Summary of Our Week

1. Stray marmalade kitten takes up residence in our garage

2. Amended soil for kitchen garden

3. Bought numerous discounted plants from Lowe's (75% off! Hells, yeah!!!)

4. As an alternative to buying overpriced SQUARE pavers for sideyard and kitchen garden, came to the decision that it is much cheaper to stain free RECTANGULAR pavers that came with the house. Bought stain in "Oak Cask"(colormatch to Olympic) from HD.

5. Multiple hailstorms threaten newly planted fruit trees, stray kitty in residence, and all the unplanted loot from Lowe's, which is hauled back into the washroom to wait it out.

6. Mail order fruit trees from Stark Bros. arrive, are soaked, and planted in the front yard.

7. The boys and I visit an IFA country store near us out of sheer boredom with the weather, and come dangerously close to falling in love with baby bunnies, bantam chicks on premises. Bad Sarah, Bad!

8. Weather clears up beautifully, we resume frantic garden preparation, all but last of 8 fruit trees are in the ground and the lilacs are next.

9. Stray kitten and 6 year old plot to significantly increase my gray hairs by means of constant badgering, annoying cuteness, and a one-track mind. I retaliate by calling the nearest no-kill agency and agreeing to bring said kitten to the next Petco Adoption Day.

10. Ogden City Graffiti Task Force show up promptly the day after my request and perform a speedy removal of all but the piece at the back of the house. Apparently, that one bit is not gonna budge so I may have to paint it (yuck!).

11. Kitten is dropped off at the Harrisville Petco, I spend several hours biting my nails off and wondering if I'm going to have to pick it back up. As luck would have it, a very nice foster family offers to take care of the kitty until another lady can adopt it, thus saving my day.

12. Tomorrow, we do snack hour for the early service at St. Paul's (we being myself and two small, hyper boys). Pray for the poor souls that show up!

Had Ourselves A Merry Little Christmas

Season's Greetings! I know it's been ages, and honestly I have no other excuse for not posting than "it's the holidays", which does sound pretty lame. But I really have been busy with other things, namely: taking small boys sledding, baking, cleaning like crazy for all those non-existent guests that just might show up unannounced over the weekend, decorating for Christmas, soapmaking, ornament making, still more cleaning, visiting relatives, observing Advent, and the tireless creation of more than 20 unique knit hats. I thought I would never finish those in time, to tell the truth. Now that all that's past, I can try to catch you up on our seasonal celebrations through pictures. Here we go!I did some Thanksgiving baking (mmm, pink lady apples make the best pie!)And we saw the lights display at Layton City Park G tried valiantly to watch the Ogden Christmas Parade over the heads of big people (some of whom were less than kindly)We took a break from the cold to see the fabulously free Christmas Tree Jubilee at the Eccles Center (this was my favorite, duh)A was enthralled by the miniature version of Union Station (complete with running train) at the Ogden Christmas VillageWhile G loved the polar bear tea with disco ballAnd we got to take our Christmas card photo in the snow for the first timeAt our church Advent craft fair, A got to be creative painting popsicle stick snowmenG made a paint-splatter glass ornament (horrors!) The new kitten, Fafnir, ogled the crap out of our upstairs Christmas treeWhich was almost as tall as our 9' ceilingsI got to decorate our very own mantel (another first)We got a little snow....Which turned into a lot of snow, and led to us being housebound for Christmas Eve dinnerLuckily I had chocolate cheesecake and blueberry port to console me I took a glamour shot of the tree (with a little help from our friend Vaseline)Then I turned on The Flying W Wranglers "A Cowboy Christmas"And the boys engaged in some festive dancingWe went outside to see the fresh snowAfter which everyone got verrrry sleepyChristmas morning dawned frosty and beautifulSanta had delivered lots of goodiesThe cats were a bit cranky about us opening what they felt were THEIR presentsThey did calm down after receiving homemade cat toys The wrapping carnage got pretty scaryAnd ungodly amounts of candy were consumedSome of us snuck away to sleep before....We headed off to Grandma's house for more gift-giving!And lots of affectionate exchangesPoor Sheila cowered in hopes that we would finish cluttering up her houseA discovered his 2 foot tall penguin made a good chairLater we took a few runs on the nearby sledding hillAnd A refused to sled with anyone but me (awww)
Christmas Day ended with a classic Wasatch Front sunset

Things Are Starting To Look Up

At least on the purchasing end of our journey. We have a binding contract on the 28th St house, with escrow closing on the 12th of next month. The rush to close is necessitated by R's work schedule, he'll be very busy the rest of this year, as his carrier prepares for their move. He is supposed to be off the ship before the move, so at least he won't have to fly back from overseas. But the really good news is that the sellers signed an agreement to repair anything mandated by the VA appraiser or lender, which means there shouldn't be any obstacles to closing on their end. No repeats of 26th St nightmare, yay! Our inspection is scheduled for next week, I have my fingers crossed that nothing wacky turns up. And of course now is when we have to finish packing, cleaning, painting, requesting leave, reserving a truck & lodging, getting quotes for carpet and pest control for the apt. Lots to do before closing day!