March 25th

I’m enjoying my second cup of coffee now. Sure it’s after noon but I’ve been busy. I have to give Daisy a bath in a few minutes so that I can take her to the vet. I made the appt. yesterday and last night I dreamed that she died…it’s was more like a nightmare really. Like a~ she took her last breath in my arms~ kind of nightmare. I didn’t like it.

Back to the former playroom. We’re giving Chloe the room. It doesn’t matter how long we have left in this house, Chloe is getting her own room. Part of the delay has been selfish on my part. First of all, I didn’t really *feel* like painting the room. Secondly, I haven’t felt like dealing with the dramatic fallout that is sure to come from Halle. She has always needed to be with people and to sleep in her own room is terrifying. I’m going to make the transition as smooth as possible, including buying new paint today. We’ll see.

So far I’ve been able to use paint that we already have. We’re trying to spend as little money as possible and it’s been nice to have the yellow paint that I bought so.long.ago. It took a while for me to find that post. And I still love that color. It didn’t work with the bamboo floors in the kitchen but I think it’s so sweet and pretty in Chloe’s room.

I love the lime green curtain too. I bought it at Wal-Mart (yep, I actually went inside) a few weeks ago for $12. I thought it was a pretty good deal, especially considering it’s one that blocks out heat. Although we did buy windows that do that also. But the sun comes up on that side of the hill and I didn’t want it to shine in Chloe’s eyes first thing in the morning. That might have been a good way to get her up early though.

I need to paint the base boards but I’m leaving the door trim for now because Travis is probably going to replace that door. And the bathroom door too. And a new bathtub is being considered. A new friend of mine came over yesterday to help me and I showed her around the house and the things that needed to be done. For most of it she said “leave it” but when we got to the bathroom she said, “Girl, you need a new tub! That turquoise isn’t gonna cut it!” And I really appreciated her honesty. This has been the project in the back of our minds since we bought the place and the obstacle has always been that we have one bathroom. But since I can’t realistically help with that project, my thought is that I’d go stay with my parents for a bit. That way the girls and I could still do school and there would be plenty to help with when I got back.

I’m so, so, so glad that I painted the cabinets last summer *and* that I planted a little garden. I’m not sure how much I mentioned that. It was a lot of hard work and If I had to do it now I’m not sure I’d be able to handle it. The garden has french lavender and I planted a blueberry bush but I don’t know if it survived the winter. I’ll plant some flowers and call it a day. I’m not going to put a bunch of effort into growing edibles…even though I really want to. I might pick up a pot of tomatoes from Costco. They’re already growing nice and big and have tomatoes on them. I don’t usually like cheating like that but I’ll cut myself some slack this time.

And, wow! I had far more to say than I thought.

Did I mention that I *love* this room now? Once again, I wish I’d painted it as soon as we moved in.

Live and learn.

 

Texty Love

Apparently my mood is just plain silly. I’m not sure why. Travis was supposed to wake me up at 7:15 this morning. Why 7:15? Because 7:00 is too early and 7:30 is too late but I can lay in bed until 7:25 and not feel guilty. But he never woke me up. I woke up all by myself (because I’m a big girl now) and saw that it was 8:15. I figured that he just forgot and I happened to walk into the living room to see him still asleep. Why on the couch? Not because he was in trouble. It’s because I was really grouchy and tired last night and well, sometimes the couch is a means for self preservation. Anyway, I woke him up and asked if he was going to work. It’s never a good thing to wake up like that. He was up and out the door in record time and I went back to sleep. Why? Because I’d already overslept and I was still tired. You’d have to be in my head to understand completely, but once my goal is ruined I might as well call it a day.

Trav is supposed to be working a half day today to make up for working late a while back but he had a meeting and then some company is supposed to take them to a fancy restaurant. It’s how the computer field works, I’m not sure why. He figured he’d be done by 1:30 but sent a text to me around 12:30 that went like this:

This meeting will not end! 😦

And I responded…

I’m sorry you feel like stabbing yourself in the head with an ice pick…

And he responded…

You shouldn’t make me laugh out loud in the middle of a meeting 🙂

And that, ladies and gentlemen made my day. It’s the little things really…

A Really Big Case…

Of writer’s block. I’m really not kidding. I’ve never actually tried to write so consistently before because this is just a hobby. But now, getting any words to come out and make sense it really, really difficult. It’s also possible that I’m bored. I get bored easily. I hear that the best way to get through writer’s block is to just write. I’m not so sure about that but I suppose I could give it a shot.

Travis played Mr. Mom this past weekend. Chloe was/is sick and there were Flat Stanley things to attend to so I did the out and about things and Travis stayed home and cleaned. Nice. Halle and I weren’t out for a very long time but just getting out of the house and not having to think about the laundry or dishes was fabulous. Sunday, he stayed home again so that I could go to church and then I was supposed to have lunch with Amanda, Brian and his parents but that ended up getting canceled so I ran errands and picked up a friend’s kiddo instead.

The day was just beautiful, sunny and 71 degrees, so I took the kids (minus Chloe) and the dog to the park. And, um, Daisy is *strong*. I had to really plant my feet to keep her from pulling me off of them. She gets so excited, probably because we haven’t taken her to the park as much as we should. Mostly because it’s been freezing…and I don’t feel bad about it. At all. It’s funny but my attitude towards dogs has changed since I have one. I’m much less, “oh, look at the sweet puppy” and much more “yes, you’re sweet but you’re a dog.” I don’t treat her like she’s my child, I treat her like she’s my dog. Sure, I give her bits of bacon when I cook it and I walk her when I can but my life doesn’t completely revolve around her.

I’ve set a new goal for myself, due to the vast amount of laundry Travis folded and put away on Sunday. It’s a small goal, unlike my usual grand schemes, and I’m hopeful that I can keep up with it. I want to wash, dry, fold and put away one load of laundry a day. That’s it. Technically I had to put today’s load into two batches because the washer was banging like crazy and while I was at it I decided to wash the red clothes. But still, I think I can do it. I just think that it would be nice to be able to go out and enjoy a Saturday instead of folding 18 baskets of clothes.

I’m also thinking of getting up earlier. Like, 7-ish. That’s not a big deal for you poor folks that get up at, say, 5-ish but that’s not a goal for me…that’s purgatory. I did get up at 7-ish this morning because, as I already said, I’m watching a friend’s kiddo for the next few days. And part of watching her is taking her to school in the morning. I have to say that I was very happy and energetic and ridiculously productive. I’m not bragging at all, I’m saying it because it’s different. I even swept and mopped the floor. That task in itself takes about 30 minutes, maybe longer. I realize that my house isn’t that big but the kitchen and hallway take up about 1/3 of it so it takes a while. The issue has been that every time I set a new getting up early regimen, I get sick. Every time. It’s been very frustrating to say the least. But when I get up earlier, I can get a bunch of chores done, then do school, work out and then…cook and clean some more. It doesn’t really sound like fun when I write it out like that. My kids like to say “when I’m a grown-up I can do whatever I want!” Um, yeah, about that…

Avalanche

I’m still here, I’m just buried under the amount of things I have to do. The messy house is besting me this week and we’ve had a meltdown or two. I might have been part of a meltdown. I just need to take some time to clean and plan lessons and spend some one-on-one time with Chloe. And then Halle. And then Travis. Well, switch that, Travis and I have a date tomorrow night. Anyway, I’ll leave you with some Flat Stanley adventures for today.

In Downtown…

 

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

 

 

At Bathos

I read in a newspaper once that the building that houses Bathos was a brothel until 1985 or 1986, it seems crazy and I can’t find anything else about it online but Franklin hasn’t always been as desirable a place to live as it is now. I’ll probably leave the brothel thing out of our report.

Main STreet Toys

At Lulu's

Okay, seeing Flat Stanley in a display probably isn’t what Landon’s teacher had in mind…but he is hanging out with girls.

The kids on an historic bench…kidding…the bench isn’t historic.

And last but not least…

The monument to the confederate soldiers in the town square…which is actually a circle. It’s a roundabout to be more precise and people around here can’t drive in it. Not that I get bothered by it…every time someone cuts me off and nearly causes a wreck. Really, it’s okay. I’ll probably also leave that out of our report.

 

So…Much…To….Do

Travis and I are getting a weekend to ourselves. Yay! Our very dear friends are keeping the kiddos for two.whole.nights. I’m positively giddy. As usual though, it has completely sneaked up on me and I’m scrambling to get everything done that I want to get done before I drop them off. And I think it’s a little funny that we don’t have a sofa to sit on tonight. Our living room looks like a couple of college students live here with the “ugly chair” and ottoman and the butterfly chair being our only seating in there right now.

And in somewhat sad news…I think Bo is gone. Early last week there was a knock at the door and I opened it to find an Animal Control officer there. Cringe. Daisy was tethered outside and Bo had come over to play. And when those two play it looks a whole lot like my sweet Daisy is being attacked by a bigger German Shepherd. He asked me a few questions like where Bo lives and that kind of thing and I asked if he had to take Bo away. He said he’d have to but that he couldn’t catch him then. I think he was being nice because I talked about how sweet Bo is. A couple of days later, Chloe was walking Daisy in the front yard and Bo came over to play again. Chloe got pulled around the yard and fell and I didn’t have any shoes on so I stood at the front door, yelling for Chloe to get the leash to me. I’m sure it must have looked very dramatic with my 9 year old trying to wrangle Daisy and it looked like Bo was attacking them. One of my neighbors must have seen it because a little while later I saw two Animal Control trucks across the street and I haven’t seen Bo since then. Sigh.

On the one hand I’m sad but I also hope that Bo gets adopted and has a family that will take care of him and pay attention to him. That’s what he really wanted. He would rather have us pet him than play with Daisy. I’m concerned though because Williamson County Animal Shelter is at 100% capacity right now (I’m a fan on Facebook) and you know what that means…I don’t want to think about it. I also know that I can’t have another dog.

I could also write about the chocolate chip cookies I made for “girls night” last night but didn’t get to eat. Halle said it’s unfair. It may not be unfair but it is a bummer. Chocolate chip cookies are my most favorite thing in the whole world. Well, food-wise anyway. Bummer. But no matter, I’ll get over it. And I’m sure that at some point I’ll come up with a fantastic, gluten-free, chocolate chip cookie recipe. Not crispy ones, chewy ones. Later. Probably much, much later. But someday I will eat a cookie again.

 

So…The Sequel

Well, after the shopping and deciding on a new sofa…we changed our minds. The sofa we picked out (which looks like this but a bit darker)…

…has microfiber fabric. It’s supposed to be really tough but we (and by “we” I mean mostly Travis but I was a little too) were concerned that it wouldn’t hold up to two kids and a dog. We’re not a “hands off” family by any stretch and any piece of furniture we buy needs to be a work horse. I really like the look of the sofa and felt it was a bit more sophisticated than the one I bought today, which looks like this…

It’s a much richer brown and I really like that. Now for all of you that are scratching your head saying “but she hates brown!”, I’ll say that is only somewhat true. When I was a kid, growing up in the ’70’s, everything in our house was dark brown. Carpet, linoleum, cabinets, bathtub, toilet, and sink were all brown. And the walls were white. I remember thinking “If I was a grown up, I would make everything red!” Well, now I am a grown up and this sofa is offered in red…but I asked for “chocolate brown please.” Why? Because I’m a grown up. And I know that I’d be tired of looking at a red sofa in about 3 days. Plus with brown, I can use all sorts of throw pillows in red or gold or blue or anything. So I’m happy. Well, I still liked the look of the other one better. They look different in person.

I like this chair to go with it…

It’s brown and cream and blue and green. It’s really comfy too but it costs as much as the sofa does so I’ll have to wait. I’ll look on Craig’s List but in the last couple of years bed bugs has become a real concern so I’m skittish about buying something used. All-in-all it’s turning out well. I like that I can take my time and not buy everything at once. We’re keeping my ugly/comfy chair and ottoman for now but we’re losing one seat. That’s a big deal when my parents come to visit so we’ll have to figure something out.

And, well, that’s about it for today…

 

So…

I guess if I want to get a Monday post out I have to write on Sunday. But I didn’t have time on Sunday and yesterday was a race the whole day. As it was, I had to just pull my hair back into a ponytail because I just didn’t have time to do anything else.

Travis and I were having coffee and talking on Saturday and the subject of having people over came up. I told him that I didn’t really want to have people over because Daisy had chewed up the furniture and it looks awful and it makes people feel sorry for you or something. So, surprisingly, he said we’d look at furniture. I checked out one on Craig’s List and found something but I didn’t hear back from him before we left. We went to American Signature and checked out a few things. We thought we’d found something but after I snagged a sales person (his name is Hugh and I just love him) we found out that it was already sold. It was a floor model and wasn’t really the color I wanted but it was cheap and was a sofa and love seat together. Camel. That was the color. In retrospect, I’m glad it was sold. Bleh. They had the same sofa, only with some improvements that is the current model and we decided to get the sofa. We didn’t get a love seat because we want to see how it fits in the living room before we buy something. Besides, a love seat only costs $20 dollars less than a sofa and it makes Travis and I crazy to lose a whole seat and only save $20 bucks. The sofa was on sale on the internet though, which we checked before we left, and the sofa actually costs a few dollars less than the love seat. Call us thrifty, cheap-o, or whatever but we love a bargain.

We didn’t go crazy, and while we considered spending a bit more and getting something with more durable fabric, we decided to go with “the one” because it’s a smaller scale sofa than any other one in the whole place. When your living room is 10×15, every bit of space counts. That also means that we have to get rid of our old sofa and chair…

And I was sad. Not because I think it’s the most awesome furniture on the planet. I don’t. It’s a pillow back and the pillows are always in the way and the seat cushions slide out of place and I’m always having to adjust them. It’s the memories. We’ve only had the set for 4 years but our friends purchased the set about 13 years ago. We’ve watched football games and movies on the couch. My friends and I talked about girl stuff on that couch while the guys were grilling outside. Our kids have all made “pillow messes” with the pillows starting when Grant and Chloe were in diapers, and since we’ve lived in Tennessee, that couch and chair have been part of it. So I had Chloe and Halle make a farewell pillow mess yesterday.

 

Even Daisy got in on the action…

So we said our farewells and I’m fine. I’m looking forward to getting the new sofa on Friday and this set is going to a bachelor who has just gotten his first place. I’m not even going to think about what shape it will be in. I’ll just remember our kids making pillow messes and squealing and laughing and having a wonderful time. And move on. It just brings us one step closer to our goal of having the house ready to sell. And for that I’m positively giddy.

Is It Possible?

Do you think it’s possible to die from beach withdrawal? If you’re my mother-in-law I know the answer is yes. Really though, could I actually die from not seeing the beach? Today it feels like I could.

We have more snow. And while I’m not a grumpy pants about it per se, I’m longing for wide open blue skies and palm trees and ocean. Sigh. I think I will forever feel homesick for Florida. But if I wasn’t in Tennessee, I’d feel homesick for it. The hills, the trees, the streams and changing seasons juxtaposed with sun, sand, lakes (we have a real shortage of lakes here, people!), ocean, and dolphins.

I miss incredibly violent thunder storms (they make me sleepy). I wish the meteorologists wouldn’t freak out about every.single.bit. of precipitation we get here. But I don’t miss the humidity. I do miss ocean life terribly and the best I can do is an aquarium. My kids don’t really know how to swim. Chloe has learned to swim but it’s so long between times that she actually gets to swim that she forgets how. Pools here are open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. And while nobody is swimming in Florida right now, it’s possible at times to swim in, say December. I miss orange trees and really fresh produce. And I miss being able to see the sky for miles and miles. The hills are in the way here…

But I love hills. Really. The winter here is gray and brown but spring is beautifully dramatic. Fall is incredible and the pace of life here is slower. Well, mostly slower. It’s nice that it’s only hellishly hot here for a little while instead of May through October.

And my kid lives here. The kid that doesn’t live with me anymore. We are far past the spot that we could just drag her along with us wherever we go. I guess that means that I have roots here now.

And I suppose that’s a good thing. Everybody needs roots. I suppose I’ll always mourn a bit for the things and people I left behind. Apparently I’m feeling sentimental again. Or maybe I’m just cold. I’m sure I’ll be fine as soon as things warm up again. Although a road trip would be good too….

Wednesday

Today is Wednesday, the day that Travis works from home. It’s a recent development and I have trouble remembering that he does it. So far he’s watched me cook bacon (real bacon, he’s very happy), put the dog outside, chase the dog once Bo let her off her tether (I don’t know how he does it), give the horribly muddy dog a bath and clean up the muddy nastiness in the bathroom. He’s working after all, and can’t really help me with any of those things. Although he did offer to help give Daisy a bath on his lunch break. He lamented the fact that I hadn’t written anything earlier, so this post is for my hubby.

My hubby who is really the sweetest guy ever. I don’t like bacon fat. I think it’s disgusting and have since I was a kid. I think that bacon tastes okay besides that but I preferred Sizzlean when I was a wee one because I couldn’t see any fat in it. I guess it’s like turkey bacon. But since I started Atkins a few days ago we have real bacon. Anyway, Travis wanted some and I saw him scanning all the pieces. I said “I can’t believe it, you’re looking for the best piece of bacon!” and he said “Wait, no, I’m not!”. “Yes, you are looking for the best piece!”, (why else would anybody scan a plate of bacon?) to which he replied “No, I’m not. You hate fat so I’m looking for the piece with the most fat so you don’t have to eat it”.

Amy hangs head in shame.

I should have known, he’s always doing stuff like that. He eats the least desirable piece of fruit or the muffin that’s fallen apart or our leftovers or the heels of the bread. He’s a good guy that guy I married. Sigh. I think I’ll keep him.

Halle. That kid cracks me up all the time. A couple of nights ago she blocked the door to the play room with her teensy little body, arms spread out between the door frame. “What’s the password?” she asked me. “Move out of the way or I’ll smoosh you?” I replied (it wasn’t as mean as it sounds). She dropped her arms and looked at me and said “That’s the worst password I ever heard!”. Then she chased me down the hallway and said “No! I don’t accept the password!” So I grabbed her and swung her around in the air and tickled her. Her laughter… it’s one of the most beautiful sounds in the whole world.

Daisy, being every bit a Button, decided that she needed a hug too. I’m really not kidding. If any of the Buttons are caught in an embrace, Daisy barks or jumps up and wraps her front legs around us…as much as she can. So I danced down the hall a bit with Daisy, holding her front paws the whole time. The Buttons have a real need for hugs. Well, not from just anybody. We don’t walk up and hug strangers or anything but we hug each other a lot. Including our needy dog.

Today Halle and I will do school. Chloe will rest. She said her throat feels like she had her tonsils taken out and she has a headache and she whimpers when her fever goes up. There will be chores (well, for me) and probably video games. Oh, I forgot to tell you…Halle has started finishing races on Mario Kart. If you don’t have Mario Kart, then this won’t be important to you but she came in first all by herself! There was much celebrating and laughing and high-fiving. Daisy had no idea what was going on but she celebrated with us. Halle was so proud of herself. I love that kid…all my kids.

I have a pretty great life.

Locked Out

Friday was a day that I had big plans for. I’d been stuck inside the house since the previous Sunday and was really ready to be out.

It’s not actually the snow itself that keeps us inside. It’s once the snow gets smooshed and freezes and turns to ice that keeps us house-bound. It looks like this…

The driveway gets patches of it and I’m not even trying to get out. Travis does. He (almost) always goes to work when the rest of Nashville stays home. Call me a chicken if you want to but I’m not backing down the hill when it’s like that.

Travis will back it out for me though. Which he did on Friday. I had an appointment with Rhonda, my hair fixer extraordinaire at 10 am. If you know the Button girls at all, you know that’s early for us. As I was flying through the house, I mentioned that I needed to warm up the car. Chloe said, “I can do it, Dad taught me how”. I was cautious but I remembered him teaching her and I hadn’t dried my hair yet so I let her. I briefly thought about warning her to not lock the door but since I can’t get her to lock the house door to save my life, I didn’t worry about it.

We were finally ready to go and we headed out the door. I didn’t have my keys since they were in the car and was only able to lock the door knob. You see where this is going? We got to the bottom of the hill where the car was parked and the doors were locked.

The kid who never, ever locks the car doors, locked the car door. I’ve walked outside to see the doors wide open after she went to retrieve something. Travis has found them unlocked when he leaves for work in the morning. The kid doesn’t lock anything. Except this one time.

I called Rhonda and rescheduled for the afternoon (that’s the big advantage of getting your hair cut by someone that works from home) and called Travis to rescue us. I called Amanda too but she was at work.

Travis called a few minutes later to check on us and I asked him if he was going to work from home for the rest of the day (it takes a while to get here from Nashville). And he said he hadn’t even thought of it. He just knew we were in trouble and that it was 22 degrees outside and had to get home. I hadn’t realized it was 22 degrees.

I spent the next half hour or so talking to Travis and trying to keep the girls out of the snow and trying to convince them that we weren’t going to starve or freeze to death. Chloe did her best MacGyver impersonation. I had to keep her from trying to break in the house. In the end, we were in a huddle. I wasn’t really that cold but they were.

Travis rescued us and took the girls inside and I was able to use the hair dryer to warm up little feet and calm frazzled/complainy girls.

Travis was able to have lunch with us and we still ran our errands. I had to scratch Bathos off the list because we just didn’t have time (although I really could have used a bath fizzy that day). We did get the paint for Chloe’s room, it’s lavender verbena from Martha Stewart’s collection at Home Depot. And I had an extra house and car key made.

We had dinner with Amanda that night and as I was relaying the story she (jokingly) asked if I’d done it on purpose to have something to write about. What? No, I didn’t lock the kids and I out in 22 degree weather in order to have something to write about. I will never resort to frost bite for a story. These things happen. It’s just one thing in a long line of things that makes Travis shake his head and laugh at me.

Oh, and I seem to have lost my new house key.