Settling In

Wow. What a week. As most of you know, we moved in to our awesome little house in Boulder. We have had lazy Lego mornings, hours and hours at the pool every single day, and very late bedtimes. It's just too cool to have neighbors steps away and the kids have been house-swapping freely. It's sort of idyllic, really. Our only annoyance with the move is our lack of internet. Qwest is not doing well by us. Hopefully it will resolve itself soon. Tonight Sam and Mae biked all the way to TKD, 2.8 miles each way. They were very cheerful about it and can't wait to do it again. We also had a dryer snafu so we only had a washer this week. The dryer should arrive tomorrow, but I've been enjoying line-drying the clothes. There is a LOT of pollen here (trees galore!) but none of it seems to be affecting the kids so I plan to continue line-drying as long as I can. There is also a lilac bush right outside my kitchen window. I may not have much of a view out that window, but it sure smells heavenly, and makes the clothes smell wonderful too. In short, we are settling in and learning the ins and outs of our new digs. Please email if you want our new address. Our phone numbers have stayed the same.

BIG day tomorrow

Ted and Sam had their last day of school today. Ted is off to Moab for 4 nights with his friend Ben. Tomorrow is Mae's Pre-K graduation. We also close on both houses tomorow afternoon. Saturday we pack up the house and move on Sunday. Amazing. We are alternatively excited and terrified. I will try and get a quick video up of Mae's graduation, but there will be some silence online as we settle in to our new digs. Thanks to everyone for all their support and encouragement!

T minus 7 Days

A week from tonight, the kids will be snoozing away in their new bedroom and Paul and I will be chillaxin' in our new home. I cannot even begin to wrap my head around it. We've been hoping and planning for so long that it's surreal for it to actually HAPPEN. We've been chipping away at the packing and we're almost there. Luckily, we don't have that much stuff (though we do have a ridiculous amount of PAINT for some reason) so it's not that hard of a job. There are 4 days left of school for the boys, then Friday is Mae's graduation (*sniff!*) followed by closings on both houses. Saturday is the final pack-it-up day and we get the truck on Sunday. Bring it on. We are ready. Boulder, here we come! Finally!

Wow- those 2 weeks zipped right on by!

Between training and the house drama, it's been a busy few weeks! Here's the big news: we are under contract! Hooray! We have our inspection Wednesday and the buyers have til Friday to pull out without losing their earnest money. They seem pretty level-headed so we think they will stick with it. We put an offer in (squeaked in by April 30 so we'll get a $6500 tax deduction next year!) on a house we like. It's in another subdivision, which has its pluses and minuses. Major pluses include the pool, park, Bobolink trail, bike path, and virtually no yard to keep it. It backs to a cul-de-sac and has one in front as well. I wish it had a larger yard, more privacy and closer to Baseline, but we are happy with this one. Now, if things would just work out this time, we'll be thrilled! The pic is of Paul's "house beard." You can see just how badly I want this to work!!!! If all goes well, we'll close on both houses on May 28 and have the weekend to move.


The boys were off last week for Spring Conferences. Both had great work to present; Sam was so excited for his conference. He just loves school so much. I hope he'll continue, which he certainly will if he gets Elizabeth for 1st grade; that teacher just glows with her love of learning and teaching. Ted's was very impressive too, just in the sheer growth he's shown this year. His reading went from pre-primer (which is middle of K) to end of 2nd (i.e., grade level) on the DRA test. This test is a tougher test than the usual one they use - on that one (that his tutor used) he was rated at a 5th grade reading level. Clearly, the DRA is a better judge of true ability, but it's still so clear that he can pretty much ready anything now, and comprehend it too. He is one of two 2nd graders who are on Multiplication in Fast Facts (They do 100 problems in 10 minutes and can only get one wrong to pass. There are 3 levels for each one - i.e. 3 different tests for adding 8 + anything, etc.) He is very proud of that. Over break the kids have C.O.W. to work on (stands for Challenge Of the Week). The C.O.W. is "an extended math problem that requires problem-solving strategies, writing about the process, thinking and solution, and showing work. It is expected to take longer than normal homework, and it should be returned as a high quality published piece." His Fall C.O.W. wasn't a high quality published piece at all; he solved the problem easily but didn't do a good job of putting it all together. He had only been in 2nd grade for a month and truly didn't know how to explain his thinking. This year's was awesome. He solved it easily but was able to explain how he came to his answer and designed an hysterical cover (keep in mind that the Horizons' school mascot is a cow). I am so proud of all he has done this year. And we are so excited for Mae to join the big boys next year at Horizons!!!

Heather, our beloved babysitter and friend, moved in with us today. Mae graciously gave up her room and all three are in the boys' room for now. It took them an extra hour to settle down tonight so I hope the novelty wears off soon. I'm glad we are under contract - it looks a little crazy in the bedrooms right now! Heather graduates on Thursday with her Psych degree and has two months off before starting her new job in Chicago. We will miss her!!! Luckily she is planning to return to Colorado in two years to get another Psych degree - hooray!

I've been sick (*sigh*) and after two wonderfully intense weeks of training, took all of last week off. I felt much better today and did an epic bike ride with Sylvie. We rode to Golden in the crazy wind and it even snowed on us! That was fun. I think I'm on the mend now though and will attempt to get back into the swing this week. Sam and Mae test on Friday night in TKD; Sam will move to Yellow Belt and Mae to Orange. Ted doesn't need to test although he does know half of his form (88 moves - he knows 48, so he's good to go) so he could mid-term, but I don't think he's planning on it. Then it's Mother's Day weekend already! We will know a lot more next week, but if all goes well and we do need to be out by June 1, we will be doing some packing!

I think that's the big news on our end. Never a dull moment!

entering into our first weekend

It's been a great week here at the house. Well, I wouldn't really know since we haven't been home, but we've had a ton of showings and lots of good feedback. Let's just hope we get an offer soon!

On Wednesday I helped at the Indoor Bike place with Ted's class. It was fun for most of the kids but we did have 3 injuries including a broken arm. I don't think they should let the kids "choose" the MB course they do - I think they should start them all on the easy one and work them up. It was fun anyway.

Thursday I helped with the K ice skating day. That was a hoot. This was their 4th week and they were all really good! Lots of spinning and skidding to a stop. Impressive!

Friday was baby Aylah's naming. The service was fantastic (why oh why don't I go to services more often?!) but the oneg was a zoo so we snuck out fairly early.

Last night I made up my 4th batch of homemade kombucha, which I then flavor with ginger before bottling. I am getting really into this - it is sooo yummy and the store bought is upwards of $3.50 per bottle. LOVE IT. Now that 'the mother' has produced 'a daughter' that is strong enough, I can start using her too, and have 2 batches going at the same time, a few days apart. Or I can give the daughter away, if any of you want to try. It's pretty darn fool proof, in my opinion.

Today we have some showings so we are getting ready to head out for the day. Tomorrow we have an Open House, so we'll probably try and farm Ole out to someone and head to the Science Museum in Denver (it's supposed to snow - bummer.) No school on Monday, so hopefully we can meet up with some friends and have a fun day.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

It's been too long

I think it's pretty clear that I just can't handle posting when I'm stressed out. It's been a good week, full of last minute touch ups and paperwork. The house officially went on the market today, which means tomorrow begins the showings (and the cleanings!). Cross all fingers and toes please.

I'll start from last week and work my way through the week, though not much went on other than preparation. On Tuesday I wrote my guest post for the Dark Days Challenge. You can read it here. That was stressful, but a good memory of working well under pressure, just like the good 'ole college days.

I don't have much memory of the rest of the week (besides more cleaning) although I did sub on Friday, which is always fun. We spent Saturday with the chavurah and Sunday at home. I think I've come down with some odd bug - I spent most of Sunday napping and am feeling yucky again today.

Monday night a few bookclub friends met up at Centro for $2 apps ($2 drinks!) That was fun - I've been so house-focused that I feel like I've abandoned my friends for my floors. Hopefully I can reconnect now that we're in a routine. Tomorrow Ted and the 2/3s have their biking day for Outdoor Ed and then Thursday is Sam's ice skating for K. Somehow I managed to volunteer for both of these - not like me, but there it is. Friday is Aylah's baby naming at services - our last chavurah baby! Saturday should be mellow and then Sunday we'll have an open house (which means we'll leave - perhaps for the museum if it's this miserable out.)

I'm sure there are much more interesting tidbits to share but I can't think of any. It will be a real treat to post that our house is under contract! :-)

Exciting Weekend

A week shy of listing, we looked at houses today. I had seen them before and had 4 to show Paul that I thought we should consider. Two were in Gunbarrel (nixed by Paul - we are tired of driving) and two in Boulder. While both houses in Boulder were great, the smaller of the two (3 bedroom rather than 4) backs to open space, has amazing views, and is our favorite. The other one is great too, but it is a corner lot and doesn't have as much privacy, but much more space. In either case, it feels good to have "an area" to look - it is so early in the season that even if these fall through before we sell our home there will be more. We are busy fixing little things this weekend (light switches, boing-oing-oings (door stoppers? what is the name for these things?), nail hole filling and the like. Good stuff. The carpet comes on Monday.

Ted received an in-school suspension on Thursday and Friday. He and a 3rd grade friend were peeking in the girls' bathroom through the window (right outside at pick up - in full view of everyone, teachers, parents - obviously they didn't realize they were doing anything wrong.) It was a big deal and very traumatic for him, but as Horizons always does, they handled it well. They met with the principal, talked a lot about why it was such a big invasion of privacy, got their suspension, and spent their recesses doing community service for the school. Phew.

The boys have spent many hours making stop motion Lego films lately. I'll have to have Paul help me take their "slideshow" and turn it into a movie so I can post it. Some of them are hysterical. I love the creativity and the working together. Plus they don't need my help with it. Perhaps we have future Peter Jackson in the family - have you seen District 9? Really good.

Another fun winter race

I received 3 separate emails regarding this morning's race. All proceeds, including photos if ordered, will go directly to Haiti. I've never done this race before as it is a rather famous "elite" race for runners prepping for the cross country spring races. But I emailed my two new runner enthusiasts (is there anything more fun than brand new runners? I love the enthusiasm, the trepidation, and the glowing pride of finishing that only new runners have, before PRs come into play...) and we ran it together. Slowly. But it was a great run on a very blustery cold day with a lovely brunch afterwards (I had oatmeal - mmm - and I think I started feeling the tips of my fingers again).

Today begins what I like to call my birthday week. Today was the race and brunch. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with an old friend and going to a girl's night. Tuesday (the actual day) Paul and I will have my birthday sushi lunch and we'll pick up an ice cream cake to celebrate with the kids at night. Wednesday I'm having brunch with a friend at The Kitchen. Thursday and Friday should be free from birthday festivities, and the painting will be done, so we will be taking that time to box up anything that is left in the house that we don't need and prepping the basement to serve as "the lego room" and storage facility for things like pictures, extra large giraffes (*ahem*) and the boxes that have been packed. What a week! No subbing on the agenda this week, but I'm on for the following week, so I plan to help myself out by doing my octuple batch of GF pancakes (yes, octuple is a word - I had to check too) and a loaf of bread for the week. We have plenty of leftovers for dinners this week so I'm not even going to think about it til Thursday, which will probably be a crock pot chili, since I have beans I need to use up.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

it's coming along!

It's been another busy yet productive week. I subbed two days this week (which always throws my routine) but the house is "detail-cleaned", the painter has done the trim upstairs and will return Monday/Tuesday to finish the trim and paint the downstairs. The carpet will be installed on Feb. 1 and we will be ready to list on Feb. 9. The house is moving along and looking good. Simple things like new drip pans on the stove and an actual futon cover on the futon (!) make a world of difference. We meet with the mortgage guy next Thursday, so we can be pre-approved and ready to go. It's crazy how quickly things start moving once we set our minds to it!

In home news, it is a challenge to try to maintain order amidst the chaos of workers coming and going. The kids are a bit snippy, which I'm sure is stress. I know I'm snippy too!

We ran out of dishwasher powder tonight, and rather than dash to Safeway for a box, I did a quick google search on "homemade dishwasher powder." So easy! So cheap! 2 cups borax mixed with 1 cup baking soda with white vinegar in the rinse compartment. We'll see how clean things get, but I like this almost as much as my simple soap nuts, and general cleaning with vinegar or baking soda. (Did I mention, thanks to my short hair, that I now shampoo with baking soda and rinse with apple cider vinegar? Laugh if you will, but it's dirt cheap, natural, and my hair, short though it is, feel soft and silky!)

Our meals are still coming from the pantry, freezer and basement "root cellar." So far, so good on that end. I shared a list of our most common "go-to meals" on my other blog. Those foods and squash soups are pretty much standards around here these days, and it's really fun (in a nerdy sort of way) to only go to the grocery store to buy (local of course!) apples and cheese.

The majority of "stuff" has either been donated or packed away. The kids each have an under-the-bed box with their "must haves" and the superfluous kitchen and family room things are also boxed. This weekend we will pack the pictures and move the Lego table and Paul's computer/desk to the basement. A quick switch of family room/living room furniture will pretty much be it and we will be ready for the final touches. Wow.

Ted has started on the Magic Treehouse series. He thinks it is easier than Horrible Harry because "they don't do that annoying hyphen thing all the time," which I can see would get old. He is reading 2-3 chapters a night and doing 15 minutes of multiplication homework on the computer (kids and computers these days! even the homework is on the computer!) He is officially off his ILP and "no longer eligible" for services. Hee. Love it.

*Update* Everything in the dishwasher was as clean if not more clean. Seventh Generation? Buh-bye.

an e-mail vacation

Is turning off my email a vacation or a stay-cation? Hmm. For one week, beginning Monday morning, my email will be off. This means that an 'out-of-the-office' type of message will be sent to anyone who emails me. The emails will be deleted, not read. My hope is that my friends and family will call me at home or simply wait til next week to email. I feel that I am too distracted by the computer when I am at home, and I plan to be home a lot next week, prepping our house to get it on the market by Feb. 15. Much cleaning needs to happen, as well as more de-cluttering (though I'm pretty good with that) and some storage in the crawl space. I simply don't have the time to constantly be checking email, Facebook updates and my blogroll. I love these things and enjoy them immensely, but I need to focus. I think this will help.

It's a little weird - I'm so connected to everybody through the internet that I hope people won't be offended if I don't "like" their status or reply to a quiz. It's only one week, and I hope I will be refreshed and ready to sit back with my chai and catch up with the world when I return.

See you next week!

a long week!

For a 4-day week, this was a long one! Some random tidbits include:

I will be going to Keystone Science School with Ted's 2/3 classes as a chaperone. I didn't volunteer (because Ted very emphatically told me NOT to) but one of the dads couldn't go at the last minute and his teacher asked me. And Paul said he'd manage the younger two. I'm pretty excited. I'll be with the girls so I'll only see Ted at mealtimes, which is fine with him! My independent little man!


• Sylvie and I took our first Stroke Development class at Flatirons (the new home of TriBabes) and we loved it! Anna was very nice and very helpful and the drills were great. I was the fastest in the slow lane (story of my life) but I can do alternate breathing again without getting winded! This shows me that my overall fitness is much improved from my feeble attempts in May. Hooray! Anna may add a Tuesday night class too, which would be great. As it is, I run and swim both on Tue/Thu and it's easy to skip the swim if there isn't a class to force me to do it. Looking forward to getting into the swing of "winter maintenance."
  



• The basement is finished! They are working on the stairs now. We will need to re-carpet and perhaps some touch up painting, but that's it. Finances are tight (darn structural engineer fees) so we may not move as quickly as I'd hoped. We'll see.
  
  
• About a week ago (BEFORE we realized our financial situation was not what we'd anticipated after paying for the repairs), I moved us to the fabled "envelope system" for categories in which I tend to overspend. Mine are Dining (I could have labeled it Starbucks, but there is the occasional Larkburger...), Groceries, Clothing and Tri (for expenses related to my training.) A good case in point occurred this week. I have a 1/2 marathon coming up and I should have replaced my running shoes about 100 miles ago, but didn't. So I did - they were $109, $99 with my TriBabes discount. Since I had allotted $1o0/month for this category (seemed reasonable - most tri fees are in the $60s), I am out! Tomorrow I have my (complimentary, comes with the bike I bought months ago) bike fitting. I had planned to purchase clips. But ... methinks they are more than $1. So, I'll wait. Interesting feeling. Groceries are always an area we can cut back in, just by doing more from scratch cooking and truly using everything in the CSA share (not just freezing it for "later"). We'll see how it goes. So far, so good.
  

I'll be MIA Monday through Wednesday next week but hope to update when I return. Should be an interesting 3 days!

whew

The boys are off to Veedavoo (sp?) to camp with friends while Mae and I hold down the fort here. I had planned to go on this one with them (it is car camping, after all) but after a week on vacation, I am still feeling behind on my training. After we saw the boys off, Mae and I went to Lakeshore where she happily (!) went to daycare while I swam (1000 meters, but I had to rest almost every 50. I know my coach would tell me NOT to rest. Oy.) Then we had dinner at Noodles (where else?!), DQ and a quick romp in the dinos (that girl can climb! what a monkey.) She, of course, put up a major fit about going to bed, but passed out in 5 minutes .. ahhh. I went through the boys' room eliminating paper clutter and books we don't read. Tomorrow I'll attack Mae's room and the linen closet. I found some of Mae's bday presents today - she is going to love the doll crib. I can't believe she's almost 4. I mean, in some ways I can't believe she's NOT already 4 since she acts so mature, but the Pre-K piece is still a shock to me. This is her last year of preschool ... I guess it goes by more quickly when it only takes 2.5 years (she started Caterpillars in January.) Nuts!
Tomorrow my sitter comes at 6am so I can do a brick with Sylvie. I think we'll do some cleaning in the afternoon and maybe dinner at the pool tomorrow night. The basement is being worked on so I'm very encouraged by the forward motion! Hopefully we can list the house as soon as it's finished. Happy weekend, all!
Mom, this pic is actually from China in '06. Happy memories of that day, our first tour day.

Rain, rain, rain!

Friday was a perfect summer day! We went to the pool at Lakeshore and all the kids had a blast. We all biked there (huge milestone! Mae is doing great on the tiny 2 wheeler and Sam is finally confident enough on the 16" to do it.) Mae is really swimming up a storm this summer (finally! hooray!) and the biggest issue is that she likes to go deep enough and that I *should* be with her in the water. We had lunch and came home for naps and the now-daily thunderstorm came crashing down. We had planned to go back and swim, but .... well, we couldn't. I went to my friend Lisa's bat mitzvah in Denver that night which was inspiring. I really should do that. Hmmm. Maybe when Mae is in 1st grade I'll have more time.
This morning I had a beautiful 9 mile run. Very muddy but cool, slightly drizzly, and perfect for a run. Then I had my bike fit, which was cut short because I need a shorter stem. They're ordering it and we'll finish up when it comes in. That's why my hand was falling asleep. So tomorrow I'll ride up higher on the handlebars, to compensate. Tonight the kids have Ninja Nite (we're bringing Despereaux, very cute but slightly different from the book!) and we're going to see Star Trek and maybe even have a bite to eat. Paul steam cleaned today so the house is squeaky clean. If we could just get Orestes to stop peeing on everything, it would be fantastic.
We have the Pre-Construction Walk-Through on Monday morning, so hopefully we can get moving on this house business!!!
Happy summer everyone!

Holly Homemaker I'm not

Well, perhaps I should have taken Home Ec in high school instead of AP Biology. I haven't made much use of those fancy AP classes, but it sure would have been handy to have more basic skills. Still, I've been darning away lately, determined to make our clothes last a little longer. It's frustrating, but feels good, in the same way growing our little carrots and tomatoes does. 

In other news, Sam and I made headway today on GF waffles. Pancakes are good, but my kids love their waffles. Success! 

Ted graduated to the next level in Swim America last Thursday. His freestyle looks so much better, but I hope they keep reviewing it just in case. He should be ready to go on May 15 for the first RCF practice. Sam is going to do PreTeam this year, which will be fun. Our summer is shaping up to be a mellow one. June is all swim team, July is our KY vacation followed by 3 weeks at RMDC, then August will be a few weeks of chilling at the pool and getting ready for school (which starts so ridiculously early in mid-August.) Hopefully, we will either have moved or be in the process by the time Sam starts K. August would be a good month for this, as we have nothing planned. We shall see. 

Tomorrow will be Week 3 of waiting for the warranty company to move on our claim. Last Monday we were in the "engineer is drawing out a plan of repair" stage. Next will be having 2 bidding repair companies out; the warranty company will pay us the $$ of the lower bidder. Then we'll hire them and pay with that money. Let's hope we move to stage 2 sooner rather than later. Although, with June and July so local, I am OK with an August or September move, poor selling season that it is. 

yes, we're alive!

It's been a busy few days. Who thought I'd go to bullets for this one? If I had won a penguin trophy, it'd be yours, because you're right! But I didn't. Win the penguin. 'K?

• House hunting goes on. Paul refuses to look at a house if it only has 1 bathroom. I refuse to look at townhouses. So far, we only have a few houses we agree on. Which probably won't be still for sale in a few months anyone. Fun evening chit chat though.
• Our house only needs minor work on one foundation wall. Should be quick and under warranty. Hoping for a "ready to list" date of March 1 now. As long as we're in before K starts, I'll be happy. 
• Friday I scored this eco lunch pack for Ted at Horizons' Art Fair. I purchased his Laptop Lunchbox for his first year of preschool, in September of 2004. Only now, 4+ years later, has the lid cracked. It's no big deal and it's still usable, but since he goes to school every day, it'll be nice to trade the lunchbox out with this sack 'o coolness. Friday night we went to Red Robin for dinner, after collecting Sam from Jason's. He had gone swimming and fell asleep at the restaurant, transferred to the car and to his bed, and never did eat dinner. We thought he was getting sick but he seemed fine all weekend.
• Saturday we had our Hanukkah-themed chavurah at the Seigals. It was a blast, as always. The latkes, blintzes and donuts were delicious, as was the mulled hot cider with rum and the acorn squash soup (my contribution). The kids did really well, although we stayed too late as we always do.
• Sunday Ted was supposed to ski with Josh and Cathy, but he was so tired in the morning we both agreed to wait til he was more rested. He had Sunday School while I ran the Colder Boulder. Results will be up tomorrow but I am fairly certain I ran it in under 30 minutes. I promise I'll figure out my stopwatch for the next race. I simply don't think about it....I think I am the only one in that category. I waited in a short line for a wonderful massage afterwards...ahh. The kids played at HHS for a loooong time in the mild weather, Paul and I snuck naps in, and we put up our Hanukkah decorations. A pleasant weekend all around.
• Tomorrow Ted has his follow-up with Dr. Fleischer at National Jewish. He's had a cold for a week now, so I'm curious to see if they put him on any "when he's sick" routines. I also have to pick up the music for the Xmas service I'm singing. Then Bookclub at night. We're reading The Audacity of Hope (Obama). I've listened to it, and really enjoyed hearing him speak. I think it might have been a slow read, but it's really good to listen to. 

So that's what's been going on here. Phew. 

Mr. Thumpy

Tonight we heard a very loud thump. I thought maybe one of the kids had fallen out of bed. But no, it was just our neighborhood raccoon. Isn't he cute? He is gigantic... the fattest raccoon I've ever seen. He loves our birdseed! (Yes, I brought it inside for the night!)

Our realtor came by this morning to look at our house and to give suggestions. Basically, wipe down the walls, doors, cabinets and baseboards. Touch up the paint in spots (don't have to repaint white! Woo hoo!). Replace the carpet. She checked out the closets and garage, basement and cabinets. She also gave me the best compliment I could ever hope to receive. "You guys don't have a lot of stuff," she said. I can live on those words for a long time. I feel like I am always striving to "clear out the clutter." It was so incredibly empowering to hear someone recognize it. She said she hasn't seen anyone with kids (i.e., bikes) able to fit both cars in the garage. She thought the closets looked great because we don't have a lot of clothes, so they look very spacious. I am very encouraged and think showing the house will be less work than I imagined. Keeping it clean (actually, getting it completely show-ready clean in the first place!) will be the major challenge. Tomorrow I get bids for the re-carpeting, the only real expense in the process, for now. I think I'll go room by room, wiping clean with hot soapy water one day and touching up the paint the next. By the time we finish cleaning this house up, we won't want to leave after all!

scheduled!

Things are moving along. The structural engineer will come Monday or Tuesday. 1-800-Got Junk comes Monday morning. Hopefully, by mid-week, we will have a de-cluttered basement and a better idea of when (if?) we can actually get the house listed. Everything hinges on the engineer. If there is structural damage, we're looking at another 6 months. If it's just the house shifting, it could be soon. Cross all toes and fingers, please!

Since the kids spent most of the day entertaining themselves (i.e., iTouch, Lego.com and Peter Pan), we felt obligated to get them outside! We walked to dinner at the local Chinese restaurant in the chilly, first-snow night air. It was refreshing and fun. We did do a lot of coloring with the kids today, and significant amounts of reading, but I still felt guilty. Tomorrow will be more of the same as we finish up the basement, but I vow to get them out to the park in the morning before we start.

On my list of To-Do's is to call our wonderful painter, Alex, of Eclipse Painting. Except that I can't find his card. He was here just last month painting the exterior of our house. I've searched online and can't find him. If anyone reading this knows who I mean, please help! I'll be going through the "house" files tomorrow, hoping his card is in there. Oy!

Seeing the light...

I'm really glad I did that big de-clutter session in September. Having already cleared out the major junk, it's not too hard to envision how our house will look when the time is right. Hopefully we'll hear from the warranty company next week. In the meantime, Paul and I spent today going through the crawl space (an area I carefully avoided in September!) We have many boxes of old textbooks and random knickknacks to donate. Paul wants one more weekend to go through things and then we'll either call 1-800 Got Junk again (love them!) or drive our donations/garbage/recyclables to their destinations. I'll call our painter this week for an estimate on re-painting. I definitely want him to paint the baseboards and windowsills. Depending on our realtor's suggestion, perhaps the whole house too. We have plastic under-the-bed boxes for the kids' toys. Tawyna suggested it to me. They'll have a large box for their toys, books, stuffies, and extra blankets. Then they'll still have all their "stuff", but it won't be out for all the world to see. It should work, at least in the short term. Between Mae and me, we're making good headway on breaking all the glasses! At least it'll be less to move. The kitchen is another area that was thoroughly de-cluttered so besides organizing, it should be easy to pull together. Let's hope!

After singing a Haydn mass at St. Augustine's this morning and working on the basement, we all took Ole on a walk. The boys played in the park while Mae and I took him up the hill to the trail. Sam looked so cute, all ruddy-cheeked. He seems to be completely fine after the bee sting. Hooray!

Tomorrow Sam and Mae have preschool, and Ted goes to a half-day soccer camp with his buddies Kai and Zach. Should be fun!

chipping away at the to-do list

Today was productive. After a leisurely run with Ole and the normal loads of laundry that I (try to) do every day, I made some headway on the house stuff. I spoke with the structural engineer that our neighbor used and he explained the process to me. So my job tomorrow is to call the warranty people and request they send this person out. This is how the whole shebang (minus deductible) will get covered. 

I also did some quick decluttering of random toys and the bags of clothes I'd culled in the previous months. They were all donated to Savers and I used their 20% coupon to get the boys some (new to them) PJs. I mailed out some more gifts to my parents too. I need to get the holiday cards done but I'm much more ahead than I've ever been. 

Other tasks for the week include looking into the cost of re-carpeting (I mentioned the patching concept to Marcia and she looked horrified.) and checking Home Depot for a replacement basement door. I guess a handyman might be in order for that one. 

Tonight at TKD Ted wore his new dobok. It's too big for him but he'll grow into it. It's much more official with the "Boulder TaeKwonDo" printing on it, and the 'big kid' patch officially sewed on. He was pretty excited about it. He is so well-behaved in class. I hope the novelty takes a long time to wear off. 

Tomorrow is Tuesday. Will Ted make it through the day, or will I have to pick him up from school? Hmm...

w00t!

This morning, at the leisurely hour of 9:30am, I ran the Panicking Poultry 5K at the Rez. It was a beautiful day, 60s and sunny, with no wind. Thanks to some good training runs with Wendy, I was able to run my best 5K yet. According to the combination of the website's final stats (30:43) and Wendy's adjustment since we were in the back and it took us a while to even GET to the starting line (-45 seconds), my run time was 29:58. I have NEVER run a sub 30 5K before, so I am STOKED. Truthfully, I've never run hard before. I run to enjoy the scenery, take in the fresh air, and mentally relax. This was hard. After about a mile and a half, I would have been happy to stop and walk. But I kept going, keeping it steady and giving it every ounce I had at the end (seriously, I felt terrible at the end, but how do you slow down when a cute Ariel is waving at you?) Now, can I top this at the ColderBoulder? Woo hoo! (9:54 pace according to the website, so a touch faster. I've never run a sub 10 min mile that I know of either.)

This race was a benefit for MS and they had a silent auction. I got a great deal on a new pair of running shoes (mine are from the MS Walkabout in '07) and a Sherpani bag I've been coveting, all for way below market value AND for a good cause! I also won some random drawing for a music game that I don't understand. And a really cute bright yellow long sleeved race shirt with the bird saying "Eat Salad Instead!" Love it. 

Yesterday was Abbondanza's Grand Closing. We stocked up on applesauce and beans. Black, kidney, Indian Woman and anasazi. Rock on. My new project is to find many different ways to prepare rice and beans. We should be able to eat for almost free all winter at this rate. 

Last night was also Ninja Nite (they watched Kung Fu Panda, which they LOVED. We caught most of it and it was so cute.) Paul and I had a great talk about moving and we now have a list in place of things to do on the house to get it ready to sell. The major one is to have another structural engineer out. Paul thinks the foundation needs work. Then there is the carpeting...should we replace it all or can it be patched in the bad spots? And finally, repainting the baseboards. Not to mention de-cluttering, but that will be my project. I'm giving us a tentative "ready" date of March. If we can have the house ready by March (and keep our savings plan going too), we would be ready to sell right at peak sale time, Spring. Let's hope! The house we want is crazy and will need a lot of work, but it's 0.2 miles from Horizons, is on a cul-de-sac, and has 4 bedrooms. The finished basement has a wet bar, full bathroom, family room with fireplace and bedroom. I think that would make for a cozy Master Suite. We could stock all the liquor down there and "retire" downstairs for our nightly Star Trek and drinks. We shall see. Hopefully it will still be available. The other homes in our price range are quite small. Let's hope!!!!