House Hunting "Fun"

On Wednesday, we started our house hunting adventures for a rental property in WA. The first house was a cute 1940's house, with tiny, tiny closets but a huge amount of storage space in the basement and garage. I don't have a lot of clothes, but I don't think both Ken's and my clothes would fit in a closet that was less than 4 ft wide.

The second house was another cute, small, 1940's house - on a hill, with a great view, brand new carpet, bathroom, and kitchen, and came with a washer and dryer. But no cupboard in the bathroom - I don't get that, where did people put their towels and extra bathroom stuff?

On Thursday, we saw the "twin" houses. Two homes for rent, next door to each other, that were very similar - both in price and quality. The problem - they weren't in the best neighborhood . . . not horrible, just not all that great.

The other "twin" house; (don't mind the lady who walked in front of the camera man).

Who knows what this house was like inside. The Real Estate person couldn't find the key for it once we got there. No wonder it's been on the market for 5 weeks - no one has a key to get inside to see it.

Then there was this house, with the giant tree in front. It actually looked a lot better inside than it did from the outside. But it was hard to really see what it was like because the house was still occupied and the current tenant had A LOT of stuff.

And finally, OUR house . . . on a large, nearly 1/2 acre lot, 1200 sq feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, and in a great neighborhood. I think it had everything on our list and is only 20 or so minutes to Ken's work. The landlord even lowered the price $50 a month . . . must have been Amelia's smiles that charmed him ;) It's not perfect, but we think it will work for us until we have paid off enough school loans and saved enough money for a down payment to buy a new house.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia's Diary: Oct. 27, 2010 - Today Mommy and Daddy woke me up in the middle of the night, made me ride in my car seat for 2 hours, and then hang out in some big building called an "airport" for 2 hours. They told me that flying would be fun, but I'm not so sure.

The windows are a lot smaller than they are in the car, and the road seemed a lot bigger.

Then they told me about the pamphlets in the pocket in front of me. I can't read yet, but I pulled them out anyway.

The "emergency water landing" instructions look kind of scary, but I think Mommy said we were just flying over land, not water.

Daddy wrapped a present for me for the plane ride, but I had so much fun just playing with the ribbon, that I never got around to opening the present.

The flight was 3 hours long, and I only cried right at the end (but only because I needed a nap). The nice flight attendant (who even remembered my name) told me that I had done great, and that since this was my first time flying, I had earned my "wings".

Instead of Packing

Instead of packing, we drove up the mountain to check out the aspens. It's an area we've often enjoyed hiking in, but we've never been there in the autumn. It was beautiful and a great way to spend the afternoon, even if we didn't get any boxes packed this weekend.

We haven't gotten around to buying Amelia a coat yet, but her lion costume is very warm and worked "purr-fectly".

Even though it was overcast and threatening to rain, it was actually a great day for a hike. And the colors were well worth the drive and time spent. We'll get those boxes packed . . . . sometime.

Preview to Halloween

One of my friends at church gave me a Halloween costume for Amelia, and it fits almost perfectly. We're going to miss our ward's Trunk or Treat because we'll be out of town, and we're not about to go trick-or-treating, so there really isn't a need for Amelia to have a Halloween costume this year. But we dressed her up anyway, just for fun.

Who knew?

Today I discovered a mess, which led to the discovery of something new.

Years ago - 12 perhaps - I had a boyfriend who gave me perfume for my birthday. "Really?", I thought. "Perfume?" This man certainly didn't know me. When did I wear perfume? Never the less, I kept the perfume. I'd wear it occasionally.

Fast forward to the present: I still have the perfume. I hardly ever wear it. The bottle is still about 3/4 full. I've been debating about whether or not to keep said perfume. I can't remember the last time I put some on.

Today I was digging around for something on one of my bathroom shelves and found the bottle of perfume had tipped over. Then I noticed that not only had it tipped over, but perfume had also leaked out. I wondered how come we hadn't smelt the perfume. And then I noticed that the perfume was kind of stuck to the shelf. So I decide this was a good excuse to just throw away the bottle. As I cleaned up the spilled perfume, then I could smell it . . . and hours later, we can still smell it . . . and we'll probably be able to smell it for weeks, I'm sure.

And who knew that perfume also worked as a paint thinner/ remover? Looks like a crime scene, doesn't it?

What she must be thinking . . .

"I bet I can get this ball to move just by will power . . . It's working! . . . Oh wait, that's just me moving backwards . . . oh well, at least one of us moved."

"No one saw me spill the toys, I'm just going to back away before they catch me. Too bad I can't go forward yet, my get-away would be much faster."

"Mom, these pajamas are too small. I know it was only a month ago when I was finally big enough to wear them, but now they're too small. My toes feel tight and the sleeves don't even come down to my wrists anymore . . . Can we go shopping?"

It is what it is . . .

To borrow a phrase from a blogging friend (who I soon get to meet) . . . It is what it is.

My under-achieving thyroid is kicking my butt. A normal thyroid level is in the range of 1-4; a "normal" hypo-thyroid is 7 or higher. Mine is at 154. I think my Dr. was a bit surprised that I was still functioning.

When the Dr. told me it will take 6-8 weeks for the meds to kick in, I wondered if that meant that my symptoms would get worse before they got better. I'm beginning to think my hypothesis is correct, as more and more symptoms manifest themselves - intolerance to cold, achy muscles, headaches. I'm hoping that some of the other symptoms, like depression and weight gain, don't come to visit.

But, it is what it is. And I know that it is only for a "moment" and then things will get better. In the meantime, Ken affectionately calls me "hypo" and is very patient with me as I forget everything.

And on a completely different topic (since that is how my mind works): Yesterday I was grocery shopping with Amelia. As I was unloading the groceries from the cart into our car, I was holding the grocery cart with my foot so that the cart wouldn't roll away. When suddenly I had the sensation that the cart was no longer on my foot. I looked up to see the cart, with Amelia in it, rolling away from the car. I ran after it (thank goodness it didn't roll too quickly, or into a car, etc); when I reached the cart (only a yard or so away), I looked up to see a lady watching and smiling. I just smiled back at the lady and asked Amelia if she had enjoyed the ride - she just smiled back at me, so I figured all was well.

The Secret Code

The "secret" code has arrived . . . Ken's test has been scheduled . . . cross one more thing off the list.

Now if only I had a "secret code" for motivation. My "attainable" goal of packing 1 box a week, has not been attainable so far. I'm hoping the new meds kick in sooner than the 6-8 weeks forecasted by my Dr. There's too much to be done to not have energy to do any of it.

Corny

Amelia loves corn-on-the-cob. I'm not sure how much she actually ate, but she dived right into that new food.