing all the scraps together. But it is done and looks pretty great.
I used a green sheet for the back of it. This method is nice because the fabric is all one piece and it is actually cheaper to buy a set of sheets than to buy a large amount of fabric. The downside is a sheet is more slippery when quilting it, IMO. So it has a couple wrinkles quilted in on the back. I don't like that but it looks better now that i washed it. Also I quilted it with a leaf and vine pattern. You can click the picture to get a closer look.

Pictures of Gioia's sewing project.

Here are the first items she made. I think pretty good for a 5 year old.


A new picture of the little guy. I can't believe he is 5 months now. WOW!

Sewing girl.

So Gioia has really been wanting to sew. Yesterday I gave her a needle, thread and a piece of material. She folded the material in have and made a little bag. ALL on her own. WOW!! Then I said, how about a pillow. So I got two pieces and she sewed them together. Then put fluff in them and sewed it shut. Today she said she needed to make a bed to go with her pillow. For that we made a bigger "pillow" type thing. It looks great! I have some pictures that I will get put on here hopefully tomorrow.

Also this weekend she went skating with her dad. They went Sunday and had a great time together. He said she was skating fast and doing really well. I think they have a standing Sunday date for this from now on. She got her own skates for her birthday and has been practicing in the house forever.

I had the brillant if not late idea to put some big kid onesies on Dominic. He has a really bad habit (like every second of the day) of having his hand down his pants. Playing with himself. No amount of my yelling at him all day was stopping it. So I put the onesie on him today and he quit! This evening he has been in underpants and I noticed him going for it again. So we will keep the onesies on for a while. Now, just so you know I don't care if he plays with his penis. However, this was like out of control, playing with it at the kitchen table, every second of the day, and out in public. No good. I am glad we are finding a solution.

Works in Progress.

I have too many works in progress and I don't like that. I like to finish things. It gives me a satisfaction. I also get excited to do new projects. I guess that is why I have so many going at once.

1. Mile-a-minute quilt. I am going to finish the quilting and binding on it this week/weekend.
2. KCAP quilt - I am hoping to work on it (possibly finish it) all of next week.
3. Slideshow quilt - I am making the top.
4. Blue Flannel sling - I need to make it in the next week or two.
5. 2 storage cubes - One big and one small. I need more cardboard to put in the sides.
6. Rag quilt. I was starting this, but am putting it off until the first 5 projects are complete.

Hopefully I can update with some finished products soon!

We are mobile.

This morning Luca rolled over from tummy to back. I thought maybe he had a little help from the rug he was laying on. It was kind of fluffy and I think maybe the little edge that drops off helped him. However, he did it again in the living room on the carpet. No help from anything. Go little buddy!! He is not quite 5 months. He is 21 weeks old. Wow! I am really amazed. I told DH we need to babyproof again, and start looking out for little toys that need to be removed.

SSDD

Same Stuff, Different Day.

I haven't posted much because there hasn't been too many exciting things to say. We are trucking along. Gioia is reading well. Dominic is being 3 and Luca is not sleeping as well as he once was. I am trying to determine the cause of the change. My top 3 ideas are Teeth, the rash on his tummy, and him being more hungry/not nursing as much before bed.

I took some cool pictures of my friend at the park the other day. She is pregnant and wanted a couple pictures. They are on my Flickr page.

A follow up to my last post is that we should have new insurance soon. Luca has a 30 day wait. So in Feb. he will finally be covered. What a royal pain in the ass this has been. People against a national health care system need to feel the stress of not being able to get your newborn baby covered until he is almost 6 months old.

BCBS sucks balls.

They piss me off. I don't even have the energy to vent about it fully. Long story short, Luca has no health insurance at this moment. Conveniently for them, its friday, so they don't have to deal with me until Monday.

I am tired of being treated like a number. I am tired of not mattering to some customer service clerk that is reading off a script. I hate it that we have to get angry and speak to a supervisor to get things accomplished.

Wine, Chocolate and in the morning some excellent coffee.

Honey

My moms group does lots of Coops. We are all thrifty mamas and who doesn't like to share a good deal with friends. So my hubby and I did a honey coop. My husbands friend is here locally and sells honey. It is delicious. So he said he would cut us a deal if we could sell the whole drum. That is 55 gallons of honey. Luckily for us this was easy because several of our friends make mead or beer. They use the honey for this. Anyway, we ended up selling that much honey. I collected the money which was also no big deal thanks to the wonders of Paypal. Collecting the jugs was a little more of a headache, but got it done. So Monday the honey was delivered back to us, divided. Today I met with everyone and gave them their jugs back, full of honey.

WHew! Only one jug got broken. It was glass and cold. Also my DH was smart enough to put down a tarp in the car. The honey was contained onto that. The jar of honey was not salvageable because I was afraid the honey would have glass in it. The jar broke right down the middle in several pieces. OY! My friend cut her finger but nothing serious.

All in all it was not too bad. Although next time I think we will up the price a dollar or whatever the cost and just have the jugs provided from the honey man.

Current excitement.

One of my goals with this blog is to keep a record of little things the kids are doing or interested in.

Last night we went to Target to exchange a few Christmas things. Gioia got a My Little Pony that came with two sets of clothes that are plastic and kind of snap on. It is a birthday pony with a cake. So she has been playing with that all day and night. She really is not into dolls. She got a Hannah Montana barbie type doll for Christmas. She was excited at first but hasn't really played with it. I told her you could change her clothes and stuff. She doesn't really care. She likes to play with animals mostly ponys, horses, dinosaurs, etc..

Dominic got new underpants and is excited for them. They are Madagascar themed. Size 4T. Why are underwear sizes so off from clothes sizes? The boy is 3 but wears 2T pants, some 3's are starting to fit now. But size 4T underwear? Weird. Also why are the characters on the butt of the underwear instead of the front? Dominic always puts them on backwards because he wants to see the print.

Luca has obtained more muscle control and can now grab his toes. It was an amazing discovery for him and he talked to them for quite a while. :) He is also trying to sit up. He can't do it alone but he loves to be held up in that position. He is still a smiley guy. He is also still an excellent sleeper.

House project.

I am getting really excited about our house project. We need to finish up some odds and ends around here, mostly like paint touch up and small repairs. Then we are planning to list our house for sale in March! WOO hoO! I know it will arrive quickly so we are doing little by little.

We met with a builder i found. He does these Insulate Concrete Forms to build the house. The prices are great! We are really excited. Our friends that are building came and talked to him as well. For us, it depends on when and if our current house sells. When it does (thinking positive) we are going to move to a rental and start building. It would be super if we were in by next fall/winter. The house itself would go up (walls, foundations, windows) in about a month. Then the roof and finishing the inside would take the longest. I know lots of contractors looking for work, so I think that will not be a problem.

Had Bunco Saturday night. That was fun. A much needed Moms Night out. I had Luca with me of course, we are never apart at this point for more than an hour. He is such a lovebug. A very sweet baby.

Quilt for my sister.

I just realized I never posted the finished quilt I gave my sister for Christmas. I was looking back through my posts and I finished the quilt top in Jan. 08. Got it finished quilting in December. Oy! I will do better with future quilts.

So here it is. I was not sure I did the right thing by picking the pink binding. My sister really liked the pink on it though and thats what matters.

I got some background fabric and was working on a new quilt. I had it all cut out and realized it looked awful together. The background fabric has a print on it and it clashes with the main fabric. UGH. So I am making two of the same quilt now I guess. I don't like to do that. Once I finish on I want to move on. Anyway, I got some other fabric to go with the background pieces and I am working on that now.

January

Lets see. I planned to get a lot of stuff done this week, but not so much has taken place. I am planning on sewing like a mad woman in the next two days. I have several things I would like to get finished. I DID finish two more slings. I have one lent out that I think the lady will buy. I have another mom that wants to buy one. Then a third that I was referred to and I am not sure if she will buy one. I hope so. YEAH! I love it when people buy slings. :)

The sewing I was planning to do was quilting. I have two tops ready to finish. My quilt swap quilt and a mile-a-minute scrap quilt. That one is more difficult because i need to rip out the portion I did quilt (which is AWFUL) and then redo it. Ugh.

For New Years eve, we just stayed home and hung out with some friends. It was mellow and fun. Then today we went to our land and had a weine roast. I am so glad we went. The temp was in the 50's and no wind. It was really nice to get outside.

On the downside, my GPS was stolen out of my car, in front of my house. Assholes. The police took a report and said I have a decent chance of getting it back since I had the serial number for it. I guess Pawn Shops have to call the serial numbers in. We will see. I just wanted it on record in case they had other thefts in the area.