Running out of steam

Scowl.

Sharing cotton candy at the 4th of July picnic. We found blue stickiness on them for days.

Wheee! Claire is confused as to why she is unable to steer any direction but forward.

Coloring Daddy's birthday paper. "Are you sure Daddy will appreciate my hard work?"

On the menu: yogurt, hot dogs, oranges, and birthday cake. Better when all mixed together and shoveled into the mouth without utensils.

Unpacking whilst watching over toddlers is tiring. You unpack something and put it in a specific location so that you will know exactly where to look for it later, and then one child comes along and 'puts it away' for you. Days later, you find it, stuffed into a random box or under a bed. Also, there is just So Much To Do that I am at a bit of a loss sometimes. It sure is nice having a blank slate to start from, though, and twice the house to work with!

Can you tell what she is singing?

Finally, bandwidth enough to upload my new favorite clip:

I love this video. My favorite part is her pronunciation of the letter 'w'. Here, it is 'nuh-nuh-nuh-nu', but it has since gotten much longer and is now more like 'nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nu', followed by a grinning 'exxxsh'. LOVE IT.

A housewarming gift from Mary and Doug

They stripped the kitchen of all appliances. But they left us this parting gift. I didn't touch any of the bottles: they were splayed out like this when I opened the drawer.

Pretty sure

I'm fairly certain that this is not what you meant when you enthusiastically said that you wanted to see pictures of our stuff in our house:

All-righty then! Back to it!

Also, Tim should be home ANY MINUTE to allow me a child-free trip to Costco! I have a brand-new french-door refrigerator to fill up. I can hardly wait!

Glassware: good. Solid wood: not so good.

Every time we move and begin unpacking, I open each box with some trepidation. Will this be the box with my broken crystal stemware from my great-grandmother? We are nowhere near unpacked yet, but so far the glassware seems to be all in one piece. Oddly enough, it is the HARD WOODEN furniture that is not in the best shape.

The top of my desk is warped. So is the top of the armoire that houses the TV. It's like they put the truck through a steam bath. These are thick, solid pieces of wood. My saddest discovery so far: the step chest we got in Hanoi may be a total loss. I haven't even looked at it close-up yet -- I'm too sad that it is likely ruined.

I picked Starbuck up this morning -- he is confused and skeptical of his new surroundings. He does love the stairs, like the girls do, and has been racing up and down them.

We went swimming last night in our huge lap pool, thanks to all of Tim's hard work on it over the past week. The girls thought it was great to be back in the water. So did we, after a long day of moving in in 112* heat!

We have our cable set up now, and have half of our appliances. The refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave come this afternoon. Party!

Time to go unpack more boxes!

Moving day tomorrow

9500+ pounds of household goods, packed in a gazillion boxes, all delivered to our new house tomorrow morning. Also, a set of stainless steel wall ovens and a cooktop (we couldn't find stainless-look appliances that matched well enough. And there was a huge sale.) to arrive in the afternoon. Two toddlers who are sure to be underfoot at every moment. And two adults who will be working on approximately 4 hours of sleep.

No more TLF! No more cramped spaces! No more children going to sleep at 10pm because they are in the same room! Woot.

Current obsessions

Me: this website is addictive. You will be shocked and disgusted, and may never recover your desire for another bloomin' onion. I've never had one, and now I never will.

Tim: anything house-related. Especially if it involves Home Depot, chlorine, power tools, or looking up stuff on the internet.

Kate: Barbie. Agh. And Dora, of course.

Claire: Goldfish crackers. "Feesheeeees! Feesheeees! Mas! Pees, mas!" Also, stairs.

A visitor

We've only been here for 2 weeks, and already we've had one family member visit us (note to the rest of you: stop slacking and make plans to stop by soon!). Tim's uncle Bob is a truck driver, and he occasionally gets deliveries to our hometown, wherever that may be. He was able to spend a few hours with us last week, so we went to the dinosaur park and then out to lunch. He made fast friends with the girls by presenting them with small, but highly treasured, gifts, and playing peek-a-boo with them.

Upon leaving the park, the modest hole next to the rear pocket on my shorts grew in size by several inches (read: almost waist to hem), and we had to head home so I could change. Then, properly clothed, we enjoyed a leisurely lunch at Blueberry Hill (Kate's current favorite restaurant, because Blueberry Hill is where Swiper the fox lives) before uncle Bob had to continue his drive to Utah. Thanks for spending time with us!

Shaking my fist in the air at HGTV

Two of my favorite channels are the Food Network and HGTV. I love watching Giada DeLaurentis or Tyler Florence whip up good eats in the kitchen (2 of my all-time favorite recipes have come from them). And watching HGTV, well, that has always been a source of inspiration and excitement as I tuck mental notes away for my future dream home.

After purchasing our new house here, I was abuzz with anticipation at being able to bring some of these dreams to life. There are no appliances in our kitchen, just open spaces waiting for me to fill them with gorgeous stainless steel dream machines.

But my enthusiasm has begun to wane, and reality has started to sink in. Buying all new appliances is a major pain in the rear. On HGTV, they send you away for a commercial break and you arrive back home to see your incredible new space, sparkling and adorned with non-childproof accessories. In real life, there are 82 makes and models of each appliance, some of which will fit into your allotted space. There are ratings and reviews, and sales and payment plans. There are cabinet-depth refrigerators and standard ones that will stick out 8-12 inches from the counters. I have come to dread opening the refrigerator page on Best Buy's website. Damn you, HGTV, for making it all look so easy.

I think we I have decided on a dishwasher, and we have narrowed down the refrigerator category to a manageable 3-4 models. Our biggest problem revolves around the double oven/microwave/hood issue. The previous owners did not have a double oven; they had a single oven/microwave combo (sort of odd, if you ask me). I am not a big fan of this, and would like some double ovens. I know I will use them (at the same time) approximately 3 times a year, but! I still want them. This leaves us with the hood/microwave question. I love the look of a nice stainless steel hood over a pretty cooktop, but then where do you put the microwave? It would be odd to put it on the counter in such an otherwise nice-looking kitchen. I think this means we need to get a microwave/hood standard combo. Unless you can help me come up with another idea?

HOUSE PICTURES

Entryway.

Entryway looking up to loft.

Entryway and stairs.

We will be buying all new appliances. Ugh. But also fun, in an expensive sort of way.

Island and breakfast nook, where we will also eat lunch and dinner.

Family room looking into kitchen.

Stairs that were so fun until Claire fell off the bottom one and sprained her ankle. At least we got THAT one out of the way.

LOVE the backyard. Won't you come visit?

Pretty pretty pretty.

Expensive, and bossy (and new house pictures!!)

It is expensive here! I had no idea living in Vegas would cost so much more than living in Tucson did. I don't know why I had no idea...guess I was just living in my own little world. Of course living in a big city like this would be more expensive! Gas is probably the biggest shock: Tucson was consistently below the national average ($3.73 today), and Las Vegas is decidedly above the that number ($4.12 today). Add to that the fact that we will be living a little further from base, and gas prices are going to be adding up to a larger expense than I anticipated. And as a result of higher gas prices, everything else costs more: milk, eggs, soda! Oh, Tucson, I miss you already.

Kate is decidedly bossy. I had seen little strands of this character trait over the past few months, but it is quite apparent now. It is pretty cute, in many ways, and will probably help her to meet people (sure, they might be meek, timid kids, but hey). The other night at the TLF park, she was chasing other, much older, children around with her spray bottle. Then she would yell at them: "C'mon, guys! Over here!" in a way that really wasn't a question, but more of a command. They obeyed, probably a little out of fear. I suppose it helps that she is the size of a 4-year-old.

Claire has mostly mastered her ABCs, although she can't say every letter clearly. The alphabet song is probably her favorite melody, and she lights up when you sing it. She also sings Twinkle, Twinkle, and Row, Row, Row Your Boat (complete with arm motions). She is determined to do all that her sister does, and can keep up in some events. She even has her ways of dealing with Kate's tyrannical attitude: she has become quite sneaky. She will walk up and steal a nearby toy away from her older sister, and when Kate gets up to retrieve her prized toy, Claire will drop it and take one of the toys Kate dropped in order to chase after her. It's fairly amusing to watch.

Claire is still taking a morning nap, and I can't figure out if this is normal for a 17-month-old. I don't remember when Kate dropped down to one nap a day. I would let her keep taking one as long as she wants, except that it really infringes on our activities. And being that we are stuck in the TLF for another couple of weeks, outings are essential to everyone's happiness. I think I'm just going to have to start dragging Claire out in the mornings to do things, and hope for a longer afternoon nap as a result. This would probably work better if they were not in the same room - one or the other of them is constantly bothering the other one, and it seems like it takes at least an hour for them to get to sleep.

Tim is at the (greenbelt) house with the inspector right now, and we will join him shortly. Here's to hoping that nothing major is wrong with it!

***

The inspection went well! I have no idea what they told Tim was wrong with the house (haven't had a chance to talk about it yet), but he was happy with what the inspector said, so I think we are good! In light of that, here are some more pictures. This is the greenbelt house (the last house we saw on the Very First Day we started looking back in MARCH). Ummm, I'm going to do a new post. Formatting mess if I don't.

Happyness

Ummmm, I guess I forgot half of the post last time, and you only got the 'downs' part of the 'ups and downs' saga. Tim and I ended up watching 'The Pursuit of Happyness' a couple of nights ago, and that helped put things in perspective. (Not that I was in the middle of a breakdown; I was just having a bad night.) That movie, by the way, is a good one - see it if you haven't already.

So our house in Tucson didn't appraise. What that means is that an appraiser estimated the value of our home, and he said it wasn't worth as much as the sale price. Banks won't loan over the value of the property, so we had to reduce the price to meet the appraisal. The kicker is that appraisers are pretty much reducing the value of homes in Tucson by 5% across the board. I think it's called the Cover Your Ass method of valuation. Whatever. We worked things out with our agent and the buyers so that we aren't totally screwed, and the house should still close next week.

Then, as I was standing in line at Target, I got a call from our Vegas agent, Joe. He asked me if I was ready. "Ummmm, I guess so?" He said, "You got the house! You finally wore the bank down, and they accepted your last counter-offer." We plan to get the inspection done on Monday and hope to be new homeowners by Tim's birthday in mid-July.

In order to better jinx us:

Ups and downs

Today I feel hormonal. Or depressed. I'm not sure which, but I hope that tomorrow will be a happier day.

I am frustrated because:

• our current living conditions are not ideal. (See also: 600' apartment, with one bedroom, and when our wafer-thin sofa bed is extended, it nearly touches the kitchen table that is already nearly touching the refrigerator.)
• I have yet been unable to secure us other living arrangements. "What, you can't rent us a nice 2 bedroom furnished unit that has a community pool, and have it ready for us to move into tomorrow next week? Um, yes, we have a cat, and we only want to rent for a few weeks...." (voice trails off in pathetic desperation)
• it is very hot and we have no pool.
• our house in Tucson did not appraise. Stinkin' appraisers.
• the girls are tired of being cooped up inside with their 4 toys.
• I am tired of housing stuff. Tired of it! It used to amuse me. No more!

Tomorrow will be a better day, surely. And I will likely update you on my jubilance (seriously, blogger, it is spelled right) then.

Kingman just isn't the same as Vegas

We didn't make it to Vegas last night. I forgot to look up directions to get us around Phoenix, so we had to take Grand through miles and miles of stop-and-go traffic and lights. And Tim had his final out-processing appointment at 9am on base, so we ended up on the road at 10:00, with a drugged kitty and 2 crabby girls. We got a stanky/smoke/pet/cat food smelly/fur in odd places fine place to stay next to Denny's, and called it a night.

Now Tim is driving one car at a time to the scales to weigh them, while I cruise the 'net and try to get Claire to take a nap. She is normally a fine sleeper, but on the road she is a totally different animal, as Tim put it. She has stayed up until at least 9:30pm every night, and is up by 7am. Needless to say, she is very fussy and tired. Luckily we are only 100 miles from Vegas, so we should be there in time for her afternoon nap.

It was weird leaving our house on Saturday. Tim and I spent several hours there, cleaning things up and gathering the rest of our belongings, and taking one last dip in the pool. It was bittersweet leaving Tucson. We had such a fun weekend at the La Paloma with my sister and her family, and it was hard to say good-bye to them. The girls are all playing so well together now, and Tempie looks up to Claire with such adoration that it was heartbreaking to know they won't see each other for months at a time.

We are looking forward to our next adventure, though, as this assignment is likely to be a big one. Tim's squadron has already asked him if he will go on a short TDY with them in July...and then I think his first deployment is in November.

No house to live in, no place to call home, yet. But that hasn't changed, so it's not newsworthy. We plan to look at some more houses later this week, and see what is on the market. I'll keep you posted.

Hurry up and wait / bored / fini pics

I am almost mobile-blogging. I'm sitting on the futon in our boxed-up living room, with the laptop on my, well, lap. And I'm online! I bet if you're 23 and reading this, you're rolling your eyes right now. But I am pretty pleased with myself. Like I had anything to do with it. Er, thanks, Tim!

Pedro is still boxing up our stuff. The movers only sent one person (actually, I think it was his choice; something about more money, likely) to pack us up. I bet he is re-thinking his decision right about now. Our house may only be 1500', but we have it crammed full of stuff.

The kids are doing pretty well with all of this. It's sort of an adventure, or at least that is how we are presenting it. We will even be staying here tonight, boxes and all! Pedro promised to leave our bedding alone, and the movers will be in tomorrow morning to break down all the furniture. We won't even be sleeping on the floor! Tim suggested putting all our unshippable (spell-check is telling me this is not a word. I do not know another to use, though, so am sticking with it) candles in the fireplace and roasting the marshmallows they won't box up. I promise not to make a mess, Devin! ...although with all the in and out and boxes and such, you probably want to hire some carpet cleaners before you move your stuff in...

Today is the last day of school for the girls. It is our last night in our house. It's so foreign. I know we have been working at this whole moving thing for a long time, but it still is weird to think that we won't be here anymore.

Tim's fini-flight was great. We were almost late, but made it just in time (we were walking out to the tarmac just as he was turning to taxi to his spot). Thanks to R2 for telling him to take his time! And thanks to Camille, Rae, Shonda, Erin, and Deborah and their families for coming to see the celebration! It was great having friends there.

I think Kate was impressed by the big plane, but slightly perplexed as to why we were out there in the heat. Then I knelt down next to her and pointed to her Daddy in the cockpit, covered in military green and a helmet with a dark eye shade. Just then, Tim waved at her, and her face lit up. It was so fun to see the recognition on her features, and to watch her wave to her Daddy.

We re-bid on the first house in Vegas. Our new bid is significantly lower than our first one, and is below the asking price. We will see what Paul the wonder-agent has to say about that, probably in 3-4 weeks. Ha.

Now, pics.

Let the stress begin: NOW

Oh wait. I was already stressed!

We are wilting today (it's 110*). I know it's bad on the east coast, so I hesitate to gripe about the heat, but it's just so hot you can't think about much else. At least that's the way it is for me. Of course, Tim's fini-flight (last A-10 flight here) is this afternoon, landing at 1750 (the exact hottest moment of the day). I'm thinking with my hindsight that it would have been better to have done this yesterday when it was a good 10-15* cooler. Ah, well. Hindsight, right?

I don't know how much blogging I will be doing over the next...3 weeks? Eight weeks? Ever? Tim did buy us a shiny new laptop yesterday, so perhaps we'll be able to use the WiFi at the TLF to keep y'all updated on our housing misery, but I can't say for certain. I do know that the house we bid on the last time we were in Vegas is now in contract with Another Buyer (you're shocked, right?). It seems like it might be kind of shady, this deal (shocked again, I presume). The selling agent is also the buying agent, and our agent is pretty sure our bid was never even submitted to the bank that owns the house, which is pretty shitty considering our bid was in before this contract was accepted. I am beginning to wonder if we are meant to own a home in Las Vegas. Well, time will determine that, I guess.

I do have a kennel/vet thing set up for Starbuck at an exorbitant cost. But he's worth it, right? And I don't know that we have any other choice besides leaving him here with someone who wants him. I think that would be too much for the girls, so we will kennel him.

The movers come tomorrow and finish on Friday. We will be staying with my sister starting tomorrow or Thursday, and will spend the weekend at the Westin La Paloma (specifically, in their pool). Then, if all goes well, we drive to Sin City on Monday.

There are a lot of things I will miss about Tucson. This was our first house, and it's been a good one for the most part. I will look forward to more closet space and a bigger master bath, but it will be sad to leave. Kate and Claire were both born here in Tucson, to the same doctor, at the same hospital. Some of my best friends are here, and the same goes for Kate. It will be hard to explain to them that we aren't coming back here to this house.

I will miss the birds singing in the morning outside my windows, the roadrunners, the quail and their perfect nuclear families. I'll miss the view of the Catalina mountains from my kitchen window and the fruit trees in my backyard. And I'll miss being no more than a 15-minute drive from my sister and her family, especially with her new baby on the way. But we'll be back; I don't know when, but we will visit. Hasta luego, Tucson!

ACK

Oh Dear God. I am at a loss. The movers come on Wednesday, and we are not even close to being ready.

So, after a day of running errands and fixing f*%^$ pain the the arse house issues, including a painting incident which caused me to stick my newly-coiffed hair in some blue roof paint, we went out to dinner at Cafe Poca Cosa and temporarily forgot about house troubles. Mmm. Mexican food.

The main things I am stressing about currently:

1. Starbuck. We do not yet have a kennel for him, nor do we have a pet-TLF (temporary living facility) that we can all live in. How do you move a cat from here to there in a car in the desert summer heat? I know it's only a day of driving, but there are stops/desperate attempts to escape/issues of arriving in Vegas before the thus-undetermined kennel closes. Ideas?
2. Still. No. House. Yes, I am thankful that this house is (hopefully) sold. But we still do not have housing there, besides that TLF! It could take 4-8 more weeks before we have a house to move into. That stresses me out a little Lot.
3. Our lists of high-value items. And CDs. Not completed.
4. A fini-flight on Tuesday.
5. Children who want some iota of attention from me. And who do not want to spend every last moment in Arizona in pre-school.

So. Guess I better get moving on all this stuff. There's packing to be done!

This week's cuteness

• Claire says she wants 'mas' of something. She does the sign, even, in ASL. I have no idea where she learned it.

"Mas. Pees. Mas!"

• Kate helped me make pizza last night. She would intermittently sprinkle cheese on the sauce, and then grab some back off to eat. Claire stomped her feet joyfully in time to the beat of the USAF song on the radio.

• Kate likes "smashmallows". So much so that she stole some from the top of my sweet potatoes the other night. I was getting Claire some milk and I heard Kate say, "I'll eat this one," which piqued my curiosity since I knew she had already eaten all the smashmallows from her plate. Sure enough, she was leaning over my plate, and stuffing one in her mouth. I said, "Hey! You can't steal food from my plate!" So she took it out of her mouth and, with an innocent expression, offered it to me.

• Claire's favorite expression is, "I got it!" She gleefully yells this as she chases balls down the hall after you throw them. It's a fun, new game of 'fetch'.

• Claire yells, "MommMEEE!" at various times throughout the day. It makes my heart melt.

• Kate likes her Daddy's flight green suit.

• She also likes Yucky Charms. Loves them, actually, but only the 'colorful ones'.

• Claire uses everything as a phone. This week it was my HP calculator. She called her Daddy on it:
  

"Hi, Daddy!"

Inactive

Dare I say it? Maybe I'll whisper it. Or, better yet, I'll spell it: we have an o.f.f.e.r. Yahoo! We are totally psyched, and also completely stressed that it will fall through at any moment. But we just saw on our real estate web site that our house is now listed as 'inactive'. Things are looking up, people!

Also, in case I missed any of you locals in the email, Tim's fini-flight is next Tuesday. Please let me know if you want to come and need a pass to get on base!

...floating on clouds...

Sigh

I haven't written in a week. I don't know what to write about. We haven't done much lately, as everyone has been sick, and I feel sort of all Gloom and Doom about this pending move and I'm not sure how to reconcile it. Also, I'm tired of moaning to all of you about our housing woes, but my children are bored to tears with it and I think Tim is, too, and it seems that real estate is the biggest single thing I have going on right now. So please forgive me, and/or skip this post if need be.

I've never been really sad about a move before. I've always looked at it with a sense of adventure and excitement: we'll live in a new place! We'll make new friends! We'll go to new restaurants! This time, however, is different, and I think it's mostly because of the kids (and the housing). At first I was all excited. Las Vegas! Still good weather, but a bigger city, cheaper airfares, etc.!

Then I started to realize some things. Like pre-school. The girls are both in this fabulous pre-school here that is uber-cheap, flexible, and the teachers are great. I called the school in Vegas that friends of friends recommended, and neither Kate nor Claire is currently qualified to go there. Also, it is very expensive, and not flexible. WHAT am I going to do? I must have a pre-school for them. MUST. For my sanity and theirs.

Add to this the fact that we will not be joining a traditional A-10 squadron. I don't think the squadron is traditional in any sense of the word, actually. It will be a great job for Tim, but I have a feeling the social structure is non-existent, which may be frustrating for me since I know no one there and since Tim will be gone a lot more than normal.

I think if we had a house to move in to, things would look a lot happier. We have not heard back on this latest house yet, although our offer has been in for almost 2 weeks. We are starting to see one of the major downfalls of dealing with foreclosures and short sales: you don't have a good contact to talk to or negotiate with. The banks handle everything, and since they are flooded with foreclosed homes, things take forever. For instance, remember that house we bid on the first time we went to Vegas 2 months ago? The greenbelt house? We just found out this week that we are now the only bidders on that property, and would we like to buy it? Of course, we are not so hot on it now, as we think the amount we bid is too high, and it is at the top top top of our price range. And it still needs appliances. It is pretty, and we could certainly live there, but I like the price of the new Oasis house better. I don't know how long we can stall on the greenbelt house, but we're going to push it to the limit because I also don't know how long we will have to wait to hear about the Oasis house.

We had Shayne, Reagan and Dane over for dinner last night, as they had to leave for SOS this morning and will return after we have gone to Vegas. The girls had a blast in the pool, swimming and splashing. At one point, I had to unlock the back gate for Shayne, so I left the girls in the pool alone. DO NOT freak out on me here, people. All is good. The back gate is right next to the pool fence, and Reagan had waterwings on. Kate did not, however, and thought it would be fun to swim out to Reagan at the exact moment that I was about to re-enter the pool area. Shayne and I watched in slow motion as Kate reached out to Reagan, and then realized that Reagan could not support her. I was sort of stuck in one position: not really fear; more like curiosity. I know that sounds crazy, but Kate has now had 2 years of ISR swim lessons and this type of situation is exactly why we have paid lots of money for the girls to learn to swim. Kate kept reaching for Reagan and then realization hit her that her plan wasn't working, and she flipped onto her back and floated for a few seconds. Then she flipped back over and swam to the wall. By then I was in the pool and planning my discussion about how we don't swim off the steps unless mommy or daddy is in the pool. These swim lessons have given us 2 great things: very good water survival skills for the girls, and for me, a sense of calm in the face of a pending water disaster.

Enough random complaining from me. What are you up to this weekend?

Real estate woes

Are you tired of talking about my real estate problems? Me, too. But here we are again, on the same topic. Please, let's drop the issue after this. Deal?

We now have our house up for rent here. It is still on the market for sale, but it is also listed for rent on the military real estate site. Please send your non-smoking, pet-less, responsible-childrened friends over to lease or buy it from us. On this subject, do you currently own a house that you are renting to someone? How is that working out for you? Are you using a management agency? What all do you pay for and what do the renters pay for? I have never done this and am nervous as all get out.

We do not know if we have that house in Las Vegas. As much as banks seem to be in the news for owning unwanted homes all over the nation, they sure are slow to accept or decline offers from people wanting to take over the payments. For example, we still have a bid in on that house we liked the first time we were in Vegas. That was like 2 months ago. That crazy agent even told our agent last week that we are the only ones with a valid bid in on the house, but he couldn't do anything yet because of some weirdo lame excuse that made no sense to me. WTF? Whatever. We are keeping that bid open so that we can not-so graciously decline his generous offer for us to purchase it over the asking price, when he gets around to it in November.

Tim took Claire to the doctor and then to the hospital this morning. Another fun 2+hour visit. I hate going to the pediatrician here! It takes FOREVER. But then when we put it off, the kids invariably come down with something horrible and we end up spending ungodly amounts of time in the E.R. This time, we are worried about Claire because she sounds like she has croup. According to the R.N. we saw (twice) this week, she does not. She has allergies. But I have never heard allergies that sound like this. And the mucous. You don't even want to know. So she had chest x-rays today to rule out pneumonia and any other horrible illness like that, and they came back fine, so....back to the humidifier and benadryl.

I called Claire's swim teacher this morning to let her know we wouldn't be at lessons, and she told me not to worry because she was cancelling lessons due to weather. Her pool was too cold. It is late May and today it didn't top 72*. There was a winter-storm watch for much of northern Arizona.

On the topic of weather, I found this humorous: I received a packet of purple and gold viola seeds today from the UW alumni foundation. From the directions on the back:

"Keep soil moist during those three hot days in August (applies to Western Washington residents only). The flower will often reseed and spread like Husky Fever throughout your garden."

From better days:

Claire enjoys her meal at Blueberry Hill.

Disaster.

Vegas, take 2, and other sources of anxiety

Well boy howdy, it's been ages since I've posted. Ages. It's probably the depression kicking in. Or the fact that we just haven't been home.

We drove to Las Vegas last week to do more house-hunting. Our hopes were high: there were 2 strong contenders leading the way (the fixer-upper disappeared before we even left Tucson) and we knew we could live in either one.

The drive up was surprisingly good. I highly recommend a DVD player and lots of Dora videos if traveling with toddlers.

On Wednesday morning, we dropped the kids off at the CDC. They hated it, and we hated leaving them there, but there was no way they were going to be able to keep pace with the number of houses we needed to see. We saw the 2 houses we liked, and had several discussions about which one we liked best.

Me: I like the Alamo house best. Great view, good neighborhood, good layout.

Tim: I think I like the Jake house better.

Me: Oh. So the Alamo house, then?

We saw several other houses that day, just to cover our bases. We arrived back at the CDC, happy to see the girls and ready to go play at the park before dinner. All was going so well.

That night, I popped into the computer lab to check if new houses had been listed. Funny, neither the Alamo house nor the Jake house appeared on my map. Slight panic. Search again. Major panic. GONE. Both houses gone. Also gone was our distant 3rd choice for the day. I began to feel queasy.

A quick call to Joe, our agent, the next morning:

Me: Joe, I feel ill.

Joe: Literally? Or figuratively?

Me: Both, I think. All the houses we liked yesterday are gone.

Joe: NO. WAY.

Back to the CDC, back to look at all the crap houses left on the market. Depression. Anxiety. Fear that we will have to live in base housing, or (GAH) stay in the TLF until we find something in like October. We saw nothing that we liked that day. It was the worst day. I think I cried. And then Claire pooped in the tub and I lost it in fits of hysterical giggles.

Friday was a better day, mostly because we found One Last House that looked good. Actually 2 houses, but one was a huge compromise (3 bedrooms and no pool. I know, what are we thinking?). We hurry up called the agent. No answer. Called the agent again 3 hours later. No answer. In the mean time, we saw more houses that would do if (sigh) we had to live in them, but they were by no means at the top of our list. Then, genius: Joe called the office of the agent one last time. He got a girl on the phone who was from Long Island. He's from Brooklyn. They clicked. She said maybe there was another agent working on that house, too, and voila, information! Just like we figured: there were 2 other bids in on the house already, but they were substantially below list, so if the bank declines them, we might get lucky. So that brings us to today: waiting to see what happens with that house. Hoping that the bank declines the other offers and then accepts ours. I'll let you know when I find out. Until then, I will not post pictures due to a strong superstition that it will jinx us.

Also: no takers yet on our house here. We had a couple more people through, but no offers. Real estate stinks.

House update #428

Helloooo! I'm back. So sorry to all who were worried about me; Tim's parents left last Wednesday, and my father arrived on Friday. Then it was Tempie's first birthday party, family meals, house stuff, more house stuff, and then both the girls and I got a tich of the stomach flu. Awesome.

But things seem to be looking up for now, and I'm even done washing laundry, which is saying a lot when you have 2 kids barfing.

We are planning our second and final house-hunting trip to Vegas next week. We are driving. With the girls. Please pray for us. I have secured 6.5 hours a day (the maximum allowed) at the CDC on base so we can look at homes without me having to compete with anyone when I throw a crying fit, and we plan to buy a house No Matter What this time. Because really, we leave here (as in PCS) in 5.5 weeks, and man are those days going by fast. Also, I would really like a house to live in when we get there. This trip could be challenging. I'm very picky; you would think we were buying our dream house, when in reality we will probably only live in it for 3 years. (But! It will be 3 years with 2 toddlers! You can certainly see why I am being picky.)

Everyday I frantically search the internet for new homes on the market. And almost everyday I am rewarded. It is amazing how a down market can help one in their house-hunting experience. It is also amazingly sucky how painful a down market can be when one is trying to sell their very first, and very cute, home. Would you like to buy it? It's for sale. Ahem, back on subject...

The house we bid on the last time we were there (6 weeks ago) is back on the market. I do love the house (have I mentioned that before?), and so we put the paperwork in again. Our agent called and called the selling agent, and finally got through to him. It seems the financing fell through on the offer that the bank accepted. The reason the financing fell through is that it was FHA financing, which is really strict. The house has to be move-in ready, which this house was not (no appliances, speakers missing from the family room ceiling), and although the bank tried to work it out with the buyers, for some reason it did not meet FHA standards and that was that. So there are other bids on the house that are higher than ours (according to Paul the wonder agent) and he keeps asking our agent, Joe, if we would like to increase our bid. No we would not, thank you for asking. But get this: the other bids are also FHA loans. If I was the bank, I would probably just want to cut my losses and go with the strong financing, especially considering they will have to spend about $10K on appliances if they go with the FHA people again. You? Anyone? I have a feeling Paul is not being upfront with his client the bank. Or else the bank is full of crazies, which is always possible.

Long story, huh? Glad you're still reading? Okay, so Joe was awesome and took pictures of the 3 other houses we think we might like. Of course, it is so hard to tell layout and Feeling from pictures, but we think any of them might work. I'm trying not to obsess about it in the meantime, but hello! How can you not? One of the houses (Alamo) has a view of the strip from the master bedroom (okay, downtown is like 10 miles away, but with all that neon, I bet you can see it just fine at night), and the kitchen appears gorgeous. But I fear the pool takes up the whole backyard. The second house (Jake) is slightly bigger and has a bigger yard. But the kitchen looks small and the layout of the family room seems weird to me. The last house falls into the 'green pool, trashed foreclosure' category, and has a price to match. It has no kitchen. They took everything, even the cabinets. But it sits on half an acre (!) and is in a very nice neighborhood. Now I'll post photos, because I know that's why you're really still here.

Behold, the Alamo house:

Can you hear the angels singing?

View of the strip. I can see it even if you can't.

The Jake house:

Please tell me there is more counter-space there than it looks like.

Picture taken from an area that is supposed to be the dining room? Office space? I can't figure out what would go there.

And the fixer-upper (be prepared, people):

Family room, I presume.

I told you so.

Half an acre! Seriously, that is just pure craziness, especially considering the price of the house is $25K cheaper than the above two. Of course, there is no kitchen...

Lullaby

Claire woke up this morning at 6am, crying. I rolled over, trying to go back to sleep. Then I heard her singing her lullaby as she tried to put herself back to sleep. It was absolutely adorable, even at 6am. Na na na, na na naaa... Then I tried locking us and the cat in the den so I could get some important stuff (blogging) done, and she meowed so loudly at the cat that Kate is now awake. So much for a free morning.

Yesterday's swim lessons went fairly well. Kate swam with clothes on as part of her final few sessions. Claire still cries like crazy, but her skills are getting better every day. Video to come later.

Max stands by as Kate starts the prop.

Kate and Max enjoy a snack of plastic fries before lessons.

Claire learns to float on her back.

So so so busy

Tim's parents left this morning to return to Oregon. They were slightly dismayed to find that it is only 53* there today. In contrast, they enjoyed sun and warmth here, and both even swam in our freezing (80*) pool.

We stayed busy while they were here. We went to the zoo, the children's museum, had swim lessons every day, and went to the water park. One would think that this would tire out toddlers, but someone (her name starts with Kate) is working on dropping her nap, which has another someone (ME) anxious and crabby.

Other happenings over the past week:

• Claire hit a growth spurt and a teething episode at the same time.
• Cheri's sister's plane crashed on takeoff in Africa, causing much stress for all. All on board are miraculously okay and are recovering in Nairobi.
• Tim and I realized that time in Arizona is getting short and we need to find a house in Vegas very soon.
• The house we wanted there is back on the market. Don't even get me started.
• Kate learned to lock all the bedroom doors in the house, much to my dismay.
• With four adults in the house to watch over the children, Kate somehow managed to find a glass jar, drop it on the tile, begin playing amongst the shards, while Claire tried to eat one of the bigger pieces, just as I came rushing around the corner to investigate the crash of breaking glass.
• Cheri went shoe shopping for the girls and they now have more shoes than I do. (Thanks, Mom!)
• Claire increased her vocabulary by at least 3 words a day.
• Tim and his parents put crown moulding up on our fireplace to hide the ghetto caulk and paint splatters.

Almost time for the water torture to begin again. Later!

Let the Tucson Water Torture begin

It's time for swim lessons again. Kate did pretty well today; there were some tears and some misgivings about having to get in the cold (mid-80s) water, but she swam and grabbed the bar like she's supposed to, and she even complied with Tracie's request to float on her back.

Claire hated it. Last summer she was a "survival only" swimmer, and just had to roll over onto her back until someone rescued her. This year she is going to learn to swim to the bar and hold her head up out of the water. She cried the whole time, with wide eyes that pleaded with me to save her. I have confidence that by the end of lessons in 6 weeks, she will be loving it like Kate did last year.

We finally heard back about the house we bid on. Our realtor called us yesterday after he spoke to the realtor selling the property. We did not win the bid, and had our agent not called the other agent on Sunday to check on the status of our offer, we probably still would not know. I am sad we did not get the house, because it was very pretty and nice and I loved the location (it was the greenbelt house), but I am glad we do not have to deal with that agent. Now we are back to square two. We have a better idea of where we want to look, but haven't figured out how or when we will get up there again to do so.

Tim's parents arrive tomorrow for a week, so we'll be out and about enjoying the sunshine.