Unionland

Once upon a time, things were good in the world. So good in fact, that some of the people organized a self-sustained land where a group of people, called the overlords, would watch upon those that inhabited it's land and keep peace and harmony for those who lived there. They called it Unionland. Life, it seemed, to even the simplest of peasants was not difficult nor complicated here. Everyone in Unionland had jobs to keep them busy, food to feed their families, and shoes to keep their feet safe on the jagged rocks in the road. Life was good in Unionland and all was right with the world.

Then, a terrible plague of joblessness swept the grounds of Unionland, striking it's hardest blows upon the lowliest of peasants in the land. Times became tough as the arm of the ever increasing plague gripped harder and harder until all but the wealthiest in the land were feeling the noose tighten. The people, frenzied with worry, became afraid and begged to flee from Unionland in hopes of finding a better life elsewhere. But the evil overlords of Unionland refused to let the peasants flee and kept them there to suffer the fate that they themselves would surely never battle. Most of those that tried to escape the ever growing power of the overlords, were captured and placed in the city square as an example to those that might try the same path. The others...were never heard from again. While the evil overlords laughed in their golden chairs and dined on fine wine and exotic fruits from the outside world, life in Unionland was becoming more bleak by the day for the peasants. Unionland, so it seemed, was corrupt.

Years later, the evil overlords began to become bored with the woes and wailing of the peasants. Lines of poorly dressed and filthy peasants lined the great Unionland hall benches and so the overlords formulated a plan so dastardly, so horrific, so very evil, that even the smartest of the peasants could not suspect their true viciousness. The overlords gave them what they wanted. Jobs began to fill the lives of all the lowly peasants. Hope began to rise among the masses and families began to gain weight again as the simple pleasure of eating was no longer a worry to them. Unionland was saved! Hurrah!

Or was it?

A year passed and all was good. Peasants were no longer worried by the financial burdens that once plagued them. Families put their houses for sale to buy bigger houses as they rode the wave of hope that gained in multitude each day. Bill collectors were slowly driven mad by boredom and the people danced in the street.

And atop their golden tower, the evil overlords sneered at the joy and hope that once again filled the lands. But little did anyone know, that the joy was all part of the overlords cunning plan. Just as quickly as joy returned to Unionland, it was equally quickly pulled away like a rug from beneath an unsuspecting enemy. Jobs during the plague that were once sparse and far between became nonexistant. Work no longer existed and the peasants once again wailed for mercy in the streets.

And the Unionland overlords laughed.

Peasants begged for work. Bill collectors began to wreak havoc in the streets, laughing their evil laughs all the way to the bank. It would sooner be easier to see a tumbleweed grow legs and walk than to see a job available anywhere in the land.

And the Unionland overlords laughed.

Peasants began to once more line the hall benches and wait in the filth of the dirt for a crumb to survive on. Dancing on the streets stopped. Hope was naught but a failing, untouchable light in the far away distance. Life in Unionland was worse than it had ever been.

And the Unionland overlords laughed.

Once more the overlords danced for joy for the suffering they caused to the pathetic peasants of Unionland and all was back to where they'd planned. Order and power, so it seemed, was once again where it should be.

And as for the Unionland overlords? They dined on the exotic fruits from the outside world, knowing it was a better place...and they laughed...forevermore.

Oh. I'm sorry. Were you expecting a happy ending? Ah...well...the moral of the story? Unionland sucks.

The End.

(This story reflects our ups and downs...mostly downs...with the Union that my hubby is in. He's not working right now so this was my way of venting aggression at the Union. :-)

Wait. Where did summer go?

Friday movie night. One of my favorite nights of the week.

Holy cow! I can't believe school is less than a month away! Pardon me while I go try to tame my suddenly freaked out nerves. At the beginning of summer I told myself that I was going to try and keep my kiddos busy so they weren't constantly plopped in front of a TV whilst bored out of their minds or clasping at my ankles whining about needing something to do. My kids don't watch much TV comparatively speaking so it all sounded good to keep the schedule steady and fun. Turns out that I was quite successful and Alex and Abby have been far from bored. This week we are attending Vacation Bible School for the first time with our church and the kids are loving it. Alex more so than Abby, but still. But guess who got suckered into helping out with the 3 and 4 year olds? Yep. Yours truly. I've never actually done this before as I am, what you might call, an antisocial. Speaking to other humans has never been quite my forte. I've gotten better over the past two years about tapping into my social skills (or lack there of) and have been doing fairly well. Turns out that once you say, "Sure I'll help," once to someone at church...BOOM! You're sucked in and stuck right in the middle of the chaos. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind helping out as my kids are there and I should set a good example to them. But, whew! I never realized how much effort it takes to actually be social. And 14-16 three and four year olds for 2 1/2 hours each night is exhausting! Especially when they are all being kept up at least an hour past normal bedtime.

So busy, busy, busy am I these days. I imagine that once the full swing of two kiddos in school commences, I'll be looking back at summer with a sense of longing in my heart. I know I'm going to sound like a sad, over-sympathetic mom here, but I will miss my babies dearly. Not having Alex around all day five days a week will be hard for me to deal with. He's my little buddy and a great helper. And having Abby gone three times a week will make me cry. Of this I am sure. She's my mama's girl and my awesome kitchen helper. I know that when baby comes, I'll be thankful for the alone time in a way, but I'm not gonna lie. I'll be a weepy mama for a bit.

For now, I'd better go take this time to relax and kick back with Mr. TV while I battle my pregnancy heartburn. Tomorrow is a full day of swim parties, library, whipping up a pilot costume (Alex's VBS class), and the last night of Vacation Bible school. Then it's off to Oklahoma for our last Wiggles concert (*sniff*) and the Oklahoma aquarium. And you better believe that I'm treasuring every moment of it.

Big Blue Blob

First of all, let me start by saying that I love having a garage sale. With the end of the mad dash to sell junk from around our house, we ended up having a nice chunk of change. Now, originally the idea of the garage sale was to de-clutter our house prior to moving. Seeing as how that has been officially shot out of the sky like a duck with a gimpy wing, we are partially clutter free and have a handy zip-lock baggie with the label "Summer Fun Money" on it. Last year we used our money to get a puppy (see picture here). Due to allergies and asthma, that turned out to be an epic fail moment...naturally. So this year we have been saving our pennies (literally) to get something new and fun for the kids to play with outside. The original plan was to get a trampoline. In the blistering summer sun, the big, black matted trampoline might be a bit of a stretch for frequent use, so I offered a second option to the kiddos to get a bigger pool to play in every day. Up until now, they've used one of those hard plastic 'baby' pools from Wal-Mart. Fun, yes. But after swimming lessons, they became increasingly crazy in the water and it was apparent to me that more room was needed to stop the constant near-death duels between Alex and Abby. Naturally, the idea of a big pool was the ultimate winner.

So, off we went to buy an inexpensive larger pool. We opted for one of those quick-set pools that requires no major installation. It's a whopping 12 feet diameter and 30 inches deep, but I tell you those kids are in L-O-V-E! Three times a day they are out in it and I'm getting some reading done while I sit in the shade. I should be writing the sequel to my book or at the very least editing my other one, but I have a slight fear of my laptop getting wet outside with all the mad-crazy splashing. Oh. And if you're wondering if the pool is a horrific eye sore then then answer is ultimately going to be yes. Most horrific, actually. It's actually quite fitting for our neighborhood as we have a lovely apartment complex behind us now filled to the brim with white trash. Wait. Is that rude? Perhaps. But as the days are spent watching naked toddlers running through the parking lot and couches being left for dead in the alley, I'll run with it. So back to the pool. I've lovingly named it the Big Blue Blob. It's fitting if you'll note from the video. It moves quite eerily like a blob when they are playing in it. The video is right after we got it so trust me when I say the kid's crazy level has far exceeded what you're witnessing. So in the end, I'll lose a giant 12 foot spot of grass and our water bill will be higher, but it is totally worth it.

Garage sale family fun money: Win.

Pool, glorious pool!

Letting Go the Dream

Three months into the grand attempt to sell our wee little house and we have officially failed. The realtor we signed with hasn't called us even one measly time to schedule a showing. I'm not entirely sure if it the result of a poorly timed sale or a poorly chosen realtor. I will say that our realtor was die hard positive that she would, (and I quote) "easily have our house sold in two weeks." She even mentioned investors for property that would love it. She told us that we needed to remove half of the stuff from our house into storage and keep our eyes peeled for the house we wanted to buy because it was going to happen fast. Boy howdy, was she wrong. Not only has it not sold, but it hasn't even been looked at or called about.

We've spent the past three months without a good majority of our belongings. I wiped our walls clean of family photos and art, cleared our refridgerator of every magnet, bought drapes, painted, cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned some more, and even kept the house clean and clutter free. We signed a contract with Miss Realtor and it was for a year. The only grace was that we are only obligated to use her to sell our house for 90 days and then anything that happens after that won't be penalized with money into her pocket if we actually sold with someone else. It was a bit of a mess and next time we attempt this, I've learned to do my research.

So what does this all mean? Why am I saying we officially failed? Simple. As of next week, we will be officially taking it back off of the market. We talked it over and feel like this is where we are meant to be...at least for now. If we sold the house now, we'd be in a pickle as we have no where to live, no prospects for a new home, and Josh's employment is back to a low point so that can only hinder things further. As much as I was excited about a bigger home with two toilets and possibly the quiet of the country life, I'm graciously accepting the verdict. God has something planned for us. Just not right now.

Right now, the new plan involves ripping up our living room/dining room carpet and replacing it with our favorite vinyl wood flooring that is in the kitchen and kid's room. Then we shall be re-carpeting our bedroom shortly thereafter. It won't be the cheapest of project, but we won't be needing that saved up down payment for a house anymore, now will we? On the bright side, our flea problem will be drastically reduced and our new little babe will get the joy of growing up in our tiny house just like Alex and Abby have. I will also get to walk Alex to kindergarten everyday as it is only 2 1/2 blocks away so a bit of peace of mind will be attached to this new plan. For now, we're blessed to have a roof over our head after all the troubles we've dealt with financially and job-related over the last three years. So we'll just run with that.

Until next year dream...until next year.

Happy 4th of July 2012!

Love the effects of the camera at night.

Fact: Holidays are so much more fun with kids. Honestly, before kids it just seemed like holidays kind of floated by in a daze with quasi-bland memories that didn't stick. And now? Now it's hard not to remember these days. I suppose that's why I remember my holidays as a kid growing up with all my brothers. It was always fun no matter what. I grew up and all of a sudden, fireworks were boring and the Christmas tree lights just didn't seem to get plugged in every day.

Today, as I lit fireworks and watched the big ones go off in the town display, I realized that everything is beautiful and fun when you get to live it through the eyes of your children. I can guarantee you that I won't forget watching the lights on Alex and Abby's faces when they held their sparklers for the first time ever. They were finally old enough this year and it was magical to them. Every time a firework was finished exploding, Alex ran over to the hose and yelled, "Fire!! I'll put it out!" then doused the glowing embers like a miniature firefighter (which was what I'm sure he felt like the entire time). We had a wonderful day today. It was probably the best 4th of July I've experienced since I was a kid myself.

Oh, and it turns out that during the craziness of the day, I discovered the key to getting my kids to fall asleep in less than two minutes. Simply let them eat mounds of cupcakes, marshmallows and whatever else they can find with sugar in it. Then let them down multiple bottles of high fructose laden beverages. In between all of this (and lots of hot dogs), swim all day long. Finish the day by staying up way, way too late watching and shooting fireworks, then watch them as they yawn twice and all but pass out within moments. It. Was. Awesome. And it also works on husbands apparently. Because Josh fell asleep in approximately 14 seconds just a few shy minutes later than the kids. What does the pregnant lady do? I stay up and blog about it.   

At the firework show. Alex was in quite good spirits and loving the day.

Josh lighting some big booms in tiny packages. Turns out you can't stand close or you get showered with bits of exploding material. Lesson learned.

My patriotic kiddos.

Look how big my kids are getting!

Firefighter Alex - on the job!

Abby's first sparkler at 4 years old.

Alex's first sparkler at 5 years old. He loved this!

Shooting fireworks at Grandma and Grandpa's house is awesome. My dad was on his way back from Missouri so he wasn't there this year.

So I hope that you're Independence Day was as fulfilling and joyous as our was. I truly am one thankful gal today. God bless America and God bless our freedom to enjoy days just like this with our families.