Nasty, Grodiness

Grody: repulsive; disgusting; nauseating.


This a word that I haven't used since the 80's, but no other word comes close to describing how dirty and disgusting cleaning this house has been. I have worn out more rags than I can count scrubbing these walls. The rag becomes so dirty, so quickly, that I don't dare not scrub an area for fear that the paint won't stick or that it will seep into my belongings and make all of them dirty too. As bad as the walls, closets, and cabinets have been (and don't even ask about the oven - did anyone ever clean that thing) the carpets have been by far the worst. We vacuumed and vacuumed and then did it some more. We ended up killing my vacuum and broke the belt on Shiloa's. Luckily mom also had a vacuum and it survived the ordeal intact. A moment of silence for the vacuums that gave their all.

This is a picture of the lovely grodiness that Shiloa got out of the office with 10 passes of one room with the vacuum and I had already done the room once or twice. The bagless vacuum would fill up at least half way each time, not really lessening with each pass. We eventually had to say that it was good enough and just shampoo it from there. We are hoping that it will be good enough to delay recarpeting the house for a few more years. With some strategical placing of furniture and a few turns of a blind eye to numerous stains, it just might work. Here's to hoping that the grodiness is down to a livable amount.

Painting, Painting, Painting, ...

So when you get down to it, when you paint a whole house - it takes a lot of work. I can't imagine having to do this without all the help that we have had from my family. And all the trim work - wow. It seems like it will never end. Mom has been a painting ninja with her awesome roller. I have been prepping in the corners and around the edges. The kitchen has been my least favorite to paint
because you have to be so careful going around all of the cabinets. I do love the colors that Patrick and I picked out. The house seems much more inviting and warm. The color before was a slight off white with some time of cool purple/blue tinge which always left me feeling chilled. That might be a desirable trait in a place that is so hot in the summer, but not how I want people to be greeted when they enter our home. I can't wait until we are finished because I am really tired of painting - and it is going to look wonderful!

Guess Who Is 29?

Jerry!!!!

Jerry is my all-time favorite brother! Okay, forget that he is my only brother, he is still awesome! Today is his 29th birthday and we were able to get together at a park and have a BBQ. He and Adrienne, his wife, are expecting their first baby, a little boy, in October. It is hard for me to imagine that Jerry will soon becoming a dad and what a lucky little boy he will be!

The food was delish and it was fun watching Ozzy (the newest edition to Jerry's family). That dog dotes on Jerry and follows him everywhere. Ozzy would begin to whimper if he couldn't at least have Jerry within his eyesight. Crazy - but it appears the feelings are mutual!

Yen Can Cook

...or at least I can! When we had our house inspected, we were informed that the digital display on the oven would not even turn on, and therefore didn't work. Patrick and dad looked at the price of a new one, which was pricey ($400) or a refurbished one ($180ish). Since the guy that they needed to talk to about the refurbished one was on vacation, dad decided to open up the circuit board and take a look. He found a thermo.....something that looked blown. So he ordered 4 new ones for under $1. When the parts came in he pulled out his soldering iron and went to work. I can now cook - the display came right up and all is well!!!! I know you are all jealous, but back off, he's my dad (okay, I might share if you're really nice). I love it when I don't have to spend more money - today is a good day.

As a side note, this oven was the most disgustingly dirty thing. Even though it has an automatic oven cleaner setting on it, I don't think that it was ever used. My mom and I literally had to use a plastic putty knife to peel many layers off the bottom. Anyone what some "fruit leather?" There is also a grease trap underneath that was filled and overflowing onto the floor. Yikes - In a moment of extreme brilliancy I started cleaning it almost immediately, before we even knew if the oven could be fixed. I am so happy that the oven now works and all the hard work will be worth it.

No Court Date, No Girls

We have been waiting the last three weeks for our court date to be scheduled. When we received a call from the adoption director yesterday, we were afraid something was wrong, but we never imagined this. It had just come to light, through the girls talking with the nannies, that they are not sisters, and they are not orphans. The families were hoping to give the girls a better life and falsified the documentation at the orphanage (as far as can be determined). We are so very heartbroken. Words cannot express our devastation.

Please know that we have complete confidence in CHI and admire their high dedication to ethics. We know that they were deceived as well and they are trying to determine an even higher standard to ensure this does not happen again. In the meantime, we are back on the waiting list. Last week, in the weekly update, families were notified that the wait for siblings could be up to 16 months. We hope and pray that we don't have to wait another 10 months and will try to continue to have faith in God's timing - but honestly, right now, it is hard.

Holes

One of the first things that we have to tackle in the house is to fix all the holes in the drywall. There are several small ones throughout the house, many behind the door knobs. Then there is the hole by the front door that looks like it was kicked and a huge one in the laundry area, we think because of water damage. The hole by the door just needs to be textured now. In the laundry area, the plumbing is almost fixed (thanks, Dad) and then we (and I really mean Patrick here) can get on with the dry walling. And I must insert here that when Dad and I were cleaning up the floor that there was an overwhelming odor of wet dog - Yuck. I hope that we got it all up for good, but I'm not overly optimistic, I will probably need to bleach the whole floor at some point.
We have been looking at paint colors and think that we will be going with some warm beige tones. Slowly but surly we have been making progress, I can't wait until we get to move in!

Shopping!

This is the bedding set that we ordered for our girls today. Now that we actually know who our children are going to be, it is time to shop! The first thing that Raylene wants to do is to get the girls bedroom ready so that we can take pictures. We are able to send them a photo book so they will be able to see the house and their room before they come home. Raylene has already spent many hours the past few days looking at different bedding sets online (the actual shopping excursion last Saturday didn't prove fruitful). After much deliberation a choice has been made that both of us are really happy with ... we really hope that the girls like it too! We found the sets on sale and we were able to get free shipping, which makes it all the sweeter. Once the bedding has arrived, we will be able to pick out a paint color for the bedroom. Oh, let the fun begin!

Last Day!

Today is Patrick's last day of work at Utah State University. I am so glad that we will be living in the same house again, it has been a long 6 weeks! He still has his part-time telecommuting job with Instaproofs, and we are still on the lookout for the elusive full time employment. Life really has a way of being completely unpredictable. We need to find something that offers group insurance so that our girls will be covered. I sometimes become discouraged about the job situation, as it is not good to be looking in this economy, but I try to continue to have faith that this is where we are supposed to be and therefore something will work out. On a much better note - Patrick will be here, to stay, tonight!!!!!!