LET THE BIDDING WAR BEGIN!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you.... my house.

Please buy me.

I promise to make you brownies, which would certainly be worth the selling price. I mean, they really are quite good brownies... AND the carpet cleaners were even able to get all the barf out. How could anyone say no?

Night from H-E-double-hocky-sticks

9:00pm - Leo not one bit happy, crying like crazy though he had nursed just one hour prior
9:30pm - I give up and nurse the little bugger, and he falls asleep
10:00pm - Leo placed in bed, and 10 minutes later is screaming
10:20pm.... hmmm... he's still screaming... someone should pick him up...
10:21pm - Grandma to the rescue, Leo asleep within 5 minutes on her shoulder
10:25pm - Leo back in bed
10:35pm - Leo screaming
10:36pm - Grandma to the rescue, Leo asleep within 5 minutes.
10:40pm - Leo back in bed
10:41pm - Leo screaming
11:00pm - Grandma asleep in rocking chair with sleeping Leo on her chest.
12:00am - Calvin barfs all over carpet (in home about to go on market), Leo placed his in bed.
12:04am - Omar, previously blissfully asleep on the couch jarred awake by pissy wife.
12:05am - Disgusting blanket put in washing machine, meager attempt to clean carpet.
12:20am - Calvin barfs again. Leo screaming, I nurse him again.
12:40am - Calvin barfing again, Leo put back in bed asleep.
1:00am - Leo screaming, Omar takes him to couch.
some later time - Omar back in bed, Leo sleeping in car seat, all adults near tears.

Hehehe

As you prepare for a new home, you also start having fun new ideas of things that will occur in the new home. Omar is excited that we will be able to get a really big christmas tree next year (the first in this home, given the previous and only owners weren't so down with the big J.C.).

So, Omar says to Max "Hey Max, guess what we get to have for Christmas next year??"

Max's answer....

"Another new baby?"

Omar just hung his head while I roared with laughter.

Ooof!

You know, it is a lot of work making a house that looks 'pretty good' look 'really good.' 

So far we have painted at least a portion of every ceiling and wall, many of them in their entirety. We have half filled a storage room the size of a garage stall with stacks upon stacks of stuff we can live without until May 1st. We have given away furniture, replacing it with new items that will look good for the showing (but probably won't look good in the new house...). I have bought vases and art pieces that will hopefully survive the onslaught of 3 crazy boys who are bursting out of the seams of these 4 walls in the dead of winter....

The check list of things we have accomplished is massive, but still more remains. House hits the market Feb 1, kicking off with an open house. All tolled, we are doing well and are on schedule... but man am I tired. 

The great news is that the new house is stuck tragically in the 1980's, so I still have endless redecorating in my future. I think we will leave it alone for the immediate future and have a big 80's party instead....

Spelling lesson

Overheard from Max to his brothers:

N. O. That spells no. 

And Y. O. O. That spells yes.

Stupid Harry Potter

I have been a big Harry Potter fan for years now. I started reading them around the time #5 came out and the whole world was abuzz about how amazing these books were.

So, I picked up #1, thinking I would just check it out. I had already mocked my brother for being so enthralled by a kids' book. Needless to say, I was equally enthralled and was one of those nerds who had my name on a list at Barnes and Noble 3 months before the release of #7 to assure I got my hot little hands on a copy. Now, I wasn't dorkish enough to actually be at the door at midnight. I patiently waited until the next day at 9am. I was also not dorkish enough to read it in one day (ahem, big brother)...

I have now spread the joy to the eldest son. Max requested that we start reading them about a month ago, and we are now up to #3, which he rabidly brings to me any time I sit down on the couch. "Can we read some more Harry Potter mom! Please, please!" I don't know how the woman makes a book that is as interesting to a 6 year old as it is to a 36 year old, but she certainly does. Our favorite reading time is after the twins leave with Omar in the morning, heading for daycare, but before Max's school bus arrives.

Not only does Max want to read the book constantly, but I realize I have forgotten much of the story since I started reading them years ago. So there we are this morning, fully pulled into the world of Diagon Alley, wondering about Sirius Black and his escape from Azkaban.... when we see a strangely familiar orange blur go past the window. Right.... the school bus. 

It is negative 17 degrees out. I am not invoking hyperbole here. It is ACTUALLY negative 17 degrees here in Minneapolis. And I just blew off the school bus. Now I (the one who told my husband my one goal for the day was to not leave the house until I go to work at 6pm) have to pack up the kindergartner and the 4 month old into the car and head to school.

Stupid Harry Potter.... 

Snail update

Still on the loose....

Jail Break

Our pet snail is on the lam.

"Pet snail? I didn't know you had a pet snail," you say. Well, we didn't. Not until a week ago. We were up at the cabin, and I turn around while cooking to see a snail sneaking across the top of a bag a celery. Now, given that the cabin is usually the same temperature inside as out, I have to assume we packed this little bugger up there with us somehow. I have to assume he (she?) was purchased at the grocery store, and took a warm little ride up to Aitkin. Yum.

Now, I am not exactly the kind to bring any random animal (especially a slimy, not very cute one) into my house (especially a home that is going on the market), but what ELSE was I supposed to do with this little guy? I can't put him outside. It's -12 degrees out there! I might as well just step on him if I'm going to do that.

So, he went into a tupperware after the children all got there 10 minutes of checking him out. I have thrown a random lettuce leaf, blueberry and splashes of water at him, pretending that I know how to take care of a snail. The only website I referenced started with "Your snail can get very bored, so be sure to provide it with a fun, interesting environment..." Dude, it's a slug with a shell. How bored can it get??

Well, this morning, the snail is loose. The foil on top of the tupperware was akimbo, and he is gone. I walked out the door 3 minutes later to head for work, all 3 big kiddos on their hands and knees, trying to find a slime trail to follow.

This is what I get for mocking his boredom. For his final revenge, I am sure his shriveled, lifeless body will be found by a prospective buyer...

Is it the 1950's and no one told me?

Given that New Years Eve was a Wednesday, the New Year's cabin gang of the last ~10 years decided we would all pretend that New Years was over the weekend and headed up on Friday for a longer getaway. 

Never losing an opportunity to get something accomplished, Omar stopped by the appliances store when he ran to town for some groceries. The cabin is on a septic system, and the 1970's clothes washer comes close to flooding the tank when we are up there with friends for any stretch of time. We are looking to get an HE system this summer, so he was doing some of the ground work. As he and Chris entered the store, they were approached by a man that, in my mind, is a good 250 pounds, bearded, wearing Carhart overalls and a flannel lined button down shirt. He greats them with something straight out of "Fargo." (What can you help you boys with, eh?)

Omar returned home chuckling that he can't wait for all the extra attention I am now going to be showering on him. I didn't get it. He shares with me that the salesman got his good-ol-boy on for the sales pitch. He actually tried to sell Omar on the high efficiency washer "because it will let your wife have much more time to spend on you."

I joke you not.

He has, clearly, never met me.

Somehow, I managed to pull myself away from the washboard, the baking of 12 loaves of bread, and the darning of Omar's socks to go sledding with the boys. Here are some of the shots from my awesome new camera (thanks hubby!)

Shameless plug

Anyone have a friend who wants to buy a house? We are getting ready to hit the market, and this place is really fabulous. The only reason we are heading out is size. If you know anyone who is looking for the best neighborhood available, 2400 sq ft, 3 bed and 3 bath all on the same level and a kicking downstairs built for flat screen action, give 'em my info. (Oh, and since I am still living in the neighborhood, they must also be kickin' cool).

Mitten Hell

Living in Minnesota in the winter with 4 small children certainly poses some daily challenges. Between the boots (and the shoes that are needed once you get inside your destination), the coats, the ski pants, the mittens and the hats, getting everyone garbed in the morning can be one of the lowlights for the day. I have purchased 6 or more pairs of mitten clips this year, and the 6 year old has been able to keep the same pair of mittens attached so far. This is, by far, a personal best.

Calvin is fond of pulling his mittens off the clips, but somehow we have always managed to reunite the mittens to his coat, and those are, also, still intact.

Spencer, however, managed to have both his mittens disappear last week. Oh, and one mitten clip too. Since we awoke to -1 degree weather this morning, I had to come up with an alternative. This is what I found in the drawers that house our spares.

Please note where the thumbs are on all of these. These 5 right handed gloves don't count the 2 additional righties that we shoved on both his right and left hand prior to sending him on his merry way.

And all Target has for sale is knit gloves. Seriously? It's subzero outside, and all they offer are gloves (far inferior to mittens in the warmth department) made of tissue thin knit that attracts snow like a tongue to a cold pipe (ask Omar about that sometime...). 

As usually, feeling like I am winnin' Mother of the Year award over here....