Day 8 of 30

A favorite song....

Can't pick just one.  These are three of many songs I've been listening to while I get all my crap together for our meeting with our accountant. These three just happen to be the ones I've been listening to *obsessively*. 

Day 7 of 30

Whoops.  So I'm not doing so hot at staying on task.... but at least I have my subject matter already picked, eh? 

Day 7 is something I want to buy....


I really want to buy a couch.  When we finished our basement, we moved our couch down to the family room and we have yet to replace it upstairs in the living room.  We have a plethora of chairs, currently.  And I don't think I like any of them.  I guess I'm grateful I have somewhere to sit until we buy that couch.  I even have the one I want picked out.  But we decided to be smart and wait until we had the cash to get them (I'd like the loveseat too...)  So, we're still waiting, thanks ever-so-much to our duplex that keeps sucking money. Dustin tore out a tiled shower today and we'll be replacing that next week.  Some mega-idiot that did the bathroom before we bought it put the tile directly onto the sheetrock on the walls and directly on the wood framing on the bottom pan area.  So, the shower has been leaking and leaking over the years, turning sheetrock to mush and the framing to compost under the tile.  Lovely. 

I'd also like flooring for my living room... and paint, and new windows and new curtains.  And new cabinets for my kitchen, and new flooring... pretty much a whole new upstairs to match our whole new basement.  Wouldn't that be nice?

Day 6 of 30

Something you bought recently...

It seems like all I spend money on lately is my rentals.  Last week I bought a gallon of paint, a gallon of polyurethane for refinishing hardwood floors ($50 for ONE gallon!!), a floor-finish applicator, blinds for windows, a shower curtain rod, and I rented a floor sander.  I also purchased the service of a roto-rooterish company (FOUR times in as many months), a sewer line camera, an excavating company, and a furnace repairman.  Not to mention paying for heat and power in a vacant house for two months...

Just so you know, these are my least favorite things to spend money on. 

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In other news, I just sent all my children to bed for being Bratty McBrattykins. (Brynja was the exception)   Right now I'm listening to a chorus of screams.  If someone is walking by outside they might be worried about what is going on in this house.  Ella is screaming like I severed her arm, and Mac is mock-wailing to make fun of Ella.  (Don't worry, no arms have actually been severed.)  They are in their rooms.  Ella can hear him and so she screams louder and then he screams louder too, to make her mad.  She screams back at him to be quiet and he continues screaming.  I told her, just now, the magic secret.  STOP SCREAMING.  If you stop screaming then he'll stop making fun of your screaming.  She hasn't seen the sense of my motherly wisdom yet. 

Mac just discovered that Rohan is no longer in time-out.  He ceased his mock-wailing and started yelling the question, "Why is Rohan out of time out?"  Rohan, who sat quietly on the couch (his time-out spot, as he shares a room with Ella and I didn't want to deal with that time-out disaster) during his punishment, was thanked for taking his sentence with good grace, and was promptlly freed from his cushiony prison.  Mac didn't think this was fair.  I told him he was still trapped because he was making fun of Ella's screaming and he then tried to tell me that he wasn't making fun of her.  Sure, kiddo.  Nice try. 

It's shaping up to be one of those evenings I wish I could hold an auction for a couple of kids.

Any opening bids?

Day 5 of 30

Did a week really just go by?  I'm so busy I could scream.  Or cry.  But right now I'm waiting for the washer to stop so I can swap the contents to the dryer because I want a particular shirt tomorrow... and so, rather than scream or cry or get anything done of my many things-to-do, I blog.

Day 5 is Top Ten Pet Peeves

I've not been looking forward to this one.  I think it's because I dislike lists.  Here goes, in no particular order of relevance.

#10: Lists

#9: Whiny tenants.

#8: The new traffic pattern on a street right by my house that I HAVE to drive on ALL the time.  It used to be two lanes and now it is one lane and people suddenly feel the need to drive 20 mph instead of the posted 35 mph (or 40 like they used to do before the change).  I have never acted on the road rage that I feel, but I vividly imagine ramming the back of the vehicles in front of me when I drop from 35-40 to 20.  I get so mad.

 #7: My children being tattle-tales just for the sake of telling me or getting their sibling in trouble.

#6:  Poor spelling and incorrect grammar.

#5: Being asked my telephone number/account number AFTER I already entered it using the keypad on my phone. Why do they ask for it twice? What was the point of entering it in the first place?   (stole this one from Esther but it sure doesn't make it any less true for being stolen)

#4: Trying to talk to those automated phone things and if you don't say things just right or if there's any noise in your house, they say, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.  It sounds like you said..  'Blah Blah Blah', is that correct."  NO YOU IDIOTIC PHONE THINGY!!  I HATE YOU!  JUST GIVE ME A REAL PERSON!!!  (I may or may not actually scream at those things in real life...)

#3: Mispronunciations of words like nuclear, escape, especially, salsa, and MY NAME. 

#2: When my adorable husband or children don't rinse their milk out of various dishes before letting them sit in the sink for a while.  Just put a touch of water in that bowl or cup, please, my loves?  It makes the washing so much easier.  (I try to maintain sweetness with this one... it does bug me but it's one of those things that I let go of pretty easily because I love them)
#1: People who call about a house or apartment I have for rent, ask me a million questions and take a good five minutes of my time and then, as an afterthought, ask if I allow cats or accept Idaho Housing (subsidised housing program).  NO, I DON'T!!  I sure wish you would have asked that at the first.  Thanks for wasting BOTH of our time.


End of negative ranting.

Day 4 of 30

Something I crave...

So many things.

To be touched.  I crave a massage on my neck.  I crave my feet to be rubbed.  Or even just held.  Dustin laughs at me because I often ask him to just hold my feet, wrapping his hands around them with gentle pressure.  I love that.  I also love my back, face and/or arms to be tickled.

I crave self-awareness.  I love to dig in to my own psyche.  I want to heal old hurts that I find there. 

I crave escape.  A book.  A trip.  A girls' night out.  I am happy and content for the most part, but sometimes I just want escape.

I crave fresh mozzarella, basil and homegrown tomatoes.  And I often crave orange juice.  And Cadbury Mini Eggs.

I crave a thunderstorm.

I crave that place I sometimes get into when I write where I can pour my whole sould into the words and I feel better for the writing of them.  And I feel satisified.

I often crave a good solid cry.

I crave sunshine.  I crave that right now.

I crave singing and playing my guitar.  I crave singing with my family. 

See... so much craving, so little time.