Happy Halloween to you

Here's Daniel at school for his Halloween party. This picture was taken less than 45 minutes ago. Talk about FRESH!

We're attending our ward Halloween party tonight. Our last function as local residents. We've now spent two nights in our new house. We still have a bunch of junk to move over.

I had a dr.'s appt this morning. My blood pressure is up (for me) and my hands and feet are beginning to swell. Thirteen days until this baby is here!

Making progress...I think.

Whew! This moving stuff is not for the weak or very pregnant!

We got our carpet installed on Friday. Thursday was a rush to get ready for the installers. I soon felt so overwhelmed that I called the RS President to ask for help. She and two other women met me (and Nathan) at the house to work for several hours.

One sister pulled staples out of the floor (from the old carpet padding). The other two worked with a steamer and scrapers to get the WORST wallpaper off the walls of the girls' room. They were in there for hours. I had already spent a bunch of fruitless time trying to get it off. Why can't they make a wallpaper that's removable? (There is still a border around the top of the wall in another room that needs to come down, but I can't do it and Chad isn't feeling very motivated.) I wiped down the walls to prepare for painting.

That night I was so tired and sore that I could barely put one foot in front of the other. I took the kids home to put them to bed and Chad stayed to clean up and spray the paint on the walls. He was there, by himself, until after 2 AM. The carpet installers arrived at 8 AM Friday.

A friend of mine came over Friday night to help me get started on the painting. We put a coat of paint in the living room after very carefully laying drop cloth all over the new carpet. We attempted to scrape off the paper left behind by the steamer crew, but soon gave up on that when we didn't make much progress. She vacuumed up the mess left by the carpet installation and we headed home sometime around 9 PM.

Saturday morning, I took the girls to the house and Chad took the boys to get a trailer and start emptying the storage unit. I taped and painted another wall in the living room (we were going to leave it white, but then changed our minds) and was almost done by the time Chad arrived with the first load. After lunch I started on the wallpaper nightmare again. This time I brought different ammunition and actually got some good results! My friend came back over and together we cleaned the walls, put a second coat on the living room, washed the now wallpaper-free walls, taped and got a first coat of paint on. That took us nearly 4 hours. Meanwhile, Chad finished emptying the trailer for the second time and drove back to town to return it.

That night (last night) we went back. Chad painted a second coat in the girls' room while I changed out doorknobs and dead bolts. Now I don't consider myself a helpless person when it comes to little tasks like changing a lock. I was ready to pull out my hair and the doors by the time I got finished with the locks. Things weren't fitting well, weren't aligned right, etc. I even had to install one dead bolt upside down because the holes in the door weren't in the right places. We came home at 10 PM. We all slept well.

The kids want to know when we're going to sleep there. That's not going to happen until my whole bed makes it. A mattress and a box spring are not going to cut it. Chad has a bunch of work to do and he isn't sure when he's going to be ready to move beds. I'm wishing for a genie. I would like to just get the stuff over there and get it put away. I still don't exactly know where everything is going to go. It's making me feel a little overwhelmed. The fact that this baby is coming in 3 weeks has a lot to do with it.

We attended our ward for the last time today. That was a surreal feeling. Some people still don't know that we're moving. They'll either figure it out, or try to reactivate us! I taught one last time today. I felt so huge standing up there. This baby isn't trying to hide. The lesson went well, though.

So now this week I just want to get things moved and put away. We'll take it day by day and be grateful for what gets accomplished. If I'm lucky, I won't kill myself. If I'm really lucky, I'll put myself into labor and have a good reason to stop working so hard! (Which is only a good plan if the baby is healthy through all that.)

P.S. I haven't forgotten the promise of pictures. I'm working on that!

HELP!

We recorded yesterday and Chad started ripping out carpet. I think you should know that Superman did it all by himself! And Supergirl shampooed the carpets (the ones we didn't rip out) and did most of the pre-vacuuming all by herself. I also cleaned the fridge/freezer and stove top yesterday. I nearly couldn't move last night.

I did have a friend with me yesterday morning helping me. If we were doing more work in the evening, we could have probably found some more help. We worked until about 6 or so last night. Chad went back after the kids were in bed and I watched "The Nightmare Before Christmas" from my bed! He got home just before 11.

This morning (it's not even 8 am yet), we're headed to Home Depot for paint and supplies. We're going to be in the middle of a painting frenzy because they come to install carpet tomorrow. Anyone out there like to paint? I wonder how much I can do from a chair? The windows are also disgusting. Anyone out there "do windows?"

I'll have pictures tomorrow night or Saturday...after all the messy work is over.

Closing today

We have our closing scheduled for 3 pm this afternoon. This means I'll be cleaning much of the day tomorrow.

We got a better look at the roof and more information. It's not the best fix (and, uh, I could have done it that well), but it looks like it will be ok for now. We're still getting $150 credit to have it properly done when we're ready. It's because of a bunch of cables that are fastened to the outside of the house. (Apparently, part of the house was once used as a call center of some sort.) When they put the cables up, they drilled through the siding and now water drips along the roof and cables into the hole. And it's on the back side of the garage, leaking into the sheathing of the garage wall = no damage to the walls of the house itself.

Anyway, I'm really grateful that we've got plans to replace the carpet since we were overcome with the stench of pet odor in the master bedroom. She must have a had a good air freshener going when we walked through before! I've got to shampoo the carpets that aren't being removed and clean, clean, clean. The bathrooms and kitchen were left in a pretty state and the walls of the house are badly in need of paint. Have I mentioned that I'm having a baby soon? It may even be sooner!

Speaking of having this baby, my delivery has been formally scheduled with the hospital. We have to be there at 5:30 am on 13 November. That's exactly 4 weeks from today!! I'd be dishonest if I said I wasn't looking forward to the drugs that will force me into sleep. I wish I had some already! Now if I could just find some way to keep the nurses away from me so I can really get some rest! :)

I have been scrapbooking some old pictures of myself. It was because of a challenge we had with our ward SB group. I caution you, one of them is of me in a bikini...so peek at your own risk!


Rebekah was arguing with me because she thought these were pictures of her. I think I've finally convinced her that Mommy used to be little, too!

Walk Through this afternoon

We finally have our walk through this afternoon! FINALLY! We have some measuring that we want to do for new carpet.

The seller was supposed to investigate and fix a leak in the roof of the house that has been leaking for a while (years). It took the roof guy nearly 3 weeks to get his lazy behind out there and all he ends up doing is caulking the roof where it's leaking! He was supposed to pull back some of the roof and make sure that the water didn't do any internal damage, and the inspector was supposed to get a peek, too. After that, he was supposed to flash the roof where it meets the side of the house its butted up against. Instead, he decided that he could determine that there was no internal damage from his viewpoint and just caulked it. When the realtor mentioned that it was supposed to be flashed, he said that would be another $150 to go back out there and do that. So they're thinking they're going to give us a $150 credit at closing.

Unfortunately, they're dealing with a cranky pregnant woman who is irritated that it took this long to even get to the roof and that this genius roof guy just made his own decisions. If they're going to give us a credit, it's going to be for more than $150! And I want a different roof guy!

SO, if we can work all that out, there is a chance that we could close today. If not, then likely tomorrow. After a day's wait, we can start ripping out carpet and moving some stuff over. Hopefully, the carpet can be installed at the beginning of the week.

We have one more week in this ward. I am teaching one more RS lesson. They did call a new teacher to replace me, but she's unable to teach next week, so I guess I'm subbing! That's kind of what happened when we left Washington. It must be tradition.

I had my dr's appt. today. I hit 190 lbs. Ugh. I hope this is a 35 lb baby! I'm now on weekly appointments. I get to go back on Halloween morning. Right in the middle of moving.

I did have some productivity this morning. I did a load of laundry, swept and mopped the kitchen/dining/laundry/bathroom floors, and made two loaves of bread before rushing out the door just before 9:30. I was a little late for my appt., but I'm sure it made little difference in my wait time.

I made just one scrapbook page this week. I would probably make more if this chair was a little softer!

This one is from Rebekah's blessing, nearly two years ago. She has changed a lot!

I've nearly finished the blessing outfit for this baby. I worked on it several days in a row and then took a long weekend. I need to get it finished in the next day or so. It's a little jumper with a jacket, so there's the reason for taking so long. This little guy is getting blessing during an Idaho winter...he needs a jacket! :)

What a memory

Chad reads to the kids every night. Lately, he's been reading a chapter book. Last night, Chad thought the boys might have fallen asleep before the chapter was done. So tonight Chad asked Daniel if he fell asleep before it was over and Daniel responded that he didn't think so. After he thought about it for a minute he said, "I think it ended with 'children.'"

I'm thinking, I'm sure "children" was in the chapter somewhere. Meanwhile, Chad is looking through the book to find the right page. The last sentence ended with "...cantered away from the children."

How does he do that? I read them "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" a while ago and Daniel could usually tell me what had just happened the night before. I'm an avid reader, but if I don't remember what chapter to start on next, I have to start reading and see if I recognize anything then skip ahead or back depending on the result.

And how can he remember things like that if he can't remember that his dirty clothes go IN the hamper and not in a snake-like trail pointing to it? Or can't remember where he left his jacket the day before?

There's only one answer. He must be part genius. Now he'll have some kind of eccentricities that go with a genius mind and I'll be pulling out more of my hair!

It that ALL??

Arlyn


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Chad

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I feel much more valuable than this!

Not nesting

I think I'm supposed to be "nesting" right now. Since I've been having to keep the house pretty clean, I don't have a lot to do that isn't constantly being done. And I can't get the nursery ready or the little clothes prepped because they are in storage for another couple of weeks.

I have accomplished some things lately. I finished the baby's Sunday afghan (blue) and his flannel crib blanket (purple). I tied Leah's blanket (pink/purple/yellow) and got it on her bed last Saturday. That was quite an adventure. I had to lay it out on the floor and roll myself into a ball to tie the darned thing. I made the binding and sewed it on during Saturday's Conference sessions. I was very relieved to realize that I was all caught up on kids' blankets! I don't have any that need to be started or finished right now. YIPPEE!

I performed a miracle yesterday and spent a couple hours quilting the quilt on my frame yesterday. It's been at least 6 months since I advanced the fabric to a new position. I finally did yesterday. I'm still not quite 1/4 done. (And there's another one to put on after this one is done.)


I cut out the pattern and material for the baby's blessing outfit today. I had to sit down several times during the process to give my back a rest. I could have used another 4-5 inches in height on my cutting table. I'm short, but today it just wasn't enough!

There's only 5 1/2 weeks to go before this baby meets his crazy family. I'm glad. I've been having several contractions a day. They are most inconvenient and pointless, too. The baby is running out of room and trying to make larger accommodations for himself. Luckily, he's low, so my rib cage hasn't been too abused.

When we talk about Halloweens costumes around here, we say the baby already has his costume: Mommy.

We recently survived two weeks of school break. That's probably one of the reasons I haven't posted recently. I was glad the bus came around Tuesday morning. I had barely recovered from the summer and then the kids had two weeks off. It was a long two weeks.

It snowed twice during those two weeks. Last Saturday it snowed until sometime in the afternoon and didn't completely melt until Monday or Tuesday.

We really need the moisture around here, but we're trying to close on a house that needs some roof work and sprinkler work done. Rain and melting snow make the ground soggy and the roof continues to leak.

We've only had two people look at our house. The first were looking for a house they could put an apartment in and the second decided to stay in the city they were from. We almost had someone look today, but the agent's phone died and the appointment was never completed. The irony was that the agent was two houses down and I could see him on the phone. I knew he had called our realtor. I would have let them in if only they had asked!

If you wanted to check out my latest scrapbook pages, you could find them here. There are a couple of mine and some from other people, too.

And that's what we've been up to lately. You haven't missed much. :)