Leprechaun in Mobile, Alabama

i know i'm late for saint patrick's day, and i am a little obsessed with this, but it's so funny!

house status

So we put an offer on a house on we saw on saturday. This was monday, we didn't hear back until tuesday when our offer was refused. The counter offer was still too high and so we offered a bit more than our first bid. The seller wouldn't budge, so we walked. It was frustrating but also freeing. I feel like now we know for sure what we have to do: rent. The house was great, but in God's good timing we will find another. We will rent for 12 months and be ready to find a new home.

Mark and is sick and home from work. Asa is well, but still in his pj's. I am feeling weird, but hopefully the headache and dizziness will go away before long. It's been a stressful beginning of the week! Hopefully the apartment complex we want to be in will have the appropriate sized unit available for us still. Then we can set everything up and start packing for real.

It's pretty dismal out. It feels like a day where all I would like to do is sleep.

I started my scrapbooking. Bought the materials needed and received all the pictures from Winkflash(which by the way does not have flat rate shipping anymore). I want to finish thatup before I get too serious about packing. It's hard to find the time with a toddler though. I have been so sleepy lately I go to bed really early. I eat a ton now too. My appetite has gotten HUGE! Only 6 weeks left.

update

still sick! I keep telling myself that I am better because it's been so long. But i still feel yucky! Coughing my brains out and feeling fatigued. I am even going to have to miss Grandpop's birthday :(



Asa just fell asleep in his booster chair. I was wondering why he was so quiet.

I DID MY TAXES!! It was very hard this year because we took money out of a mutual fund last summer....you wouldn't think something as minute as that would wreak such havoc on your filing of taxes, but I was on the phone with our investment company, h&r block and the IRS to figure out how to sholw that one item had long and short term gains and they were obviously accuired at different times....AH! I am so getting rid of our mutual fund, no lie---it is NOT worth all that aggrivation! I did finish though, and filed everything online. Except for my local which I will mail today. It feels so nice to have that done!! Early this year(for me). There are websites which offer free filing for people in certain salary brackets. I thought that was awesome. I use H&R Block Online because they have previous years on record and I am familiar with their software. Sometimes I get annoyed with them though because it's hard to figure out what they mean from their examples....

Next on the looming list of things I need to do soon: Finish Asa's baby book and some family albums. The hard part about that is the pictures are all still digital and stored on different computers some of which aren't connected to the internet. So I'll have to import them to this computer and send 'em over to Winkflash.com ( my favorite online picture developing company) then I can get crackin'.


Wednesday we are looking at 3 homes. Yes we changed our mind again and are hoping to buy quickly...maybe we are insane. I like all three homes. One is in a very good location and the other two are iffy. But they are all nice and spacious and one has a lot of property which would be great. I really hope and pray that one of them is the house for us and we can move things along quickly.

Here is the recipe for the BBQ sauce:
1 Bottle ketchup
1 Cup brown sugar
1 red onion (sliced in medium strips)
1 Tb Cumin
1 Tb Chili Powder(if its not very spicy add more)
3 Tb Dark Molasses (use less if desired)
salt and pepper
Pinch of Tabasco(we put 15 dashes)
Pinch of Coriander

Just add the onion last so you can mix everything together smoothly. slather on your meat and grill away! Seriously good tasting sauce here.

(Picture from Christmas, but I thought it was cute!)




Daylight time begins this Saturday night. Don't forget to Spring Forward :)

8 weeks and 2 days left

The flu wasn't very fun. It was Asa's first time. He is still on anti-biotics. I just have to take the nebulizer. It's amazing how terrible a bug can make you feel. It's been a week of this and hopefully it's about to be lifted from our home. Mark went back to work yesterday and thankfully wasn't touched by the flu. He was an amazing homemaker and nurse. He really surprised me with how attentive he was. He did the laundry dishes, made the meals brought me all my meds and made sure Asa got his as well. He is amazing :)


I have a lot of packing to do, only about 5 weeks left of this place. I have no energy or else I would be further along in the packing department.

I went to my PCP on monday and she checked me out. She is the sweetest doctor ever...seriously. She knows my OB and I was able to talk to her about some concerns with my umbilical hernia and pregnancy. Looks like I am going to go through a normal birth(God willing) and have my stomach fixed 6-8 weeks down the road. She reassured me about recovery time and the surgeon she would reccommend and I feel much better now.


We are leaning toward renting again. At this point I think we ran out of time to buy. Plus I don't really want to get involved in the stress of homebuying right before giving birth....We really haven't seen any homes we've liked anyway.


My grandfather's 80th birthday is this Saturday. There's going to be a party for him. I wanted to go to the Italian Market this week and buy him some goodies, but unfortunately i haven't been out of the house. I love the italian Market. Claudio's is a great store for olives and cheese and deli meats. The people who work there are so nice and friendly. Whenever we go down to the Italian Market(me and the same friends each time) we always go the Chinatown before hand for Dim Sum. It's a great time!! I love Dim Sum, but I usually eat just the kinds with shrimp...

I went to a Culinary Workshop with my mother-in-law last week. That was a lot of fun. They taught us how to make this amazing homemade bbq sauce. It was SO yummy! The chef taught us how to make boneless country style ribs from chuck roll. I learned alot and had a belly full of angus beef when I left. We also made this indian style chili which was outstanding!! I learned about Arrowroot being a better base for gravy than flour or corn starch..that was interesting. I also learned that McCormick spices discontinued Arrowroot...lol

Asa would like some Honey Bunches of Oats.

its saturday...

...but if feels like every other day in the life of me. Our computer was just fixed yesterday so it's nice to have back. Our car was also fixed yesterday. Somthing was wrong with the power steering and it needed an alignment. Not too costly, but free would've been better! I got to drive an 08' Jeep Laredo. I am amazed at how much better I felt in my Pilot when I got it back. It had so much more power and was so much sturdier. The Laredo was fun, but seriously I'll take my older Pilot any day over the jeep!

I started packing my house. I left boxes opened though in case we need things. It feels to have things ready to go though. I just put away things in closets or knick knacks that we don't use regularly. I feel getting a head start on packing will help in the long run. I really hope we are out before Evie comes. Our landlord seems to be getting a bit antsy with getting the house sold. That makes for a very uncomfortable stay here. We did however receive our dryer though. So it has been nice to wash clothes once again. Mark is being given a car from his parents this week as well, so we will be back to two cars which will be nice.

I am 29 weeks now and happy baby is very active and I can't wait to meet her. I really don't have anything ready for her though. I need to get some basic clothing...I do have a bunch of clothes coming from other mothers of girls so that will be nice.

So right now I am going to get off the computer because i have a splitting headache from being cracked in the temple by my two-year-old's noggin.

it's about time...

I was recently reminded that I hadn't posted in a while. A whole month! I need to get with the program here.

We have been doing well. Seemingly busy although I feel like I am only ever home. We are still down to one car. It's been since before Christmas that Mark has been driving the family car to work. Thankfully his company is letting him work from home two days a week so I can get some things done. We have also been without a dryer for a long time now. That I think is probably worse than the car situation. We have the new dryer but are now being put off by the propane company who needs to convert the gas dryer to propane and then hook it up for us. This has been an extremely drawn out process.

In my last post I mentioned a home we wanted. Thankfully God answered our prayer with a No. Mark didn't receive the promotion and we didn't make an offer on the house. Now prices are lower and we went back to see the house and realized it wouldn't have worked anyway! So We have been looking for somewhere else to live, although we can't afford much. We are hoping for a raise and are getting some news regarding that soon. When we find out whats happening we will determine wether we will buy or continue to rent--just somewhere bigger. We are already leaning toward renting just because of the recession and how it will affect home prices and intrest rates. Mark's economics class in school couldn't have come at a better time.

I have to say I am bothered with the whole Primary Election process. Its so unnerving that a few states determine the candidate for a party. I wish all states could vote on the same day and then we could have a more accurate idea of who should win instead of the candidates dropping out because of what they think will happen! Campaign finances wouldn't be as much a of problem either because they wouldn't have to stretch over so long of a time! I still like Paul btw. I am going to vote for him no matter what. It's about principle. I don't like any of the candidates left(although Huckabee is better than the rest) So I might as well vote the way I wanted to in the beginning! The Republican party needs to be reformed so badly and maybe a Clinton Presidency will help that to happen. No matter what, God is in charge and has a plan.

Baby "E.B." as Asa likes to call her is doing well. She's very active and strong and I am getting very anxious to see her! It's amazing how much I have "popped" just at Christmas people were saying I didn't even look pregnant and now I am getting comments as to whether this is the last month of pregnancy!! Asa is doing well too. He is on a new schedule regarding his eating habits and it's completely reformed his behavior as well! After talking to a friend who is a register dietician we started a new routine for his meals and now he eats more quantity-wise and variety too. He is a delight,I am so glad to be home with him and watch him grow and learn. He is starting to recite books now. He'll look through them and "read" them aloud to himself by reciting what his amazing brain remembers! He is very happy about the baby and asks if he can hold her all the time. Tyler isn't as fazed about it yet, he's been doing well with school. He is getting back into hockey too. It's so cute to watch him play! He just had to get new skates because of how fast he is growing.

I am eager for the warmer weather to begin. I am almost unable to zipper my winter coat and would love not to have to buy a maternity one!
I have been playing Scramble and Scrabulous very often and I think it's helping my brain to stay a bit quicker now that the mommy brain has decided to set in!

I'll post more frequently!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sorry I am so late posting this. We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Tyler got to spend it with us and we all woke up early and opened presents and had a great breakfast. I made Turkey Sausage, Bacon(that I burnt to such a crisp we couldn't eat it) Creamed Chipped Beef on toast, Hash Browns and Scrambled Eggs! It was yummy! Afterwards we had a few hours to kick back and relax before heading to the in laws. Over there we had a fantastic meal and fun time looking a pictures of their trip to Europe. We did Pollyanna this year with them so after we ate we exchanged gifts, dad had me and got me some beautiful pearls! After that we headed over to my parents. There was a ton of my extended family there and we exchanged Pollyanna gifts with them also. Mom and Dad got me a new rug for my living room. The Beautiful Flokati rug I had was a nightmare for the allergic people in my household. This one is short haired and easy to be vacuumed. I love it!!! We had a great time with family and eating desert. I even snuck in some Shrimp Bisque that my mom routinely makes for the holidays.

So that was Christmas. New Years was quiet. We went to bed at 10. I was woken up by the fireworks at midnight. Not too eventful but relaxing and quiet.

I've really been feeling the baby move like crazy, even realizing when she has Hiccups!!! Mark and the boys have even seen her move in my belly. It's fun! Mark has been off work since the monday before Christmas and goes back the 7th. It's been nice to have him home. We've been lazy and only relaxed the whole time. It's been really great for me because Asa won't leave him alone and I get some free time...even being able to sleep in!

Things have been stressful around here. A couple weeks back we saw a house we really liked, but couldn't put an offer down until we knew if the job Mark was trying to get would go through. We were sure we would know by the New Year, but still haven't heard anything. It's been really trying, we are being as patient as we can--we have to be. I am just praying that the house is still up for sale--it felt so perfect!

In the middle of all that Mark was hit on his way home from work and has been without a car for three weeks. The adjuster came out quickly and said he thought it would be totalled. The insurance lady in charge of our claim went on vacation though, so we had to practice more excruciating patience. Yesterday we finally settled with the insurance company and got a better sum than we thought we would. But it will still be a while before everything is said and done.

Oh and the dryer has been broken for about a week and a half and the Landlord is taking a VERY long time to take it seriously. I had to do some wash at mom's house. IT feels horrible to have mountains of dirty laundry lying around.

Asa has been up the past couple nights crying. He hasn't been eating well either. That's been tough, I guess I'm getting practice for when Evie comes! He's probably got something, I'm just not sure what. He's got a bit of a runny nose, but no other visible symptoms other than his eczema flaring up.

Even though it feels like too much to handle it could really be worse! I am learning I am not in control of anything and just have to trust God.

Genevieve Elizabeth Lane is looking like the final cut for baby girl. We would call her "Evie" though---well all except my grand mom who said she is going to call her Genevieve anyway:)!!!