Public service announcement

You may have read that building this house has been my excuse for gaining weight. Now that I am partially settled I have tried to get back to the gym. I went yesterday and I get on the treadmill for a warm up. I have on my workout pants and a tank top, this is my usual attire. As I begin run my pants keep slipping down, and I keep pulling them up. Then I realize, it's not my pants, it's my panties. So I'm checking the reflection in the television mounted on my treadmill to see it there is anyone behind me so I can fish my hand down my backside and straighten things out. Sure enough, there is a guy on the elliptical behind me. I try to be nonchalant and look like I'm pulling up my pants. Every few seconds I'm tugging at these blasted underwear. Sure, I could have stopped and gone to the bathroom. If your like me, you have a debate every morning if you should go to the gym or stay home and clean or binge on ice cream. Once I made it inside, there was no stopping me. I thought surely once I start sweating these babies will be stuck to my non existent booty and I would be golden. Didn't happen. By the time I got off the treadmill my panties were all bunched up around my thighs. Let this serve as a reminder, make sure your panties fit before you get on the treadmill.

Better late than never...right

Ansley's birthday is in April. We were living in the rental house and there was a contract on the house with a date for us to be out just days after her birthday. Luckily, it fell through at the last minute but we didn't have an "official" party for her. The thought of planning a birthday party in the midst of moving was more than I could handle. Now that we are living in the new house she was sure to remind me of a promise to have the party once we were settled. So here is what went down at her 10 and 1/2 birthday party.

The cookie face race. 

Put a cookie on your forehead and get in in your mouth without using your hands.

Hidden bubble gum

I hid three pieces of bubble gum in whipped cream. The object is to find the gum and chew it and the first one to blow a bubble wins. The sugar from the whipped cream breaks down the gum so it's harder than it sounds. If you have kids at the party that have braces you can switch out the bubble gum with smarties. We put six smarties in place of three pieces of gum.

Dubble Bubble Splat Tie Dye 24mm Gumballs - 850 count - Gum & Mints (Google Affiliate Ad)

I let the girls all take turns posing the group for pictures. Here are the boys crashing their pictures.

The doughnut game

This is my kids absolute favorite game! We do this at every party! Group the kids by height and string doughnuts on a piece of yarn. They have to try to eat the doughnut without using their hands.

What a sweet little face!

Watching this game is half the fun!

Her face makes me smile!

After these games we played hide and seek in the dark. Give everyone a flashlight or ask them to bring one from home. I ordered some from www.orientaltrading.com. They are cheap but they do the trick just order extra because they burn out quickly. Turn all the lights out (obviously) and two people are "it", just in case someone in your party is scared of the dark. Everyone hides but they have to stay put until they are found. The last thing you need is a bunch of kids running around in the dark. Once they are found they can either go back to the starting point or join in the search for others. The first ones found will be "it" for the next round. We also played sardines in the dark. One (or two if your dealing with a bunch of sissies) person hides then everyone goes looking for them and just joins them in their hiding spot until everyone is in the hiding spot. The last one to join the group is "it" for the next round.


Lastly, we all settled down to watch the Lorax. How ba aa aad can I be? ~Lorax reference, in honor of Ansley.

We had eaten so much junk that night we saved the cookie cake until the morning.

Happy 101/2 Birthday to you!

We had some kids show up late to the party so we did some "do over" games in the morning.

I think the party was a success but I don't think I'll be ready to do another in six months so maybe she'll have an eleven and a half birthday too. Or maybe I can just bribe her with money in lieu of a party.

Let's talk

So I haven't truly blogged about the house in a while. We are moved in and still getting settled. Ryan just finished putting the blinds up today. I'm sure my neighbors are super thankful for that. If anyone cared enough they could have seen one or all of us naked at one time or another. For that, I am sorry. I sincerely hope they will not be scarred for life. We have quite a bit of work still to do. Our painter, Darby Roach owner of "Elite" (quotes intentional) Painting left us pretty much high and dry. He didn't finish the job and the stuff he did finish looks pretty bad. We have been cleaning paint off of the floors, vanities, faucets, you name it! He ended up subbing out some of our work to another crew. The guy he sent over coughed the entire time he was here which really freaked me out. I told Ryan there was no way that guy was coming into my kitchen and painting...I was pretty sure he had tuberculosis. I cleaned all the light switches and doorknobs when he left everyday. Anyway, I guess I haven't felt much like blogging about the house. It's like when you have a newborn and you feel like all you ever talk about are their bowl movements and eating habits. Or maybe like a person that goes to the gym and they think you are as interested in their workout schedule as they are. I feel like it's been that kind of consuming. Even when I run into people they always ask, "How's the house coming?" I definitely appreciate their interest in what's going on with the house but frankly I'm tired of talking about it. I'd rather talk about how funny it would be to take a 13.1 or a 26.2 sticker and put it on the most out of shape person I could find and stick it on their window. It would be funny to see how people would react to them getting out of their car in their house shoes and PJ's walking into Walmart. At least in my head that is hilarious. Maybe I'd talk about how I've been watching Chopped and Master Chef and how it's inspired me to make Ramen Noodles and grilled cheese sandwiches. I made four last night and only burned two. I would also like to add that I was able to make them in less than 30 minutes. Maybe I would tell you that I went to the dermatologist because my face looks like a prepubescent teen and the doc says it's hormones! What? Hormones!?! Nooooo! Really? Crap is this perimenopause? On second thought...did I mention that I bought a new dining room table for my HOUSE!

Is this normal?

We had our POD dropped off and we had to have it cleaned out by the 20th. It had all the stuff in it that we could live without while we were in the rental home. Looking at all this crap valuable stuff it's hard to believed we survived! I know I really need to get rid of some of this stuff but how to choose?

This here is a set of 3 John Deere cups. I don't know if there is a 4th or not. I'm sure there was one at one time. I could easily part with these. If you're interested, hit me up. They can be yours!

These are my Harley Davidson coffee cups. I had these gems displayed in the kitchen of my very first kitchen in Jonesboro, GA. I bought this house in 1994, I believe. Others were decorating their kitchens in chickens, cows and duck motifs. I thought a Harley Davidson motif was the way to go. I'm so cutting edge, people. These aren't going anywhere.

Just a random assortment of white coffee mugs. I like two of these. Have I mentioned that I don't drink coffee?

These are mugs that I have been gifted. The one on the left is one that Ryan painted for me. The others are from the kids. The employee of the month I bought for myself because I really am an exceptional employee.

These mugs were given to us by a family member that is incarcerated. I mean how do you get rid of something that was probably traded for cigarettes? You just can't!

This is a set of two 2000 Disney World cups from McDonald's. These are just stupid. Have you ever tried to drink from a square cup? It. just. doesn't. work! These are gone! I'm almost embarrassed to admit I actually looked on ebay to see if these babies were valuable! I'm sure you probably got these for a dollar if you ate too many Big Macs. 

I mean, The FONZ! Really, are you gonna get rid of the Fonz? Don't even get me started on Porky!

Here's just a sampling of some of the Budweiser Retro Pint glasses and some "motivational" glasses. The huge cup from Lambert's, "home of the throwed rolls." Also two Coca-Cola glasses that one of Ryan's exes brought back from Europe.  I mean who doesn't like having a reminder of your husbands exes sitting around?

 I am aware that my selection of glasses further solidifies that I am white trash. However, I am ashamed to admit I may also be a hoarder.

Our First Night

We spent our first night in our home on July 20th. Shhhh, don't tell the home inspector as we haven't gotten our CO. It was as normal a night as things get for us. ChaChi and Ansley were putting on "shows." ChaChi spent the night with things shoved in the back of his underwear pretending to be J-lo. Should I be concerned? Ansley was the DJ. She announced it was a rooftop party at The Peabody Hotel and ladies get in free before 7:00PM. We had been looking forward to this night for such a long time It was all a girl could ask for.

This was the first time I have slept in my OWN bed in 21 days. I am so thankful for our friends that let us crash at their places while we were in limbo. Equally thankful for friends who invited us over for dinner or dropped off dinner. Times have not ben ideal, there was even a day I wore Ryan's underwear because I couldn't find mine. Am I sharing too much? We have lived out of a laundry basket, my car (which the air just went out), friend's homes and our garage. In the end it has all been worth it! Thankful to the Lord for providing what we needed when we needed it. However, I am not thankful for my painter or Comcast.

Homeless for 17 Days

It's been a few weeks since my last blog. (Sounds like I'm catholic and I'm about to confess something.) We just now got our computer hooked back up. Here's what's going on with us and the house. We got all moved out of the rental on June 29th. Of course the house wasn't finished and some friends of ours were out of town and said we could stay at their house. We stayed there for three days and then we switched locations to another friends house. We stayed there for a week and then returned to the first place we stayed. We figure if we keep moving around nobody would get too tired of looking at us. Apparently this was a good idea because my bff said she was surprised that so many people liked me enough to let me live with them. Honestly, I'm a little surprised myself. We have now gone from homeless to pet sitters as our friends have gone to London for the week. Our house should be ready by Wednesday. Our friends will be back Friday or Saturday so we'll stay here until they return.

We've been living out of bags, our car and our garage. I follow a blog www.thepoorganiclife.com and she is doing something called the Summer of 7 which is based on the book 7 An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker. One week she set out to wear only seven articles of clothing for a week and no makeup. Generally just simplifying your life in different areas. I was thinking that once I get settled into the house I would like to take on the experiment. Then I realized I've already been doing that for the last 17 days and I'll tell you now that it's over rated. I want my stuff back! Speaking of stuff, here's mine.

We've got everything we own shoved into the garage!

We've got everything in the kitchen except our appliances and we should have them installed tomorrow. This is  SW Resolute Blue.

Hardwoods are finished in Early American stain.

 Laundry Granite is Mystic Mauve but it just looks gray to me.

I'm loving the bedroom color it is SW Carefree

 Master Bath Granite is Blue River It's gray and black but some really cool flecks of blue show up when the light hits it the right way. How do you like that square sink?

This is the desk in Ann's room it is Caledonia Granite

 Ansley's granite is Blue Eyes. It is back with flecks of blue.

This is Ann's sitting room. We spent the day over there cleaning. They are so ready to start moving in so I let them move that little table and chairs.

2 Days

Exhaustion, pure exhaustion. We are at the house trying to get everything pulled together and trying to pack this house at the same time. The thought of living in a hotel isn't sounding like such a bad idea to me anymore.

They finished installing all the cabinets today. This is the laundry room.

 This is the master.

Kitchen

Ansley's bathroom

ChaChi's bathroom

This is a little nook in Ansley's room where we are putting a desk.

This is the office 

Today we had the porches, driveways and sidewalks poured.

Back porch

 Driveway

Sidewalk

The electricians also started hanging the lighting.

Ansley's sitting room

ChaChi's bedroom 

Ryan's GA Dawg room

There is Herb again! Thank God he is back to fix everything. He is a jack of all trades. Yes, he can even lay brick. Who knew?