another day...another project

it's amazing how many projects have to get done to prepare to sell a house... and then things are another story... paul's been fixing up our outside retaining wall, it had a big hole in it, which he has patched, and now needs to be stuccoed to match, he's also repaired two little leaks in the roof (he had to tear out the hall ceiling to find them, as they weren't findable from above, though the ceiling had to come out anyhow, as it was severely water-damaged), now he's been fixing the ceiling, and it looks good, but time is also limited. he's the YM pres in our ward, and this weekend is youth conference, so he's been gone all day today, and last night with no time to work on his projects. (by the way, tonight's prom for the youth too, somebody wasn't thinking when they planned youth conference!) it's kind of frustrating to not have him home ever, afton's really sick of me too, and i don't blame her! fortunately paul was able to take off friday from work and just work on the hall all day (afton and i stayed out of the house most of the day though, to keep her out of his way). my current projects include finding an apartment in dallas, NOT nearly as "easy" as it sounds... and also getting really frustrating, so if anyone has some suggestions, we're open! and my other project is packing up enough of the house that it looks roomy and homey, in a non-unique way (i think the goal is rather like a hotel... not personal, but open to another family), also not quite as easy as i'd hoped, especially cause i have a 19-month old helper and my back has been really sore the last few weeks--i'm ready for baby to come, just to ease my back (and it would be nice to lay on my stomach again :)!
projects aside, there's all the little things that have to get done too... dishes done for today! (until dinner) so that's one thing out of the way! now, if only there weren't so many others...

tagged

1. What were you doing ten years ago?
-just getting ready to graduate high school (2 months to graduation then, 2 months to baby now)

2. Five things on my to-do list today?
-play at the arboretum with hilary and saralyn and their kids (DONE! and FUN!)
-start cleaning out the shed
-make dinner
-pull a bucket of weeds from the front lawn
-take a shower (AND shave my legs... wouldn't that be nice?)

3. What are your favorite snacks?
-chocolate ice cream, chocolate in general i guess
-fresh strawberries with just a tiny hint of sugar
-big, soft pretzles, though i haven't had any in a while

4. What would you do if you suddenly became a billionaire?
-that's so outside my comprehension right now i don't even know.

5. Three bad habits
-talking too much
-interrupting (related, but different from above)
-leaving dishes in the sink overnight when i really don't have to, just cause i don't feel like washing them

6. Five places I've lived
-Long Island, New York
-Maynard, Massachusetts
-Allen, Texas
-Marburg, Germany
-Globe, Arizona

7. Five jobs I've had:
-jewelry maker
-concessions worker for basketball games
-consultant for a gold-mining company
-teacher's assistant
-mom

8. Five things people don't know about me:
(is there anything people don't know about me?)
-i walk regularly with a 72 year old lady (and for over a month now, i've been trying to get her to slow down cause i can't keep up)
-i play free-cell on the computer while i'm waiting for things to load (we have dial-up, everything takes a long time)
-i really like green chili and fresh tortillas (it's good enough to get me to eat plain pinto beans)
-i crochet "scrap" afghans for people at the nursing home using yarn donated from others who don't have enough to make a whole project of their own, but i do it more to keep myself busy than cause others need the afghans
-i rip all the "extra" pages out of the reader's digest before i can read it, anything that has advertising on both sides of the page is superfuluous
(and 6 -i have no idea how to spell superfluous)

i tag melissa and danni

SMU

for those that haven't heard yet, paul was accepted to southern methodist university to start their doctoral program in clinical psychology this fall. we're really excited and starting to figure out some of the details now of moving to texas at the end of the summer.

eyebrow wars

monday at the park, afton took a little roll down the playground equipment in such a way as it is not designed for. she managed to smash her eyebrow dead-center on the edge of a not-even-very-sharp stair leading to the little slide. it didn't look too bad til mom scooped her up and realized there was blood streaming down the right side of her face. with a little help from some friends and a stranger with a cell phone we got ahold of dad, picked him up from work (about 2 minutes from the park, fortunately) and we all went to the emergency room (mom was too shaky to want to handle it on her own, and fortunately dad was available). the er trip wasn't too bad, only about an hour and a half all together, and then afton was ready for nap time. she's been fine ever since (actually, she was really fine most of the time there too, she was done crying before we even picked daddy up from work).
it was also nice that they were able to glue her laceration back together rather than needing stitches... this should only leave a small scar, and it should be mostly hidden in her eyebrow.
cool.

easter

we had a lovely easter, afton liked the eggs (especially when she realized many of them had candy inside, not so much when they actually had egg inside... not nearly as exciting. we enjoyed two seperate events of egg-hunting, a nice dinner with friends, and mom's favorite, lemon meringue pie. as well as the requisate egg sandwiches for lunch, and chocolate egg binge. afton's decided to start working harder at sitting still during church, or at least sitting quietly occasionally. we'll see...

faces of a toddler

brownie face

ranch dressing face

frosting face