The House That Jack Built

We loved our home when we first bought it and I guess for the most part, we still do, sort of. What's not to love? We have almost 3000 square feet of livable space. I have a front porch that, while lacking in real size and charm, we enjoy sitting out on. We have a decent enough sized back yard for O to play. We have a walk in pantry that has a ton of space. The rooms are all fairly large and we have lots of room to put up visitors. But that's where the love stops.

Have you ever seen the show 'Holmes on Homes'? If you haven't, it's worth taking a look at - especially if you own your own home. I wish I had a Mike Holmes.

Our house is a tract house. In case you don't know what that means..a tract house is one in a community of tract houses that were built from a few plans as quickly and cheaply as possible (read - very poorly made). I don't imagine all tract houses were made poorly, but ours certainly was. The first full winter we were in this house we noticed how cold our house felt and in particular, Bug's room. This house ooooozed cold air and our electric bills proved it. We spent close to $1500 during three of the peak winter months that first year! The windows are horrible (but look pretty from the outside). The insulation is questionable and there were gaps and holes around every door and window!
This only scratches the surface of my house woes but most of my woes pertain to the cosmetic aspects of the house and not the structure. Thankfully, we haven't been hit with anything major as of yet, but..I'm waiting. That's how confidently pessimistic I am on this one.

I get that builders are looking to make money. My town, during the big housing boom, was one of the fastest growing towns in Texas. You couldn't build houses fast enough at one point. But does that really negate building a home properly and with quality workmanship? I guess it did. Of course it's at no cost to them once the 1 year warranty expires. Even though our home had only been lived in a month prior to us purchasing it, there was no warranty and therefore the builder didn't have to fix any of the problems we found. Instead, we are the ones left fixing what they didn't or didn't care to do correctly in the first place.

How sad..

Just a Little While Longer..

..until I can enjoy this (in peace and quiet)..



It's been cold and blowy here in the lonestar state and tomorrow there is even a chance of snow accumulating on the ground. I finally conned Big Daddy into making a fire for me tonight. Now I'm just waiting for my Bug to go to bed so I can enjoy my fire without having some kid show drowning out the crackle of the fire.

Inside the Mind of My (previously) 3 Year Old

Have any of you ever wondered what was going through the mind of your child at any given moment. I do and often. There are times when I look at my son, when he doesn't think that I'm watching him, and I catch him day dreaming with this secret smile gracing his lips. He's lost in his thoughts and whatever they are, they bring this joyous happy look to his face! It's amazing really.
One day this past March, I decided I would see if I could get some insight as to what goes on in that brain of his. I sat down with him and asked him some questions that I found on a friend's facebook. I thought that it would be interesting to see what his answers were even if I wasn't certain that he would completely understand what I was asking him. Here are our questions and answers:


1. What is something mom always says to you?
Get out of the way

2. What makes mom happy?
Cleaning up

3. What makes mom sad?
Dumping clothes out of the laundry basket

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
The poop game - pretend ocean creatures are pooping out other ocean creatures on his head in the bathtub.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
A girl

6. How old is your mom?
3 like I am

7. How tall is your mom?
You're big, 300 feet

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Clean up

9. What does your mom do when you are not home?
Work

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Work

11. What is your mom really good at?
Saying no to the dog

12. What is your mom not good at?
I don't know

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Movie Star

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
quesedillias or tacos

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
I don't know

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Chomper's Mama - from The Land Before Time

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Fish

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We're white

19. How are you and your mom different?
I'm a boy and you're a girl

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
You give me jelly beans

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
He's stinky

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Wal-mart and Ohio State

Six months have come and gone, but I still thought it would be interesting to see what his answers are to these same questions now and so stay tuned for the next installment.

Hello..is it Me You're Looking For..

So..many moons have passed since I blogged about..well..anything really. But, as you might have read in yesterday's post, I'm back from my hiatus. Things are at a dull roar here, my computer issue is beyond fixed and I've found my desire to write once more.

Much has gone on in the past months that I wanted to share with you kiddies. It's by no means anything to be over the moon about, just some things that I thought were worth sharing. For instance I had the opportunity to take a vacation with my sisters to New York City. No children. No husbands. It was utterly fantastic and just what I needed.

We also had to find a new home for that little bundle of cuteness that I wrote about back in February. While we loved our pup, we just weren't the right mix for each other. Even though O still cries over him every now and again, the pup has a wonderful home with other dogs and ponds to play in.

I started "working" again this year. I say I work, I mean I do get paid, but my kid does most of the work. To help supplement some of the money that Big Daddy loses each month, I decided to watch some children after school for a few hours each day. It doesn't pay much, but it covers the part of B.D.'s salary that was cut.

Our neighbours/ best friends moved 20 minutes away to another town. It doesn't seem like much, but when you are used to seeing each other every day, the distance becomes quite pronounced. While we still see them a few times a month, it's just not the same. I miss them! :(

Religion has always been a part of my life, whether I believed in it or not. But for Big Daddy it is something relatively new to him. A few years back he went to a church when we lived in another state. He was curious about God and religion and so he thought he should see what it was all about. Sadly, the experience left such a bad taste in his mouth that I didn't think I would ever see him step foot in another church again. I'm happy to say that this year has found him going to church every Sunday and was he even baptized at Easter time!

So that's the reader's digest version of what's been going on here. There is some more to tell you about, but those things I mentioned I believe to be the biggies. And frankly, I'm tired tonight and I should be getting myself to bed. I had O sleeping with me last night (B.D. is away working again - at least some things don't change, huh?) and it made for a slightly tiresome day.

So farewell and goodnight kiddies. I look forward to blogging to you more!

I'm Back!!

After a long absence..I'm back! Computer issues resolved!! I have soooooooooo much to share with you kiddies though of course they are all passe. Oh well, you'll get over it!

Speak to you soon!!

Note to Gail

I'll be back dear friend. No need to beg hehe. You know how I've mentioned computer problems? Well, they haven't gotten any better. I need a new laptop or desktop for that matter. This one just isn't cutting it at all and Big Daddy is stingy with his (it may have something to do with the fact that it's his company's computer; I don't know).

I haven't forgotten about you. I try to get on to read your blog, but as above, I REALLY need a new computer. This one is just sooooooooooooo slow. I've gotten all the memory I can, but it still stinks. It takes forever for pages to load. To be honest, I'm actually surprised it's working at a half decent pace today. Watch, I've probably jinxed it now and when I go to publish it'll eat my post.

And on that note, I'm going to head on out of here. Just know that you haven't been forgotten and can't wait to start actively reading your blog again and catching up.

Lots of Hugs

Finding Time

I think I set the bar too high for myself with this blogging once a day challenge. Obviously I'm not living up to the goal I set, but for plenty of reasons. It's not that I'm just too lazy to blog daily (though there are days where I just don't feel like it). Life has been hectic with having had surgery, a new puppy, a computer that just wouldn't cooperate, a young boy who loves having his Mama's undivided attention, a house that oddly enough does not clean itself, and lately..much warmer weather and longer days. Oh and then there is sleep, I can't forget about that. I've been finding that I'm needing to hit the sack around 10pm these days. I guess when you don't sleep well at night, you need to go to bed earlier to get all the required hours of zzz's. With all of those things, I just let the blogging go to the wayside. It's only natural I suppose. Everything else, minus the computer issues, are too important to set aside for the sake of blogging.

Why am I blogging now you may ask? Well, I'm combining being outside in the gorgeous spring weather with blogging. Critter is busy playing in his sandbox or on his swing set while the pup sleeps at my feet. The chores have been done for the most part and I'm able to relax a while. Lucky you!

There is much to tell you about kiddies. There is plenty of things going on in our household, but I think I'll save all the details for a later date. I wouldn't want to overload you with stuff, yanno? So that's it for now. I need to tire out the kidlets even more - more like tire out myself, but hey! Maybe I'll sleep more soundly tonight. There's always hope!