Reaching the end of my rope

I decided to tidy up my inbox this morning because there were 210 conversations in there. Rather messy, I know. After I "filed" all the emails about buying this house, I was down to 139--that's 71 conversations. And those of you familiar with gmail know that a conversation is more than one email--most of mine are 6-8 messages long! Buying a house is such a headache. Why can't I just give people my money and be done with it??? Actually, I would be happy if I even knew what day the house would be mine, but I can't even get that information and it will supposedly be within a week! I know this is all very normal, but I still hate it.

Success!

I will be the first to admit that I am not a decorator. Although the idea of having my own house and doing my own things is exciting, I am overwhelmed by the idea of making decisions about paint and furniture and all that stuff. Add to that the fact that it all costs money and it's even more stressful.

The only room I have any idea about what I want in it is the baby's room. Yet even there I have no exact idea. I think my ideas are based more on how the room should "feel" than how it will look. I have looked and looked at bedding (to the point of driving my mother-in-law crazy) and hated all of it. I am not a lover of pink. It's fine, but most of the stuff out there is really pink and I know I'd get tired of it very quickly. I do like blue, but even the "girl" things that are blue are still too boyish. Green and yellow are dull. Can you see my dilemma? All I know is that I want wide cream stripes on the wall--simple and elegant.

So after concluding that my daughter will have only whatever we get at the baby shower (no matter how badly it clashes), I had decided to give up. I planned on spending today packing things we won't need for the next six weeks to make the move easier, but after spending the morning on the phone with loan drama (will it ever end?), I was not in the mood to work. Therefore I wasted time on the internet. I decided to check Wal-Mart for baby things, just because I hadn't, and there it was. The perfect room:

It meets nearly all of my criteria: not too pink; cream, brown and cranberry/magenta/red based (depending on which review you read); simple, not overwhelming but still has some color. What more could I ask for? Well, I would like to see it in person and get a few precise measurements, but that is not possible as it's on clearance and I get everything you see (minus the furniture) for, get this, $77. Yeah, 10-piece set for $77. And I love it, too. This is a good day after all.

As Promised

Here is the video of us telling my family we were having a baby. We went to Utah right after Father's Day, so we decided to give my mom and dad little onesies about grandparents because this will be their first grandchild. It took my mom and dad a while to understand what was going on, but as you will see, my sister Sarah picked up on it first. Poor girl has more emotion in her little body than the rest of the family put together, so that explains her reaction.

WARNING: Do NOT watch this video around sleeping babies or anyone else sensitive to loud sounds. Do NOT turn up the volume on your computer, there's nothing to hear at the first of the video and your speakers may never recover. :) It's cell phone video so the quality it really bad, but I still love it. And I love Sarah.

Rummage Giveaway

This is our stuff before we loaded it up and said goodbye:

I don't miss it at all. It took both cars to get it down to the church and Troy made lots of trips from car to building to get it all inside.

Troy had be at the church Saturday morning to help out with the giveaway and he said it was crazy seeing all the people lined up outside and then even crazier when they opened the doors and people rushed it. He jokes that there was a lady on a rascal scooter running people over to get to the Mormon's good junk. Next time he wants to set up a video camera to film the madness.

Anyway, it was a success. I got there after everyone was inside, so I found a spot on the couch in the foyer and watched the people as they left with their treasures. I'm glad that the things I no longer wanted could help people who obviously needed them. And the missionaries every handed out a few pass-along cards, so maybe someone will find something even better than a few t-shirts and muffin tins. :)

Purging

A couple times a year our ward has a rummage giveaway. Not a sale--members and the community just come and get what they want/need. I think I've only actually picked up two dress shirts for Troy that a lady handed to me with a look that said she expected me to take them (BTW-they are in the stack of things to donate this time around). The thing I love about the giveaway is giving my stuff away.

Between making space for baby and not wanting to move stuff I don't use, we are in the middle of a major purge. I love it. Once we get it all into one place I'll have to take a picture. However, I look around and we just have too much stuff! The new house is three bedrooms and has a garage, but it's still small. I'm all about small. I want to live a small and simple life, so having all these things really bothers me. But a lot of it is stuff I either can't bring myself to get rid of yet or things I use just often enough that I don't dare get rid of them. My piano keyboard, for example. I never use it because 1) it doesn't sound or play like the real thing and 2)I play terribly. But I can't just get rid of it, can I? And what about the quesadilla maker that I've used twice but oh those quesadillas were so good! Too many tough decisions.

A little story (and finally some pics)

After thinking about how we were going to fit our lives and a baby into our two-bedroom apartment, we decided that instead of sacricing our stuff, we'd just move. Add to that the constant promptings of my dad, the real estate lover. It all became too much and at the end of August we started the house hunt. I'll tell you what--any of you who live in a metro area are lucky. In Blythe we have very few options in the lower price ranges, unless of course you want to buy a dump in the ghetto. Yes, we actually have multiple ghettos in our small town. Go figure.

Nevertheless, we were optimistic. This is Troy the day we went on our first home tour:

If you can't tell, he's in a good mood. I think he's singing along with Eddie Money or something. Anyway, among many other awful sights, the visual evidence of which I deleted without thinking of this post, this summarizes our first day:

An investor's reno that looked great on the surface, but at closer inspection was trash. This is the sprayed on grass in the front yard. Highlights of other houses included a kitchen with about two cabinets, bedrooms with psychedelic carpet and extension cords powering the ceiling fans. If I had a picture of me at the end of the day, you would see I was clearly depressed.

But the search continued. We saw houses straight out of the fifties, complete with metal cabinets; houses with a reek that will likely never leave; and houses that were workable, but priced far above our comfort level. There was a foreclosure we made an offer on, but only after it had been on the market for three days (which included a weekend), there were already multiple offers besides ours, so that didn't work out for us.

Anyway, I had pretty much given up on the idea when our realtor told us about a house that was coming on the market. We made an offer the day it was listed and the owners accepted the next day. Hooray! So we're moving and I'm very excited.

Belated Announcement

Oops. I promised I'd let you know what we were having. What a failure I am. Oh well, I'm not too concerned because it seems most of you are extra-intuitive anyway (or Erica voted over and over so she'd be right).

It's a girl!

Or so the doctor says. I must say that I really can't tell when watching the video myself. Sure looks like there's something there to me, but he got plenty of crotch shots and was very confident.

We are very excited for a girl. Troy will spoil her rotten. I think he's the type that can't help but create a daddy's girl.

If I get ambitious, I'll try to figure out how to post part of the ultrasound for Lindsay. But Lindsay, don't be too disappointed if I can't figure out how to cut it from it's full length and you have to wait to see it until after she's born and we finally get to see you again!