The Magic Number

Long story short, we have 2 mortgages. We are in the process of combining them into 1. Somehow even though we asked for and were led to believe we were getting a fixed rate on our home when we bought 5 years ago, we have recently learned that it magically turns into an ARM with our May payment. (Sneaky rat-fink bankers.) Yeah, I know, our fault because as it turns out, it was all spelled out in the dozens of papers we signed at closing. Mortgage #2 balloons in March and payment in full is required at that time. This we did know all along. That is what started us on this process in the first place because we simply do not have the money necessary to pay off 20% of our home. So we're combining 2 into 1 at a fixed rate (at least we've been told;). We've been approved, the rate is great, we're scheduled to close in a month. Smooth sailing all the way. Except (because there always is) we have to have an appraisal. And our house has to appraise for X amount of money. Doh!!! If said appraisal comes in higher than X we are good to go all the way to closing. If it comes in under than X, we're out $500 and well, we'll probably be homeless within a couple of months.

See why X is the magic number? Normally after 5 years in a home with multiple renovations and improvements worrying about an appraisal wouldn't be an issue. But this economy isn't normal, especially in our neighborhood. When the housing bubble burst a year or so ago it left splatters all over our neighborhood. At least 3 homes have been foreclosed on in the past year, 2 of which you can see from our front door. And then the banks sold them uber cheap to be rid of them. Beautiful.

Appraisal lady called Tuesday to set up an appointment for Wednesday. I was slightly panicked as this gave me less than 24 hours to figure out how to make my home look good enough to hit this magic number. In the end I realized that a freshly mopped kitchen floor was not going to increase the market value of my home. So I didn't. I didn't wash fingerprints off windows and I didn't dust (except the master bedroom which was looking a little fuzzy). I vacuumed and made the beds and prayed for the best.

Now we are playing the waiting game. We were told by the bank that it is taking upwards of 3 weeks for appraisals to be processed at this time. 3 weeks before we know the magic number.

Happy Anniversary To Me!!!

I recently celebrated my 1 year anniversary at groceries-r-us (yeah, yay me!;P) Anyways, in honor of this blessed event I thought I'd list the top 5 best and worst things about the place. Here we go.

Top 5 Worst Things:

1. Rhymes with "witchy" starts with a "b" co-workers, particularly the ladies on 3rd shift. Seriously, didn't your mama teach you how to make eye contact and smile at someone?
2. Unheated bathrooms, really when I'm already freezing why would I want to expose my bare bum to the elements?
3. Customers who poke their fingers thru ripe fruit and then ask for it to be reduced.
4. Parents who don't strap their babies/toddlers in the cart and then walk away to grab something while baby is squirming/climbing. Hello people, if your child falls head first onto the tile floor, it's not gonna be pretty. For the sake of my heart, buckle them in!!!
5. Corporate gifts: for my birthday I received a coupon for a free scoop of ice cream, my 1 year anniversary, a free cup of coffee or pop. For Christmas, a whole week to buy store brand products at a whopping 10% off. So let me get this straight... I spend my money in your store and you'll give me 10% percent off for helping boost the company's bottom line? Merry Christmas to me you!

I'm generally a positive person so let's end on a positive note, shall we? Top 5 best things:

1. Though it may be little, a weekly paycheck. Something over 10% of Jackson doesn't have right now.
2. The opportunity to grocery shop kid-free without making an extra trip to the grocery store.
3. My boss who has continuously worked around my coaching schedules and family life.
4. Working 3rd shift so I have more family nites at home.
5. My co-worker Amy, she's been like a second mother to me. And just like a mother, she's a little too protective...

Birthday Wishes X 29!!!

Happy Birthday, Tom!!!

A Little Retail Therapy At Its Finest

Those of you that know me know that Target is my home away from home. I *love. L.O.V.E. love.* this store!!! I've been trying desperately to stay away because the last time I was in there they had all completely new things to look at, drool over, and lust for. Unfortunately my wallet can't quite keep up with my obsession so I've been trying to satisfy my Target addiction by only looking at their weekly ad. This is only a temporary fix and I was bound to crack at some point. That some point was last nite when my fam was over to my cousin's for dinner and an evening o' fun. Jennifer (whom I'm placing all blame for this relapse) casually mentioned that Target had shoes at 75% off. That's all it took. Had I been a rude guest I would have cut dinner short last nite to get to the store before it closed but I held myself back (there was still the promise of dessert;)

So I promptly headed to the store after picking Austin up from school today. I reasoned it couldn't hurt to look because if the deals were super good I could always get larger sizes for the kids to grow into. Plus I had to get a birthday present for this little lady so I had a valid reason to make a quick stop. This is where it gets good... 5 pairs of shoes for under $20. Yes, you read that right, 5 pairs of shoes for under $20!!! Austin picked out new tennis shoes (they unfortunately didn't have a large selection for boys and the smallest size we could find was a "2" so it'll be at least until next year around this time that they'll fit him.) Audrey got super cute black patent Hello Kitty boots and brown suede with pink flower casuals for next fall/winter. Lexi got black patent dress shoes for church next winter and some casual shoes for late summer/fall. I even found shoes for me and jeans for Tom's birthday. I don't know what will thrill him more, the amount of money I spent today or getting jeans for his birthday (I am being slightly sarcastic). Oh, and I did find something for Miss Reyna, so despite the glazed look in my eyes I didn't lose all focus. Mission (and then some) accomplished.

So Maybe I Don't Have The Inside Information

So I haven't been sleeping well since, hmm, since Tom got back from his vacation. Maybe it has something to do with sharing space in our much-too-small queen-sized bed. Or maybe it's simply because I CAN'T SHUT MY MIND OFF!!! Well, Wednesday, in general, is a pretty good day for us here at Hosmerville. A: it's hump day and B: I don't work so I get a nite off with the family. If I can just get through dinner with my sanity, we're usually doing okay. (It's not dinner that drives me insane, it's the fact that I always work 3rd shift Tuesday nite so by dinner time Wednesday I'm running pretty slow.)

Anyways, I decided to take advantage of the little downtime I had last nite and "snuggle" Audrey after I tucked her in. She is forever asking me to snuggle her and I am forever telling her "in awhile" knowing that if I lay down with her at 8pm my kid-free evening will be shot. By the time "in awhile" usually gets around, Audrey's sleeping and I've accomplished something and I can tell her in the morning "I went to snuggle you but you were already sleeping". I know, I'm a mean horrible mommy for lying to my kids. I digress.

Back to last nite. I took my contacts out but I didn't brush my teeth because I was only going to sleep until Audrey fell asleep, then I was going to to get up and be productive. Except sleep is a good thing and after several sleepless nites, my body was craving it. But there is an unspoken rule out in mommy-dom that says " a mommy shall self-sacrifice several hours of sleep each nite to ensure that all in her household is wash, dried, folded, cleaned, organized, arranged, picked up, tucked in, and generally accounted for before she herself may go to bed." So while I decided to take a rare nite off from all mommy responsibilities, I failed to inform the rest of the world and I had phone calls and restless kids till well past my bedtime.

Sometime in the nite (1:30 I later discovered) I was awakened by Lexi crying "naughty Audrey!" Now, if this had been when Austin was 2, upon hearing his cries, I would have immediately jumped out of bed to go comfort him. Audrey being 2, I would have eventually found my way to her room to see what was wrong. Lexi being 2, I just called out "Lexi, come find mommy!" She did and I got her settled between Tom and I only to have her start coughing. I got up to get her some water and was surprised to see that it was only 1:30 because it felt like I had been sleeping all nite. I kissed her good nite and realized she was warm... very warm. Warm enough to make another trip to the kitchen for some Tylenol. I got back in bed feeling for her open lips in the dark to feed her her medicine. I listened to her sweet little chewing noises in the dark and had her take another drink before kissing her good nite and rolling over to go back to sleep. Except it was 1:30 and I had been sleeping semi-uninterrupted for 5 1/2 hours. Which translated to my body that that was a sufficient amount of time for a mommy to sleep and thus it was time to get up. I stubbornly refused and tossed and turned the rest of the nite.

Later (it still wasn't morning!?!) Lexi woke up looking for her boo piggy. I felt around, grabbed it, and handed it to her only to hear "that's my boo bunny!" from Audrey. When did she join us in bed? Hmmm... maybe I really was sleeping after all. And so it went... all nite long!

Tom woke me at 7 and said "it's really cold outside!" Being the ever-so compassionate mommy that I am, I toke several extra steps to make sure my kids stayed warm and comfortable for the trip to Austin's school. I:

1. Warmed the van up extra long. 20 gas-guzzling extra long minutes to be exact.
2. I dug out hats and mittens for the girls and insisted that they keep them on. (Usually I just make them go without because as soon as they get in the van, they strip off the mittens, or hat, or both and then something inevitably gets lost forever in our spacious and roomy pimp ride.)
3. I made Austin wear 2 layers: a shirt and a sweater.
4. etc.
5. etc.

Well, driving past the vacant high school should've clued me in to the possibility that school had been canceled for the day. But remember, my MIL has the inside information and she always calls us to let us know that school's been canceled. And there was no phone call this morning. I reasoned that maybe the HS was closed because of some sort of building problem (the furnace wasn't working, maybe?), and the elementary was still holding school for the day. After all, my MIL always calls and she hadn't so Austin still had school, right? Wrong. 10 minutes later we pull into an empty elementary campus and finally figure out that school has been canceled for the day. Still don't know exactly why school was called off. One can only assume it was from the bitter cold below 0* temperatures. But you know what assuming makes. And you can see where it got me this time...

*disclaimer* I have no idea who is reading this (my MIL, friends that will report back to her?;) so I should add that I am in NO way upset at my MIL, I'm just venting my own stupidity for not checking for school closings before venturing out with my kids for the day;)

Everyday Happenings

Not much has been happening around here, we've been chillin' Hosmerville style the last couple of days:

• I did mani/pedis for Audrey and Lexi; Audrey chose pink, Lexi went with purple sparkles.
• Austin found an Eastbay catalog in the pile of mail yesterday and has been busy circling all of the shoes he wants, looking for the best deals, and even finding some stylish pink and purple basketball shoes for his sisters.
• Audrey gave me the best compliment that other day when she exclaimed, "mommy, your biscuits (i.e., butt) are small!" Does this girl know how to suck up, or what;)?
• Eddy threw up on the kitchen floor the other nite and then proceeded to gobble it all back down. Austin thought that it was amazingly disgusting, enough so that he quipped, "write that on your blog!"
• We cannot find Austin's library book, the one that he checked out before Christmas break. (There's a brilliant idea, send a book home for 3 weeks during the crazy busy holiday season.) The Berenstain Bears Christmas book that probably got packed away with our 50+ Christmas books. I'm thinking paying for a replacement will be easier and in the best interest of my sanity than searching through the half dozen Christmas tubs downstairs.
• Lexi is in the "less is more" stage right now in terms of her clothing. Every time I turn around, she's stripped down to her underwear (or less).
• There's got to be at least a foot of snow on our deck, with more falling as I type. I think the bears got it right when they decided to hibernate through the winter.

Exciting stuff, I know. I'd love to stick around and fill you in on all of the other exciting details of my life but I've gotta get some clothes on that girl!

Slacker Parents

I worked 3rd shift last nite and since Tom had taken today off from work, I was more than obliged to let him take over kid duty this morning. Then he wakes me up at 11:42.

T: what time does Austin get out of school?

M: 11:30!

Oops!!! Aside from neglecting our kindergarten son and leaving him stranded in the pick up line, what else do we have planned for the weekend?

• Tonite we are having friends from church over for dinner. No big meal for me to cook, though, we're being lazy and ordering pizza;)
• Tomorrow it's daddy duty again because I'm working all afternoon/evening=P
• Sunday we'll have church in the morning and AWANA for the kids at nite. Lexi and I will probably do a little shopping and pick up some accessories for our newly painted kitchen (pictures coming soon=)

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Of Course The President Would Have To Be Involved

After 2 attempts to fly out of Charleston, Tom was finally successful early this morning. The third time was a charm. He was scheduled for what was supposed to be a short layover in Philadelphia (again, the key word being supposed). He got to his terminal and waited to board. And waited. And waited. Finally the airline made an announcement that all flights were being delayed due to the President's incoming flight on Air Force One. Go figure. My husband has been trying to get home for a full 28 hours and now the President decides to come into town!?! Can you tell I'm getting a little impatient? So, Tom's plane FINALLY gets on the runway and then the pilot announces that there are some 40 other planes also waiting for clearance to takeoff. (Just 1 more thing to be mad at George Bush for, he adds;). More waiting... grrr!!! But timing~wise everything worked out perfectly as Tom called to let us know he was getting off his plane as the airport was coming into view for me and the kids. I pulled up to the curb and Tom came out less than 5 minutes later with ALL of his luggage! I had a great week with the kids and it sounds like Tom had a fun time away from reality. So I've gotta ask... when is my vacation?

Bummer With A Capital B!!!

I've been husband~less for nearly a week now and while it's always fun and different when Tom's gone, we also look forward to him coming home. He was supposed to fly out of South Carolina this morning and be into Detroit by 11:30 (supposed to being the key phrase). He woke up this morning feeling super sick, weak, and clammy. He made it to the airport before he actually got sick and decided that he probably shouldn't attempt to fly with the way he was feeling. He re~booked his flight for this afternoon and returned to his brother's house for the day.

He just called from the airport and this afternoon's flight has been cancelled leaving him with 2 options. He can either a) fly into Charlotte tonite @ 6 but from there the connecting flight to Detroit is overbooked so he has the big chance of being stranded in Charlotte. Or he could b) fly out tomorrow morning on the same flight he was booked originally for.

He's opted to wait until tomorrow morning which may be for the best because hopefully he'll be feeling better and our roads will be a little better to drive on. Austin had another snow day today because the roads were pretty icy. And I was more than a little worried about driving all the way to Detroit with the kids today after having worked 3rd shift last nite so hopefully tomorrow morning I'll be a little more rested and ready for the road trip. Tom took the rest of the week off from work anyways so as long as he's home by Sunday evening we're all good;)

Starting Young

I headed to the school today to turn in all of my cheerleaders' uniforms and some end-of-the-season paperwork. Most of my cheerleaders had given me their uniforms at the Christmas party we had and they sat under my tree until Christmas Eve morning. As I was folding them to put away I tried to get Lexi to "try" one on as she was quite impressed by everything cheerleading this year. She got shy and didn't want to so crazy ol' mom put one on. By this time, Austin had wandered over to see what was going on because I was jumping around cheering and pretty much making a complete idiot out of myself. Anyways, I did a high kick and Austin exclaimed, "you need a lolly on!"

Huh?!? Say what!?! (for those of you unfamiliar to cheerleading lingo, a lolly is the spandex "underwear" cheerleaders wear over their underwear). I just about peed my pants skirt I laughed so hard. Tom, on the other hand, was a little concerned that his kindergarten son knows so much about what's going on under the cheerleaders' skirts.

What A Deal!!!

My cheerleaders got me a gift card to Bath and Body Works for Christmas so the girls and I stopped by while Austin was in school this morning. They're having their semi-annual sale and I was able to get:

1. a deep cleansing hand soap
2. a gentle foaming hand soap
3. a C.O. Bigelow mentha tingling hand soap (hmm... see a pattern? I love "fun" hand soaps for the kitchen and bathroom=)
4. a C.O. Bigelow lemon mentha body wash
5. an American Girl shower gel for the girls
6. and 2 C.O. Bigelow mentha lip shines all for $18.15!!!

I did some quick math and realized that I had saved almost $36! And I still have money left on my gift card, yay!

Audrey discovered a little piece of heaven on earth at Claire's accessory shop. I loved this place when I was a kid. I let the girls browse for 5 minutes and they took it all in. As we left Audrey said, "that was so cool!" Such a girly girl!