Closing Date Approaches.....and Will Pass

Doesn't that title up above just remind you of something the local newspaper would use? And then the only thing on the page would be say a barbed wire fence. Neither one having to do with the other?

Swell pic of the railing, which I love. It is one of the things that actually turned out the way it was planned. Jason and my dad stained and sealed the wood and our builder had it up in no time!

Our closing date of Oct. 1st speedily approaches. It will also pass unmarked by our move. The house is progressing quickly, but not quick enough to meet said deadline. The bank gave us a 90 day extension gratis. Thank you bank.........considering our rocky beginning and the fact that you are a puke bucket of a bank sometimes.
The front of the house.................still needs rain drains, lights, garage doors, front door stained and railing.

Here is a shot from the hallway towards the great room. Jason, my dad, and our neighbor-in-law Mike worked their bootays off for days tiling more than 1,000 square feet.

Kitchen sans cabinetry, another reason to delay closing. The cabinets were scheduled to go in yesterday. As you can see............they have not appeared.

Goody, goody, gumdrop update!! Our basement windows are in. No more flooding basement! Okay at least the flooding will be contained to near the back door and laundry room.

Right now we are (Again when I say we, I mean Jason. I lend emotional support by staying away.) painting the hall bathroom, staining the interior doors and sealing them and repainting some of the closet doors that were supposed to remain white, but put their lives at perilous risk by throwing themselves infront of the gaping closets and hinging themselves to the door frames, only to save the unsuspecting closets from a good coat of paint. Their reward for death defying action is ANOTHER coat of paint. Sometime this week, probably as Pres. Monson admonishes us to raise the bar.......... Jason will be grouting the whole house.

Despite the 90 day extension, Jason predicts that we will be in the house by the 3rd week of October. For those of you familiar with his optimistic time estimations you can just double that...which I believe would put us closer to my estimation of mid/late November.

96 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Wow, slight discrepancy here!!! Although I am very superior he is even more very superior!!

146 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Two Things I Hate

While there are, in fact, many things I hate........enough to probably fill a blog............two of the things I hate happened today.
Mads, Max and I were doing our tri-weekly shopping in the Mother of all stores.......Walmart. Just wait, that's not the part I hate, well at least not the part I am blogging about. Mads, Jack and I have had a nasty head cold. Along with nasty head colds you often get post nasal drip, known to the lay man as snot running down the back of your throat all day. This tasteful little occurrence almost always gives me coughing fits.
We were meandering through the marketing genius called Walmart. There were end caps with eye catching things I would never buy but because of their marketing genius, now desperately need......yes even though I know I am being psychologically tricked. Also we saw many roll back prices. Even if the price only rolled back 2 cents, you guessed it, I really need it now. So there we were with our Churro's ( 78 friggin cents who can beat it?) and finger nail stickers and Strawberry Eggo's (clearanced thanks!) when suddenly I feel the coughing fit coming on. The approach is iffy. It may be a coughing fit, I may just have to cough. The thought of a coughing fit as you may well know causes enough anxiety to actually induce one. I begin a hasty retreat to the rear of the store where the public restrooms are located (thing I hate #2). I am already coughing but trying to hold it to a small cough, cough. Then I begin to tear up from the unbearable tickle in my throat. I look up and see an esteemed Wally World employee staring with concern. I now start running with the cart like I am about to jump mount a bobsled. I can hear Mads pretty gold sandals clacking after me.........Mommy wait!!
At the back of the store there are the regular restrooms and the 'family' restroom (for your pleasure). I head for the fam knowing I can shove the cart in there and hack my little heart out. Frick! It's occupied. I park Max at the door of the ladies room and tell Mads to stand there and guard him. I get in the ladies room door and finally succumb to the intense itch!! I start the kind of coughing fit where you weep, snot runs uncontrolled, you nearly become incontinent, and you basically vomit from coughing. I am frantic trying to decide do I go out and rescue the kids from certain kidnapping and torture at the hands of deranged Wally World shoppers or do I hide and pee myself in private. I dash recklessly between the door and the sinks trying to ralph at least in a container of some sort and looking out the door to guard my puppies. I am blowing my nose furiously and finally emerge long enough to get a drink from the well placed drinking fountain. Pretty soon here comes the Walmart chick-a-dee that saw me rush by. She pats me lovingly and asks if I am okay. I huskily reply................yeah, just a little throat tickle! It took about 10 minutes but I finally recovered. Mads was like..........why do you have blood in your eyes? Uh because I nearly lost them due to intra cranial pressure.
There you go two things I hate wrapped up with a bow and given as one big gift. I HATE cough attacks and I HATE public restrooms........aka the breeding ground for STDs, strange pubic hair, and other peoples pee on the toilet and on the floor. UGH!!
I hate the cough attack so much that I actually pray not to have one whilst at the temple. Yes people that is how I spend deeply spiritual time...pondering my own embarrassment.

'Short' and Silly

Here's a funny from Mid since I am too lazy (read, I REALLY should be doing laundry and dishes) to download pics of the house.
A few weeks ago the kids and I had a FHE on geneology and temple work. I likened eternal families to a chain with links that were together or broken. You have to understand that part so you know where her comment is coming from.
We were driving home from Helper and Mads says...........How many grandpa's and grandma's do we have?
Me..........name them all and count at the same time
Mads.................(names the whole bus load of viable relatives) then says.....Man we really need to put our chain back together.
Ya Mammy, we do.

Walkin and Rollin

I have done all possible to discourage Max from growing up. This includes beginning to walk. He has been most helpful by insisting that I never put him down. Lately though, he has taken to spending some of his free time (he has a lot) on the ground. This lead to climbing. He climbs to the top of the bunk beds, on top of the highchair, he can scale the table and throw bananas off, he can climb and descend stairs and climb the couch and drop off the back. Sad events have unfolded because of this new technique. He has learned to walk. This is Max after climbing onto the couch. He is happy!!

Like any child asked to do something that didn't originate from their own mind first...........this is Max shrieking because I asked him to stand up so I could take a picture.

This is Max truly heart broken over the fact that Madison and I made him stand up for a picture. Walking was out of the question. He just now walked to me and climbed on my back and made horse riding sounds while I post this. He will not however do that for a camera.

Extreme Handsomeness Part 2.........or The Fight For Genetic Dominance

Well my wee Jack finally succumbed to his faulty DNA and has glasses. Luckily for him, what was once extremely handsome is now freakishly extremely handsome. He is so friggin' adorable!! This is the first time though, that I feel guilt over my genetic culpability. I feel so bad that his poor eyesight came from me. I should feel guilty that their personalities came from me too, but I don't. Shy geniuses with a wicked sense of humor are a commodity. Just kidding......their dad is a genius too and his kind is even better because he is the stick it out kind of genius and I am the kind that gives up if I wasn't already born knowing everything.

Alas, as I have been looking at my wee bonny bairns.........they are a pile of fighting DNA. They have sweet mutt hair coloring, neither definitively mine or Jason's. Jason was a toe head when he was little and my hair has always been very dark. The nuggets vary between dark blonde (although she refuses to acknowledge her hair as ANY kind of blonde) to dead Jack rabbit fur, light brown, and rusty blonde. The windows to their souls are a marriage of brown and gold, rust and olive green. Many mistake their eyes for brown but they are an ever changing shade of hazel.

I just love trying to figure out what parts of them are more like Jason or I. That is one of the reasons I love to have kids. Everytime one of them is born it is like the best Christmas surprise ever. You kind of know what you are asking for and then you look under the tree, and by Jove you got the supreme model!!

Riley is very caring and helpful. She loves physical activity. She is quiet but not backward. She is able to make friends and be a good friend although she does enjoy the straightforwardness of boys more than the fickle, catty friendship of girls. She is smart and a good reader with the penmanship of a chicken. She has tender feelings and a quick temper. Her face looks more like a Peczuh but her eye shape is that of a Blake. Her hair texture is mine and her color is her father's. Her lovely skin tone is my European/Slavic coloring. She turns brown as a native in the summer. And her sweet feet are the feet of a corpse, just like Daddy.

Jack is sweet, quiet, likes to watch but not be watched. He is a very fast learner and seems to grasp things very quickly. He loves to build and create and spend time outdoors. He enjoys nature and solitude. He is a very caring, tender friend. He has a mild temper until he reaches his limits and then he is a volcano. His temper is easily tamed with hugs and kisses and time alone with Mom or Dad. He likes to be like his dad. He is an awesome brother. His body moves like his father. Many of his stances and motions are like Jason. His face on the other hand doesn't look like him..........but his Marshall hair pattern does........cowlicks galore!! He has some of the loveliest handwriting I have ever seen for a boy. He also has wonderful golden skin tones and becomes very dark in the summer. Jack does things on his own timeline and it is best to never have to push.

Madison is a FIRECRACKER!! She has darker hair and a beguiling face that is the most unlike her siblings (Houskeeper). She has eyelashes like tarantulas and teeth like fine china. She is the only person in our family blessed with a tookas........like she carries a peach around on her backside. Clearly a genetic feat of generations past. Madison is a social butterfly.......clearly not of my making. She loves engaging with people, known or unknown to her and makes friends the easiest of anyone I have ever met. She is sharp as a whip but doesn't seem to enjoy learning that is a task. She loves to do hair ( and is just now making me into Deb from Napoleon Dinamite). She loves attention and affection. She also has very dark skin tones and turns black in the summer. She is truly a little girl and loves pretty things, princesses, dresses and pretty hair. She spoke early and has a wonderful grasp of language, which she never stops! She always has one last thing to say at bed time.

Max is the blondest as of now. He has the crinkle ear but on the opposite side of mine. His hair line is more like a Blake I think. His smiles remind me of Jason's pictures when he was a baby. But facially he looks like Riley (Peczuh) and a little bit of Mads (Houskeeper). His skin is the lightest so far. His bum is nearly MIA. He is an extreme daredevil and likes to wrestle with Jack and speed about in dolly strollers pushed by his sisters or brother. He loves, loves, loves to climb beyond reason and is not detered by falling. He loves attention from his brother and sisters, parents and grandparents. He seems easily loving and trusting but a little tentative. Whoo and the boy can shake it!!!!! He also loves outside and swinging or going for walks.

Not a one of them can sing, which is unfortunately two dominant genes put together. Neither Jason or I could carry a tune if we drug a kiddie pool between us.

Aahh but I digress................Jack is extremely handsome with glasses don't you think?

Extreme Handsomeness

DISCLAIMER: Extreme Handsomeness like any other extreme thing is extreme. Be prepared to sheild your eyes if necessary.



Well it was time to break out the scissors and make Max a man/child instead of a baby. I know the pictures are shoddy but you can tell his hair was getting rather long. Something akin to the original Willy Wonka / Gene Wilder character. It made Max seem untrustworthy, like he was either going to break your heart or give you a chocolate factory. You could never quite tell which.

The handsome devil right before the first scis. He did not stop moving the WHOLE time. He sat in a little Hummer while my great, awesome, well trained friend Nancy cut his hair and thankfully not her own hand. I asked her if she learned how to cut kids hair by practicing on a bouncing ball.

Transformed by a mere haircut into one of the Cullens. Such shiny marble skin. Okay, bad flash really. Max loved the Hummer he was sitting in so much this was about the only picture out of 12 where he stopped moving long enough to be a solid object. He is so tasty it breaks my heart. Max what the heck were you thinking, looking like a little boy instead of my itty bitty?