Looks like we get to move after all.

We had decided that if our landlords would fix our plumbing problem, we would not move because we basically like the house and the area is exactly where my sister and BIL want to be but the problem with the plumbing is an ongoing one and we will have to have the drain snaked about ever 12-18 months.  The LL finally agreed that this is not our fault but the way the pipes are laid out so are willing to pay to have this done.  So I had to stop looking for houses to buy because I knew that Nonnie and John would not do it for at least 3 years.  But...we just found out that there is someone looking to buy up the whole area where we live-about a four-six block radius so we get to move.  It is also rumored that the owners are being paid to have the renters re-located so hopefully that means they will pay for movers for us.  I get to start looking at houses again..woo hoo!

Below is Lanie's first meal of Ramen Noodles.  Her birth mother used to love these and it looks like Lanie does too.

Ok, I didn't get a chance to talk about my weekend without Lanie.  This is my first weekend since we got her that I had more than about 12 hours without her and NOT working.  I did really miss her though! On Saturday I cleaned carpets in her room and mine and then arranged and cleaned my room - which I had done barely nothing to since Thomas left.  Well I cleaned it when I moved back up there after he left but that was about it.  I still want to put stuff on the walls.

I then spent my entire Sunday reading The Hunger Games.  Let me tell you that is a good book.  It kept my interest from the very beginning and I could not put it down.  I finished all but the last chapter by Sunday night but had to go to sleep so finished it on my lunch hour Monday.  I would really love to see the movie but since I will not be getting away from Lanie for the next few months for even a movie I guess I will have to wait for it to come out on video or on demand.  It was really great to have that time to myself.  I felt so rested and relaxed on Monday and Tuesday but by today it has started wearing off and I am feeling a bit tired.  I didn't sleep well last night though.  I kept having strange dreams and waking up and then going back to the same dreams.  Crazy!  Yesterday I had 11 clients I was really tired by the end of the day and thought I would sleep but I just didn't.

Last night when I picked up Lanie she was in a crabby mood.  I don't think she had a nap.  But she played outside before and after dinner, then had a bath and fell asleep in my lap by 7:15.  She was a tired puppy!

A Weekend all to Myself!

I am leaving the office at noon today-there is a staff meeting this afternoon and since I am a temp, I don't have to go so I will have the afternoon to do errands and such.

After my errands I am going to go home and shampoo Lanie's carpet so that I will have the entire weekend to do what I want to do, i.e. work on my room!  I may also do some computer work, maybe even dress up my blog if I have time.  I thought about staying home today because I don't have any clients scheduled but I need the 4 hours of pay-I'm already missing 4 hours because of the staff meeting. 

Last night Lanie and I played in the yard and had a lot of fun.  She loves to "ride" her bike.  This means me pushing it as I run along beside it.

She also loves playing on her slide.  She likes to take the dog down the slide but I have to save the dog from her as she is only 3 pounds. 

I can put pictures on here.  This is so cool.  There is no stopping me now!

Here is Lanie in her favorite outfit.  She always asks me if she looks pretty in this. 

It feels like another Monday

I am so tired this morning.  I pushed the snooze button 4 times, finally got up at 6:50 and need to be out the door by 7:15.  I was moving pretty fast but made it out the door by 7:20-just as Lanie was waking up.  I let Nana take care of her this morning.  I made it to work on time-certainly not too early but I clocked in before 8:00!  I do not like being late but this morning I was willing to chance it because I just could not get out of bed.  I went to bed by 9:30 last night but I don't sleep well.  I wake up a lot and I really think I have sleep apnea.  I need to do a sleep study but that is not going to happen until I get insurance! 

Lanie and I had a good evening.  Nana fixed dinner and we ate together then Nana went upstairs and Lanie and I played in the living room for about and hour and a half until it was bedtime for her.  I put her to bed in a onsie and Nana said she still had it on this morning.  I really hope that we have gotten over the stripping stage.  That was a particularly hard stage to go through.  Not because of the clothes coming off but if she had to poop, she would do it on the floor of her room and then proceed to paint with it.  I cannot tell you how many times we have shampooed the carpet in her room.  It will never be the same again! 

Yesterday I looked at a bunch of blogs...finally figured out how to do it.  There are some interesting blogs out there and some very talented and smart people. There are a lot of things I need to learn to do with my own blog...like posting pictures.  That is not all that hard to do but I don't take enough pictures to put them on here.  I will get some over Easter weekend and make sure those get on here.  I used to take pictures of Lanie all the time but I can't have my phone within her reach or it is a fight to keep it away from her.  So I usually just keep it in my purse then don't have it when she does something cute. 

I have set a date to get back on my diet-April 9.  I will have my car paid off and can spend the money on the proper food and be able to go to the store twice a week for the fresh fruits and vegetables.  I love salads but having the stuff in the fridge for a whole week wastes a lot of salad because it will spoil.  So starting Monday, April 9 I start my 1000th diet of my life; or maybe its a million.  I don't know, I can't keep up.  I figure that as long as I am trying I haven't given up and that is a start.  I want to lose 100 pounds by next summer for our family reunion.  This blog may become all about my diet instead of about Lanie.

I gotta go potty!

This weekend has actually been a fun weekend.  Lanie was just so flippin' cute that I laughed all weekend.  Saturday her and I along with Nana and Papa went out to breakfast-it was fun but nothing out of the ordinary but then we went to K-mart to put an airconditioner on layaway for her room.  She was walking with Papa and then all the sudden turned around and ran to me, hugging my legs crying for me to hold her.  She has never done this, especially when Papa is around.  She normally loves hanging with Papa.  The rest of us just do not exist when Papa is around.  She was pretty much attached to me all weekend and when she didn't get to be with me, she would call me mamma and melt my heart.  She knows how to tug the heart strings.  She knows that I would love to have her call me momma all the time. 

Yesterday she came running in the house heading straight for the bathroom saying, "I gotta go potty, I gotta go potty."  I went in and helped her and she went potty!  I was totally amazed!  We have been sorta trying the potty training thing but not with any consistency. We really need to get that going though. 

She also kept her clothes on during her nap and bed times, until yesterday afternoon.  She got bored and did not want to go to sleep so after an hour and a half of not going to sleep she decided it was time to take the clothes off.  But, she did not smear poop everywhere!  That is a step forward.  I am going to try to put her to bed tonight with a onsie on because it is just too hot to put her in her jammies.  She sweats like crazy.

This next weekend Nana and Papa are taking her to Sedalia to see great grandma and great grandpa and Hettie (thats me) gets to sleep or do whatever she wants all weekend long!  I am so excited!  I imagine Saturday I will spend the day cleaning so that I can enjoy just relaxing Saturday night and Sunday but Sunday I am sleeping in until I just cannot sleep any longer.  I also want to work on my bedroom and get it closer to what I want to do with it. 

I know that if I complete my room as I want it then we will be moving again.  I want to move so maybe I will get it done so we can move. It always happens that I work on my house/ apartment until I get it just the way I want it and then for whatever reason, I move.  I want to move so I will fo through the routine and see if it happens.  If we still don't get to move, at least I have things the way I want them! Now that the LL has sent the plumber out and our house does not stink anymore Nonnie and John don't want to move but I still want to but I think part of that is that I am just really tired of throwing away money on rent plus the fact that this house is really run down and needs some cosmetic help! 

This blog is really not all that interesting.  I need some interesting things in here to draw people to my blog.  This is like sleep reading material....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Elmo is goss and gusting

Last night on the way home from daycare, Lanie was playing with her singing Elmo doll. 

Lanie: "Ammy poopy!" 
Me: "Elmo's poopy?" 
Lanie: Yes!
Me: Are you going to change his diaper?
Lanie: Yes! Napkin!
I handed her a napkin.  She put Elmo on her lap, spread his legs, licked the napkin then wiped Elmo's bottom!
Lanie-with a look of pure disgust:  He's gusting!
Me:  Elmo's disgusting?
Lanie:  Yes!

I have to tell you this is probably the cutest thing this child has ever done!  I laughed so hard I thought I was going to have to pull over!

Anyway, I have way too many clients today to spend too much time on this so ... See ya tomorrow!

Things that are gross and disgusting

When I change Lanie's poopy diapers I always tell her that it is gross and disgusting and then when she is eating and being particularly yucky with her food I tell her that she is being gross and disgusting.  Last night, while playing in the living room, she said, "I goss and gusting".  I thought that was just so cute I cracked up!  She can be so funny!  She is picking up words and phrases and seems to be able to use them in the proper context.  We have to be very careful of our language because we don't want a potty mouth 2 year old!  I know I am one of those people who talk about their kid all the time but this is a blog so I can.  If you are a parent you know how your world revolves around your child but if you are an "old woman" who has always wanted a child and was never able to have one then when you are 50 years old you suddenly get a child handed to you-even though the circumstances are not what you want them to be you cannot look at this as anything other than a miracle.  When Lanie was first born and her mama let me hold her I knew that the time would come that this child would be in my home as my responsibility, my child.  I thought that it would be because her mother had her taken away as Hannah was.  I had no idea that it would be because her mama was killed in an accident.  Don't get me wrong, I loved her mama very much but she was a difficult child growing up and was a difficult adult.  She made some questionable decisions and some very wrong decisions that put her and her children in danger.  She always trusted the wrong people and could never follow the rules in any situation that kept her safe.  Meaning that when she lived with me she could not follow the rules of the house-which were not all that bad.  Same thing with her parents and then when she was in a shelter that actually had programs to help her, she could not follow curfews and other rules that they had for the safety and security of all their residents.  She would rather live on the streets and squat in abandoned buildings when she was 7 months pregnant - then supposedly marry some guy she met in that abandoned building.  She even brought her newborn baby back to that abandoned building!  Ok, I'm getting depressed so I'm getting off that subject!

I am still working on how we are going to buy a house but it may be put on hold because my job may be ending.  We just don't have enough clients to justify 3 employees.  They are, however, trying to figure out a way to get the word out better.  I have put flyers at my Chiropractors office, the YMCA and at an area Steak and Shake.  I'm not sure where else to put them.  I even put a note on my Facebook page, soooo...if you live in St. Louis County and need to have your home weatherized, let me know and I will give you a phone number to call.  It is free to the occupant of the home whether you own or rent!

Ok, so I need to figure out how to get more visits to my blog...or to at least know if someone is visiting my blog.  If you visit could you please leave me a message every-once-in-a-while so that I know that at least somone is looking at it?  Even if you have a criticism, I would love to hear it!

Ear ache, bouncy houses and open houses

This weekend was a hodge podge of "fun"!  Saturday Lanie had her ear ache back.  We have been trying to keep her off the antibiotics with Accupressure and Chiropractic but this weekend it was just too much for our little girl.  We had to resort to Tylenol and antibiotics.  She slept on my shoulder all day Saturday and was so lethargic and pitiful.  I took her with me to the Pharmacy to get her medicine-after I had given her tylenol-and she sat in her car seat crying "Holdie me" all the way there and back.  She then fell asleep on my shoulder at home and slept for almost 3 hours, woke up ate about 3 bites of pasta and a half dozen black olives, fell asleep again and I then put her in her bed at about 10:00 and she slept all night.  By Sunday she was up running around and a happy little girl when we went to look at a house then onto her sisters birthday party at the bouncy house. 

We went to look at a house this weekend.  We are thinking about actually buying a house.  We are going to go through a program at CAA that will help us buy the house by teaching us what to look for, helping us make sure it is up to code and then matching whatever we can save for a down payment.  It will be at least a 6 month process because we have to be in this program for that amount of time anyway.

I am so trying to be a grown up and look at all the options, all the pros and cons of this situation but the bottom line is that I want to be able to do what I want to the house.  If I want to knock a wall out or paint the wall purple I can.  If I want to change out the light fixtures or ceiling fans I can and not worry that I am throwing money down the drain because I will have to leave it there-or save the other fixture and put it all back when I leave.  I am also tired of paying $1050 a month and have nothing to show for it. There has got to be a way to buy a house even with out limited income!

It has been a long week.

This week has been a long week and I am ready for it to end.  It has been busier this week than it was last week so that is good.  I just wish it were busier.  If you live in St. Louis County and need your home weatherized for free and you are low to mid income...let me know and I will give you a phone number to call...I need the work! 
I have enjoyed working here and have learned a lot.  I am hoping they hire me permanently for this job.  I do like it, I just need to be more busy.  I have to say though that I do get frustrated when people act like they are entitle to have their gas and electric paid, their mortgage paid, their house weatherized and their water bill paid, and then get upset if it is not done in the time frame they think it should be done...without them working or pitching in for anything.  But in between those clients are the ones who truly need and deserve the help and are embarrassed to ask or feel guilty for getting the help.  Those are the people that break my heart, those are the people that need the help we can give...and deserve that help. 

This weekend we are going to look at a house that is having an open house on Sunday.  I'm excited.  I do love going to open houses and seeing what is out there.  I want to start looking at houses and doing the work that we need to do to maybe buy a house.  I am tired of paying too much money for rent.  And I am really tired of the smell in our house.  I don't know how to get rid of it and it is driving me nuts.  No one else seems to even notice it is there.

It is very hard to think of titles for these individual days.  I may just start using dates.

Last night was a pretty uneventful evening.  I picked Lanie up from day care and as usual, she did not have shoes on.  She will not leave shoes on for anything!  She loves to put them on and take them off and it usually drives us crazy because she can't get them completely on so whines and cries until someone does it for her.  After 5 or 6 or 12 times of this you just give up and hide the dang shoes.  I just end up carrying her out to the car and then into the house when we get home because even if I put her shoes on before we left day care they would be off before we got to the highway 3 minutes away. 

When we got home I fed her but she did not eat a whole lot.  I don't know if she still does not feel well or if she is just getting really picky.  She didn't even really eat her cheese though and she loves cheese.  She was very lovey dovey last night...sitting on my lap, giving me kisses, wanting to rock a bye.

When I put her to bed she sang to herself for a little while and then went to sleep.  Woke up about 12:30 and wanted choco milk and sucked it down in minutes then wanted more.  I think she was just hungry since she didn't really eat well at dinner. 

Long time...

It has been over a year since my last post.  So much has happened during that time.  Lanie is now 2 years old and is deep into her terrible twos!!  She has been sick quite a bit...cold, runny nose, fever.  We all seem to be very sick this year as opposed to past years.  I'm not sure why but I think it has something to do with the house.  There has been a sewage smell quite often in the house and I know that really affects me.  I think there must be mold or something also.  I am putting in an application for the lead program to see if we have any lead paint because I have every symptom of lead poisoning and Lanie does also.  We have to have Lanie tested for blood poisoning which was done yesterday so I am very curious to see those results.  I don't know how our Landlords will feel about the program as they will need to pay it back if they sell their house in the future.  But if Lanie has lead poisoning they will have to give us permission or we will be moving out.  The thing is, if they find lead in the house, they will replace all windows in the house.  That is huge!  That would help the weatherization and the sound proofing aspects that but the crap out of me.

Ok so in the last year I have also broken up with Thomas.  It was just getting too stressful with him.  I was tired of his drinking, his lying and his grandiosity.  I could never beleive anything he said and I was always embarrassed about his exaggeration of the truth.  I had hoped that I would be able to stay friends with his family but that did not happen.  Oh well. I do wish that I had freinds though.  I just really do not have people to hang out with or sit and talk with.  I feel very cut off from the world.  Not as much as I did when I was not working.  I am working full time right now...not permanent but at least I am working.  But I don't hang out with people at work either.  I am really too much of a hermit.  I go to work, pick up Lanie and then go home.  I don't go out, I don't call anyone I never get together with anyone.  I am so boring!

Ok, so Lanie is just growing like crazy and is saying full sentences now.  She loves to put on clothes...it doesn't even matter whose clothes.  The first thing she likes to do when I come in the house is take my shoes and socks off and them put them on herself.  Any coat, socks, shoes, pants, even Hannah's underwear are fair game.  She had on 4 pairs of Hannahs panties the other day, along with her bikini bottoms, a pair of ruffled butt tights and her diaper.  Her butt was so big that her dress would not come down over her butt.  It was just so cute!