Not for Arachnophobes.

This was in my bedroom.  IN. MY. BEDROOM.

Please don't hold me responsible for jitters, heeby-jeebies, freak-outs, strong men weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, incontinence, girly screaming, etc....

I warned you.

Playing in the Creek.

It's been a wet, rainy spring, so our "Sometimes Creek" has been running a lot lately.  We've all had a good time trekking down the hill and around the "Usually Not Pond" to get there.  In the above pics, you can see from one end of where the creek hits our property to another.  It's got steep tree-lined banks, so great for my pale family to avoid sunblock.




 Maggie and Ivy can play in the parts where the water is shallow and fast.

Livvie and Hollis love the place next to the big sycamore tree, where it's about three feet deep so they can paddle about a bit.  You can see the sycamore tree in the top picture.  It sticks out into the water more than any other tree out there, and has a great gnarly root system.

Hollis and Ivy claimed to have spotted a snake last time.  How big was it?  And why are we so happy about it?

Those who know Lochlan know that he's a clingy little guy who mostly loves to be held at all times.  I kid not when I say that he will sit for an HOUR and toss rocks into the creek.  BY HIMSELF.  He'll pick up a rock and make a questioning "Hmmmm?"  Then he'll toss it in with a decisive "Hmmmmm!"



Toby and I were actually there, too.

Okay, Toby started goofing off when I shot these...I call these poses, from left to right, "The Gun Show," "The Underwear Model," and "Napoleon."  Fun, right?

I learned something this morning.

Ivy cottage is without a dishwasher as of yet, and it seems that if dishes are going to be washed, I'll be doing them.  I need to make the kids do it, but until school's out, that will have to wait.

This morning, I was looking at the pile of dirty dishes, and thinking how many there were, and feeling very sorry for myself.  Then I thought it would be nice if I stacked them according to type, so they could be washed in order.  I am a bit OCD there.  I like to do glasses first, then plates, then silverware, then pots and pans...that way, I'm going from least dirty to most dirty, and I don't have to change the  water too many times.

I stacked the dishes, in organized piles, and...there weren't that many.  Or at least, my brain didn't register the neat towers as "chaos."  Suddenly, with a little order, the task seemed a bit easier.  Whatever it was, I'll be trying to remember it in the future.

I'm writing this from Ivy Cottage.

This 1930's-era house is now connected to the Internetz.  How cool is that?  The phone company installed phone and DSL yesterday, and Toby brought over one of our computers from home to make sure it was all functional.  So, before we had beds or anything else here, we had a computer hooked to the internet, sitting on the floor in the corner of the library.
Last night Toby and I moved over our bed and the big kids' bed, the couches, and the fridge.  What I call "the necessities of life."  Is the house finished enough that having our stuff here won't complicate things?  Probably not.  However, I'm hoping the psychological boost that comes from taking that big step and sleeping here will pay off.  Mostly, I'm just impatient.

More Progress.

This is Toby painting our living room.  It dried a bit darker, but no less eye-searing.  I do love it.  You can also see the red dining room a bit to the right.
 
Meet my new favorite chair.  She will be in the library, I think.  We're making slow progress on the house, what with church jobs, trying not to neglect the kids, still making a living, and so forth. I'm hoping we'll begin moving this weekend.  Fingers crossed.

Gratuitous cute little girl picture.

My new button-down shirt.  I have issues with bust/waist ratio and finding a shirt that flatters both.  This genius shirt has knit side panels and works for all my mismatched parts.  I actually don't even mind this picture.

Post Name or Something.

We are slowly making progress toward moving into our new house. We're down to finishing a few things in each room, and then time to pack up our belongings and go.
Vea has graciously traded tomorrow's Hen Day to me, so we can all work together to make it so.

Last week, I was tired and worn out and kind of resented the time-suck the Ivy House has become. We have decided it's neat enough and sturdy enough to live in indefinitely, so we're trying hard to finish things before moving. We've learned the very long and hard way that it's much harder to work on any home improvement projects while occupying said home.

Some projects have dragged on past funny. I'm talking to YOU, sanding the wood floors. Some projects have popped up unexpectedly, like hanging new sheetrock on the dining room and bedroom ceilings. Mostly, it's just lots of work and not enough time. I spend a lot of time half-handedly trying to accomplish something while Loch hangs from my hip.

Today, I walked around the house and fell in love with the place again. The setting is lovely, in a little cup of a valley with a nice mix of run-down fields and trees. All the leaves are coming out, and when the sun warms up, everything smells green and wonderful. I inherited two lilac bushes, and roses, and four fruit trees of some kind. Out behind the tumble-down shed, there are wild blackberry bushes with tiny nubs of green berries already growing.

Toby and I used to discuss our ideal "dream property." Our wish list included rolling hills, big trees, a few acres for kids to run, seclusion, location near both sets of parents. We have everything we wanted, and more. I must remember that, when I get impatient. This will be a great place for us all to play and grow up.

Did I mention that Sunday,the kids spent HOURS outside playing? How awesome is that?

Update.

We did sign the papers and now own the Ivy House.  I'm thinking of naming it Ivy Cottage, by the way.  I've always wanted to name a home, like in my favorite books:  Green Gables, Pemberley, Maplehurst, Thornhill, Northanger Abbey....
We've been hard at work, for most of the hours of the last several days.  We tore out some shag carpet so ugly that even I felt not a shred of remorse.  Toby rented a floor sander from Lowe's and spent hours pushing it around the floors.  The floors will be stained a lovely auburn, and be coated in polyurethane for easy cleaning.  We'll have wood floors in the living room, library (not so fancy, just the far end of the living room), dining room, and master bedroom.

Last week we let the kids help us paint the playroom.  It is a medium teal, the color of Thomas.  Can you guess who picked it?  We had the little kids strip down to underwear and let them go. Some of the paint even ended up on the walls....

The light at the end of the tunnel?

We have an appointment to close on the house/property on Friday.  All we have to do is show up with the down payment in cashier's check form.  I'm hoping for smooth sailing from that point.  Then, we can have electricity turned on and fix the water so we can start the changes we'll be making preparatory to the big move.

I am now allowing myself to believe it will actually happen.  For Real.

Life will be very busy.


Thursday:
Liv's class trip to Jefferson City.  Up at THREE, leave school at FOUR.  Gone all day.

Friday:  
More work, and more, and more...
Book Group
Kids 1/2 Day of School
Close on House
Dance around House, legally.
Purchase some "Early Mexican Brothel" paint colors.

Saturday:
Take Crowbar to House.
Primary Activity.
Move some doorways and hopefully prep for painting.

Sunday:
Teach Sharing Time at Church (Crap, I just realized it's my turn....)
Lunch.
Back to work on house, using brownie points saved up from above churchy activities to compensate for working on Sunday.....
See Michelle and Tyler and their punks.

Next Week:
Craziness.
 Norman Renfest

Week After:
Mini-vacation to Crater of Diamonds in AR with my fam.  (If anyone can find a gorgeous rock, it's Liv.)

Week  AFTER After:
My Aunt and Uncle from Florida will visit, and we will celebrate Easters, regardless of when the holiday actually occurs.





I think I'll go have a nap.  No, wait, I have to go to Scouts tonight.  Bugger.

Appraisal Update.

The bank finally gave us the appraisal value of the house and the 17 acres.  The house is worth enough for them  to loan on, so, barring some majorly unforeseen circumstances, IT IS OUR DESTINY.  Actually, the house is worth more than we're paying for it and the property altogether. 

It all seems kind of anticlimactic, compared to the other thing that happened on Friday, the memorable short disappearance of our fourth child.  Please refer to the preceding post for exciting details.

Life did go on last week, in spite of the waiting game.  Hollis lost his first tooth.  It's been wiggly for nearly a year, so Toby finally just gave it a good hard yank and out it came.  Every time one of my children loses a tooth, I think of how much we all miss Grandpa McDonald and his sneaky small pliers.  He'd ask a kid to show him the loose tooth, whip the pliers out of his pocket, and pull it before they knew what hit them. 

Loch started full crawling this week.  In spite of having done this whole routine four times before, we're (surprise) TOTALLY UNPREPARED for a mobile infant.  He's the first baby since we've been working making bodices, and the sewing room is not a friendly place for a curious little boy.  We're talking grommet bits, loose threads, ribbon scraps, extension cords....Don't worry, we're both getting a little bit of work done while watching him like hawks.

In the next few weeks, we should close on the Ivy house, fix it up a bit, and move. Then, we need to get our current house on the market and sold quickly.   Michelle and Tyler are coming out from Utah for the Spring Renaissance Festival season, and that will be both exciting and exhausting.  Life will definitely be in high gear.

I can't explain...

...why I am smitten with this house.  Parts of it are seventy years old, but some dreadful remodel attempts are fairly recent.  Check out the "when I care day" paint job.  I must admit that from the road, it looks like a dump. 

It's a bit smaller than our current home, but it has a garage that we can move the business into.  There is an actual dining room, so I'm not trying to seat seven in a kitchen that's big enough to seat two or three.  The laundry room is big enough to bully ours shamefully.  Two rooms have sweet built-in cabinets.   The roof doesn't leak and the floors don't sag.  I would be remiss not to mention that the house plus 17 acres is way cheap, as it is a foreclosure.

My crushes:

A:  Not Fairview.

B:  No feral Fairview chicken population to terrorize our dim cat.

C:  Ten or fifteen minutes closer to almost everywhere.

D:  This is the view out the south (back) side of the house:

It looks like where hobbits live.  Seriously.  (Fingers and toes crossed).

Tick, tick...

We suddenly found an old house and some property for sale in the ideal location for us, and decided to make an offer on it.  We went to the bank and filled out paperwork yesterday for pre-qualification, and they promised it to us "within 24 hours."  I should have known that 24 hours did not include, say, the last half of the day on Friday.  Guess if our papers are ready, so that we can make an offer, and prevent anyone else from buying it before us?  Of course not.  They'll be ready for us first thing on Monday, since they were "short-staffed" today.

So...now we wait.  For the next two days.  We weren't seriously looking a major purchase at this time last week.  Now, I'll be mentally tapping my foot for the next two days, waiting for the stars to align properly so we can make an offer and get it over with.  I hate waiting.  I feel like the place is ours, and am dreaming of the horrifying paint colors I will choose for each room.  Here's to hoping that no one else notices my destiny house and buys it this weekend, before we can.  I hope any other prospective buyers' bank sucks all weekend, too.