We bought a house a few months ago. No shocker there. Three and a half months and much labor later, we look like we don't clean up after ourselves. Rest assured, dear neighbors, this will all be better. Someday. First things first, we're getting a lawn mower. I'm beyond excited. We have a push mower that I'd used up until about a month ago, when baby #5 decided it was time I stop spending 5 hours a week mowing our hills. Or rather, it is quite possible that my body was the one who made that decision. Either way, our lawn is now a month long, thankfully a dry month, but pathetic and driving me nuts all the same. Come Thursday, hopefully I can ride around in style on our new (to us) riding lawn mower. So excited. But the pipes laying in the yard? They'll be gone eventually, I'm promised. The trees will be trimmed when the things that are louder stop screaming. We really are accomplishing something here. The kids toys will likely be there for many years to come, though. Who needs flowers when you have colorful trikes and scooters everywhere, right? Ugh. Maybe next year.
'
We may have hot water come the weekend. Maybe. You just never hold your breath on these things; they have a way of not working out often enough. But the gas company comes Friday to test Blaine's work and a hot shower is nearly tangible from there. All the water pipes are replaced and every faucet is functioning - things I will not take for granted for a very long time, I'm thinking.

My newest realization: we bought a house in a great location. Love it. But when two of my four dear children get carsick on the curves on the way into town, I'm starting to wonder. I've started to carry a clean outfit for one dear child everywhere we go, since that one is less than capable of hitting the bucket completely - but we have a bucket I can throw into the backseat with deadly aim these days even when driving. I'm not certain how my van smells these days, but my guess is someone else could tell me better than I. I doubt it's pretty. If you ever ride with me, be forewarned. You start to hear coughing, you've got about 2 minutes before a bucket flies through the air at the noisy one, all the windows go down in an attempt to cool the cougher off and ward off the inevitable - but it never works. Lunch always comes back to visit a second time. If we show up to something and you smell something fishy, pretend it's someone else, please. I try. I've started carrying wipes again, but you can only do so much. It's not contagious, I promise. And for the record, this is all Blaine's fault. They did not inherit this trait from me.

Liberty asked me today what comes after Romans. I said Ephesians. My dear husband corrected me when I told him this story, so before you email me regarding my error, I know. In all fairness I was 2 hours into typing court reports for a job I've started for an online news site, and my head was swimming. I do not know law, the correct way to word things, or how to think about books of the Bible and felonies at the same time. My brain doesn't multitask as well as I once thought, it turns out.

So, Ephesians. Or rather, what Liberty told Eden when she repeated my response. "Confusions, Eden. It's Confusions." Ah yes, that would describe my state of mind, at the very least.

Brady, dear dog, finally learned to ring the bell when she wants to go outside. And that yes, she really wants to go outside for such business. It took some convincing on that part, and she's not without her accidents, but finally. Ah, the rejoicing when that little bell rang was a sight to behold. The girls, my belly and I did a little dance. If you can call jerky uncoordinated and slightly painful movements on my part dancing. My belly though, it danced. Just kept right on jiggling, even after I'd stopped. Dwell on that one for a moment and let me know if you laughed - or cringed. Ah, the joys.

A photo, provided it's flattering according to me, is coming. Just as soon as I've done my hair, makeup, and find a shirt that will still cover the bottom of my belly. Don't hold your breath - but know that I'm working on it. If nothing else, I'll go buy a Mu-mu. A really, really flattering Mu-mu. You know.

Baby's big, but not as big as Sterling was at this point. Due in 4 weeks. Please, please, make that 2? Fun once-a-week appointments have begun. I'm dilated to 1cm. 50%. That means nothing, I assure you. Except that I'm not in labor, I suppose. No name yet. No closer to a name yet. Poor, poor child. In our discussions of proper and common nouns today, we were talking of first, middle and last names, and going through Blaine's siblings and all their many names. We named off 22 first/middle names that his parents had to choose, and Liberty said, "Wow! That's a lot of names to have to pick!" Tell me about it. Trying to pick 10 is hard enough. Sterling was playing "Meanie, Meanie, Mo, Catch a Tiger by his Toe..." in Sterling fashion today. Maybe we should just get out to baby name book and let him at it.

I'm tired. And tired writings from me typically go cynical. Or sarcastic. I'd better just call it a night before this gets worse.

A few rather long stories on a really hot day that has not included indoor plumbing or A/C... bear with me here.

CATO cashier:
"Wow! You are really pregnant!"
"Um, thanks. I have at least a month left."
"Is it twins or something?"
"No."
"Oh. Um, you look really good."
Gee, thanks! Somehow I'm not certain that was a compliment after all that. But it does explain why I'm feeling mostly miserable these last few days. Apparently I look ready to explode. It's going to be an interesting month-month and a half.

I went out alone today. Shocker, I know. But apparently being alone with a giant belly invites all sorts of comments I haven't gotten since several kids back. A man in the store asked me if I was having a boy. When I said I didn't know, he informed me he thought I was, since my "all-round, low belly" usually means a boy. Time will tell, but it was interesting anyhow. With all of the others I'd have random people guess and only once do I remember someone being wrong. Apparently if you feel free to comment, you have a lot of experience with these things.

Oh, and the reason I was out and about on a Saturday? Blaine disconnected the sewer to work on it. First, no hot water, then no water except in the hose and the toilet and the kitchen sink, and now, no nothing except the hose and the kitchen sink. No toilet is not a good plan. TMI, I'm sure, but I'm pretty sure my balance is off enough right about now that finding a tree and attempting to make use of the outdoors would land poison ivy or some such thing in some pretty dreadful places when I fell over. Thank you, Hobby Lobby, for your public restroom. And Blaine, for suggesting that today was a great day to go shopping - alone. Dear man.

Monday I went grocery shopping. Hang in there with me here, this story gets better. So first I took the kids to the library, checked out 35 books - mostly kids books I've read 12 times each, aloud. But I digress. So we haul the books back to the car, thoroughly enjoying the 100 degree day. Literally, 100 degrees. Hottest day since 2007 I'm told. We made a deposit at the bank, after debating whether to get cash out. Nah, I'm good with just the debit card and the 30.00 cash I have. Got to Aldi, needed a quarter for the cart. No wallet. My wallet seems to have migrated from my purse to an unknown location - at home. I had 30.00 cash in my purse anyhow, so if I be careful at Aldi, I'll be fine there, then I'll call Blaine and get his debit card from him. Faster than going home - 12 miles away from where I was. If I hadn't made the deposit yet, things would have been fine - I could have gotten cash. But no ID and no debit card means the bank won't talk to me now. So I broke part of my 30.00 to get a quarter for the Aldi cart, and some apparently less than careful calculating, and checkout later... 34.76. Nope. Not going to work. Put some cereal and butter back. We'll survive until next shopping trip. 29.83. Seriously! I have 29.75. The other .25 is in the cart. The cashier must have had one of those days before, because she gave me change for 30.00 and told me to bring the quarter back inside after I'd returned the cart. Whew. Embarrassing, but I'll survive.

Call Blaine. No answer. Try again. Nope. Fine then. I'll drive the 12 miles home to get my wallet, because this was the day, there was my list, and some things were pretty critical on it. Half an hour later, I'm at the bread store, wallet in hand, and my van that has decided to overheat when the A/C is running some time ago - forgot to mention that part - the van overheats even with no A/C on. Remember, it's 100 degrees. I have four sweaty kids with me who were quite hungry, waiting for the bread store stop so I could make them PBJ's. The van decided overheating during A/C was not enough. Not it's overheating without A/C. Solution: turn the heat on. High. Open windows, blaring heat, praying for all green lights as we head to our last stop - trust me, things were not so pretty. I'm fairly cool (ha!) most of the time, but this day was seriously getting to me by then. I parked at the far end of the lot at the last store, finding a pull-through spot just in case this trip ended with a bang and I needed to be able to get to the front of the van. You know, that fear.

I can't find my list. Seriously. Please, end this drama now and let something go right? I'm digging, and I hear Bang! Bang! I turn to see Ruby with her new metal water jug, banging the shiny red car that parks on the far side of the lot to avoid people like me and my children and their metal water jugs denting his shiny red car. "RUBY! NO!!!" She stops. I start to inspect the shiny red car - still quite shiny and without evidence of Ruby's abuse, look up, and an older man is watching me. Just the type of older man that would own a... oh, no. Please. No. But of course, it's his car. And all he says is "My! That's a lot of children! Do they obey?" "Um, most of the time, but they are children and right now... we're at the end of a shopping trip and it's hot and things are not going well." "Ah, I see." And he got into his car and left! No inspection of Ruby's work. Really, she didn't do any damage. But I was scared nonetheless. So I found my list, got my things, and then took the interstate home, just so I could get more air in the van than the fearfully hot air blasting into my 33-weeks-pregnant lungs up to that point. And yes, my lungs are pregnant too. Trust me on that one.

Just for the record, Blaine also offered up his van for my use until the other is fixed. It does not have a second sliding door and is smaller, but the A/C works and the heat is only optional. I accepted. He's a very kind soul.

Apparently I'm highly predictable. While my search baby names is still on, Facebook friends came through with many name suggestions. About 80% are on my favorite list - a list of names that contains none that thrill my dear husband. But the fact that my friends have nailed almost my entire list is almost disturbing. Almost.

One morning Sterling came bursting into the back door with, "Momma, you're the best..." He trailed off, paused, my heart was cheered by his outburst - and then he corrected himself. "Momma, I'm the best fire truck driver!" Ah, yes. For a moment there, I thought perhaps I was doing something just right for my boy. What a moment.

Mom's Night Out last night. Such fun. No kids. It was awesome. And the snuggles I got this morning, evidence that I really was missed, were pretty awesome too.

"Momma, where's the dutch tape?"
"You mean the duct tape?"
"I said dutch tape!"
"I know you did. It's duct tape."
"That's what I said! Dutch tape."
Ok, Eden. Whatever you say. Funny enough though, she may just start a new word around here. Then, when I informed her we didn't have any in the house, only masking tape, I heard as she headed outside to tell Blaine, "Daddy? Momma said we only have mask tape. There isn't any dutch tape in the house." Yep, whatever you say.

Name that baby.

You know those people who have the baby named before it's even conceived? You know who you are. Two people, so in sync that they can agree on a name together without much fuss - something Blaine and I are not. So not. With that in mind, anyone have name suggestions that flow with our others - and preferably don't re-use any of their first initials? I'd willingly give up that one if I found a truly great name though - that Blaine agreed to.

And before you think this is easy, let me assure you, it's not. Eden Rayne was the earliest named at around 7 months, Liberty Skye, and Sterling Blaine got their "If it's a..." names around 8.5 months gestation, and dear Miss Ruby was several hours old before Blaine finally told me I could choose from our list of "Maybe's" and name her. Morphine had a play in the naming of Ruby Alexandra, in case you were wondering. Morphine in me, not Blaine. Obviously.

So if you have any suggestions, comment away. And if your find your comment deleted, you may very well have won first place - and with it, the recognition of having named that baby. In the meantime, I'm thinking five kids might be plenty. Ten names later (well, eight, if you want to be specific since this one is yet unnamed) this hasn't gotten any easier. We've used up all the good ones up. 20,000 names in my baby name book and nothing jumps out anymore. Might be a good time to stop. Or build a bigger blog, with more readers. Someone should be able to think of something that way, right???

Replay 101

Remember that poop story about Ruby and her bed I blogged about here? Yeah, hit replay on that one, less the company (thankfully!) and insert a less-than-warm shower at the end instead of the pooping in the tub - I'm not stupid, we're not going there. Oh, and change the part where Blaine's home to help clean up to him being at work working hard and Momma being sick on the couch for most of the day. Yep, that about covers the changes to that scenario.

Thank you, Son.

Sterling is a lover of books. He'll bring me a stack of as many as he can carry - usually approaching double digits in number - and ask me if I can read them all to him. One is not enough. Or as he likes to quote 20 Hungry Piggies, "because 19 little piggies is NOT enough..." Sterling chose to quote another favorite book yesterday. He came bursting into the kitchen and informed me, "Momma, you waddle like a duck does!*" Oh, thank you, dear boy. You have no idea what you just said, but thank you for that nonetheless.

*Compliments of Do Like a Duck Does. :)

Any day now I'll have him quoting Shakespeare of C.S. Lewis or Calvin... Maybe something more pleasant will be directed toward me and my waddle. Then again, it might be quite convicting. You just never know.

Brady: Abused or loved?

Brady is our new puppy. Pretty sure she's been well-mentioned by now. I've been a bit remiss in posting photos though, and I'm trying to be better about these things, so here's a few I took on Saturday. Abused, loved, or both? You decide. But just for proof for my dear mother, who gave us Brady, she's alive, well, slightly abused by small children, loved, and bathed regularly. She's not house trained quite yet, but we're getting there - and I'm really trying. Sometimes it's just easier to clean it up than it is to remember to take her potty. But since I have four potty trained children, I imagine the dog will get there too - eventually. She even goes for car rides. And she's not in the sorry shape I dreamed of last night when I dreamed of Brady. Thankfully. Call it pregnant dreams... Ugh.

Ruby, the bell ringer. Brady, not quite,

A good friend gave me a great idea for Brady. Thank you, Bunny. I hung a bell on the door with the intention of teaching Brady to ring the bell when she needs to go out and use the lawn. She's been whining slightly before we find puddles beside the door, but little whines are not exactly heard or paid attention to around these parts. Now, if I could just teach Ruby to leave the bell alone, or it won't work either. Bells will go on my list of ignored very annoying sounds if she doesn't leave well enough alone. Hobby Lobby, on the other hand, has some very cute bells on sale right now. Little girls think they are particularly fun.

One spy frog...

Blaine provided me with a photo of the frog that returns each night to catch his evening meal on our living room window. Just in case a close up of the underside of a frog isn't just slightly creepy to you - because it's looking a little creepy to me right about now!

Belly shadows?

MckMama, a blog I follow rather loosely at best - in my free time you know - had a "You might be nearing the end of your pregnancy" post a few days ago. My favorite of hers: "…you can’t wait to hurry up and give birth so that you can fit into your maternity clothes again." So true. But I have one of my own to add.

After a day at the lake with friends and a lot of time spent sitting on my behind in a boat, I burned the tops of my thighs. Yes, it's painful. Even more painful was when Blaine informed me I had a belly shadow. Yes, dear friends, my belly shadowed my thighs and created a lovely white half circle that didn't burn. Thank you, baby.

Ah, the things that have occurred - and left me with no time to blog about them. I'm sure I'll forget a few, but I'll try to catch up.

Today Ruby and Eden are modeling for the Bass Pro fall catalog. Blaine was in the 2010 Fall Master a few times, should anyone care to see. He looks so entirely out of this element in hunting gear though... I had to laugh. Ruby's modeling t-shirts and Eden's modeling hooded towels today. Eden's on cloud nine... and keeps telling me she's going to be wearing her swimming suit under the towel "So I can be modest." Can you tell we've been working on that one? It's a hard one for me; I want them to learn to keep their bodies covered without thinking they ought to be ashamed... how to teach that???

My belly is huge. Blaine tells me he's not certain if I was this big at this point with the others. With 10 weeks to go, I'm starting to wonder if I'll be graduating yet another size in the wonderful world of maternity clothes before this is all said and done. So not cool. I'm still mowing the lawn these days though - it takes me about 5 hours over the course of two mornings to get it all done, and a nap is most definitely required on those days, but pressing forward... makes me hopeful the massive amount of weight I've gained thus far will "just fall right off" like everyone says. Weight falling off of me has not been something I've experienced in the past, but hey, I'm allowed to dream a little.

It's 90 degrees today. The heat index is 105. The A/C has not made it to the top of Blaine's to-fix list yet. I'm 29 weeks + 6 days pregnant. Feeling my pain? The gas line is still in progress. No hot water yet. Cold showers right about now aren't really a problem though. Blaine's promised me several hours of A/C during the photo shoot this afternoon though... and given me permission to go shopping should I feel the need to cool down in the meantime. Yep, that conversation was a funny one.

On the bright side, sun tea takes a whopping 12 minutes to brew properly. The other 12 hours I leave it sitting on the patio are just for good measure.

We've had a big black dog in our yard most of last week. I think it's a rottweiler/great dane something or another. Big. It stands about waist (ha! if I had one...) high to me, and comes up to wherever the kids and I are at the moment and growls and barks. Blaine comes around and it runs away - all the way to our shed. I finally called the sheriff, unsure what I could do about it once I'd introduced myself to the neighbors. (That was a nice lead-in. "Hello, I just moved in down the road. Here's my giant belly, there's my MSC*... do you own a giant black dog?")

*MSC = Many Small Children

So of course, once the sheriff told me I could do what I wanted to do to rid my yard of the big black dog, the stinking thing moved on. I was really looking forward to, you know, exercising my rights as a property owner outside of the city limits... but nope. But now I know! And as for the neighbors... they thought the thing was ours and were wondering about us, so I'm ever so glad we cleared that one up! Brady, teeny whimpy black dog that she is, isn't going to post a threat to the neighbors, rest assured. No one who hears "Yorkie Poo" quakes in their boots, exactly... unless they're a toad. She loves the toads... but they don't love her so much.

We have a spy frog. Every night, once it's dark and the lights inside are on, it climbs onto our living room window and eats the moths that our lights attract. It's far more interesting than anything on the three channels we get on the tv. But a frog, on your window, night after night? One begins to wonder if it's a spy. You know, because me, collapsed on the couch in front of a fan and under a ceiling fan after a long day... now that's a sight to behold.

I'm missing many stories, but I'm drawing a blank and this post has grown plenty large. I had an entire blog written in my head after being unable to sleep the other night, itching with chigger bites - aha, there's one of those stories - but beats me if I can remember what that post was about. As for the chiggers, blame them on the growling big black dog. It's all her fault.

We're moved, if you call living around boxes moved. Everything's here, anyhow. We're still heating water for baths/dishes, but being here is so much better than the traveling back and forth each day. It's home.

About the baths... It takes many minutes and many pans of hot water to be able to take a bath. No quick and easy feat. No complaints, just life for the moment. But tonight...

We had "company" over - thankfully, friends we've known for years and nothing awkward, but Ruby pushed that one just a bit. She wouldn't stop fussing over not getting a second brownie, got put into her bed and that was that. Ha. She started hollering for me, I went to check on her, and the stench met me first. She'd pooped in her panties, taken them off, and smeared it everywhere. She even sat on the windowsill next to her bed. Ah, new low. Right? Not exactly. That is the first time I've washed poop off of a windowsill, that's for sure. Blaine began the heating water process to bathe her, and 20 minutes later when the bath was warm, the kids in it, Sterling hollered "Mom, Ruby pooped in the tub!" Seriously? She's never done that before that I can recall - ever. So the heated water went down the drain, we called them clean enough until tomorrow, and Ruby called it all "Funny". Momma? Not so much. And now, dear friends, I believe I've reached a new low. Ah, the embarrassment. The anger. The stench. The kids are in bed. Vindictive child, I'm thinking. What to do with that one? They just don't warn you enough about these things.

We've moved!

Through a fun turn of events, we're moved, without hot water, and I've never been so glad to take a cold shower in my life. So cool. (Ha, didn't that one come out funny!) We'll be without internet until I can get the proper people called, so here's a goodbye until we surface out from under the pile of boxes...

One small step.

Just sent off our first mortgage payment for the house that we're not even living in yet. It was a "Well, here we go. For the... Next. Thirty. Years. kind of feeling. A 'I'll be 56 when we get this paid off if we only pay the minimum. Likely a grandma, many times over.' kind of feeling." Wow. And, just in case you were wondering, I didn't send just the minimum. Here's to paying it off before I'm 56!

Somebody check that man's ears.

Liberty came out of their bedroom tonight with shorts and a tank top on, announcing she was going to wear that instead of sleeping in her panties like she has been doing (It's about 90 degrees right now, at 9 pm.) because she sleeps next to a window and someone might see her. Blaine's response went something like:

"No, we can't open your window. There isn't a screen on it, and the bugs will come into the house."

I laughed. And laughed. "You have no idea what she really just said, do you, Blaine?"

"No, I guess not. Didn't she ask about opening the window?"

"No, she said she's wearing a tank top and shorts to bed because she sleeps next to a window and someone might see her while she's sleeping."

"I am turning into my Aunt Edith. She always answered questions she hadn't been asked."

And... I laughed some more. And then I told him he was about to make my blog. He was a good sport and told me I could. It was just too darn funny! Aunt Edith was the sweetest lady, born in Holland I believe, and her accent said she spent quite a bit of time there before coming to America. And her hearing was really, really bad. Oh, still funny, dear Blaine.

Pretty sure these children have one goal: embarrass Momma.

Yesterday I had an OB appointment. I was a little stunned when they told me that my next appointment in July will be my glucose test, and from there on out I'm on every two week appointments instead of every four weeks. You mommas out there know what that means. Eek!

Anyway, the appointment. Or rather, before the appointment. We waited and waited - apparently someone's labor/delivery took precedence over my checkup, wouldn't you know? So we waited. And Sterling and Ruby played and played, chasing each other in circles having a great time. Then Sterling decided to lay down on the floor, Ruby laid on top of him, and Sterling decided she needed a bouncy ride. There they lay, belly to belly... Seriously! What do I do?! To tell them to get up would be admitting to all the nervous gigglers also waiting in the room that my children were mimicking something they have never seen. Never. So do I let them play, pretending they are sitting quietly instead of what it really rather looked like? Do I tell them to get up and act all embarrassed at their actions? Seriously, what do you do? I decided to ignore all and hope they went back to running in circles sooner than later. Still wondering what the right answer was.

After that whole morning, we went to another store, and the woman helping me asked if I homeschool. I told her I did, and she said she'd thought I looked like the type. The type?! No blue jumper or bun in sight (although I admit I have a jumper, maternity and all, and it's darn comfortable) so what makes me look like the type? I asked, and she told me my patience level and how I talked to my children and how they obeyed me. Is that what my ignoring the behavior in the doctor's office was? Patience? We can say so. I can anyhow.

The girls saw on TLC this morning that the Duggar's make their own laundry soap too. Suddenly, you could see it on Liberty and Eden's faces. "My mom is cool!" I'll remind them of that moment when they are sixteen. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the moment. And enjoying the fact that my girls' favorite show is 19 Kids and Counting. Now there's a typical homeschool family. You know, just super-sized.

The police just pulled away from my yard. My (rental) mailbox, and that of the two houses across the street, lay on the lawn, tire tracks in the lawn, and the car that hit them nowhere in sight. Time to move. I'm enjoying the fact that, should something similar ever happen in our new house, Blaine planted our mailbox in concrete. That little car would fare far worse than the mailbox here did if he ever decides to hit that mailbox. Pretty sure I'm on the neighborhood hit list for calling the cops though. Ah, the glares.

I have two babies with fevers and aches. The ibuprofen has them quite fun though. Still wondering if tomorrow brings a visit to the doctor or if this will fight itself. The snuggles I've gotten today will be entirely worth it when I get sick next week. Remind me of that.

Slightly sleep-deprived ramblings of the moment

I think the ticks don't like me; not that I mind. The kids have each had a dozen or more on them by now, and I haven't had any, even with the many hours I've spent in the grass. Strange? Stop contemplating? The great state in which we live, while Blaine assures me there are no recorded cases of Lyme disease ever, has one very impressive tick population. So much so, that I've begun trying to convince Blaine that these would be a wise pet:


Ugly, I know. But from what I was told, and have since learned through research, guinea hens are fantastic bug eaters. And watch birds. Should you wander onto my property in the near future and hear a strange cackling, beware. I've read these things are not overly friendly to strangers. But don't tell Blaine that - he already looked at my quite skeptically when I told him of my bug control plan.

I got another area of our hayfield mowed! More specifically, during our recent Memorial day come-to-our-house-and-we'll-put-you-to-work day, most of it was mowed once by a generous and kind soul. Today I finished what wasn't cut on Monday and then mowed all of it again. Two cuttings later, my lawn just grew by many more feet and a good hour or hour and a half's mowing. Smart plan, I know. Blaine's on the hunt for a riding lawn mower though. I think he just knows that my stamina will likely taper as the summer progresses and this baby grows, and while I rather "enjoy" doing it now, he'll be up next and he doesn't want to push-mow the entire lawn. Pretty sure that's it.

With all that was accomplished Monday, we had high hopes of finishing what has to be done before move in this week and move this weekend, but now Blaine's working required overtime. Good, but bad. Hard to get much done anyhow. I dropped off the water to be tested today. Praying that comes back good, and that we can cross that off the list of to-do's.

Off to get something accomplished before Ruby wakes up. Once she's up, it's just best to keep her nearby at all times lately. Either that, or spend more time cleaning up the messes that she makes than it takes her to make them. The new house still has a pile of chocolate cake on the floor that I have to clean up. She climbed up on the folding table while I was mowing and helped herself, I'm told. Seriously now, if you had just asked! Actually, you're right, I'd have probably said no. Maybe that explains the "Do it and get forgiveness later" mentality. Because, after all, as my dear husband says, "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than gain permission sometimes." Ugh. Ruby's got that one down pat.

Fireflies or lightning bugs?

On the way home last night, we drove past several fields all aglow with fireflies. Or lightning bugs. Whatever you want to call them. The conversation went a little like this:

Me: "Look at all the lightning bugs in the fields!"
Liberty: "Oh, there's fireflies too!"
Me: "Fireflies are lightning bugs. Same thing, different name."
Liberty: "Do lightning bugs bite?"
Me: "No. We've talked about this before."
Liberty: "We did? I thought we were talking about fireflies."
Me: "Honey, fireflies ARE lightning bugs. Same bug. Different name."
Liberty: "Oh, so fireflies and lightning bugs must be friends!"
Me: "Oh boy. Liberty. They are the same. It's like a nickname. It's like calling it a couch and a
sofa. A cup and a glass. Same thing. Two names."
Liberty: "Oh, so lightning bugs ARE fireflies?"
Me: "That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

Homeownership has been... well, so far mostly the downs of trying to get things ready to move in, but we're loving it anyhow. The yard is awesome, the shop has Blaine quite pleased with his space to work in, and the fireflies are great fun for the kids. Yes, I know fireflies come out after dark and long past bedtime. My poor children are on a new, no-bedtime schedule. Last night it was 10pm before we were home, their filthy bodies were bathed, and all were in bed. On a bright side of this late night life, bedtime is super easy, once Sterling gets his pj's on. He gets a bit emotional when he's tired, so that's always fun, but Ruby is too tired to get out of bed - something she's been trying lately when she's not completely exhausted. It's a good thing she's not been fighting me - I don't have the energy to deal with it.

Sterling is three! Photos to follow - as soon as Blaine dumps his camera onto the computer. Every day though, Sterling gets up and informs me he's still three - I think he's a little afraid of reverting back to two.

The landlord wants us to move asap. Theoretically we have the house until the end of July, but moving sooner means less rent - a very cool thing. They have a new renter that wants to move in sooner, so now the pressure is on to get the new house ready. That news came on the heels of being informed from the propane company that our gas line is leaking. Add another job to Blaine's list of jobs to finish. In the meantime, my procrastination on buying paint for the kitchen paid off. Lowe's has a mail in rebate on the paint I wanted now! Very cool. I bought that today, and am headed out there later to start painting the kitchen. Yesterday we microwaved water to scrub the house down (no gas hooked up because of gas leak means no hot water) and we're starting to take everything we can live without out there. Great fun. Makes moving day easier!

I've mowed the lawn out there twice. The first time, a month after being mowed for the first time of the year, took me 7 hours with our 21" push mower. It was disastrously tall! The second time, five days after I mowed it the first time, took 4 hours. Much better. I read yesterday that pushing a lawn mower burns 408 calories an hour. Pad that slightly since the lawn is 80% hill, and that's looking like a great exercise program!

That's all I've got. Life's crazy busy, trying to go back and forth between the two houses, maintain both - and if you think that's crazy, hold on a minute. We're eating supper out there every night, often lunch too, cooking only on the grill without a stove or fridge, hauling dirty dishes back to the rental since there isn't any hot water. Ok, minute over. Back to work on... something! Babies are sleeping, and with our late nights, I hate to interrupt their naps to haul them back out there so that I can paint. So, here I sit.