Busy, Busy

Oh my goodness, I feel like such a slacker! I am so sorry for the lack of posting lately! I have all these posts floating around in my head, but no time to actually post them! I feel like I have not slowed down in weeks. Working full time and taking care of my family and house is really taking its toll on me. We are going to the beach Memorial Day weekend and I cannot wait for the break, at least I am praying that I will get a break. I have already gotten our daughter packed and I have gotten the babe about half packed. I need to start packing for hubby and I tonight. I just have no time to do anything extra like pack and prepare for this trip. We will be leaving next Friday morning and getting back home on Monday night, but I took Tuesday off too, so maybe I will be able to post some pics Wednesday. I am nervous about going too. We have never taken the babe that far away before, I don't know how he will handle being in the car for 5-6 hours. We have even thought about leaving Thursday night around bedtime and driving a little more than half-way and just staying in a hotel and then driving on to the beach Friday at his naptime. Even if we do that, we won't be able to do that on the trip home, so that only solves half the problem. We are taking a portable DVD player so maybe he will be entertained enough by watching a movie. The other thing I am worried about is bedtime. The condo that we are staying in does not have a baby bed. We do have a Pack n Play, but he will not sleep in it. He will have to sleep with us, which is fine, but I don't want him to get used to sleeping with us because that is a habit I don't want to start. The other issue is that everything, including bedtime will be off schedule. I am not a stickler for a strict schedule, sometimes at home he goes to bed at 8:30 and sometimes he goes at 10:00, but we do the same routine and then I put him in his bed. I just hope it doesn't mess him up too bad to not be in his environment. He also has a hard time going to sleep when he isn't in his bed. You see I am excited about going to the beach, but I am stressed about it too. I am sure that most of what is stressing me is stupid stuff that will work itself out, but if I have to spend 4 days trapped in a condo with a cranky babe, I will go insane! Hubby's mom and sister are going too so I will have extra help and people to help keep him entertained, so maybe it will be okay. Another thing is that we do not have a car big enough to take all the things that we need, so I am trying to pack light, but really with children how do you do that? They have to have toys and extra changes of clothes and blankets and stuffed animals.

Anyway I also have to get my house cleaned before we leave because my mom and step-dad are coming to house and dog sit on Saturday and Sunday while we are gone. I am grateful that they are coming, but my mom is a clean freak and I don't want the uncleanliness of my house to drive her crazy. I don't want her to spend her time at my house cleaning because that will make my hubby crazy! I also have to make sure that I stock the fridge and pantry with some food so they will have something to eat while they are there. So when I am not sleeping or working, I am cleaning or packing. I was actually in the shower this morning with my Mr.Clean Magik Eraser* scrubbing down the shower. Multi-tasking, that is the only way that I can get it all done! The eraser worked wonders on the soap scum, the shower was shining when I was finished. That thing is amazing. I wonder why it has taken me so long to use it. Something else that I cannot live without is Lysol wipes. I use them everyday to wipe down the kitchen counters and sink. I also use them when I clean the bathroom and they work great, they clean and disinfect! I also could not live without my Swifer* sweeper. It does such a great job picking up all the dog hair on our kitchen floor. Anyway, now I am just rambling about cleaning supplies, I ramble when I am stressed.

*I know these words are misspelled!

Spring Cleaning on a deadline

I am so tired and sore that I can barely move. We are in the process of refinancing our house. The appraiser called me Friday morning to see if he could come to do the appraisal that day. Um that would be a negative, Hubby and I both were at work and the house was a total mess. The grass hasn't been cut yet this year because both of our lawnmowers are broken and the second lot looks abandoned, it was so overgrown with weeds. So I told him Mondya would be better, so I bought us 2 days to get it all done. I started Friday night with the inside and started working as much as I could. Thank goodness I had cleaned some major stuff inside the weekend before, so the inside wasn't nearly as bad as the outside. I am embarrassed that my yard looked that bad. I called around Friday to get someone to come and clean the yard for us, but of course everyone was booked, so that meant we were gonna have to get it done. I found a place that rented lawnmowers, so we got up EARLY Saturday morning and Hubby went to get us one and wouldn't you know it, the only one they had left wouldn't crank. Hubby called me and I started crying, I was so tired and just felt like there was no way we would get the yard cleaned and the house wasn't going to appraise well and we wouldn't be able to refinance and we would have to move! You know on top of everything else I was PMSing! He went to Wal-Mart and bought the cheapest lawnmower that they carry, brought it home, cut the front and side yards and then it was time for the NFL draft to come on, so I lost my help. I had told him that if he got up early with me and helped me then when the draft came on, he could go watch it. I cut a little of the back yard, but it was such a mess I could not get much done, then the babe wanted to come out with me and I did not want to cut grass with him outside. I put him in the swing and proceeded to trim hedges, cut down briars and rake up the pinestraw and pine cones. I HATE PINE TREES with a passion. I wish we had the money to have the 3 main ones in our yard and the one in our neighbors yard that puts pine cones in our yard chopped down. Anyway, I worked out there until it got too hot. Then I went in took a shower and got dressed and the babe and I went to run errands and go to the grocery store. I took him for ice cream, he loves ice cream! He has started feeding himself with a spoon now. It is so cute. He will get a bite in his mouth and shake his head yes and make a mmmmm sound. It just cracks me up! Anyway, 4 hours later I was back at home and hauling more pinestraw down to the street. I worked outside until dark.

Sunday was pretty much the same thing, work, work, work. Hubby got all of the yard cut, even the back part that was nearly has tall as me. Let me tell you the lawnmower that he bought is the cheapest one that we could find, but it runs like a dream. He cut all of those weeds in the back lot down with that lawnmower and it never even shut off. He also ran over bricks and landscaping timbers with it and it just kept going. It was like the little engine that could, it just kept going. I like it more than the expenisve one that we got last year, that won't even start this year. Anyway the appraiser was there this morning just as scheduled and everything went well, as far as I can tell. He said that he did not see anything that detracted value from the house and our house has a lot of extras, like a deck, patio, out building (shed). He also said that he had appraised 3 other houses in our neighborhood in the past month and that our house will be on the high end of the market value. WHOO HOO! We need for it to appraise at least for what it did 2 years ago, but hopefully more. I will let you know as soon as I know something. If you ever needed an excuse to do some spring cleaning, just have your house appraised. Hubby said that our house is cleaner than it has been since the babe was born. I think he is right, but normally I just don't take as much time, I would rather spend the time with my family, not cleaning.