This is the song that does not end...

Anybody know that song? I feel like that song is about the house we own in Kasson. We have had more deals fall through than I ever thought I could imagine. It's almost mathematically impossible. What in the world? We have had two people try to buy it, innumerable people go through it and say they want to rent it and yet every time we're right on the tip of a deal, the people magically disappear. They don't return phone calls or emails. They just disappear. It's incredible. This week I actually went throught the entire screening process on a couple. They said they wanted to rent it and then save up and buy it. They LOVED it. I had the whole application to the last step. All they had to do was log into their email, fill out an authorization form for me to have a credit check done and send me the security deposit. They disappeared. Can you even believe it? I spent all of this time and money to get them in this house that they loved and then they just randomly stopped returning my phone calls and emails. How hard is it to just reply one time and say "sorry, we found something else" or "sorry, we changed our minds." For the love of Mike!
This past weekend Grandma and Grandpa Barry came to visit. The girls were in heaven and Nick was always ready to put on a show for them. We had a great visit. There was much shopping for school clothes etc... and playing and watching of the Olympics. Overall, the kids didn't want it to end and I don't think their grandparents did either. It always gives me a little pang of guilt that we moved away.
Today I was making dinner and turned around and there was Nick, who I had taken the clothes off of due to a snack mishap and he had a pitcher and was stuffing his diaper in it. I did a double take and realized the little imp had actually taken his diaper off and was busy trying to hide it... or maybe just playing with it but the fact remains, the child removed his diaper and put it in a pitcher in the kitchen cabinet. Does anyone else confess to their toddlers sanitary infractions?
Tonight Eden got the extra long cuddle. Finally after a long silence, she asked me to tell her all about Kindergarten again because she was worried. We've gotten every Kindergarten book the Library has to offer, so maybe I've overdone the preparation. I don't know. I listed off everything I could remember doing in Kindergarten and I just wanted to cry. I don't really know why it's so hard to let your kids grow up or what the hesitation is. They drive us crazy, push us to our limits, use all of our time, money, energy and patience and we just want them to stay little. It's like an oxymoron. Everywhere I go, people watch me puddle my way along and stop me to tell me how badly they miss those days. I'm usually incredulous. What do they miss? Planning your whole day around a nap that may or may not happen? Peeling dried milk off of the car seats? Realizing somebody is missing a shoe and it might have been lost in one of the last four stores you were in? Going to more public restrooms with greater frequency than you ever dreamed of prior to children? Stopping for the free kids cookies at the bakery counter, remembering the time when there was no reason on earth to deny yourself a hazelnut latte? Being so overwhelmed with the logistics of having children that you forget to enjoy their youth more often than not? Ah, those dreamy people at Target don't really miss that stuff, they don't even remember it. They miss the kisses, the "I want you Mommy", the drooly smiles, the belly laughs, the simple love and devotion, the fact that they're needed so deeply and nobody else will do. They miss the funny sayings, the cuddles, the firsts, the lasts... oh man it already feels like it's over. Having that last baby is tough. I guess no matter how many kids you go for, the last one is tough. I'm happy though. I feel blessed beyond words, and purely content with the family God has given me and the home we have to live in. To hell with all of the worries over the house in Kasson. If it never sells, we'll still have everything we could need and we'll still have these great memories to carry us into our old age.
The question of the day. Do I buy a vacuum on Craigslist for $20 that may have seen any amount of abuse or buy the Consumer Reports one for $79? Input please. Mind you, I can't afford either but my fear is buying the one for $20 only to discover it doesn't work and then have to buy either another $20 one or the recommended one at the store. A real quandary.

Haircuts and a morning in the life of ME!!!

Look at my two baby dolls. Are they just the cutest things in the world or what? Well, actually Eden looks more grown up than ever. School starts in three weeks. I can't believe I'm a mom let alone that I have one old enough to go to school.

Life continues to fly along at a dizzying pace. I'm blogging just a single solitary morning for all of the people who have never experienced it or for those who have forgotten. It goes something like this:

Nick screamed at 6AM. I scaled 4 flights of stairs in record time. It's 47 steps from my bed to his bed. I scooped the angry catamount into my arms and decended at a more leisurely pace. We cuddled for about an hour, he nursed, we dozed for about an hour and then we laughed at each other and finally rose from bed a little after 8. I checked my email to find that someone was ready to buy the couch, chair and ottoman that I purchased at a storage auction last week. I called her, she said she'd be by in about an hour. I turned around and all of the cake pans I own had been removed from the kitchen cabinets by all three children. I shrugged and made tea. Everyone wanted a different breakfast. Big suprise. I made tea, spent about 30 minutes on the phone with my sister musing over all of the divorces going on and doing a quick summary of what would fix the world, all with the phone on the charger beside the stove. By that time I'd consumed 2 cups and felt ready to attack the library that the kids brought home yesterday. We sat down and read three very nice books, a small dent in the 60 pounds of books now scattered amongst the cake pans. I sneaked downstairs to check my email and found an interesting article from Jody and took just a LITTLE too long reading. Soon, the siren (Kaitlyn) went off in a deafening "MOMMY WAAA MOMMY WAAA" cadence. I bolted up the stairs to get the scoop. Kaitlyn wouldn't share her stroller with Nick, so Eden spanked her. Typical middle child and typical first child. I announced that since they were both being so ridiculous they could wait for tomorrow to read any more books. Eden was crushed. She had picked out a wonderful Valentine's Day book that she was dying to have me read. Yes, odd... much like the rest of the pile. I even spied "Charile Brown's Christmas" in that heap. I will refresh your now muddled mind, yes it really is August. Eden had decided to share her nutrigrain bar with Nick and he had made nice little blackberry sticky spots all over the place... amongst the books and cake pans. I scooped up the now confiscated books and commanded the children to put all of the cake pans away. The clock was ticking. The lady would be here any minute and I needed to get outside and drag all of that furniture out of the trailer and have it ready for viewing. I ran out, drug all of the furniture out and in the process all of my children, still in jommies came trailing out front. I'm pretty sure we're considered the neighborhood hillbillies, with my peculiar storage auction finds getting scatterd on the lawn and the children running around half dressed and barefoot. The lady pulled up in her Lexus SUV and thought the furniture was perfect for her daughter in College and paid me on the spot. Whew, sigh of relief. They left and I cranked up everything a notch. I ran out back and picked up dog poop. I told Kait she only had to change her pants three times to no avail. Got Nick changed and dressed, discovered a foul odor coming from under my arms after jockeying all of that furniture around, and hollered "everyone put on shoes" at least thirty times. I changed shirts, reapplied my pathetic deodorant that I'm not allergic to, and found Eden had actually put on her shoes and brushed her hair!!! Score! Five year olds are great! I ran upstairs, got Kait some pants, ran all the way downstairs and got her flip flops, buckled Nick in his carseat and realized I desperately needed to pee. I ran in, took care of that, got back out to the car with the brush in hand and told Kait to brush all the way there, and off we went. We got to the Humane Society just fine, ran in to get a refund on the Rabies Voucher that the vet had not accepted and was told that Jody had to do it because he paid with his credit card, or they could mail me a check in a few days. The kids had to see the entire facility and speculate on the origins of every dog, cat and rabbit with Nick just doing that adorable audible breathing because he was so excited. We got out of there, drove across the street and hopped on golf cart for a tour of a storage facility. It was a sealed bid auction so the kind lady took us to door number one. An old beat up table, boxes and boxes of what looked like craft supplies and two cat carriers... nah. Door number two! More trash than anyone could imagine what to do with and more old beat up tools thant I could ever store... Nah. The kids love these places and they love seeing what's inside. It's hilarious. Door number three... hmmm.... interesting. A prelit chistmas tree, a computer box... what if there's a nice computer in there? An oil lamp, rolling pin and maybe lots of kitchen gadgetry... a nice velux blanket... hmmm, might not make any money but it's clean and interesting. We put in a $22 bid and the kids didn't want to leave. The lady mistakenly told them they're welcome to come over for golf cart rides any time. "What?" One more thing for them to harrass me to death about. We ran to the bank with everyone voiciferously complaining about me not using the lane where you get suckers and deposited a couple of checks. I called Jody, made sure he had called the lady that was going to buy a sling today and then came home and made the strangest hodgepodge lunch you have ever seen. Partially to blame was the fact that my lettuce was completely frozen. I looked at the settings on the fridge and turned to Eden to ask who had turned all of them to HIGH? Her hand went to her mouth and her bottom lip stuck out in that singular look that says, "oh no, what did I break now?" "I did" she mumbled. I didn't get mad, just told her how great it would be if she would just ask me what stuff does.

Nick is now napping, the girls have turned the dining room into a tent and succumbed to the tv. That's my morning. Someday I'll blog an afternoon.