Provident Living?

So Pete and I have been on this kick lately. I got Peter a Bosch mixer with the sworn promise that he would make bread almost weekly and for the last month he has been doing just that.  I am even altering recipes to try new and unique flours.  We already had a wheat grinder so we are using our own wheat. It has been tons of fun. And may I say I love bread when it first comes out of the oven.  Yesterday we started our square foot garden.  One box we covered because we will start that one in March when all those seeds say they should be planted.  But we have 2 tomato plants and six strawberry plants. We are transplanting these into the garden and not starting from seeds so we will get a few things quickly. I put lettuce, spinach, carrot and onion seeds in a few spots and in a couple of weekends will add more so we can have continuous crops. If all goes well we will have plants to harvest in late Febuary to early March.  Now we are throwing around the idea of getting a year supply of food storage for one person and eating almost only that until it is gone to get a realistic idea of what our family really needs and likes.  I just canned my first set of green beans in my pressure canner.  I canned 13 quart sized jars.  I plan on canning one item every month.  Either a fruit or vegetable on sale or beans or soups maybe meat.  We are talking about getting solar panels for the house to cover our whole electric bill.  We have a compost going (although I can't wait for our upgrade to get here the $37 one from home depot was a total flop).  We are thinking about starting a blog about what we have learned from the food storage supply and bread making, canning and gardening.  Maybe we are crazy, maybe there is no call for such things anymore.  Why bake bread when you can buy it for a dollar (the good stuff is more like $3 unless you get the B1/G1)? 

Reaping What You Sow

It has always been a great pleasure for Pete and I to go to u-pick strawberry places and such and pick a bunch and eat/can them.  I don't know, they always taste better and I get a personal satisfaction out of it.  So we were especially happy that our house already had an avocado and banana trees. We were a little sad that we bearly got three of the avocados from our tree as someone had came and picked them all right before we moved in. We have been really happy about the one banana tree that fruited and we have been inpatiencely watching it for weeks.  Well for those of you that don't know banana trees grow to maturity, fruit and die.  I thought these bananas were never going to change color and then the tree started dieing and falling over. So we cut the stalk off and hang them by the swing.

 It took an other 3-4 days before the first banana turned yellow.  And that was after I got too impatience and thought maybe they are plantians and tryed one (I will never try a nonriped banana again). 

And may I just say fruit from your yard is even better then a u-pick.  I want to make my garden even more now.  I can't begin to say how wonderful it is to have a yard.  Pete made a fire pit and Justin loves it when we make a fire and sit together and watch it (It doesn't hurt that the wheather has been perfect too).  Our house has became a home and I was about to take pictures but I have stuff for my craft fair on all the counters so that will have to wait.  I am thinking of doing Christmas decorations way early so maybe then. 

So I spoke too soon

Today we got the worst news about our house which we really like.  All the plumbing is shot. Not one pipe that is easy to get to but all of it. Under the house all the way to the road. There are cracks and tree roots.  Of course nothing seem wrong at inspection b/c no one was using the toliets and tubs daily. After two weeks our tubs starting filling and then lovely stuff started coming up.  We got a plumber out to clean the clog that was too bad for Pete to fix himself and after $650 all we got was poop up the wall and across the floors of both bathrooms and his words as he left that evening was just clean it up with a little bleach.  I still am wondering why I handed him my credit card.  He said it shot up b/c we have a collasped pipe under the house.  Well we didn't take his word for it so we called an other plumber who came out today with a camera.  Well the pipes aren't collasped....yet. There are cracks in multiple spots a hole here and there and I saw some nice tree roots in one area.  It is the whole line. He said that unfortunely with older houses they used cast iron and if the house is vacant they rust and crack.  I wish someone would have told us we would have paid during inspection for them to check. we haven't gotten the quote to fix it yet but it has been hinted at being well over 10,000 and probably way closer to $20,000.  I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I feel like we have had the worst luck.  I haven't even included in any posts that I got shocked 6 times by my defibalator earlier this year or went though a depression after Emma and am now talking to a family physchologist. 
We have another plumber out tomorrow for their quote and he only goes through the floor and doesn't tunnel under so then there would be lots restoration to the whole house if we went with him.  I am sickened and overwhelmed.  we were told it wasn't covered under our insurance b/c it is wear and tear and it isn't covered under our warrenty. 
I feel like we must have done something wrong to have this happening.  I am doubting whether we listened to the spirit correctly or if we missed it.  I am worried about getting a loan to actually to able to pay for it, it is not like there is equity in the house we just bought it for what it appraised for.  Oh my now I am crying again.  It just sucks.     

New house, Better Year

This year I have felt like everything has been going wrong. Talk about not looking on the good side of anything. But since we bought this house, its like the rest of the year never happened.

I am so glad to have a backyard that Justin comes in and tells me with a huge smile "Mommy I am a dirty boy!!!" I love it.

She has been crawling for two months now.

She is a little vain. I saw her at the Gay's house playing with herself in their wall mirror laughing it up and Bradley (Hughes' little boy) came inbetween her and her reflection and she screamed at him. 

And don't get me started on Emma she is quite the little girl with her own personality.  This is what happens when Justin decides to take out her hair. It was done up so cute too.  At least he waited until after church. 

Then there has been painting that I for some reason believed would be cleaner. But Emma had fun. She was determined to be held as soon as she finished painting the canvas (which was not her body by the way).

This lady is so good at the westfield mall. The kids love reading and dancing at this free event.

$11,000 Less

So we got our appraisal back from the house FINALLY and it was $11,000 less then what our contract was for. Great for us not so good for the seller.  The seller said he couldn't go that low and asked about meeting half way. We agreed to 5,500 off the price as long as he was still contributing toward closing and would fix all the problems with the roof (which in the sceme of things = the other $5,500) or give it to us for the appraised amount and no money at closing but still fix the roof b/c we need it fixed now for insurance since Citizen's changed its policy over the last 2 months and do not want a lick of damage.  So far we have had a lot of hiccups with even this conventional sale (we were in contract with an other home at one point and some of you know the stories I don't even want to remember anymore) but thus far they are stressful for a couple of days and then they suddendly work in our favor.  IE the seller fixing the roof for us and getting an even lower price. We are still waiting for the new addendum to be signed by the seller so we can pass it on to our loan officer.  Oh the joys. I am hoping it doesn't change our close date b/c I really want to get in the new house.  Us paying more does make it so we are putting more down which means we can't do a couple of the other things we were going to (sorry Pete probably no mango tree yet). 
Pete got released from the bishopric on Sunday and we both couldn''t be happier.  Although I wonder if this will be short lived. I have never been happier about a release. It is horrible to say but I have very few things that made me happy about him being in the bishopric. I am truelly selfish with my break time. I was going to say family time but it wasn't that because now I am going to YW on Tuesday night and that is okay. I think it was more the fact that I finally got a break when he came home and when he was leaving again I didn't.  And lets face it everyone needs those 2 15 minute breaks and lunch breaks so not getting them on days was really wearing on me.  Over 12 hours is too long to go without one break.  It will be interesting to see how Sunday morning goes since I am used to doing everything to get the kids ready and I am usually always on time with fully dressed kids. I almost always had make-up.  You would think it would be easier with your husband to help but on days when Pete didn't have bisopric meetings we were always rushing and running late.  So I may need to just tell Pete exactly his responsibilites for Sunday morning. I think it will be better than assuming he knows what I want.
         

Okay I Give Up

I have unsucessfully tried to catch up this blog three times and my pictures won't load so FORGET IT. I will just write. So since over a year ago. HMMM I was pregnant so now I have a second child. Emma Lee Mills so beautiful and she is 7 months old.  Justin has been adapting to all the change of moving and new sister better than me.  I am sucessfully having melt-downs at least once a month.  I feel alone and overwhelmed with learning to effectively disipline Justin.  I never believed I would have this much trouble. It is bringing up issues I thought were long gone. 

   We are trying to close on a house so guess what moving again.  I don't want to pack at all and haven't started.  Worst of all this week my sewing machine is getting serviced and I can't take it. I am in withdraw and getting annoyed.  It is horrible. Plus I have picked up with sales in my store (horray) and I can't do any orders until the service is done (boo).  I am also trying to prepare for my first craft fair. RRRR.
Emma is a great little girl. I love dressing her up and making her clothes. Justin is 2 almost 3 so what can I say. Most of you have gone though that age. Then you realize you have no idea what you are doing and supposingly effective disipline involves no yelling or flustration. HA.  Who are these people that can do this?  I can see maybe being sucessful if I have only one child and gave up every hobby and enjoyment I have while he is awake.  But I am having so much trouble.  I did have a whole day yesterday where I did not yell at Justin. He did get time out and such but half of me wonders if it was because I was so tired I could not physically yell.  Today they are both really tired and I can't get Justin to stay still so he can sleep. He was up most of the night and I am reaping the benefits of that today.   
I am really excited about our new house and can't wait to have a yard and a actually really nice house.  We have no improvements we have to do, everything has been updated. We have a nice back porch that can easily to closed in one day since it is partially closed already. 1/4 an acre for the kids and dogs to play and for me to start a vegetable garden. The yard already has bananas and an avocado tree and Pete wants to add a mango tree.  There were some roof damage and no washer and dryer but no reason to not buy the house.  Oh and the ac is acting up but that is what the home warrantly is for. If dies it gets fixed or we get a new one for $50 and if it dies before we get in the seller has to fix it because it was working at inspection.  We may add new windows thoughout the house to save on electric and may get hurricane glass. 
We are all healthy, physically anyway, and we love each other. So when you look at our blessings we are doing doing well. I need to remember that alot lately.
 I miss Laura (Daniels) alot. Her not being here has had a greater impact than I could have imagined. It is odd not to see her sitting in front of me on Sunday.  It is odd to read her blog and realize she is not in the same city anymore and I can't drive over to talk when I need too (which has been alot lately).  I am happy for her though because I know the move was best for them. 
My husband comes home at lunch almost everyday and I am glad he is here. For his patience and love for me.  It is a great honor to be married to him.    

Learning to Color

okay so these pictures are months old. This is what happens when you have no time. I am pregnant and have a two year old and a shop to maintain.  There is no way I can blog while he is awake, I mean look at the floor, that is prefect evidence. Though I must say that I let him use washable crayons and taught him to wipe the floor himself.   

Gardening with Justin... No captions needed pictures say it all

Justin Update

So I forgot to tell you guys when Justin started talking. He says two words clearly (or ones we can understand). The first word was nice but it is said as diice we know this  is what he is saying because he also rubs his hand over himself or you as he says it and this was how I try to teach him to pet the dog and not hit me.  Then he says a very long southern bbbyyye. With quite the draw to it. You know he is from the south.  He says it everytime we leave a place. We leave the house bbbyyye, We leave the store BBYYE.  It's kind of cute. He started these words about two-three weeks ago.  He also blows kisse , signs eat, gives high fives and knows I'm going to move my hand on down lows, he claps, and signs something all the time that I have no idea what he is signing. It maybe one he made up and hasn't told us the meaning but he smiles big when you sign it back, so whatever.

Geocaching

Our friends the Darby's came to visit us, which is always a treat. While we were talking Mark mentioned that they go geocaching. Well I'd never heard of it, so asked them about it. He told me on the various websites there are lists of GPS coordinates with small hints and you go to the coordinates and search for the cache. (see http://www.geocaching.com/, for more info). They can be anywhere from a micro cache (about the size of your little finger, to large Tupperware). Well Barb and I were intrigued as we went to the above linked website to see what is around. There was a lot, so we figured with a few in our area we'd give it a try. Unfortunately it was getting dark, and although the description said it was an easy find, we did not know what we were looking for and it was getting hard to see, so no luck. We decided that the following day, we'd go out as soon as I got home from work. We went to the same two locations we'd tried the day before and were successful (see picture). So now that we had found two easy ones we thought we were pros, so we when to a harder one. After spending 15 minutes looking around a bunch of red pipes, I was feeling like we were not going to make the find, but in a last ditch effort we searched again a little harder and make the find. So now we are hooked. There are about 5 geocaches on my way home from work so as I'm driving by, I plan to stop at them and see what I can find. Wish me luck.