The progress as of noon today

Before:

During:

The gutters are up, the shutters are down, the roofing shingles are on a pallet in the drieway.

I still have scaffolding outside the bedroom/bathroom window, but there isn't anyone on it right now.

After picures will be posted when the roof and shutters are done.

2 posts in one day!

I need to vent about this:

"0 properties match your search"

Want to know what my criteria was?

Under $2000/month in rent and 3+ bedrooms.

Is that too much to ask for?

Well.. that's not quite true. There was a nice property with 5 bedrooms in the next town south- IN MEXICO! for $1100/month. I'm pretty sure that commute might be a problem. Not to mention intestinal distress, rouge cops, extortion, and a lovely measles outbreak in the area..

Some were like 1300 square feet and over $2K with.....a swamp cooler. (if you haven't heard of these, I hear that they are a real treat- as great as they sound- they cool your house by adding cool water to the air in your home. Which mixes with the dust you find normally in (non-swap locations like) the deserts that they are used in.. And when this happens you have MUD everywhere in your house. I am not kidding. Like a mud bath everyday for you and all your belongings. And like they say- "it's not the heat, it's the humidity that gets you")

So.. its back to plan A-- bug the snot out of the housing dept/lady when we get there until we get an old house on base without air conditioning.. but one that we can afford. (we're #10 on the list today)

Plan C would be buy a tent and live in that on the beach- weather's nice year round, right? And as an added bonus- we'll have front row seats to the next shark attack AND we'll be away from solid structures in the likelihood of an earthquake..

It's a date

May 5th, that is

for the movers to first arrive. Right on time. Well- a little earlier than I thought, but- better early than late!!

AND just incase you thought things were getting less interesting here.. here is the update from last time:

Those are our gutters on the ground:

The trailer becoming cross-country road worthy:

The view from my bedroom window:

And Part 2 in the Baby Climbing adventures:

HI MOM!

Well, now that Andrew showed you the blog, I'll have to watch what I say about you...
(just kidding, don't get paranoid)




Anyway..



A picture JUST for you and then I have to go re-clean the house, someone will be here in 2 hours and the kids are playing "jungle gym" on the bunk bed

Wellllllllllllll we're getting a new roof

The 'replace the missing shinges' project went so well that Larry decided to replace the not missing but damaged shingles. It didn't go so well- Apparently the previous owner had used some odd adhesive to repair them previously which didn't allow you to just simply replace them- he was out there chiseling away for an hour with more and more shingles needed to be replaced as collateral damage..
And that's when the person he'd called to give us a quote on replacing the gutters (the downspout's been missing since we moved in, too) showed up.

The shingles run into the gutter and there isn't a drip edge under them. SO.. the bottom 3 rows need to be pulled up, cut back, drip edge applied and singles replaced- because the roof wood there is rotting from the water damage.

And gutter guy looked at the roof and said "hey buddy, have you seen this side of the roof?"

So.. he called his roofing buddy who came out and gave us a quote to replace the whole roof (and honestly, we've know it probably needed a new roof for a while, but the whole spend-money-so-you-can-fix-a-house-you're-not-going-to-live-in concept still frustrates me) Who at the same time will paint the soffit a color other than fugly brown.

So-- the next projects are:
Paint the shutters
Backyard landscaping

Find a way to get the movers here sooner or a way to re-arrange our schedule so we can move-

Turns out that Ensign whats-her-name-who-arranges-movers does't return calls, so Larry had to call someone else who told him to apply online and NOW they say "well, that's not enough time for me to put it in the computer" The soonest they think they can be here is fully 9 days after we wanted them here.
Grumble grumble grumble...

It apprears Larry will be here with the movers by himself and driving up by himself while I fly stright to CT to take care of the kids/relieve my mother with about enough time to pack the van and turn around and come back for graduation. Fun Fun times...

24 hours and a camera

A day in the life:

So.. I spent the last 24 hours with my camera in my pocket-- so this it:

Sleeping to re-charge the spiderman-like urge to climb

Fixing and washing the roof:

You wonder why I'm worn out at the end of the day? It might have something to do with plucking a certain toddler from the top of the dining room table, from the side of the bathtub

From the top of the toilet:

From the changing table:

you are probably wondering:

WHY is he wearing a diaper in most pictures? THAT would be because he gets his clothes wet and runs off before dressed.. and I'm aiming for the white-trash look, so..in a diaper he remains until we have to go somewhere or I think he's cold or can pin him down...

From the high chair:

From the about-to-shipped-co-op boxes:

And "school time" home-school style-

On the done list:

• Boat sold
• Step built/fixed
• Roof fixed
• Trailers moved

And on the housing list: Down to number 10 - it appears we will be looking for a rental abode when we get there.

And on the countdown- TOMORROW is Larry's last day. You know that feeling as you get in the roller coaster, you're buckled in and it just starts to move- before it even starts that clickety-clack climbing? THAT is the feeling I am having now. (yeah, yeah, I know- the new roller coasters don't make those noises. It's been a while since I've been on one.) I can only imagine it's going to get worse these next few days.

BIODIESEL

Coming soon to a backyard near us..



Did you know--- you can make your own?!?!?!



HOW COOL IS THAT?



It looks about as hard as a freshman chemistry experiment or baking bread.
And you're supposed to be able to make it for under $1/gal if you use used cooking oil.



Now, with Diesel here at $4+/gal and I'm sure in CA it's going to be closer to $6.. I'm thinking..

BRING IT ON!!



AND it reduces our dependency on non-renewable resources and foreign oil. What's not to love???



I am totally psyched at the idea and Larry is totally onboard with it. You do not know how thrilled I am about it!!



And I'm looking for a cool bumper sticker for the minibus:

It's a slippery slope

We went on and have slid down since introducing "chuck e cheese"

Yes, we went today to celebrate the kid's birthdays. We went in Feb to celebrate Kayla's birthday and it was a fateful Sept day in Fl when bored with the beach we though, 'hey, maybe chuck e cheese would be fun'

We should have done some research first. But much like cracking an egg, there is no way to go back to our Pre-Chuck-E Bliss.

But.. just so you know- if you've already entered the world of Animated Singing life size Rodents promoting fun and lousy pizza- if you sign up for their email you will get a email with a coupon for free tokens for your kids' birthdays, so.. if you have multiples or kids with birthdays near each other- it's a good deal. Of course, I think they're pretty smart- they know you're not going to print more than one and go more than once unless you're insane. I've had enough ChuckE until we have to re-darken their doors in Feb.

Even then, we're started telling them that we think California doesn't have Chuck e cheese.. lol. Too bad Sonia can read. IF we happen to pass one somewhere, I am SURE she'll point it out. Actually, any of the 3 could probably pick the sign out. I passed it today and they about went into orbit yelling "MOMMMMMMM YOU PASSED IT!!! YOU HAVE TO TURN AROUND!! TURN AROUND !!!TURN AROUND!!!" at this point, it's a divided road and they're hyper- ventilating waiting for a place I can make a left turn into somewhere and turn around..

And- just because I know Andrew and Janelle will never see our house this clean: (not that I'm claiming it clean, I'm just claiming it's clean-ER and- and added bonus for them- we have 2!! functional bathrooms right now. I'm sure that will change if you guys come to visit.. lol)

5 years ago

I went into labor and Early in the AM we had Sonia and Joey. They were born on Easter, a fitting sign of new life. Our life has NOT been the same since:

So.. the past 5 years in pictures: