GAH! Sick again!

The whole household's been sick, I'm afraid. DH started it about 2 weeks ago, right before he went out of town for 5 days. Then, as I said, I had strep throat for which I'll finish up antibiotics tomorrow. DH was better when he returned home from his trip last Monday, but yesterday, he came home early with fever, sore throat and headache. At about the same time, Ella started in with a cough and runny nose. Now, my throat's hurting AGAIN. Ugh! I hate this time of year. Bad timing to be sick, too, with all we have to do. I was planning to have a garage sale this Saturday, but we haven't felt up to getting ready for it. We'll have to shoot for next weekend. I think we don't have many weekends left until we'll be moving into the house.

The good news is that I did get most of my list from last Saturday accomplished. I cleaned most of the day, while DH fixed the toilet, spot-painted the master bathroom, and pried open the fireplace doors that had rusted from non-use. Ella was surprisingly good at entertaining herself by pretending we were all in a plane going to Mexico. She "fixed" the tv so that pilot would know where we were going and she served up some wonderful food while singing to the passengers. We did go by the house that day and DH went out to pick up Ella's favorite fast food then we played her favorite game. All in all, it was a pretty good, but exhausting day.

If only I could feel like I was "done". Alas, there is still so much left to do. Time keeps on rolling along, though, and as I mentioned, we will be in the house before we know it. I went by today to find that the spa had been delivered, the walls completely ready for paint, the deck almost finished, and a tub in the guest bathroom! Here are a few camera phone pics that I have not edited, so I'm sorry if they're a bit lousy:








Ok, that's it for now. Good night!

To do tomorrow:

1. Deep clean the house (scrub windows, use awesome wood cleaning wipes I found on all baseboards & doors, use Magic Eraser on all walls!).
2. Keep DH focused on repairs needed around the house.
3. Keep Ella occupied with some Valentine crafts, playtime in her room, and games while I'm cleaning all day.
4. Plan for my busy Sunday, which includes learning the motions to a song for children's choir - must recruit Ella to help with that.
5. Go by new house & drop off light fixtures.
6. Draw up landscaping plans for new house.
7. Plan some kind of family fun for tomorrow night so that Ella can have quality time with Daddy.

WHEW! Maybe I should try to go to bed now so that I'll have enough energy to get me through the day. I'll let you know if I accomplish it all. Definitely have to do #1 & #2, since we have realtors coming to see the house on Monday - eek!

Follow up

Please watch these videos from the funeral of Bronner Burgess. Rick's testimony here is incredible. The message is divided into 3 parts, so please watch them all:

Rick Burgess - A Father's Heart Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Today is the first day I've felt "normal" since coming down with strep throat on Saturday. I know Ella was happy to have me mostly back to myself. She's been so sweet, but of course, she got to watch lots of tv (which, unfortunately, is one of her favorite things to do!) over the last several days. We did do a few crafts today, which made me feel like a better mommy! I found this site, which has lots of craft ideas for preschoolers: Kids Craft Weekly. If you click on the link to the newsletters, you will find all sorts of activities which are sorted by themes. We made some of the crafts from Issue 11 - Underwater. Here are the results:

I certainly needed the rest I got while I was sick and I feel refreshed and ready to get back to work. Before I got sick, I was feverishly trying to get this old house ready to sell. It's looking pretty good, but we've still got alot to do. I'm hoping to have a bit more help from the hubby this weekend. If we can have a garage sale the next weekend, we'll be in good shape to move. Work on the new house has slowed down a bit, but things are about to really come together over the next week or so. In fact, I believe the spa was delivered today. Yippeeee!! Can't wait to get in that thing! :)

No man is an island

"...No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..." - John Donne

This passage memorized in school is resonating in my thoughts tonight as I ponder the deaths of 2 people I did not know, but feel a loss for nonetheless.

This morning I was awakened as I am every morning by the Rick & Bubba show. I don't listen to them on a regular basis, but have caught their show while in a more coherent than half-asleep state once in a while and I love what they have to say. I did not know exactly what they were talking about this morning, but I could tell that a loss of some sort had occurred. After some research on the internet tonight, I discovered that Rick's son, Bronner (2), fell into the family pool on Saturday night and drowned. What a devastating tragedy! I cannot even imagine the pain this family must be feeling right now, but even still they have the faith to make this statement on their website: "The Burgess's want to give all Honor and Glory to GOD for the many blessings He has given us, especially the life of Bronner Burgess. And while we do not understand, we know who is in charge and His will be done in life and in death." I am lifting up this family tonight and ask that you do the same.

Another loss I'm feeling tonight is for the life of a rising star, Heath Ledger. While I did not agree with some of the roles he chose, I could see that he had enormous potential to become one of the leading men of our time. While the first death was of a 2-year-old child, this death was of the father of a 2-year-old child. I am deeply saddened for that little girl who will now face life without a father. She will have to live with the circumstances of his death - whether it was by his own hand or an accident, it will have lasting effects on her. I pray tonight for God to wrap His arms of protection around her from this day forward. May her life not become the tragic story we often hear about children of celebrities.

I'm sorry for the sad tone of the blog today. I was just particularly touched by these 2 stories of 2 completely different people and how their deaths do diminish me because I can relate to their families in such a real way. Does that make sense? I am sick, so I'm probably rambling a bit and should just go on to bed. Please just say a few prayers for these families with me over the next days and weeks.

Ella Ballerina

She cracks me up! She got this ballerina dress-up from her Gmaw (her great grandmother) and every time she puts it on, she has to put on a big show. We have to put on the pretty dancing music so that she can sing and dance. She makes up these songs all about love and finding the prince. It's all very dramatic and wonderful. Where you see her staring off into the distance, she's really watching herself in the fireplace doors. The new house won't have a fireplace. She'll have to find a new place to perform! ;)

Well, things are rolling along with the house. The sheet rock is up and they should start painting soon. We've pretty much picked out the flooring and the cabinets will be delivered next week. Oh, it's getting so close. We talked with our realtor this weekend and have officially put the current house on the market. I have alot to do this week to make the house more presentable! My mom and I worked hard today, packing and cleaning up the first 2 rooms you see in the house, so that's a good start. I'm feeling a wee bit overwhelmed as this all comes crashing down on me at the same time that I'm teaching 3-year-olds in Sunday school and children's choir, singing on the praise team and in the choir, working on the guitar, and trying to keep my family going. I seriously wouldn't be surprised if I showed signs of mental illness before this is all over.

I should sleep pretty well tonight after all I've done today. I'm stalling about going to bed, though, because I know I'll probably just lay there thinking off all the things I've yet to do.

I love a good challenge

Like I need to add anything else to my plate, but being that I love to challenge myself (apparently), I'm signing up for Creative Everyday 2008. Maybe some of you will join me in this quest to do something creative every single day this year. I already do this on a regular basis, but some days I just need a bit of motivation to get the juices flowing. Thankfully, there are so many ways to be creative! So, even though I just found out about this challenge, I have something to post about today. This afternoon, Ella was wanting to play and I was just not feeling it (don't hate me if I admit that this is how I feel most days), so we decided to make something instead. She knows I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. I had been wanting to make a homemade doll house with her for a while, so we took this opportunity to drag a bunch of supplies such as old shoeboxes, wrapping paper, pipe cleaners, stickers, construction paper, packing materials (Styrofoam, cardboard inserts, etc.), and finally begin this great project. We only finished one room, but we had so much fun! I love seeing how her mind works and watching her problem-solve. She came up with the lighting fixture all on her own. I'll have to take a picture of the room tomorrow so you can see what we created.

I probably won't post about my creative pursuits every day, but I will keep up with them and try to post what I've done at least weekly.

New pics of the house!

You are looking into the "family room" from the kitchen in this shot. Our dining table will be centered length-wise to the window on the right and the pool table will be parallel to it over on the other side of the room. I hope that makes sense! We are planning to have a window seat built into the bottom of the bay window, which will create a neat little reading nook for Ella (and me, I'm sure!). We also want to get a hutch to place along the right wall between the double windows and the bay window, if there's room. This will be our first time to get to showcase our china - it's been tucked away in cabinets in our laundry room for almost 10 years now!

This is our front door from the inside. We wanted alot more privacy than we have now, thus the sole window above the door. I hope enough natural light comes in through the windows in the back of the house so I don't regret this decision, but I have hated worrying that the person at the door could see me before I could see who it was. The mentally ill man at my door last Christmas who wanted to show me the knife and the flashlight he'd gotten as gifts was enough to scare me away from having any windows at the entry!! To the left is the study, which will have french doors and to the right is the wall of the guest bedroom.

You can get a good idea of how the house looks from the front in this pic. Sorry I don't have one without workers in the way. The garage is what's hidden by the mortar mixer (surely that's the technical term, LOL!). The window to the left of the workers is the guest bedroom, followed by the window in the bathroom, then Ella's window on the far left.

This is a good view of the front porch and door after the brick work had to be redone. It's a long story, but the short of it is that it actually turned out pretty well and maybe even better than what I had wanted. There will be a step up from the driveway to the little porch.

A view of the back of the house. The soffits have now been finished as well as the white vinyl ceiling of the porch, but you get the idea. The deck will be in line with the porch, so there will be no deck under the bay window. I can envision Ella dreaming of being inside her castle as she looks out that window. Corny, eh? But, we're big into princesses around here. :)

Ok, so that's it for tonight. Hopefully I'll get around to posting a few Christmas shots before long. Oh, and be on the lookout at my crafty blog for some new posts soon!