August 31, 2012
Film Review
Just watched “Lawless” with Scott. Would have enjoyed watching with my uncle Jack Crews. My grandfather, his dad, ran a still during the Depression. I interviewed him about it in college and he was still hesitant to talk. He does swear that moonshine was the first thing down my dad’s throat after he was born … to kill germs. I guess when you’ve lost two young children in a row you will try anything!
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August 15, 2012
First day of Kindergarten
Tomorrow is the big day. I have been working and planning for this for years. In my computer calendar it says we should be in the new house and Thsnny will be at Waylon Bonds. Well, we are in a new house but he will not be at Waylon Bonds.
A lot if things have changed.
Things are not so good right now. Things are very tense after an incident at the in-laws two weeks ago involving the adopted nephew and Ava. There has been a lot of yelling and a lot of tears and a lot of sleepless nights and things are not resolved. Feelings are hurt. Relationships are broken. I feel betrayed and cut off.
But Blossom made a good point to me tonight. Look for the good. I have seen her a lot more lately … We have to make the best of the situation. There has been a paradigm shift and we have to rebuild our world.
I am reminded of an episode of Kate Plus 8. The day where the sextuplets start to kindergarten. Jon and Kate had so looked forward to do that day together but their world had fallen apart and they did not make it. But in the end, Jon showed up to help see them off.
I feel like WE are kind of broken right now. But we are determined to make it through. It is not pretty right now. We are just getting by by gritting our teeth and fighting tooth and nail to keep it together.
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May 7, 2012
Mommy’s Little helper
Ava can be very helpful. But she can also be the opposite.
Lately though, she has been helping me feed baby Lorraine. She will pick out a spoon and then jump right in to help. Of course, she usually spills a lot but she is trying.
And lately she has been playing with more girlie toys, even baby dolls. Her favorite is a Dora not much smaller than her. And she has been pushing her old faithful elephant around in her shopping cart with her new tinkerbell gown as a blanket. She is funny.
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The Playground
The second phase of our backyard paradise will be a swingset. I have been looking for a while and located one locally two weeks ago. Dh went with us on Saturday to look and we brought home the components that would fit in our car. Papa brought home the rest.
Since Saturday, Dh and the kids have been organizing the parts and getting ready to build what Ava calls her “playground.”. They are both very excited.
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Backyard Paradise
In an effort to live up to my goal of “being still” we are trying to get the yard ready for a summer of fun. I know … Working so we can be still. Seems backward.
So, after looking into “real” pools (could only fit an 8′ wide one), we opted for a 10′x30″ easy set pool, set in the little alcove next to the dining room (that was previously another flower bed). There was nothing easy about it. It took two days of leveling to get it close. After two weeks of intermittent work, we are still not done. Today, I bought river rock to cover up the blue ground cover beneath the pool and to create a border between the pool and the grass. We’ll see how it turns out.
But they have already enjoyed it, especially when their cousins come over.
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May 6, 2012
Ava’s end of year program
Ava’s end of year program was Wednesday, May 2nd at BB. Thankfully, her class was first to perform. The show did not start till 11:30 and we had to feed and deliver Thanny to school by 12:30. Ava was centerstage on the front row. And she put on quite a show, waiving to everyone before the show and dancing and hamming it up for four songs.
She truly has blossomed this year and we are so grateful to her teachers.
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Hockey Night
On Saturday, May 5th, we took the trip to game two of the AHA playoffs for the OKC Barons. Thanks to CHK, we had great “suite” seats complete with hot buffet and dessert. Seats were great and we had a TV on which to watch the end of the Thunder game. The kids were good and everyone had a great time.
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The New House
So we finally worked out a deal. I notified the property manager that we would be moving out of the duplex and scheduled the movers and the home inspector. We were scheduled to close on Dec. 7th. I planned to move out on the 30th of November and “store” our stuff somehow till we could move in.
Home inspection turned up a framing issue and a fogged window. I had said that if anything significant was wrong I wanted to back out. But dh wanted to move forward as long as everything was fixed. Thus began our second round with the other realtor and the sellers. The other Realtor didn’t want to agree to that. He did not consult his sellers though. So I played hardball and threatened to walk. Then he got worried and all of the sudden we could close on the 30th of November as we had requested, the house would be professionally cleaned, and everything would be fixed. So we moved forward.
We had some lender issues. I knew better but I wanted to repay a mortgage broker for having helped me with credit checks, broker’s opens, etc. Big mistake. This favor cost us time and money. Not again!! The documentation I had to dig up exceeded ridiculous. But we did it. And yet we were still not ready to close on the 30th.
We asked for early occupancy and they agreed. Moving went smoothly although it was still an all day, exhausting experience. We cleaned the duplex at the same time and turned in the keys the next day. All was well till the next Monday. All of the sudden, the other realtor’s tone changed again. The extension and early occupancy agreement we had in place was no longer acceptable. They wanted us to pay rent from the 30th at the rate of their mortgage. I was fine with paying rent, if they had told us in advance. But they had told us no rent. Ugh. It became a real nightmare — at one point theyntold us to vacate. But dh worked something out. I was too mad.
Closing finally came. I wouldn’t even look at the sellers. I scribbled their rent check. The other Realtor tried to make us sign a revised occupancy agreement. I refused. It was highly contentious.
But it was over and it was ours!
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