my social butterfly

ronnie called me on his way home from work

and asked if i cared if him and a friend went out to dinner.

um, no.

i kind of called ronnie out in my last post for

never really wanting to do much socializing.

so the combo of a weekend out with his friends

followed up by a night of pizza and beer is

the most action ronnie's had in awhile.

who is the little social butterfly?

i love it.

not just because its good for ronnie to get out of the house,

but because i get a night to myself too.

and it makes me feel less guilty when i call in my turn for a girls night.

plus i took advantage and drove brette and i to DQ

and got us some ice cream,

(by us, i mean me.)

and now i'm in bed,

with a blizzard,

getting ready to read a book.

this is the life.

ronnie really needs to go out more often.

who wants to invite him to dinner next week?

i promise he's a good time.

 

 

weekend bliss

i was gone all weekend.

(another excuse as to why nothing was

shared on my blog for a whole week.)

i rushed home after work on friday,

ronnie and brette were ready and waiting

and we took off for warrensburg.

we made it in time to have dinner with my parents and

spend the night at their house.

 

[side note: my mom hung beach towels over the

window in the room brette sleeps in.

it was pitch black and she slept

 past 8:00am both mornings. 

what. the. hell.

i told ronnie that we are immediately hanging

towels over her windows when we got home.]

 

the next morning ronnie and i left to go to the

lake of the ozarks for the day with his friends.

it was such a good time.

ronald hardly ever does anything with his friends.

i don't know why he's such a homebody

because he has fun once we're there,

but sometimes its hard to talk him into being social.

totally not an issue i understand.

i mean,

he gets a whole day to not

work on the house

mow the yard

wash the cars

pack our house

change a diaper.

nothing.

and its nice to do nothing every once in awhile.

 it was good just to get out of town for the day,

cruise around on a boat and

r e l a x.

so nice.

sure, it was blazing hot and my hair looked like a rats nest,

but i managed to coat my albino skin with

enough sunscreen and made it out without burning myself to a crisp.

plus my hair eventually made it back to normal,

but not without me busting out some scissors to cut out some knots.

seriously, my hair was cray-cray.

and yes, we did go out to dinner after we got off the boat

looking like a bunch of homeless (and maybe drunk) scavengers,

but it was fun.

 

 

 

 

we got back to my parents in time for bed

and woke up the next morning,

threw all our stuff in the car and headed back home

to celebrate miss eden turning two.

and what an adorable two year old she is.

we got to visit with friends we hadn't seen in awhile

and even met new future friends for brette.

plus its always fun to see my family and

hang out for the afternoon.

 

 

 but yeah,

we were busy.

all fun stuff,

so i didn't mind.

 

hope you had a nice weekend too!

 

 

 

write me

did you think i gave up on my blog?

sorry about that.

i've actually started a new schedule at work

and its throwing me off my game.

one of the girls i work with had a baby so

for the next six weeks

i work my regular monday and friday,

but i also work tuesday, wednesday and thursday,

but only from noon to two so i can help cover lunch breaks.

i know it doesn't seem like a lot,

but brette naps from 9:45 until 11:30.

we have to leave the house at 11:30 in order for me to

be at brian and jaime's house by a quarter till

so i can drop off brette and be at work by 12:00.

(ps- big props to my s-i-l who watches brette for me!!!)

i get off at 2:00, pick up brette and get home around 2:30.

and then its nap time until about 4:30.

ronnie gets home at 5:15.

then dinner.

then clean up.

then bathtime.

then bedtime.

and whew.

my day is over.

 

honestly, i have some spare time to write,

but with all the running around i do,

there's not much to write about.

so instead,

i'll just make excuses and share a few snapshots of b.

 

happy?

 

 

 

 

what's behind door #2

there is technically no need for toys.

oh sure, we have fun playing with all of brette's,

but i'm pretty sure we could get by without them.
toys or toiletries?
she picks toiletries every time. 

brette has a particular fondness for bathroom cabinets.

e v e r y d a y  we play in the bathroom.

over and over she takes out all the items to either

study or put in her mouth.

i have found it very useful when trying to get ready.

she just plays at my feet.

we removed all the cleaning products,

but the rest we let her go to town on.

whatever works, right?

 

 

 

 

 

now excuse me, i have about 200 things to pick up off my floor.

another school year

i get serious joy from all the

first-day-of-school photos on facebook.

all the kiddos are adorable.

i literally cannot wait for the day that brette

is standing proudly on our front porch getting ready to start kindergarten.

i love, love, love the anticipation of a new school year.

i was the kid that was too excited to sleep

and was pumped to get to school.

i. loved. school.

i met kassie on my first day of kindergarten

and all these years later, we're still bff's.

that's right people,

your kid might have just met their lifelong friend today.

that's huge.

 

and since its thursday,

i thought i'd do a little

 schoolday throwback of my own.

 

first,

 brian's first day of kindergarten. (1987)

seriously.

what is that outfit?

 

and i was too young for school,

but i never passed up a chance to pose for a picture.

 

and now, my first day of kindergarten. (1989)

 

(i know my brother looks like a future serial killer,

but he just hated getting his picture taken.

i don't think we have one with him smiling until he was in high school.)

 

notice that my mom and i are matching?

she was the kindergarten art teacher

and apparently i made her match me

since we were going to be in the same building.

obviously, my fashion sense has evolved.

(everyone nod your head.)

 

i hope everyone that had littles (and bigs) go off to school,

 also had evenings filled

with exciting stories of their amazing first day.

 

 

 



our next house

ronnie and i cannot decide for the life of us

what we want for our next home.

for  y e a r s  we have been looking for a house with some

acreage that we could fix up and make our own.

now, ronald is o.v.e.r working on a house.

he says he just wants to come home from work and relax.

hang out with me and brette and not be

busting his ass trying to fix something.

i get it.

i totally do.

we spent the first three years at this house renovating.

i understand that he's burnt out,

but that kind of messes up our my plans.

he wants something move-in ready.

but we can't afford something that's move-in ready AND on land.

booooooo.

so, in lees summit, that pretty much leaves us with two options:

buy a cookie-cutter house or build our own.

i decided that we should totally build.

i found land.

i found house plans. 

i put an offer on 10 acres and they accepted.

this is gonna work!

 

(only, one small problem.)

land is expensive.

building a house is expensive.

we have to do dirt work,

put in a septic system,

and lay a driveway

all before we ever spend a dime on the house.

i'm not certain that we will be able to build

the house that i want once all of this is added up.

and now ronnie is sending me listings for regular, old,

cookie cutter houses in neighborhoods.

are they nice?

for sure.

would ronnie have to do anything?

not a thing.

would brette love it?

of course.

but its not really what i want.

 

is this the part where i take one for the team?

i'm dragging my feet,

but i'm trying to come around to the idea.

the thought of picking between a beige or dark beige house is killing me.

 

 

the low down on the lock down

we had some bad luck today.

 

my mom watches brette on mondays

so i can go to work.

she called me around 6:30 because she was on the

side of the highway with a flat tire.

dad was out for his morning walk

so she had to wait around until he got back

home to let him know she needed help.

great.

but, not a huge problem.

i can take brette in with me until

my mom is able to come pick her up

and she thought she would be in town

between 7:30 and 8:00.

i packed toys, books and breakfast

and headed to work with brette in tow.

when i got there i threw my keys in my purse

and got out to walk around to the other side

to get her.

oh and i punched the lock button as i closed the door.

whaaa?

ahhhhhhhhhhh.

i tried all the doors and of course they were locked

and my purse is sitting on the front seat.

keys. phone. food.

mother fucker.

so i ran inside the bank.

(it felt  t o t a l l y  weird leaving her outside)

and called 9-1-1.

oh hey, just letting you know i locked my baby in my car.

k, thanks.

and then i ran back outside to stand guard.

we played a little peek-a-boo through the window

and in no time at all a police officer showed up.

and then another.

and another.

brette just sat there and watched all the men trying

to open my doors.

she was totally chill.

i really was too.

it wasn't hot and she wasn't crying

so i wasn't feeling completely heinous.

and my mom showed up and kept watch with me.

brette did start to get a little fussy

when they left her side of the car to try the other side because

she couldn't really see anything and she was ready to get out.

they finally managed to get the car unlocked

after about 20 minutes.

 

free at last.

free at last.

thank god almighty, free at last.

 

too much?

well, i was happy.

now hand me my baby.

sold!

we sold our house.

oh yeah.

 

only took us 2 weeks.

in total, i did 6 house tours.

7, if you count two 6th grade girls hoping to talk

their parents into moving.

i did a few things to make the house seem a bit more functional and pleasant.

here are my top ten tips: 

 

1- took all my extra shoes and all my winter sweatshirts out of my closet.

it made the closet look organized and bigger.

i wanted to make it seem like we had plenty of room.

this goes for any jam-packed closet in the house.

de-clutter.

 

2- i put live plants in most all the rooms.

i think it makes it look more homey, green and inviting.

no to mention it helps decorate a space without 

making it seem too personal. 

it needs to look like a home,

but a home that could work for a number of people,

not just you.

 

3 - all of brette's extra things around the house were stored.

no highchair. no jumper. no babygates. no baby toilet.

the house looked ready for ANY family to move in.

not just one with small children.

 

4 - all bathroom toiletries were put away.

i have a basket of products i keep on the counter.

i made sure and stored that away so the

prospective buyers didn't think we were lacking on storage.

clean off your counters - - bathrooms and kitchen.

 

5 - i turned on every lamp in the house.

i think it makes the home look warm, bright and inviting.

lighting can really change the way a room feels.

 

6 - i wiped down the deck furniture and put out a few

outdoor place settings so buyers could envision 

all the fun outdoor dinners and deck parties.

your outdoor space can be just as important as your indoor space.  

 

7 - i deodorized.

not that i think my house smells,

but i do have two dogs running around.

i swept and vacuumed over and over, always

adding arm & hammer pet fresh to the carpet.

and then i'd click on my scentsy (orange scent) in the kitchen.

it smelt clean and the citrus smell makes me think of summer.

 

8 - i cleaned.

the bathroom fixtures were shining, the table tops were dusted

and the mirrors gleamed.

you want to make sure the house looks cared for and well kept.

 

9- i had ronnie make me a list of dates and specific upgrades.

people asked lots of questions and lets be honest,

i might be able to tell you when we painted

a room, but i don't know how new the water heater is.

that kind of stuff was always ronnie's job.

so i had two pages of specifics he wrote out for me.

i could go over our heating and cooling,

sump pump, roof, foundation, garbage disposal, appliances.

you name it and i had some info on it.

it made me seem super knowledgeable and probably

helped put any buyers' mind at ease with a quick answer

to any of their questions.

 

and last,

 

10- i made ronnie, brette and the dogs leave.

the point of showing your house is to make the

buyer think that it could be their house.

if you have your kids and your pet and your family

running around, it makes them feel like a visitor

when they should be envisioning their own life here.

sure, it was kind of a pain - - for ronnie.

he had to leave with everyone in tow and find something

to do for an hour, but i think it was totally worth it.

a couple times he took brette out for dinner, so

i put the dogs in their bed in my car and left it running with

the air conditioning on.

a little extreme, but louie would have barked his head off the entire

time and ruined the house showing.

 

so there you have it.

a little bit about what worked for us

when showing and ultimately selling our house.

 

now who wants to be invited to our packing party?

we only have a few weeks to get everything out.

i'm overwhelmed.

shit hit the fan

no, actually shit was everywhere but the fan.

in brette hair, on her hands, her pj's, her crib, her sheets.

it was nasty.

 

she woke up a little early and i wasn't quite done

getting ready for work so i let her play in her crib.

i'm guessing 15 minutes later, i go in to get her

and i am hit with strong smell of poop.

i'm just thinking that i have gross diaper to change.

until i open the curtains and turn on the lamp.

dun dun duuuuun.

brette was having a full on poop party.

of course, i'm all ready for work in a dress and she's trying

to touch me with her poopy little fingers.

ahhhh.

there is quite the pile of it on her sheets so i take off her shirt

and lay it over the pile so she'll stop touching it.

gag. choke. vomit. gross.

i get all her clothes and diaper off and

wipe down her back and toosh the best i can.

i put her in the bathtub and start scrubbing.

then the best thing in the world happened.

my mom showed up to watch her.

oh halleluiah, i have backup.

so i conveniently  had to go to work and left my

mom with poopy laundry and poopy hair to wash.

i'm hoping this never, ever happens again.

or if it does, let ronnie be the one that finds her.

 

but as you probably guessed,

this is just the precursor of a sick kiddo.

 yep, all day yesterday she kept getting worse and worse.

runny nose, slobbering, not sleeping, diarrhea, pulling on her ear and cranky.

we're headed to the pediatrician this afternoon to get her checked out.

stupid summer sickness.

weekend recap

busy weekend.

 

i had a half day at work on friday

so i was finally able to see dana and her kids.

(plus our bff, kass joined us)

we have the exact opposite work schedules,

so we literally can't ever hang out. 

it's a real bummer.

it was only for a couple hours,

but it was long enough to get the details on each other's lives,

bitch about people and

swap stories on our husbands and kids.

just what i needed.

 

 

 

i had to work saturday morning,

but beforehand i drove half way to warrensburg

to meet my mom and drop off brette.

she watched her for me so ronnie

could have some time to work on a couple of pieces

of siding that needed replaced on our house.

its kind of hard to do that with a one year old.

after work i drove down to warrensburg

and hung out with my mom until my dad got off work

and then we headed to my cousin's house

for her surprise 40th birthday.

i ate lots of food and then dominated a piece of chocolate cake.

i'm pretty sure i gained back any of the weight i had lost.

we made it home in time to get brette to bed and finish my book.

i know. my saturday night is killer.

 

 

sunday, we woke up to cloudy skies,

but made it to the park for awhile before it started raining.

brette had a ride on daddy shoulders

while louie and leia ran a like stallion, stopping only for potty breaks.

i was really awesome and made biscuits, sausage and eggs

for a big sunday breakfast.

this was the first time ever and

will probably never happen again,

but hey, i need to impress ronnie every now and again.

 

 

after brette's nap we headed to ronnie's sisters house for a family day.

ronnie's mom and grandma were in town so

it was nice to spend some time with them.

(and somehow we didn't get one stinkin' picture)

while we were there i got a phone call from

a lady that had made an offer on our house and she

accepted our counter offer.

wahoo!

if the inspection and appraisal go accordingly,

we will have to be out of our house by september 1st.

even as i sit here and type this i feel the overwhelming

desire to get some boxes and start packing.

now all i have to do is figure out this damn sellers contract.

 

 

hope you all had a nice weekend too!