Potato Sausage

So, have you ever heard of potato sausage? Well, I hadn't ... until I got married. It's a food from my husband's side of the family. Every Christmas Eve, it's potato sausage. Plus it's served at various other times throughout the year. It's not very tasty and it's very ugly looking. I managed to be a good sport and choke it down while we lived in H2O. But then we moved away and didn't make it back for Christmas Eve because we always do Christmas with my side of the family. Trust me, I didn't miss it over the last four years!! Well, now we're back in H2O so I'm probably going to have to start being a good sport again, at least at Christmas Eve.

Well, anyways, Dean's parents are away for the winter and we are house sitting so while over there Dean swiped a package of potato sausage. He cooked supper the other night and that is what he served. It's really hard to complain about the meal when he was nice enough to make it, especially when I'm so busy with school work. It was really hard to choke down after having a four year reprieve from it. However, I was a good sport and ate one small piece. I told Dean I felt like I was on Survivor being forced to eat native delicacies or just plain gross food (last Survivor episode).

I dare you to try some!

My High School Pic

So I was reading Heidi's blog and she was talking about a hair pic that she's had since junior high. Well, I too have one. I know I had it in high school, not sure about junior high. I don't know why I still have it. I guess I like it. I know I had it when I had permed hair and my hair is now straight. I really don't use it. I keep it in my purse for those "just in case" moments. So it probably gets used only three or four times a year. That's not the point - it's there just in case I need it. And it's definitely seen better days. I just don't want to get rid of it! And I don't know why!!!

Laundry Catastrophe!!

My new washer has been a thorn in my side since day one! We had to buy new kitchen appliances so we decided we should buy a new washer and dryer, too. I really wanted the new front loading. I wanted the Fridgidaire Affinity ones because I liked how they looked. But Dean and the salesman persuaded me to get the LG ones. To me, they are really ugly. And they cost quite a bit more. So anyways, we bought front loading LG washer and dryer.

They were delivered on Tuesday, Jan 30, the day after we bought the house. I only do laundry once a week and it's either on a Saturday or Sunday. So I waited until Sunday to do laundry. I was able to do about four loads when it got "stuck". With this washer, you do not select the load size. After you start it, it balances itself and determines what size it is. Well, it got stuck balancing and wouldn't go on. Dean called LG and they had him do a bunch of things and said he probably got a bad one and would send out a service man. Well, we decided we should return it for a new one. Heck, if it's bad from the beginning, why keep it? So I called BB that next day, Monday, and set it up to get a new one delivered but it was going to take over a week. They only deliver to H2O on Tuesdays. So then this past weekend I started doing laundry. I got some done and then it started tripping the outlet because it's plugged into one of those GFI outlets. So we called the builder of the house who talked to the electrician. We determined it wasn't a bad outlet because we tried another GFI outlet and also unplugged the freezer. BB said just plug it into a regular outlet. Well, the problem is, there is no other outlet in the laundry room. Plus, if the washer is tripping the outlet there's a reason. If you plug it into a regular outlet it won't trip and you could end up with a big shock or fire. So then the builder decided to try a 20 amp instead of a 15 amp in the outlet. These washers use more juice. So far so good. I'm getting laundry done!

So I'm sitting here studying while laundry is going and I hear this huge racket. I couldn't tell where it came from. So I peek in the laundry room and that's where the racket came from! My 300 oz bottle of laundry soap that was on the washer fell off!!! And the cap broke!!! There was soap all over the floor. (These washers spin really, really fast. And evidently the washer wasn't totally level.) I yelled to Dean who couldn't seem to figure out what to do as the soap is spreading faster and faster and bigger and bigger. So I yelled at him to get me two cups and I started frantically scooping soap off the floor and back into the jug. It was a mess!!! I've washed my hands over and over and can't seem to get the slime of the soap off!! YUCK!! We wiped up all the soap and I tried washing the floor with plain hot water and keep making bubbles. So I finally just dried it and left it. Don't know how I'll ever get the floor clean. It looks clean but I don't know if it feels clean. I'm sure there's still soap on it. We'll probably be slipping and sliding for weeks or months!!

Tanner Makes Me Laugh!

Tanner: "We're going out."
Me: "You can't. You're brother and sister."
Tanner: "No, I mean ..."
Me: "I know what you mean, I was just kidding."
Tanner: "Besides, I wouldn't want to go out with my sister."
Me: "What does going out mean anyways?"
Tanner: "It's when two people are in love (rolling his eyes) & they go eat food."
Me: (laughing) "Oh, really."
Tanner: "And they go to movies."
Me: (lauging harder) "I guess Dad & I don't go on dates then."
Tanner: "Well, you used to."

The story behind the story. I was driving the kids to school this morning and Tanner could see the school playground from a couple blocks away and saw that kids were playing outside. He turned to Hayley and said, "We're going out." Which meant we're going outside to play this morning. (Last week they were inside pretty much inside all week because it was so cold, especially in the morning.) Anyways,I knew what he was referring to but decided to play with him so that is how the conversation developed. It was so cute how he rolls his eyes when he has to talk about LOVE! Can you blame him? He's a 5th grade boy!! Lordy, I don't know if I'm ready for his hormones to start going crazy!

Pretty Boring Weekend

It was a pretty boring weekend for us. I did homework all weekend. And I'll be doing homework all day today and tomorrow. I finished all my assignments for one of my correspondence classes which I had until May 12th to finish. I only need to take two tests and I'm totally done with that class. Also, I almost got one of my other correspondence classes finished, just a few more assignments and two tests then I'm done. I'm pretty excited that I'll have two classes done by the end of March at the very latest. It pays off to put your nose to the grindstone now so you can slack off later!

We finally received all of our blinds for the windows. We've been living in the house for two weeks with no blinds. That means NO privacy whatsoever from the outside world. Now I know what it feels like to live in a glass house. Not fun!! So Dean was busy putting them all up on Saturday. I think we made good choices on the styles we picked. Dean was also busy straightening up the house as it was still not unpacked and put away. It's looking pretty good but we still have a garage full of stuff that I will have to go through when school is done. Boy, it really doesn't sound like fun. Anybody want to help?

My sister called to officially ask if I'll be a bridesmaid in her wedding. Of course, I said yes. The wedding isn't until next summer. I think she should have it sooner as she's been living with her boyfriend for like 10 years and they have 3 kids together but whatever, it's their life. Now I've really got motivation to lose wait because I am not going to be the fat bridesmaid. No way!

The kids and I don't have school today. YIPPEE!! I'm even more excited because it's a day that requires me to get up at 5:30. Yuck! I slept in until 9 this morning but didn't get to sleep until after 11:30 so I didn't get as much sleep as I need or would have liked.

Our House

OK, I'm not quite moved in yet, or should I say unpacked yet but people have been requesting photos so here you go.

And the "ghetto" mailbox. The ground is frozen so we can't put one in plus we want to do a nice one with the stone that is used on the house so my creative husband improvised. A Christmas tree stand is holding up our mailbox. Hopefully we don't get any big winds!

Here's the entry way.
The living room. Don't you just love my purple sofas!! I sure do! Kinda hard to tell in this picture that they are purple.

The dining room.

The kitchen. At first I really disliked it because of the light cabinets but it's starting to grow on me. I really like dark wood. The kitchen will probably be redone in 5 years even though it's brand new.

Looking down the hallway.

The master bathroom/main floor bathroom.

The bath opens into the master bedroom.

The spare bedroom. It doesn't have a bed yet. It's my study room right now. Also, all the new bedroom furniture wouldn't fit in our bedroom so a piece ended up here.

My GREAT laundry room. It's all by itself. There's a separate utility room so I have a laundry room that's actually finished and nice.

The family room.

Hayley's bedroom.

Tanner's bedroom.

The kids' bathroom.

Here's some miscellaneous photos.

Hayley's Dance Competition

On Saturday, Hayley participated in her first dance competition. It was held in B. She was so excited and nervous. She only had about a month to learn the routine being we moved here in January while all the other girls have been working on it since last fall. I asked her if she felt she was ready and she said yes so I didn't want to hold her out of the competition. Plus, the coach said the girls probably wouldn't place this time but it was good experience for them. Well, Hayley's team placed 2nd out of six teams! AWESOME!! The other two teams from her dance club also placed, they each took 3rd in their divisions.

Hayley needed to wear blush and lipstick for competition and Dean was having a fit. He thinks she's too young - which she is - but not for competition. If they don't put it on, they look so white and pasty under all those lights. Also, Hayley told me she needed a poufy ponytail which I was thrilled about because her hair doesn't like to curl. Well, I spent god knows how long curling her hair and it kept falling out but I just ratted it up good and put LOTS and LOTS of hairspray in. It stayed ok. Well, we got there and she and one other girl (the coach's daughter) were the only ones with poufy ponytails!

They did their routine to the song 'Get Your Head in the Game' or something like that from the movie, 'The High School Musical.' It was pretty cute. Two performances after them also used that song so I'm glad our team got to go first!
Also, Hayley's dance costume wasn't in yet being it was ordered so late. One girl wasn't going to be able to make it so Hayley was going to wear her costume but then three days before the competition the girl said she could go. So, the coach had her daughter give her uniform to Hayley to wear and the coach's daughter wore a referee's uniform which worked out well because the rest of the team were basketball players. It looked pretty cute. I'm just glad it all worked out because I didn't want to have to tell Hayley she couldn't perform.
This dance class is sooooo much better than the SSDA. DG is really awesome and Hayley loves the class, coach, and the people in the class.

I'm Finally Moved In ...

But not yet unpacked ... fully. I took a week off from doing homework and just can't afford to take any more time. This is a SUPER hard semester. Dean will just have to finish it or it will get done in May when I graduate! I just hate living in this mess, though!

It's so nice to be in a house again!! I really like the house. I'll take pictures this weekend and post them.