The House Next Door Cont.

Whoo Hoo!

I know, I really do know that its hard for you to understand or get my enthusiasm. 

Unless you have lived next to a crap hole 

(which was a nice home the day we moved in)

You might not truly understand how happy I am that 

SOMETHING is getting done about the house next door.

8 months ago it burned down, the owners allowed rain and snow

to come through all the fire openings.

It has festered and seethed with unhealthy growth.

Today they came and boarded it up

This thankfully is temporary

they are going to be getting demo bids.

They need at least three bids from different companies before they can go ahead and hire them.

All in all I am hoping for it to be down in a little over a month.

Is this optomistic?

Maybe, maybe not, in our economy things move faster as they have less work.

No matter how long it takes, though, thankfully its getting done!

Another month has passed!

One more and my kids are out of school!

To see dinner tonight visit - Another Recipe Blog

To join in on  Word of the Week please visit the link!

Sundays Kids

They had a ball today as guests at my friends church, as my hubby has not recommitted to any home church, I have been attending Life Church sporadically as we only have one car and the hubby works Sundays.

After church we went out to eat with a group. My hubby had the group in tears while my children reminded me why I don't normally take them out!

All in all though a great day, with great friends!

Girls Day!

My job for the day

Before my BFF came to grab

me for a day of shopping!

Dinner with my BFF

The demon possessed piggies we found at Target

 

My BFF loves my taste in earrings!

Some women love shoes,

others purses,

me I love Earrings!

A good earring - dangles, sparkles, moves and is not too heavy or bulky,

And then yes its raining again!

Swamp Cooler Day Two!

Yuck!

YUCK!

SUPER YUCK!

Have I mentioned that the people who lived in our home before us did nothing but treat this home like a rental?

It blows my mind, they bought my tiny home for a whooping 197,000!

I got it for 110,000!

This to me, begs the question of how do you spend almost 200,000.00 dollars on something and then NOT TAKE CARE OF IT!?

Serious!

I went to work!

One pair of gloves

Two wire brushes

and a sore hand later and it was ready for this

Rustoleum is my friend!
(highly recommend this project)

This should last us a few more years now before we will have to replace it completely

Like we had to the motor, the rotor wheel, the belt, the floater

and a ton of miscellaneous little parts.

The pads could not have been changed during their 4 year stay, like so much other junk in our home it needs a lot of work - due more to neglect than anything else.
Good home, built well - just mistreated.
We are giving it the love and TLC it needs ;)
just wish it would stop raining.

Did I mention that it might rain the next three days?

Bloggers without Borders

Bloggers without Borders (BwoB) is a blogger-based charity whose mission is to help people—bloggers and readers alike—by harnessing the good will of the blogging community. Its founders are Maggy Keet of ThreeManyCooks, Erika Pineda-Ghanny of The Ivory Hut, Julie Van Rosendaal of Dinner with Julie, and Aimee Wimbush-Bourque of Simple Bites. BwoB officially launches in July 2011.

It's been about 36 hours since we launched Bloggers without Borders and our fundraising efforts for tornado victims, so we thought it was time for a progress report. As of midnight, we had raised over $1,200 for tornado victims across the United States. We can't thank you enough for your quick and generous response.

After launching our Joplin campaign, another blogger with another need came to our attention. Kristan of Confessions of a Cookbook Queen lives 5 minutes from where another tornado hit in Arkansas. Fortunately, lives were spared, but her uncle---a father of four who doesn't have much insurance---lost the family business when his flooring store was flattened. Family homes were also severely damaged and the overall loss is heartbreaking.



Kristan's uncle's family store.

When she learned of Kristan's situation, Shelia, our Joplin recipient, generously offered to share half of the fundraising proceeds with Kristan's community. "There is so much need that we definitely need to spread the love," she said. Kristan will distribute her share of the funds to the most urgent of situations in the Etna/Denning, AR community. She will also give us an update on her blog and share how the money was allotted. Truly, this is bloggers helping bloggers.

As we watch the news and the updates that are coming from these tornado-stricken areas, we feel such deep sadness for these people who have lost everything. Many of you expressed the same sentiment but we no longer feel helpless or hopeless, because together as bloggers, we are actually doing something to help in a real and meaningful way.

Our goal is to raise at least $2,000 so that we can give each blogger and her community $1,000. Please help us reach that goal!

And for those who already have donated, thank you for your support. Your tweets and blog posts touch us, and they encourage us to forge ahead. There is much need, yes, but together we're making a difference.


With gratitude,

Bloggers without Borders

Want to spread the word? Want to help us raise money? E-mail us and we'll send you the code for the BwoB badge and donate button.

To see and here other reasons to help please click here.

The House Next Door

Last November, a mere three weeks after we moved in, it burned down. No worries it was vacant. However, it was also left to sit and sit and sit. This last winter the snow kicked off one week after it burned and it snowed until April. Since April it has rained almost everyday - breaking only to give us hope.

At the end of March I was informed that Magna was auctioning off the property. Several interested buyers dropped by to talk and inspect it. I was hopeful that one of them might buy it.
And until today we heard and knew nothing.

Today a bank agent was out inspecting the house. Its official Magna turned the home over to a bank.
Luckily this bank agent wants to board it up immediately and then get quotes on demolishing it.
AMEN! 8 months of water pouring into the building have left it a mold infested unsafe crap hole!

Hopefully the next tale in this saga comes with pictures of it being torn down - of course my daughter and I might need to wear face masks for a week or so but it will be worth it! (yes we are both highly allergic to mold!)

On a high note, Little Man's speech therapy went well today! He is delayed in the K sound, G sound and S sound, with his biggest problem being that he doesn't FINISH saying a word, he starts it and then gets lazy.

All in all though he has caught up 5 years of speech in 1 yr, so a few months of speech therapy should be enough to get him on the same footing as his peers when he starts school in the fall!

Day 5 Building a Shed

Another beautiful day without rain!

A great day to work and play!

Patch and Towels!

Today my dog turns 1!

Here is the very first post - back when he was much littler!

He is now a full member of this family!

Craziness and all!

Today is also Towel Day!

I am so Proud that my doggie was born on this day that he is even getting his own towel later - we need a pay day first!

I have to say that I love the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

I did a post way back when check it out.

My favorite book from the series is The Restaurant at the End of the Universe!

Now off to work more on the Shed - will blog later!

Day 4 Building a Shed

Today was all about the walls!

While we had the outside walls we needed to square it off and make it stronger.

Something about the last three weeks of it being rained on...
we needed bottom layer
before adding the interlacing panels

Sunny day and some work accomplished

Lets pray we can do even more tomorrow

That is after Little Man's speech therapy!

Rain

Have I mentioned yet that I am getting sick of Rain?

I know my name is "Blessed Rain"

I normally love the sound and smell of rain.

But I live in Utah!

Its suppose to be a desert!

It has been wet since one week before Thanksgiving!

 7 months of rain and snow!

I really really would like to have a few dry days 

At least a few hours of sun so that my garden won't die!

Reform and Cuts

I have heard this word A LOT! Anyone living in the USA have heard this, we hear it every time we turn around! The strange thing for me is that I hear it in both in a double negative.

WE NEED TO STOP SPENDING SO MUCH!

THEY NEED TO STOP WASTING MONEY

to

DUE TO BUDGET CUTS THEY CLOSED MY PROGRAM!!!

WHY DID THEY CUT THAT FROM THE LIST!

Yes I know this post is going to go down in infamy as the NASTY post, but lets face reality.

Our government is BROKE!

We need to find other ways to do things besides asking the government to do it all - either that or we can keep going broke, watch the fall of our country and then live in a police state/dictatorship and understand truly what going without is like.

 We need to get Creative!

One of my fellow bloggers posted about how her childs Sensory Room is going under without enough funding.

1. Did you ask them if they had explored alternatives?

2. Did you ask if they had thought about renting rooms from their host families and breaking up the building into homes?

3. Did you ask if you could BUY some of the things before it closed?

4. Did they seek PRIVATE funding before closing?

So your center that has been helping you is going under... What can you do to help?

Lets get proactive and help our "Services" find a different way to survive without needing the government.

I know many can not spend any extra money but you can host time and resources so if one of your "things" is going under. Make a list of what could help them, make another list of what YOU could do to help and then go in and talk with them!

Expecting them to go it alone is the best way to watch what you need shrivel up and die.

Come on America! We used to do everything for ourselves!

Has our government crippled us in our need for them?

Lets find solutions to the problems - lets find ways to have what we need while 

PAYING off our countries massive debt!

Before we can pay it off - we need to LAY off!

and yes I know, you don't like me very much right now, do you?

Another day inside

Its raining

again

Today's to do list:

review books on SheWrites

Cook: Creamy Crockpot Shredded Chicken

Work on short query letter for next Sunday

Guess the book

Work some more on my photography 

Read books to Children

Make coffee

Change sheets

Trees, Bricks and Friends

See those bricks?

They came with my BFF's home 

She took out the area they were occupying and put down a 

wonderful stamped concrete area

giving me all the bricks for our yard plans.

*Insert large smile here*

So today we removed all the bricks and helped cut down

all the broken branches from the massive amounts of snow and wind this year.

Then of course helped clean up!

Now for those that got pulled into the drama of TV and media hype about the end of the world here is the kicker. The bible clearly states that NO man knows the day or the hour that God is coming. AND it also says that God reserves the right to change his mind - NOT KIDDING. He says he can choose to come another day.

Why people keep thinking it helps to run around like Chicken Little screaming Doom! I don't know. All I know is that I pray, I love God, I raise my kids to love God. I leave the REST to God. I don't try to keep the earth spinning, I don't keep the sun on course, or the seasons turning. I live my life to be best of my ability and wait. 

I will wait til death or God takes me, I will NOT run around like an idiot sqwuaking and looking like a moron. I will not try to make people who believe in God look like idiots. So for those who made fun of Christians today - I am sorry that HE made you think we are ALL that dumb.

Day 3 Building a Shed

First off if I hadn't started the day with Coffee this would not have been possible

9 Hours, 3 adults, 2 kids and one dog underfoot.

Here is what we accomplished

More rain photos

A bit of fun on a rainy day!

Today I am going to have a bit of fun with my dog Patch.

Why?

Because its still raining!

This is my dog

He is a pure breed Shih Tzu

He also looks like a Ewok

No seriously to me he really does!

See!

If my dog walked upright and wore a hood they would almost be the same!

Wordless Wednesday - Still Raining

Rainy Day

Cold wet soggy rain

a constant rain

with a chill on the air

Today Prissy goes into see her Dr. she needs more meds

and another note for the school saying WHY (again)

she has been sick so much this year.

Fire at the beginning of fall - Asthma issues for a week

Two cases of the flu

Two ear infections and of course major Asthma issues

equals a lot of school missed.

My poor little Prissy

I tried this out last night hoping it would help me sleep better and less congested.

It didn't

but it will help during the day during really bad allergy times

Free Advice:

For those that have a very sensitive gag reflex like me

I would advice leaning forward and over the sink

My biggest problem was the fluid kept wanting to go down the back of my throat

Not a pleasant feeling.

I am hoping, however, to master the use of this

It will really help Prissy in a few years 

as her HayFever kicks up her Asthma in both Spring and Fall.