We're moving...

some day. God I can't believe it's been since APRIL!!!

We've been busting our butts around here getting this house ready to sell. I think it looks pretty good too. You be the judge: www.1810rowley.com

We are now just waiting to see how long it takes the house to sell ... then we start looking to buy in CT. Gotta say just trying to make three beds in the a.m. w/ the 'help' of two three year olds is posing a challenge much less keeping the place clean... CLEAN!

The kids are just fried after all the work and not spending as much time w/ them and the travel ... we're all fried. Though I don't want to leave SOON I hope it doesn't take too long to sell the house... this is going to test my patience and coping skills.

I wish I had more to say right now, but my brain is mush and I'm TIRED!!!!!

New Insulation is THE BOMB!

I've been handling the winter weather much better than I ever thought I would, but the one thing that has been bumming me out is wearing a sweatshirt, hat and/or scarf around my own house.

Well, we got new insulation today and I am happy to report that I am comfortable w/o a sweatshirt, hat and scarf!!! YEAH!

It's the small things!

The projects continue...

It seems we have opened pandora's box around here and w/ all my might I can't close it. Our bathroom remodel has spilled into other areas, next the driveway, now a deck, some rewiring, french doors and redesigning the closet in our room... we are hoping it ends there! Now onto the "decorating" stuff. Painting the bathroom and the landing, selling a bunch of stuff on craigslist, organizing the office, organizing Jason and Lily's rooms and I'm sure there are other things I am not remembering.

We separated Jason and Lily,... their rooms look like jail cells. I took pretty much everything out of there b/c they were just wrecking the place. In one day I decided to clear out the guest room b/c I had just had it w/ them not napping. It was a rough day, but it's done! They now have their own separate spaces. It seems to have worked for Jason he is back to napping. Lily is spending some quiet time reading... she napped the first day. We'll see what happens w/ that. Right now all they have in their rooms is a mattress and Jason has a rug. I feel really bad about it for some reason. Mom and I are heading to Ikea on Tuesday for a day off (kids staying w/ my two Toms) and to get things for their rooms and my office/laundry room.





Papa's new scooter


Things are going 'okay' on the training front. I'm having a really tough time getting back in the swing of things, but it felt great to be back on my bike today.. well A bike. A road bike too... it was nice. We did a 2 hour ride and a 50 minute run.. tomorrow I swim... Yoga season begins soon!

It seems my fundraising for Team in Training has totally stalled out! I NEED YOUR HELF!!! I have over $1000 to raise still... if you haven't donated yet please go to my website and donate TODAY... like RIGHT NOW!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/wi/chitri08/lmount

Hanging w/ daddy in our 'wraps' (fitted sheets)

it gets worse before it gets better...

what a mess! The good news is it should all be fixed up by the end of next week.




Jason got another ride in the bobcat and he LOVES it!

Jason's Dreams Come True

A Bobcat was dropped off at our house this morning for the beginning of our driveway project. Jason got to sit in it and ride in it w/ Scott. Lily did too, but she wasn't nearly as excited as Jason. They both loved watching all day... as did most of the neighbor kids.

MY BOBCAT!


Lily checking it out too. Notice Dane, our neighbor, checking out the scene too!


Jason riding w/ Scott. Look how serious he is!


I thought this one was cute of Lily and Scott talking:


Moving some concrete


Watching from inside later in the day. Notice Austin, Dane's little brother, in the background.


Dad worked his butt off today and got most of the driveway out. Tomorrow a.m. the garage will be jacked up so dad can move that concrete out. I'm not sure how we are going to get all of it out b/c here is no where else to put it in the yard.

The project won't quite be completed by the time I leave next week, but it will be nice to have a nice new driveway and a squared up garage when I return... and hopefully it will help the basement stay dry in the future!

Each day brings a new twist..

I was awoken by Tom's painful moaning. He was in such excruciating pain he could barely stand up. Off to the ER we went. After three hours in the ER, a CT Scan ruling out kidney problems and two injections of pain medications barely relieving pain we decided that Tom should be admitted. We were told in the ER that Tom most likely had a herniated disk and the PA said she felt a hernia, but the CT scan didn't show one... ??

It took 6 hours after being admitted to the hospital to see the doc come back from looking at the CT scan and stating the same thing - regarding the herniated disk - as the ER staff. The doc then said they are going to do an MRI.... that was about 5.5 hours ago now... and still no MRI.

Hopefully Tom will get out of there w/o needing surgery. We'll see. The pain was BAD... the only thing that allowed him even a bit of relief was MORPHINE>>> eek. He's on a high dose of Vicodin now... :(




On a lighter note... our dirt (I mean Jason's dirt) showed up today. A dump truck (the highlight of Jman's day) dropped it off in our front yard today and the kids were just chomping at the bit to get out there.... they saw Papa use a shovel in it and the immediately ran out and got their shovels so they could help. They did put a few shovelfuls in Papa's wheelbarrow and they did a surprisingly good job!



Jason letting me know that this dirt is HIS dirt: "Jason's dirt!"


Okay buddy... if you say so. It will take Papa a while to get this dirt moved to the side yard.... guess I'll have to help. ha :) Looks like that might be the extent of my work outs tomorrow. Didn't get to ride today... Mom got here at 3:30am and I thought she deserved a break tonight... and frankly, I'm EXHAUSTED! We'll see how this effects my "(wo)man up" philosophy!

Scott Krupp is my hero!

I called Scott at 8am this morning b/c of our back up. He is the contractor that did our remodel of our bathroom and our front porch. He runs Mascott Brothers here in Madison. I asked him for a referral to a plumber, but he said, "I'll come over and take a look at it and if I can't fix it we'll call the plumber." Scott didn't have to do this. He could have just given me the number for a plumber, but that's not the kind of guy he is. This isn't the first time he's gone above and beyond the call of duty, but this was WAY above.... and it was even his day off!

It took him hours, but it is fixed. He augered out both main lines and they were DISGUSTING!

Thank you Scott!

If anyone local needs work done this is the guy to use!

Ooops

So we might have blown any cost savings we were enjoying while using clothe diapers. Apparently Tom accidentally flushed one of the VERY absorbent inserts for the diapers while rinsing it.... and it appears to be stuck in our sewage line. The photo above is of the drain in our basement that is attached to the main sewage line going to the city line. UGH! So Scott (our contractor) is coming over to see if he can fix it... if he can't he will call the plumber. Who knows how much this will cost. UGH!

So Lynda.. it appears that the leak downstairs was what we thought it was.

So if you are clothe diapering... BE CAREFUL not to flush those inserts on accident.