Nothing much to write

We haven't heard on any of the houses. Other than we have to be pre-approved by the short sale house's bank. (this would be the 3rd pre-approval we've had to get)

T-Ball is still sucking the evenings away... and hours upon hours of my time. I'm thinking I'll start bringing my laptop and work on my taxes. No, they're still not done. By my count I have 15 days left.

We will be going to Sea World for Homeschool day tomorrow, so that should be fun. Maybe. I'll let you know. We're allowed there for 1/2 the day, not allowed to use the rides or see the shows.. so I'm not entirely sure what's left that you'd want to do.. ?? feed the dolphins, maybe? (I'm thinking of buying and packing a few cans of sardines instead of buying the dolphin snacks there.. of course I'm sure that's frowned upon and I'm sure I won't actually DO it.. I'll just think about doing it...)

So.. off to an exciting day here, we'll be spending the morning at the hospital waiting around. Still no word on what's going on with JM and I'm still visiting the neuroopthalomologist this week.

We did make it to his speach evaluation this week, and while he's still delayed for a "normal" kid, I'm actually thrilled that he now will (finally!!) imitate sounds that me make about 40% of the time. Progress. Previously we'd say "say cup" or "milk" or "thank you" or "please" and he'd give you blank stare... sometimes he tries to say what we're encouraging him to say.. progress. Doesn't say his "C's" so Cup is Pup or "J's" do Joey is "boey" but..I know what he's saying and that's what matters. He has figured out what when he has a problem with a sibling if her runs to me crying and saying the offending sibling's name he gets more satisfaction than if I think he just fell down or wants something he can't have..

When the speach therapists get back from maternity leave they'll call us to make him appointments, but I think he'll probably be improving without them.

Make that 4

houses was have offers submitted on that we are waiting to hear from.

House #3.. has a 4 car garage. I didn't see it, Larry went by himself. Did he mention a 4 car garage? Bank owned?

House #4.. has fruit trees and a solar panel. AND a homeschooling family the current owner classifies as "weird" On the end of a dead end road. With twin girls next door, about 7 years old. Short sale, but if it isn't sold in 37 days it's going to auction, so it shouldn't be TOO long before we hear.

Hmmm... we'll see. I didn't see house #4, either. I'm trusting God to deliver the right house.

Of course Larry's kinda hoping for the one with the guest house and telling us about all he can do to add on to it. I'm getting an ulcer thinking about what he can do with it (it's a "needs work" house).

Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter in crazy CA real estate..

I'm a little worried (ok, make that alot) that our offer on the bank owned with guest house will be accepted and we'll have to decide to take it or not before the offers on the houses that don't need work are decided (pretty much any of the other 3 houses..)

But that would be borrowing worry from tomorrow. I have enough worry for today. Like navigating the commisary on Saturday and wondering if the people we invited for dinner are actually coming and if they are how to get the house clean and dinner cooked. All while sitting here on the couch with the laptop, of course..

~another day in paradise (PS. 70 degrees and b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l today)

The So Cal Real Estate

It's all just a game.

We submitted offers on 2 new houses last night.

One bank owned, with guest house on 1/2 acre out in the "rural" area of vista. The neighbors have goats, the house we bid on has a chicken coup. No solar panel, has fruit trees. And a place for both our parents to move in. (HINT hint) not on a street. (not kidding, off the street, you share a long drive way with 4 houses..)

One regular sale that is falling out of escrow. Not rural. Has a pool. No solar panel, but has fruit trees. End of cul de sac.

in a "Normal" world, you find a house you like, you bid on it, wait to hear back and negotiate. Not here- you put bids/offers in all over the place, wait and wait and maybe you'll get it, maybe they'll ask you for more money, maybe you won't hear.. maybe you'll hear "come back with your highest and best offer" which of course was our first offer..

I'd like to put a hotel here on Vale Vista and 2 houses up on Osborne, Mr Banker.. oh, you landed here.. that'll be $500..

In a even crazier turn of events- a house we liked lost it's driveway, pool and pool house to a tax lien sale. The house is now super affordable, but it lost half it's lot AND it's driveway.. How do you sell a house with a 2 car garage and no way to getting to it???? (it was a 2 lot property, the house was supposed to be sold with both since it was built on both. But it's not that the lots are so big that you would want to build a house on each..ya know?) It's such a CRAZY crazy world out here.. and it brings me to the question.. HOW do I buy a lot or house for the taxes owed on it??

For real..

It's the Monopoly Version of life.

Complements the Life game equivalent... only the game I played was before mini vans were invented....or car seats...

Definition: Washable

Sure you can wash it. Wash it alot. It's not coming off. My son looked like he's been wrestling with a leprechaun for 3 days. The green tinge to his face was after scrubbing it all morning.

The label said "washes off with soap and water"
it lied.

Oh, and PS it's strawberry season... yummmmm

Seeking wise counsel

So our sermon this week was on making decisions... And forgive my paraphrasing, you can find it here and listen yourself..

But anyway.. in the areas that God doesn't speak directly, we are need to gather the facts and seeking wise counsel

So and not just put up a poll and see what others say..

So.. This is directed at all of you (lol.. I know there are a ton here) with real estate experience and owning a small business experience..

Please send some advice my way... on:

buying a house- we should, right? We're honestly paying 30k a year in rent - which is lost money. I see no reason to do that if we can loose that money in something we can own in 30 years. I don't think renting it would be a problem if we had to, either. The rental market here is hot with people needed to rent after shortsale-ing their houses..

not to mention if inflation kicks up and we have a 30 year loan locked in at 5%.. in 15 years it'd be like paying the mortgage with the money from a paper route, right? I am a bit economics challenged, but that is how it works, right? Again- feel free to weigh in here.. if we buy something that's work say 300K and inflation kicks in at 20%? suddenly my $2000 mortgage payment in tomorrow's dollars is $1800 in todays? or is that not how it works? (I took biology/physiology and pharmacology in school. I never went near economics and math.. much less business or accounting.. this is all pretty much greek to me)

And selling the business- how and should we do it? I am gathering the facts on it and realize I average 35 hours a week on it. 35 hours!! I could make a heck of a lot of money working that much in a job I'm getting paid in. So.. it adds up why I have time issues- or lack of time issues more precisely. Should I hire help? Can I hire help? (no, not with the chaos system we have working now.. but if we have things organized where it's not a "climb over that stack, go around the corner, step over that stack and on the 2nd shelf is the thing you want in the 3rd bin..

The kids think the garage is a gigantic jungle gym, since our stacks pretty much reach the ceiling. I did have an avalance last week trying to free a box from the bottom of the stack (ya know.. something that hasn't sold in 3 years and suddenly we're sold out of it and the last box is BURRIED under the tons of seconds bales.. ) well.. you probably don't know.. but the diapers come in boxes and bales.. and the bales are roundish. Meaning they roll and don't stack well. So.. it doesn't take much to upset the diaper cart, so to speak.

But anyway.. I need to figure out what to do, how to sell it and how to get my taxes done in the next 3 weeks.. (any volunteers?)

Just another Manic Monday...

Monday is probably my least favorite day of the week. And it's not like I have to get up and go to work. My work is here - everyday.. and the pay is pitiful, there isn't vacation time.. but the benefits are pretty good.

But they're manic. The kid's have their one day of school, T-Ball, and Larry and I are taking a pastor's class (no, not to become pastors, given by the pastors) at church. By Monday night I'm ready for the weekend.

Throw in there a few hours peddling/shipping diapers diapers, looking at 3 houses, and pushign other things onto tomorrow's to do list- needing to get blood work done at the hospital (ask me about the super efficient way military medicine works) and the van vacuumed out..

So.... today's houses... seen by me and only 2 kids..

House #1.. wish list match up:
quiet street
good location
solar water heater
4 bedrooms
2 bathrooms
not a whole lot of work needed..
well.. needs some.
No cat smell
no pool
4 bedroom
top of price range
Short sale "approved"

House #2
4 bedroom/2 Bath
needs work
no pool
no cat smell
Kitchen the size of a closet ( but I guess I didn't specify that on the wish list)
Bottom of price range
Short sale "approved?"

House #3
Filthy in a way that's hard to describe.
has homeowners association that says you can't park on the road
yet is has 3 or more families living in it.
And there was a pit bull roaming free - belonged to the neighbors (now THAT's a selling point!! especially when it decided up JUMP up on me-- FREAKED me out. Seriously freaked. The thing was a solid as a tank and frighteningly strong)
But it was at the end of a cul de sac and at the very end of that cul de sac- across the street was a park- big open field AND playscape.
I was bitterly diappointed, it seemed so perfect from online.
And unbelievably it cost more than the cheap house which was cleaner, smelled better and had 10 fewer people living in it and no neighborhood pit bull.

OK.. real life is calling me.
oh, wait.. no.. that's my toddler I hear calling me..
I think he could use a nap (mostly because I could use one..)

Umm.. was that you, God?

So.. it was announced yesterday that we're getting a new hospital. Actually I think it was announced on Jay Leno the night before that, but it was BIG news here yesterday.

So.. that house which would have been convenient for the old hospital on base was not going to be as convenient for the new hospital.

Which co-incidentally will be MUCH more convenient for the rest of the world, instead of having to get on base and drive 20 minutes to get there, it will be 5 minutes inside the base. To be completed in 2010? Anyway.. once Larry's back in a residency the hospital will be in the new location.

SO.. the revised house search.. probably not Vista. Maybe Carlsbad? Who knows. And I'm pretty sure Fallbrook is going to be out, too.

Meanwhile I teeter dangerously close to the edge of insanity. Tball makes me nuts.

Non-competitive? Yeah. Right. These parents are "working with" their kids everyday to practice, one is working on hiring a high school player to coach their kid... with the "they have to be ready for next year" philosophy. Heck. I'm not ready for tomorrow, much less next week and you're freaking out if your son makes 6 year old all stars and if they play varsity as a freshman?

ARRRRRKKKKKKGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

I'm personally happy if my kid doesn't make sand castles in the infield when she's supposed to be watching the ball. I'm happy if she doesn't get a ball in the back (or front) of the head. Varsity? That would be on another planet.

OK, that wait wasn't that long

And the answer is "no"

It is not the house for us. (we were outbid)

Back to the wish list, then. And praying that it works out in the right timing and that our marriage is no worse for the wear, our kids are no worse for the adventure and that I don't develop a stomach ulcer thinking about it.

I heard of a woman who had 20 failed bids before she got a house. I'm not sure I'm ready for that much rejection.

The story of my life...

Hurry up and wait.

Got the offer in on that house, it was supposed to go to the lawyer yesterday who would decide. And we were supposed to hear yesterday. Supposed to.

But... the real estate agent in charge said it wasn't fair to the first 6 (or so) bidders, so she extended the date so everyone could re-bid. *sigh* oh well. we gave our best bid first, so I guess we'll go back to looking. Or waiting. Either way.. I don't know the final outcome.

So, God.. Here's my wish list:

Safe neighborhood
Quiet Street
Good kids in the Neighborhood
If possible a really nice homeschooling family of 6 next door/across the street.. etc..
And a elderly woman a few houses up who'll keep an eye on everything .. you know the type..
Convenient to get out of the neighborhood (more than 1 way out)
4 bedrooms (or 5? I can wish, right? )
Fenced in yard, with a patch of grass. Grass in front yard is optional. One of those stone landscapes would be cool. this is the desert. Greenery is pretty much artificial. Maybe a front yard of all seasonal wild flowers??
2 bathrooms
Storage shed
backyard we could park the trailer in without it being really obvious or take up the entire yard. (optional- I still am in the mood to sell it all)
No cat smell
2 or even 3 car garage
Fruit trees- I'd like Avacado, and Oranges. Maybe a lemon tree, apricot tree, pear tree, or apple tree? (not sure they have have apple trees here)
Solar panel or the solar water heaters
Oh, and Gas heat and cooking
Not too far from the ocean (AKA not 118 degrees in summer. dry heat is still heat, imo)
An enclosed porch would be nice, too, again- optional.
In Vista, if you really want specifics, eastern Vista, or better yet- North East Vista.

I can live without:
The Dining room in the living room when you first walk into the house. (crazy set up in most of these houses) Then you walk through the family room to get to the kitchen. You walk into a huge room without alot of function.. (IMO. How many family room/living rooms do I need to clean?)
homeowners associations
Any sort of pool in the back yard, functioning or not
Original 1970's carpeting
Wall paper
The house needing major rehab in any area
Cat smell
Bars on windows
Huge termite damage
shopping carts parked in the front yard or otherwise abandoned along the street

So.. now all I have to do is...wait for it to happen.

waiting.. the story of my life

There is it

The signed offer on the house we probably won't get.

We will be waiting until Tuesday to hear about it. It's a probate house, not a short sale. The short sale will take much much much longer.

And on a side note- why do real estate agents classify buyers as "strong" vs not as strong? What gives? What is the criteria? They have money and lots of it?? That makes them rich, but a strong buyer?? All my insecurities for the world to see again.. *sigh* We were told we were bidding against a "stronger buyer" ugh. I assume it means they have cash to spend on it, but.. really.. is that what it means? It's not like they're a landlord looking to rent it and our kids are a liability.. it's not even like it's the guy who owns it and nostalgically will pick the future owners for it.. it's a probate laywer who decides..(so, yeah, answering that question- money(cash) probably is a factor there)

In all.. it's probably not the right time or the right house. I think God's going to use His "just in time" delivery system and we still have a few weeks to spare on this. And it doesn't have a solar panel or fruit trees.

Innovation, Part 1

I used to think my mother was a little crazy when I remember the stuff she'd make out of cardboard and glue- toy boxes, in particular, come to mind. And I chalked it to to depression era innovation that she picked up from her father who'd make anything out of scraps of wood, paneling or plywood and a few poorly placed nails.

But I now see that gene runs strong.

But.. I lack the time to use glue or nails, so I used what we have...

Introducing the kid's new bat-at-home-baseball-T:
That is a speaker stand for surround sound speakers.

Our landlord left 2 or 3 mostly broken ones here and I use one as a door stop and now the other is being used as a baseball T. Believe it or not, it works pretty well. It's height adjustable (or was until it took too many hits with the bat. I have a made-of-cardboard remedy for that) and free.

The backyard practice paid off this week. Joey was MVP of the game. lol. ok. I know it's something silly and everykid will get a turn, but this week, he's going to be in the newspaper and he got the "game ball." He was so proud. And he played first base this week. It is so silly when we celebrate everytime he actually catches the ball. but.. hey... they're only young once.

PS. It looks like we're bidding on a house today. It's too new on the market for MLS to have it's picture and we're in a bidding competition with at least 4 others (not getting my hopes up) But it's at the end of a cul-de-sac, doesn't need oodles of work. In a neighborhood that doesn't have bars on the windows.. If we also put a bid on a short sale one, it's also at the end of a cul-de-sac, has even less yard and is in Fallbrook. (different town, and ..it's different- definately not suburbia for the most part. I don't know exactly how to explain Fallbrook- kinda rural, redneck. It might be typical for rural California, for all I know. But it's different than rural east-coast. Actually... now that I think of it.. there are parts of New Hampshire/Vermont that are equivalent)

Oh crappy day.(oh crappy day)

I took the liberty to re-write the "oh happy day" song and it came out like this-

Oh crappy day (oh crappy day)
Oh crappy day (oh crappy day)
Oh Jesus come (oh Jesus come)
And take me away (take me away)

Because I've had enough messes (and whining and crying)
And now dog vomit (and half eaten garbage)
And I just want (I just want) to get away (get away)

(end song writing creative streak)

It's been one.of.those.days. you know - the one where I'm sitting here in and thinking 'oh, well, I can spend the next 8 hours cleaning up or I'll just go to bed and get some sleep and wake up facing this disaster..'

hmmm such decisions. Monte, I'll take Door #2- the sleep door.

But I'm really looking to trade that door for a 1 week vacation and a year round housekeeper. And a cage for the toddler who coated 2/3 of the upstairs of the house in toothpaste tonight.

And not the adult toothpaste, no- that wouldn't likely stain. No, it was the kid's toothpastes- both the green and the pink with glitter toothpastes. ALL over- the rug, the walls, Kayla's bed, a ton of toys. And all in the 2 or so minutes I was in the shower. Literally 2 minutes.

I said to the 2 older kids- -"watch him, let me know right away if he runs outside or gets into danger or trouble." and sat them all down to watch a video.

They have NO trouble tattling on him for touching their toys, getting in their way when they want to watch tv.. but.. getting 2 tubes of toothpaste out and all over and feeding it to the dog so that she vomits from one end of the house to the other.. no.. THAT they forgot to mention.

And I was taking a shower because I had bible study tonight which meant I didn't have 4 hours to clean up the mess right then and there. an hour, yes.. and I'm still not sure what it is going to take bright green toothpaste out of the rug.

Maybe when I wake up, this will all have been a dream..

Our History Lesson

The Approved school lesson this past month was on the presidents, in honor of presidents' day.

Anyway... One of the more recent assignments were to write down what you would do if you were president.

And.. both my 5 year olds said they would have the rich give money to the poor.

I think we've been reading Robin Hood a bit too much these days. And even my bleeding heart is hesitating on that one.. "uh..ok.. but maybe we should also help the poor get a job?"

To which Joey answers "if they work, they can't do anything fun all day"

Yes, son. That's kinda the way life works..

don't grow up too fast.

well.. I wasn't looking for houses

That didn't stop Larry from emailing me from work last night a series of houses with descriptions of "needs serious TLC" and "additions and permits unknown"

That was after I told the real estate agent who called that I wasn't interested in looking at any houses for a while..

*sigh*

And it's back to the Monday grind here. I thought the kids had school, so we got up extra early to get them there on time and turns out.. no, there isn't school for another 2 weeks. Dang. So now I have tired/cranky kids and wasted the better part of 45 minutes driving to their school and back.

I have a calendar. I have school on it for today. I have the calendar from school, too. Unfortunately, it's color coded and mine is in black and white, so the days we have school I think are supposed to be orange, but today was "field trip" day which I think is yellow? So.. it looked the same shade of grey to my eyes.

Do we go to the field trips? usually- no. They have them at the local park usually, which has free admission, btw, and then charge the family $5 a person to go. So.. that'd be $25 for me to go to a park that is free. Is that a joke? And today was "PE day" so all they were going to do is run around and play relay races or something. If you want a drink, they'll sell you one, too... with drinks parents donated to the school.. for $1 each. They get public school tuition for every student enrolled. They have few facilities, they make the parents volunteer and donate and the majority of their cirruculum is stuff we download off the website and print ourselves. I have a feeling of being nickled and dimed by this school..

I was especially mad last month when they had a day long parent edutation confrence which would have counted for our mandatory volunteer hours. I get babysitter lined up, get there and it's been canceled. There was an email sent out 30 minutes before it was supposed to start that it was canceled. No reason given. ARGH ARGH ARGH. I am going to list the time I spent arranging babysitter, gettting there and driving home on my volunteer hour sheet and see what happens. I'm thinking of lising the entire time it was supposed to happen since it was unbelievably inconsiderate to cancel so late for no known reason.. other than the day or 2 prior the head CEO or other administrator was arrested for molesting a student at a different school (lovely, huh?) I think they wanted to keep everyone away in case reporters or police where there, but they could have sent out that email a few hours before it started.

Lest you think this is unusual, they cancel all sorts of things about 10 mintues before they start by email. Who is reading email from the car? Really. I have email on my phone even and I still don't find that appropriate or convenient. I usually don't participate in any of their stuff, so it just hasn't happened often to me.

And I dispise the fact that they seem to think I should be able to "call someone" to watch the kids so that I can volunteer and go to these confrences. I can't stand that phrase that everyone uses here. Maybe because I don't have someone to call- it's not like I have a neighborhood of stay-at-home moms to swap child watching with- I have a neighborhood hostile to kids and most of the moms I've met work. Or the other oddity here- the 2 stay at home moms I know of put their kids in daycare during the day.. which I could not afford, nor would I want to.

So...it's really pathetic, I know. And I'm reminded of that frequently. Maybe I should join the Mormon church.. branch out our circle of friends...???

Anyway.. I look forward to moving. I wish there was a way to screen neighbors for stay at home with kids status-- or better yet- homeschooling family of 6 status.. wish there was a real-estate tool to figure that out. I guess next best thing will be to knock on the neighbor's door and see who answers...

So.. those pictures..

Before their first game:
























And what happens to the salt shaker when I'm not paying attention:

We go through one of those big containers of salt every month.

And he managed to break my sea salt grinder this month, too.

First Tball game was today

Pictures to come when I find the camera again.

They are on the "Rangers" as in Texas Rangers. They have a blue shirt and hat and grey pants. Sonia played center field, Joey 3rd base. Sonia's number 9 and Joey's number 6.

They're both playing as right handed kids. They both write and eat with their left hands, so why play baseball righty? Welll.. because Sonia wanted the pink glove and it was a right handed glove and was not going to be pursuaded otherwise. And Joey thinks he throws better/faster with his right hand. And they're batting right handed too- at least for now.

All the kids got a chance to bat and I was told that was the best part. Sonia was tagged out but they let the "out" kids finish running the bases, anyway. They don't keep score, anyway. And with the way they run the bases, missing bases, running past the kid in front of them on the base paths.. etc.. I'm not even sure you you could keep score...???

And their favorite part was batting.

They have just enough kids to play on each team, so if one of them is sick, we don't have a position covered. But no one is sitting on the bench, either.

If you want an idea of how big Pendleton is- there are 3 different areas (leauges??) of baseball. And our area has 8 (!) teams consisting of only 5 year olds. That is amazing. That's 72 5 years old just in this league and ther are 3 other leagues. We didn't have that many in our entire town when my brothers played. I don't think there were 72 5 year olds, much less playing baseball...

And while I was under the impression from the growth charts that my kids were tall for their age, they weren't the tallest kids on the team. They were actually about average. And they are among the older kids on the team.

Just another day in Paradise ~~




PS. no house hunting this weekend.

Change in sport

So I made the executive decision that dance really wasn't in Sonia's best interest. Particularly since the classes at the Y were with 3 year olds and and were basically skipping across the room and the class at the community center was also a "predance/ballet" class and I didn't feel that the dance moves Sonia was picking up moving her grove to pop music was age appropriate.

And I disliked that the classes were at 5 pm. 5pm. Really- dinner time. And traffic time. So that 1 day a week I cringed and sucked it up because Sonia really wanted to be a ballerina or at least dress like one. But then they are having a fund-raising dance recital in LA (LA!!) with a very pricey uniform and mandatory ticket and candy sales. I was less than enthustiastic and somewhat cynical about this whole thing and where all the money was going to.. And really really upset that the teacher thought the only place to hold a 3-5 year old class was in LA. (it's well over an hour away and frankly, there are a zillion places between here and there they could hold this thing that would be more convenient or practical or realistic.. And I just don't like driving like that much of a lunatic unless it's for a really really good reason - like picking up someone from the airport)

And I've been feeling kinda bad that I hadn't signed Joey up for anything so when it was T-Ball sign ups, I signed them both up. And un-enrolled her from ballet/dance.

But when I signed up, it didn't say when practice was. Or games.

And now instead of class 1 day a week, it's practices at 5 or 5:30 3 times a week and a game every Saturday.

Ugh. What was I thinking??

Moving on up

Pulled up to the dock. That's Larry driving it.



















Backed up the our previous method of picking up diapers.

We've moving them from big truck to smaller trailer


(oh, yes.. that's in the street in front of ours and our neighbor's house- theyLOVE us..)



And for those who haven't been intimately familiar with the evolution of our peddling diapers from our house- let me reminisce for a moment...

It all started when in a pathetic attempt to raise spare money, I was making diaper stuff and selling it on ebay for about a dollar. Larry said "people spend money on this stuff?" and I told him, yes- people do and if you have the right stuff, people spend alot of money on it. (at the time there were a few "hyena" brands that got $100 a diaper)

So.. never one to do things on a small scale-
And already familiar with the process of ordering from overseas from his last "real" job..

He ordered 900-something dozen diapers. And with my brother who had the poor misfortune of visiting that weekend, drove 5hours to the port, spent 5 hours lost, and another few hours learning to navigate the customs clearance system and then another 5 hours home. I think they were gone for 22 hours total. (My brother was less than amused)

And as they drive home with the pick up and 4x6 foot utility trailer, it started raining and they had to stop, buy tarps and tarp it...

The next morning we unwrap soggy mess and realize... in a huge novice mistake, we ordered "unbleached" diapers, expecting the american equivalent of unbleached and got... white diapers which weren't bleached, so they were a few shades off of white..

So we had 900+ dozen of diapers I didn't have any idea how to sell... and knowing we were moving in 2 years, I had a deadline to sell them. And that's probably where things morphed into our business plan- as we realized anything sells if you sell it cheap enough.

Fast forward a few months and Big Dreamer looks into getting the "right" kind of diaper- the unbleached indian diaper since those are what everyone wanted (I could go on about the chinese vs indian diapers, but.. well.. that'd be spinning off on a tangent there...)

And so we buy Indian diapers. And the minimums with that company were greater, so it was more like 2000 dozen diapers. And then we needed a bigger trailer...

Thus enters Larry's dream to purchase a landscaping/utility trailer.. And because money was tight we bought the cheapest, ugliest thing we could find. And of course.. it needed work. At 2 am the night before the trip to pick up the diapers, he was installing breaks on it.

But.. fate was not with him that trip and he hit a curb, popped a tire and the remaining tires were rubbing on the wheel well, so he turned around and headed back.

The next day he headed up to the parking lot he abandoned the trailer with with a friend he talked into going for a ride with him and replaced the tire and returned home with damaged trailer.... neither realized it was going to take as long as it did, I'm sure.

Back home, new tires, and back up to port--
And the trailer wasn't really ready to handle that much weight or highway speeds, so I think it took him 10 hours on back roads to get home. The entire time I was sure he was going to get himself killed.

And we sold the indian diapers in 2 months...So.. we repeat that process again.. this time the trailer gets a new hitch and the order gets bigger. And this time Larry brings a different friend along (again, someone who had no idea what they were getting into)

And each time the trailer would return, we'd empty out it's contents and try to sort and organize them back into it as it doubled as a storage unit (and we also ended up renting a storage unit..)

So.. fast forward.. the trailer (the big ugly one) has gotten more work and moved us to CA.. And while our hillbilly/redneck trailer wasn't pretty, it wasn't AS out of place as it is here.

And our first trip to pick up a shipment from port was from LA. Now.. I don't drive to LA unless there is a very good reason. Much less with a 20 foot trailer. But that's what we did and on the way home... we lost our tire.

And that last time I went with Larry and I said- ya know, this would go much much faster and easier if we could just pull up to the dock like the "normal" people. Instead they'd forlift the pallets to us and we'd have to carry each package/box into the trailer and stack it. It took some long, sweaty and dirty hours our way.. I guess on the east coast the dock hands had been willing to help load the stuff. Not here. They just delivered the pallets to near the trailer and left.

SO.. This time I'd had enough of the something-happens-to-the-trailer's-tire adventures with every trip and decided what we needed was a rental truck. Dock hight. And a pallet Jack.

And that's what we have. And loading from warehouse into truck went smoothly but that's where smoothly ends.
In true Larry-Gina fashion, it doesn't go as well as we picture in our heads and the pallet jack gets stuck trying to get up the ramp of the trailer, so we're still manually moving everything from the rental into the ugly trailer.

And it's still a sweaty dirty job and last night as we're working on it (we got home at 8 from this adventure and THEN we started the unloading..) it rained. We live in the desert. They get like 4 inches of rain a year. And of course 1 of those came last night.

Another day in Paradise~
;-)

Why is the dog blue?

Not crayons

Not Markers

Not paint



But Gatoraide

At least she smells better- kinda like grape or whatever mountain-something color I gave the kids with the stomach bug..

Another day in Paradise~~

MOM!! There's something gross in the hallway!!

REALLY gross
MOM come quick!!!
EWWW it smells!
WHAT IS that?!!

The stomach bug has arrived and taken up residence.

Kayla was on her way to get a sweater after complaining she was cold when she paused long enough to vomit in the upstairs hallway before climbing into my bed and falling asleep.

15-20 minutes later, 2 others head up and discover the evidence. And I go on a hunt to find the sick kid- not in her room, not in her bed, not in her brother's room, the bathroom... nope- under the covers in my bed.

She's now been moved to the couch with the bowl to catch such said vomit watching cartoons.

Another day in paradise~~

So.. about those heathy snacks..

I sent an oreo again today to school. I quizzed the kids and it turns out that some of them had candy sent for snack. Candy. Are you serious?? I wonder those 2 kids who are really obnoxious-do they have parents that send candy to school?? Guess I was being oversensitive on that one...

Anyway... we spent several more hours looking for a place to live and I've come to the decision that God's just going to have to provide the right house at the right time. I'm asking for Solar panels and fruit trees, but I'll settle for 3-4 small bedrooms and a neighborhood I don't need bars on the windows and a gun under my pillow.

So.. we went back to the open house one with the missing kitchen and I'll be darned- it was cleaned up nicely, all new carpet and paint and a mostly repaired kitchen. And we debated putting a bid on it with what we could reasonably afford (oh, like.. 60 grand less than what they were asking..) but there are already 5 competing bids on it, so it will be going for more than the asking price.

Madness. Sheer madness I tell you.

And it was more house than I can reasonably keep clean. Actually a minivan is more house than I can reasonably keep clean.. but.. I promise I'll do better this year.

Anyway.. it's back to looking. I snicker a bit since there is a house in our price range on the other side of our neighborhood- the older side- the side without the Home-Owners association rules.. no yard, but Larry could park the ugly trailer in front of the house and there is nothing they can do about it. Not that *I* want the ugly trailer in front of the house. I want to sell it and all it's contents and the little trailer and then the truck.. but... well.. we'll see... I do think it would be fun to park it there for about a day. I can't tell you how many times we'd been written to about the small trailer we brought here to put up the rubbermaid shed, the letter about the shed, the letter about the trailer in the yard again as the shed came back down...
yeah.. I think someone had it in for us.

But I wish I lived in a neighborhood with more than 1 exit and that that 1 exit didn't have the longest traffic light in the world to get out of here... I should call Guniess book of records and make it the official longest traffic light in the world. And not only does it take forver to turn green, it stays green long enough to let 2 cars out at a time.

Another day in Paradise~~