Tomorrow the house goes on the market. I've set up a photobucket album just for it. The listing isn't live yet but will be. Tomorrow. We want loads of money and no commission, okay? Oh and fast. Thanks.

Very weird dream last night where I was pregnant, with the mirena still in place. So I went to the doctor for a weird procedure causing my body to expel it. Followed by an ultrasound, where turns out "she" was just fine but that she had a small scar from said device. Cuckoo.

Today we're driving to Falmouth to see a house be loaded into place by cranes. Then some seafood and beer. Woot!

I don't feel six years older.

Happy Anniversary to us.

So we've had this "rewards card" for years and are just sitting here getting points. We used it for a plane ticket once, I think.

In the car, I remembered this and linked it mentally to the Charleston/Savannah/Atlanta trip this fall. We are staying in two *sweet* historic hotels for free (sort of)!! Give me a woot. Sadly, now that we're taking advantage, we're not using that card as much. Darn kids and the college savings card.

Also, we're getting the house ready to sell. I have been cleaning and organizing for a while and I'm not nearly done. I need to do things like wash the windows. Sigh. The hardest part is going to be keeping it clean. At least shoving toys into baskets doesn't take long. I hope that if I wash the windows now, a quick windex fingerprint swipe will cover me.

I'm probably not really itchy, or feeling worms on my skin, but the bugs in the pantry are creating that impression. Blech. I disposed of both the baby rice and baby oatmeal, which apparently are big hatching nests of disgusting yuckiness.

School is going well. I haven't had this much definition in my weeks in months, at least. Getting up and out the door at the same time 4 days a week is a big thing. And it's totally wiping him out. I'm so glad we didn't sign up for too many activities this fall, he needs just regular old downtime.

It's just over a month untnil the little girl turns one. It was such a huge deal when Nino turned one. And it's a big deal for her, I'm just having a hard time fitting in the time to plan a big shindig.

I think we'll have playgroup party early in the day here, and then dinner and cake here for the family. I'm going to use orange and hot pink as the "theme" as well as the number one on everything. An orange cake with a giant hot pink 1 on it perhaps?

I'm going to call curious creatures as well, to find out what their rate is for kiddos parties. Nino loved it. Maybe I'll see if Ethan's mommy wants to go in on it with me for playgroup.

We have bad "hire somebody to color your house" luck. About 6 months ago, we hired a guy to paint the bathroom. We weren't really thinking we wanted the bathroom painted, but it was a favor for a friend. So we said "same blue as the upstairs closet". Somehow that translated into "old can of neon blue paint and don't confirm that's the right color before applying several retina-burning coats to tiny bathroom". It was fun using my babysitting time to repaint it. I do love the new mushroom brown color though.

So anyway. We again hired someone sort of as a favor, to redo the kitchen floor. I loved it as is, but with two dogs and two kids and life, it was a bit scratched. We had stained it. They sanded it to pretty much bare wood and then finished it. It's much too blonde for me. I'm sure I'll get used to it and it looks great in that real-estate way but it's not what I wanted. At all. And we even went away camping for this. At least we caught him after 3 coats and him saying "but it's not that shiny I can apply another" because we *bought* satin finish and we don't want it any shinier, thankyouverymuch.

I just want to be able to walk across my kitchen. Now.

I'm now the mother of a schoolchild. Yesterday we went to orientation. Today I stayed for half an hour, and picked him up two hours later. Tomorrow, I will drop him off at the curb with his little backpack and snack and change of pants for unseen mud emergencies. It's all so normal and ordinary yet it's huge. He's out there, in the world, doing things that I don't know. I watched him for a while today, and he is hysterical at sitting there listening, and learning all the signs (it's an integrated special needs room) and answering questions and palling around with new kids that I don't know. It's craziness. He loves it.

The moths have taken over the flour and sugar cabinet. Worms, sticky webs, moths. Nice.

I just put all of the stores into glass containers. All the while grossed out. Some of the things didn't fit so we'll be making cookies. Much cereal is going stale, so some of that will go in the cookies too.

Because I have not received a genuine comment in a while, if you are reading this, please comment and use the verification word in a sentence. Thank you.

Still trying to figure out where we're going to live. Short term, long term, all of it.

If things work out perfectly, we'll have no mortgage, a new house, and a vacation home. I don't see that happening, but if we have no mortgage and a new house, it'll make building the vacation home easier.

I want to go kind of nuts with the solar stuff up there, since it's entirely off the grid, but hubby wants to just keep it simple. Simple is good I suppose but I don't want to have to do anything screwy to the toilet for the winter. Sounds dumb.

Plans are underway for the I dream house. 4+ bedrooms, 2 offices, playroom, library, media room, fireplace, den, 2 car garage - oh and did I mention it's just 2100 s.f.? I rule. ;o)

Okay. From Mary, as I can sit here and take my time to do this between sibling tiffs.

1. Yourself:
mom to two

2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend:
my husband is napping

3. Your hair:
pigtails inspired by dream

4. Your mother:
gets it done

5. Your Father:
awesome guy.

6. Your Favorite Item:
architecture license

7. Your dream last night:
weird braid extensions.

8. Your Favorite drink
regular coke if calories don't count.

9. Your Dream Car:
stationwagon with 4wd and great fuel economy

10. The Room You Are In:
office, a bit of a pigsty

11. Your Ex:
got me

12. Your fear?
driving into water

13. Where you want to be in 10 years?
right here, mothering at least one more.

14. Who you hung out with last night?
the fam and the boatbuilder and the hubby's old pal.

15. What You're Not:
tall

16. Your Best Friend:
I can't say there's just one now. highschool, she died. 13 years ago.

17. One of Your Wish List Items:
some sort of baby's first year book.

19. The Last Thing You Did:
nurse a baby.

20. What You Are Wearing:
life is good tshirt, jeans, bare piggies.

21. Your Favorite Weather:
cold fall air, sweaters and jeans.

22. Your Favorite Book:
The Red Tent.

23. The Last Thing You Ate:
reese's pieces.

24. Your Life:
excellent. love the fam.

25. Your Mood:
tired, still have work to do.

26. Your body:
flabby but working on it

27. What are you thinking about right now:
going to lay down with the book and the babe.

28. Your Crush:
I'm so out of touch I'm not going to even try.

29. What are you doing at the moment:
this. And watching the kids play decently.

30. Your summer schedule:
It's pretty well over now. We're going to see Real Dinosaur Bones at some point.

Today we met Nino's preschool teacher. They have this very defined process for starting school, which begins with a home visit, then the kids and parents visit the class, then we drop off. I'm so excited about this program. They've thought of it all and know what to expect from 3 year olds. She didn't bat an eye at his crazy showoffy behavior. It's also nice when someone calls your child "very bright". ;o)

We went camping for the first time. It was really nice but I was glad to be home. I woke up the next day with a splitting headache, and I think it was all of the stress of the dirt, the bugs, the not bathing, the lakeside site/3 year old/campfire combination just slamming into me the moment I got some rest. Hubby wanted to go back this weekend, but I'm thankful that the holiday has it all booked up. We'll go the following weekend, after I've had my fill of screens and showers.

So here it is. Vacation week.

We played miniature golf, which lasted 3 holes and 45 minutes. The place was packed.

We also went to old sturbridge village. Kids had way more fun than I expected. Blacksmiths are cool.

When you go to target for portraits with a coupon and don't have an appointment, expect to get what you pay for. They made me wait, and now I have to wait 15 days to pick them up. "Why does it take so long?" "It takes 7-10 days". "um . . . 15?" "the holiday?"

Right. A one day holiday makes it take 5 more days.

Oh and I changed the photos above. Aren't they just the cutest things?

See?

Found the camera. Just in time for some hysterical photo taking, of course.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do next week. Babysitter is going on vacation, but I still need to get some work done. I'm thinking of finding a neighborhood girl to hang out with them a few hours for a few days. I hope they're cheap, because I still pay for vacation time. The arrangement sucks.

Seriously. Take me off your invitation list if you're planning to invite me to your wedding, kidfree, at 5 pm Friday in Boston, and I hardly know you. Your fiance/husband's parent company's vp is nice and all but really.

And then into Boston again tonight for a cocktail/schmooze hour. It was beautiful and fun but I missed the rugrats. I now have a good structural engineer contact though. Speaking of, I need to make business cards.

Speaking of making things, I made Nino's backpack for school and it's sooo cute. I really love it and think I might just make and sell a few. It's so simple and old-school. And toddler sized. I'm not putting a full sized one on his little back. But it will still hold full-size artwork.

I would take a picture but I can't find the camera. I remember the last day I had it but no clue. I'll keep looking.

Our neighbor has a fish pond. She let us use her pool for a few weeks for swimming lessons, and the pool is always open to us. She mentioned that she wanted a frog for her fish pond. So this afternoon, we went to Uncle's house, got out the nets, and grabbed her three tiny frogs. And luck of all lucks, they are different patterns - stripey, spotty, and mostly plain. So we delivered them. I hope they flourish there. It was a fun adventure and I hope it worked out.

Fortunately, the chinese soup tub stayed shut the entire ride and the only thing that smells of frog water is the tub itself. I drove in a tizzy all worried.

Both kids also have a viral rash. No telling what it is, but they have a lacy but not bumpy rash primarily on their cheeks. Also present on arms, shoulders, and bum. In the sun, it gets nice and red and streaky on the cheeks and they look like I should have them shuttered up with chicken soup or something. But they're really fine.

It's been a while huh? Just life, nothing very exciting. Lots of pool-beach-park-sprinkler stuff going on. Not to mention a few illnesses. Nino had this awful cough for over two weeks (finally gone? knock on wood), I got a lovely case of mastitis, and M currently has the poops either related to the antibiotics and/or the tooth. I can't even figure out where she's teething but she definitely is. She's already got the front eight so your guess is as good as mine.

On another note, good luck today Stacy. I can't wait to see pics of that beautiful baby girl!

So after 3+ years of nursing (not continuously, but not that far off), I guess I have mastitis. No one even had to see me, the prescription will be waiting for me. Lets hope it kicks in quickly.

Welcome to the world Moira Catherine!! My friend from high school, who now lives in Hawaii with her husband and 2 year old daughter Ella, had her second on Wednesday. I'm so happy for them.