Goal #1: Paint the exterior of my house (I started this project 3 or 4 years ago)
And for those who have been fooled into thinking that the house has been painted this whole time...well, a quick look at the back of the house would have remedied that delusion.
But no longer! I may not have pictures to prove it, but I have a painting crew (my mom, Adam, and Heather) who can vouch for the fact that all sides and every piece of previously-unreached trim has been painted.
I'm still recovering from yesterday. Still a little shaky; still having flashbacks. It started when we headed out to my parents' house yesterday afternoon, with our eyesore of a camping trailer in tow (our realtor agreed that moving it would greatly improve our curb appeal). Chad gets stressed when we're pulling the trailer, and I don't like the feeling of the extra bobbing and swaying the trailer causes. It was a long, slow drive to my parents', but we eventually got there. It took a while for Chad to unhook the trailer, and get it all leveled and stabilized. Then we decided to eat dinner before we left. Bree and Mason were going to spend the night there, and I wanted to sit and relax a little rather than just dropping them off and running again. It had started raining, but we figured we had a little time before it got bad.
We were wrong.
It's monsoon season in Arizona. And flash floods are so-called for good reason. We experienced us some flash floods yesterday. I didn't have my camera with me, or I would have some intense video to share. I tried to find some photos on the web so I could paint an accurate picture. But nothing could quite convey the thunder, hail, and massive amounts of water pounding us.
We were driving our big 4-wheel-drive suburban, so Chad drove right through spots where the dirt road was no longer visible, splashing through the rivers that had sprung up. I was already freaking out because it's really hard to tell how deep the water is, and I knew these washes have claimed lives. And my parents' cars. Then we reached something like this:
We decided to wait it out a little. Didn't want to brave the three-foot swells. After about 45 minutes, it had gone down considerably, so we forged through. And Chad kept on going. Water was everywhere. Not just in the washes, where we expected it to be, but also covering the road so at times we were literally driving down the river. And when we'd drive through a wash, where the water was a foot deep, we'd crash down into the water because it had created an eroded drop-off. I'd scream as the water washed over the nose of the suburban, and then grit my teeth, knuckles white on the O.S. handles as we climbed up the other side. Every time we'd come to a deep section, Chad would say, "I'm going." I employed the "vain repetitions" method of prayer, repeating "Please let us live. Please let us get through. Please let us live," over and over, ad nauseam. I went through all the stages of terror: body shaking, sobbing, teeth chattering, etc. Finally we made it to the last running canyon, and Chad, seeing that I was clearly beside myself, stopped. I got out and walked around a little, trying to calm down. We adjusted Lincoln in his car seat; he had been silent the whole time. Seriously, what kind of parents are we? We waited until the water level went down, and Chad found a stick to go poke into the wash to test its depths. He ruined his good pair of shoes, but was able to reassure me that it was passable. I didn't think I could take it any more, but he promised me it was fine. So we went. And that was the last of the worst of it.
Now, when my mom says, "You might want to head out; the clouds are moving in," I'll hightail it out of there before the rain starts, or stay indoors until the whole thing blows over. Those storms and flash floods are no joke, and there is no way I will ever go through that again.
This has been one of the busiest, most tiring weeks ever! My body is exhausted, sore, and covered in bruises. My allergies are having a field day. I'm sleep deprived. And Mason has probably logged 30 hours of Lego Star Wars this week. Here are a few of the highlights:
We've sorted through belongings, decluttering and making the house look nice to show to potential buyers.
I worked only a half day on Monday, but it felt long because my brain seemed to be fried, and just wouldn't work properly
My mom arrive Monday afternoon, ready to help with anything and everything that needed to be done around here.
We chose a realtor after holding some interviews, and officially listed our home.
Between Chad, my mom, and me, we weeded all around the house, filling about 15 big black garbage bags, which are still sitting on our curb because we had to make a special garbage pickup request, which won't happen until next Tuesday.
Tuesday I took Lincoln to get his vaccines, and at 15 months, he was due for 6 different shots. Poor kid. Then he had an eye appointment, where the doc proclaimed his eyes healthy, except for a blocked tear duct in his left eye (no surprise there), so he referred us to a specialist.
After getting all the weeds cleared around the fruit trees, we arranged the rocks that my mom had collected with my dad's help, so now it looks like we have some actual landscaping going on.
Wednesday Chad and I headed to the Valley with Lincoln. I had my first allergy shots, and brought the rest of the vials home with me to continue the shots with my local doc's office. I sure hope they work. I also called Lincoln's pediatric eye specialist, who was able to squeeze us in that same day. And we scheduled Lincoln's tear duct surgery for next month.
That same day, we enjoyed a lunch date with Adam and Heather before hitting the hardware store for more supplies, and heading home.
Also that day, while we were gone, our home had its first showing. My mom tidied the place up before getting the kids out of the house.
After Adam and Heather joined us in Globe to round out our task force, we tackled more weeds, and started painting the parts of the house that have remained unfinished despite my best intentions.
The monsoons threatened several times to completely derail our painting plans. We worked around them, and managed to get almost the entire house painted. Adam and Heather both got sunburns, and I bruised my hip bones and rib cage from rolling around on the roof, leaning over the edge to paint the eaves.
My mom proved successful in getting old stains off of my sinks and my driveway.
Lincoln stood up on his own without holding onto anything Thursday night. He can stand there for a good 10 seconds, and he's taking some experimental steps.
This morning I held my very first yard sale. We made $300. And Bree made $7 selling her "artwork." No joke.
I am ready for a nap! The next few days will be just as busy. We'll be taking the camping trailer to my parents' house because it's a little bit of an eyesore, and they don't mind if we hide it behind their house. And we need to finish up a few more house projects that will hopefully make our home that much more marketable. But the to-do list is shrinking, and soon I'll be able to sit back, relax...and try to keep the house continuously spotless in case potential buyers decide to drop in.
We're moving! Chad has the go-ahead for an in-district transfer, so he'll be working the Fort McDowell/Fountain Hills area. That means we'll be moving to Mesa. So we're putting our house on the market, and as soon as we sell it Chad will start in his new area (the timeline is flexible, which is wonderful).
Lincoln's first word is "Yeah," which he says as he claps after we prompt him by saying "Yay!" He's cruising all around, can stand independently for 4-5 seconds, is starting to imitate facial expressions, will force a little chuckle if people around him are laughing, and will give high-fives.
Mason is obsessed with Lego Star wars. He gets dressed before I'm awake in the morning, and the second I come out of my room, he's asking to play Lego Star Wars on the XBox. He is constantly humming the soundtrack songs: the Main Title song, the Imperial March (Darth Vader's music), and the Cantina Band song (which was the one stuck in my head as I tried to sleep last night).
Bree cannot stop crafting. She's constantly dipping into the stash of craft supplies (popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, gems, flowers), and combining them together with whatever paper, toilet paper rolls, and adhesive (elmer's glue, tape, even staples) she can get her hands on. The pile of finished projects can get a little out of control.
Chad and I scrambling to get the house ready to sell. We've already done some major decluttering inside, and we've got plenty of sprucing up outside to do too (mostly weeding and painting). I've spent hours online, researching realtor possibilities and searching for comparable homes to price ours correctly (which is very difficult in our area). And I'm keeping my eyes on the Mesa housing market, watching as buyers quickly snag the many amazing deals. We are very excited to graduate to a larger home with a fourth bedroom and a garage. We just have to sell ours first!
Yesterday in church, Bree took her turn at the podium to bear her testimony. She's become a "regular." The first time she went up there was about a year ago, and it was a little rough because I had made it clear that if she wanted to do it, she had to be ready to do it all by herself. So I stayed on the pew with Mason and Lincoln, and after she started her testimony successfully, I watched with increasing discomfort as she stood there silently, not sure what else she wanted to say. The bishop knelt beside her and whispered a few things in her ear, but she just kept shaking her head. Finally she looked disappointed, said "Amen," and came back to her seat. She's come a long way since then.
This is basically what she said yesterday, after marching up there and dragging the step stool into place herself so she could see over the podium:
"I'd like to bury my testimony. I know the church is true. Some of you haven't been here for a while. And you should know that the church is true. And we are all brothers and sisters. And I know my family loves me. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
Then she high-fived the bishop and the first counselor, and skipped back down the aisle to her seat. She's an example of bravery, determination, and is apparently not hesitant to call the congregation to repentance.
Goal #5: Sew a dickie (to make those v-neck shirts more modest)
I've seen those "Cami Secret" dickies for sale at Walmart, and I was drawn to the idea of having extra coverage without having to wear a full extra layer under my low-neck shirts (because that's the last thing I need when it's over 100 degrees outside). I was confident that I could make one myself, and wanted to improve the design to prevent the dickie from bunching up. I used an old stretched-out cami, and just cut out the front part. I attached snaps for it to attach to my bra straps, and elastic to go around back to keep it flat against my chest. I didn't bother hemming the edges, because I'm lazy and it's just knit anyway. The finished product looks totally weird.
But it functions beautifully.
After finishing this project, I discovered that Downeast Basics sells cropped camis specifically for the purpose of making v-necks more modest. I bought one in black and one in white. I'm not sure which option I like better (mine or theirs), but I think the bottom line is, if I hadn't had the sewing supplies on hand in my stash (an old cami to cut into pieces, sew-on snaps, elastic), I probably would have just went to the mall and bought my solution off the shelf!
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