Summer Rules...

My step-daughter is staying with us for two months this summer, so Saturday morning I dutifully laid out the ground rules for the duration.  My husband - her father, sat idly by nodding his head every so often.  Evidently he figured I had this one.

1. You must bathe - at least once every 48 hours.  With soap...
2. You must make your own bed - every morning, completely, not half way, not most of the way, all of the way.
3. If you take it out, put it back when you are finished in the same condition you took it out in... (this rule covers a plethora of things so don't think I didn't provide her with a list of at least 30 situations in which it would apply)

I have added one rule to the list just last night.  After completing your shower, hang up your wet towel.  Do not throw it in the laundry basket to mildew until it can walk itself to the washing machine.  You might think it will lead the other clothes with it, but it will only crawl into your bed and strangle you in your sleep. 

Yes, she thinks I am completely insane...

I think 4 rules is getting off pretty light.  When we were kids, Mom would leave us at home during summer break and give us a list of chores so long, it would take half of the day to get them done.  I know it was her way of thinking we would be too busy to get into trouble, but we could get into a ton of trouble in the other half of the day and before doing all of those chores, we relished in our schemes of how we would complete the tasks without actually doing the work...

Kids today have nothing on us!

Does anyone remember hearing the garage door and frantically shouting "Mom's home..." as you ran around the house completing the tasks on your list that had conveniently been left undone?  We definitely perfected the art of procrastination.

Happy birthday to the best guy I know...

I had to specify with the best guy that I personally know because I am sure there are a lot of wonderful men out in the world.  Men like Gandhi, Pope John Paul II or heck, even Jesus.  Don't get me wrong, I know Jesus, just not in the same way...

Now that I have secured my own personal spot in hell...

Today is my hubby's birthday.  I started it out with a birthday wish and a card to show that I knew in advance that today is his birthday.  On Sunday, I am willingly let him meet with the geeks technicians from Best Buy so he can design his new media room.  What he doesn't realize is that his gift is the consultation...  At $99 I think that is a heck of a present, don't you?  LOL!

The new washing machine was delivered today and I am sitting at work thinking of all of the laundry I will be running it through tonight.  I wonder if I can sign up with GE to be a field tester?  I would be willing to bet I could make a living out of doing laundry and providing feedback.  Two of my most highly qualified skills!!  Oprah envies my spot removal abilities and congress is considering my most recent feedback of what they can do with their latest decisions.

On to another busy weekend but am so glad none of it will involve packing or unpacking.  YIPPEE!!!

I finally had a quick minute to put in a post.  I apologize for being such a periodic blogger, but life keeps happening and I don't want to miss the bus.

My daughter's last day of Kindergarten is today.  I keep trying to tell her that after school she will be a first grader, but she isn't buying it.  She gives me a patronizing look and tries to explain to me that 1st grade doesn't start until August and then she will be a 1st grader...  I have given up.

The weather has been crazy here this week.  We have had lots and lots of thunderstorms.  Some with hail, some with just heavy rain, but it has been a lot of everything.  I heard our old neighborhood had quite a bit of damage and I am hoping our new home owner's were able to escape without any.  I remember last year when the hail and straight line winds did a number on us.  I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Work has been crazy busy.  I have been traveling a lot and have learned that there is a ton more where that came from.  It scares me to think about how much time I may have to be away from home.  It is so hard on my daughter (and me too) whenever I am gone more than a day.  What can I do though?  I love my job and the company I work for.  I am hoping there is another way where I can be home more. 

The new house has finally been put together short of hanging some drapes that I don't have yet.  I think all houses should have the same number and size of windows so that you can take the draperies from house A and move them to house B.  After all, if you buy a pre-existing house B, those drapes are always UGLY!  My first house had pink walls with rose colored drapes.  They were so dark, heavy and dusty I almost had to hire movers just to get them into the trash.  Then it took a really big stick to keep them there...(Shudder)

Yesterday we lost my husband's father.  He had congestive heart failure and diabetes.  Mom and Dad had just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last weekend.  We already had a trip schedule to go out there in June for an Anniversary party.  Now we will have to change it to a different kind of celebration.  It will be a celebration of his life rather than a mourning of his passing.

The thing that warms my heart the most is all of the wonderful notes my hubby has gotten from people telling the "I remember when" stories about his dad and how great he was.  Most of the time you get a "Gosh, I'm sorry for your loss", but with Joe we have a bunch of memories of the positive impact he had on the lives of his family.  I had only met him twice, but he was really a special man.  He always had something funny to say and it was never at the expense of others.

I think that just about wraps up what I've been doing lately...

The journey of a million foot steps

I believe the real name of the book is a journey of a thousand foot steps, but I know I took way more steps than that this weekend so I am going to go with a million.

Friday morning - 9:00 a.m. closed on old house - went smoothly without issue
Friday afternoon - left work early for a 2:00 closing on the new house, called on the way only to find out that funding hadn't happened from the first sale yet.  Went ahead to the closing and signed all of the papers. 

3:00 - no funding
3:30 - no funding
4:00 - no funding and I am told it will be Monday at this point...

Panic sets in, movers schedule, utilities scheduled, all of the things you do for a move are freaking scheduled...

Calls go out to the lender on my new home, calls go out to the president of the home builder that we bought are home with, calls go out to the title company for our buyer...  Lots of calls go to people that can help us.

Panic turns to terror...what are we going to do? How will we move on Monday?  Can we move on Monday?  Husband out of town Monday, me out of town the rest of the week, OMG what are we going to do?  I started eyeing the cardboard boxes wondering how long it would take anyone to notice our cardboard, human Habitrail.

5:30 - the phone rings and the lender says he thinks the president will let me have the keys once he can finally reach him.

9:00 - the phone rings again and the saint that is my lender says he finally reached the president and I can have my keys the next morning at 9:30 a.m.

9:01 - the crying starts...tears of joy, tears of relief, tears of stress, basically lots of tears

Saturday 5:30 a.m. - I am up and at 'em.  Boxes are ready, cleaning has been started, I am ready for this move.  9:00 the movers show up, 9:30 I get keys and we are in business...ALL DAY LONG....

Sunday 12:01 a.m. the crying begins again and I count the remaining body parts and can't find any that don't hurt.  I really thought when you hired movers, you didn't have to do any of the heavy lifting.  Evidently, you still do...

I told my husband that we will not be moving from our new home until we are dead...

Winner, Winner, Where's my Chicken Dinner?

Okay, I have never received an award before and I am pretty sure I haven't written anything that deserves one, but I never pass up the opportunity to share the great blogs of other people.  The person that gave me the dubious honor of an award can be found lurking at Crazy World .  Thanks for the vote of confidence Melynda.

Seven things you may or may not want to know about me?  Hmmm....

1. I have severe OCD in the form of cleanliness to the point that I drive everyone crazy with it. Use a coaster, pick up your trash, put your shoes away - no, I don't care that you are still wearing them...
2. I have a very hard time accepting help from anyone, but I am getting much better.  My dear husband has found a way to break through my defenses and now I have come to rely on his help
3. My daughter is the best thing I have ever done.  Even if her dad is a nitwit and she never listens to a word I say, I thank God for her every day.
4. Sometimes I still feel like I am 16 on the inside.  I want to skip school, play hookie, ditch the babysitter, etc...  I keep wondering when will I ever really feel like a grown up?
5. I tend to give my opinions even when I am not asked.  I am working on this one as it seems to be a hereditary trait.  Not everyone really wants to know what I think - shocking, I know!
6. I am a tender heart.  Give me your downtrodden, your broken and your weary and I will wear myself out trying to fix them up.
7. I am claustrophobic...  I can't even think about being stuck in a small space without having a panic attack

I think that about does it for me.  Want to check out some other great Blogs that I love, love, love?

Connecting with Stephanie
The Crazy Life of a Writing Mom
Surviving Boys

There are more, but I will let you start with these....

*HOUSE UPDATE*
Just got a call from my Realtor and the Appraiser has not come by to do the appraisal yet.  She is coming today though.  We close next Friday and it is an FHA Loan for the people buying our house.  What do you think the odds are that this closing won't happened?  AAAGGGHHH!!!

A-A-A-A-G-G-G-H-H-H

I feel like today has gone to hell in a handbasket.  I got up feeling fine this morning.  I was even in a good mood.  I woke up my daughter, got her ready for school and headed off to work.  That's when the day went south...

• My neighbor threw an easel and play set in the trash that I had given them for their kids - I live across the street, if you don't want it, give it back!
• I sat in traffic for well over an hour - and I even left early
• I have gotten no less than twenty requests for help from coworkers today, all of which have required me to stop what I am doing to figure out their answer
• The stuff I am trying to work on, isn't working the way it is supposed to
• I have gotten a slew of e-mails from the Lender on my new house asking for x, y and z.  Every time I think I am done they come up with something else.  I believe they now know everything about me, even what I had for breakfast this morning.
• The appraiser for the sale of my current home still hasn't turned in his appraisal which means if it doesn't appraise for the sale price our sale could go through because the new buyers are doing an FHA loan. (This in itself is cause for panic because everything would completely unravel if this falls through!)
• My water bill is still showing unpaid even though the payment cleared my bank over a week ago...

I could focus on only the bad stuff, but there is good stuff that I am trying to focus on as well.  Otherwise I will become the very thing I loathe the most.  A whiner...

Good stuff...

Good stuff...

Still trying to think of some good stuff...

Okay - here we go.

My daughter bought me donuts yesterday with her own allowance - that is the first time she has ever bought anything for me
I have a job
I have a home
I have a husband whom I love dearly
I have my health (even if my head is still so stopped up from allergies)
My head hasn't exploded...(yet)
We have about 90% of everything packed and the move is just over a week away

Okay, it is almost balanced.  I really hope everyone in reader-land is having a much better day!!

This and that...

Not much new to report on this end. Work has been crazy busy and I feel like I have spent more time in the last month away from home than I have spent at home.  The only perk to this is that the Hubby has pretty much finished all of the packing.  YEA!!  He still rocks...

Nonna has continued to decorate our new home in her head and sends me fifty e-mails a day about where I should put everything.  I think I have a few ideas of my own on where I should put that stuff...LOL!

Little by little it is all coming together.  The new house is beautiful.  I think it is happy to finally have owners. Can you see the smile?  I have all of the utilities scheduled to be swapped over and even have my daughter signed up for the after school program this fall.  I didn't want to miss out on that one.  It is usually full before the end of the school year.  I can't even sign her up for the new school until we have our signed contract, but I'm not too worried about that.  What are they going to do, tell me no?


Work continues to go a million miles an hour and most of the time I still love my job.  Some days are easier than others.