Lucky Pink Hair

You've probably noticed that I've gone underground again--as I seem to in times of stress! The selling/renting of our house (or lack thereof) was weighing heavily on me, and I can't seem to write when I'm in that kind of stress mode. Not to mention I have been cleaning Non. Stop. and I'm so sick of it...

So on Monday there was a very "important" showing of the house. People coming in from out of town that needed to be in our school district and had viewed homes online and narrowed it down to ours and one other. Then the "one other" was gone so ours was seemingly the only one in the running. Not to mention, our broker was also the realtor for these people--so it seemed like a shoe-in!

I spent part of Sunday preparing (we were away for the weekend but I'll get caught up with that in another post) and flower arranging. Monday my cleaning lady arrived along with a fleet of window washers and we were all in a frenzy of cleaning and beautifying the house.

There's not much more I could have done to make it look better--the windows sparkled, the floors gleamed, the freshly baked chocolate chip cookie aroma was in the air. I knew they would just love it!

They hated it.

I knew we were in for trouble when I returned home and the cleaning lady said the prospective tenants had been there for "maybe ten minutes." In the end it turns out that the mom in the family was "too tall" for the house. (???) How tall was she? What was that movie?--Monsters Vs. Aliens--was she like that?

After that I spiraled into a foul mood thinking we would be stuck paying for two houses for an unforeseeable amount of time. Then later that day, our realtor called for a last-minute showing--so I did a fast re-clean and hustled the kids out the door.

I had to wait in the car in front of the house with Andy who was waiting to be picked up by a friend. As we waited, we saw the people arriving for the showing. First a man, then our realtor, then a woman with BRIGHT PINK hair!!

As soon I saw the hair, I turned to Andy and said "this is it!" You see, we have a pink hair kind of house.

They LOVED it!! And immediately wanted the papers drawn up for a two year lease.

So now I have a monkey off my back and possibly a new pink-haired friend!!

What a relief!!! Now I can blog again!! (I use a lot of exclamation marks!!)

In other news--you may remember this:

I bought it today! I went to this crazy warehouse place where it was being stored and the guy that owns the place was SO cute and very interesting. It was embarrassing because I looked awful--I literally rolled out of bed and out to see the sofa.

Plus I broke the 11th commandment--"Thou shalt not wear socks with Crocs."

I know! I wasn't even thinking--I was wearing socks and the Crocs were by the door and...

Oh, it doesn't matter--let's just hope the sofa looks good in the new house.

A Day In The Life...

If this day is any indication of how summer is going to be--I'll be half dead before it's over!

Let's break it down:

6:30 - 7:30 a.m.--Get out of bed and help Andy get ready for his first day of summer chemistry (he has to take it over the summer because his schedule next year is too full.)

--Get Gooser and Pickle dressed and ready.

--Wake up Patrick and Teddy for last day of school.

--Breakfast

7:30- 8:15--Head over with Andy to the high school to purchase chemistry book.

--Wait in line at bookstore behind Dude #1 with hair that is longer and pinker than mine, and his friend, Dude #2 with fingernails WAY longer than mine. Is this a new guy fashion thing?

8:15 - 9:10--Race home at the last minute to get Teddy, Patrick and Gooser to school.

--Get teacher gifts handed out.

--Come home, quickly check email.

9:15--Back to school to pick everybody up (the last day was an hour!?!)

9:30 - 10:00--Review report cards, make a couple of phone calls, have coffee.

10:00 - 11:00--Workout (hard).

11:00-11:45--Run around trying to get house ready for appraiser.

--Take Gooser to playdate

11:45--Appraiser shows up 15 minutes early. Call realtor and tell him to get here ASAP to help with appraiser.

11:45-12:15 Deal with appraiser and talk to realtor.

--Find out about football camp that starts tomorrow--kids want to attend. Confusion ensues about football equipment. Do we have the right gear??

12:15 - 1:10--Pick up Gooser from playdate.

--Take all the kids to grocery store.

1:20--Come home to get Andy who is just back from chemistry. Realize that McDonald's is the only place we'll have time to go for lunch.

1:30 - 1:45 Crazy-fast lunch at McDonald's.

--Salad and water.

1:50--Race back home to grab Gooser's bathing suit so we can make it in time for swimming lesson.

1:55--Run into neighbor who informs me that three kids in Teddy's class have SWINE FLU!

2:00--3:00--Gooser's swimming lesson.

--We wait in hot balcony area while Pickle climbs dangerous concrete bleachers.

--Stressed out and hot.

--Worried about Swine Flu.

3:00-4:00--Inventory football gear for tomorrow's camp. We need cleats!!

--Finally put away groceries.

--Clean lizard cage.

5:00 - 6:00--Patrick's cello lesson.

--Makeshift dinner of chicken wings and onion rolls.

--Eat standing up.

--Make brownies.

--Husband arrives home.

6:00 - 6:30--Husband and big boys go for a run.

--Put little ones to bed.

--Realtor calls with more on the crazy story of Mr. Howell and our out-of-control real estate deal.

--Feel depressed.

6:30 - 6:45--Men back from run.

--Try to relay realtor's story to husband.

--Call friend who I think has cleats--she does! And will bring them over later.

6:45 - 10:00 p.m.--Oil painting class. Very hot in room.

--Insane classmate very irritable and edgy tonight. I'm scared!

--Work on copying Van Gogh painting assignment.

--Mosquitos invading room and sticking to oil paint.

10:15--Get home and before I even put my purse down, am asked "Where are the rubber bands???" with much urgency.

--Find rubber bands.

--Have a brownie.

10:55--Finish writing blog.

--Am tired.

--Not finished with blog though.

--Must go feed rabbit.

--OK, now I'm finished.

--Am punchy.

--Now it's 11:07.

--Don't know why it took so long to write that part about the rabbit.

--Was just standing there staring into space.

--OK, now I'm really finished!

--But I'm wondering if I'll have time to take a shower tomorrow. No time for that today...

Fun in the Sun

We had a great weekend at the Fun House and spent a lot of time hangin' in the backyard. New sand in the sandbox, lots of sun and the dogs running wild. It was great!

Pickle was out of control!
Kicking balls:
Hugging freaky monkeys:
And picking dandelions:
Portrait of Gooser with dandelions:
And with dandelion:
Gooser with the freaky monkey:
There was lots of sliding:
And dog hugging:
Even Hazel got in on the freaky monkey action:
I like this pic of Pickle:
And this one too!
Oh and this one too...
I'll leave you with Portrait of Freaky Monkey and Dandelions:

File This Under...

...life with a two year old!
I should have taken the pic from a different angle because this doesn't do the damage justice. I had just placed one of those jumbo triple rolls of toilet paper in there and Pickle unrolled nearly the whole thing into the toilet. I had to weed out the sopping mess into a garbage bag.

I have been feeling bloguninspired lately. I think because

A). I'm still feeling logy (one of my all-time favorite words by the way!) from that awful flu.

B). I haven't gone anywhere or done anything exciting, mainly because I'm trying not to spend money and if I hole up inside I'm less likely to.

C.) When I'm home, I'm usually cleaning non-stop to keep the house presentable for these dumb showings that never amount to anything.

D.) Poor Teddy finally succumbed to our family flu so I'm in vomit mode again.

Other points of interest:

1.) I'm seriously wondering if this flu bug we've all had could be swine flu!

2.) Even though I'm trying not to spend money, I've gotten carried away on a couple of Ebay auctions for really weird things like doll heads and scary stuffed monkeys. And a clown doll.

3.) I'm really getting sick of cleaning the house and don't know how much longer I can continue this. We've extended our offer to Mr. Howell for 90 more days--please send me quick selling vibes!! I just want to get out of here!!

4.) I'm worried that because Teddy got the bug so late in the game he might reinfect all of us!

One more thing--I took this pic today of a robin building her nest: