From her lips to God's ears

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This morning at about 6:30, I am awakened by a gentle tugging on my shoulder. Rousing myself out of a gloriously deep sleep, I frantically search for my glasses. Once be-goggled, I look up to see Hannah, grinning from ear to ear.

"It worked, Mama. It really worked," she practically whispered.

"What worked?"

"My prayer. Last night I asked Heavenly Father to help me not to dream about the bad witch in Snow White giving me the sleeping death. And it worked! I didn't have any bad dreams."

"Oh, Hannah, I am so glad you didn't have a bad dream. See, God does answer our prayers. I'm so proud of you."

"I also prayed that we would not be silly today and that my hair would grow much longer REALLY fast."

Well...I guess one out of three ain't bad.

A little bit of this...a little bit of that

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Some random weirdness:
  1. Milk is about $4.85 PER GALLON here in the Midwest. That's right, I said per gallon. I paid less than that for two gallons in San Diego (which is the mother of all expensive cities). That means we are spending at least $20 PER WEEK on milk. Seriously. What do all of you pay for a gallon of milk? Why, what with all the free space out here, do we pay so much for milk? Could they not throw some cows in the empty fields and save us all a few dollars? Does the milk come from little precious cows eating truffle oil omelets and sipping Evian with their pinkies in the air? Please tell me there is some good reason why I am paying so much for the milk. Otherwise, the children might be asked to stop growing so their little bones don't need so much calcium. Either that I have to give up the diet coke. And that just ain't happening.

  2. If I have tried to call your house in the last five days, it really is me. Not Dupgya Samenieni like the caller ID says. Hopefully the phone company got it all straightened out. That's what they tell me anyway. Sure, they have been wrong before. But like always, I believe them THIS time.

  3. Whoever invented wallpaper should be tied to the nearest tree and jabbed repeatedly with a pointy stick. Or at least whoever puts it in the homes that I purchase ought to be. WHY, WHY, WHY would you put up wallpaper? I think if you have ever had to remove it, you never, ever put it up. I will have pictures coming of the master bathroom (where I removed the bedeviled wallpaper) once I get it all painted. My poor fingers are just too ragged tonight from the removal that took way more time than it should have. (And yes, I was even using the paper tiger. Ugh.)

  4. We had a huge thunderstorm blow in this afternoon. It was pretty impressive. Having spent the last year living in the coastal desert where it rains like once every five years, it's been a while since I've seen rain like that. I was pretty entertained. The children were extremely frightened (which added slightly to my entertainment).

  5. And have you seen THIS blog? If you haven't done so yet, get yourself right on over there and take a look at her latest recipe. I have six words for you...peach crisp with maple cream sauce. Oh my heavens. YUM.

Welcome to Del Boca Vista

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So we're surviving and thriving. We discovered the town pool (which is closer to a water park, truth be told) complete with lazy river, several huge water slides, diving pools, and kiddie splash areas. It is just amazing. We have already spent several days there. A summer pass is unbelievably cheap and we have declared it our summer go-to spot. So much for not getting any more freckles this year. Sigh.

We've also begun to meet some of the neighbors. One of the huge draws for us to this neighborhood was the fact that the HOA dues cover lawn mowing and snow removal. We have since discovered that it is attractive to a lot of other people as well - people who are not necessarily in our age bracket (or that of our parents, even). We have had the parade of good, Christian women bringing us treats all weekend - everything from Jello salads to cookies to brownies to lemonade. They are all very kind, but will most likely not be calling for play dates. (Chase did offer to help our next-door neighbor Clyde fix his sprinkler. Clyde didn't jump on the chance at his expert, free labor, much to Chase's chagrin.) Nevertheless, we have met a few young families here and are still thrilled with our house.

I am proud to report that I did my first six-miler on Saturday in preparation for The Race. It went pretty well, considering how hot and humid it was. I did get me a cute new running skirt thanks to Marathon Bird and her excellent suggestion. I have to say, it is pretty awesome. I've never really liked running shorts as I've been unable to find a pair that didn't get stuck in the fat of my inner thighs and ride up (is it just me? Does anyone else find this problematic?). These running skirts stay right in place (with a little pair of built-in shorts underneath to keep things covered) and I was mighty comfortable. As comfortable as one can be running at six a.m. on a Saturday morning in heat and humidity. I'm just saying.

Anyway, that's enough rambling for now. Heading out to watch me a few TIVO'd Soprano's I've been saving, eat a brownie, and drink about a gallon of water. Happy Sunday!

Lights in the sky on the 4th of July

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Just got home from watching fireworks with old friends who live here in Missouri, and made some new friends along the way. Here are some shots I took:




And on this, our nation's independence day, I am thankful for many things. Some at the top of my mind today are:
  • My beautiful family.
  • My camera and the cool pictures I can take with it. (I'd seriously marry it, I love it that much.)
  • Fireworks and meeting new friends.
  • Listening to my kids play pretend.
  • Chase demanding that we all stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance (which we did).
  • Water parks to cool down at on a hot, humid day (even though Hannah pointed out just how jiggly my legs are. Thanks, baby. Mama REALLY needed to hear that while wearing a bathing suit in public).
  • Putting together my new scrapbooking room.
  • Fireflies.
  • Good running shoes.
  • Watermelon and ice cream (4th of July staples).
  • Love, home, and freedom.

Happy 4th everyone!

Mi casa, su casa

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I'm finally unpacked enough that I can share some pics of our new house. I know you've been begging for them, so just this once, I'll indulge you.

Here is the kitchen (and due to the lovely color on the sunroom wall, there is a green tint coming in that makes everything have a kermit-like hue in this picture. It really is much less green-like). If you will notice the lovely mauve countertops are still with us. Husband has promised me they will be gone within two weeks. I believe him. Because he lives with me and knows how mean I can be when I don't get my way. Or when I have to spend any amount of time looking at anything resembling pepto bismol. We've picked out a lovely brown/tan/black speckled granite that will hopefully look really good.

Here is the dining room. The painter is coming next week to overhaul most of the house. This room will be one of those redone. Notice the cool inlay that we had the floor guys put in. We had them do hardwood around the perimeter of the room, and a carpet inlay in the middle. I really love it (we also did this in the family room).

Here is the family room. The huge white patches on the wall are the shadow left behind when Husband removed some hideously ugly built-ins that the previous owners had. I'm also going to have the mantle of the fireplace painted white.

Here is the sunroom off the kitchen/great room. Ignore the large pile of boxes in the corner. I am.

Here is the view from my kitchen window. Boy, I love the sight of these lush, thick trees. The kids have spent hours in the backyard running barefoot, eating popsicles, playing catch, and chasing squirrels. It is such a nice change of pace from the 10x10 patio square we called a backyard in San Diego.
And here is the formal living room. I spared you the lovely sight of the stenciled teddy bears and pine trees near the ceiling. I wanted to keep them, really, I did. But they just didn't go with my entire personality. So they'll be suffocating slowly under a nice coat of paint sometime next week.
So there you have it - a mini tour of Casa de Christie. We're really excited about it. Kind of nice to have a place to lay our head that is not either falling apart or bursting at the seams. Now that most of the unpacking is done, we are free to relax and enjoy our nation's independence in traditional American fashion - loads of fried chicken and watching explosions in the sky. Happy 4th, ya'll (see, I'm picking up the local lingo already!).