Thursday, June 18, 2009
Bananas
I seriously love that we call Breanna "Bananas". I think it's adorable and hilarious. And she responds every time. I had every intention of her nickname being Bree. I did. But I guess this works just as well, if not better. This will now forever be her pet name. And that is a good thing to have.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The House
So I called Chase AGAIN yesterday to see what is UP with our loan modification. We were supposed to be moving forward in this program starting in April, but I haven't seen any paperwork YET. I've been calling every two weeks and they've been saying, just wait, the docs could take up to 45 days. Really???? So I've been waiting. Finally I get a hold of someone yesterday and find out that we've been put back into foreclosure and our mod was canceled - WHAAAAAATTT??? Who are you people?? The girl I talked to was very nice. She REqualified us for the program and (HOPEFULLY?) sent out the paperwork. We should get it within the week. If not, I may lose my mind.
So, the new Obama program puts our payment down where we can afford it. And as long as we make the payments, we get to keep the house. After three months of making the payments we roll over into a permanent modification (from the trial period). So it is all looking pretty good. Still have to work out taxes and insurance, but that shouldn't be too hard considering all we've already endured.
At the very least, it feels like a relief to know that we can keep our house. As soon as we get the paperwork, I mean. Then it will feel like a relief.
So, the new Obama program puts our payment down where we can afford it. And as long as we make the payments, we get to keep the house. After three months of making the payments we roll over into a permanent modification (from the trial period). So it is all looking pretty good. Still have to work out taxes and insurance, but that shouldn't be too hard considering all we've already endured.
At the very least, it feels like a relief to know that we can keep our house. As soon as we get the paperwork, I mean. Then it will feel like a relief.
Wednesday
Okay, so some days you just wake up ready to take on the day. Today I was awake (not UP, but awake) at 5am, mind-reeling with all of the many things I could accomplish. The homework struggles have re-ignited my desire to homeschool the children, so I've taken on a new task of researching my options. The playroom is currently cleared out, so I'm trying to get rid of the hockey table so that I can set up a classroom in there. However, FEELING motivated and actually being able to accomplish anything are two separate things, so I am sitting here overwhelmed and discouraged. Not by the homeschooling prospect (which still feels like a great idea) but by parenting in general.
Getting up and getting ready for school has been a challenge all its own in our house, and I recently charged Hattie with the responsibility of getting herself up and ready. Today she decided to sleep in and I tried very hard to not get involved. At about 7:05 I reminded her that maybe she should get dressed and ready. (We usually leave for carpool at around 7:20 and school starts at 7:40) She dawdled and dawdled and ended up at about 7:17 with no shirt, no shoes, no breakfast, no lunch. With a great deal of yelling we managed to get her set up with clothes, shoes (way too small! sorry!), breakfast and lunch and out the door at about 7:33. It was ugly. She did, however, calm down by the time we picked up her friends and dropped them all off at school. She even told me she loved me (whew! quite the contrast to the many "I hate you"s I've heard lately). Oh my gosh, so much for my positive outlook on the day.
Just now we all got to listen to about 20 minutes straight of Derek screaming and crying. I'm not sure why he's decided this is the most effective way of communicating, but he's become quite proficient at it. Part of his problem this morning was that he wanted someone else to search for toys for him to play with. The playroom is all packed up in the "baby room" so the toys are piled in bins. I kept telling him he had to find his own toys, but that was not sufficient. Oh my goodness, the CRYING AND SCREAMING! I will myself to ignore it, but it still wears me down!
Jason's obsession/addiction to computer games has also been part of my inspiration to get moving on homeschooling. I can't keep letting him wasted hours playing on the computer. As easy as it is for me, we have to find a more constructive way of doing things around here. Plus, Hattie is capable of so much more than she is accomplishing at school these days. The Final Report they've been assigned seems to be way too easy for her. So she is having trouble getting motivated and I'm having trouble dealing with it all. She won't include things in the report because "everyone already knows that". Duh. That's the point of writing the report. But I sincerely believe she needs to be challenged more. She just found out she gets to move up to reading 5th grade books. For a second grader, I think that's pretty good - and she's the only one in her class!
So, my plan is to get this "classroom" set up over the next week or two. Then start school July 7 and see how things go. If I can start Hattie on a 3rd grade curriculum and Jason on Kindergarten and some sort of preschool for the babies, then we should all be busy and entertained enough. And we'll have a good month or so to see how it goes. To ease into it before public school starts and we can make a permanent decision about SCHOOL then. I'm a little concerned about making the investment, but I think it'll be worth it. And I've thought about homeschooling so many times that I don't know how long I'm going to be able to put it off anyway.
Getting up and getting ready for school has been a challenge all its own in our house, and I recently charged Hattie with the responsibility of getting herself up and ready. Today she decided to sleep in and I tried very hard to not get involved. At about 7:05 I reminded her that maybe she should get dressed and ready. (We usually leave for carpool at around 7:20 and school starts at 7:40) She dawdled and dawdled and ended up at about 7:17 with no shirt, no shoes, no breakfast, no lunch. With a great deal of yelling we managed to get her set up with clothes, shoes (way too small! sorry!), breakfast and lunch and out the door at about 7:33. It was ugly. She did, however, calm down by the time we picked up her friends and dropped them all off at school. She even told me she loved me (whew! quite the contrast to the many "I hate you"s I've heard lately). Oh my gosh, so much for my positive outlook on the day.
Just now we all got to listen to about 20 minutes straight of Derek screaming and crying. I'm not sure why he's decided this is the most effective way of communicating, but he's become quite proficient at it. Part of his problem this morning was that he wanted someone else to search for toys for him to play with. The playroom is all packed up in the "baby room" so the toys are piled in bins. I kept telling him he had to find his own toys, but that was not sufficient. Oh my goodness, the CRYING AND SCREAMING! I will myself to ignore it, but it still wears me down!
Jason's obsession/addiction to computer games has also been part of my inspiration to get moving on homeschooling. I can't keep letting him wasted hours playing on the computer. As easy as it is for me, we have to find a more constructive way of doing things around here. Plus, Hattie is capable of so much more than she is accomplishing at school these days. The Final Report they've been assigned seems to be way too easy for her. So she is having trouble getting motivated and I'm having trouble dealing with it all. She won't include things in the report because "everyone already knows that". Duh. That's the point of writing the report. But I sincerely believe she needs to be challenged more. She just found out she gets to move up to reading 5th grade books. For a second grader, I think that's pretty good - and she's the only one in her class!
So, my plan is to get this "classroom" set up over the next week or two. Then start school July 7 and see how things go. If I can start Hattie on a 3rd grade curriculum and Jason on Kindergarten and some sort of preschool for the babies, then we should all be busy and entertained enough. And we'll have a good month or so to see how it goes. To ease into it before public school starts and we can make a permanent decision about SCHOOL then. I'm a little concerned about making the investment, but I think it'll be worth it. And I've thought about homeschooling so many times that I don't know how long I'm going to be able to put it off anyway.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Catalina
We survived another Catalina race this weekend.
Friday we (Shawna and I) took the kids to Wild Rivers. We were invited via Facebook and a casting call to participate in filming their newest commercial. So keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks for my kids smiling wet faces on your TV. It was freezing cold and miserable, but hopefully they got some good footage of my adorable crew. :-) We made it, and even (eventually) had a little fun.
Saturday Daddy left for his Catalina race and we drove down to the Welk Resort for some Day Use of their facilities. Much better than Wild Rivers - no cameras, but at least the pools were heated and the sun came out for a bit near the end of our stay. All in all, it was a fun day - and Jason managed to do some real swimming without his floaties. Also, I learned that Breanna is a little fish and cannot wait to learn to swim herself...
We even made it to church on Sunday - ON TIME - so needless to say, I was physically, mentally, emotionally EXHAUSTED by the end of it all. Sunday night Rick and Shawna cleared the family room and the playroom so that the carpets could get cleaned this morning at 9am. What studs! And now we have clean and beautiful carpets. All is well with the world.
Today, I barely survived a supremo meltdown from Hattie around homework time. Seriously, it was way up there on the richter scale. But somehow, we survived. And we all had homemade pizzas for dinner. YUMMY! I love WinCo. It is my new favorite store. I could spend hours shopping there, and still only spend $100. The best!
Well, it's only 9:30, but it feels like 11. So I'm going to wrap this up until next time. Probably go take a bath and see if I can con my husband into finishing the foot massage he started this afternoon... Wish me luck.
Friday we (Shawna and I) took the kids to Wild Rivers. We were invited via Facebook and a casting call to participate in filming their newest commercial. So keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks for my kids smiling wet faces on your TV. It was freezing cold and miserable, but hopefully they got some good footage of my adorable crew. :-) We made it, and even (eventually) had a little fun.
Saturday Daddy left for his Catalina race and we drove down to the Welk Resort for some Day Use of their facilities. Much better than Wild Rivers - no cameras, but at least the pools were heated and the sun came out for a bit near the end of our stay. All in all, it was a fun day - and Jason managed to do some real swimming without his floaties. Also, I learned that Breanna is a little fish and cannot wait to learn to swim herself...
We even made it to church on Sunday - ON TIME - so needless to say, I was physically, mentally, emotionally EXHAUSTED by the end of it all. Sunday night Rick and Shawna cleared the family room and the playroom so that the carpets could get cleaned this morning at 9am. What studs! And now we have clean and beautiful carpets. All is well with the world.
Today, I barely survived a supremo meltdown from Hattie around homework time. Seriously, it was way up there on the richter scale. But somehow, we survived. And we all had homemade pizzas for dinner. YUMMY! I love WinCo. It is my new favorite store. I could spend hours shopping there, and still only spend $100. The best!
Well, it's only 9:30, but it feels like 11. So I'm going to wrap this up until next time. Probably go take a bath and see if I can con my husband into finishing the foot massage he started this afternoon... Wish me luck.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
June!
Finally I feel like I have something I can blog about. Rick's sister arrived yesterday evening and I can already feel the relief! Shawna is 16 and lives in Montana with her mom and stepdad. She's the youngest of Rick's sisters on his mom's side, and the last one left at home... (on his dad's side the youngest is Jason's age! haha.) So now she is going to stay with us "for the summer" and my life doesn't seem so, ummm, well, overwhelming.
Only a couple more weeks of school left. Jason's "graduation" from preschool is on the 19th and Hattie's last day is on the 24th (Daddy's birthday!) so we are starting to count down. It will definitely be more fun (and more manageable) with Shawna's help! It is so nice to have someone else around to help with the kids while I am trying to clean up. Although I realized this morning that I am a little limited to how much cleaning I can do in one swoop. I cleaned up the kitchen and then I passed out on the couch, totally exhausted. Gotta figure out how to balance that better.
Not June but July I will be singing again at the MERC theater in Temecula.
http://www.temeculalive.org/countryatthemercsite/countryatthemerc_home.htm
I sang on May 30th and had such a blast. I'm stoked I get to sing again before the baby is born - I am performing on July 25th @ 7pm.
Oooh! We're getting the carpet cleaned on Friday. I have finally decided it is time - regardless of whether or not we end up keeping this house!! Rick apparently spilled milk on the carpet in front of the couch and didn't clean it up properly. Now all I can smell is stinky carpet. Gross! Doesn't help that I have pregnancy nose and can smell EVERYTHING. Blech.
So, I've officially entered the 3rd trimester, and boy can I feel it. Too much activity is cumbersome. So glad I will not be alone for the next couple of months. Allows me a chance to really look forward to having this baby and enjoying a newborn again. Not that I ever really enjoy newborns much. Hahahahaha... But all of the sudden I am starting to feel positive about the next few months, and that is a good thing.
Only a couple more weeks of school left. Jason's "graduation" from preschool is on the 19th and Hattie's last day is on the 24th (Daddy's birthday!) so we are starting to count down. It will definitely be more fun (and more manageable) with Shawna's help! It is so nice to have someone else around to help with the kids while I am trying to clean up. Although I realized this morning that I am a little limited to how much cleaning I can do in one swoop. I cleaned up the kitchen and then I passed out on the couch, totally exhausted. Gotta figure out how to balance that better.
Not June but July I will be singing again at the MERC theater in Temecula.
http://www.temeculalive.org/countryatthemercsite/countryatthemerc_home.htm
I sang on May 30th and had such a blast. I'm stoked I get to sing again before the baby is born - I am performing on July 25th @ 7pm.
Oooh! We're getting the carpet cleaned on Friday. I have finally decided it is time - regardless of whether or not we end up keeping this house!! Rick apparently spilled milk on the carpet in front of the couch and didn't clean it up properly. Now all I can smell is stinky carpet. Gross! Doesn't help that I have pregnancy nose and can smell EVERYTHING. Blech.
So, I've officially entered the 3rd trimester, and boy can I feel it. Too much activity is cumbersome. So glad I will not be alone for the next couple of months. Allows me a chance to really look forward to having this baby and enjoying a newborn again. Not that I ever really enjoy newborns much. Hahahahaha... But all of the sudden I am starting to feel positive about the next few months, and that is a good thing.
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