End of Summer Fun

It's been busy these days. I keep waiting for creativity to strike so I can share something delightful and funny, but that hasn't happened. I guess I'll settle for the mundane, "here's what we're up to" post.

Why so busy?

I don't know. It just seems everything started up at once.

Mr. D's hours went to evenings, so that means that I am on kid-duty for most of the day AND night. That keeps me moving.


We had a couple playdates this week. We welcomed in the start of fall by celebrating 100+ degree weather at the nearby water park. The kids loved it.




Me? I'm ready for fall. My tan (what there was of it to begin with) has faded. I'm ready for jeans and socks. Okay, okay, I'll admit it. I'm tired of shaving everyday and making sure my toenails are done.


On Wednesday, we had Grace's appointment with the school speech pathologist to proceed in getting her into some speech therapy. I love my little dear to pieces, but her pronunciation needs help. Fortunately at the evaluation, it was determined that it is strictly intelligibility that needs work. She doesn't seem to have any deficiencies in language development or comprehension. I didn't think so, but it is nice to hear it confirmed anyhow.

And because I felt that I wasn't busy and getting out enough, I signed up for a MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers) as well as a weekly women's bible study at church. So we added those on our schedule this week. Yay for childcare at both of those events however!

And tomorrow we are heading to the fair with some friends.
Oh, and Saturday the kids and I are going shopping with my sister-in-law.

Whew! So at least I can't complain that I'm bored and lonely!

A Garden

This was a corner of our backyard when we moved in two months ago.


Then it looked like this as we (meaning hired help, not myself) dug out part of the slope that made up our yard.



But now, we have this.


Oh, and this.


But back to this.

This is going to be my garden area. I am so excited. I am imagining all sorts of fresh veggies, maybe some fruits. Some succulent berries or crisp lettuce. Saving money, feeding my family, teaching the kids about nature. How fun.

One problem.

I don't know how to garden.

Yet.

My thumb isn't looking anything green so far. There's no dirt under the nail. It's one step from being manicured.

Okay, maybe not that bad, but really, I'm not sure even where to begin. Good thing I have some time until spring.

Of course, I'm assuming I should wait until then.

Save While I Spend

I am on a mission to save a few dollars these days. Of course, isn't everyone it seems. It has become a bit of a game now to see how good of deals I can score.

My last trip on Sunday was a winner - I purchased a gallon of milk, hairspray, a Glade candle, two jars of Welch's jelly, and hair dye. I paid $1.44 out of pocket... PLUS, I earned $13 towards a future purchase. Mr. D was waiting in the car for me with the kidlets and he said he always can tell if I made a good purchase because I come out grinning.

I have a Target trip planned tomorrow... hopefully I come out grinning again!

Also, to save some money, I haven't had a dryer for the last month. Our dryer gave up for good, and we are hoping to find a good deal on Craigslist. I love that site. We have found a few leads, but they have been snatched up before we could get to them. Our recent 100+ degree weather has been drying my clothes "super-fast" as Grace would say, so I haven't had any concerns. Yet. When we get our quasi-fall season sometime, then we'll have to get serious in looking for a replacement.

So with the money that I'm saving here and there, I'm using to start decorating the house. Even though we are unpacked, the rooms just don't have a "Sara-touch" yet. I need to add some finishing touches here and there. I have a lot of empty wall space that I didn't have before. The paint is just kinda "blah". I have a list of things to do, but I am trying to remember "one thing at a time" or rather, one room at a time.

Ok, the point of all this rambling really is to share that I found a super-cute bedding set for Grace's room.

I found it on a few websites, all around the same price. But then I found that one of the websites I considered, also listed their products on ebay. Brand new and sealed. I scored it for $20 less then I would have paid through their real website. Not including what they would have charged me for shipping. Sweet. See, I can save while I spend.

That's what I'm telling Mr. D at least.

Paul-iwog

In honor of Paul's 10-month birthday tomorrow, here's the latest on my little man.

My little happy man. He is (generally) such an easy going guy. He likes everyone. Likes to clap his hands. He says "Dada" and "Mama".

He's a big boy - not a surprise there. He is already in his 12-month clothes. He loves to eat everything that I give him. He really hasn't turned up his nose at anything yet. Loves fruit though - which is funny cause we couldn't get Grace to eat for years. He will chow down cantaloupe, watermelon, and grapes like nobody's business.

He has 8 teeth already, and I think that there might be more on the way. I think the back molars might be on the move cause I think I can spy the little marks on his upper jaw. I'm hoping that is the case as he hasn't been the best sleeper lately.

I was so proud of my man for a while there. Around 7 months or so he started sleeping most of the night through. I thought I was going to have it made in the shade as Grace had basically just started sleeping through the night at 2 years! But then.... he changed his mind and seems to be more on "let's wake up a couple times during the night and then rise up nice and early for mom!" He's ready to play usually around 6:30am. I'm not. Especially when I just was up with him at 5am.


And now, Paul-iwog is on the move. He started crawling a couple weeks ago and nothing holds him back now. Well, nothing except for his baby cage.
He typically will play in there for quite a while. But when he's done... well, he's done.

And now, I have two months to plan for his birthday party! I already have the theme picked out. But I'll leave that for another story.... oooh... the suspense.

Getting It Done

So after I bared my "dirty" secrets yesterday, I wanted to share that I was moved to action today. Between Grace and I, we got things done.

I have a clean and non-eek bathroom now! Yay!

Clear the Air

Things are finally starting to feel more normal. Hallelujah! I am getting back into a routine - my Type A-ness just demands a routine. I am back to making my meal schedules, laundry is under control, and the house doesn't quite look like it has been hit by a tornado.

But I have a problem. I have to overcome some bad habits that I've created during these past few months. It started back when we put the house on the market. In order to keep the house looking good - I had to skip some of my heavy-duty cleaning in order to do general pick-up so frequently. Then, in the process of moving, I threw my hands in the air and gave up trying to keep things clean, and then after we moved and were still unpacking, I figured, why bother right now - what's the point?

Well the point is now that I have a dirty bathroom. I'm eeked out by my own bathroom. So I need to get my hands out the air and back on the scrub brush.

Ok, I really wasn't going to go on a diatribe on my cleanliness here, but I guess I needed to confess in order to clear the air... or should I say CLEAN the air.

But I'm working on these bad habits. I did some cleaning today in our living area. I also disposed of the pile of stuff that had been lingering in the corner for weeks. (The pre-move Sara would never let things linger for weeks.) We had a garage sale at my mom's house a couple weeks back and I brought back a box of some stuff that didn't sell, and a box of stuff I filched from my uncle, along with some random things like signs, tape and stickers. So I finally grew tired of looking at it, and cleared it out today. I gave myself a good pat on the back.

And just for fun, I'm going to share my garage sale signs that I threw out today. I had several people comment on them. I had fun with them.

The Cat is Out of the Bag.... or House

So I have to admit something that I have been having a little bit of guilt about the past few days.

We recently had a household squabble. There was some shrieking. Some hiding. I kept the kids close to me.

And then...

Mr. D threw out the cat.

Her new home is outside our front door.

And I feel a little guilty because I didn't do much to stop it. I just watched, and to be honest, deep down, I'm rather glad.

Poor Kitters.

See, this cat isn't a real people-person kind of cat. She hides most of the time, isn't very friendly, and frankly, isn't even nice looking. She doesn't have the proper hygiene skills that a cat should have - she gets matted, dirty, and I have to wipe her bottom. Seriously, I have enough bottoms to wipe without adding on a cat's.

We had an incident a few weeks ago that involved pee-pee in Paul's room, poo in the office, and well, an unhappy Mr. and Mrs. D. The cat had been wearing its welcome thin the past few months. Okay, really, the past few years. Basically since I've had kids. I could tolerate her before the kids. But now, she's just in my way. Buying food and litter just aggravates me, and I generally kept her around cause I didn't know what else to do with her.

Well, now, I guess Mr. D solved that for me. However, I still feel a twinge of guilt when I see her sitting in the front planter.

But at the same time, she doesn't seem to be that perturbed. Maybe this is a good thing for her. You know, some fresh air, dirt in her paws, she can wipe her bottom in the planter rather than in my baby's room!

Yes, I think this is a good thing for her...It sure is for us!