Spaghetti and Music in the Mountains

Earlier in the summer when my mom was in town for a few weeks, my sister, my mom and I had a girls’ day out in Park City. We went shopping at the Tanger outlet mall there, and then in the evening went to see Time for Three (a two violins/double bass trio) perform the Bach Double Concerto (well, the two violinists performed the double concerto – I’m not sure if the bassist played in the chamber orchestra or if he just sat back stage for that part of the concert). The second half of the concert was the three of them playing all sorts of good stuff, and interacting with the audience. They were amazing. If you ever have a chance to see them live, do it. Think Jon Schimdt and Steven Sharp Nelson, but three of them, and with violins and bass instead of piano and cello.

Anyway, I didn’t take any pictures of us at the concert, but it was fabulous, and I thought I would share this music video with you. Hope you like it.

Back to the story. So my mom, my sister and I spent that whole day shopping. I found this awesome shirt that I really wanted at the Dress Barn, but they didn’t have it in my size. Let me tell you how awesome Dress Barn is. They called up the nearest store that had it in my size (in North Carolina – what!?) and after I gave them a 25% “down payment” they shipped it to the Park City store for freeeee! All I did was pay them 25% when they shipped, and the other 75% when I picked it up. Talk about customer service!

Well, since I had to go back to Park City to pick up the shirt, we decided to take a little bit of a family trip. We didn’t do much other than go to the Dress Barn and then walk up and down historic main street, but it was fun anyway.

We ate at Main Street Pizza & Noodle company. It was delicious and I hope we get to go again some day. We ate right out on the sidewalk. They had crayons and coloring for the kids, and even though they made their macaroni and cheese out of those multi-colored noodles (you know, the green and orange spiral ones you use for pasta salad?) we still had a good time (strange colored noodles = no children eating food, just sayin). We’re also pleased to inform you that Joseline was not harmed by the big bear, and even thought it might be kind of cuddly.

And then the kids fell asleep on the way home. Can’t beat that.

The House - for real this time

Well, here is the house that we have put an offer on.

This is a site with a few pictures.

Hopefully we'll hear in a few months about the property. Ha ha, I say months because it is a short sale, and there is a lowball offer in the bank right now, so we have to wait for the bank to say no to that offer, and then say yes to our offer. Which is actually perfect for us, because we don't want to close on a house until at the earliest mid-September. We'll probably end up closing at the end of September or the beginning of October. Which is great, since that's when we'll be able to move in anyway. The home is perfectly move-in ready. The yard needs some work since it's been vacant for a while, but that's going to be more fun than work! As you my know from my garden blog, I love to dig in the dirt, and plant stuff. The whole house has new paint and new carpet. The only appliance we'll have to buy is a fridge (KSL, here we come!).

Just in case, we put a few offers on other short sales as well, but we won't even consider those homes until this house gets sold to someone else.

My friend, Trisha, told me that I would just know it when I found "the house" - but after walking into house after house after house (probably 50+ homes in 4 days), and really liking some of them, I kept thinking to myself, "Maybe that's how it works for her, but maybe I won't ever have that feeling."

Then I walked into this house in West Jordan and I just got that feeling - "This house." That was it. Before I even saw anything in the house. Then I started walking around, and I kept feeling it! "This house. Yes, this house." In fact, after I saw this house, we still had three or four homes on our list, and I had absolutely no desire to see any of them. And when we walked in to each of the other homes, we simply walked back out, because my feeling about this house was still so strong!

So, either we're supposed to live in this house, or we're supposed to learn a really hard lesson by not living in this house...

I'm hoping it's the former.

Christmas Part I – Tree Shopping

 

I watched a little boy for a friend this fall, and she paid me in gift cards. One of the gift cards was for Home Depot, so that’s where we got our Christmas tree. We decided on a shorter one so we could put it up on a stool to keep it out of reach of the little munchkin named Joseline. Unfortunately that didn’t work perfectly, but that’s okay, what are kids for anyway if not to demolish your perfectly decorated tree.

Russ brought fruit snacks for the drive over, and we found the perfect little noble fir for about $20. We’ve talked about getting an artificial tree next year. Probably after Christmas when everything is marked down. We’ll see. We keep going back and forth. We love the real tree, but… hmm. Although I did see someone write that they have lots of land so they buy a Christmas tree with the roots still intact, use that for their tree during Christmas, and then plant it on their property after Christmas! I really like that idea. When we buy land we will surely do that!

keeping in touch

Still no camera. We're trying to be a lot more sure about the things we spend our money on, since we're not making a lot of money right now, and we're still rediculously in debt and trying to ease that burden.

Right now we're asking ourselves the question "Would we rather have (insert item to purchase), or would we rather get out of debt faster?" We're trying to pay down our debts and put a little away for a rainy day, so instead of buying things right away, we're biding our time, hoping something a little cheaper will come our way.

Take our fence, for instance. We need a fence around our backyard because our management company won't let us have the trampoline without a fence around it. Well, we were talking to some friends about the fences around here, and the fences don't technically belong to anyone (unless the person who put up the fence lives there), because each tenant assumes the cost for putting up a fence. Well, people who need/want a fence usually just go find an unoccupied house and take the fence and move it to their yard. So instead of going out and spending $1000 on a fence, we've found a big enough fence around another yard, and we're going to take advantage of it. Talk about bargain shopping!! :D

So that's the story of our life these days. We are really trying to curb spending. It's really hard to remind yourself to think "Do I really need this thing? Do I really even want it?"   But those questions I think are going to really change us.

what a wonderful world

This picture is mostly just because I feel like I need to post a picture when I post on my blog. It gives you readers a little more incentive to read ;) I've really appreciated all the comments on my blog - you guys all make me feel sooo loved and remembered (I miss all our old pals from the Y - we can't wait to be in Utah again to spend time with you, if you're still around!!)

Anyway, the picture above is Vincente admiring the fish we're fish-sitting for the Power family. He likes to feed them and thinks it's hilarious when they eat the food. A few days ago, Russ was sitting with Vincente at the fish tank and they were talking about the fish in Portuguese. It was the first time I've ever heard Vincente speak 100% Portuguese - he was actually having a "conversation" in Portuguese with Russ! It was great! He did the same thing again today for a while. It's funny because even though I speak some Portuguese with Vincente, he won't speak entirely in Portguese with me. It is really cool to see that his Portuguese language skills are developing. His English skills are still better, but his Portuguese skills (I would say) are mostly right on with a normal 2 year old. He is above level for his English speaking skills (I'd say his English speech skills are closer to 3 year old).

I took Joseline to the pediatrician yesterday, and I really really liked our pediatrician. I scheduled an appointment for Vincente's 2 year check up and Joseline's 1 month checkup. It was nice to have such a good pediatrician. She's really nice and helpful and she seemed to trust me as a mother, and was just really laid back. When I asked if it was okay that Joseline is sleeping 6-8 hours at night (I know - how did I get lucky and get the kid who sleeps all night!?), and the pediatrician was completely fine since Joseline is gaining weight and nursing well. I know some doctors just have their ideas they stick to and they would be like "No, you should wake her up!" I really like a doctor who is flexible and willing to look at you like you're an individual and have individual needs and abilities. I've never liked doctors very much (which is one reason I like my CNMs better than an OB - although I do really like my OB here - he's a lot like my midwives :D ), so it's nice to have a pediatrician I like.

The low-down on Joseline's first Dr visit:

8lbs 15oz

23 in. (probably not 100% accurate... I'm sure she hasn't grown 2.5 inches since birth... but you never know)

Dr. Lim (our ped) said she looks great! And since Joseline's not my first child, she said she didn't want me to come in for the weekly visit they usually recommend for newborns. We'll just see her at Joseline's 1 month checkup. What a relief - a pediatrician who trusts that if I feel like Joseline needs to be seen, I'll make sure she's seen, otherwise, she thinks I'll do a great job taking care of my newborn on my own.

Heh, speaking of which, I was grocery shopping today and I left Vince home with Russ and took Joseline with me (the easier of the two to take shopping... Joseline just slept the whole time). Anyway, I was just about done shopping and this old lady looks into Joseline's infant carrier and is like "How old is your baby?" I replied "About two weeks." Then this lady is like "Isn't it a little early to have her out?" or something to that effect. I said "Oh, I think she's fine." But what I wanted to say was "Not if people like you don't come breathe on her." But that would have been mean. Really, though, if you see a tiny newborn baby and you're honestly concerned about them being out and around people with all their nasty germs wouldn't you stay the heck away? But no - the people who are the most "concerned" about you having your newborn out in the world are the ones who want to stick their germ-infested fingers in your infant carrier and poke at your baby and lean their heads in and breathe their disease infested breath into your child's face. If people like that just kept their hands and breath to themselves, it would be perfectly fine for me to take my newborn out.

Okay, enough of my ranting. This post is too long as it is.

Joseline's Wardrobe

My mom and I went shopping at Old Navy today because I had a 15% off coupon, and $30 in Bucks Back from our ON card. That coupled with shopping the clearance racks and all the dresses being on sale, we made a killing! Here is a sampling of the things we found for little Joseline to wear. I'm getting super excited about dressing her up!!

Yes, that's right. My Joseline is going to be the best dressed little girl around. I think I'm going to dress her up in little dresses every day. And I'll be sure to post lots of pictures of Joseline in her cute little dresses (as soon as she's out here!) Don't worry, we have a few newborn dresses that will fit her as soon as she comes out :D

holiday

So I have been thoroughly enjoying my holiday. I had breakfast with Jessica, which was fabulously fun. Then we went school shopping for her, then watched the new Transformers, which was hilarious and fun. Then she cooked us some yummy peppers, and then Vincente almost drove away with Christopher. He would have if I had let him. When I asked him if he wanted to come with me he shook his head. And then he started crying when I took him out of Christopher's car. Silly baby!

Anyway, then I went shopping with Chrystal and her boys. Which was super duper exciting and fun. And Mariposa was having a fabulous sale, so I bought a nice winter coat, a blazer jacket (way cute!) and three shirts for $34! Amazing, yes? Yes. And I bought myself a new skirt at Motherhood because I deserve it. You could say it was a day of emotional shopping. I don't usually shop for myself, because I usually go shopping with Russ, and it's hard for me to feel like buying stuff for myself when I'm with Russ. Sometimes you just need to go shopping with a girl. It's funny - when Russ and I were dating and engaged, he was super fun to shop with, but for some reason he's not as much fun to shop with anymore. Maybe it's because we haven't really had money to spend since then :)

So today has been completely wonderful. I'm staying distracted, which is good and healthy for me right now.

Speaking of which, it's almost time to eat food. And what better distraction than that!