UGH

It turns out our foreclosure deal is ANOTHER bidding nightmare. And today is the day to place your bid. My cousin drove around it and we're a bit fearful of the shackity shack next door. Now, we don't have a lot of time to investigate. Mr F walks through at 1. We'll definitely have to bid more than asking price since right this minute (or this month!) we don't have that cash in hand. This house is not as good as the last one... but... it is 1/3rd of the price.

Checked Out

As if you haven't been able to tell this moving limbo has clearly zapped any creative energy out of my soul. Sorry.

I will resort to a list of goings on.

Mr F drove in for a "surprise" trip. I say that since it was supposed to have been a surprise but in an effort to defend his honor (one late night on the phone when I was less than pleased to hear him go on and on about his night out on the town) he revealed his intentions.

Oddly, his being here only makes me feel more tired than usual and a bit sad. He got here just before 2 AM this morning and will turn around to drive back tomorrow morning. It's nice but also feels kind of like a gyp.

Of course Kid has been burning up with her fever for the last two days and is somewhat forlorn that she can't have any fun with Daddy.

No showings. WTF? We even lowered the price this week. Why on Earth would we go from being inundated with showings to a full stop over night? It feels bizarre. But, honestly, for me it is still a relief on the every day front of things. Our realtor did get an insanely intense email from an interested buyer demanding detailed verification of our pricing. He stood his ground which I was happy, and somewhat astonished, to see. Maybe something will come of that.

Oh, Mr F and I are hot for this crazy foreclosure deal in Ann Arbor. It's a complete dump but we could literally buy it with cash and flip it. If it's still there on Monday we just might. It's not our perfect house but it is the right school district and a good location and an easy money maker if we turn it into a rental. And it has the potential to be a really cute house... just kind of decrepit Victorian now. Gives us more time to find our perfect house without changing schools... and will either be fun or a living hell... however you look at a complete remodel with your spouse and two small children in a 1000 sq ft house. I like to think of it as a stepping stone to greatness. And a total blank canvas. And tons of blog fodder. As with all of our great leads of late I'm sure it'll have been snapped up... but we'll see. It solves a lot of our problems as we could afford to live in it while this house is still on the market. If we like it we can stay if we don't we can be making $1200/month off of it. Which would go a long way toward a mortgage payment on another house. Just sayin'. Mr F's going to check it out and assess the amount of work needed to get it up and running. The houses around it are listed at over 3x the foreclosure price... so... it's potentially a really good opportunity.

Bitch Fest Friday

Just in case you've been needing it.






This morning (the very morning that I could actually sleep in an extra half an hour) Kid woke up an hour early.

Thanks.

(Aw geez.. spoke too soon... fever & upset stomach... awesome)

Hey Mom

"Can we go to Red Lobster tomorrow?" Kid begins,

"I just saw a commercial..." She continues.

"Oh geez..." I interrupt.

"Right NOW they are having Shrimp Fest! And I'm pretty sure that means it's a SHRIMP FESTIVAL. I think everything is going to be made out of SHRIMP!" She finishes enthusiastically.

"Well, you do love shrimp." I say and then went back to doing the dishes.

Something about it made me laugh and laugh and laugh. Maybe it was the very notion that Red Lobster would be that good.

Charter Why Do You Treat Me That Way?

No internet or phone all day.

Hachi

Don't say I didn't warn you.

2 Down... This Time Pounds

The good news is that I have been rewarded for my efforts this week. 1500 calories plus exercise seems to be the right equation... I'm sure tweaking will be necessary down the road. I'm pretty happy since it's the calorie limit I'm most comfortable with. It allows me to still eat 3 meals and 2 snacks and still eat reasonable portions. I'm definitely more mindful (must be to stick to that calorie allotment) and am aware that I had really gone bonkers in the last year with my mindless eating between meals. It's quite the wake up call to realize that I am not hungry on 1500 calories and that I was eating close to 2000+ a day before. Which just proves the point, that as cute as they are, Pepperidge Farms Gingermen do add up.

I'm back to using some of my standard foods to help me stick on target without thinking too much: Maple Fusion waffles (good God I forgot how good they are) and some Kashi go Lean snack bars for my afternoon coffee break. The Kashi bars are my favorite since they are high in protein and fiber but still have a sweetness that feels very treat like without having any artificial sweeteners (I did also try some Atkin's bars, because they were cheaper and had a similar fiber/protein profile, but they left me feeling sick... and I can't even make my way through that long ingredient list which is typically a food no-no for me... seriously what the hell are those things made out of?!). The rest of my meals are just slightly smaller. I eat a half a sandwich for lunch and stick to a 350 cal portion of dinner. I eat dessert every night with the kids and usually have about 200-300 to spend on it. Again, super important to me that as a healthy weight woman (we're talking vanity weight here) that my kids see me eat healthy portions of ALL foods. What I want them to walk away with is that being mindful of your food and exercising are important parts of being a healthy adult. Eating weird foods you wouldn't eat if you weren't trying to lose weight (or wouldn't let your children eat), or depriving yourself of food your family is sharing are red flags I don't need to wave and in my experience do not work.

After an obsessive amount of thought and consideration I've decided to count mowing the lawn as exercise. I'm a huge believer in NOT counting daily chores as exercise... since... if that was enough and *counted* you wouldn't need to lose weight. But the lawn mowing is a new activity and it is physically demanding and an on par calorie burn to my usual workout and I walk away exhausted and sweaty. But also important is that it took me 3 days of 45-60 minutes to mow the damn lawn and because of that I didn't have time leftover (or energy) to workout on those days. That's pretty much the limit for time I can spend not being available to the kids. So this week I did 3 workouts and 3 days of mowing the lawn... I counted it as 5 workouts (just to be sure) in my count down (going for a total of 35 more in the next 8 weeks). Now that I've seen the 2 pound loss this week I'm feeling pretty positive about my decision to count the mowing.

That's the update.

No showings at all this past week/weekend. I'm feeling really good about my decision to come down 10K this week... we gave it a good run at the higher price but we aren't wasting time (I don't want to do this forever). I think that it's time to lower the price and refresh our property on the listing services. I'm also really happy that I had that one week reprieve. The obsessive cleaning was sucking the life force out of me. Hopefully I can scale it back (no promises though... I am what I am). I'm also feeling better about the prospect of solo parenting for another 8 weeks. As long as the house isn't on the market (soon please) I'm good to go. Having this week without showings has just highlighted that their element of stress and physical labor was what was too much to bear and once this house is in contract I can handle everything else just fine. Which is somewhat interesting and worthy of a post of it's own one day. I'm just someone who functions better without a spouse... and it's kind of funny that I have one... and he has ADD...maybe a duplex isn't such a crazy idea after all. Mr F could have his side and I could have mine. Weirder things have happened.

Mull that over Mr F.

That's all folks.

Guess Who Woke Up On The Right Side Of The Bed Today

It's also the first time she's ever drawn/painted me with short hair... interesting.

Shh

Baby has been sicker than sick this week. Yesterday afternoon, while Kid and I were catching up on American Idol, I realized Baby wasn't with us. I sent Kid on a reconnaissance mission.
She found her like this:

One Day I'll Have Time To Maintain An Interesting Blog

Until then...

P.S. Sorry about the wind noise in that first minute... I figure it out pretty quickly... so don't give up.

2 Down

Both kids are sick.

Baby started yesterday night with a crazy cough and fever (so I'm on day two of holding a child upright all night... we all know how restful that is... especially when they are barking in your face).

Then... boom... this morning Kid puked.

Thankfully I had some ESP last night and put her puke bowl by her bed (honestly... isn't that weird?).

Doubly thankful that she is so used to puking with EVERY SINGLE virus that she used it... BY HERSELF. She's only 7, I think that's extraordinary. And kind of sad.

She Calls It Like She Sees It

It has been hot here the last couple of days, and so I've been wearing a rotation of 2 new dresses I got. But sometimes dresses aren't really appropriate (weed wacking).

I ran down to my bin in the basement and brought up a couple pairs of shorts.

Oof. I could technically zip them... but could not... technically breathe.

I took them off and headed back downstairs. Baby looked up from her lunch and said "Too small?"

And it struck me as funny because in her life experience that is perfectly normal. The girls outgrow all of their clothes by the next year.

I rummaged around in my bin and brought up a short denim skirt. Wishing I hadn't bought such a trendy item last year... and wishing it was about 10 inches longer, I put it on. That skirt was always cut a little big in the waist, so I could zip it. And breathe. But instead of resting lower on my waist, as it had last year, it was resting lower on my ribcage. Making it obscenely short.

Baby walked in...

"Why do keep trying on kids' clothes?"

"I don't know" I replied, laughing at the unintended insult.

I put back on my dress and headed out to mow the lawn, defeated but motivated.

Yikes

We might be buying a house today.

Mr F put a bid in on a short sale competition last night.

I haven't even seen it.

And it's a duplex (double yikes).

More later.


In other news I weighed myself today and some of that extra weight must have been wacky water retention. I'm down to 10 pounds to lose. I'm tracking it over there in the side bar as well as my days of exercise. I'm counting calories on a dry erase board on my fridge (why have I never thought of that before?!). Nine weeks to the new old me. Believe it.

The Reckoning

Holy crap.

I weighed myself today.

I cannot believe it is even humanly possible to gain a pound a day... but... folks... apparently that is exactly what happened while I was away.

It's alright. Maybe that's what I needed.

So eight pounds is now 15 freaking pounds.

Believe it.

Action is now being taken.

Just refresh your memory, I used to look like this in my bathing suit:

I don't even fit in that suit anymore... much less look like that.

I'm bringing it back peeps.

Wee Wee Wee All The Way Home

Yes it's a weight reference.

This whole not worrying about my diet and exercise until the house sells has not been working for me. It's been working against me. (And astonishingly fast I might add)

Maybe worrying about my weight will make my house sell?

Or at least partially divert some mental energy?
Or result in losing the 8 pounds I've never managed to lose?
Or kill me?

Let's find out.

Cause, ladies and gents, when your yoga pants don't fit... um... you have a problem.

Back On The Road

Kind of want to kill myself.

Sibling Rivalry

"You're my special special." I whisper to Baby as I snuggle her to sleep.

"You're my mommy mommy." She whispers back.

"But, Sissy says you're her mommy." She continues indignantly.

"I have two little girls." I reply.

"Yeah... but... one of them is YUCKY." Baby concedes.

Holy Addiction Batman

I want to be sure you don't skip this post because you think I am being disingenuous!! As usual (ALWAYS!!!!) I do not "do" reviews. I do not get paid or compensated IN ANY WAY. I only tell you what things I happen to independently love. So I am being completely serious. This whole ancestry site rocks my old school American genes. Do it!! I'd love to hear what you all find out. I think you can get it all done in the 14 days and then print it out ... that's my plan anyway.

I've been watching both the PBS and the ABC geneology shows that have been on this month. Have you been watching them? I am totally into them... love it!

I've got really old American families on all sides of my family and I've always kind of wondered what my BIG tree would look like. These shows have only sparked that interest even more.

Both shows have constant commercials for ancestry.com and I was curious about it. So, when my nieces were here we checked it out and I was delighted to find the 2 week free trial. After that (you have to cancel it) it's actually pretty expensive. I put a email reminder in my google calendar so I don't forget to cancel.

It is crazy addictive and fun. This would be a great thing to do with your older kids. With every new connection made (amazingly I could get all the way back to the 1400s) you can see the real documents (census, Revolutionary War enrollment, etc). It is really cool!

For example:

#1... inbreeding!!!... crazy. Turns out there weren't a whole lot of different families in New Haven, CT in 1700.

#2... Belgium... who knew?! No wonder I love chocolate.

I'm Alive

Mr F surely has some good pics of Easter... I'll put them up soon.

I spent yesterday looking at houses... duds... all of them. Surprisingly depressing. The houses were FILTHY. And you know how I feel about keeping a house clean for showings. And this just proves the point. I'm kind of rethinking location at this point. And appreciating how nice our house and yard are in Asheville. We didn't see anything even close to what we have now. Not even close.

The kids are out of sorts. Sleeping is off. Eating is off. They are bored. Baby really needs her routine and space. I haven't worked out, I've been eating jelly beans by the fistful and I have been drinking soda. In short...I've been breaking out like a teenager before the prom.

We went to the zoo on a hot day. After the long walk back to the car Kid yelled "I don't want to move here, I HATE MICHIGAN!!!!" Then I reminded her we wouldn't actually be living at the Detroit Zoo (FYI The Toldeo Zoo is 1000x better... just sayin'... it's not even close to the same experience... plus the Amish are always at the Toldeo Zoo... bonus!!).

Some people are loving our house (jaw dropper they said) but can't afford it... still waiting to see if they love it enough to make an offer (PLEASE!!!!)

I'm really into these Detroit mansions.here, here, and here. I know you thought you could buy whole blocks of houses in Detroit for $100... well... you are kind of right and kind of wrong. Did you see that kitchen!!! I need a mansion!!!

That's What You Think

The kids spent Saturday holding mock egg hunts with my mother, using some decorative eggs she had on hand.

Last night, as Mr F was putting Kid to bed, Kid reflected on the day's activities:

"It will probably be a lot harder to find the eggs tomorrow." Kid contemplated.

"They're being hidden by a PROFESSIONAL." She added seriously.