House Hunting in my Dreams

Since we've decided to starting looking for our "Dream Home", I have been literally dreaming of homes.

We looked at a house we really liked that had 16 acres with it. We loved the property, but it was an older house, that we had a few concerns about so we had our dad's come over and look. After a close inspection we weighed the pros/cons and decided with all the "what if's" and updating this house needed, we would have to lower the price quite a bit to make up for it. As we were weighing it over in our minds that night, I fell asleep and woke up remembering this dream:
We had bought a huge blue house (on the same property we had been looking at with the 16 acres) and we were moving our things into the house and trying to dream up a plan to make the rooms work the way we wanted them to. There was a huge basement (which the house didn't have) and all the rooms were changing while we were trying to fit things in, We couldn't get our furniture in and our parents were there trying to help and be encouraging and it just wasn't working with the space we had. 
When I woke up, I looked again at all the pictures of the house and without telling Kyle my dream, we decided we didn't love the house enough to go through the trouble of all the updating it needed. We decided to let the property go, not make an offer, and keep looking. I'm still glad we made that decision.

I just woke up from a nap where I had a rather amusing dream:
I was in the living room of our house a few years down the road. We had a huge St. Bernard dog named Beethoven. He was laying on the couch on his back and I was petting his belly. He got off the couch and looked at me and then looked at his own back. So I hopped on like it was completely normal. We rode around the living room, which had a big fireplace.  Kyle poked his head in the door. He gave me a look like, "Aren't you a little old for that?" I replied to his look by shrugging my shoulders and saying, "What? I still fit."  He laughed at me and went on about his business. 
When I woke up, I told Kyle this and he said it didn't sound like a dream, it sounded like real life. I said then it must be a sign......... So we are adding a fireplace and enough space for Beethoven to our wish list. :)

So many times my friends have said, "What did I do before I had kids? I don't even remember!" Well as you go through this blog, maybe a memory will be sparked and you can get a glimpse of the former you. 

I announced last night that I was going to be sleeping in late on this Saturday morning. 

 I have been annoyed at my alarm clock all week. Hitting the snooze and finally getting up at 7:15 to rush to work. (Those of you with kids are laughing at me, but yes, 7:15 was early to you at some point in your life). I spent my night taking a long bubble bath, then Kyle volunteered to go pick up something for dinner. (Yes, they offered to do things occasionally). He got back with Penn Station and we watched the movie Marley & Me on TV. We spent the whole time looking at Lola that was sleeping and making comments about how cute she was and watching Tiny Ninja, our turtle who escaped his tank earlier this week. We're waiting for him to try again. We stayed up to watch another movie and then headed to bed. I nagged Kyle about whether or not he brushed his teeth because I didn't remember seeing him do it and sometimes he forgets. Since I'm the one that cleans his teeth, I always win that one. But then I vaguely remember him interrupting a love part of Marley & Me with the sound of his loud brushing so I let him off the hook tonight. I settle in to bed thinking about how great my pillow feels on my head and how glad I am it's the weekend. 

I toss and turn all night, which seems to be the running theme lately and then I'm wide awake at 5:00am. I look at the clock and am not surprised. This happens to me a lot when I have the audacity to think I'm going to sleep in. Kyle grunts and rolls over, annoyed that I'm moving. I hear Lola stirring under the bed and then a big sigh. I guess I"m on my own this morning. I decide to take advantage of the quiet and spend a long time in prayer about the house hunt we're starting today. Finally at 7:00 my alarm goes off and startles me. I guess I wouldn't be sleeping in anyway, I forgot to turn off my alarm. By this time I'm wide awake, playing on my iPod and daydreaming of how I could decorate my new house. I look over, Kyle is still dead asleep. At this point, I wonder if my body is telling me I'm ready to have kids. I am 25 and have grey hairs already. I ate 10 rainbow cookies one day this week so I have the cravings part down. I already clean up poop, nag about teeth brushing, and am never caught up on laundry. My body may be ready, but I'm sure not! I shake the thought and go back to fun things, like hosting parties in my new house.

 I am spending the rest of the morning on my porch, drinking coffee and listening to birds, while writing this blog and watching Lola throw her rope toy to herself because I'm too busy to play fetch. Kyle just walked out with his coffee to join me. He says "Hey I thought you were sleeping in this morning."  Sigh. 

This ends the blog portion and goes on to the prayer request portion:

Kyle and I have decided we are possibly ready to start a house hunt. Now, we do everything slow. We were "just friends" for months before we dated. Dated for 4 years before we got married and then waited another 2 months to live together (although not by choice). We budget our money very closely before making big purchases. It took us a year to finally decide on a patio set. So buying a house before Kyle officially gets his job is a strange notion to us. However, we have been crunching numbers, going on the pros/cons and have decided to at least start looking at places that interest us. We aren't looking for your typical starter home. We both grew up in the country and aren't enjoying being cramped in our little yard. Although we love our neighbors, we need some elbow room. We are planning on this being our home for a long time with room to grow our family. (Which yes, will also take us a long time to get to so don't get your hopes up yet). So, with us both being tightwads and overthinkers, I'm not sure how this will go. So I've decided to leave it to God and  just pray that our decision is clear for us. I'm also a big dreamer so every house to me seems to be perfect. Which is another thing I"m praying for-my dreams to not get too big and out of the realm of reality. So, if you guys would, please pray for guidance as we start this journey to finding our home sweet home. And don't worry, you'll all be invited over to a party as soon as we get it.......a painting party that is!

Street Smart Kitten vs. Dog Who Acts Like a Person

Yesterday I tried to force the dog and cat to be friends. They had previously only interacted by stare downs taking place across the room. I told Lola to be nice and to give the kitty kisses. She wasn't really sure at first.

  But since she's good at obeying, she went for it.

  Now they seem to be the best of friends. I think Lola could befriend a Grizzly Bear if we let her.

They have been chasing each other all over the house all night tonight. As I'm typing this, Lola just walked in the room and looked at me. The little kitten trailed right behind her and did the same. Then they both ran off.

 Lola is going to be very sad when I take her playmate to my mom's house where she's going to be staying.  I wish we could get a replacement kitty but my allergies have went haywire since stray kitty arrived. Looks like we'll have to find a different playmate for Lola.


                                                       

Oh.

Things are always more clear once you put them in writing.
Looking back at my last post, I can see very clearly why the bathroom scale has been acting up and why my summer wardrobe seems to have shrunk since last season. I guess I will have to stop blaming the dryer and start blaming the real culprit......nice relatives with their gift cards. Shame on you!

Mood vs. Food

As I reflect on my day, I've found there is a clear correlation between my mood and my food. 

       This morning, as nearly every morning, I have this clear plan in my head to get up and jog. That is why for over a year now my alarm goes off at 5:45am and continues to buzz until 7:00am. Now some mornings, I have that dream. You know which one. The one where you get up, shower, brush your teeth, and have a relaxing morning and leave for work. Then as the door closes you startle to wake up realizing you haven't really done any of those things and you must start all over, only this time you've overslept.

      Today was not that morning. I knew very good and well that I was awake and instead of getting up to jog, I was just lying there. Somehow in the midst of thinking about how I should jog before church , I realize that I've missed my window and I am running late for church. Kyle is supposed to give me an occasional shout out of our countdown to keep me on schedule. However he forgets this but informs me that we need to go now because by the time I "dilly daddle" my way to the door it will be time to leave. As I'm walking out the door, I tell him that I don't "dilly daddle". Shortly followed by "Oh but I forgot to grab my Bible and I think I need to pee." He's waiting in the car while I'm mumbling something about him playing video games and not making me a cup of coffee. By the time we get home from church I'm hungry and tired and in a great mood for an argument. 

      Argument resolved and we decide to head to Illinois to swap my car back with my family and take a hike to Garden of the Gods. We fill up with gas and grab McDonald's on the way out of town. As we order, I clearly state that I want a classic grilled sandwich. As we're heading off, I open the bag and my little cardboard box says crispy not grilled. And what is in the box? None other than a crispy sandwich. A demon rushes into my body and has a full-on 2 year old child tantrum. It sounded something like "CRISPY?!! I SAID GRILLED!!" Then a noise,sounding somewhere between a lion's roar and a train whistle, came out of my small, ladylike mouth. It was accompanied by a full body shudder and my hands raised in fists. I'm not sure exactly what came over me. Kyle said he has never seen anything like it. Maybe it was years of getting lettuce put on my food, when I request otherwise,or maybe it was the lack of food in my system. I"m not sure, but as I'm going on and on about crispy chicken making me sick, and how easy it must be to read a screen and put what the screen says into a bag, Kyle turns around and waits in the car while I walk back into McDonalds. Now, I'm a polite person, so I walk in and calmly ask to get the grilled sandwich I ordered. The manager, very nicely asks her cook to make me another one, apologizes and I say "No problem" and prance happily to the car with my grilled chicken. 

       As the day wears on, we reach a point where we are debating our supper. Sometimes this is an argument in itself.  We decide to go to Outback since we have a giftcard. I am a little nervous. What if something goes wrong and my tantrum goes public? What if they put lettuce on my food? Our waitress is very nice and substitutes green beans for me instead of seasonal veggies, which in most cases is broccoli that I choke down because I paid for it. My steak is cooked to perfection, my green beans are steamed fresh, and my baked potato is delicious. I purposely save half of my steak and green beans and a little corner of my potato so I can take them home and enjoy them for lunch tomorrow. As we're driving home into the sunset, Kyle gives me a huge grin as my hair blows in the wind from our doorless Jeep and I sit clutching my small take home container for dear life. I close my eyes and soak in the happy ending to my day. 

      

The Three Stooges

I went home Mother's Day weekend. It was beautiful weather for a change and Lola had a blast playing with the family.

Lola's favorite part was running in the yard with her buddies. Wally-my sister's dog and Max-our family dog. 

I tried to get them to sit for treats all at the same time, but Wally's only trick is jumping. And I mean JUMPING. So Lola sat, Wally jumped, and Max, who's main trick is to pretend to be a guard dog and chase rabbits, just rolled over to get his belly petted. We'll have to work on synchronizing those tricks later. 

But they did have fun running and dog piling on each other.

The hippie held a gun.

I'm the hippie and this is the story of how I came to hold a gun. 

In my hometown, guns are just as much of a sport as baseball.  Children learn from their dad's how to hunt for deer and turkeys at an early age. Our school is even dismissed on the first day of deer season. I, however, did not grow up around guns. My family never had the interest. The only guns we owned were passed down and used for killing rabid raccoons in the backyard. At least that's my one memory of our gun from my childhood. While my friends were showing off pictures of their first kill, I was on another train of thought.  I have always had a driving love for animals. I understand the need for hunting for animal control and I don't have a problem with hunting. However, it is not something I could do myself. I grew up as the one person in my family that would stop the car to ensure a small turtle crossed his path safely. I cried the first time I hit a bunny rabbit crossing the road. I saved our kittens from rain storms, and spent many hours at the fence where my neighbors horses came to greet us. I even cut barb wire out of the fur of a homely stray goat that came for a visit. 

Then there is my husband.  

Kyle grew up in the same small town as I did. He was on the side of hunting skills that have been passed down from grandpa's and dad's and now even to daughters. He grew up exploring the creeks and fields next to his house and I daresay his compassion towards animals might have involved more of a stoning than a saving act. He was a boy's boy and now a man's man. And what is more manly than the act of hunting?  When we started dating, I quickly found out that he has a love for firearms that I will never understand. He cares for them, cleans them, misses them, and talks about them the same way I talk about shopping for shoes. I do not pretend to like his guns. They are unfamiliar and intimidating to me. I have come to the conclusion it's best if I just let him love his guns and he lets me love my shoes. 

After 4 years of previously declined invitations, I finally agreed to accompany Kyle to the shooting range on Monday. 

After watching Kyle shoot for a while our conversation went something like this: 

Kyle: "Well, would you like to try to shoot today?"

Jill:   "Yes, I think so. But do you promise to warn me if a bird flies by just in case I accidentally might hit it?"
Kyle: "Sure, but I think the birds have been around long enough to know not to fly near the shooting range."

After thorough instructions with a few diagrams drawn, I understood the concept of a gun and was ready to shoot. Kyle said I did really well. I was just glad I hit the big cardboard target and didn't embarrass myself. 

This was from about 20 yards. I was aiming for the top left white square. I didn't think it was too bad for my first time holding a gun.

While I still love my shoes more than guns, I did enjoy myself. I told Kyle I would come back again next time with him. Although, I can say with certainty that you won't catch this hippie hunting any time soon.