This and that

I've been busy all week trying to get the house all cleaned up. I've cleaned out all the closets but one, the garage has been cleaned out, and I've thrown out a bunch of stuff! I've got a ton of stuff gathered together for a yard sale that I'm sure we'll be having before too long. I may try to have it next weekend....we'll see. The realtor is supposed to coming over at 9 Monday morning. We're using Colwell Banker and they're supposed to be making arrangements with a well established realtor in Maryland to help us when we get there. I was so set on living in Virginia....oh well. The upside is I'll be within about a 30-40 minutes drive of The Stitching Post and Needlecraft Corner in Baltimore. Actually I think it's more of a 45-50 minute drive to Needlecraft Corner. Perfectly doable though considering the closest to me now is a bit over 2 hours away. There's another one in Baltimore but I've not checked on it yet. There are a few others in various other cities around where we're looking. If I remember right, I think the closest shop to the town we're looking at is about 19 miles away. I might have that wrong but I think it's pretty close. I guess I'll find out soon enough. Mike doesn't know it yet but if we get all of our business taken care of quickly and have time to spare, we're going to a shop :o). I'm hoping the day we fly in that I can take him to the National Archives since he missed it on our last trip. I went while he was at his interview and felt bad that he missed it. Oh well. Better that one of us went than neither of us, right??

My best friend and her family came over last night to watch High School Musical 2 with us. She picked up pizzas and I got the goodies so we could make ice cream sundaes. I think the kids had a lot of fun playing. I know we did :). After the movie was over we played a game of Sorry. I LOVE that game! I didn't care too much for the movie though. It was ok but I think the first one was much better. I'm really gonna miss her and our get togethers and outings when we move :(.

A few days ago I got a package in the mail from an exchange I participated in, in one of my yahoo groups. It was a pin exchange and here are the great gifts that Debs sent me. She knows I love the ocean and stitched this pretty little needlebook from The Victoria Sampler for me. Isn't it fantastic?! Thanks again for the really great gifts, Debs!

Speaking of gifts, I sent out my first PIF gift about a week and a half ago to Missy. She emailed me a few days ago to say that she received it so I can post a pic of it now. I stitched 2 pieces for her from The Prairie Schooler. The first piece is a needlebook that I made for her using one of the pieces from their Prairie Birds chart. I loved the piece of the mama birds feeding her babies. It reminded me of her :). I also made a pinkeep for her using one of their small free charts. I think they both turned out really well and I'm thrilled that she likes them :). Missy, I hope your flights back home were safe and uneventful :)

I need someone to clone me!

I could use about 5 extra of me right now! I'm *supposed* to be looking for houses right now but I need a break, it's giving me a headache. Those houses are not cheap up there! Boy, you talk about a big difference in the cost of living here and there...WOW! I've decided I need clones for the following-

1. I need 1 to take care of the house, kids, and animals.
2. I need another one to go through all of the closets & cabinets and clean everything out. When she finishes that I really need her to clean out the garage. I hope she brings a bikini because it feels like it's 120 out there!
3. I need a third one to house hunt on the internet. It is so not easy looking at real estate when you have to take care of everything else too.
4. I really need a fourth one to just sit and stitch. I have gifts that need to be stitched and my needle has been crying for me...I can hear it sniffling right now.

So if I could just get 4 clones I'd be all set. I have spent SO much time looking at houses online and making notes. Mike & I are going back to D.C. early on the 2nd and will be back about 2 in the morning on the 6. I was really wanting to fly on Midwest again in hopes that I could see Jodi during one of our layovers but no such luck. We get those really good package deals on Orbitz and unfortunately Midwest wasn't one of our choices. We're flying on Continental. I really hope that's a good airline. I know the planes aren't all that big. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing...lol. If any of you have flown Continental, I really need for you to tell me how great they are..lol. Our layovers this time are in Cleveland. Boy...I've been all sorts of places this summer. Back to house hunting....I want to have a list of houses we want to see ready so we can spend a lot of time looking at them for at least 1 solid day, probably 2. I still need to call a realtor up there. I haven't yet because we've still been trying to narrow it down to where we want to live. As for me, I'd prefer Virginia but we're having one heck of a time finding something we can afford. I tell ya, you can get yourself a nice shack for $180,000.00! You can get a brand new house here for that! A really really nice one. Geez! We're also taking in to consideration where the train runs, ect. Plus, call me picky but I've been thoroughly searching all the specifics of each town that comes up....ie- the crime rates ect. I can tell you that we WILL NOT be residing in Capitol Heights, Maryland! I'm not living somewhere where the likelihood of me getting murdered is very good...lol. You shoulda seen the info I found on that place...WOW! I don't plan to ever even drive anywhere near that place...lol. I think Hagerstown, MD is at the top of our list but I'm still looking. I've found about 6 houses there that I'm really interested in. I don't know about one of them though. It looks to me like there's a forest behind it..lol. I think Mike wants to live in Maryland and it's looking like he might get his way on this one. Fine by me. If he's picking the city then I'm picking the house. Actually, it doesn't matter because I'm picking the house anyway..LOL! That brings me to this....it's hard to tell by the pics on the internet but it seems to me that there aren't many fenced in backyards up there. Am I seeing that right? Do these people not have dogs up there? If they do, how do they go potty? I'm so not taking 4 little dogs out constantly on a leash. I can't let them out without one. They'd all probably run back to Texas. We definately have to have a fenced in yard. If there's not one then we'll have to put one up ASAP. Off I go...you really wouldn't believe the mess I have here......

This just in!

Mike got the job!!! As of Oct. 15th he'll be working for the Office of the Inspector General! Right down the street from the Pentagon and a hop, skip, and a jump away from the US Capitol! How exciting is that?! I'm really really nervous about relocating. I've lived here in Texas for most of my life. I'm not at all worried about myself...I can adapt well pretty much anywhere. I am however worried about the kids. Cassie is unbelievably emotional and I'm not too sure how she's gonna take it. She's at a friend's house right now so I've not had a chance to tell her yet. I know she's too young to really care but if she only knew about the opportunities she'll have up there. I'm so excited that I'll be able to take them places and show them things that most kids only read about in history books. It looks like Mike and I will be making another flight up to D.C. in the next few weeks to find a place to live. We've not narrowed it down yet but I'm sure we'll either live in Maryland or Virginia. I'm hoping for Virginia but it's so expensive. It doesn't matter where we live really, Mike's still gonna have a bit of a commute. Another great thing is that my grandmother and a lot of my aunts and uncles live in West Virginia. I've never gotten to spend much time with them and am really looking forward to being able to do so :). That brings me to the next great thing......I'm not sure but I *think* my parents are going to moving to West Virginia close to his family! Which means they'd only be a couple of hours from me instead of 22! Keeping my fingers crossed that they don't change their mind :).

Swimming with the football team

Of all the days I forget to bring my camera! I know you're not gonna beleive this one. DH even asked my why I didn't bring it because he figured you all wouldn't believe me..lol. We took the kids to the YMCA this afternoon to go swimming. I was really happy when we pulled up and I noticed there were maybe 10 people in the pool. It's usually really crowded. They weren't in the pool for 10 minutes when I noticed a massive amount of huge beefy men walking to the pool stripping down to their trunks along the way. It so looked like something you see on T.V. The entire college football team decided they were going swimming. Wouldn't you know we picked the same time to go. I don't know how many of them there were, I lost count. The pool is huge and there were so many of them they couldn't all fit in. We stayed for about 30 minutes until I realized I was fixing to lose my kids in an abyss of big beefy men. I also decided it was probably time to go when the girls around me were drooling so much I thought I was gonna drown and I wasn't even in the pool! LOL! Lavon, I thought of you while I was there and knew how disappointed you'd be that I didn't get a pic for you. So sorry about that...lol. In my defense though who the heck would've expected that...lol. Those guys could've bench pressed my entire family LOL! They should've had male lifeguards out today because if a female would've been drowning in that pool those lifeguards never would've noticed. They were too busy making sure the footabll team wasn't gonna drown...lol.

I think I got a pretty good amount of stitching done on my fairy Friday night. I'm hoping to have her finished in the next 3-4 Fridays. It's those bloody wings. They're so boring and they take forever...lol. We're having a High School Musical 2 viewing party with a few friends this next Friday night so I'll probably stitch on her either Thursday or Saturday.

As of right now we don't have a whole lot planned for this week. My parents want to take the kids to lunch on Wednesday and I'm hoping to take them to see Underdog either Tueday or Thursday. Besides that I've been thinking that I really should clean out our garage and our closets. I've been needing to do that for a while now.

Baby shopping

WOW! That's something I've not done in a REALLY long time! One of my friends is expecting and she's having a baby shower next month. I had promised the kids a trip to the mall this morning and found some of the cutest baby things while we were there! I have no desire whatsoever to have any more myself but I LOVE buying baby gifts. Cassie's going to a slumber party tonight so is packing her bag getting ready for that. I pity the poor mother who's throwing this shindig...LOL! And why yes she'll be taking that High School Musical CD right along with her...lol. Hopefully Mike will get off on time this evening. Maybe he, Joshua, and I will go pal around or something. It's been really hot out so I've been trying to go out either in the morning or late in the evening. Not too much going on here. Still on pins and needles waiting to see if Mike's gonna get that job. I *think* they're off on Fridays so I'm guessing we won't hear anything until next week. It's Friday so I need to see if I can salvage some time today to stitch on my fairy. School starts in 2 weeks so I've been trying to spend a lot of time doing things with the kids. I really miss them during the school year.

Bad neighbors, fairies, and butterflies..oh my

I know it's been a few days since I posted but I just haven't felt like doing much online. Let's see...let's start out with the bad neighbors. We've lived in this house for a year and 8 months. The people to the left of us have never had much to do with us. The man has made small talk with Mike if they're both out there doing yard work but that just about covers it. I wave at them but they just turn around and walk off. They're not friendly at all! Mike mowed the lawn on Saturday morning. On Sunday afternoon the doorbell rang and when I answered it, she was standing there. I opened the door and this is what she said, " Hi, I'm Lydia your neighbor. I would appreciate it if you'd tell your husband not to mowe any part of our lawn. He mowed yesterday and crossed your property about 2"over on to ours. Our property line starts at the gate there so please tell him not to cross it." I have a better idea cupcake! Tell him yourself! I just stood there for a sec....are you stinkin kidding me?! We've lived here for over a year and a half and this is the first thing I hear from you?! Why don't you take your ridiculously anal butt (no pun intended..lol) back home! Did you see me over at her house last month when they came out with the weed killer and killed nearly all of our grass on that side? No you didn't. Like her stinkin grass won't grow back in a week. She's really pissed now. Mike put a couple of stakes out there with a rope running down the lawn to ensure that he doesn't mowe any of her grass...lol. I can't stand people like this. She really needs a hobby. Moving along....

I stitched on my fairy for a bit last Friday night and here's what she's looking like. She's coming along nicely but I wish she was a little closer to being done. Oh well...hopefully I'll get to hang her for Halloween. That is if we're not living somewhere else by Halloween...

That brings me to the butterflies. I've got big ones in my stomach with this whole job thing. Some of Mike's supervisors (both current and previous) told him they got calls today about him. They have his transcripts...they checked his references....I have a sneaking suspicion that we're gonna know something in the next day or so and I don't know why. Just a feeling I guess. I want him to have it but I'm scared to death. I've lived here since I was 5 and I'm 31. I've never lived more than 10 minutes away from my family. If he gets this job it's 1,200 miles away. My best friend and I have known each other since we were 10 and I can't imagine not being able to just pop over or go out with her. I know if he's meant to have it he will and if not there will be something else...I just wish we knew because it's really stressing me out.

I was folding laundry on my bed yesterday. I put some away and came back to get some more to discover that someone had quickly made herself a bed in the 5 minutes I was out of the room. Does she look comfy or what?

PIF's- I finished up Missy's PIF gift yesterday! It'll be winging it's way to Saipan tomorrow morning. I'll post a pic as soon as she receives it.

Back from D.C.

Mike and I got home from Washington D.C. just before midnight Wednesday night. We had a really great time! I wish we could've spent another day. We did manage to do a lot considering we had such a short amount of time to do it in. We did a lot of really fast walking in order to get everything in that we wanted to see. I'm glad we did but my calves were sure paying for it yesterday. Our flights were great and everything went really smoothly. Our hotel was only about 3-4 miles from the airport. We got on the metro at the airport so we could take it to our hotel. When our train passed the stops for the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery, it about drove me nuts because I wanted to hop off right then. We checked in to our hotel and everything was perfect. Our room was on the 10th floor and had a balcony that overlooked the Potomac. We could see the US Capitol building and the Monument from our window. That was VERY cool! We cleaned up a bit and then headed back down to the metro station to catch a train to the Smithsonian. We went to the National Museum of Natural History. I *needed* to see that Hope Diamond. It was SO beautiful! I blazed by the rest of the jewelry really quickly. I would've loved to have been able to play with that jewelry. What beautiful pieces! We also had a look at some really neat rocks and dinosaur bones on the way out. We didn't get too terribly close to that US Capitol building as it wasn't at the top of our list of things to do, but we did see it from a distance and that was good enough for us. We really wanted to go to the National Aquarium but didn't have enough time. I thought for sure that they'd be open until at least 7 or so but they close at 5. Oh well...maybe next time. So we plugged on towards the White House. On the way we saw some really neat things. We finally got there and it was just like I pictured it would be. I still can't decide if I like the front of it better or the back. I think the back. And yes, those are guys you see walking on the roof with guns. After we finished gandering at the White House we went to see the Lincoln Memorial. I really liked that Lincoln Memorial and have wanted to see it ever since I saw it in my history books when I was a kid. When we were walking along the side of the reflecting pool in between the Monument and the Lincoln Memorial I was a little surprised. I had envisioned the reflecting pool being really clean and pretty. Instead it was dirty and merky with hundreds of ducks in it..lol. The War World II War Memorial was on the way to the Lincoln Memorial so we stopped there for a minute. It seemed like the walk to the Lincoln Memorial was never ending. There were tons of people sitting on the steps and while we were walking towards it I wondered why. After we got up to the top of those steps I realized it was because they were too exhausted to go on and needed a break. So down we plopped to have a little break ourselves :). After we left the Lincoln Memorial, we headed down to the Korean War Memorial and then on to the Vietnam War Memorial. By the time we finished up there it was starting to get late so we decided to head back towards the Metro Station and catch the train back to our hotel. We thought about eating out but were too tired so we ordered a pizza and had it delivered to our room instead. We spent some time out on the balcony looking at D.C. after it got dark. I was trying to imagine myself living there but just couldn't picture it. I guess that's because I've live here for so long. It's really different up there. We both slept really well that night. Mike got up early to get ready for his interview so I got up with him too. I didn't want to sit at the hotel while he was gone so I decided to take the metro back in to D.C. so I could go to the National Archives. I hated to go by myself but I REALLY wanted to see the Declaration of Independance and knew if I didn't go I'd regret it. Mike walked with me to the station and then he headed for the place where his interview was going to be. It was only a couple of blocks away. I was really surprised when I got off at my stop. As soon as I got out of the station, the National Archives were just right there. I was worried that I'd have to go looking for it. I had to wait for them to open for a few minutes so walked around a bit. I noticed that the Robert F. Kennedy Sept. of Justice building was right next door. That was pretty neat. It was getting close to 10 so I headed back over to the Archives and got in line. I was a tad bit lonely but better to go alone than not to go at all. I know Mike wanted to go but there just wasn't enough time. As soon as I got in a through security I headed straight for the Rotunda. I knew I wouldn't be able to see much in there but I *HAD* to see the Declaration of Independance, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. I'm SO glad I went! I LOVED seeing those in person!!! I knew Mike was probably gonna be done with his interview soon so after I saw them I made my way out. I did get to see some other neat documents on the way out. I headed down to the shop ang got the kids a copy of the Constitution and a few other goodies. Mike called to tell me he was done so I headed back to the station. I asked him how his interview went but he wanted to tell me when I got back to the hotel. By the time I got back to the hotel it was already 11. We had to hurry and check out because we needed to be at the airport at about 1 to catch our flight to Milwaukee and we still wanted to stop by Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon since they were both on the way to the airport. As soon as I got back to the hotel he had our things ready so we checked out and headed back over to catch the metro to the cemetery. Wow. That cemetery is a lot larger than I ever could have imagined it to be. We had planned on going to see the Tomb of the Unknowns and watch the changing of the guard. I was really disappointed when I realized we couldn't. It was a 20 minute walk from the visitor's center to the tomb and we didn't have time because we had to get to the airport. :(. I also wanted to see where JFK was buried but again, we didn't have time. The place is just gigantic! We did walk around for a bit. While we were walking along we noticed that someone was be taken to their final resting place by soldiers riding horses that were pulling a wagon. I wondered about that person and who they were as they were coming by. I still wanted to see the Pentagon so we headed back towards the metro station. As we were walking away from the cemetery I noticed a portion of the Pentagon was right in front of us. It was so neat! Mike didn't know what it was but I did as soon as I saw it :). We hopped on the metro, the Pentagon was the next stop. I'm not sure what part of me thought that I was gonna be able to see the whole thing...lol. When we got off the metro we were at the Pentagon. The metro runs underneath it and when we came out we were just there. It was really weird! I only got to see a fraction of it but that's better than not seeing any of it at all. I thought for sure I was gonna get to see the whole thing when our plane took off but as luck would have it we were on the side of the plane where we got to see the Capitol, Monument, Memorials and all of the stuff I had already seen. The stinking Pentagon was on the left side. *sigh*. And just to rub it in, the pilot came on to tell everyone that those who were sitting on the left side of the plane were getting an amazing view of it It took everything I had not to hop over someone's lap. Anyway, I couldn't take any pics of the Pentagon where we were at because there were a lot of signs that said no pic taking allowed. It was really neat to see all the Generals and such walking around. The flight back to Milwaukee was good and I was really looking forward to landing because my good stitching friend Jodi was coming to the airport to see me. We had a really nice visit and I'm really glad I got to see her again :). Our flights to D.C. and back were really good. The only thing I didn't like was flying over Lake Michigan. I *REALLY* don't like flying over large bodies of water. We flew on Midwest and I have to say, American was my favorite airline but I really did like flying on Midwest and plan to use them again. We got an arline/hotel package off of Orbitz and I was really impressed with them to. They called my cell phone several times to give me flight updates. We got both of our tickets and the hotel for the price we would have paid for 1 ticket directly through an airline.

Anyway...I'm sure you're wondering about Mike's interview. I'm not going in to a lot of details because I've already typed a novel here, but in a nutshell it went really really well. There were 3 men that interviewed him and they all really liked him. They even talked about who's team he would best fit in to. It sounds really good for him and they told him that he'd be hearing from them very soon. I know I've been anxious the past year to find out where we'd be in the future and I'm really excited for him. If this is what he wants then I really want him to have it. I however am feeling a little overwhelmed right now. Hopefully he'll hear something soon so I won't have to keep wondering. I guess it just didn't seem that "real" to me until after he had the interview.

Today is Friday so that means it's time to pull my fairy out! Hopefully I'll get some more of her wings done. I picked up National Treasure so I could show the kids and Mike where I was at the other day...lol.