a day in the life

This is Coleen, Kitty, and my mother-in-law playing the Twister Game she bought for the kids. They're leaving tomorrow and taking Coleen and Paul to see their cousins in Indiana for 3 weeks. 

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Emma is the first of my children to get attached to an inanimate object. She found this doll at a thrift store and wouldn't let go. Whenever we tried to move the doll away she would wake up and pull it closer. 

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wash our clothes, wash our clothes. This is the way we wash our clothes, early in the morning.
We were waiting to put the washer in until Raoul tiled the floor and I repainted the laundry room, but we reached critical mass on the laundry situation before that could happen. This is after 3 loads were washed, so you can imagine just how much there was before. Three of our ministers came by this afternoon, just to see the place. It was great to see them again and to have them help carry in our beast of a sofa. It's antique and quite heavy, so I was dreading having to haul it in here. Then Raoul's parents got here about 9PM to stay for a few days. They've got a few days off from watching his sister's kids, so they thought they'd come see our new place.

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I was making Butternut Squash for supper to go with our beans and rice (Raoul's favorite meal), but while I was pulling them out of the oven Emma ran underneath me and tripped me. The hot water I'd baked them in spilled all over the floor and splashed the two of us. I tried to scooch her out of the way with my foot to keep her from getting burned by the boiling waterfall, which made me do the splits considering the floor was soaked. I dropped the pan, but only one squash fell on the floor. We ended up eating the saved ones, though they look a little worse for wear. 

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Raoul thought he'd break in the piano in the new house, so the kids had to break in the carpet. They love, love, love the Maple Leaf Rag.

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I had to take a picture of this, as its really rare for her to smile in her car seat. She's usually either asleep or screaming. 

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My mom, the kids, and I drove down to Atlanta today where my brother met us. He's taking Mom with him to Nashville tomorrow while the kids and I go home to Americus. He's just made an offer on a house contingent on my mom's approval. It will be the first time he's had a place of his own in 6 years, since his divorce. He hasn't had an apartment or anything, he's only stayed with friends when he wasn't on the road. I'm really, really happy for him. 

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This is on the way from my parents' house to Target. Its a 48,000 acre man made lake about 15 minutes from their place, but we've never gone out there to play or hang out. We just drive over the dam several times each time we visit them. We really need to go out and visit the Bald Eagle Observation points. 

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I took this at my parents' this afternoon. We weren't planning on coming up here for a long while, but the bridge I just had put in fell out. So, we made the trek up here and dropped Raoul off at the old house on the way. He's taking the truck and another load down to Georgia. The drive up was just beautiful. I kept wanting to get a picture, but I wanted to get here as soon as possible too. So, I ended up taking one once I got here, but the trees aren't quite as pretty here as they were closer to the mountains. I thought about posting a picture of my current smile, but I couldn't bring myself to. Its amazing how much this is affecting my entire life. Its a tooth that's right in the front, so I feel like quite the hillbilly. I'm avoiding going in anywhere, I don't smile, I hardly talk, and I think about it constantly. My brain can't function or concentrate on anything, because I'm so obsessed with it. Tomorrow though, I'll once again feel human. 

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I started out just planning to paint the dining/family room green. I loved the color card, but Wal-Mart paint always ends up looking cheap. I could get the exact same color at Lowe's or Home Depot and it would look totally different. Anyway, the color was far too loud for our tastes, so I added a faux finish of a lighter shade. You can see it a little here. I painted the girls room with the same loud green on the bottom half and blue on the ceiling and top half. We'll be adding trees and fairies in there at a later date, but for now its fine. The living room I painted tan and used that color on the bottom half of Paul's wall with blue on the ceiling and top half. That will become a desert at some point. The laundry room ended up being painted gold, but Raoul decided he didn't like that, so I'm going to faux finish a deep red over that. I'm excited to see how it turns out, but I'm not holding my breath. Next I'm going to paint the trim and cabinets in the kitchen, family room, and dining room, as they're all painted pink. It really doesn't look good next to the green. So, I'm really, really sick of painting. 

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Boring picture, but this is a bid deal for me. I went to the doctor today. I can't tell you how happy I am to have these things in my hand. The doctor prescribed a compounded Cytomel for my thyroid, and he's only the 2nd doctor I've seen willing to prescribe T3. This is a huge deal for me, as it means I might finally, finally be able to get this taken care of. He also diagnosed adrenal fatigue, which explains a lot. I'm more optimistic about my health than I've been in a long, long time. 

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Well, I lied. We had to spend one more night in the hunting lodge. This is one of the best parts of my day. The long-awaited silence is a comfort. 

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Hopefully this is our last night with these companions. We've learned quite a bit of biology from these walls, but I won't miss them in the least when finally get to move in to our house. 

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After a late breakfast this morning, we took off to visit the "Cowpoke Carnival" put on by the Junior League here in Sumter County. They had lots of little games and prizes for the kids. They had a great time doing everything, but their favorite part was the pony rides. Kitty was helped up on her little black pony by a couple of dashing teenage boys. The pony was docile and calm right up until he started bucking. At that point, one of her heros took her off, and she came running back to us. By the time the pony came back around she was ready to finish her ride. So, she was helped back up again. Sissy waited for 15 extra minutes so she could ride the "big horse", which was not really a big horse but not a pony. So she's helped up by one of the heros but her skirt is too short and tight for her to sit astride. She's mortified and comes down and starts bawling. So Mama comes to the rescue and starts trading the girls skirts when I realize, "Kitty has no underwear on! Ack!" Those poor boys probably saw more than they ever wanted to. We got the skirts switched hiding in Mama's big skirt, (thank goodness I wore a full long one today!) and she got to ride.

After the carnival we headed over to the new house to unload a few things into the barn. While we were pulling up Sissy saw an armadillo and asked to go look at it. She bounds across the field and just about reaches it, when the current resident starts yelling, "Get back! I'm gonna kill it! You'll get blood all over you!" Then his grandson come barrelling out of the house with a pistol and takes aim and shoots before I even realize what's happening. Once again Sissy is in tears running to me. We finally get her calmed back down, animal lover that she is, and go on with our day.

My brother called a friend of his to get tickets to a Big and Rich concert this evening for Sissy, since she loves "The Eighth of November." It's really triggered her interest in the Viet Nam war. She and I went out there tonight and had a great time. The 173rd Airborne came onstage during the song and she just cheered and screamed for all she was worth. We actually had All Access passes, but we only went back to tell Jon's friend thanks. Then we walked the three miles back to the car. By the time we were halfway to the car Sissy was complaining about her stomach, and by the time we got out of the parking lot she was screaming in pain. I had to get gas and while we were stopped she started vomiting. She cried for a little while more and then went to sleep.

I am so ready to start a new day.

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