Green Acres - HA!

No one tells you about landscaping when you plan to move a house out into the country. Or I suppose when you build one. No one mentions that when you try to plant those beautiful flowerbeds along your new front porch that the dirt there was originally part of the pad for the house - you know - the one they built up and levelled and PACKED SOLID so the house wouldn't slide down the property when you got 17 inches of rain since January.

Because if they had, I wouldn't have spent several hours with a hoe, hand tiller, shovel and mini rake trying to break it up enough so I could plant snap dragons, day lilies, marigolds and a plethora of verbena, zinnia and phlox seeds. I would have just put my foot down and said to my husband "I don't *care* that you bought a huge ole tractor, that won't help me with my flower beds, now you get thyself to Lowe's and BUY ME A ROTOTILLER!!!

Seriously.

But I must say - the flower beds do help with the house looking more like a home, and it will look even better once a few of those seeds sprout. I took some of the leftover brick from the house and created a border that is straight in spots, and wavy in others. That might have something to do with the unevenness of our yard. We've also had sod put down over about half the yard - so we have grass. Sure - it looks like it's gasping it's last breath before it dries out and turns to hay - but the landscape dude tells us that's just shock. I had no idea that grass was so sensitive. Apparently it has to adjust to its new home. At least the grass doesn't wake me up 4 times a night like my dog did the first week out here.

Tonight, we plant pinto beans in our garden. Not because I'm a big fan of plain ole pinto beans, or beans and rice, or beans and cornbread, although my husband loves them. Nope - I love me some green pintos. That's right - I pick 'em before they get all big and beany and I plan to can 'em just like my grandma did, and y'all - if you love home canned green beans, you will LOVE green pintos. Honestly. They are the ultimate. Cook 'em with some small new potatoes and I could just make a whole meal out of them. Which is why we are planting half an acre four rows of them.

We're also growing a ton of tomatoes, which I think I mentioned before. We had to re-plant due a hailstorm. And when we did that, I sure as shootin got some peppers to plant too. Both jalepenos and bell. Mmmm - hot sauce! M also decided to plant corn, cucumbers, watermelon and canteloupe in our "small garden." Now mind you - he didn't bother to pull any of the weeds that had come up since the garden area was plowed up. So guess what I get to do tonight? Along with my short young helpers otherwise known as my sons.

Last Tuesday, I took off work in the morning so that DishNetwork could come install their lovely two-room DVR tuner in my new house. I waited and waited, and planted lavender bushes by my porch steps. I then waited and waited and watched the landscape dude lay sod in my yard. After I planted my daylilies, I called the local phone service company to find out where the heck my Dish dude was and discovered that since the local phone service company couldn't install our land line for another month, they called Dish and canceled our appointment.

Without telling ME.

After a couple of hours of frustrating phone calls between said phone company and Dish and getting hung up on TWICE, I finally said pfft - called Dish directly and got it all set up for the Dish dude to do his thing tomorrow afternoon. I also expressed my extreme frustration with the phone company, and lo and behold, I get home the other day and there is some kind of trencher machinery out by our house and I'm thinking it may not be a month before we have a phone line after all. Heh.

Ah. The country life.

Home at Last

At last. We are moved.

Well - mostly moved. As mentioned here (my evil myspace blog), we moved what we four could because our helpers weren't able to help. So we still have to move our entertainment center, the big TV, the tall lamps, my washer & dryer, and the deep freeze. But that's ok. We're able to live in Hicksville now.

Of course, now begins the unpacking. I have my kitchen pretty much done, but it's hard to unpack a living room when you don't have an entertainment center. I think I'll work on our closet and bedroom tonight. And the boys' rooms. We still haven't set up E's bed. He's perfectly happy sleeping on his mattress on the floor, so it just hasn't been done. I'm hoping he and Dad will get it taken care of tonight, so he can unpack his stuff - I have two or three of his boxes in my living room, and I want them out !

We've had major storms the last week, so our garden is toast. I think we're going to attempt to re-plant this weekend. And I can start putting in flower beds and honeysuckle and lilac bushes and mexican broom and line the drive with iris' and....

What!? I can't help it if I like flowers. I can finish unpacking later. Those boxes aren't going anywhere, but if I don't plant soon, all I'll have is dirt around my new home. And that just won't do.

Last night I cooked my first meal in our new house. I was able to actually set the table (oh yeah - we still need to move my dining table and chairs - thank goodness the house has a built in kitchen table!) with real plates! And silverware! And I could fit the food on the table! Which my prompted this conversation:

"J: Why is there food on the table?

M: Because it's time for supper.

E: But we always just get our food from the stove.

M: That's because our table was always covered with junk. No more buster. From now on we eat like this. No more buffet style for you! We're going to eat like normal people!

J: This is just weird."

Bless their hearts - they thought people only ate like that on holidays. Just wait until they learn to set the table. And clear the table. And clean the table and the counters. Muahahahahahahahahahahahaha....

Even though we have propane in the propane tank, and a line run to the house, and regulators on those lines, and all has been checked out by the propane people, for some reason we still do not have the propane turned *on* - so I don't have hot water on the kitchen end of the house. Which also holds my bathroom. Needless to say, we're all using the shower in the kids' bathroom. It's much roomier than the itty bitty stall in *my* bathroom, so I'm not complaining *too* much - although it is kind of a pain to walk to the other end of the house with my contact stuff, towels, etc.

Speaking of walking - you never realize just how small your house is until you move into a bigger house and you have to walk all around it unpacking. If moving doesn't help me lose weight, I don't know what will. (Of course, it would help if I hadn't just started my fifth oatmeal raisin cookie this morning.)

When I sat down at the table for supper last night, I looked around in surprise at how we seated ourselves. I was sitting in my grandma's chair, my husband in my grandpa's chair, my kid's where either my mom and dad, or my uncle and his wife used to sit. And I marveled that we picked those seats. When visiting this house, while my grandparents lived there, I always sat on the other side of the table. The kid's side. Now I'm sitting on the adult's side. Like my grandma did. And I realized that I was content in this home. My home. And I was probably feeling the same way she did when they first moved into that house after they had it built.

Oddly enough - I think that I'm about the same age she was when she moved into that house. I just pray that Monty & I have as many happy years in this home as she & grandpa did. I hope that she checks us out every so often from heaven.

(And I hope she doesn't mind that I painted her paneling!)

Moving on up....

After months of of painting, cleaning, and frustration, I think we are finally making the big move this weekend.

I say I think because my darling husband has found more reasons to put off this move than there is tea in China. I'm hoping that the knowledge that while we will have friends to help us move *this* weekend, and they'll all be off partying in Cancun without US next weekend will keep him focused.

We finally got the house bricked. We have a pretty brand spankin new fridge with a water and ice dispenser in the door! Which makes me feel just so uptown, let me tell ya. M is laying some sod down this morning, so the dog will have something to relieve herself on (do not ask me why my cocker will not water dirt. She will only water vegetation. She is a weird dog. Cute and lovable, but weird.) We have a ton of stuff already moved in and unpacked. Unfortunately, we have a lot more stuff to move. I'll be packing dishes and breakable baking dishes tonight. As well as the getting the boys to pack the rest of their stuff in their rooms. I've packed most of my clothes, so we *better* move this weekend, or I'll be running around nekkid next week, which won't be a pretty sight, let me tell you. I've managed to gain TEN POUNDS in the last 6 months, although how I did that while working my tail off I have no idea. So that too should keep M motivated to move this weekend.

Of course, the boys will be less than thrilled, as we probably won't have our phone bundled with DishNetwork hooked up for a week or so, so they will be limited to the ridiculous collection of kid friendly DVDs we own as well as *gasp* - local TV. No Nik, no Cartoon Network. Poor things. I'd feel bad for them if they didn't try to take over the TV every single day. Hmph. *I* won't be going into TV withdrawals, because sweet Lord who watches over us all and meets every need, the Stanley Cup playoffs move from Versus to NBC on Saturday. Muahahahahahahahaha. Perfect. Now if Ottawa would just learn how to score a freakin goal in Anaheim!!!

The boys ended up doing very well in school this year, with both of them getting commended on all but one of their TAKS tests. And they came very close to getting commended on the other ones, but J missed by one question, and I think E missed by 2. Close enough. We are very very proud of how well the did academically this year. J was blessed with a wonderful teacher in Hicksville, and E does even better in small classes out there.

We started a garden. Just a little one, M said - we don't want to overwhelm ourselves with so much to do still on the property. Uh huh.

Someone explain to me how SIXTEEN TOMATO PLANTS constitute "a little garden"? And he won't plant peppers. I'm sorry, but if I'm going to do something with the tomatos from 16 plants, then by golly, there better be some peppers because I'm going to be making hot sauce, and while I'm willing to buy onions, we need PEPPERS!!!

Men. Love 'em, but sheesh. Besides the 16 tomato plants, we also planted cucumbers, yellow squash, watermelon and cantaloupe. Which is good because I love me some watermelon and cantaloupe. As soon as I get moved, we will be adding radishes and peppers. Both bell and jalepeno. But not so much jalepeno. Because those things are HOT.

Y'all keep us in your thoughts as we move this weekend. Primarily, pray that it will not rain another 5 inches, because seriously - having over 13 inches of rain this year already is so beyond weird, when our normal average rainfall is 5 1/2 inches.

Semi arid my hiney.

Slowly but surely

Goodness - imagine that. A whole month and still my house has not been bricked. To be fair, they were supposed to start that today. Before it started raining. And raining. And I'm pretty sure it's still raining out there. It's just bizarre. Technically we are in a semi-arid zone. At some point this last year, the "arid" part seems to have disappeared.

Despite all that - we are making some progress. We're moving things into the house. We're unpacking. I've ordered - and received - the cutest drapes ever which I will hang in the living room soon. Our new bedroom furniture has been delivered and arranged and is entirely too big for the current master bedroom - I've reassured M that once we re-do the old garage, it will look PERFECT in that room. We have two new couches which are much larger than M thought, and I've managed to not say even once "I told you we should have bought a love seat and a couch" or "YOU wanted two couches." We've planted trees, our brick has been delivered to our property, and each time we are out there we just count our blessings. It won't be much longer. And we just can't WAIT.

Some day. Maybe even before summer!

Thy Will Be Done

Living in West Texas, the coming of spring is discovered in different ways than up north. There is no crocus pushing up through the snow. No - in West Texas, it's the first green of the dandelions in your lawn. Your iris' beginning to put on new broad leaves. The dirt blowing so hard you can't see more than two blocks and the sky turns brown. And of course, the most definite sign of spring....

The appearance of Ron Roberts on channel 28. To report on the latest round of thunderstorms and tornados and hail and torrential rain. Weeeehaaaa! Spring has sprung!

Last weekend we had a couple rounds of storms, including twisters over in New Mexico, and my favorite, low energy funnels in Lubbock during lunch on Sunday. My darling M, while down south at the lake "relaxing," was too busy cleaning bass to answer my phone calls informing him that his wife and children were about to take a trip to Oz, and to be sure and feed the dog because we don't want her to be barking at Toto and we'd miss him and for heaven's sake, DO NOT GIVE AWAY MY CLOTHES because I'm sure we'll only be gone a few days.

Men.

Of course, it wasn't anywhere near our home, and I did get a great deal of amusement of watching the plethora of Tech students who climbed on top of their duplexes to see if they could see the funnels, despite the large amount of thunder and lightening. Hey - we're in Texas. When there is a twister in the area, you can find us in two places - the front yard or the back yard. (or the roof apparently if you're young and immortal) The kids did get to see their first "live" funnel and as they are their mother's sons, both were tickled to death.

Last night we had another round, with bad storms off the east, then a line developing around bedtime on the Tx/NMX state border. I had hoped that we wouldn't have any rain out in Hicksville, because the ground is beyond saturated, and we can't get the house bricked until it dries out. I quickly gave up that wish in favor of praying that there would be no GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL! break out all of the windows in the new house and ruin everything inside. I spent two hours gritting my teeth and saying over and over "Thy will, Lord...thy will. If you must have rain, then let it rain. If you have a reason for busting out our windows and having us start all over, thy will, Lord. Thy will. But if you could have that hail dodge us, Lord, we sure would appreciate it."

M went by this morning. Lots of rain, no hail that he could see. The new trees he planted last week still have their leaves. My iris' that were planted by the road aren't shredded (unlike the ones in my flower beds in Lubbock).

Thy will, Lord. And thank you.

Brittney shaved her head? Who knew?!?

Oh it is fun times in this part of the state.

Last Friday? The local city council of the town I will be moving *from* had the po-lice arrest - get this - The Chippendales.

I. Am. Not. Kidding.

20 minutes into the show I hear. I actually didn't go last Friday for varied reasons (including my husband was sick as a dog and *someone* had to keep the children from eating all the candy in the house and watching racy movies on TV). But many of my friends did - and some were not at all happy. I mean really - these guys didn't even get a chance to take their pants off! And they were wearing *hotpants* under the pants. Not g-strings. Not thongs. Not even BREIFS. Hotpants. Oooo - thank goodness the city council saved all those consenting adult women from being subjected to THAT.

Yes - I'm being sarcastic. I think it was dumb. I also think they really just wanted to shut the club owner down for whatever reason, and I get *really* annoyed when those in power use that power to a) punish those they don't like or b) tell me what I can & can't do morally. Excuse me - I'll make my *own* moral decisions, ok? And if they want to run all "sexually oriented entertainment" out of town - then just have the ouevos to say that. Sheesh.

AND - we get to hear all about it. Every newscast has another spin. Every day the paper has a new article. The local talk radio? All about it. We even have radio dj's raising cain at city council town meetings. I hear tell it made CNN. I'm telling ya - we're just quite the cosmopolitan town here in good ole West Texas.

I didn't even hear about Brittney's hair escapade until yesterday afternoon! Or maybe it was yesterday morning. Either way - we've been entirely too busy to worry about Brittney.

Anyhoo - for the two who read on a regular basis - I have 3 of the color walls done - and one coat on the red wall. We got the paneling painted yesterday. Of course, my youngest tells me that his wall isn't navy enough. Navy? No one said *anything* about navy - he said "like the Denver Broncos" and I thought I had gotten close enough to that color....

Apparently not. Now I have to fix it. And I'm betting that E's wall isn't "St. Louis Rams" blue enough either. *sigh* I wonder if I can talk the hubs into going back to the paint store?

Psst. Rumorville in Hicksville....

I hear tell - now - it's just hearsay. But I hear tell that a cement truck is supposed to head out to Hicksville today.

And, you know, might actually pour some of that cement in these frames. Ones that will actually form my porches.

I know I know - you shouldn't listen to gossip. But just in case.

I may have a porch tomorrow!

Woohoo!

Rain rain - go away.....

I am done texturing the house. Yes sirree - I've swirled my last swirl, dabbed my last crow's foot, and will be covered in mud no more.

Well - until it's time to do the utility room. But other than THAT - I'm done. Now we just have to mask off the trim, tape and cover the floors and then Monty can paint.

The tile in the kitchen, utility room and entry way looks wonderful. I love it. The new french door looks pretty cool too.

No progress on the porches, as it's been too wet and muddy after the Not-So-Great Blizzard of 2007. I had hopes for later this week, but according to Intellicast, we have a 30% chance of wet crap tonight, 30% chance for wet crap tomorrow, and 50% chance of wet crap tomorrow night.

Damit.

Maybe next week. Maybe next month. Maybe by my birthday......

In other news, J got a "Notice of Concern" for science. Seems he's acing his tests, but not turning in his daily work. We recently discovered that he is supposed to be bringing home a science folder every day. That he hasn't been bringing home. Apparently he loves doing the hands on stuff - up until they start doing .... paperwork. Like worksheets and other evil handouts.

The horror.

So - last night he brought brought home his science folder. But not his incomplete worksheets. OR his science book. In case you haven't guessed, organization is *not* his strong suit. And I have yet to figure out how to help him get *more* organized. If anyone has any bright ideas, please let me know. Soon. Before he manages to you know, actually FLUNK science - while acing all the tests?

Of course, I did manage to scar him for life this weekend. After spending the day Sunday finishing up the ceilings out at the house, I came home and wanted nothing more than to take a shower and get the sand and mud and gunk off of me before I went to the hockey game. I go into my bedroom.

MY bedroom. I disrobe. Because the door is shut and it's MY bedroom. I hear J and the dog outside my door. I say - because I'm a mom and all psychic like that - "Don't come in here!" And what does he do?

Pfft. Opens the door when I'm standing there wearin nothing but my panties.

I'm telling ya -

Scarred. For. Life.

At the very least, I'm betting he'll never be a boob man.

*sigh*

Nationals and a house report...

(because I know both of y'all are dying to hear about the house....)

I hadn't posted anything in a while, but I did blog about Nationals here. I love Nationals. I just want to giggle like a goofy kid when I think about it being on tonight. I just hope I can keep from reading all the spoilers online before then.

The house - well - the kitchen tile is down, grouted and sealed, and looks spectacular. No - really - I'm not just saying that. It brightens up the entire kitchen. And the entry way (we were able to do the entry way in the same tile after all. Of course, we have 3 boxes of broken tile to return) It's awesome. After the Not-So-Great Blizzard of 2007, the "farm" is tres muddy and it's utterly impossible for the porch dude to come pour my porches. :-\ I continue to gently pray for sunshine. And warmer temperatures. And NO MORE RAIN FOR TWO MORE WEEKS!!! Then maybe we could get this thing DONE. If you are so moved, feel free to drop a prayer about that as well.

I'll be texturing and muddin' and swirlin' this weekend. Wish me much luck - because if I can get that all done this weekend, next week - M can start painting the house. And once we're all painted - porches or not - we can get my matching bedroom furniture delivered, as well as the new couch and loveseat that my beloved is ordering today.

Baby steps...it's all about baby steps....

Stock Show Day...

One of the advantages of my boys going to a small town school is that they have different holidays than the big city. (Ok - Lubbock is NOT a big city - but it's bigger than Ropes). This was a source of delight for my boys when they started school later than their friends, and when they got out of school earlier for the Christmas holidays. It was *not* a source of delight when they had to go back to school two days earlier than Lubbock did. Nor was it a source of delight when they had to go to school Monday while Mom got to stay home in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. (pfft. I spent the day working on the house. They got to go to school 2 hours late due to the ice storm. Whiners.)

Another advantage is "Stock Show Day" where my kids get out of school at noon today. Now - they don't have any animals to take to the stock show, but by golly - apparently there are enough kids at Ropes ISD that do so that EVERYONE gets to leave school! Woohoo!

Of course, Mom still has to work. So DAD gets to go pick 'em up and spend the day with his sons.

Heh Heh heh. I should feel envious. But I know that I will spend the entire weekend cooped up with the 3 of them when the Great Blizzard of 2007 hits Friday, so I'm cool with working today while Dad entertains the boys. Muahahahahahahahahahahaha......

House report - (because I know that the two people who stop by due to bizarre google searches are just DYING to hear how it's going....)

The hubs has finished caulking the corners and baseboards and where ever else he needed to caulk, so I have the greenlight to finish texturing the ceilings and walls. The sliding glass patio door was replaced Monday with my new fancy french doors with the mini-blinds between the glass - and we discovered that new fancy french doors made today are about 5 - 6 inches shorter than sliding glass doors installed in 1963. Goody! More sheetrock for me to texture. Good thing I'm so darn good at that, eh?

The tile guy has laid all the tile in the kitchen, utility room and in front of said new fancy french doors, and will be grouting it today. I can't wait to see it! Of course, the tile they gave us for the entry way is the wrong darn color, so we have to pick some other tile for the entry way. I have a feeling that I'll be doing that at lunch - trying to find something that Lowe's has in stock. It doesn't *have* to match the kitchen - although it would have been handy.

The porches are still mounds of frozen dirt because apparently you can't pour concrete when it's eleventy-million degrees below freezing. And that situation isn't looking to improve anytime soon. I will be sending up gentle prayers, in between really important ones (like for my mom-in-law, who is doing very well, and my kids' godfather, who is not doing quite so well, and Emma Grace, and Kelli - and wow - what an amazing miracle THAT was! ) asking for the good Lord to please let it warm up for a few days next week so they can pour my porches. Of course, he's so busy with the important stuff, he may just tell me no and to quit my whining because I'll get moved into my new house in His own good time. *sigh*

I would be out there today texturing, but classes started last week and I just can't justify taking off. So that's where we are, and that's where we'll be for the next week or so. I'm off to see how many new grad students we have - woohoo!

And this is the post in which

I brag about how well I did texturing!

Yeah - yesterday was a bit gloomy at Casa de Digby. I was *so* discouraged and extra nervous about try to texture the ceilings and walls of the new house.

Then I got out to "the Farm" and M informed me that the tile guy will start on our kitchen Friday (which has now been changed to Monday, but that's still cool).
And the cement guy will start framing my humongous porch on Monday.

THEN - I mixed me up some mud, rolled it on the ceiling, took my little whisk broom and made me some swirls. Yes ma'am - and they looked just darn near perfect. I so wish I had taken pictures so I could show everyone what a swirling ceiling mama I am!

(No. I am *not* being overly proud. Ok - maybe a little)

After that, I tried doing the texture on the walls and did a pretty decent job on THAT too!

I may have a whole new career future........

All in all, a great end to a day that started out like poo. In about 15 minutes I'm going to go see how it looks now that it's dried and plot when to do the rest.

And Monday - oh Monday! Monday the final steps before we move get started. Because after they do the porches, they can re-brick the house! And once the kitchen tile is done, and the house is textured and painted....

We can move!!!!!!

(And does it make me a super geek to be excited to discover that Owlhaven not only *read* my little blog, but even commented? Granted - it was about our mutual admiration for Rocks in my Dryer, but still! She's like - one of the *real* bloggers! I feel like one of the cool kids just walked by and said hi in junior high.

Yup. I'm a geek. Oh well.)

The Post In Which...

I gripe about how I have no desire to do anything at my job. And just whine alot in general.

I used to love this job. I really did. And parts of me still do. But I would much rather work on the house. I need to move. I really really need to move. My kids need to be in their own rooms and and I need a house large enough to put all my stuff and not have boxes everywhere so it won't seem like a disaster area anymore.

*sigh*

Tonight I attempt to texture the ceilings. I've decided to start with the old master bedroom/going to be M's office. That way I have some practice on a ceiling that only M or I will see on a regular basis. Grandma had pretty circular swirls on her ceilings - and I'm going to attempt to replicate them. Apparently it's done with a straw broom. When I decided to keep the ceilings as is, I thought those swirls were so pretty and unique. Today - hours away from figuring out how to do them myself, I see them as a big ole pain in my rear area! Wish me luck - I'm going to need it.

I have nothing witty nor thoughtful or entertaining to blog about. I'm entirely too busy stressing about work and the house. Today is the first day of classes, I'm 2 months behind on reconciling my accounts, and instead of taking care of all those things, I'm blogging.

Yeah - that's me. Ms. Responsible!

Part of it is my frustration with my new "advisor" person - who seems incapable of thinking for herself some days. This morning, a faculty member didn't show up for class. So said person came to me and asked *me* to find him.

Ummm - excuse me? I'm YOUR boss. You go find him, I have blogging to do.

(kidding! really! I was actually going through my to do list for the day)

But seriously. She does seem to have a problem realizing that both she and the other clerical staff member work for me and she is *not* my equal. I know - it's petty - but sheesh. I can't run an office if one of the staff thinks she can tell me what to do. Nope - Mysti don't play that way.

Not the best way to start off my day. Especially after my 13-yr-old came in this morning and said "Mom - why do all the clocks say 7:19? Don't you usually get us up before then?"

Oops. So begins what is shaping up to be a stellar day. Overslept an hour, the coke came out of the machine hot this morning, and now I've got a staff member with attitude. Woohoo!

(I know why I'm cranky. I know exactly why I'm cranky. I haven't had a smoke since Saturday night. And while I didn't smoke all *that* much - just knowing that I'm not going to have one seems to be making me cranky. Heaven help my boys and hubby - they don't even realize I've quit because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it - in case I change my mind again - and they probably think I've lost my ever lovin mind.)

Can I just go home now?