The Adventures of Lil Mouse

Wisconsin Candy Dish is hosting Fun Monday for March 30, when the topic will be Easter Baskets: Share a story, is it better to give or to receive, what would you like in yours?
Mmm Easter Candy… well, I think a couple more cloth diapers for Keeley would be about all I would want. Oh and Chicks and Rabbits. Love me the chicks and rabbits!

When we were little the Easter Bunny would hide our basket for us. Then we would have to find it on Easter morning. The ‘best’ place mine ever was, was hidden in the dirty clothes hamper. Someone else had to find it for me, because I couldnt find it anywhere! We usually got some candy that we liked with a small chocolate bunny and that was it. I think a lot of people overdo it these days by buying a bunch of junk toys because they feel like they have to do ‘more’–but I think a fluff of candy is about all any kid needs, because to me, that’s not what Easter is about. Also every year my dad likes to color eggs, not sure why, but I bet if I showed up with a kit this year, that he’d break out mom’s old cups and bang around asking her where the vinegar is and tell me to blow through the egg, not suck it out, like I don’t know that already! He always thought that was so funny. I just liked the fact that we got scrambled eggs the next morning! Does anyone know, if you do it with hard boiled instead, are you supposed to eat the eggs, or just use them for hide and seek? I’ve always wondered if the dyes were ‘food grade’ or not?

 I’m going to host April 13, the day after Easter, so if you’re a regular reader and you don’t have a blog, and want to participate, let me know and I’ll put your ’stuff’ in a post on my blog so you can join in the fun. I thought it was about time I hosted as I’ve seen several people that have done it more than 2 times and I haven’t been the lady spiking the punch hostess yet.

Everyone’s writing about the economy and how to do yourself a favor. How about some zip, zilch, nada try it items? Okay I’m going to try to fight the invading bot searchers, so here’s the link some of you may not like the store itself, but there are merchandise examples that you can get for nada if you click on the blue spot there. Try refreshing the page at least 3 times, that way you can see if you’ve gotten all the umm, trials yet. Soap, toilet paper, lotion, you name it, it’s on there. And keep checking back, there are new things about once a week. Oh and someone posted this tip on Kellie’s blog. So thanks, whoever you were!

I Am

I am full of hope and strength
I wonder what a newborn baby dreams about
I hear angels’ wings, whispering in flight
I see their trails, fewments left behind
I want a place to call my own
I am full of hope and strength

I pretend to ignore the warnings I hear everywhere, but can’t
I feel brave when facing the fire
I touch the spring air and it fills me with contentment
I worry that my daughter might not know true peace in her lifetime
I cry over thoughts of the evil in the world
I am full of hope and strength

I understand that I am loved
I say that God is with us
I dream of better days to come
I try to be a positive influence
I hope for life to spring eternal
I am full of hope and strength

 So? Who are you? http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/iampoem.htm

The la la la’s crack her up…

The smurf song gets a giggle, as well as ‘I feel pretty’.. I’m not sure if the la la la’s are truly there, or if I just made them up, but she sure seems to appreciate it, nonetheless. She also likes the word pretty and we’re starting on beauuuuuutiful.. she likes that too.

I finally slept. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t feel much better, but at least I slept. I’m trying to come to terms with my husband’s decision to max out our budget for the house. I deal so well with firm, cold hard facts, and fluffy numbers and I don’t really get along. So I basically forced him to offer another amount for a smaller piece of the land. He’s mad at me. That’s fine. I was mad at him for making the offer without hard numbers, and without my consent in the first place. At first I felt really guilty, but now I realize that we’re in this together and each of us has been pushy. We both want this so much, and I’m just the more conservative one. I shouldn’t apologize for it. I am the one that does the budget, that trims back on things for ‘us’ when he wants something ‘extra’ — hopefully with the smaller offer, we will have money in the bank each month, and the chance to ‘have it all’ — even if it’s on a smaller piece of ground. If someone does snatch up the rest of the land in the next little bit, we should be hidden WAY back in the trees, just like we always wanted. In a nice big house (like he wanted) with a big kitchen and pantry (like we both wanted) and enough room for guests, while leaving Keeley her own room and a full basement for expansion and/or an in-law suite, should we need it later on.

Was everyone else as freaked out about buying a home as I am? We don’t know anything pretty much about the area. I finally looked at the grade school website. Doesn’t look bad, although the town is TINY. There’s a good chance we’ll be treated as outsiders, but whatever. I’m used to it. A bigger town (with a super store) is about 10 miles away. It also has all the feel and such of the 2 towns we lived in about the same size that we liked.

Of course all this means changing pediatricians. Again. Good lord. Well, I guess it should be for the final time (I hope). She should get her 6 month shots in and then I think we have a bit of a break before we need more?  Not sure but we’ve been going every 6 weeks, so it will be nice to have a touch of a break.

What does everyone else do when they feel overwhelmed? We are so close to having our own place, away from all the noise and hecticness of the city. The good thing is? It will actually be CLOSER to get to the grocery store, pharmacy, etc, because there will be practically no traffic. Isn’t that funny? Our errands will take a lot less time. I will have a bit of independence back. And, we will be a lot closer to family. We even talked about possibly being able to stay with our church and being able to go about once a month. We could probably find another church to go do the others weeks, once we’re settled.

If you’ve ever had a new home, do you have any tips? I know we should go ahead and paint the nursery and get it done so it can air out, any other thoughts? We will probably take the ‘deal’ of the air conditioner since it will be summer by the time we get in, and buy our own appliances at Sears or something other large store, most likely shopping in the scratch and dent section. But those are my ideas at this point. Has anyone moved into a house recently and had to do this transition? Despite the somewhat negative tone, I’m really very excited. If everything goes as planned (or at least close), we’ll only be paying a couple hundred more dollars a month than we’re paying now for a bunch of land, a brand new house with a full basement, huge kitchen, basically the works. Oh and we can finally get all of our stuff out of storage at both parents’ houses so they can have their attics and garages back. I’m sure they’ll breathe a sigh of relief.

For several days now, I’ve either been unable to fall asleep, or woken up and had no luck in falling back asleep for several hours. As a result, I’m exhausted, and yet, here I am, 2 hours after Matthew has fallen asleep, several hours after Keeley konked out, and I’m awake. Exhausted, but I can’t sleep, my mind is rolling. All day I feel like I can’t focus on anything, taking care of the baby is all I can manage and then I feel like I could be so awake as to write the great American novel at night, even though I’m desperately behind on rest.

It may have something to do with the fact that we made an offer on some land this week. We could be as little as 6 weeks away from our first home. It makes me very excited and nervous and confused all at the same time. Matthew’s tired of me being freaked out, but I don’t have any outlet. What’s done is done, he made the offer without telling me he was going to do it. We had kind of discussed budget, but I just want to make sure everything goes the way it should, and I have no control over it. Nothing is in my own little hands, my own future feels so far away, but it may be closer than ever. I don’t want to not focus on the days we are having now, though, as Keeley is so fun and sweet at this age. She’s started to mimic the ‘L’ sound when I say ‘I love you Keeley’. It’s all about love. I love so much and hurt so much and want so much that I can’t sleep. I’m very afraid we’ll go over budget and won’t be able to build up a safety net. These days, we need one, and we don’t currently have one. My worries are probably unfounded, but nonetheless, I worry. I can’t help it. I have faith, but I’m also scared witless.