Thoughts on a Friday...

1. Snow? Really? - I got up this morning and, when I opened my front door to head to work, I was so disappointed to see the snow still coming down. Now I'm generally a fan of snow, but I'm so over it. This girl needs some sunshine stat.

2. Welcome to my infirmary - My house is now officially an infirmary. My son is home sick again. Not-So-Ex is feeling crappy. I have an ear infection. My poor daughter is gonna need some huge amounts of vitamins to keep her from catching something. We're all going to urgent care as soon as I get out of work so hopefully we can get back to normal quickly. But I'm tired of sickiness.

3. We're still looking - The house hunting thing is no longer so exciting. We found an iffy house and a cute house in the exact wrong place (I mean there's one street I won't live on and where's the decent looking house? You guessed it.), but the realtor says there's something coming open this weekend that we might like. But I can't get any more details from her! And it's killing me! I mean she said the words "spectacular kitchen" and then nothing more. I mean come on!!!!

4. I've become somewhat obsessed with Johnny Cash. Especially the American recording sessions. One of these days, I'm gonna spring for this, and my life will be complete. LOL

5. I haven't baked in ages. I know a big part of this is just cause there's so much going on right now. I hope to rectify the non-baking trend this weekend (especially since Cupcake Hero this month is all about caramel!) but we'll see how it goes.

Update - One last thing, the charter school bill I mentioned in a previous post is still kicking!

Why my husband is awesome (today)

These are called hot dogs. The local bakery (Spring Hill for those who are from around here) makes them and they are incredible. They're basically a long thin donut-type pastry cut in half, filled with cream, and drizzled with chocolate.

Today my husband took a day off with our son who is sick again (and Not-So-Ex really needed a day off too cause he's been working like mad) and he brought these little pieces of awesomeness in for me and my co-workers. And, as if that's not enough, he's also taking me to my favorite restaurant for lunch!

It makes for a wonderful morning, that's for sure.

I do have to say, on the slightly negative side, that it looks like our dryer is going out. But, in all honesty, that's not even so bad because it means that, if we move soon, we can just buy a new washer and dryer and have it delivered to our house. That way Not-So-Ex, my dad, and/or whoever else helps us move won't have to mess with getting the old ones out of our basement (we had to take the door off to get them in) and into the new house! Yay!

Indulge me just this once...

Ok, so I don't talk politics too often because I'm weird about them. I have the world's biggest, softest, most liberal heart but I was raised by two of the best examples of the religious right (and I mean that in the best possible way). My parents are deeply, deeply religious in a way that I don't share but have tremendous respect for (and am at times even jealous of).

Anyway, right now our legislators are in and in addition to sponsoring incredibly important bills like the one to ban gay marriage (which was luckily shot down yesterday), they actually have one moving forward that I am really excited about. While it still may not make it, the legislation creating charter schools is still kicking!

Let me give you just a little background here. My mom is a teacher (a pretty brilliant one actually) and, while she started in public schools much like the one she graduated from, she has taught for about 27 years in the same private, Christian school. I have an undergrad degree in education (English Ed) and wanted to teach middle school (yes people exist who actually like those heatherns). After I graduated and found there were no jobs unless I subbed, I found a part time job with Extension in Lincoln County, WV and subbed some on the side. Well I fell in love with Extension work and when a full time position in Kanawha County with WVSU opened up, I was all over it. I then worked for 3 years as a 4-H Agent and worked with many of the middle schools in the area. Once I had that kind of freedom, I found it too restrictive to even consider going back to the classroom.

As I mentioned before, I am not a religious person. However, my kids go to a Christian school. As the open minded, free spirit type that most people know me to be, this seems to be a contradiction. But it really isn't.

Like I've mentioned before, my daughter is both gifted and challenged. She has gone to private school since pre-school with the exception of part of one year. That year was the worst in her life. She was going through things and we didn't know how to help her. We tried everything we could. We sent her to a school that was supposed to help her behavior and social skills only to find out, after racking up a $7,000 bill, that they had one certified teacher in the entire place. We then tried public school where, after she had been there for almost a semester, I had to hand deliver her test scores from her old school in order to prove that she had always been not only a normal student but a gifted one. The next year she went back to her private school but had to repeat the year.

I say all of this because, in WV, you have two choices. You either accept the public school where you live (unless you can beg the board to allow your child to attend another school) or, if you have the means and the awareness, you can send them to a religious school. That leaves many parents like myself in a lurch. I have no problem with religion or my kids being taught religion, but I wish I could expose them to more than one. And I will admit to wishing that it wasn't a part of their classwork. But at the same time I must say that I'm glad they get the morality lessons that come with religion because there have been times when I wasn't strong enough to teach them myself.

But, to get back to the point, charter schools would allow parents another option. Instead of paying tuition to a private school, they could choose to send their kids to a charter school. Say you have a student (maybe one just like mine) who is gifted and deeply interested in the Arts. Maybe you could send her to a charter school that offers a small group setting and extra time for music and drama classes (like this one or some of these). Can you imagine the benefits for both student and parent? A school designed for your student filled with other kids like her. Meanwhile, my son (a child that I truly believe could function and flourish anywhere) could choose a public school (since one of his biggest interests is sports) or maybe one that caters to business (which I could see him getting into as he ages). No matter what, the opportunities would be amazing.

Now there is plenty of opposition. Some say charter schools take money from an already struggling school system. In ways, that could be true. However, there are also huge pots of money out there right now just for charter schools and, since we have none, we can't access that money. Teachers unions oppose the bill in mass. I must say that I am generally a fan of unions, but I also feel that the teachers unions have begun to place the needs of the teachers over the needs of the students. And maybe that's what they should be doing. You will never hear me oppose a teacher raise, but I am not a fan of their seniority system. However, I'm also not a fan of merit-based raises that use standardized test results as a measurement of teacher skill. So, to try to simplify, I don't know the right answer, but I know it hasn't been found in our area.

But I will say this. If charter schools do ever make it to my neck of the city, I'd love to be involved. It would probably even be enough (if it was one I really believed in) to get me to renew my teaching certificate, say goodbye to my cushy Capitol office, and return to the classroom.

UGH!

My comments have been down for like a week and I had no clue! I really thought my normal commenters had just been busy! LOL

I'm trying to get it fixed. I do use the comment moderation feature, but I normally clear and post them pretty quickly. If you see that it's not working, please shoot me an email!

So sorry for the screw up!

Update: It appears to be working now. Unfortunately all of the comments left while it wasn't working were lost. Booooooooooo.

Update 2: Things still don't seem to be working quite right. *sigh*

The one where she feels lucky...

So when we first made an offer on the house that we were going to buy, the realtor sat us down and said that the owners had recently had an inspection done and gave us a copy to go over. As we looked it over she said that, if we wanted to, we could just use their inspection instead of having to pay to have my own done again.

Luckily, I said that we wanted to have another one done.

I received the inspection report yesterday night and was appalled. Now I want to state clearly that we knew it was an older home with an older roof that was showing signs of wear and tear. What we didn't know was that, once you got into the attic, you could see light through the roof.

In addition to the roof, there were a myriad of other problems, some small and some not. In the end, it was clear that buying that house would have been a tremendous mistake. I contacted the realtor and withdrew our offer.

So now we've gone from picking out light fixtures and gathering boxes to start packing to scouring the real estate guide again. While I'll readily admit that I'm frustrated, I'm also incredibly thankful that we didn't get stuck with a lemon of a house. Now if I can just find a good one! LOL

The hits just keep on coming...

So I headed into work hoping for a little break in my bad luck but, alas, it doesn't seem to be coming today.

I got to work and was trying to remove a stubborn staple and chipped my tooth (yeah... I'm sure everyone has no trouble figuring out how that happened to this particular rocket scientist). So I'm walking around with my tongue almost permanently attached to my front tooth because I can feel where it's chipped, even though it doesn't really show unless you really study it. I've had too many sick and annual days lately so, if it continues to bug me, I'll have to wait till Saturday to get to the dentist. Which is just my luck.

Being the kind of person I am, I find these stories so funny that I have to tell everyone. So, shortly after chipping my tooth and telling the woman in the office beside mine, I sat down to have lunch in my office and promptly choked on my pop and had a coughing fit like you would not believe. After hearing me coughing, she yelled out "are you ok?" and of course I said yes. Then she yelled, "You better watch or you'll be dead by the end of the day."

I guess we'll see won't we!

Dear Weekend...

Please end soon! You have not been very nice to me and mine. If it wasn't bad enough that I had such an awful day at work on Friday, you had to really pull out all the stops Saturday (when my grandfather was involved in a car accident but is luckily ok) and Sunday (when we heard from the house inspector that the home we've been trying to buy has a bad roof).

Now I'm sure, in the long run, things will turn out fine. The accident will hopefully cause Papaw to listen to those of us who tell him not to drive, but it's hard for him to give up his independence. As his hard-headed granddaughter, I understand. As for the house, I spoke with our realtor who said the next step is to tell them that the roof has to be fixed or the deal is off. We may well end up starting over from scratch, but that's better than moving in and finding out in a matter of months (and that's a bit optimistic) that we're gonna have to shell out thousands for a new roof.

But anyway, for once I'm screaming "Come on Monday!"

Update: Well the bad luck has continued and spread to our poor little dogger. Trying to be good pup parents, we tried to trim Jake's toenails. Yeah, we'll never do that again.

End result

Here's one of the caramel apples that I made today.

And here you thought I was just about cupcakes!

Sickie, sickie

So we all know this has has been a killer winter. The snow, the cold, and just the way it continues to drag on has about done everyone in. I love winter, and especially the snow, as much as anyone, but I am totally ready for spring.

The other side effect of this awful winter seems to be (at least for my family) a longer cold and flu season. Not-So-Ex has been sick. I've been trying to get rid of a very minor cold since last week. Hunter was out sick two days a couple weeks ago and then got sick again last night. This morning he seemed some better, but his complaints of a headache and dizziness worried me so we're home together.

It sucks cause, while I have the sick time, I hate to miss so much work. I love my job and my co-workers (and my boss especially) are just the best. I definitely wanna keep this gig. But Not-So-Ex is actually working two jobs (both for the same company) right now so he can't spare the time to stay home with Hunt. Plus, when he misses a day, he just doesn't get paid. And his pay is far too good to give up easily.

So I sent my sincere apologies to my boss this morning and holed up with Hunt. In a way, I'm glad because it gives me another day to get myself feeling better. Plus, since Not-So-Ex is working most days from around 7 am to 8 or 9 pm, we haven't had much food in the house. So I hit Krogers with a vengeance. In a bit, I'll start making some pepperoni rolls (some with turkey pepperoni... shhhhh... don't tell my guys) for us to have to snack on today and tomorrow. Plus we got everything to make a nice big dinner of fettucini alfredo, my specialty dish.

Also, ever since the kids got the huge caramel apples I bought them for Valentines, I've been wanting to make my own. So I got all the stuff and I'm planning on using this recipe as a starting point. Hopefully they turn out as good as the ones I bought!

What goes through my mind on a Wednesday morning...

So I was actually hard at work on a list of state representatives from the coal counties in WV and came across this interesting set of siblings apparently separated at birth.

Mr. Belding of Saved by the Bell

AND

H. Truman Chafin (D - Mingo) Majority Leader District 6

One of these people had a stylist and makeup artist... Just sayin'...

Things that float through my head on a pseudo-Monday...

So today is really a Tuesday but, since yesterday was a holiday, it really feels like a Monday. My lucky little heatherns got a snow day so they get to postpone Monday one more day! But Momma has to slave away for the man so here I sit.

But, as tends to happen, my mind isn't so much on work right now. I have a small stack of donations and reports to enter, which will take about an hour, so my mind is currently on the house.

I have become, quite frankly, somewhat obsessed with light fixtures. The exterior of our house, to me, is very jazzy and New Orleansy. I've only been to New Orleans once and, while it wasn't the best of trips, I loved the look and feel of a city that is steeped in tradition while still being up for absolutely anything.

So the outside of the house says jazz but the inside of the house says "Hi. I'm 80 years old." The carpet is dark and heavy and often clashing. There are these huge, heavy chandeliers that are far too formal for a jazz house.

The first step of course will be to jerk that carpet out of there and refinish the hardwood underneath. That alone will make a huge change.

The next step will be replacing those chandeliers. Here's where we run into the confusion though. I want the inside to feel just as cool and jazzy and New Orleans (modern but with history) as the outside. So I sit and search for pics of houses in New Orleans in the 20s-30s. Thus far, I haven't found much of interest. I think the key for me is to just find modern, simple fixtures with very clean lines. I want to use some bright colors inside as well but I have to walk a very thin line there. The outside is brick, so I'd like to bring the red inside as well (and red is already a theme in my furniture and such) but I don't want to overdo it.

Well anyway, once we get going I am sure there will be much to report. But, for now, I'm stuck researching, daydreaming, and waiting!

More than a Valentine's Day

So yesterday was a big day for our little family and it had nothing to do with the fact that it was Valentine's Day. In fact, since we're a family full of people who can't stand to buy a gift and not immediately give it, we had all already given gifts to each other long before Valentine's actually arrived.

While mentioning gifts, I have to say that Not-So-Ex really outdid himself this year. Months ago he had talked to my uncle, a sculptor who makes huge steel flowers (if you're local, he has a shop called Steel Blooming), about making a custom desk sculpture of cupcakes. The result is stunningly beautiful, not to mention a one of a kind art piece. I was absolutely speechless.

A bad pic caused by super shaky hands!

Anyway, back to my original point, the important thing about yesterday was that it was our awesome, often devilish, pups 1st birthday (or at least the day we designated as his b-day since he was a pound puppy and we didn't know his exact birth date for sure). So Jake Blues the Wonder Mutt is becoming a big boy. We shared special meals with him and bought him new toys and just generally loved him to pieces all day long. It's so hard to believe that it's almost been a year since we broke him out of the pound thinking he was gonna be a little dog, only to have him grow into a full scale Scooby Doo look alike. Now Jakester is a full-fledged family member and fits right into our little family.

In other good news, the house deal was basically done yesterday and now the pre-closing frenzy begins. There is just so much to do... inspections to arrange... window shopping for Not-So-Ex and I to do since there's a lot of things we will be replacing in the house... and that's not even going into the whole packing thing! We're so excited, both for ourselves and especially for Jake who will get a small fenced yard for him to play in without even being tied up.

The first thing we had to do was get the inspection, which I set up this morning. I was so nervous about it because, with it being a very old home, I want to walk in with open eyes and a full knowledge of the shape it is in. I don't want any surprises. Since I didn't know anyone to do the inspection, I mentioned on facebook that I needed to have one done. Within about 15 minutes I found out that an old friend of the family (and grandpa of one of my son's good friends) is a house inspector and I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I know, without a doubt, that he'll look it over carefully and be very honest about the areas we need to watch and/or work on. So now everything is set up and we should have the full report in about a week or so.

I wish I could post pics of the house, since it is truly beautiful in a very "me" sorta way. But I've come to realize that I need to protect my family and their privacy a bit more than I have been. It saddens me cause I'm more of the open and sharing type (and I'd rather be that way) but I've been forced to recognize that not everyone likes me. While I'm fine with that (and am not always worthy of being liked), I'm not going to open my family up to the judgement and cruelty of those who feel they have a bone to pick with me.

However, if I were one of my readers, I would look forward to plenty of before and after pics of the interior of the house! There will be some dramatic changes ahead!

Pure Excitement

So today we accepted the counter offer from the owner of the house we were interested in. It was an interesting process for a newbie.

We made a super low opening offer because there were a lot of things we were unclear on. We knew the outside of the house was perfect (for me anyway) but, since the house was built in 1929, we wanted to be clear on what condition everything was in. Once we started dealing with them, we found out that the house had a lot of improvements we didn't know about including a brand new heating and cooling system, which means a lot to a chick who is totally over window air conditioners! And we have high hopes for the flooring, which is a big issue since I hated the carpeting.

There's still a lot to be done like inspections and finalizing the bank deal. Things could still fall apart, but we're much closer.

On a side note, my son hurt himself at a school skating party Friday but, luckily, didn't break anything but has to have a stint on his arm for a while. We feel blessed that his injury was small and simple.

Have an awesome weekend folks! Share lots of love!

Why labels suck

I have a beautiful, incredibly talented, far too brilliant, almost 13 year old daughter. And she may soon be considered autistic.

We always knew that she had a harder time in social settings, especially school, than anyone of her intelligence should have. Luckily, she attends a private school where the teachers are capable and caring enough to really work with her. We tried public school once and the result was disastrous. However, it was that disaster that led to the diagnosis that made everything a little clearer for all the people who love her and led to a treatment plan that has been working.

My daughter has Asperger's. The American Psychiatric Association wants to dispose of that term by lumping this disorder with Autism. The two are closely related and my daughter's psychiatrist has long referred to her as a "spectrum kid," however there is a huge difference between Asperger's and Autism.

I find this all upsetting, not so much for my daughter, because she attends a school that is smart enough to focus on teaching rather than labeling. Her school records make no mention of her academic or social problems. She is known by name and not by label. But a lot of kids aren't so lucky.

Maybe I don't understand. Maybe there's something I'm missing. I don't know. But it scares me.

Sometimes words aren't necessary

Big jump!

Well we decided to go ahead and make an offer on the smaller, cheaper, but somewhat fixer-upper house. I'm nervously excited. We made a low offer so I'm sure there will be plenty of negotiating to follow.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

I'm at work today. I'm one of the precious few at work today. I shoulda stayed home but knowing Not-So-Ex would be working late and that the kids would be with the grandparents made it not such an enticing proposition.

I wish I had kept the kids home this week so that today could've been spent making hot chocolate and playing Wii. But there will be other snow days. So, for today, I'm just gonna hope that I can pick up plenty of slack for those who couldn't make it in and stay busy for the rest of the day.

On the plus side, there will be some lovely house news coming pretty soon I believe! And that definitely has my mind running a mile a minute as visions of hardwood floors, ovens, and funky light fixtures dance in my head! I could really use a young, funky consultant. LOL

Date Night #1

So last night was our first kid-less night and it was one of the best, stress-less, relaxing evenings I've had for a while. The plan was to go out after work, look at a house, go to dinner, and then hit a movie.

We went and looked at the house, which I had already seen but wanted Not-So-Ex's opinions. And, luckily, we both felt exactly the same about it. It has possibilities, but would require money and time before it would be what we would want it to be. Now this house is very cheap and, to be blunt, we would offer even less for it because of all the work and changes that are needed. We could use some of the money we had saved planning to buy a more expensive house and spend it to do some work before we even move in. And the payment would be low enough that we could stay in our current apartment while the work was being done. So the plan right now is to keep looking and, if we don't find anything as it gets closer to the cut-off for the big tax credit, then it may end up being our house.

After the house, we went out for a nice dinner and it was nice to just sit and relax and eat. We had planned a movie after dinner but I was enjoying everything so much that I just wanted to go home, get in my PJs, and watch Chuck. So that's what we did. A perfect evening.

Tonight Not-So-Ex is stuck working a bit later than normal so I'll probably get a jump on the cupcakes I need to make for my order and for the kids' Valentines parties. Love it!

Monday Pros and Cons

Pro: Had the greatest, most relaxing weekend I've had in ages. It took me a little bit to figure out why it was so good but then I realized that it's the first weekend Not-So-Ex has had off for a while. It was nice to chill out, do nothing, and catch up on rest and a little house work.

Con: I didn't want the weekend to end! However, I am still in a pretty damn good mood anyway.

Pro: I wore a brand new, cute little pleated grey skirt to work, which meant I got to pull out the killer grey Mary Jane-ish heels for the very first time. I love rocking awesome shoes!

Con: My cute skirt is shorter than I normally wear so I'm constantly self-consciously pulling it down. And the heels will eventually kill my feet but I really don't care. LOL

Pro: It's a date week! Woo Hoo! The parents and in-laws have the kiddies so Not-So-Ex and I can house shop, hit the movies, and dine out all week long. You really can't beat that.

Con: This is a kinda weak con, but I will miss the kids. But probably not that much! LOL

Pro: This week is Valentines so I have lots of cupcaking to do. I have an order this week plus the cupcake competition at the mall on Sat. I'm really super psyched about it.

Con: I personally think Valentine's Day is a complete crock. I think it's a made-up, bs holiday but I will admit to enjoying all the heart stuff and cool cupcake materials that come with the holiday.

Pro: On the house hunt front, we are going to look at a house today that is our current best shot. I don't know if we'll take it or not (it needs a LOT of work but is so cheap that we could afford to put into it what is needed) but we're gonna give it a look.

Con: I'm a terrible decision maker. And really impatient. I tend to jump into things while Not-So-Ex is much more wary. The last house we bought (during marriage 1.0) was a disaster. We both want to make sure we make the right choice this time.

Pro: I'm working on naming my cupcake business. I've been getting lots of suggestions and the current front runner is Creative Confections, but I still can't settle on one. But I can say that Paigeycakes has been vetoed. Definitively.

Con: There are just so many possibilities that it's hard to pick. And I'm happiest when things are settled.

OK... I think that's it for today! Have a great Monday!

So you don't have to (kinda)

So last night I made a mess. It turned out just fine, but it was still a little lesson learned in the kitchen so I might as well pass it on.

Dearest Not-So-Ex bought me the incredible Kitchenaid Stand Mixer for Christmas. It is perfect and has made my baking much easier and just generally awesomer. However, the mixer comes with one metal bowl and, if you need one for cupcake batter and one for frosting, you'll have to buy another one.

So, not long after Christmas I started looking for the best deal. Since they have to lock in place on the mixer, you have to buy the Kitchenaid brand. And a duplicate of the bowl that came with it cost $50-$60. So I decided to be frugal and buy the smaller bowl for $20-$30. My thought process went something like "Gee, you never fill the whole bowl up anyway so it'll be fine."

When I got the bowl, I saw that it was about 1 1/2 inches shorter than the normal bowl. I noticed that, when I used it, I had to be careful that flour or milk didn't slosh out of the bowl. But still no biggie.

Last night I was making my Strawberry Champagne cupcakes and wanted to try a new frosting so I decided to make a Strawberry Champagne Italian Meringue Buttercream (a modified version of this recipe). The bigger bowl was dirty from the cupcake batter so I figured that, if the egg whites stayed in the bowl during the whipping stage, then I should be fine for the rest of the recipe.

The whites whipped up perfectly and quickly. I added a little red food coloring to pink it up and then started adding the simple syrup. This is where things got rough.

The syrup went in fine but then you're supposed to crank up the speed and beat it for a while. I tried that and SPLAT! Pink frosting flew EVERYWHERE! It was on the mixer, the walls, my shirt, my pjs, the floor, EVERYWHERE!

Luckily there was still plenty in the bowl so I soldiered on. The next step is to add pieces of chilled butter to the mix. This also got interesting. Especially when one chuck hit the mixing blade when I was adding it and it literally flew out of the mixing bowl.

Anyway, it did turn out lovely in the end. I'll make it again, just with the bigger bowl!

More housey talk

So I don't think I've thought about much this week other than THE house. I talked to one bank yesterday and I have a meeting with another one tomorrow.

It's one of those situations where it's just a bit more than we were looking for. It's a big house that we could grow into but we also don't want to get something that, in the long run, we won't be able to afford. There's really nothing that will stomp the fun out of a new marriage faster than money problems.

That being said, I'm going to go tomorrow and see just how much I can offer, then I will make my offer. We may get shot down, but I want to offer.

Until then, I will be at my desk looking at screens or papers full of words but my mind will be full of floating numbers. And, to me, numbers are a soft, theoretical thing rather than hard, definitive words like yes and no.

But keep wishing me luck!!!

Fail meet Win

So I referred to yesterday as Fail Day 2010. But then the funniest thing happened. My Fail Day turned good!

I had been trying to get ahold of a realtor to look at a house and Not-So-Ex took over and set it up lickety split! I couldn't believe it. Then we got to the house and it was spectacular. And I don't mean, well, it was ok. I mean WOW. It's not perfect but, considering the price we can afford, it was pretty damn close.

But now comes the effects of too much win. My mind is racing. I can't sleep. All I can do is wonder if we'll be able to actually get the house. And God knows there's nothing I can do to get any closer to getting in that house at midnight!

*sigh*

A little reminder

You can still vote for me (Starting all over again)! I am losing terribly and have almost no shot of winning but who doesn't love an underdog? LOL

House hunting and Fail Day 2010

So today we'll have 2 posts in 1 since I have two very different things to discuss.

First off, I started the house hunt yesterday by viewing the very first house. It was a promising little place here on the East End. It was the perfect location (close enough to the things I want to be close to and almost far enough away from the things I'd prefer to distance myself from) and the exterior was perfect. It was an older brick home in a kinda funky sorta style. It has a very old south, New Orleansy feel to it. So that part was promising. However, once inside, it looked like the outside was all that was promising. It was roomy enough, but arranged a little strangely. There's an extra room on the first floor that doesn't make a whole lotta sense. The kitchen, which seemed huge compared to our current spot, was laid out strangely as well and featured an antiquated in-wall oven not even large enough for a pan of cupcakes (I think I hear a huge collective gasp). In addition to all that, the house features a groan inducing pink/red carpet that would make for a truly interesting look once all my red furniture (my couch and chair) and bed were moved in.

However, despite the flaws, it would be something we could work with. And that is what we're looking for. Something we can gradually turn into our real home. But we're gonna continue looking and see what else we can afford.

Now, as for the rest, let me welcome you to Fail Day 2010. I'm seriously hoping it will be the only Fail Day this year but who knows.

This morning started rough because, when the alarm went off, I really felt as if I had just gone to bed. I seriously thought I had somehow screwed up when setting the alarm but, alas, it was correct. I got the kids up and ready and realized that, even though Hunt's teacher had gotten his work assignments ready for him before he took Thurs and Fri off school cause he was sick, we had never done the work. It was a HUGE parent fail moment. I was mortified. Hunter was doubly mortified. So I shot off an apologetic email to his teacher explaining that it was truly our fault that it wasn't done.

Then I headed out to get the kids to school. We were about 5 minutes away from there when I realized that I had forgotten the medications for the kids. Luckily, Not-So-Ex had my back and was able to drop them off a little later, but it was out of his way and frustrating for us both.

I got back home to get myself ready, only to realize that I left my brand new coat at a meeting downtown last week. So I tried to make my old coat usable, but it's this old black coat that has become a total Jake hair magnet. I tried to get the hair off of it, but could never even get it looking half-way decent. Again, luckily, Not-So-Ex had given me this thin but warm jacket that he got from his company. It wasn't pretty or dressy, but it kept me comfy on the walk to work.

As I was walking in, I ran into a former co-worker who used to drive me insane. So, of course, he insisted on walking all the way together and chatting. I "uh-huh-ed" my way to the office and thanked my lucky stars that we no longer work in the same building.

Once I got in and settled at work, one of the secretaries came around and handed me my W-2. Now I started work on Dec 1st. However, I didn't get paid by my new job until (I thought) Jan 1st. But I actually got paid on Dec 31st. So that means that, since I filed our tax return yesterday, I will now have to file an amendment because I received ONE EFFING PAYCHECK from the new gig. *BIG SIGH*

OK... now that I got that all out I feel better. Let's hope Fail Day doesn't do too much damage from here on out!