Settling In

For as glorious as our new home is there is one, tiny, set back. Technically we lost kitchen space and for two cooks, this is bad news. It actually made me depressed for a few days. Silly, I know, but the kitchen is the heart of the home and I was at a loss as to how to make things work. While we gained two cabinets, two drawers, and an island we lost a large walk in pantry. After some thinking, and yes, even praying about it, Mr. Sloth and I decided to get two armoires. One will sit in the formal living room and hold all of our liquor and drinking glasses and if there is extra space some serving dishes. Then we'll get another armoire for the top of the stairs to do the same. The previous owners had one at the top of the stairs and it looked nice.

Last week we found the perfect one on craigslist for only $50. Mr. Sloth and Obscure went and picked it up, brought it home, and brought it into the house only to find that the measured dimensions didn't include the crown molding at the top making it a half inch too small to fit where it needed to go. I was not happy. Mr. Sloth however, always with great ideas, sold it for $150 the next morning on craigslist so we were up $100. Great work Mr. Sloth!

Next we had to find another armoire which we did two days ago. Mr. Sloth is picking it up on Monday. :) Our new living room furniture is on it's way and our area rug is picked out so we are on our way to having the living room fully furnished soon. The last thing we need is a beautiful large picture to hang above our family altar and the room will be complete. Right now though it is serving as a wonderful train room for our wooden train tracks. I was building a train earlier today and Mr. Sloth asked if I was building it for the kids or myself. I declined to answer.

As far as the rest of the house, the family room is almost done as well. It took all week but Mr. Sloth finally assembled the entertainment center, moved the tv downstairs, moved a light switch and hooked up the surround sound. Today I dusted the shelves (full of dust from the light switch ordeal) so I just have to load up the shelf with books and dvds now.

I made a lot of progress in the homeschool room yesterday. It's getting so exciting! Furniture is where it needs to go and I actually like my make-shift desk (you'll see once I post pictures). We only have to hang a few things on the walls and anchor the shelves to the walls then we'll be done. :)

The only work in our bedroom is hanging a picture and eventually changing our bedding. The kids rooms get a little more complicated. I had decided to finally get a second crib. Happy is very content in his and Pax is still sleeping in the packnplay he's always slept in. I had decided to get an IKEA crib they are very inexpensive and actually have higher safety standards than US ones. Then I remembered that one of my friends had just moved her youngest out of her crib so I thought it might be available. It was, but she didn't have a crib mattress. No problem, I'll buy one. The next day another friend called and asked if I wanted a crib mattress. Why, yes, yes I do. At this point I came to the realization that I couldn't wait for the boys to get bunk beds to get a dresser. (I figured I'd wait and buy them together so they match.) Then my first friend, who loaning me the crib called and said that she had a dresser to go with it. Crazy huh? I was fully prepared to pay for all this furniture and here it lands in my lap. Best part is that I'm just borrowing it so I don't have to think about long term storage or commitment. Yippee!

So I have to pick up all the furniture this week so I can get more of the kids clothes unpacked. Rats, I forgot to buy baby hangers at Target tonight. Anyway, that's about the state of things around here. Oh, and speaking of free stuff. I don't know if I mentioned but on moving day we were welcomed to 8 inches of grass and we didn't own a lawn mower yet. Thankfully one of our wonderful friends volunteered to bring his mower over and mow the lawn for us...in the rain! It was such a blessing. The next day I was talking to our new neighbors and she said they have a spare lawnmower they were going to just get rid of and that we could have it for free and wait for clearance sales to buy one.

Mr. Sloth was working on the garage today. We live blocks from the county recycling center and it's coming in handy. He took a van full of collapsed boxes up there today and now he's starting to install ceiling storage racks in the garage. As soon as the garage is cleared of things he can build shelves for storage and a workbench. He's so excited to finally be able to do projects and I have a number of them lined up for him.

Ok, off to help the Mr.

Coming Soon!

Some of you are rather anxious for pictures/videos of the new home and I promise they are coming soon. For now just understand that not only did we just move six days ago but we still have things at the townhome and we have four days to do some repairs there and install new carpet before the renters move in on Tuesday. Plus we've had three appliance breakdowns between the two homes and the previous owners of our new home left a nice gift of 8 inches of grass . Thankfully some of our wonderful friends did a rough cut of it on our rainy moving day. However, due to all the rain Mr. Sloth and I had to spend two hours cutting our almost 1/2 acre and then racking up the thick, thick grass to keep the yard alive. I spent a good deal of time on Monday weeding and trimming (which I don't think they did once this season). Definitely a crash course in land ownership. All of our neighbors have lovely yards which adds to the pressure.

So on top off all this craziness tomorrow and Saturday are the Catholic Homeschool Conference so I will be out of the house Friday night and all day Saturday and Mr. Sloth has to get some work done at the other house on Saturday. In other words, nothing is getting done HERE.

Bedrooms have also been switched around adding to the nonsense. As soon as I can I will take pictures I promise. For now go to your nearest dumpster and look inside and you'll get an idea of what it looks like around here. Oh, and remember I have three children who can't do anything for themselves from wiping their bottoms to playing, they can do nothing without my assistance. We feel live we are on an exhausting vacation for which we over packed.

Did I mention that most of our food is still in our other refrigerator because we were going to try and switch them out?

This is intense.

Progress

I'm blogging right now because the idea of packing another box is just so unappealing. I've packed so many today, so many over the last few weeks really, but today in particular. I finished packing three boxes before the kids got up,well Pax was up which is why I was up. I packed another handful between errands, meals, snack times and nursing. Then after the boys were asleep for their naps I really started to get going. Considering I have mostly small boxes to work with right now I am doing pretty well. Pantry is 90%, Bathroom is 90%, Kitchen is 90%. Keep in mind that our bathroom has two large linen closets so there is a lot to do there. I took everything out of our closet that could be boxes. (Pax' bed and dresser stayed of course)

I just have nothing left to give tonight. Obscure is bringing over some larger boxes tonight and tomorrow I'm heading to our coffee shop to pick some up. I went in tonight to let them know I'd be needing them.

Tonight might have actually been our last cooked meal in the house. We'd rather eat out and keep the kitchen "clean" and pack as much as possible . Plus there are boxes all over the dinning room and kitchen right now. From where I sit I can see 30+ liquor boxes (sadly none of them have liquor in them). So tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday we are eating out. Saturday we will have pizza and beer with all our helpers, and Wednesday and Sunday I managed to accidentally get friends to volunteer to bring us food. Breakfast and lunch should be pretty easy to still make here but I did just pack the toaster and I forgot to pick up milk today. Bummer guess I'll have to get creative tomorrow morning. I could do smoothies with frozen fruit and yogurt and that would use up the last of the juice (thank goodness) and the kids could either have eggs (which don't seem to agree with Pax) or pancakes, the kind you just add water, but I may have packed those, hmm.

I do have a running list of essentials to keep with us as the move gets messy. I have a lot of staple foods such as muffins, granola bars, trail mix, pb, bread, garbage bags, paper goods, toilet paper...you get the idea. Tomorrow when I pick up milk I grab some water bottles and pop for all our helpers (beer too!).

Demand has been a helper....some of the time. I found a nice font that writes bubbles letters so I printed out signs for moving day to mark each room "boys room" , "playroom", etc. Then Demand got to color them all for me. Today she loaded all of the uneeded silverware into a freezer bag for me. This is all an upgrade from last week when she was going to help me sort all the kids clothes into separate bags. Instead of helping she decided she had to inspect each piece of clothing with a fake candle first. Not so much help. Anti-help really.

Anyway, that's where we are. Tomorrow is the final walk through and Wednesday we close. Getting so close!

Second Greatest Day of the Year

For the last four years as part of my birthday gift, I get to take a Saturday off and head to a super-awesome city wide garage sale with Tiger. It's a part of my birthday gift because the big garage sale is usually the weekend of my birthday. Anyway, it has become my second favorite day of the year (#1 is German Fest which is in June).

The night before we print out the maps make a list of sizes and wants and then plan our attack. One forseen aspect of the "day off" is that I have to get up early. Wicked early. I left the house today at 6:40am and let me tell you I was near tears when Pax was pulling his stunts at 3:30, 4, 5am. Not cool buddy.

Anyway, I stopped for coffee for both Tiger and I and met her at her house by 7:15am. See the garage sales open at 8am but the last two years I've been there at 7:30am when they are setting up and have gotten some crazy deals. CRAZY!

Oh, and I just want to point out, in case you are wondering, I didn't get junk or unneeded items and I didn't load up on toys. I got wonderful deals on things we would otherwise purchase at full price. I was so proud of my finds so I figured out how much money I spent and then add up everything I bought (not prices just counted items)

Here's what I got.

41 pieces of clothing (only 5 were for me the rest for our ever growing children). This includes the most adorable dress coat for Demand. Grey and Black with matching beret. Mr. Sloth has wanted one for his little French girl for some time. So cute!
3 pairs shoes for Demand
1 pair of water shoes for Demand
1 pair of ice skates
3 pinatas + Candy. One will be used for Demands b-day party, the other two for a rainy day. I couldn't pass up for $0.50/each. Oh, and the candy is only three weeks old and still bagged.
10 children's hangers. It was on my list for the new house anyway.
1 large framed picture of the building of the Eiffel Tower. I am having trouble finding a similar picture online, but know that this isn't a generic Eiffel Tower pictures. It's four pictures of the progression of the erection of the Eiffel Tower and I want to add that this is a high quality framed picture not just something from Wal-Mart.
2 beautiful silver candle sticks
2 sets of Speedo Water Wings. Really good quality, fabric covered inflatables.
1 gorgeous Easter Decoration
5 Crate and Barrel style serving dishes
2 unused Target Party Platter
3 Toys. One of which is for Pax's birthday and one is for his crib. All three educational
3 Strawberry Shortcake figurines for Demand's Birthday Cake.
1 Board Game. "Clue!" I have asked for this game for my birthday and Christmas for years. For two dollars, this deluxe set was mine! Happy Birthday to me!
1 light up Planetarium (homeschool expense)
1 Pottery Barn style silverware caddy
21 childrens books
3 extra large wall maps. I had just decided to get some for our new homeschool room. What a find!
1 crib foam wedge (for when we have another gassy baby)
1 bag of hand/finger puppets
1 and in a twist of irony I bought a small Marian icon at an Episcopal Church sale.

and last, but best this house. I found it a couple hours into shopping and couldn't believe it was available. I bought it immediately for $15. I knew it was Pottery Barn Kids. I knew it was worth more than $15 and I KNEW Demand would love it as a birthday gift for her new bedroom. When I got home I looked up the actual price......$149.

And with that I reveal the grand total. All together I spent (drum roll, please)


<$137!! That's less than what the playhouse actually costs! Not only did I get a ton of needed clothes and shoes but I got homeschool supplies, birthday party supplies, and birthday gifts. What a deal!

In addition to my savings I'm proud of myself for not loading up on toys this year. Gosh it's so tempting to see what you know is a $30 toy on sale for $1, but that doesn't mean we need it. I have no problem buying books though and guess what. The kids were just as excited for a bag of books as they would have been for toys.

Thanks for listening to my exciting news. Luckily you can stop reading now, while Mr. Sloth has to hear about it for days.

Off the Hook

Since the day we met Mr. Sloth has cursed me for having a birthday so closes to Mother's Day as if I had a choice in the matter. (I guess I was two weeks early but I assure you, if I broke my mother's water on purpose I know I had no idea what I was doing) This year he got a break. Last month when he surprised me with the house he let me know that it was my Mother's Day gift and Birthday gift. I knew he was planning something wonderful for my birthday and I don't have the courage to ask what it was since I'll never see it. :(

One of the reasons Mr. Sloth liked me when I was dating was that I didn't care if he didn't get me gifts. I really didn't. Gosh I was just happy to be dating him, wasn't that enough? And now, on Mother's Day, isn't it enough that I have three kids? Can I really throw a tantrum if I don't get a foot spa and a hand made four year old art project? So not only did I head into Mother's Day knowing that I wasn't getting a present, per se, but with less than 24 hours notice I found out I would be spending Mother's Day doing a top to bottom clean of the house.

Now, before you start a riot, please make note of this. I am a practical person who likes practical gifts. The two things I ask for and dream of most is a) more sleep and b) just one day to clean the house. On Mother's Day I got both. I slept in until 9am. (Mr. Sloth was not so lucky as Demand woke him up at 5:15am wondering if they could make me breakfast. Yikes!). Then we were off to Mass. After Mass Pax decided to take a nap so he slept in his crib while I put on my cleaning clothes and Mr. Sloth carted "Thing One and Thing Two" off for some lunch. After lunch Mr. Sloth picked up Pax and I didn't see them again until 5:30pm.

I had four hours to myself to clean the house as much as I please. I also managed to have one....or two margaritas, some chips and guac, and a nap before heading of to my mother in laws for dinner.

Oh, and before I forget, Demands gift.....She greeted me first thing in the morning with a handmade card and a rock. Yes, a rock. Hand picked from our front yard. She could barely sleep the night before she was so excited to give it to me. She and Mr. Sloth also made me breakfast, which, of all the Mother's Day gifts I actually regret. See I don't eat breakfast and while I love breakfast foods and I'll eat it if it's served to me what I didn't like was the 45 minutes it took me to clean the kitchen later that day. I would have much rather stuck with my morning coffee thank you. (So much grease!)

Later that night, once the kids were asleep we watched, "The Kings Speech" which was fantastic. As it ended around 11pm I realized that I hadn't bought the Sunday Papers yet. Mr. Sloth made on finally push for Mother's Day and went to the gas station at 11:11PM at night to get me my three news papers. Hoorah!

He had one last wave of guilt when I complained this morning of the missing coupons but it turns out the coupons were seriously lacking this week, it wasn't just Mr. Sloth (whew). It is good that I discovered that it wasn't just the papers he bought because I have a serious mental issue with loosing things and it drives Mr. Sloth up a wall. I can't stand to have something lost. I will literally lose sleep and spend countless hours searching for something even if its seriously gone. (Mr. Sloth lost his wallet in January and I still scope out the church parking lot every time I drive through it). I must have spent a collective hour this morning searching through the same stack of papers looking for more coupons.

(sigh) Mr. Sloth is a saint.

Oh, and I had some great deals at Walgreen's tonight. I saved $21 and spent $8, all on necessities. Toilet paper, deodorant, Kleenex.... so much fun.

Tomorrow Mr. Sloth and I are heading to a baseball game. He somehow managed to make it my birthday present for another year. Clever guy, he is. This week is going to fly by. This last lovely week until.....my birthday. :(

7 Quick Takes

I've been meaning on jumping on board this 7 quick takes business. This is the week I guess.



1. Sadness and Gratitude. My cousins' three week old baby died suddenly yesterday. The air has been a bit heavy ever since. Turns out my stone cold heart has some emotion left afterall, and my tear ducts might still work. Not only are we grieving with and for them but we're grateful for what... who we have with us. All of a sudden the children smell a bit sweeter and their whining isn't quite as unnerving. Prayers requested of course. God's will is perfect, but not comprehensible.

2. 3 Weeks from today we move. Days like today when Happy screamed bloody murder and shook the locked door while I tried putting Pax to sleep I couldn't wait until there are two entire floors between the playroom and the nursery and not six inches. We're still working on finding a renter but we have some time.

3. Couponing. I made some good progress this week. Slow and steady. I went through the grocery store twice (so I could double more coupons) and saved 45% the first time and 50% the second time, spending a little over $100 total. Since I'm working on the stockpile (sounds so unBiblical) it's going to take a while to see a real cost decrease. I'm 90% done organizing the coupons I have and I'm ordering some Sunday papers through a special offer later this week. I have to confess that I already have a couponing injury. The scissors have rubbed a cut onto my hand from clipping so many coupons.

4. "A Well Trained Mind" is the book I'm currently reading. We love what we're learning about creating a classical education at home. Turns out my instincts for teaching Demand were correct.

5. YouTube. I've been watching couponing videos on youtube while the kids sleep and/or I'm cleaning up the kitchen. I'm learning a lot and it keeps me motivated. I think I finally found a hobby Mr. Sloth can support. Although I did tell him that if I ever ask him to video tape me couponing in the grocery store to ask me to stop couponing.

6. Boxes. Here and there I've been finding a few moments to fill a few boxes. Thankfully a lot of our stuff is naturally stored in containers making the move a bit easier. We've been getting a lot of boxes in the mail too. I recently received a music program for Demand's Kindergarten curriculum, a number of new books for fun and for reference and an Easter package from Mena and Papa. (Who knew bubbles could be so fun?)

7. The kids. Pax is crawling, did I mention that? It kind of just happened slowly. Today he used me to stand up and when I called Mr. Sloth, he said Pax does that all the time with him. Third kid syndrome I guess. Demand is really plowing through books now and so proud of herself. She's also entering a phase where she wants to play alone a lot so she's looking forward to her new bedroom. Happy; we've had some really great days with Happy this week. He's learning a lot more and saying a lot more. Today is not one of those great days however. I have a feeling Demand woke him up about an hour and a half too early this morning. She woke everyone up about an hour and a half early today.

There you go 7 insights into the Sloth home this week. Check out Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes.

Out of Control

A little over a month ago I was talking to my sister-in-law (Hi!) about couponing. She created a monster! First I started with one grocery store, and after saving $40+ a week and saving $0.35/ PER GALLON of gas, I was hooked! Within a week I found out that a few of my friends were crazy couponers and got some advice from them as well as watching a few youtube videos to learn the tricks and know-hows.

Last night I did my first Walgreens trip. I "bought" two latex gloves, on Tylenol Precise Pain Cream, a travel size deodorant, and dishsoap, and I paid........$1.47!! And most of that was tax. I was a bit disappointed that they were out of the razors I was looking for because they would have been free as well. One of my homeschooling friends enlightened me to all the free things she gets on a regular basis. She never pays for toothpaste, razors, toothbrushes, dental floss, peanut butter and never pays more than $1 for brand name cereal or bread. She is my new idol. In addition to all that I have discovered that I rarely have to pay for milk, eggs, or cheese-its (which we love!)

Is it a lot of work? Yes, for now, but that's because there is a lot to learn. I'm trying to only learn one bit at a time though. I spend about two nights a week on it. I started with our grocery store doing the coupons on double coupon days, and buying things on sale. For every $50 I spend at that store I get $0.05 off a gallon of gas. I'm now learning on working the Walgreens system as well as how to collect coupons. I have to admit, it's actually pretty fun. Sunday I get the paper, actually I get three because you get more coupons and you'll get your $3 back easily. Then I spend the next night or two clipping coupons, looking through flyers and checking my handy couponing websites.

Since we're moving in three weeks (YIKES!) It's nice to be saving money. Oh, another way we are saving money at the grocery store is that we gave up juice. Demand who normally chooses water has three cavities! Happy on the other hand LOVES juice and that 's all he wants if it's available. He's already genetically prone to cavities so I don't' want to encourage it. The only way to get him to stop drinking juice is to not have it in the house. So sadly we have no juice and if we do we can't let him know we have it. It's just as well, Mr. Sloth recently read an article on juice and apparently the fiber in fruit helps regulate the sugar absorption in fruit but juice doesn't have the fiber just the sugar and that is super-concentrated.

Another change in our grocery shopping is hopefully going to be healthier foods. Mr. Sloth and I want to take the moving opportunity to change a few habits, including better eating. We eat lots of healthy food, but we eat lots of unhealthy food too. Let's just say they know us at "Smashburger".

Other than couponing I'm trying to pack (but failing) trying to keep the house clean (epic fail) and trying to homeschool (err, it's Preschool right?). Actually this move is perfecting timing as far as homeschooling goes. We'll spend the summer finishing Demands Reading and Math program just in time to start Kindergarten/1st grade in September. I've already started to collect some of the materials and I have a homeschool conference in the beginning of June. Three months "should" be enough time to set up the homeschool room and gather all the materials. Hopefully the move goes as planned and doesn't get postponed. (Please, God!)

Clearly I have a lot to do and should wrap this up. Till next time....