The · Pursuit · of · Happiness

Last night Jahsh watched me stripping wallpaper for a while then asked "wouldn't it be nice if we could have this done - like wave a magic wand and ta da it's all done". My immediate response was "what fun would that be?". Later I informed him that there is a magic wand for that sort of thing. It's called money and we don't have enough to do that kind of magic.

Bathroom remodeling is going slowly. Too many interuptions and not enough upper body strength/endurance means I am working at it in bits and pieces. Still hope to be done by next weekend though. I have already fixed the big hole in the ceiling and stripped about half of the wallpaper. Today I plan to finish removing the wallpaper and paint the ceiling. Then I need to remove the old sink and toilet, paint the walls and trim, remove the old floor tile, install new tile, and finally install new sink/toilet/blinds. We'll see how that goes. The only thing totally new to me is the tile work.

I keep popping out to weed for a few minutes (since it is way too hot to work outside for any longer) and forgetting to put on my gloves first. Yesterday I grabbed a rose branch putting a few holes in my fingers. Today I gave myself a horribly painful cut from a piece of grass. It is like an awful paper cut that gapes open everytime I flex my thumb. Ouch and duh!

This video combines 2 of my favorite things:

It is always so stressful for me to come back home after a vacation. I always manage to freak myself out that something horrible will have happened while we were gone and we will come home to gruesome carnage. Happy to report that, as usual, I was wrong and all the cats/birds are just fine except for some slightly out of control fleas.

The motor in the ceiling fan in Stella's room had started making noises that I didn't like, so we bought a new one last weekend. Didn't get around to installing it until this weekend. Jahsh wasn't sure how to take down the old one, so I climbed up and started to unscrew the decorative cover piece. Turns out, 1 screw through that thin metal decorative cover was the only thing holding that big heavy fan/light fixture up!!! We are so lucky it didn't come crashing down at any moment during the past 4 years - possibly injuring or even killing someone. Also very lucky that I somehow managed to catch the fan as it started to fall and not rip the wires out of the ceiling, drop the screwdriver, or fall off the ladder myself. Still not sure how I managed that because it was very heavy and awkward to hold, but damn glad that I did.

We got the new fan installed with almost no problems. Jahsh did have to chip away some of the rock hard plaster ceiling for it to fit right, but he got all the wiring right the first time and it works great. The bad news for Jahsh is that the new fan is so nice looking and quiet that I now want him to replace at least 4 of our other old ceiling fans ASAP.

Our yard seems to be swarming with critters on this very rainy day. Snails, bunnies, baby squirrels annoying their mom, toads, robin family, grackle family, cardinal commune (group of at least 2 male cardinals and 1 female that all hang out together), bluejays, sparrows, fireflies, and lots of other birds and bugs.

We didn't do much over the 3 day weekend. Jahsh mowed the grass and I have almost finished the recycled concrete stepping stone path I'm laying along the swampy side of the house. We bought and installed a new toilet in the downstairs bathroom (yay - only 2 trips to Lowe's to get it done right). The kids watched Mary Poppins which they just love. Especially the "Step in Time" dance. We checked out new sofas at a couple of local stores and decided to just wait until the next time I go to NC where I can buy a better quality sofa for much, much less. I don't know where the rest of the weekend went.

Jaxon is done with preschool until September. Stella has one last week of school. I can't wait for summer. I love being able to sleep in a little and do whatever during the day without stressing about forgetting school pickup times.

I am so happy that Stella has finally gotten to the point where I can start sharing some of my all-time favorite books with her. She has read three of Shel Silverstein's poetry books She just finished the first of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books and started the second. I just ordered the Anne of Green Gables boxed set for her to read this summer. I am also reading the Chronicles of Narnia to her, but I expect that she may start reading them on her own before we finish the series. Yay!

Sigh. Our old house is having a down month. We had to trash the sofa after the cats decided they really, REALLY hated it. The front door is sticking. The downstairs toilet won't stop running unless you lift up the little bar inside, and one of the kids dropped and destroyed the tank lid while doing that. One of my antique dressers is literally falling to pieces and needs to be completely dismantled and fixed. Oh, and there is a sink/vanity sitting in our living room waiting for my upcoming remodel of the upstairs bathroom.

While I can fix all of these things eventually, there is no way we have the time and/or money to do it all before their visit. Hopefully the weather will be nice those days and I can just plan lots of away from home activities all day long. And stuff as much of the junk/clutter as possible into the basement and keep those doors closed.

Today Stella turned 7 and we all celebrated our mothers. My kids are suckers for infomercials and got me Aqua Globes which are actually very pretty. We'll see if they really work or not. We all got dressed up this morning and went to brunch on the 11th floor of the Chase Park Plaza hotel. Jaxon refused to buy a suit - he said the jackets were too hot. Instead he got this boy band looking vest outfit (see photo below). I really thought the kids both looked good. Of course, I wanted them to look their best just in case they couldn't behave. In my experience, people are much more accepting of bad behaviour if you look good. The view from the hotel was very pretty and helped distract Jaxon when, as usual, he finished eating long before everyone else. The food was excellent. My favorites were the eggs benedict, fresh strawberries, and of course the mimosas. Stella had 3 desserts and I think Jahsh had 5 or 6.

My kids seem to like a much bigger variety of foods than most of the other kids I know. I have always encouraged them to eat the same food as me, but sometimes they get a little too crazy for even my tastes. For example, Jaxon's afternoon snack today was pumpernickel-onion pretzel sticks dipped in raspberry soy yogurt. It is nice though to have the only kids who beg for fresh asparagus as much or more than candy at the grocery store.

So today Stella came home with a blue ribbon for winning 1st prize in the first grade spelling bee - and a red mark in her agenda for very naughty behavior. This left me completely confused. I wanted to congratulate her for the spelling bee, but also punish her for the behavior issues. Ack! I hope I managed to get across both feeling adequately.

Stella's homework today included writing 3 sentences about her mom. She wrote the following:

"My mom loves me like her heart is bigger than her body. It's like shes a golden metel. My mom is the queen of our family."

Why does it take me so long to get back into my routine whenever I go on a vacation? I got back from a wonderful time in NC and TN Monday night and was so scatterbrained on Tuesday that I forgot to pick up Jaxon from preschool. Way to make myself feel like the worst mom ever :-( I still haven't managed to get anything new done all week. Just catching up on laundry, house stuff, errands, bills, etc.

Oh, and a note to all selfish asshole drivers out there. If you are going to try to ignore my polite attempt to merge into your lane when there is road construction then you should probably not be driving with your windows down. Especially when I am cranky and worried on my way home from taking my poor 4 year old to the doctor with a very painful infected ear. I let my temper go and completely cussed out some stuck-up older couple yesterday. Scared or distracted the lady enough that I managed to "push" my way in front of her anyway. Then after the construction area I followed them very closely for a few miles trying to make them think I was going to follow them wherever they were going and go all road rage on them - until they slowed down so much that I was bored and went about my business. Not that I'd really kick anyone's ass just for driving rudely, but maybe they'll consider being a little nicer next time because the next driver they piss off might be a real nut.

After 3 years of living here I have finally started to do something about the stuff I don't like. Painted the spare bedroom today. It was painted in 3 different pastel shades for the previous owner's baby. Now it is Carolina blue (totally not planned - just picked an ok looking blue color from the mistake paint section at Lowes for $3 and it turned out that way). Hopefully I can keep the ball rolling and have our house looking nice for it's centennial next year. Also hope that no unexpected, catastrophic "must fix" issues come up and suck away my home repair budget.

April is a busy month for us. There are birthdays, holidays, spring break, and trips as well as the normal day to day stuff. We filed our federal taxes a while ago since we were getting a good refund, but almost forgot to file the state return since it usually comes out about even. Luckily Illinois has a really simple form that only took about 5 minutes to file online.

Now if I can just kick this cold/allergy whatever that has been dragging me down for over a week I will be ready for my upcoming trip to visit Chapel Hill.

Sometimes men can get it right. Jahsh got me the shoes I'd been ogling in the Anthropologie catalogs for my birthday today. They fit just right and are oh so cute! So nice of him.

Tattered Cosmos Sandals at Anthropologie

This weekend Jahsh and the kids made truffles using an easy kit we found on sale at TJ Maxx for just $3! They made dark chocolate peppermint truffles and they are really delicious. I highly recommend the kit - though it usually sells for $26 according to the company's website http://www.thetrufflekit.com/ I will definitely grab more if they have them at our local store. It has very good, high quality chocolate and really helpful and thorough instructions.

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~Wendell Berry

I often wonder why my 2 kids get along so well. My sister and I fought constantly. Still do. My kids however play together most of the time. They are kind and considerate of each other. Anytime someone gives something to one of them they will ask for another for their sister/brother. I don't know if it's because I have a boy and a girl instead of 2 girls or what, but I certainly feel blessed.