No time

There are always posts in the back of my mind but I just never find the time to sit down and type them out. The days run together without ceasing, I fall into bed exhausted each night without waking a single time before morning - a rarity for me.

Weekdays are up at 7 to make breakfast for Jason and the kids, shoo them off to work/school with hugs and lunches, Alex and I play, teach, walks, fix up the house, dishes, phone calls, errands, paperwork sing, laugh, romp outside, dance, eat, laundry, menu, groceries, dishes, paint, blow bubbles, scrub, clean, snacks for Jason and the kids who get home around 3:30. The walks to the park, teaching Rebecca to bake, watching movies with Jarod, homework, art projects, workout at the gym, decide which piece of furniture to repaint next, fix supper, eat around the table, cleanup, baths, storybooks, hide and seek, preparing next days lunches, bedtime for kids at 9:30, an hour or so for Jason and I to talk/snuggle/watch a show before I pass out before 11 like an old woman. :-P

Weekends are yard sales, thrift stores, bargain hunting, redoing furniture, researching how to repaint or fix up an old piece, any errands that require the car since Jason is off work so I can drive, kids to the library, Alex to playgroup, community events....

Loving every minute of it. So nice to be a whole family, all on the same schedule for once, with our own space.

But...that doesn't leave me much time to update everyone else.

For now though - that's ok.

Woot!

Found Alex a sandbox! :-P

Days

Time is going by so fast, I can't believe we've been in the house for 2 weeks already! We really love having our own space but there seems to be too much space, after our small place in Belfast and our tiny nook at the in-laws....we are just uneasy with all this room. We usually all end up together in one room all night because we get lonely. lol

The weather has warmed up a little so Alex and I have been walking a lot around town. We go to the grocery store each day to find marked down meat and veggies (and a "lolly" for Alex - he still uses the UK term for popsicles), we can walk to the park or to the in-laws, and he loves to go to the hardware store to get a free bag of popcorn.

Today we had an almost tragic event though....his beloved buggy broke! This is the buggy my mom and I found for him the day after I moved to N. Ireland. Alex had never been in a stroller before as I had always worn him but he was 2 and getting heavy and as we had no car there I knew we'd need one. I guess because he had never been in one it was this new, fun experience for him and he just adored his buggy so of course we brought it with us when we moved back to the states. But after over two years of constant use (we bought it used)...it was starting to wear out. I found him a nicer stroller at a yard sale here but he refused to use it "No! I want MY BUGGY!".

Today he sat in the buggy and....it collapsed! 'Ahhhhhh! MY BUGGY OH NO!"

I looked it over and saw that one of the screws had broken in half (wtf....how is that even possible?). So I told him we could walk it to the hardware store and see if they could fix it. "An get popcorn mommy?!" lol
 They were able to replace the bolt/screw thingy for....$0.14 and a bag of popcorn. Can't beat that! Alex now thinks the hardware store is the best place ever. The whole time they were trying to find the right size screw he was petting his buggy and saying "All better, don't worry we fix you."

The older kids will be home in a minute and we are going to make monkey bread. Both Jason and I have been craving it without knowing why because I've never made it before (I think my mom might have made something like it but called it sticky buns or something) and he hadn't had it since he was a kid. Then we figured it out...there is a recipe for it on one of our wall calendars this month. LOL Subliminal messaging works well on us it seems. So Alex and I got the stuff to make it at the store today. It's also taco night so we can't wait, yum!

My quiet spot

While in Belfast we learned that it won't kill you to hang your own laundry nor to walk to get where you need to go. We've tried to keep this alive here by owning only one car and putting up a clothes line. We live in the middle of tiny town and can walk to to store, bank etc. so the car is only used to drive Jason to work in the big town.

I've really in love with line drying for several reasons.

*The kids don't bother me while I'm hanging up clothes because they are afraid I'll make them help me.
"Moooommmm! Where are you? MOM? Mooo- oh" *runs away*
Muhahaha!

*SO not only do I get some peace and quiet but the sun shines down on me, the birds are chirping, and the laundry smells so fresh and clean. We hung the line up on our privacy fence so it's hidden, a little hide-a-way spot for me. It's not a chore I rush through, in fact it can take me quite a long time to hang up a load of laundry. :-P

*It costs way less and uses less energy too.

You don't get all that using a dryer now do you? :-P

Our house

As promised....a video of our house!

As you will see we got a table! Jason's sweet aunt gave us one along with some cool blue chairs.

I also went back to the thrift stores and got the bucket chair and old coffee table for our living room, which is looking really 70ish now! In total I spent less than $40 for everything in it, for that price I can totally dig the 1970s! When I get tired of living in the past I can reupholster everything. lol

I still can't believe that a few days ago this house was totally empty and we now have everything we need and more! Thank you Freecycle - the best concept, ever - for taking our house and turning it into a home!

My next step is to strip and repaint all the dressers, tables etc. I have some great ideas...just have to get the supplies and get to work on them. Keep an eye on this blog for before & after posts. :-)

I'm also keeping an eye out on freecycle for desks and bookshelves so we can get all our books out of boxes, set up the office, and put the computer on a desk in the living room instead of the coffee table. I'm also looking for an old table to put in the basement for Rebecca as she has all her craft supplies down there, she wants a low table and a bean bag chair. And need to find a TV and loveseat for Jarod to put in the basement. But for right now we are all set!

Keep in mind I have sever allergies (previous residents had lots of pets so I've been having to deep clean everything which is stirring up tons of dust and dander) so my voice sounds funny.

Whew!

The past couple days have been intense!

I saw the ad in the paper for the house and a few days later it was ours! Perfect timing though as Jason and the kids were off for Easter break so we were able to move in on Friday!

Thursday I packed everything up, I have no idea where we got so much stuff! We came back to the states 5 months ago with 2 suitcases each but somehow ended up with 6 van loads of items! Clothes and toys mostly. Jason has a bad back, it goes out if he so much as picks up a sock, so I did all the moving while he took care of the kids and kept us fed -which worked out perfect.

Then I hauled it all over to the house, which was pretty dirty so first Rebecca and I cleaned it, she was a huge help! Now we had a nice, big, clean house...full of boxes and nothing else. lol

So I made a post of freecycle and had a massive response! Freecycle is the best concept, ever.

I took the van and made several trips to the big town picking up items and between freecycle, the in-laws, and Jason's aunt our house now had beds, dressers, little tables, bedding, dishes, pots, tupperware, and so much more. Lots of people also said they would have more items for us after Easter because they would be spring cleaning. Thank you everyone! How wonderful it is that a totally empty house can be filled in 2 days because of kindness and a desire not to support consumerism.

Our first night in the house was exciting, so much room! The had fun running around and around. lol

But soon tired out and complained that there was no living room furniture to sit on. heh

So I ran to a store in the big town that I had been told had really good second hand furniture at great prices. I was also hoping to find a kitchen table as sitting on the floor to eat is fun, but only for awhile.

They did have a lot of living room furniture but "great prices" must mean something totally different to me as the recliners and couches were over $100...and I had brought $25 in cash. lol The couches were pretty faded and worn too, some of them has little holes or stains.

But...then I saw it. At first glance I dismissed it as too hideous but then I took a second glance and thought "Hmmm". It was in PERFECT condition. Looked like it had just came off the sale room floor....about 40 years ago. It just screamed "Proud to be from 1970!". I'm guessing that some old lady had it sitting in her back parlor covered in one of those plastic covers. I sat down on it and it was soooo very comfortable. And then I saw that there was a matching avocado green chair that went with it. And I remembered that one of the thrift stores in town had an old coffee table that looked like it was also from the 70s and at the other thrift store there was one of those plastic bucket seats from the 70s..."Dude!" I said "You can totally rock a 70s living room!" The price cinched this idea...$20 for the couch and $3 for the chair. The clerk gave me a lot of funny looks when I said I'd take it and said "Are you sure...you really like it?" heh

I'll also have to find one of those huge ugly paintings to hang on the wall and a lava lamp. Perhaps shag carpet and wood paneling? lol The kids were happy to have a place to sit and all said it's very comfy. Which is all a couch needs to be. I didn't find a table but Dorothy let us borrow her card table until I come across one.

Saturday the kids had an Easter egg hunt at the school, inside because it's so cold of course. They were separated into age groups so Alex lucked out because he was the oldest in his group and he found 22 eggs!
He left those 2 year olds in the dust!

Then I ran back to town to get stuff for our Easter breakfast and their baskets. Then later ran back to pick up more freecycle items. I was soooo tied but the house was looking good!

This morning the kids hunted for their baskets while Jason and I cooked a huge breakfast, it took Rebecca a long time to find hers because Jason stuck it up in the rafters down in the basement. hah! After breakfast Rebecca hid eggs all over the house for Alex to find and then he hid them for her....all in one spot. lol

Now, I've got 5 boxes of freecycle kitchen items to wash and then....tackle the oven. I don't know what the previous owners did to it but it's bad. Really bad. Need proof? Yay, fun for me!

I will try to upload a video of the house on Tuesday, when the kids go back to school and I find some batteries for my camera. :-P

We LOVE having our own space again!