I found it!

 A NEW SOFA PILLOW:

Get one for your home today!

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what else?

I have an odd obsession with houses.  Let me clarify:  "HOUSES FOR SALE".  If it is not for sale, then I am not obsessed.   My other odd obsession is "OVERPASSES".  But focus here, "houses for sale". 

Every Sunday morning, I peruse the "House" section of the local newspaper.  Any openhouses I can waste a few hours at?  Sometimes, my house list is within the city limits.  And sometimes, it is not. 

Recently, I have become obsessed with just ONE house.  I really like this particular house.  And I really like the realtor.  We have become friends.  Yes, probably not in my best interest (or hers).  But friends.  So most of my freetime is spent thinking about this house.  It is a preoccupation I have.  To avoid cleaning out closets.  Decluttering.  Goodwilling.  And anything else I can avoid. 

Well in the midst of my house daydreams, the children all get the flu.  The yucky kind of flu.  The more than a runny nose kind of flu.  You know what I mean.  Loads of laundry -- hourly.  UGH.

So the dryer just dead stops in the middle of all this flu laundry.  DEAD.  Since I am not really a pioneer woman.  Nor am I amish.  I need a dryer.  Preferably one that dries!  And comes in the shape of a rectangle not a rope. 

And since I have to disconnect the dryer when a new one gets delivered.  Whenever that may be???   I decided to mini make over the laundry area.  It had this laundry border... which is cute in your thirties... but now in the forties swinging toward fifties, not so cute.  So I ripped it off the white walls.

And then I had this vision of GREY walls.  Yes, I have been conspiring to somehow for some room buy grey paint.  I even had grey paint cards selected.  All I needed was a reason to go and buy grey paint.  So, grey it is.  I also wanted to experiment with batten board walls.  But when I got "the look" across the dinner table, I didn't push my luck.

Because honestly, I had nothing to do with the dryer breaking.

Although, ironically, I did have a washer/dryer set selected, too.  I selected them during the first week of December.  I had the model numbers.  But, really, I did not know the dryer would break!!  Subliminally, I didn't even wish that my dryer would break. 

However, I may have had something to do with this:

The GOOD news:  I have put my preoccupation with a particular house on the backburner.  In fact, it is so far back that I cannot even move it one inch closer to reality at all.  I believe it is getting pushed further and further away.  There will always be another house to preoccupy myself with.  So for now, I should preoccupy myself with my existing home.  I have grey paint!!

There is a season... It's Soccer Season!

To everything - run, run, run

There is a game - run, run, run

And a time for a soccer purpose under heaven

A time to be fast, a time to slow

A time to kick, a time to dribble

A time to kill, a time to live

A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything - run, run, run

There is a game - run, run, run

And a time for a soccer purpose under heaven

A time to stand tall, a time to fall down

A time to score, a time to scorn

A time to elbow away opponents

A time to gather the team together

To everything - run, run, run

There is a game - run, run, run

And a time for a soccer purpose under heaven

A time of war, a time of peace

A time of love, a time of hate

A time you may embrace

A time to refrain from heckling

To everything - run, run, run

There is a game - run, run, run

And a time for a soccer purpose under heaven

A time to score, no time to lose

A time to head, a time to butt

A time to push, a time too great

A time to defeat, I swear it's not too late!

Woo Hoo!  May the BEST team WIN!   Go Girls!

Assuming is a very bad thing

ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT BREAKFAST, LUNCH OR DINNER!

I am not much of a cook, let alone a 'short-order' cook. I don't even pretend to be! If you come to our house... you'll probably be served the same thing you had last time. And the time before that. And the time before that.

Please don't ask my children what are their favorite foods... you may be surprised to learn that their favorites include: salmon, shrimp, tofu, spring rolls, edamame (please pronounce it 'ay-dah-mah-may'), tilapia and broccoli.

Shhhh! Now you know my secret (I really do cook) but it is better to pretend I don't - so you won't want to come and visit us!

A Staycay?

We did a staycay all summer long... in our backyarded pool oasis. It was lovely. Relaxing. Easy. Peaceful. Serene. Calm. {Aesthetically, I have blocked all the daily 'trying moments', yes with an 80 proof.}

Now, I want to go ... go ... go ... I want a real vaycay. I want to go somewhere. I want to fly far away. I want to go somewhere this fall/early winter. I want to go where the air is crisp. The food is foreign. The currency is worth more. The shopping is an adventure. And the Christmas spirit is all around us.

So, with or without kids? That is the question, I ask. I say anyone in diapers 'stays home'!

Home Maid II

Can't find your socks? Check your closet floor!

Can't turn your clothes outside-in? Then they will be laundered, dried, and folded in the same way that you left them on the floor.

Can't find a clean bowl? Grab one out of the sink (mine are in the dishwasher)!

Now, can we discuss a maid?

Something to consider...

Fire drills are necessary. Children practice drills at school. But what about an emergency planning of a fire drill at home?

We have smoke alarms mounted in every corner of our home. Hopefully, someone in the household will hear one of them! Because IF I cannot awake to an alarm clock, or five, then I surely will not awake to a smoke alarm. I do not even hear them.

One night in my college dorm room, the fire alarm went off at three o'clock in the morning. My roommate insisted I get up. Sleepily, I rolled over and stated the obvious, "Hit SNOOZE". I think roommate pushed me out of the bunk. Because I eventually made it outside into the bitter temperature of twenty degrees. We cannot burn out here in a three foot snowbank.

We barely have an escape route planned for our home. I have told the children to just get outside. Jump out your windows. Luckily we reside in a one story. And IF you do not know where to go... go to the pool. The water will keep you safe until you are rescued.

My life flashes before my eyes - the good, the bad and the questionable. A fire. We will burn. I must plan an escape. I have some redeeming to do before 'that' day arrives.

I hear the searing of flames, the burning, ravaging fire offers its condolences:
STOP DROP AND ROLL WON'T WORK IN HELL!