Letting a cat out of the bag

While this may come as a shock to many of you (not!) Blaine and I have not been thrilled with what our corner of the world has to offer. We've been here for nearly four years, and for most of that have been looking to move elsewhere. Now, with a deadline and decision to move out of our house, we've decided to take a leap of faith - again. We're packing up, leaving this home that's never felt like home and heading down the road... this time to Missouri. Any minute now, having typed Missouri dozens of times at this point, I'll stop typing Mossouri. Or I'll just stick with MO and be done with it all. Seriously.

While much thought and prayer has gone into this decision, we have remained pretty quiet on the whole thing because we didn't know what we were doing. Guess what?! We still don't know what we're doing. We are renting a Penske truck on August 24, packing up and heading to Springfield, MO (see, that is so much better!). We've been looking at rentals, have friends in Springfield that have been kind enough to check them out for us, and Blaine has resumes in at many places there. So far, no job, but he gave his notice at work yesterday - we're committed now! There are a few options for churches we are familiar with - and did we mention built-in friends?! After having hopes for Oklahoma and having different things not turn out as we'd hoped, this was unexpected - and we're both so very excited. The kids are beyond excited - although some of Liberty's excitement was dampened when she realized she'd still be sharing a room. Space of her own is something she longs for. Good luck on that one, baby girl.

So there you have it. This is all feeling rather familiar... because it is! I said never again - and shouldn't have. Almost four years ago, to be exact, we did this very same thing. We're high on hope that Missouri (first try! I'm getting better at it. :)) will be friendlier, Blaine's voting for warmer as well, and we've already found that land is much more reasonable as far as our desire to be homeowner's once again. Looking at the bright side, having rented for our time in PA, we once again qualify for the first time homebuyer benefits!

Crazy? Perhaps. Being married to Mr. Visionary* is never dull, but I wouldn't change a thing. Packing and moving 8 times in 6.75 years keeps the clutter down, at the very least!


*While I don't appreciate all of her viewpoints, her account of the three types of men and specifically, mine in Mr. Visionary, is uncanny and insightful.

Make up your mind already, Momma.

How awful is it that when Sterling hollered for the second time in 3 minutes from his bed that he needed to potty that I waited a few minutes, hoping he'd just go in the diaper? Really, why?

And where is it written that with a diaper, he'll stay dry all night, but without, wake up soaked?

Potty training has me rather consumed lately. Or at the very least, equipped with soggy stinky blog material. Really, if you don't have kids, I'd stay away. This stuff gets less gross once you do. Strange, I know.

Another thing: we're moving. More details to come (as we figure this out!), but we gave our landlord the month's notice on July 31. We'll be out of this house by the end of the month. Destination: unknown. We had to move by the end of August or stay the winter in this stinky two-family house, and another winter here wasn't an option. Not a good option anyhow.

Ruby's 11 months old today. This is only the second time that I've had an 11 month old and not been expecting another. Don't hold your breath, folks. Not gonna happen. Not if I have anything to say about it. Not that we have a good track record or anything. 2 out of 4. Hmmm...

It was a really nice thought.

But when I get woke up, not once but twice, by Sterling somewhere in the wee hours because he needs to pee, I start to wish he wasn't potty trained. Or that he'd just pee in the diaper he's wearing. Nope, take him potty. Then feed Ruby, because he woke her up and she couldn't possibly go back to sleep without nursing.

And when he goes down for a nap - in his undies this time, since he stays dry anyhow - and I lay down for a nap too, only to be awakened by him holding the monitor against his mouth hollering "Ma-MA!" I start to wonder if this was really what we were after.

But what takes the cake is going up in my too-short nap stupor to find out he didn't get me woke up in time. But at least he was kind enough to remove said undies and poop on the floor instead. He's just thoughtful like that.

Tell me why...

Blaine decided to cross over to the dark side... Firefox, that is. He's been using Opera, but we all know Firefox is the best. This created new problems - namely, I use Firefox. Don't mess with my tabs! He figured out how to create different users, so we're all set. Not so much. Firefox had an update, and my skin (theme) wasn't compatible. So last night, for over an hour, I browsed themes available. Thousands of themes. Deciding on one finally, I headed into the living room, and Blaine asked me what I picked. I told him - and he started laughing. Thousands of themes, and we picked the same one. Why is that so stinking disturbing???

Sunny cems.

We have had our goldfish, Sunny (Thus named when he was two. Apparently we needed to be sure he wasn't going to change color first.) for nearly four years now. He was - wait for it - $0.29 from Walmart. I know! I'd gone through fish after stinking fish, and everything died. Did you know Walmart has a guarantee on their fish? Yep, Mr. Customer Service, that was my Ziploc with the dead Mollie. He didn't even last 24 hours, and I was sick of it. Sunny was purchased within seconds of the fish man dumping fish into the tank. Apparently, the less time spent at Walmart, the better. Don't we all know that anyway?!

So, back to Sunny. Sunny isn't so sunny anymore. He spent the last week dying. I didn't know fish could take so long - apparently, he liked us. I know photos are the life of the blog, but I'll spare you on this one. Besides, the only other fish in the tank is a sucker fish, and he mourns strangely...

While we're on the topic of the dead, Liberty asked me yesterday why the cemetery is named "cemetery". Seriously, where is my etymology when I need it? The end of Liberty's question is what makes this one funny. "Is it because they cem, or do they tary?" While we might be able to pull something out of the tary part, I'm thinking not. Liberty loves compound words.

I took the kids to the dentist today. In the waiting room, Sterling hollered potty, then starting watching the floor behind himself while he walked to the bathroom. Yep, we all know what that means. Thankfully, the plop landed after we got into the bathroom and closed the door. So not cool, little man. I need more than 2 seconds warning when these things are coming.

I spent $34 at Kohl's today. I got shorts for L, a shirt for L, jeans for L, a shirt for R, 2 pairs of shoes for S, a shirt for me, and 4 pairs of earrings. Amount saved off original prices: $139. Sweet.

Mmm, flip flop. Ruby's teething. Still.

Potty-training, exploded intentions and misguiding monitors

Sterling had a great day yesterday as a newly-potty trained two year old. He had one accident - truly an accident, since he hollered during his nap for me and I'm apparently not in good enough shape to dash up the stairs quickly enough. I'll take the blame for that one.
Today, not so much. He did great, then he peed his pants. Then he waited and got to the potty and went, then he peed his pants. Seriously. Tonight, he didn't even try. Thanks, buddy. I've decided those good days are just to give me encouragement. For what it will be like in, say, five years.

This is what Saturday's impatience, followed by drinking the cold one found in the back of the fridge and forgetting these freezer-chilled ones until the following night gets you. Go B.

I've been using cloth diapers for several months now. Coming up with a diaper cover, waterproof, leak proof, easy to use, homemade and cheap to make has been my project as of late. I've officially not used Gerber's poor excuse for a diaper cover in weeks, but I've finally arrived in the I-made-it-myself category. Problem is, I ordered the material (PUL, in case you are wondering. Email me with diaper-cover questions, I'll save you tons of trips to the store and many wasted dollars!) online. I thought the colors our monitor displays were accurate. Turns out, not so much. Red-orange to me turns out to be neon, road-construction orange. Still to me, this photo looks more red than it really is. Red isn't. Period. I used red thread, figuring it couldn't make it any worse. Is it sad that I kind of like how it looks despite needing shades to look at it?! I have enough PUL to make six of these. Poor Ruby. I'll need to put a sign on her butt and she'll fit in the the sign holders on I-80. "Ruby's bottom works here."

I'll try to be brief. An introduction.

I've been pondering this whole open-blog thing for a while. I've posted on Multiply for some time, and Yahoo 360 before that, but those were only open to friends. How much of my daily life should be open for review? Is there anything I have to say that might be found worthwhile?

With neither of those questions truly answered, here I begin. Again. Apparently I tried this whole thing in October 2007. Beats me if I remember that! I can barely remember what month it is.

My husband of nearly 7 years and I have four kids. Liberty is 6, Eden is approaching 4 1/2 (on August 1st, and she'll tell you that with great relish), Sterling - the only boy in the bunch - is 2 and Ruby brings up the rear at a whopping 10 1/2 months. Since kids are what I know, this will likely be about them. That, and the other things I know - sewing, homeschooling, cooking, cloth diapering (my new venture!) and my Lord and Savior, Jesus. Not necessarily in that order!

Life is not dull around here. We work through the summer with school somewhat, Sterling is mid-potty training, Ruby's learning to walk, Eden's learning to read, and both Liberty and Eden are gloriously free of training wheels on their bikes these days. Liberty loves to read, Eden loves to climb (everything!), Sterling loves trucks and Ruby loves to chew (again, everything!).

Sounding off, with quips from the day:
Eden asked me one of those don't-you-know-it questions she asks on a regular basis. Her favorite is "Why is ___ named ___?" This questions goes for everything under the sun - sun included. "Why is a skunk named 'skunk'?" "Why is it called 'snow'?" Seriously, how do you answer that? Being the hands-on teacher I aspire to be, I Googled it. The first 20 times. The next 564 times, I said I didn't know. Liberty's response to my latest "I don't know" was "Come on, Eden. Mama doesn't know everything!" Huh, they've got my secret figured out. I thought I'd get at least a few more years of omniscience before they found me out. Darn.