Don't Itch

 Friday the second after we closed on our home my hubby took off to pick up our new puppy dog Patch. We have been working on house training him and unpacking the house all at the same time.

Last night Prissy got very sick and threw up on the dog. After quickly taking care of Prissy, Hubby and I bathed the dog. Hubby is much better with animals than I am, however, Patch wants to be my shadow.

This would not be a problem if I didn't have some extreme strange allergies. I am fine with dogs - normally. What I can't handle is when I get scratched by their nails. Something I forget because I rarely get scratched.

Last night during Patches first bath I got extremely scratched up, by the time we were done my arm was on fire, it was red with welts and had already started swelling.

I spent the next little while, searching through all the boxes searching for my benadryl. After several long minutes and a bath I caved and drank down the children's bottle.

For those that don't have severe skin allergies, you may not understand this. I spent the next several hours holding still and thinking don't itch, don't scratch, don't move. This is something that is not easy when it the desire to itch moves from place to place as your body is trying to rid its self of this new containment.

This morning as I sit at my computer I still feel several strong desires to scratch and I am still just as nervous about scratching.

Don't Itch!

Home

One word.
A tiny small sounding word.
And yet this tiny word brings up the strongest of emotions, sounds, and smells.
Good, bad and in between memories come flooding back.

HOME

We all think of one place, one experience out of many of our lives, one place that is home and will always be home in our hearts.

Friday we signed the paperwork buying our home first home. I can only pray that my children will find this home to be their safe place, their special home.

We are surrounded by boxes, life marches forward. Today we bought some of the much needed items for the house and we will continue to clean, wash and unpack for the next few weeks until our new house has become a home.

So far we have managed to remove all the carpet from the top floor, save the kitchen which we will do when we revamp the kitchen. Don't worry many before and after posts to follow.

Mini mix up

A month or so ago I made a deal with my hubby that he could upgrade his seven year old lap top to something newer. As I had taken over his last new laptop that we bought less than two years ago. I love my Acer laptop very much and I only use a quarter of its cool features. I agreed to buying him a new one so not to lose my acer (even though it needs to be fixed). 
Then last month he came home from work saying that he could get a really good deal on a mini notebook. Now I am not a huge fan of these tiny mini laptops normally they aren't worth the money, but when he came home saying he could buy one for 20.00 my jaw dropped and I said yes - why the heck not?

We didn't order it right away, we waited for our house agents to tell us the magic closing number, when they did we went ahead and bought the mini and had it shipped to the house.
Can you imagine my surprise when I opened the box to find a bill for 128.00 inside?
Turns out hubby ordered the wrong laptop. We spent last night figuring out if this mini was worth a hundred dollars more than the other mini (500.00 off market price btw), or if we were going to send it back for the other.

The long and short of the matter came down to my deal to buy hubby another laptop a few months from now. This would mean we would end up with four laptops, two desk tops for four people and one can't even read yet.
As I don't need much besides internet and office, I have taken the new mini which does have some fun gadgetry and Hubby will be taking the Acer in to be fixed (children and dropping damage) and then he will have the Acer. Something he is rather smug about.

I have spent the morning on this tiny little mini and I have a few things to say about it.
First off - adorable, cute, feels nice and has a good look.
Second I am still getting used to the keyboard pad combo. This pad is very close to where you type and it messes me up often! I am constantly having to reposition the mouse, re-editing sentences and have been mildly scolding this tiny thing all morning.
When I have this in my new home, in my little office space and mouse on the side things will move along much better!
For now I am practicing typing before starting another book on the mini. I have many many ideas running the gauntlet of my mind and I am ready to start.

If you have a spare minute please run by my Trying to get Published blog and answer the idea poll I have posted. I am trolling for short story ideas.

Patience and Prayers

Alright for those that don't know me personally or have had limited contact with me you may not know something about me - I have no patience. The only thing I have ever been able to wait for was marriage!

Really when I was a teen people kept praying patience into my life. Finally God relented and gave me my husband - a very patient man. Which showed me that God didn't put it into my general make up.

My mother (who was a very patient person) bought my sister and I this music cd when we were little to listen to. Ironically my favorite song on the cd was Herbert the Snail's Patient song, a song I have been singing for the last three days.

Here are the lyrics

Verse 1:
There was a snail called Herbert who was so very slow
He caused a lot of traffic jams wherever he would go
The ants were always getting mad and the beetles, they would fume
But Herb would always poke along and sing this little tune

Chorus:
Have patience, have patience
Don't be in such a hurry
When you get impatient, you only start to worry
Remember, remember that God is patient, too
And think of all the times when others have to wait for you

Verse 2:
When Herbert was much younger, he often got in trouble
Forgetting that he was a snail, he did things on the double
He'd crash through every spider web and with crickets he'd collide
'Til one day Herbert's father took his speeding son aside

Chorus

Verse 3:
As you can well imagine, there's a moral to this tale
Some of you may find yourselves behind a creeping snail
So if you get impatient and you're easily disturbed
Think about this little song and take a tip from Herb

I have continued to pray for our closing, our lender, hud and our home. I would like people to pray with us that everything goes smoothly and that we close on Friday and are able to move in to our home within a few days.
I am trying hard to be patient, to not worry and to let go and let God, but this is not easy for me!

Sick and update

Today has been a day!

I have wanted to sleep and couldn't namely because I have two sick and yet still hyper children!

They changed our closing date to Friday instead of Thursday of next week, but promise that we will have a time and an amount by Monday.

Please pray for us, we need prayer that nothing extra pops up onto our credit score, that the amount we need to close is close to what they are telling us and that nothing else pops up to stop us.

I feel like I have been running a marathon for the last two plus months. I need the finish line and a home.
I can't even begin to describe the amount of confusion and emotional drain it causes to be so up in the air for so long.

I am reminded of the song, "I walk by faith." By Chris Folson

I walk by faith

Each step by faith

To live by faith

I put my trust in You

I wallk by faith

Each step by faith

To live by faith

I put my trust in You

Every step I take

Is a step of faith

No weapon formed against me shall prosper

And every prayer I make

Is a prayer of faith

And if my God is for me

Who can be against me

The day after repentance

Sorry this blog is a day late, but my beautiful Prissy got very very sick and I have been taking care of her.

So true to form I repent and next day we get the call, our closing date is next Thursday (meaning the fireplace past inspection). One of my other friends agrees to watch the dog so we run over and pick up our fluffy four pound puppy. Then to add sugar to the top our car finally passed inspection - we are legal for another year!

I know, I know really I do, I need to stay thankful and following God's will and not my own.

Meet Patch! Ironically the owner couldn't get him to come to his new name, he came every time we called him! He was so confused when we left him with our friends, he followed us already knowing that we are his family!
I was so sad! Hopefully though we will be able to move in next Saturday!

Once again my kids have gotten my BFF's kids sick and at this moment I really can't wait to move out into my own home and give her some peace and rest. Communal living is fun until the kids get sick and then you really want your own space, peace and quite.

We will also need to super move into the new home to avoid having to pay another months storage fee's.  This will be interesting as we need to paint downstairs, remove the carpet upstairs and clean everything from top to bottom.
I love my new home, Love it, Love it, Love it! I really wish the previous home owners had loved it as well. Loved it enough to keep the walls and ceilings clean, the railing clean. Oh well, that's what happens I guess when you buy a home from HUD, who got it from another company when they repo'd the house from a pair of smokers.

So to recap - I repented next day we had a closing date, a dog and our car legal. My lasts post titled repentance equals peace could also be titled repentance brings blessings.

Repentance equals peace

 

Most times learning is painful, especially when it seems you keep relearning the same lessons over and over again until they stick. 

I am once again guilty of this.

This post was intended to be full of hate and malice - accusations and blame.

Instead I will go against what is natural and I will choose to be thankful.

Thankful to have found a home, the perfect home. A home I love, for an amazing price, and a loan company willing to give us a 4.75 interest rate.

I will stop bashing, blaming, hating and creating my own road blocks. I will once again choose to get out of my own way and follow Gods.

I commit to follow Gods will in this and will let His will be done. I know that He has had His hand on this from day one. HE alone took the other two houses from us and brought this amazing gem into our lives. It even has a fireplace! 

Did I ever mention how much I would love to have a fireplace? 

Ironically this is where the story starts. Last week, (Thursday) we called our agent wanting to know our closing date and amount, as we were suppose to close today. Instead we learned that once again our lending company had not done their job and the new (three weeks old) paperwork had not been turned into hud, so they could approve the additional 900.00 the lenders wanted to fix the fireplace and one wall. We were told that for hud to approve the new paperwork they would need another three weeks. (FYI this has taken over two months so far.) Our other option was to do it ourselves. We were told that if we fixed the chimney, they would forgive the wall and move ahead with our loan.

This saves us a lot of time and money, so Thursday night and all of Friday we were out at the new house working. My Hubby destroyed his hands putting in the new brick and mortar and while its not a beautiful job, it is secure. At this point, I was boiling mad and I have been mad at them ever since - until of course this afternoon. Its amazing how quickly one small sentence can remind you of who you are suppose to be.

I was listening to Christian radio driving to pick up my daughter and I was reminded that all things belong to God and how we are not suppose to be ungrateful when miracles in our lives are happening everyday.

Now with all the fussing I have been doing about this company, I haven't mentioned that its a miracle that we are getting a home at all. Five years ago my hubby and I took out a bankruptcy. With my mothers death, my quitting my job and a whole slew of medical bills piling up we didn't have many options. The day before our bankruptcy our credit was at a 450, day after 460. Now five years later we have a score of 680 - a miracle in and of itself. 

As soon as I repented to God and prayed for our lenders, I was at peace. I have given this matter of closing over to Him and will only now continue to pray for it to go through quickly and with no more stumbling blocks. I vow to stop attacking the company and will pray for them instead.

I am sorry that I have poured out hate and anger here and ask that you as my readers, family and friends, forgive me.

My Funny Little Man

Yesterday he came to the store with my BFF and I. At the store he asked to sit on the potty, I complied and quickly took him. Thirty minutes later as we were leaving the store he starts clearing out the bottom of the car in front of his car seat. When he is done clearing a space he crawls into it and lays down.

I look at him and say "Get into your car seat!"

He looks at me fiercely and says firmly

"No, change me!"

He was so cute! He didn't want to stay in his full diaper until he got home! I love it when he makes such smart choices!

BFF's Labor Day BBQ

My plates end result! Well the first time - after the salad was gone I added on mash potatoes and corn. No I didn't get it all in, but it wasn't for the lack of trying!

Little man and Prissy sharing the empty marshmallow puff jar.

Great food with great friends.

The last is a dish that I call "S'more Pie"

For the recipe click the link to my recipe blog.

The food while great was secondary to spending time with great friends! We are blessed beyond words!

Fireside Friends

Its Labor day weekend and while my hubby still has to work the weekend the nights of course are open! Today we went up into Cottonwood canyon with our friends Shayne and Sara.

Finding a spot was not that easy but we managed to buy a open group site for the night at a reduced rate - thank you for nice park managers!

Good food, games, drinks and Nerf guns that shoot really really far!

FIRE!!!

Have I ever mentioned my love of the outdoors?

Or my love of stars at night?

Hmmm?

My Night Sky

The dark sky beckons 

Like a dark misty sea.

Its voice

sings to me 

with a revery. 

The blackness deceives, 

When the moon 

seems so bright.

Can you believe

that it steals 

 the light?
 

Darkness pervades
and the night
winds blow.

A sigh escapes,
as peace settles in,
as all is well
in the world.

Written by: T. R. Garris

My Love Letter

Today my hubby posted something that I didn't understand on his blog, so I replied "What do you love?"
He answered me, but not what I had been talking about. Instead I got back this beautiful love note from the man I love.

I love the way you don't let me bite your neck, I love the way your hair feels in my fingers at night, I love the way you exhale when I kiss you, I love the way you look at me when I'm playing with the kids, I love when you put your head on... me when I hug you, I love the way you smell like vanilla because you know I like it, I love that you get my clothes ready for the next day, I love that you want to publish a book and that you give me a hard time for not reading it yet, I love that you tell me to come to bed because you want me to be well rested, I love that you are so excited about our house, I love you for so many reasons.

- My hubby

Now with a husband that great, what really do you do?
And yes I really do know that I am spoiled!

Babies and Reasons to be Angry!

My babies when they were little!

click the link watch my babies dance - this is from almost three years ago! My hubby found this gem last night while backing up his computer!

This was lucky because I really needed to see something really cute! Right now I want to hurt people and as soon as I am done with my loan I am slamming this company on every review site I can find!!!!!!!
We had to pay 350.+ to extend our deadline with HUD meaning we will now be closing (hopefully) on sept 14 or 15 due to our loan company who was too damn stupid and lazy to read our paperwork - so do they have to pay the late fee fine? NO - I DO! If they are stupid enough to think I am going to take this, bend over and say thank you they are seriously messed up in the head. I am putting in official complaints to HUD, FHA and of course every review site that can be found along with the BBB.
Their future customers have the right to know that they won't read the bottom of the paperwork, that they won't check their fax machines and that they will sit on the paperwork causing everyone else inconvenience but themselves.

So instead of the loan process taking us five to six weeks, this has become an almost two month process and my patience with their lack of professionalism has gone!

ps. The only reason we are using these particular lenders is because FHA choose them for us and told us we needed to go through them.

The joys and pains

Last night as a relaxing treat my hubby bought and made the house root beer floats! 

We needed the time to relax, unwind and enjoy a traditional summer treat! Today we worked more on Tired Mom's entry way that we are helping to tile, then Hubby armed with his list went out to get everything accomplished!
On the list was to pay our storage fee's as we didn't close this last week like we were originally told we would, pick up mail, and get the car inspected.
Can you imagine where we ran into trouble? Yup! Car inspection failed for the first time in three years! Brakes, tires and something else that I couldn't hear as Hubby's phone was breaking up all have to be fixed in the next two weeks.This normally wouldn't be a problem save the fact that we are trying to put all of our money into the new home!
I don't want to have any hang ups or last minutes fee's and not be able to close on time or to lose the house completely. Yes, I worry about everything until the key's are in my hands!!!
My poor hubby he just doesn't know what to do with me when I am so worried and stressed, I just don't have a chill button built into my system!