Boredom Does Crazy Things

Yes, I know, I hate bangs. What can I say?

Next Gen Cat Cage

We are all moved in and having a great time. The kids haven't even cried themselves to sleep.

I did a lot of research to find a good cage for Rush. This seemed like the best solution.

He hasn't been too happy, but at least I know he isn't going to run away until he gets used to the new place. I put Glen in there for a few minutes to keep Rush company, but he started shivering so bad I had to bring him in. Glen has been pretty happy inside, but he is definitely dying to go out. I had to put him in the tent again with Rush last night because he was squawking so much. This morning we discovered both of them out of the tent. He figured out how to move the zippers and escape. I'll have to tie them closed next time.

I'll post pictures of the rental later so you can picture where we are living :)

Mouse-pocalypse

One of my cats, not sure which one, has killed 5 mice in the last 5 days. That's right, that's one mouse per day. I'm sure the mice are shivering in fear. I just can't believe how many it has been. They used to kill maybe 3 or 4 a year. Maybe it is a final swan song before we move. Let this be a warning to the mice living around our rental, your life span has just been shortened significantly. Well, you'll have a two week reprieve while we keep the cats inside to reset their GPS.

Fefe's Portrait

Where We Are At

I keep hoping that I can post this when all the jumping through of hoops is done with. I think we might get there today. This house sale is pretty much guaranteed to go through, but it has been a major headache. The inspection happened fairly quickly because the buyers agent had to go out of town for a week. They initially asked for:

1. roof replacement

2. GFI circuits to be repaired/replaced

3. dry rot in front door jamb replaced

4. window in front replaced

5. handrail on interior stairs

6. attic discoloration tested

7. install two CO2 detectors

8. find out why furnace had low airflow and repair

Negotiating on these repairs took a good 10 days. We ended up giving them everything except a new roof. I hate this buyers market. For the roof, we got a 3-5 year certification to satisfy lending. Most of the repairs were fairly easy. The furnace was pretty dang frustrating though. A friend in our ward hypothesized that something was blocking the airflow in the return duct. I poked my head in to look and found two blocks of wood pretty much completely blocking the flow. Some idiot had left those two spacers in there when they built the house! I just always assumed we had a crappy furnace. It kept the house warm enough, but imagine how much cheaper our electric bill could have been all these years. J had to tear off the dry wall, open up the duct, knock out the spacers and then put up a new sheet of dry wall.

Once all the negotiating on the repairs was done we had to get the appraisal. Because this is a VA loan they had to order it through the VA. It took 5 days to get the appraiser out and then we had to wait another 5 days for the report. The VA appraiser has the power to require repairs if he thinks something isn't safe, etc. I think this has turned out to be the most frustrating requirement. Our deck is built at a height that code does NOT require a handrail. Apparently the lender can still require one if they deem it unsafe. We can't even fight that if we want this sale to go through. The appraiser did tell us the rail doesn't have to be to code though, just some posts and a couple boards across. Funny and ironic, huh? Today, we are hoping to get the buyers to agree to pay for half of it. Once they do, we hit the homestretch of just waiting for the bank to get the closing papers drawn up. I cannot wait for this process to be over. I have had to do so much work, make a million phone calls and just sit here on tenterhooks waiting for things to be resolved.

We hope to start moving into the rental house beginning of next week. We'll probably move all the big stuff on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Our official closing date is the 28th, although it could be pushed back a couple days depending on what happens today.

School Portraits

Here are the kids pictures for this year. They are full size so you just need to click on them and then do save as.

10 Years and Still Counting

Brother B is old enough to babysit! Oh yea, he had a birthday too. Brother B made me a nice list to choose from this year for his birthday. Thank goodness, I hate to think too hard about presents.

We somehow managed to squeeze all the festivities into the day. Our traditional happy meal for birthday lunch was fun. I had three different lunch schedules to accommodate. Thankfully the other three have birthdays on non-school days. Not sure how we managed to luck out on that.

I tried to avoid melting candles in the hot monkey bread this year. Didn't happen.

Target practice for when we need to fend for ourselves. Too bad the gun doesn't simulate a recoil.

Howl O Ween

We had an Xmen theme this year, mostly. Fefe decided a couple weeks before Halloween that she wanted to be Rapunzel (one of a million). We'll see if she can resist the siren call of princesses next year. She didn't believe us when we told her she was Tigger last year. She was certain she was a princess (she was half the time so she was partly right).

Ephant was Rogue

Rapunzel, or Tangled

Wolverine

Cyclops

I was pretty proud of myself on the job I did cobbling the kids costumes together. It can be so pricey to buy the ready made costumes. Except for Fefe's it probably cost me just $15 for the other kids. Thanks Thrift City! I was particularly happy with Brother B's biker jacket. I found that just a few days before Halloween. We were trying to find an alternative and I spied that on a front rack and did a little jig for joy. It really made the outfit. That and the uni glasses off of ebay. We dyed both Brother B's and Loofa's hair dark. It is permanent, so they'll be this way for awhile. Loofa looks so different, Brother B, not so much.

Trunk or Treat at the new stake center was awesome. There was enough room to park every car along the sidewalk so there were no safety concerns. Afterwards we went trick or treating in the neighborhood where we plan to build our house. I think the kids got a pretty good haul. Fefe managed to eat her's up in a few days. Loofa's lasted about a week and Ephant and Brother B are still working on theirs. Self restraint. I, myself, am having to go on a diet because of all the readily available sweets. Poor J is on a health imposed diet because of the the terrible reflux he has had the last couple of weeks.