Change your bookmarks

I highly doubt that anyone is reading this blog anymore, since it's been almost a year since I've made any kind of an update here. But if you are, and you are still interested, I've started a new blog. I've totally wrecked this template and I can't figure out how to fix it. I'm a little bit heartsick about it, because I LOVE this here blog. But I won't be updating here anymore. From now on, you can find me at: http://denice-isms2.blogspot.com. See you there!

The Great Update Post

I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. So much has happened in the last month, I've hardly had a chance to catch my breath, let alone find a half hour to sit down and tell you guys about it.

So I'll try to catch everything up in bullet points:

1. This is our very last night in our townhouse in Airdrie. Tomorrow we will be residents of Irricana. We had to make a whole bunch of repairs to the house, which are now finished. Several rooms in the house now have a fresh coat of paint, including the baby's room. Which brings me to #2…

2. We had to open the envelope so we knew what color to paint the baby's room. And it's…A BOY! We have no idea what we are going to name this poor kid, because, well, we both were pretty sure it was a girl. Sorry kid, if you're reading this several years from now. It's not that we didn't want you to be a boy, it's just that since girls tend to run in my family, and we already had a girl, we just sort of assumed that you were going to be a girl too. Anyway, until we decide on an ACTUAL name for this kid, we've been calling him "Hamish" because Nathan suggested it as a joke, and I immediately said VETO!, and now it's sort of become a family joke. We'll come up with something a little more appropriate, I promise.

3. We have decided to get cell phones with internet capability, rather than have a land line and internet connection - so until I figure out how you post to Blogger using an iPhone, you might not hear from me for awhile.

Well, off to spend my last night here. I'm a little bit teary-eyed, to be honest. This was our very first house. This is where we brought home our first baby. This is where we found out about baby #2. There are a lot of memories tied up in this house. But of course, I know that we'll make a ton more in the new house. Just can't quite get rid of the little lump in my throat.

Moving to Irricana!

Holy Crap you guys. We got the house.

I kind of can't believe it, to be perfectly honest with you. I mean, this house is totally awesome. Not in a "brand-new loaded with upgrades" kind of way. But in a "10-years-old but has everything I ever wanted in a house" kind of way. Because honestly, I really didn't like any of the brand new showhomes we went to see. They don't have any personality, and they all look exactly alike.

But this house. Oh, this house. Great big kitchen with a walk-thru pantry. Ensuite with a jetted tub. Little room with garden doors off the master bedroom that will be PERFECT for a little nursery for the new babe. Double garage for Nate's tools, and nice long driveway for the vehicles. Laundry room off the kitchen. Finished basement with a spare room for guests. Solarium windows all along one wall in the living room. Separate room with a HOT TUB IN IT! A little room off the living room for all the toys to go. And a back yard, complete with a garden, a clothesline, flowerbeds, strawberry patch, raspberry bushes, and a thriving rhubarb plant. A gate that opens up to the walking path that I hope to some day be jogging on.

I am already planning to make some trips to some fabric stores so that I can whip up some curtains and pillows, and I want to shamelessly copy my Aunt Louise and make a couple of great big floor pillows for my living room for kids to snuggle in. I'm in full-on nesting mode, to be honest. I'm living on Sarah Richardson's website, and I'm trying to do exactly what she does: start with fabric, then pick out paint chips, then find furniture that fits.

So, bear with me. I'm internet researching. And shopping. And daydreaming. And shopping some more. When I have paint chips and fabric swatches, I'll share.

The townhouse is sold!!!!

Holy Crap! Has life ever gotten crazy!

First, we sold the townhouse. Yaaaayyy!! Woo Hoo! It was for A LOT less than we had hoped, but it's sold and that's all that matters. September 4 is not that far away, and while you CAN put a baby in a dresser drawer for a little while, it tends to be frowned upon these days. So we dropped our price and spent three days negotiating on a low-ball offer and eventually found a price we could both agree on.

Mostly because we wanted to see if we could take a shot at putting in an offer on the house that we fell in love with, before it was sold to somebody else. So we did. We put in an offer. And it was kind of low. But we were hoping that they would negotiate and meet us somewhere in the middle. You know, like we did. But they refused to go lower than their asking price so we figured that was the end of that.

That same day, the property inspector came to look at our townhouse for the woman who is buying it. And found a plumbing leak. A plumbing leak that requires cutting a hole in the living room wall. Arrggg! was about the only thing I could think to say. Well, I could think of other things, but there's a three-year-old with big ears running around here.

And then…back to the house we love…our realtor called us back and said that the relocation company the people are working with wanted to know what our top line price was. So we told them. And then they wanted us to put in another offer, in writing, with them as the vendor and not the current owners of the house. Which has us completely confused. But we did it anyway, because we REALLY WANT TO BUY THIS HOUSE. That offer deadline is Wednesday at 9 p.m. I'm not sure if I will have any fingernails left by then.

In the meantime, the plumber has come and fixed the leak, there is a giant hole in my living room wall, and the buyer's realtor will be here at 9 a.m. tomorrow to verify that the leak is all fixed. Then the drywaller will spend the next three days fixing the big hole in my wall. And hopefully sometime tomorrow we will find out if we get the beautiful house in Irricana.

I need some wine. But I can't have wine. I need some cinnamon buns with cream cheese icing. I think that will do nicely…

Let's hope it turns out this well…

"Mommy?"

"Yes Gracie?"

"I'm just so excited." (pronounced esscited)

"What are you excited about?"

"Well………I'm excited for the baby to come out of your tummy. Is it going to be soon?"

"It's still a little ways away yet Gracie. Right now it's June, and we have to go through all the days in June, all the days in July and all the days in August before the baby comes out of my tummy."

"But then it will come out?"

"Yes, then it should come out soon after that."

"And we'll know if it's a sister or a brother?"

"Yes. That's when we'll find out."

"I think it's a sister. And you know what Mommy?"

"What Gracie?"

"It's going to be so much fun because then I'll always have someone to play with me. But don't worry. I'll ask her what she wants to play, and we'll take turns, and I'll share all my toys. I'll be a NICE big sister."

Gotta stop dreaming

Okay you guys. I need a distraction. I have to stop thinking about the house that we love but will never, ever get to live in because HELLO! it's the most awesome house in the world and we will never sell our house before this one is snapped up by someone else. So, I'm going to plant flowers. And make some banana-chocolate chip muffins. And clean out my closet. And read Gracie as many stories as she asks for.

And go the the corner store and check my Lotto Max ticket, just in case…

Long time, no write…

I love my blog. I really do. I love coming here and writing and sharing and just getting my life down in black and white. But you sure can't tell by looking at it, can you?

You see, Gracie has a sixth sense. Every single day, I come upstairs and sit down and start writing a blog post. I honestly do. And then, exactly 15 seconds later, Gracie calls me from somewhere else in the house. "Mooooommmmmyyyyy, I neeeeeeeeed yooooouuuuuuu!" And I yell: "What do you neeeeeeed me foooor?"

The answer is always different. Sometimes she has to go potty, sometimes she's decided she's hungry, sometimes she desperately needs the toy on the very top shelf that she can't reach, and said toy is dangling precariously over her head. Seriously. Fifteen seconds earlier she will be playing happily, totally engrossed in what she's doing. But as soon as I sit down at the computer to try to write something, my presence is always urgently needed.

For example, I started writing this post on Wednesday. It is now Friday. FRIDAY! It's taken me two days to get just this far. I have all these things floating around in my head that I desperately want to write about, but I just can't seem to find a half hour to myself to write about them.

For example, have I mentioned that our house is for sale? And has been for months? No? Whoops. Well, we put our house up for sale, and a gazillion people have come to see it, and not one person has made an offer. Not one! And we're getting a little tiny bit frustrated. I personally would like to start nesting in a baby's room now. You know, put up the crib, start washing the baby clothes, stocking up on diapers and other baby stuff - but there's just nowhere to do that here.

Plus, we've absolutely fallen head over heels in love with a house in Irricana, and would desperately love to make an offer on it, if someone, for the LOVE OF GOD would just make an offer on our house already!

Also, a very wonderful woman named Cheyenne is launching an online store of baby and children's vintage items that are TO DIE FOR, and I've been designing a logo and things for her. The store isn't online yet (because she's waiting for me to get my butt in gear!), but she does have a blog where's she's showcasing some of the items that will be on sale. You should go there. You will love them! Go there right now! www.littleprairiebaby.blogspot.com

I'm going to go work on her website right now…