Labels: being a Home Owner, being Earth Friendly, Daisy Dog, gardening

Friday night I had wine and conversation with my neighbor-boy’s mom and her girlfriend. I really like them. It’s been awhile since I’ve started a new friendship but I think I’m handling it ok :-)
One of the best things about them is that they only live one road over! So it’s super convenient for hanging out.
I’ve decided I am going to invite them to dinner sometime in the next few weeks and cook for them. And then I am going to invite them to my next Girl’s Night Dinner…
Friday night Triniti also had her friend Erin coming over which I had thought was happening in Saturday night… this worked out well though because not only did Erin spend the night but so did neighbor-boy’s mom’s girlfriend’s daughter.
Man, I need new names for people.
I think the combination of the wine drinking and company on Friday night made me think that the it was Saturday so it felt like I got an entire extra day out of my weekend.
Of course, three little girls having a sleepover is a pretty crazy amount of energy and those girls stayed up until like two in the morning. And then woke up at like six thirty.
There just wasn’t enough coffee in the world for that.
The girls and I putzed around, cleaning up a little before heading over to The Cake Lady’s house for Jimmy’s Gumbo. SO GOOD.
And so nice to spend some time with The Cake Lady and her family. We’ve hardly seen each other in months and I miss her. She had to work the next morning so we left around ten-ish and went home where I promptly went to sleep and slept straight through until ten o’clock on Sunday.
Did you read that?
Ten. O. Clock.
Fueled by what I can only assume was some hard core guilt over having slept until TEN, I worked my ass off yesterday cleaning and organizing and laundry washing and seed planting until it was bedtime.
It felt great.
All in all, a pretty darn good weekend.
And, I am over the writer’s block. I had some great ideas this weekend.

Labels: being a Home Owner, Being Mommy, soul sisters, The Cake Lady, Triniti, writing a book

The word of the day is: perspective.
Yesterday, in our quarterly meeting, I was enjoying the constant praise that our location was receiving. I can't help it, I'm human and humans like to hear that they are kicking ass.
Despite the fact that I had a really rough weekend with the girls contracting head lice and the warrant for my arrest that had just been issued for a speeding ticket I got in 2001 (Nine. Years. Ago.), the former of the two having forced me to take a day off that I really needed to work, I was in really good spirits.
I had a really good attitude because I had pushed myself to finish all of the work I needed to get done before the meeting. I'd helped out in areas that I hadn't really needed to help out in because I'd wanted to.
In short, I'd done a good job and I was pretty happy with myself.

At about two o'clock, my boss leaned over and said, "did you hear about what happened in Haiti? They had another earthquake this morning, a 6.1..."
I hadn't heard.
Suddenly, the lady from marketing was fading out and all I could think about was how was Haiti going to survive another earthquake? How many more people were going to die? How many more were going to be brutally injured? Who was going to help them?
My eyes started to well up right there in the middle of the marketing section of our quarterly meeting. I wanted to go the bathroom and just sit down and cry.
I don't understand everything you know? I don't understand how things like this happen. I don't understand the why.
I didn't excuse myself.
I shouldered those tears and tried to focus on the meeting that suddenly felt empty and ridiculous.
By the end of the hour, I'd managed to push Haiti into a corner in my mind and put my participation in the meeting back in the forefront. After marketing, it was time for awards.
Awards.
Plaques.
Checks.
I've been with my company for two and a half years.
In the last two years, I have implemented systems that our entire region is now required to use. I've trained other office managers on them. I've helped out with everything I could possibly think to help with. I've set the standards of office management on many levels.
I really thought that I was going to get an award.
And I didn't.
And it stung.
And it's stupid.
Because people in Haiti are trapped and dying and without water and medical attention.
Because other stores in our company are closing, people are fighting for their jobs.
And I am sitting there pouting. I had the audacity to pout. To be angry.
Lola reminded me yesterday that my feelings are valid. That I'd worked hard and I deserved to be upset that I hadn't been recognized. My feelings were valid.
But without perspective I think.
I am lucky every single day that I have a home, a job, security in both of those things. That my children are healthy and that head lice, no matter how icky and inconvenient, was the worse thing to happen to them this year. They are happy, they have bright futures.
I am lucky.
We are, all of us, lucky.
So today, I am refocusing. I am not focused on the fact that I didn't win an award yesterday. I am not focused on the head lice or the stupid hundrend and twenty bucks I had to pay for a warrant for a freaking ticket from nine years ago. Today I am having perspective. I am grateful for the things I have and I appreciate them.

Labels: At work, Being a Chic, being a Home Owner, being American, Being Mommy, daughters, my crazy life

It is a pretty small town as far as towns go...

When Jiffinner and I spoke on the phone last night and I told her I was really starting to plan moving in a few years, she said, "to a beach huh?"

While Rimouski is a beach town, I don't think that was what she was thinking...

It's no secret that my plan is to live near a body of water. I need water. It makes me feel whole.
But water in Canada? Where it is cold?

And they have this white stuff that falls from the sky?

But there are also trees. Many glorious trees.

And a beach. Not the kind of beach I will likely be swimming laps in but a beautiful, straight out of Anne of Green Gables beach.

And while all of the picturesque town near the beach stuff is lovely, the fact is that I miss my sister.

I want to be near her and my neices and the fact that they live in a beach town is just a plus.

A really, really big plus that almost completely makes up for the fact that I may freeze the death my first winter there...

Labels: being a Home Owner, sisters

So a few things have happened... the first is that my case worker sent me an email a few weeks ago with a link to a little girl who is ready for adoption right now and who doesn't have anyone interested in her.
Did your heart just break?
Mine did.
The thing was that this little girl is older than Triniti and the one thing we are certain of is that we don't want to get someone older than Trin.
Does that sound ridiculous? Are you thinking to yourself right now, "what does it matter? She needs a home!" I battled with the same thoughts.
Here is the thing though, I believe that your sibling order is a big part of who you are. I also believe that this isn't my choice to make on my own since it involves all the members of my family. So the girls and I talked about it and Triniti said she really didn't want to get another older sister and so we had to pass on this child.
It is really amazing how hard that decision was for me.
I've had to say to myself so many times in the last few months that I can't save them all. I can't take them all. It's hard for me to accept that because there are so many little girls out there with out moms and I am a Mom.
That simple fact will have me crying at night sometimes.
What I have had to accept is that when it happens, it will be what it is supposed to be.
The first night of my Foster/Adopt class, I got in my car to drive home and I was so overwhelmed with feelings. I felt like crying and I was so scared but there was something else there too, something I hadn't ever felt before and it was eating me up inside. At first I thought it was the fear and my mind immediately sent the thought forward of You don't have to do this. You can stop now. And I could have. I could have quit that class that day and never went back.
But I didn't.
And the reason I didn't was because that feeling I hadn't ever felt before was this inherent longing and I truly believe the first strings of a connection to a little girl who I have never met.
In the thirty minutes it took me to drive home that night I went from tears to certainty. The fear is still there. But it isn't only in regards to the adoption but just permanently attached to my being a mother. When I start to get a little scared about adopting I have to tell myself that I apply that same fear to the daughters I already have all the time. It is normal to be scared. I was scared each time I was pregnant and I don't think it would be natural not to be scared now in the "gestation period" of my adoption.
I have a sort of faith in that The Universe is going to present to me exactly what I am supposed to have. So when I start to reel a little from all of this, when I think to myself on a Sunday If I can't get this laundry done with just three girls, how am I going to do it with another one? I have to remember that I can handle anything. I didn't think I could handle one or two or the three girls I have. I didn't think I could do it alone. And I have to remember that this little girl isn't going to care whether I got all the laundry done any more than my current daughter do. She is going to care that I listen to her and hug her and tuck her in at night and support her choices and that I love her.
And I can do all of those things with clean or dirty laundry.
So when I start to feel a little like I can't breathe, I remind myself that what is meant to happen is going to happen.

So I emailed my caseworker back and told her that we weren't going to put our family in for the older little girl and asked about the progress of Carebear since we haven't heard anything since the very end of July.
Her response:
"I haven’t heard anything on Carebear. I did give your home study at our selection staffing for a sibling group of two girls 4 and 7. They are Hispanic with no major behavioral issues."

Wow.
Universe? I have my eye on you.

Labels: adoption, being a Home Owner, Being Mommy, The Universe

Labels: being a Home Owner

I damn near had a coronary trying to make my mortgage payment this month. Turns out my mortgage company went out of business, begrudgingly.
If you were a fellow Taylor, Bean & Whitaker mortgage holder, DON'T FREAK OUT.
Bank of America is taking over all of their loans.
Call 800-669-6607 and tell them and they will help get you taken care of.
Thank goodness.
This has been a public service announcement brought to you by the LOC.
LOC: Out.

Labels: being a Home Owner

I am a horrid, horrid procrastinator.
I should be flogged.
You know, I realize that flogging is a truly unpleasant thing that shouldn't be made fun of... BUT how lame of a work is "flogging". It sounds like something that would involve a wet noodle and very little pain. When I picture flogging, it actually involves one of those floaty noodle pool toys.
See?
I am an impressive procrastinator.
I've just procrastinated posting WHY I am a procrastinator.
Top that!
Let's see... what all do I procrastinate? How about an impromptu list?
Writing
Working Out
Dieting
Laundry
Cleaning
Calling people
Uncomfortable chats
Organizing my office
Working in my greenhouse
Murder mystery dinner night

I really could go on and on... There is SO MUCH. And last night as I was laying in bed checking my email and the missed connection section of craigslist as my eyes were closing despite my every effort to keep them open, I was thinking to myself that I need to get my shit together.
All of those things listed above? I should be doing them. Daily.
But I find that I am tired and burned out and lazy.
I pat myself on the back when I make dinner AND clean up.
So during this chat I was having with myself last night, the lazy side of my brain (not sure if that is the right side or the left side) was all, "it's okay Kate, you're BUSY. You have a lot to do. You can't be on top of everything all the time!" And then the other side of my brain was all, "you're right, I am busy... I work a shitload of hours and I have kids and pets and... WAIT A MINUTE! Didn't we just watch three episodes of Heroes on Netflix?"
Yeah.
So it isn't my super busy life that is getting in the way of me accomplishing these things that I want to and should be accomplishing. It's my sitting on my ass.
Then this morning as I was working reading blogs, I came across this post and I thought, "Yeah, I should do that. Maybe if I commit to thirty days, I may actually change my ways." The lazy side of my brain chimed in with, "A) You are rhyming and that's lame and B) School starts this month, don't you think you will have enough to do? Let's wait until the year 2033 to start on that list, cool?"
Uhm, no. Not cool.

So, my blank? I think it is going to be the biggest and most procrastinated thing EVAR. My freaking dieting, exercising and eating better.
That's technically three blanks but whatever.
It's time.
Maybe I'll stop being so effing tired if I start changing my Heroes watching ways. So what about ya'll? Do you feel like committing yourself to something for thirty days?

Labels: Being a Chic, being a Home Owner, Being Mommy, my crazy life

Isn't that what it's called? When you suck it up and do something you don't want to do? Swallowing the frog... that's what it feels like, that's for damn sure.
I know I've barely been on here and I have to apologize but also let ya'll know it was necessary.
You see when I have to deal with something big, I have a tendency to take away things that distract me from dealing with it. Because I will immerse myself in things that keep me from thinking about what I need to deal with like blogging, watching movies, reading books... Anything that keeps my mind off of my big girl stuff. I procrastinate by ignoring and/or thinking about other things.
However, this particular bit of discomfort had to be dealt with and I had put it off for three weeks.
The thing I dislike most in this world is confrontation.
I loathe and abhor it.
It's one of the main reasons I am not in a relationship.
It's one of the main reasons I don't get along with my family.
Conflict sucks ass.
And I dislike it.
So the thought of confronting my boss about the fact that he completely blew off my raise and then gave the commission I was busting my ass to start getting to the new ops manager made my stomach do flip flops and my ass clench up.
But after closely evaluating my budget and realizing that without the raise, I was going to start going under, I had to rethink my avoidance.
Avoidance: Rethought.
And this morning, after going over my numbers for the millionth time, it became so ridiculously crystal clear that I had to do something that there was no more avoiding it.
So I printed up a list of everything that I do (four pages long, thankyouverymuch) and a review sheet and I went into my boss's (boss'? bosses? bossssssss?) office, shut the door (I originally typed "shit the door", it felt the same I assure you) and sat down.
He said, jokingly, "uh oh, the doors shut".
I had him sign some things I needed signed and then told him I needed to talk to him. I told him, truthfully, that it's hard for me to talk to him about this kind of stuff because he is my boss and my friend and it makes me uncomfortable. Then I told him that I needed to discuss my salary. That I had explained to him before we hired the new ops manager that I needed to start making more money because my brother was moving out... in fact, if he remembered, we'd had this same chat back in August of last year when he gave me my last raise. Now my brother is moved out and I'm in a bind and I can't put off talking to him about. I reminded him that he had said we'd revisit this subject in December and let him know that I didn't bring it up because we were firing admin staff across the company and it obviously wasn't a good time.
I then handed him the four page list of what I do here and reminded him of all of us sitting down two weeks ago to cover everything on there and how much of it I'm doing. I also told him that I think I am doing a good job and that I hope he does as well and handed him a review form to review my performance. He jumped in and said he hoped he hadn't said anything to make me think he was unhappy with my work, which he hasn't and I told him as much.
He said he would be happy to get with his boss about my getting a raise and asked me how much I needed. I told him and he said he'd talk to him.
So people, cross your freaking fingers for me. If he gets it approved, I will be able to breathe again.
I haven't breathed in weeks.

Labels: At work, being a Home Owner, my crazy life

Three things happened to contribute to my being off the net for three days:
1. Everyone moved out of my house Friday. It's just me, my three girls, three dogs, two birds and one turtle.
2. My AC went out.
3. It was 105 degrees.

Labels: being a Home Owner, family drama, my crazy life, Texas

With my brother moving into his new place, I have been paying attention to the types of things one needs when moving and not really having the basic things you need for a new place.
One of those things that you don't really have that you need is shower curtains.
I bought one when we moved into my new place without even giving so much as a second thought to whether they sold them recycled.
They do.
So today, two very different recycled shower curtains.
The first shower curtain is made from recycled billboard signs. The shower curtain is made from two different billboards and sewn together. Silver grommet rings. Hooks not included. Handmade in Tucson, Arizona by Iraqi and Afghani refugees.

Truthfully, I think the recycled billboard sign shower curtain is my favorite. A lot of color and character.

The second is a shower curtain made from recycled sails... as in sail boats.

This would be so perfect for someone's beach house!

Either way, you are recycling. AND I bet these last considerably longer than the ten dollar shower curtains you get at Walmart.

Do you know about something bad-ass and recycled?
Shoot me an email, link's on the right.
Peace.

Labels: being a Home Owner, Noah, RBATOTD, shopping, stuff I like

One of the things I mentally battle with on a regular basis is my use of paper towels. They are so necessary in all of my cleaning up that I buy them pretty frequently and every time I do, I feel bad. But when you have kids and spills and you weigh the amount of stuff you'd have to wash if you cleaned up every spill with a small towel... I mean, would the amount of laundry you'd have to do waste more energy and resources than the paper towels?
I've never been great at math.

But these seem like a pretty decent alternative to the paper towel for most cleaning up problems that I would usually use a paper towel for.
And when they are rendered no longer useful, I can throw them in my compost pile.
And the price? $15 is the same price as two packages of Bounty and these cloths would surely outlast them.

Do you know about something bad ass and recycled?
Shoot me an email, link's on the right.

Labels: being a Home Owner, Being Mommy, RBATOTD, recycling, shopping

In the next week or two, my house will consist of the following inhabitants:
Myself, Amanda Panda, Emo, Trin-Trin, Madame Chicita Puppy, Crush the Turtle, Woodstock the very vane cockatiel, and Peanut the World's Grumpiest Parrot.
At which point, my intentions are to go through every room in my house one by one, all the closets, all the cabinets, under the beds, the shelves... you name it. I want to know exactly where everything is and get rid of a bunch of stuff we don't need.
It's no weekend project people.
It's a SEVERAL weekends project.
And that's cool. Because, in case you haven't noticed, I don't have much of a social life :) And once I'm done going through my house, I will be going through my shed and seeing what the hell lives in my carport.
Now that it is finally going to just be me and my girls and gang of pets we've managed to accumulate, I want to make it our house again. And I want to enjoy all of the hard work that is going to go into not just restructuring the things in our home, but also in restructuring the way we take care of our home as a family (read: chores hehehehe).
So what am I going to want at the end of a long day of cleaning and organizing and restructuring?
Something that could go into one of these recycled newsprint wine bags.

Right?
I'm already dreaming of sangria.
Jiffinner? Fairy? The Cake Lady?
You know you want to come drinks sangria _{and maybe help me reorganize my house on your weekends off} right?
Hehehehe...
Do you know about something bad ass and recycled?
Shoot me an email. Link's on the right.

Labels: Amanda, being a Home Owner, being Earth Friendly, Being Mommy, Emilee, family drama, RBATOTD, recycling, shopping, soul sisters, stuff I like, Triniti

Remember how I told ya'll we were going to be giving Amanda her own room?
Well, I found a bed!
We're picking it up tomorrow.
Check it out :)


It's from IKEA, link is here. Of course, I didn't get it IKEA because THERE ISN'T ONE HERE!!! ARRGHH. But that's ok, because it's used, so we are RECYCLING!
Yay for used furniture!
If I wasn't SO FREAKIN' BROKE right now, I would get Emilee's new bed too because I am finding some GREAT deals. For Em's bed, I am thinking more traditional style wood that I can paint BRIGHT YELLOW! Emilee is so yellow to me.
More thoughts on Em's new room coming soon.

ps. Amanda wants music notes bedding. Help? I can't find any... Just plain black and white :)

Labels: Amanda, being a Home Owner, being Earth Friendly, Being Mommy, Emilee, recycling

Sometimes I wish I were in my Forever House.
I wish I'd found the house I wanted to keep forever and leave to my girls.
I'm not.
I'm in a house that I can hopefully build up enough equity in so when I sell it when property value is at an all time high, I can make a decent chunk of change and use that to make a big life and/or location change.
I hope I will be a published author when that time comes so I can work for me and live the dream and all that jazz.
When I try to envision that house, my Forever House, I can't just barely get a fuzzy picture in my head... I know, as much as I say otherwise, I want a big house... two stories, three or more bedrooms, lots of wood (says the environmentalist)... cabin-y, home-y... I HAVE to be near water, I know that... my soul needs water. Whether it is a lake or an ocean or a river, I need to have water near me.
And it would have to be filled with comfy furniture and walls of books.
*sigh*
In the meantime, while I am in my just for now house, I have to resist the urge to redo stuff. My floors were a neccesity. I CAN'T deal with carpet. And in the next year, all of my floors will be redone.
But other stuff? Like my cabinets? And painting? Not necessary and really just a waste of money. Plus, the biggest thing for me is not to put too much of myself in the house. Because it should be a neautral pallet for someone else when I sell it.
But if I could?
If I wanted to take all my cabinets out and replace them and redo the tiles and the backsplashes? I would so totally use recycled glass tiles.

I just think they are so pretty. And if I were making long term changes that reflected MY taste, I would so totally use recycled glass tiles...
Do you know about something bad ass and recycled? Shoot me an email. Link's on the right.

Labels: being a Home Owner, RBATOTD, shopping, stuff I like

I can't seem to narrow down the boat-load of thoughts I have in my head down to one or two poignant thoughts.
Sorry.
I want to write about Rob Thomas and how his new cd touches me.
I want to write about how glad I am that Fairy has found this guy that it looks like she is going to stay with... maybe forever. And how their two sons are like these bookends, they just fit perfectly. I am so proud of her for so many reasons right now. It makes me want to cry. In a good way.
I want to write about how my family is dispersing over the next few weeks. And how my sister and I just can't seem to find a relationship which kicks my ass. But also about how my brother and I have managed to and I never would have expected it.
I want to write about how this morning while Noah and I were driving to work, it suddenly occur ed to me that he may be headed in the direction of finding someone. My little brother, moving into a decent sized town with his two dogs and his apparent good looks and all that single guy no baggage thing going on. I just hope I like her.
I want to write about my trip to Ireland this time next year and start brainstorming with Jiffinner about what we're gonna do while we are there and maybe even start making reservations.
I want to write about how I miss my sister Blue and I wish I could go visit her.
I want to write about how I'm a little bothered by the fact that Mr.I and I haven't talked in awhile.
I want to write about Amanda and Em's dad and how his girlfriend asked me to let the girls call him for Father's Day and how I said no.
I want to write about the ideas I have for the girls rooms.
I want to write about the diet I'm about to go on which is less of a diet and more of an assisted lifestyle change.
I want to write about how the stuff at work is almost completely finished and I while it isn't what I wanted, it's better than what I didn't want.
I want to write about how I'm starting to feel a little lonely because HOLY SHIT I've been single for FOREVER. And while most of the time I am ok with that, it's bothering me a little right now.
And in that vein, I want to write about the very nice email I got from a very nice man on plenty of fish and how I wasn't even remotely attracted to him and that makes me feel bad.
I want to write about the movie coming out, My Sister's Keeper, which has previews that make me cry... and last night, when we were watching the previews and Cameron Diaz shaved her head, I told Amanda and Emilee that I would do that too if they had cancer and Amanda cried.
There is a lot I want to write about.
It's all coming people.
I'm about to explode from everything I've been holding in.

Labels: Amanda, Being a Chic, being a Home Owner, Being Mommy, Emilee, my mother, Noah, Ruthie, Triniti

I love this.
Especially right now when I am in make-over-the-girls-rooms mode.
I really love cork boards and magnetic boards - pretty much anything I can stick stuff to :)

We owe our thanks to WAHS again since this is also off of the site that she sent me the other day with the tire tube wallet.

Do YOU know about something bad-ass and recycled?
Shoot me an email!

Labels: Amanda, being a Home Owner, Being Mommy, RBATOTD, shopping, stuff I like

I am a few weeks away from taking the girls from shared rooms to single rooms. Of course, this has my imagination running away with possibilities for how to redo these rooms to make them personalized for each girl.
Amanda will be moving into what is now our "playroom".
This is what that room looks like right now... It is 12x15 feet.


The window looks weird because that is where the "tree house" is and if you are wondering about the strange "rugs", those are two 100% wool rugs that shed LIKE CRAZY that we have stacked and flipped over because Trin likes to play in there and it makes the floor all cushy and keeps the carpet clean.
And yes, that is the solar system hanging from the ceiling. I think I got it on Toyrsrus.com and we LOVE it. You can't see, but above the couch is Van Gogh's Starry Night which is, without a doubt, one of the girls favorite paintings.

So, like I said the room is twelve by fifteen feet. Amanda wants a double bed, she is SOOO over having a twin bed. This is my layout idea...

The furniture that is staying in there is ONLY the little tables on either side of that couch. They look kind of like this
but they are painted with some ugly grape design and we will be repainting them. Amanda also has a small desk that looks similar to this

except very plain, not as deep and a solid cream color that we will be painting to match the side tables.
WE also have this bench which I want to jazz up somehow and put at the foot of her bed.

I like the idea of doing something bold with her furniture. Something with a few paint colors and some silhouettes...

Maybe finding some wallpaper and cutting the silhouettes from the wall paper.
I have a couple of ideas... ways to incorporate things Amanda is really into. Like this music pattern... I thought about painting this across the top of the desk and then putting music notes randomly on the rest of it...


Or pandas or monkeys... or animals in general...


She likes light greeny blues, greens, deep blues and sand colors... Those will be the colors we use for the painting, the roman shades we'll make for her window and her bedding...
Here is the color pallet she chose...


So why am I telling ya'll this?
Well because I am no decorator chic and I would love to hear input, ideas, and strategies for how the hell I am going to pull this off.

Labels: Amanda, being a Home Owner, Being Mommy