Motivation to update this blog has been lacking lately.
Bernie's parents were here for a visit last week. We took the kids up to the mountains to ride the train on the Georgetown loop. Bennett was very pleased. I can't imagine what his reaction is going to be when we go to "Day Out With Thomas" next month. I think he will either be very excited or totally afraid. That trip will include a ride on a life-size Thomas and Sir Topam Hatt will be there as well. I am trying to prepare him now to minimize the shock.
It's always nice to have grandparents (or any visitors) around. Bernie and I finally got to use a hotel stay in Broomfield that he won at a 5K over a year ago. It was weird to sleep somewhere and not be in any danger of hearing your child cry.
Speaking of 5K's, I have finally recommitted to running. I even have a schedule of 3 days on and 1 day off. I have been feeling motivated to go every day and have seen some improvements already. The plan will be to run a couple of races this fall with the goal of running one in under 30 minutes. I think the fastest I could do it now is around 33 minutes, so there is a lot of work to do.
In other self-improvement news, I signed up for a Spanish class in Boulder. It starts next week. I hope my brain is ready to deal with language-learning again. My resume needs some kind of addition for future job hunting and it is something I have wanted to pick up again for a long time.
Bernie has been hard at work in the yard-seeding the dead spots, pulling endless weeds, and tearing down dead trees with his bare hands. He really did that last thing this morning. It was a small tree that had been very dead for a very long time, but still a manly display. I'm waiting and hoping for the raised beds I want on lowe.com to go on sale so we can get those installed this fall. And then there's our very large, hot, uncovered patio. We have gotten one bid and will get another tomorrow for covering possibilities. It seems that the projects are never-ending even in a semi-new house.
Our container tomatos and peppers have not done well at all. I'm sure it has something to do with the zillion degree heat we've had all summer. I will be glad to have a regular garden back next year. And fall, I'm very very glad that fall is almost here.
Bennett went back to his old public preschool today. The class he was in last year was only 7 kids, so it seemed a shock for him to see it full with 14 today. He really loves his teachers there though. I think he will be fine once he readjusts, but there is always the danger of him falling into the background because he is often quiet and withdrawn. We will see what happens.
My mom used a gift card I gave her to get her very first pedicure at a spa in Great Falls. I gave it to her 2005. She recently found it in her car. And then she sent me an email photo of her gigantic feet as a thank you. It's the gift that keeps on giving according to her.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Vacation Recap, etc.
We got back from Great Falls last week, but I haven't had time to update until now. We convinced Amy to make the trip back with us for a little visit. She has the summers off of work, so it was the perfect opportunity. She stayed six days and we had a lot of fun. We did a little (ok, more than that) shopping, including her first trip to Ikea. I hadn't been to the one that opened here last fall. Saturday wasn't the best choice for that but we had fun anyway. We both found a rocking chair that we love and will be perfect for those moments we Faggs need to center ourselves by rocking back and forth like babies.
The trip itself was good and bad. It was a very long drive there (13.5 hours) and worse because Bennett wasn't feeling well. He had a fever before we left and the illness got worse for the first 6 days of the trip. He was not himself. We took him to the immediate care twice in Great Falls and once in Missoula. His gums were sore, swollen, and bleeding. That made eating, talking, tooth-brushing, and just about everything else lots of fun. His attitude was understandably terrible. His behavior was the most challenging that it has been for his entire life. We finally got him on some antibiotics and things started to get better on day 4 or so. He was good to go by the time we got to Seeley Lake and we tried to run as much pent-up energy as possible out of him. The kids loved being at the cabin and spending time at the lake.
It was great to see Sara, Melanie, and Marlena in Great Falls. A few of us had a late night at the Stein Haus/Sip and Dip, which was my most hung-over moment. My mom was able to spend more time with the kids than usual and Bennett LOVED the train that passed in front of her house. My dad is doing surprisingly well at his assisted living. He's the only man living there at the moment and the staff/residents dote on him. I took him to an epic almost-three-hour-long trip to Hastings so he could pick out about 40 CD's. He's obsessed with music at the moment. It's an expensive habit, but it keeps his mind active and he seems happy, so I don't complain. But I probably better go check his bank account balance!
I loved being in Missoula for a couple of days. We stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown and were able to walk to most of the things we wanted to do. We had dinner with my cousin Denise and visited with my old practicum supervisor. It did remind me how I love Missoula and put to rest any doubt I had about not returning to Great Falls. If I can't live in Missoula, where we are is the next best place.
Faggfest was also a lot of fun. We hung out at my Aunt's cabin a lot and just spent time talking and drinking beer with the clan. What could be better than that? We missed the Washington Fagg group though, and I hope we will see them in the not-too-distant future.
We are just trying to return to normal around here. Potty training is progressing slowly but steadily. Vivian is weaned and sleeping through the night. It feels like we are on the brink of the next stage in the kid's development and that's an exciting time. I have a few projects going on in the house right now (painting and creating a stairway gallery of family pictures) and we are going to hit the yard projects soon to get ready for next spring. I will try to get some pictures up of our progress.
The trip itself was good and bad. It was a very long drive there (13.5 hours) and worse because Bennett wasn't feeling well. He had a fever before we left and the illness got worse for the first 6 days of the trip. He was not himself. We took him to the immediate care twice in Great Falls and once in Missoula. His gums were sore, swollen, and bleeding. That made eating, talking, tooth-brushing, and just about everything else lots of fun. His attitude was understandably terrible. His behavior was the most challenging that it has been for his entire life. We finally got him on some antibiotics and things started to get better on day 4 or so. He was good to go by the time we got to Seeley Lake and we tried to run as much pent-up energy as possible out of him. The kids loved being at the cabin and spending time at the lake.
It was great to see Sara, Melanie, and Marlena in Great Falls. A few of us had a late night at the Stein Haus/Sip and Dip, which was my most hung-over moment. My mom was able to spend more time with the kids than usual and Bennett LOVED the train that passed in front of her house. My dad is doing surprisingly well at his assisted living. He's the only man living there at the moment and the staff/residents dote on him. I took him to an epic almost-three-hour-long trip to Hastings so he could pick out about 40 CD's. He's obsessed with music at the moment. It's an expensive habit, but it keeps his mind active and he seems happy, so I don't complain. But I probably better go check his bank account balance!
I loved being in Missoula for a couple of days. We stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown and were able to walk to most of the things we wanted to do. We had dinner with my cousin Denise and visited with my old practicum supervisor. It did remind me how I love Missoula and put to rest any doubt I had about not returning to Great Falls. If I can't live in Missoula, where we are is the next best place.
Faggfest was also a lot of fun. We hung out at my Aunt's cabin a lot and just spent time talking and drinking beer with the clan. What could be better than that? We missed the Washington Fagg group though, and I hope we will see them in the not-too-distant future.
We are just trying to return to normal around here. Potty training is progressing slowly but steadily. Vivian is weaned and sleeping through the night. It feels like we are on the brink of the next stage in the kid's development and that's an exciting time. I have a few projects going on in the house right now (painting and creating a stairway gallery of family pictures) and we are going to hit the yard projects soon to get ready for next spring. I will try to get some pictures up of our progress.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Settling in
It seems like we are finally settling back into a routine and it feels good.
We are doing the potty training thing with Bennett pretty hardcore at the moment. He is only wearing diapers to bed, and is otherwise in pull-ups or underwear during the day. It is going well most days. He can be resistant to peeing, but can usually be convinced. Pee accidents are fairly rare. He usually refuses to go poop in the potty (or in his diaper for that matter) and holds it like crazy instead. So he is on a steady diet of stool softener to regulate things out. That and lots and lots and lots of bribes. We're those parents for sure. Right now he is working towards a Thomas bridge for his train tracks.
Our garden is quite small this year as we need to do some serious planning for the yard for next year. I just bought a few tomatoes and peppers for containers and will see how that goes. We also signed up for a CSA at a local farm and have been getting plenty of veggies from there every week. It's pushed me to try new things and new recipes (collard greens for example). And it's nice to get the kids at least exposed to different things, even if they don't always eat them. Bennett has actually improved immensely and will try almost anything. He loves mac and cheese all of a sudden after refusing to even touch it for 3+ years and is easily convinced to eat most vegetables.
Bennett is enjoying his new preschool and Vivian is loving the extra time alone with us. She is now sleeping through the night better than 50% of the time. Mom is doing the extra-happy dance every morning when I wake up having gotten seven or more hours of uninterrupted sleep.
We have been going cable-less since we moved into the new house. It seemed silly to pay over $100 a month for something we rarely watched. The kids like their daily dose of cartoons, so we have been hooking up the ipad to the TV to supply those. I just signed up for streaming Netflix to see what we think. Are there any other suggestions? I really want to watch Six Feet Under in it's entirety, but I'm definitely not buying it on iTunes and it isn't available streaming on Netflix. I might just have to sign up to get the DVD's in the mail from them instead.
We have our weekly trip to the library this afternoon, so I better get to taping up some of the books we borrowed.
We are doing the potty training thing with Bennett pretty hardcore at the moment. He is only wearing diapers to bed, and is otherwise in pull-ups or underwear during the day. It is going well most days. He can be resistant to peeing, but can usually be convinced. Pee accidents are fairly rare. He usually refuses to go poop in the potty (or in his diaper for that matter) and holds it like crazy instead. So he is on a steady diet of stool softener to regulate things out. That and lots and lots and lots of bribes. We're those parents for sure. Right now he is working towards a Thomas bridge for his train tracks.
Our garden is quite small this year as we need to do some serious planning for the yard for next year. I just bought a few tomatoes and peppers for containers and will see how that goes. We also signed up for a CSA at a local farm and have been getting plenty of veggies from there every week. It's pushed me to try new things and new recipes (collard greens for example). And it's nice to get the kids at least exposed to different things, even if they don't always eat them. Bennett has actually improved immensely and will try almost anything. He loves mac and cheese all of a sudden after refusing to even touch it for 3+ years and is easily convinced to eat most vegetables.
Bennett is enjoying his new preschool and Vivian is loving the extra time alone with us. She is now sleeping through the night better than 50% of the time. Mom is doing the extra-happy dance every morning when I wake up having gotten seven or more hours of uninterrupted sleep.
We have been going cable-less since we moved into the new house. It seemed silly to pay over $100 a month for something we rarely watched. The kids like their daily dose of cartoons, so we have been hooking up the ipad to the TV to supply those. I just signed up for streaming Netflix to see what we think. Are there any other suggestions? I really want to watch Six Feet Under in it's entirety, but I'm definitely not buying it on iTunes and it isn't available streaming on Netflix. I might just have to sign up to get the DVD's in the mail from them instead.
We have our weekly trip to the library this afternoon, so I better get to taping up some of the books we borrowed.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Bullet points will have to do
-We have obviously been super busy.
-The walk was this past weekend. Thanks to all who donated. We might break $5,000, which is disappointing when considering last year's $17,000. But for pulling it together at the last moment, I'll take it. I had a lot of really great volunteers this year that want to form a planning committee for next year. I hope that actually happens because we will be able to accomplish so much more if each person can focus on specific tasks instead of me trying to coordinate everything. We are definitely dumping the 5K next year and doing just a walk. The 5K timer/manger got people off course AGAIN this year and it costs close to $1500. And we are not attracting even close to the number of outside people to pay for it. So, we will focus on making the event more meaningful for area survivors.
-Our old house closes on June 6th. It is 98% emptied. We plan to finish clearing it out tomorrow and I will head over to clean on Friday. I cannot wait until that part of the process is finished. We made our first double mortgage payment this month and are happy it will be the only one.
-The new house is coming together. We are almost entirely unpacked but things are still somewhat disorganized and messy. I'm trying to remind myself that it is a process. The backyard is so great. Bernie and I just like to sit outside after the kids are in bed looking at the mountains with a margarita in hand. That's the life I've always dreamed of. Also, we have lots of room. So come visit.
-Bennett went to his first baseball game with Bernie tonight. They had a great time and I just got him to bed after 9:30. It should be an interesting morning.
-Bennett finished up public preschool last week. He has one week of vacation and then he is doing three four-hour days of preschool at Tiny Tim, where is gets his therapy. We are going to visit tomorrow and meet the teacher. He has absolutely loved going to school. It should be interesting to see how he adjusts to a new classroom, teacher, classmates, going more days a week, and for longer periods of time each day.
-Bennett came home with his first school picture a couple of weeks ago. It is so freaking cute to watch him with it. He holds it, admires everyone it it, and repeatedly says "my fwends!"
-Vivian is talking a crazy amount. I'm sure my perception has been shaped by Bennett who said basically nothing until he was three. Vivian mimics absolutely everything and must pick up 3-5 words every day. She is also likes a bit of drama and throws her share of fits on a daily basis.
-I don't even want to type this because I'm sure it will all be ruined. Vivian is sleeping through the night about 25% of the time. This is a huge development in in this house and we hope to keep building on it (edited to add: 5 minutes after I typed this, Vivian woke up).
-Faggfest is coming up in about six weeks. I'm getting excited to see everyone! I think we will spend a night or two in Missoula as well.
-The walk was this past weekend. Thanks to all who donated. We might break $5,000, which is disappointing when considering last year's $17,000. But for pulling it together at the last moment, I'll take it. I had a lot of really great volunteers this year that want to form a planning committee for next year. I hope that actually happens because we will be able to accomplish so much more if each person can focus on specific tasks instead of me trying to coordinate everything. We are definitely dumping the 5K next year and doing just a walk. The 5K timer/manger got people off course AGAIN this year and it costs close to $1500. And we are not attracting even close to the number of outside people to pay for it. So, we will focus on making the event more meaningful for area survivors.
-Our old house closes on June 6th. It is 98% emptied. We plan to finish clearing it out tomorrow and I will head over to clean on Friday. I cannot wait until that part of the process is finished. We made our first double mortgage payment this month and are happy it will be the only one.
-The new house is coming together. We are almost entirely unpacked but things are still somewhat disorganized and messy. I'm trying to remind myself that it is a process. The backyard is so great. Bernie and I just like to sit outside after the kids are in bed looking at the mountains with a margarita in hand. That's the life I've always dreamed of. Also, we have lots of room. So come visit.
-Bennett went to his first baseball game with Bernie tonight. They had a great time and I just got him to bed after 9:30. It should be an interesting morning.
-Bennett finished up public preschool last week. He has one week of vacation and then he is doing three four-hour days of preschool at Tiny Tim, where is gets his therapy. We are going to visit tomorrow and meet the teacher. He has absolutely loved going to school. It should be interesting to see how he adjusts to a new classroom, teacher, classmates, going more days a week, and for longer periods of time each day.
-Bennett came home with his first school picture a couple of weeks ago. It is so freaking cute to watch him with it. He holds it, admires everyone it it, and repeatedly says "my fwends!"
-Vivian is talking a crazy amount. I'm sure my perception has been shaped by Bennett who said basically nothing until he was three. Vivian mimics absolutely everything and must pick up 3-5 words every day. She is also likes a bit of drama and throws her share of fits on a daily basis.
-I don't even want to type this because I'm sure it will all be ruined. Vivian is sleeping through the night about 25% of the time. This is a huge development in in this house and we hope to keep building on it (edited to add: 5 minutes after I typed this, Vivian woke up).
-Faggfest is coming up in about six weeks. I'm getting excited to see everyone! I think we will spend a night or two in Missoula as well.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Life has been very very busy around here lately. The push to get our house ready to sell is over now and we are officially on the market. We listed the day we left for Phoenix (last Friday). The hope was that it would be shown a lot while we were gone so we wouldn't have to deal with so much of the daily upkeep, but it got off to a slow start. The activity is picking up now. We've had seven showings so far and all positive feed-back. But that doesn't mean much without an offer, so keep fingers crossed that one is coming soon. Living in the house with two kids while keeping it in staged condition is a challenge. We are spending a lot of time away from home, which is easy when the weather is so beautiful. Here is a link to see our house:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2683-Beech-Cir_Longmont_CO_80503_M13692-14945
So send your buyers over ASAP!
At least we are closing on the new house May 1st, so we can stop living in and showing this house at the same time.
The run-up to the race is a bit depressing at the moment. We raised 17K last year and we aren't even going to come close this year. Changing organizers was a huge mistake, as I am going to end up doing it all anyway with a really late start. Add that on with the other person scheduling on Memorial Day weekend, and things are not looking good. Our top fundraiser (over 4K last year) can't come because of the holiday weekend. I am trying to be positive about it and do what I can. And I have more people willing to help out this year, which is awesome. The goal is just to get it done and start over again next year. Losing the momentum really sucks though.
And of course there is our trip to Phoenix and Noel Gallagher. We consumed plenty of margaritas and spend a lot of time in the pool. Everyone had a good time, except for the foot and mouth issue. Grant had it first and the worst case. Bennett and Vivian were running a fever by the end of the trip. Bennett seems entirely well and Vivian will be tomorrow I think. All in all it was a pretty mild. Bernie had it much worse right before we got married.
The concert was amazing, but no one would expect me to say any differently. We were able to get second row tickets off of Craigslist (there was a two row "pit" as well, so it was more like row 4). Being that close was perfect. There was a split in the seats in front of me, so I had a totally unobscured view. I sang (screamed) the entire time and I'm pretty sure Bernie thought I was crazy. Noel actually saw me at one point when the lights switched to the audience and gave me a nod and chuckle. I'm sure I looked awesome while singing. I'm having a bit of the post-concert letdown at the moment, but that's normal. I really hope he does a few more US dates at some point and comes to Denver. Sara needs to be there!
My mom will be here this week and I am helping out with a Promise Walk booth at a Denver JBF sale, so we will continue to stay busy.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2683-Beech-Cir_Longmont_CO_80503_M13692-14945
So send your buyers over ASAP!
At least we are closing on the new house May 1st, so we can stop living in and showing this house at the same time.
The run-up to the race is a bit depressing at the moment. We raised 17K last year and we aren't even going to come close this year. Changing organizers was a huge mistake, as I am going to end up doing it all anyway with a really late start. Add that on with the other person scheduling on Memorial Day weekend, and things are not looking good. Our top fundraiser (over 4K last year) can't come because of the holiday weekend. I am trying to be positive about it and do what I can. And I have more people willing to help out this year, which is awesome. The goal is just to get it done and start over again next year. Losing the momentum really sucks though.
And of course there is our trip to Phoenix and Noel Gallagher. We consumed plenty of margaritas and spend a lot of time in the pool. Everyone had a good time, except for the foot and mouth issue. Grant had it first and the worst case. Bennett and Vivian were running a fever by the end of the trip. Bennett seems entirely well and Vivian will be tomorrow I think. All in all it was a pretty mild. Bernie had it much worse right before we got married.
The concert was amazing, but no one would expect me to say any differently. We were able to get second row tickets off of Craigslist (there was a two row "pit" as well, so it was more like row 4). Being that close was perfect. There was a split in the seats in front of me, so I had a totally unobscured view. I sang (screamed) the entire time and I'm pretty sure Bernie thought I was crazy. Noel actually saw me at one point when the lights switched to the audience and gave me a nod and chuckle. I'm sure I looked awesome while singing. I'm having a bit of the post-concert letdown at the moment, but that's normal. I really hope he does a few more US dates at some point and comes to Denver. Sara needs to be there!
My mom will be here this week and I am helping out with a Promise Walk booth at a Denver JBF sale, so we will continue to stay busy.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Under Contract!
We are under contract for a new house! I have had my eye on a particular house for months now. It was on the market last spring for two months and then taken off without selling. I have been hoping it would come back on the market. It's in a really family friendly sub-division with two parks, a city park near, another huge city park being built even closer, and walking distance to schools K-12th grade. It also significantly shortens Bernie's commute (by about 7 minutes each way. Add that up over a year). The problem is that all the houses have little tiny yards. There are a handful-maybe 5 out of 200+ that would satisfy our desire for a large yard. And with the tiny yards comes being backed right up to your neighbor.
Anyway, this house sits on the back corner of the subdivision with no one backing to the south and west. So it has awesome mountain views and privacy. The lot is twice the size of our current lot and the largest one in the subdivision. I had been wanting to see it so bad, but it hadn't come back on the market. Then, about two weeks ago, I drove by it (total house stalker) and it had a "for rent" sign. And I am very nosey. So we had our realtor call and ask if they were willing to sell it. They said a serious buyer could look at it and we went last Monday. We really loved it. There is 3,000 finished square feet and an unfinished basement. It has 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and a three stall garage. It really meets almost all of our criteria, falls in our price range, and we could actually agree on it. After A LOT of back and forth and the owner claiming they didn't want to sell it because they loved it, and they wanted to move back from the east coast, we have finally agreed on a price and close May 1st. There was lots of drama and I didn't think it was going to get under contract. Now we just have to hope everything goes smoothly until then. Oh, and that we can sell our house soon. We hope to have it on the market in about 10 more days. We are currently spending all of our time getting it ready.
I will try to get a few photos of the new house up on Flickr. There aren't too many available since it wasn't actually on the market.
To add to all the busy fun, I am helping get the Promise Walk up and running. The person who took it over has been unable to fulfill the obligation, so I am trying to help out as much as I can. It would break my heart to see the walk go under after all the work and success we had last year. If you have a moment and an extra dollar, please consider a donation to Team Bennett:
http://www.promisewalk.org/pfpw/participantpage.asp?fundid=1896&uid=5114&fkroledescid=3&nnaffundid=28
Did I mention we are going to Phoenix April 13-20th?? For Noel Gallagher????? I don't think I could take much more excitement at this moment in my life.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Long time between updates
I have not been in the mood for blogging recently for some reason. March is acting like May at the moment. We have had many days now of 70+ degree weather and we have been out enjoying it as much as possible. We have gone fishing twice in the past week and actually caught four little trout today. Bennett was very proud but kept saying he wanted to catch five fish. We have also been catching up on some sorely missed park time and messing around in the back yard time.
We also had a nasty respiratory virus go through the house. The pediatrician thought it was RSV. Bennett was the only one who required antibiotics for an ear infection and we all seem to be on the mend now. Sick season always seems so long, I hope we can avoid any other nastiness for awhile.
We are having a garage sale this weekend. It will feel good to get rid of more of the stuff that is cluttering up the basement. I think I will feel a little closer to having the house market-ready after I take what remains post-garage sale to the thrift store. Not that there are any houses to buy even if ours was ready to sell. We saw one last week that we were close to making an offer on, but the yard was just a bit too small. Maybe things will pick up as spring approaches.
When we were fishing this morning, the lines from two of the poles got tangled in each other. As Bernie was attempting to reel them in, he said "shit!" Sure enough, Bennett repeated it a few times right away. It was the highlight of my week because Bernie gives me crap about my frequent swearing. And then Bennett went and learned his very first swear word from Daddy. Ha!
The kids are doing well. Vivian is calling me "mama" all the time and Bennett is now counting to twenty and saying the ABC's. He is talking constantly. I can understand most of what he says, but other people have trouble. They are both enjoying the increased outdoor activity and taking longer naps because of it.
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