Under Construction

After two weeks of being totally and 100% debt free, our family is comfortably back in the red as we became proud homeowners yet again. We bought the house in Richardson (described below) because of the great area and GREAT schools. Due to all the remodeling work we are having to do to the property, we are still living at my mother's house until the dust settles at the new place (we are thinking about another two weeks…which might be wishful thinking).

Our plan is to have the painting, flooring (carpet and hardwood), and ceilings done before we start taking our belongings over. And yes, we are doing everything ourselves (except for the carpet).

I promise to post before and after pictures once we get over there and start on everything. I sent out an email with the new address, but if for some reason you didn't get it, let me know and I'll email it to you.
Side note: If you are a blog stalker and I don't know who you are, feel free to send your Christmas wishes via the comments section of this blog. No home address will be given out to you.
Anyway… My sanity level has taken a nose dive within the past week. Those who know me well will attest to the fact that I don’t handle change very well. Living with my mom has been quite an experience (and that's all I'll say as she is a faithful reader). It has been a little difficult being back at "home" where we are all cramped and I am not surrounded by my own familiar things. All three of our wardrobes are in one closet and Braden’s food is in a cardboard box in our room.

Needless to say Braden has needed some time to adjust to his new surroundings as well. To make matters worse, we have to ship him off to the Shuttlesworth Funny Farm (John's parent's house) this next week so that John and I can work on the house 24/7 without interruption. It will only be for a couple of days, but it still makes me miss him already. I just can't simply have him over there with us in the dust and paint fumes (not to mention the people used to smoke, so we have to deal with that issue as well). While I did paint three rooms and two hallways in our old house when I was pregnant with Braden (and he escaped from having webbed fingers and feet when he was born), I think exposing him to all the work we will be doing this time will only guarantee him a permanent seat in the Special Ed class for the rest of his academic career.

I'll be glad when this is all said and done… As I told my friend Jami- I am one issue away from having a mental breakdown where I get in the car and just start driving until I run out of gas... of course that will only get me to Mesquite, and from there I would have to head East to Forney on foot where the soles of my shoes would melt to the pavement and I would then be forced to head into the woods where I live out the rest of my life as a hermit that scares little children living in the local trailer park... (insert deep calming breath here).


On a lighter note, my mom does have cable where we have been watching ALL of the DIY and HGTV shows on how to do things yourself. I have also enjoyed the following shows: "Talk Soup," "Girls Next Door," and anything on the E! channel.

Who’s McGruff?

Apologies for the unannounced blogging sabbatical. If I am not working, I’m packing; if I’m not packing, I’m taking care of Braden; and if he is taken care of, I’m packing… and you know the never ending cycle. So those of you that haven’t written me off totally, here is what’s been going on: Braden had his First Birthday! After a lot of time planning and a slight dent in the budget, we had family over for hamburgers, cake and ice cream. It was a success and we had a ton of fun.

Recently we also had One Year pictures and family pictures taken. Not only did I get to put in my work hours, rush to get ready, drive 30-45 minutes to Plano to the photographer, but I also had the delight of dealing with a 12 month old that didn't sleep hardly at all the night before. Man... great day!

This one is my favorite. He is wearing John's hat. We are going to have his picture taken in it every year until he grows into it.

This one we had printed in Black and white and it is PRECIOUS!!! Apologies fo rthe lack of cropping on some of these... I am of course pressed for time.

Our beautiful family (if I do say so myself!). God has blessed us richly!

In other news- we have sold our house and close on Tuesday, July 29. We have to be out by Wednesday where we are moving in with my mother (prayer requests please) for two weeks until we can close on the house that we are buying. Yes, contract #3 was the charm, but we are still hoping for a smooth ending to this process.

The house that we are look at to buy is in Richardson (my old stomping grounds). We were told about the house before it even went on the market so we didn’t have a lot of pressure with putting down a contract trying to beat others to the punch, etc. This was nice because we got to meet with our lender to iron out the financial details before we got in over our heads (trying to be smart about everything). I refrained from bringing along my laptop to show the lender my financial spreadsheet that our family goes by monthly (I figured he was out of gold stars anyway). I do have to say that it feels good to actually have a grasp on what we are doing and where every penny is going. There really is power in that (and no, I don’t go kissing my Dave Ramsey poster every night).

So about this house in Richardson- Luckily it is in a great neighborhood and is selling for $30-$40K less that the others due to repair/update work that needs to be done to it. John and I are up for the task of remodeling as long as Braden is in a good neighborhood with a good school. We are actually looking forward to making some of the changes that we have discussed (putting up drywall, building a new fence, painting, flooring…the list is forever long). We seem to think that we can do it ourselves (again- prayer requests please). What we really like about it is that it is a lot more space than what we have now (of course after packing things up, that kinda seems like a bad thing: more space = more junk). It is a four bedroom house, two living areas, two dining areas, a separate office, laundry room, two covered patio areas, and a fireplace (which we don’t have now). Yes, my child will actually get to hang his stocking this year on a mantel without me having to come up with some lame excuse about Santa coming in through the back door that takes the strength of Hercules to open.

Now about my title up above- This past weekend I had the honor of being McGruff the Crime Dog’s assistant. Now had this been 25 years ago, I would have been in Heaven getting to help the ever so famous crime fighting detective dog “take a bite out of crime.” However, I am 30 years old and standing outside one of Garland’s ghetto Walmarts in the 103 degree heat from 2:00 to 4:00 on a Saturday was not my idea of a dream come true. Regardless, one of my lieutenant friends asked me to help out and of course, the word “no” never enters my mind. So there I was this past Saturday passing out police badge stickers and helping kids get their picture taken with McGruff. Very quickly I came to the realization that McGruff has been out of the lime light a little too long because not only did MOST of the kids not have a clue as to who McGruff was, but even some of the parents were saying, “Look! It’s Smokey the Bear!”
WHAT!!!! Are you people idiots?!?! Smokey the Bear doesn’t have big floppy ears. Smokey the Bear doesn’t wear a big trench coat. SMOKEY THE BEAR DOESN’T LOOK LIKE A DOG! Good grief!

Now I do have to keep in mind that we were at a GHETTO Walmart, where I am sure most of the clientele tends to avoided all police dogs (real and animated).

Rookies

I’ve been lacking in posts the past few weeks due to life dumping a truck load of lemons in my way. Since my cupboards lack the simple food staples to make a delicious lemon meringue pie, I have been forced to start squeezing them like crazy- only to make lemon juice (no sugar for the “aid” either, but have no fear, payday was just the other day)! Here’s what’s been going on:

I realized I have now come full circle in life. The other day I had the one childhood prank that I did, pulled on me. Yes, I am one of those adults that was targeted for the never boring “ring-and-run” prank (and yes, I was one of those kids that did that). Was it well deserved? I have no doubt, as Karma has a funny way of waiting until you reach “the other side.” So I am standing at my kitchen sink when I heard the door bell ring. I look up to see out my kitchen window a little tubby white kid waddling by with a Camel-Bak of water strapped to his back (talk about preparing for a hard days work!). Of course to amuse whoever was watching, I opened the front door, put on my Academy Award winning shocked face and then shut the door again. I was also looking out to make sure there wasn’t a flaming bag of you know what on the door step (and no, I was not one of those kids!). Not but five minutes later I see a group of three kids (tubby included) standing in the street just hanging out. While the thought crossed my mind to go out to them and point out their rookie mistakes:
1. don’t send your slowest guy to do it,
2. don’t stand out in front of the house that you just pranked five minutes ago,
3. don’t prank a house that has all their windows open

I refrained, smiled to myself, and secretly wished them "happy pranking."

I also took a moment to think back on the poor elderly neighbors that I used to prank. Ahhh, who am I kidding, I deserved a flaming bag of poop!

On another sour note, I locked myself out of the house the other day. Did I mention that Braden was inside? I came home from Walmart and put Braden in his highchair so I could go back out to the car and get the remainder of the groceries. I loaded up my arms with bags, got to the back door and... nothing, that was as far as I got. Luckily, after running around the house in my Sunday clothes (heels included), I called my mom to come over with my house key and let me in. What was ironic was the fact that I had a set of house keys hanging on the front door, I just couldn't break into the lock box to get to them. In only a slight panic (he was in his highchair after all), I found my Swiss army knife in my car, prayed to God to give me any James Bond lock picking abilities he could give me and pulled out the flimsy metal tweezers and went to town. Who was I kidding? After 20 minutes, I kissed my career as a locksmith goodbye. I was dripping with sweat in my 101 degree garage with the bottom of my feet throbbing from being rubbed raw because I was running around the outside of the house in my heels (it’s like they weren’t made for running). Never fear, Crazy Gran to the rescue. My mom got there and let me in. Braden was crying hysterically, but physically okay (the jury is still out on psychology). Is this a right of passage for the Rookie mother?

Our house now has a third contract on it. The first contract was a no go because the lady low-balled us so badly, we were going to have to pay her to buy it (we said no thank you). The second contract we can only chalk up to buyer’s remorse. The couple put a contract down, got the inspection and then proceeded to tell us that they didn’t want the house until we fixed/repaired/updated EVERYTHING the inspector listed (we said have a nice life). This third contract we are hoping is the “third times a charm” sort of deal. While it has truly been amazing that we have had three contracts with only about 15 walk-throughs, we are praying that this is it and we will close at the end of July. The search for our new house is still on.

High Five for Spankings and Baseball

Sorry I have been MIA in blogland. Here are a few updates. First, John bought me a remote. I don't know if it is because I was threatening that was what his Father's day gift was going to be or what, but it doesn't matter... I can now flip though my three channels while in bed. :)

Could my son get any cuter? He is now saying "Mama," and says it all the time. I'm loving it!

He is starting to stand and take steps on his own and I swear he is everywhere! Here is a little footage of his first steps. Funny how he would only do it for a while in his crib (my kid's no fool, softer landing).

Besides that, we are working on teaching him what he can and cannot touch around the house. The other day he was pushing buttons and turning knobs on the stereo (a big no-no which started as a result of him turning up the volume to a deafening level without us knowing). Anytime he would go to touch it, I would simply hold up my hand next to his and spank his hand whenever he would reach for and touch the buttons (call me old-school, but that is what works for us so far so spare me your Love and Logic discipline suggestions). Now, my trouble with this way of discipline coincides with teaching him to "give five." So here is how it usually plays out several times a week:
Braden- Reaches for the buttons on the stereo.
Me- Hold my hand up ready to spank if he touches the buttons.
Braden- Sees Mommy's hand, stops his finger 1 cm away from the stereo, turns Mommy's hand over and gives her five with a big smile.

The other day I also caught him pulling books off the book shelf and when I called out his name he quickly threw the one in his hand down and sat there looking at me like, "Listen Lady, it wasn't me and I don't know why you keep leaving books on the floor." This looks to be an uphill battle... the hill being Mt. Everest.

Last week John turned the big 3-0. We had a great weekend going out to dinner and a movie and then a Ranger game. The game was so fun, but what was even better is that we not only got to be on the Fox Sports Station, but John was on the jumbo-tron for his birthday (made possible by yours truly!)! I had it recorded, but because of the bright lights, you can't really tell what it is. You can however see his beard and the fact that he is holding Braden. Oh well, thanks Jami for the footage! We had such a good time with our friends the Hamricks and the Browns.

Oh, and just when I thought the night couldn't get any more exciting, a fly ball came soaring up a few feet above our heads. I was holding Braden so I quickly covered him up. The ball landed on some old lady sitting directly behind us. She was okay, so I am glad Braden didn't have to witness some sprawled out unconscious old lady at his first baseball game.

Stingy or Frugal?

Now since I have cut back to only working part time, there are several luxuries that we simply cannot afford (actually, when we could afford them we still didn’t have them). For years luxuries like cable television, internet, home phone line, and Tivo/DVR were not found at the Shuttlesworth Shack. We were the proud Urban Amish family (as John’s co-workers fondly referred to us as).

Luckily (and only because it is at the firm’s expense), we have upgraded our status within the past year and got the internet (which included a home phone line) so that I could work from home. Our phone line ringer gets turned on and off since my co-workers and telemarketers are the only ones that have the number. During the hours that I am working, I have it on for such events as meetings, training, or conference calls. Every now and then a telemarketer gets through in which case I simply give them my usual response:
“Yes, this is Mrs. Shuttlesworth, but I am currently working at the moment. So unless you have a charge code that I can bill this call to, I am afraid that you will have to call back another time.”
They are usually a little taken back by what I have said, and therefore agree confusingly to call back later.

So last night my television watching hit an all time low. We still do not have cable, so I am confined to the only 5 channels (3 of which are Spanish) our little rabbit ears can tune in. I am standing at the television- let me stop right here to stress the fact that I am STANDING at the television only because my klutz of a husband accidentally dropped the television remote in a cup of Dr. Pepper (don’t ask how… I simply do not know) and it no longer works.
As I was saying, I was standing at the television flipping channels and there was NOTHING on. But because Braden was already in bed, I felt I had to have the TV on for background noise as I was getting ready for bed. Out of my 5 TV channels, I stopped on one of the Spanish stations that was showing the movie “The Bride of Chucky.”
Yes, that’s right…for 20 minutes I found myself watching these two little demon possessed dolls go around killing people. Now mind you, I can’t understand a word they are saying… IT’S IN SPANISH!

When I got bored of making up my own dialog to what I thought was being said (which mostly consisted of the repeated line, “I’m the doll Chucky and I’m going to kill you!”), I recalled a time when I saw my first Chucky movie.

I was in junior high spending the night at a friend’s house and she turned the original movie on. The little part that we watched back then (which was only about 15-20 minutes) scared the heck out of me so badly that for the next 5 months I would only get in bed by running and jumping onto it so that nothing underneath would grab me! Don’t even get me started on the nightmares! Another thing that came to mind was the fact that these dolls are only about a foot tall- WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE NOT JUST KICKING THEM IN THE HEAD?!?!? Ahh, the greatness of the early 1990’s movies.

After last night, I am seriously thinking I am going to have to break down and invest in some cable (and a remote).