I.Am.Alive. Mostly.

Okay. Internet friend whom I've met once in real life because we live kind of fair away from each other but I like her like a "real" friend anyway because in my mind that's what we would be if we lived closer has called me out.

Carla! You made me laugh. ASAP updates...I might need to change the meaning of that acronym. Instead of  As Soon As Possible, maybe make it mean, Abnormally Swamped, Assistant Preferred?

I have been extremely "busy." And therein lies part of my problem.

I am a doer. I do. I do stuff. I am productive. I like it that way. But the last few weeks have begged the questions: "At what cost?"

So, after a bump in life, that I'll explain shortly, it is no less busy, but it is more manageable. Which is good, because I have a few projects up my sleeve that will be taking some more of my precious time. As long as my family does not suffer, I am good.

So, this bump. This bump is the house/trailer thing we've been dealing with the last seven years, two months, and 19 days. (Who's counting?) The house....drum roll please.... it technically FINISHED for habitation. we called the inspector out, and it was our favorite inspector, Aaron. Aaron is cool. He's not lenient, but his attitude meshed well with our attitude. He came out last Tuesday, was thoroughly fascinated with our ceiling and the trim work and the cabinets, and basically said, "Wow. No wonder it took you so long." You see, Aaron was our inspector when we first started the actual building process five years ago. He has since been promoted and works in the big city. He happened to be up here filling in for Steve, so the timing was perfect. He looked around, noticed we forgot CO2 detectors, we had to add two more motion sensors in two of the bathrooms, and I had to fill out Title 24 forms that basically asked for what materials we used to see if they match up with the Title 24 calcs done by the engineers. It was easy, since we installed everything ourselves. After we did that (that night), we called him out the next day, and BAM! Five minutes later he signed everything off and I drove straight to the homeowners insurance company to get REAL house insurance. This, I am finding out, it a big ol' pain in the wallet. I swear there is a conspiracy against people who live out in the middle of nowhere. Everything costs more money. Everything. Home owners insurance? TWICE AS MUCH. Seriously. And, we have to go through these special programs because of our distance from the fire department. Never mind we have a 5,000 gallon water storage tank fitted with for a fire hose, have fire hose, have Ryan who spent some time on a Hot Shot crew, have acres of brush clearance... oh well, what can you do? Grow my own food and drive less to make up the difference, I guess! :)

So, this last week we threw mattresses on the floors of the bedrooms, and we are sleeping in the house! Which was super good timing because it snowed last Saturday, and it was 36 degrees in the trailer. SO HAPPY! We are not "moved" in yet, and we won't be for a month or more. We need to finish the house to our liking first. There is "county approved and homeowner's insurance approved" levels of finished. Then there is OUR level of finished. Here is the list of things to finish. I am crossing my fingers and toes that the appraiser looks past this list and doesn't hold it against us that it isn't as finished as it's going to be just yet. We need some mo' money first.

List:
-deck around the entire house. Right now it's dirt. Would make a huge world of difference.
-baseboards in the front room and dining/kitchen.
-window trim in same rooms. We have some...it's just not in yet. And, not sure we have enough.
-trim kids' closets. (this is really low on my list of priorities. Looks fine without it.)
-move my hunk of burnin' food love stove in.
-build the "built ins..."  two desks, a hallway book case, pantry shelves. I almost forgot: the laundry room, too.
-finish the "unfinished" bonus rooms. One will be an office, and one will be a workout (lol) and sewing room. I want to make clothes again.

That's it.

Not too shabby compared to the list of "things to do on the house" that was about a million things long. I'm only exaggerating a little. A million is pretty close.

So here is where I make the list of things to post about to catch up. And then promise myself I will work on at least three posts a week. Now that I have Internet at the house (mostly...the modem/router is still out at the trailer, can't reset the satellite just yet, and need to go wrap the router in plastic so it's more weather tight, I'm thinking I'll just stick it in a ziploc bag!) and I have a makeshift desk set up, life is feeling sweeter and more productive.

Things to post about sooner, rather than later:

*kids first quarter awards
*Paxton's photo shoot (oh look, I still own a camera! lol)
*Veteran's Day program
*Facebook Stuff
*The randomness that is me and my projects
*Ryan's shooting- 6 months later
*Adjusting to a real house with the kids

And, anything else my little brain can remember. I really can't have a blog about one thing, I can't focus on one thing long enough!