Nanamom's thoughts Blog

Wow, if you look up at the ceiling and paint it with a roller for 30 minutes, you end up really dizzy and with a sore neck. I do have a nice tan ceiling though. I also have 3 beige walls and one garden green one. I have to do the corners and around th ewindows and doors as well as paint the trim but that will be later. I also have a cupboard waiting some beige paint but that will be a breeze since I have an able, willing and quite excited 3 yr old who wants to help. OK Maybe it will take longer than the rest of the room put together!! But is will be lots more fun!!

Getting a contractor is a real trial right now. We are 3 weeks later than everyone else and the really good ones are no longer taking new customers. I did have one smaller company come out and give an estimate. We got the check from the insurance company and the list of what needs to be done. The first hurdle is that the check is made out to the mortgage company and me the next hurdle is figuring out what really needs done. I just had the garage roof put on and refuse to believe it needs to be torn off and redone. I mean it was finished a week before the hail storm. The house roof is 2 years old but I am afraid to risk not having it done. The siding needs to be repaired in several places but they want me to redo two sides entirely. Great then my house can be two different colors!! The people that gave me a bid said they would take the good siding off of the back and use it to fill in where it is needed on the sides that "show" and then reside the back as closely as they can to the rest of the color. I guess we can paint vinal siding someday! Right now it looks like we will be spending about half the check they gave us on work that needs to be done. The other half will be ours to use. We are considering using it to fund an overseas adoption. It wouldn't cover all of it but it would make it possible.
On the home front my DH is still sick, this makes about 6 weeks.

I started what will be our bedroom today. I probably should have waited until I was done cleaning the accumulation of stuff form our trip that was still here when we got back but wanted (needed) to do something positive. I decided since the other room I did didn't need primer, this one wouldn't Bad mistake. The color I picked out is not going to go on without 3 coats so I have to primer th eother walls. Then we realized neither of us liked the color for the wall. I was doing one wall in cranberry (we do live in WIsconsin) and the others in beige when we decided that the expense of changing th ecolor was well worth it. I went with a nice forest green this time. I have primer on 3 walls and have to wait for it to dry to apply more. Today has been rough. Maybe I should have just cleaned!! So far this room has cost me $110.00 and I haven't decided what to do about the window and door trim or the door for that matter (their isn't one!) We really hope to fix this up and rent it out but I am getting bogged down. I am probably just tired form the month away.

While we were away there was a hail storm. I didn't think anything about it even though we were told the hail was as big as softballs. after all our car was 3000 miles away so was safe. This morning our neighbor approached me and said we should call the insurance person anyway because you can't tell what may have happened to the roof. I called since we had just put the garage roof on and the house was only a couple years old (roof) It seems that somewhere there was 13,000 dollars worth fo damage done!! I can't wait to see the list of what we need to do!! The good news is that this is an act of God and won't count against us insurance rates wise. I am amazed at the amount of signs on lawns advertising roof repair. This storm must have been intense. Some lady stuck her head out the window (the better to see the hail I guess) and had to go get stitches. The estimate will be here shortly. Hope it doesn't leave me with two different colors of siding on my house or I may have to talk to my company about that!!

We are home. It is a relief. I loved being there and taking care of everyone but it is good to be home. My DS2 hasn't had a hissy since we left (daily or more occurence there) and the kitten became a cat while we were gone. I left the house a mess because we had to leave in a hurry and came home to a mess, but I will get it kicked this week. I have lots of mail to go through so that is my next project, have to find th ebills and see if they need to be paid!!!

Being in GA will probably wipe out our little EF but at least my DIL seems to be getting better. I am hoping to recover form this quickly. The extra expenses astound me. Feeding a family of this many gets expensive even with cheap meals. Thank god we can do this though and be comfortable in the knowledge that it won't take long to recover.

That one armed paper hanger has nothing on me!!! Our little one (almost 2) has been sick, major fever and nausea vomiting. Meant for some low sleep nights but she is finally on th emend and able to play while I type. Last 3 mornings we have spent several hours (did I say mornings guess thats right if it is after midnight)cuddling while I prayed her fever didn't go high enough to cause a seizure and that the tylenol/motrin would work soon. Makes for a tired Nana but nothing beat the feeling of picking her up (after 6 am!!!!) this morning and not feeling like my hands were in the oven!! Now if we can just make sure the other 2 kids don't get this. My DIL went back to the ER last night, meds are making her really sick. My DS1 is off to school for 2 weeks. We can visit for an hour a couple times a week so we have to figure out how to make her comfortable for a 30 mile car ride. Yesterday afternoon she felt well enough to go to Walmart for a hair cut so we are improving somewhat. I keep trying to make sure she doesn't overdue. Oh well it has ben nice to sit at the keyboard for a few but it is now time to make breakfast for the horde. right now my 1 yr old GD is sitting on the floor at my feet holding a rubber lizard out and saying growl growl growl as she wiggles it. Life is good!!!
I did have a really bad weekend though. We were supposed to go see our other GKs baptism and had to miss because everyone was so sick. I was really afraid to infect their whole church but really really disappointed we had to miss.

The Saga Continues!!
Second surgery down and the leg is casted with a temporary one that weighs a ton. Not sure it is better than before but at least it has no outside screws and bars so it looks less painful. From the amount of pain killer they gave her though I can imagine that it is actually more painful. she was delighted to be able to do her daughters hair and clothes this morning as long as I fetched the stuff. I am glad to be a gofer for my DIL. Her kids are delighted to have her home. This weekend they are finishing everything at the old house so it can be inspected. We are going to our other grandkids baptism (I hope) My DH is really sick I don't know if he can stand the car ride. I am trying to send him to the ER this morning but he is being stubborn.

I am amazed at the amount of work that can be accomplished throughout the day. I am also amazed at how much I am enjoying this. No not my DIL being in pain. I hate that part and would gladly take it for her. I am loving having two teens, three preschoolers and a almost toddler to take care of. My DH has been great on the nights that the teens don't have to do dishes, he does them. So I am cooking for a crowd and I don't have to clean up, who could ask for anything more? today I changed her bandages, wow I am amazed by the strides medicine has taken. a decade ago they would probably have taken her leg off at the knee or right below it because the break is soooo bad now they have her partially screwed together and pinned and ready to set off metal detectors at a 100 paces. They are going in next week to add more metal.
We brought the dog, an almost 2 year old shepherd and he is so gentle with her. I am delighted to see how nice he is because he has been a jumper and a climber with us. He is sweet with the little ones and the 1 year old adores him. She would let him out of his crate given half a chance. We padlocked it.
Today i did a 100 yard dash. I didn't intend to but it was important. One of the 3 yr olds was down the sidewalk and had wiped out on his bike, bloody nose, skinned extemities etc. So Nana goes running and picked him up. I grabbed the bike and was comforting him on the way back when the second 3 yr old wiped out. I ditched the bikes and picked them both up. My poor DIL was stranded on the porch in her wheelchair almost crying because she couldn't go get them. She pounded on the dor behind her to get me some help and my DH who was doing dishes came out and went after the bikes. I carried one in to my DS when I got them a bit calmer and he was really worried ... about his Mom who was panting from the run still!! Got to get in better shape!! I'm sure the bending and stretching to do laundry (amazing how much this many people can generate!!) will help, not to mention the unpacking of boxes.

I am in GA, not for a cool visit but because my DIL was hurt and needed help. She stepped on a skate board that wasn't supposed to be there and has a badly broken lower leg. They have done one surgery and are doing another next week. She has a "robut leg" that the kids think is cool and we adults wince when someone breathes on wrong. I had to change the dressing today and I could feel every time I jostled her which is impossible to avoid. They moved her into handicapped housing (army base) that was two doors down and her 15 yr old twins have spent every non school waking minute bringing things down that i thne put away (hide). It has been really rough on her but at least with me here she can have her kids near and hug them and kiss them instead of having them stay at a friends house the way it was before I got here. DH was able to take off and come stay with us too. He is using all of his available leave to do this so we won't see the grandkids till January now. i hope they send lots of pictures cause we'll be in withdrawal!! I feel badly but as so glad we are able to help. Right now we are also watching a friend of theirs little one as well. We have a trip to Chuck E Cheese planned when she goes in for her next surgery so the kids won't miss her as much. i plan on exhausting them so they go right to sleep without looking for parents. One of th eperks will be (I hope) lots of weight loss, I don't have time to eat!!!

Sometimes too exciting, on the same day both my SIL and DIL had surgery. I so wanted to be there for both of them. I am going to go to my DIL because it is the more serious surgery. They are moving to handicapped housing (army base) and need someone there because she has a 3 yr old and a 1yr old. So hopefully all of us are traveling down to help. If worst come to worst then my DS2 and I are flying and dh will arive when he can get time off. The emergency fund will not be the same because if we fly it comes from there and is we don't he has to take a week of unpaid leave and it comes from there. Either way an expensive summer trip but to quote him, "This is what familiies gear up for"

We have hit a decision time or feel like we have. We want more kids. We are going to adopt them as we are a bit old for the other way. We have been on the list for over a year for a local special needs adoption. So far while our case study has been submitted several times we have not been given a child or children. Part of the problem there is we want a young child (our DS2 is almost 4 and we prefer he be the oldest or close to it. So we can
1) Continue to hold our breath every time our case study is submitted
2) Try foster care but then you have the heartbreak of having to return the child and sometimes you are returning them to a bad environment. And there is no guarentee you will ever get one that is adoptable.
3)Try an overseas adoption which is lots of money although we could get a discount on the international case study since we have one done for the US so that drops the price by a thousand. Which makes it "only" 12 to 15 thousand. We would have to borrow that much to do it but then we would be able to get one or two children that are young and the waiting would have an end probably by the end of the year or beginning of next year. Unfortunately we don't have enough equity in th ehouse to get that much by doing a second mortgage or it would already be done. Wish I had a rich friend I'd borrow it!
The other option is to stop now but we don't want to go that route.
I guess I am feeling more frustrated because this month is th eanniversary of when our case study was finished and while our names have been submitted a few times nothing has come of any of it.
I have a 4 bedroom house and I'd like to decorate a couple of them for kids!

I am rearranging out downstairs and upstairs so we have less clutter or at least it looks like less.It is not very fun!
I am getting ready for two trips. One is North a little ways because we have to have an interview (theology school stuff) and it is Saturday. The other is much longer. WE are going to GA to see our son before he ships out (they changed it from July to September but they are sending him for 15 months now) and then up to NC to see three of our grandkids baptized. WE will get a few days with each family and we are really looking forward to it. What we are not looking forward to is paying for gas for the drive!!! We pack food, snacks and drinks and only stay at really cheap hotels (no more than 50 per night or we sleep in the car!!) but the gas prices hurt this time. I keep saying if we were in Europe we wouldn't be able to afford to go!! I so wish we lived closer but we couldn't find DH a job any closer.So we have to content ourselves with twice a year visits. (Unless one of them has a new baby then we go an extra time) OH well.

And I mean that literally. OK It is actually still Spring but we are cold at night with only one comforter. God has been good to us with the rain though. Today I did 7 loads of laundry 3 of which I hung outside. They dried in lightening time due to the wind whipping through. After we went in at night it poured and stormed. God does a great lightening show. DH is still clearing a spot for DS2's playgym and taking the sod he picks up and placing it on the many bare patches in the yard. Everytime he spends time at that it rains. The "sod" is taking really well. The wood is drying so we will be able to chip as soon as he is done. He hope to chip before our trip East but I think that would be pushing it. Right after we get back though. Today I rearranged the living room and moved bookcases from up to downstairs so that I can turn the up part into a "workshop" for me. I want to put my sewing machine and stampin stuff up there out of reach of little ones. We are still praying God sends a little one soon so we are getting a room ready. When the stuff was down here it was too messy and dangerous to tiny ones.

I am trucking right along on my remodle job of DS2 playroom. So far I have painted walls, painted a Veggie Tale Mural, painted a silouette of him with metallic paint (can put magnets of that part of the wall now and they stick!!) hung various posters of Veggie Tales, and purchased carpet. The blisters come from cutting the carpet tomorrow. I also have to finish th ebaseboard and get some mild crates for books. I made a pillow and curtains also. It is taking shape and for not alot of money (the metallic paint was a splurge but cool)

As in making them. I made door curtains for my DIL porch door and am starting on their bedroom ones. I am also painting a mural on the wall of my 3yr old's playroom. It is (of course) Veggie Tales and really fun to do. Doesn't take any talent since it came with a large size picture that you just trace over and the lines show up on th ewall. Then you just paint by number. It is cool. My DIL wants one also. I found metallic paint, as in when you are done you can put magnets on the wall and they stay. i am going to do a silouette of my DS2 in that stuff. I bought hooks for his dress up stuff and masks to be stored on. We are picking up wood and cement blocks tonight for a train platform (free cycle stuff yea) and I made a big pillow for the reading corner. I need to find milk crates for the books to be in. It will be easier for him to clean up that way.

by th eway my 20 items did well. 18 of them sold and are already paid for. One of those was a dutch auction and I sold 8 of the items I had. I'll use the others for kids in Sunday School and such.

Today is monumental. I bought paint a roller pan and am getting started on the walls of the house. I am starting with the playroom which will involve painting all of them after fixing them (which I did today) anld then painting a mural on them (Veggie Tales of course). Then figuring out what to put on the floor, where to put toys and how to build a train platform. I want to put in a "book corner" with soft veggie Tales pillows and lots fo favorite books. I want to get a low bookshelf or some cubes he can reach and keep presentable himself. I had put the books on a shelf in the library (actually he had his own shelf just outside the library which is just outside his bedroom) but somehow most fo the books ended up down here on his rocker. I don't want to discourage this so I am putting in a reading corner. For my next trick I will find away of making a platforn for the train to be on so we don't have to ruin a great display to be able to play with something else for awhile.

I bought clothes, new, not at a second hand shop. Now before I get all kinds of comments on how I could find th esame or better at Goodwill let me state I am 6 feet 2 and a half inches, only wear skirts and tops or dresses and am overweight as well. I rarely find stuff for me at second hand shops. I paid a grand total of $31.00 total. I bought three skirts and three sweaters. I figure I will wear sweaters for at least another month and then will have them for next winter. I have summer t-shirts and can wear 2 of the skirts in the summer. So not so unfrugal and very needed. I am going East and would rather not hear that I need clothes from some of the family I am visiting.

I am going to copy the goals blog and delete the ones I have done so I can tell where I am and what I still have to go.

1. EF is currently way way low. By the end of 2007 I plan to have it up to one month's take home.

3. Increase our Tithe by a percent in August as usual.

4. Pay off the medical bills from January 2006 (that will take alot.) Right now we pay 50 a month on 4 bills. At this rate if I add what I was paying to the next payment I will accomplish this.

Concrete Health

2. Continue to only have one can of soda a week and several bottles of water a day

5. Lose weight, about 40 #

7. Walk somewhere every week increasing to 3 times a week.

Concrete Personal:

4. Lose weight (40 # or so)Figured it was worth repeating!!

6. Read less fiction and more Theology books.

7. Become more organized and efficient.

Concrete Parenting:

1. Have more kids

2. Help DS2 learn to share better and be polite.

3. Continue playgroup and find other opportunities for him to practice the above skills

4. Have a more organized plan with more variety in his school work

5. Instill a love for nature and God's creation in our children.

6. Teach them good nutrician habits and exercise.

7. Teach them good money management skills.

Concrete goals House:

1. Make all curtains for the house

2. Paint the downstairs rooms

3. Decorate walls upstairs

4. Redo the roof on the garage and fix the doors

5. Make the yard and driveway less of a swamp.

6. Put up a backyard play set.

7. Fence the backyard so the dog can run free.

Now for the wish list!!!

3. Make everything fresh or from scratch

4. Sew something for each person on my Christmas list. (In Progress)

5. Finish my thesis and last course and get my Masters of Divinity. (In Progress)

6. Go on a family missions trip. (Have to wait until youngest child is 6)

7. Keep the house neat and clean. (No Comment)

With the raise we decided to raise our 401 K contribution to 15 % now instead of waiting the whole 6 months. That is as much as we plan on putting in there. The company matches the first 3% so there is really 18% going in. We will probably never retire but it will be there just in case we can afford to someday. If there is anything left when we die it will be divided evenly among all living grandchildren. One more goal met. I need to revisit the list and see where we need to work next.

This summer we have to do alot work on our new house and yard. Yesterday step 1 was completed. We had 11 trees removed. They are all old pines that were half dead. We paid 350 for two guys to spend 2 1/2 hours cutting trees down. They wanted another 300 to remove all the debris which we were too cheap to pay. So our yard is littered with pine logs and branches. DS2 and I spent an hour picking up a bag of pine cones and a large pile of brush this morning but since I have pneumonia (again) I am not able to do as much as I want. DH is geocaching so will have to get to it later. We're planning on going out again after I rest an hour or so. We are going to rent a chipper (70 dollars) and chip as much as we can in the 3 hours we can have it. The rest we will put out for city pickup. They have a schedule they come around on and pick up brush. The wood chips are going at the bottom of the playyard we are going to put up for DS2 at the beginning of May. The wood we will use when we are camping or having a fire here at night. The next several steps include a garage roof, driveway solution (maybe not paved the estimates are outragous), and a fence. Of course in there we will plant a garden, put up a ramp in the front, a pond (want not need but ...)

I have been selling Veggie Tales at home parties since they started the program last September. They just notified me that they are fazing out the program as of May 31st. I am disapointed that it isn't continuing but I understand it can't if it isn't making money. I am putting one last party on the site but I will be surprised if it goes anywhere.

I put 20 items on ebay this afternoon. I am proud of myself, now if some of them just sell maybe I'll break even on fees!! One of our playgroup parents put their parents place on an ebay auction, 83 acres. I can't imagine! i did sell a house at auction once but I was desperate and it wasn't an ebay one.

I've had white Resurection Days before but this is silly! We have enough snow that my DH had to get up early and shovel snow this morning!! It is winter out there. I had to dig out the extra warm wraps for my DS. He wants to go play in the snow today. I want a roaring fire! Neither of us will get out way. I did have good news. Last months gas bill came and it went down by over 50%. I am very happy about that but not thrilled that this months won't do the same (never satisfied!)

April is when my DH company give bonus and raise notification. We got ours on Maundy Thursday. He got a 4% raise. I am proud of him. The bonus will almost be enough to roof the garage (unless more is rotton than we know). take down 11 trees and build most of the jungle gym ofr DS2. It is a relief to know I don't have to squeeze it out of our monthly budget. The raise will help too although most of it is going straight into our 401K. We will finally be at 15% on that and even be doing it 3 months early. That way we won't get used to the money in the check and miss it! Now all I have to do is find th emoney to fence the yard! Oh and build the ramp and plant the garden (roto tiller, topsoil, ... and pave the driveway or at least put down crushed granite and ..... Home ownership is so much better than renting???!!!

I haven't logged in for a whole day and look at the blog changes!! WOW someone's been busy. We went to the children's museum in Madison Wisconsin yesterday and spent hours and hours doing construction, building walls, playing house, milking a cow (not real), running a restaurant, gardening, and selling produce at a farmer's market, and having a grand time. We ate at a local coffee shop and then had Ben and Jerry's ice cream. It was a fun day. We had driven down because I bought alot of fabric on ebay from a woman near there on ebay (for the church quilt ministry) and we decided to pick it up to save shipping. DH went geocaching and waymarking so it worked out, except for the part about going to bed in a hotel room, not a fun time for him which made it torture for me.

I haven't written for awhile becasue nothing noteworthy comes to mind. All my ebay items sold at the buy it now price which tells me I sell too low! but I was glad to get them off. I have some more things I want to list but haven't taken the pictures yet. i had to cancel playgroup, everyone seem sto be sick. We had a couple great spring days and now it is snow again.

4 of the 6 sets I put up sold!! Wow I'm impressed and sure that I should have sold them for more money! But they semed consistent with what the others were going for just I think I was the only one who did buy it now reasonably. Maybe I'm on to something. i have more stuff to list as soon as I get pictures taken of it.

I listed a few stamp sets on ebay that I have used enough that I am sure I won't miss them. There were 6 of them and I forgot that one wasn't retired. I am was amazed when someone emailed me to correct my listing. She was right and it was an honest mistake on my part. One of the sets was still in the book but man, she emailed me twice and included page and catalog number. I have found small errors when I am looking at listings but unless I want to buy the thing I don't ask about any information that might be wrong. Even then only if it is pertanent. The cool thing is that 2 of them have already sold at the buy it now price. one of them within an hour of listing!!!