Bargain Bungalow

Now that my camera battery is back to life (a whole 'nother story), I can finally show off our new house.  I've also been a little bit obsessed with garage sales, thrift stores, and craigslist lately; so I'd like to prove that you can get good stuff that no one would ever guess is repurposed for next to nothing prices.  Come take the tour:

House Front

A: That tiny black line beside our garage door is the mailbox.  Strange place, I know.  It took me two days to find where our mail comes, and I still don't know how you can send mail out.  Any ideas?

B:  As Owen would say: "Oh wow!"  We have a garage!  Jason even hung a tennis ball from the ceiling for me.

C:  I was the crazy lady at the gardening section in the greater than 100 degree heat buying half dead flowers on clearance for my flower bed.  I'll have you know that they are still alive.

D:  The perfect tree to decorate with lights for Christmas.

E:  Unfortunately, we are next to a slightly busy street.  It's a small price to pay.

Backyard

A:  Privacy fenced yard was on my wish list.  It's perfect.

B:  We are on an alley which provides the perfect place to hide yucky garbage cans behind the shed.

C:  Love.  Love.  Love the trees and all the shade.

D:  The deck off the kitchen is the perfect place to relax and watch the best 20-month old basketball player ever on the patio below.

E:  By far, without a doubt, no bones about it, the basketball hoop is Owen's favorite garage sale find.  Five dollars?!  You're kidding me.  You have no idea how hard it was to play it cool walking around that garage sale.  I probably could have run ridiculously fast straight to it, jumped up and down, and then kissed it's faded blue base because it was just that perfect.  Oh how I love a good deal.

F:  Another fancy feature is the UGS.  That's realtor speak for underground sprinklers.

Living Room

A:  Jason's chair was one of our first craigslist purchases.

B:  Even though we did get our coffee table at a clearance sale, I was actually trying to show off the rug underneath.  This is another craigslist pick up, and the lady selling it was a hoot.

C:  The infamous time out chair in a perfect location with the exception that sad and angry screams echo in the cubby of an entryway.

D: Man, I wish I had a better photo of the coat rack on the wall our landlord left behind.  Complete with a whiskey logo and horse shoes it fits right into our decor.  Needless to say, Jason hasn't found the right screwdriver to get it down yet, and it's starting to grow on me.

Dining Room

A:  One thing I adore about older homes (other than the hardwood floors) is the built-ins.  Outdated kitchens and baths are not so adorable.
B:  That is a pretty little door with blinds enclosed between the glass - something that I've learned is a must-have for our dream house.  The only problem is that the door goes to nowhere.  Literally, if you stepped out of it you would be standing on our air-conditioner.  Hmmm.  Very interesting.

Kitchen

A:  This not so lovely kitchen is full of bargains (and gifts).  Microwave.  $15.  Garage sale.

B:  Stove.  Borrowed.  Thank You!

C:  Portable dishwasher.  Straight out of Grandma's house.  Thank You, again!  One of these days we might even use it and see if it still works.

D:  Kitchen cabinets can easily be filled with thrifty buys.  My personal favorite was a bundt pan from the thrift store, and, go figure, that was actually what I went there looking for.  If you're like me, that never happens.  It must have been my lucky day; on second thought, I should have gone shopping for jeans, too.

Griffin's Nursery

A:  A "G" for my G set me back fifty cents.  

B:  It's a good thing Owen likes to read because I can't say no to a good deal on kids' books.  We read The Little Mermaid for nap yesterday.  (His dad doesn't know I snuck that one in.  Shhh.)

C:  Both of my boys, and me more than a few times too, have been rocked to sleep in my $20-plus-a-can-of-black-spray-paint glider rocker.

D:  Instead of shelling out for a whole new crib and nursery set, we reused Owen's and splurged on a new sheet set so Griffin wasn't completely the hand-me-down little brother.  It all makes for a pretty handsome nursery, if you ask me.

Owen's Big Boy Bedroom

A:  I was down-right impressed with Jason's shopping when he came home from a sale at the old Rosenblatt stadium with an "O" seating section sign for Owen's bedroom.

B:  Generally, I'm not a fan of decorating with brands or logos, but the free Royals pillowcase snuck in.

C:  My most recent favorite garage sale find is Owen's new dresser.  Repainting it and buying knobs that I hand painted myself to look like baseballs easily cost more than the actual dresser.  Pride poured out of me after if was finished and his room when he ran up to it, pointed at the drawers, smiled, and yelled "Ba!"

D:  There are so many deals on kids clothes on top of the bags full of hand-me-downs.  I won't spend more than $2.50 for everyday clothes, and trust me, his closet is plenty full.  

Master Bedroom

A:  There isn't too much exciting in here, but the bedspread/comforter/duvet/I-don't-really-know-the-difference-between-any-of-those was a Black Friday bargain.  The display in the store was actually out of them by the time we got there, but I found this one stashed away under a clothes rack.  I bet whoever hid it there was disappointed I found their secret spot.

B:  Mom is also a good bargain hunter.  She found an old window on the side of the road and turned it into a special piece just for us.

Bathroom

For the sake of the house tour, here's the bathroom.  Trust me, nothing gets reused in here.  I may be a savings sleuth, but there does come a limit.

Office Space (kinda like the movie)

A: Behind those doors is storage, storage, and more storage.  I didn't think we'd ever be able to fill all of the closets in this basement, but of course we found a way.

B & C:  Thanks to some more family for gifting us a desk and printer I have a perfect study space.

Jason's man cave in the making / reliving the college dorm room days

A:  Another recent craigslist purchase was this futon.  We've had the mattress since high school, but never got around to getting another frame.  Now that we finally have one, I'm thinking that it must have been a lot more comfortable back then - or my butt is a lot more "sensitive" now.

Guest Bedroom

A:  I can still remember having that table in our first 400+ square foot apartment.  It, too, was a great find from my mom.  We've eaten countless meals and made great memories around what is now Owen's coloring desk.

B:  Another free item.

C:  Anyone in need of a desk that may be a little too tall for our basement and may also have some slight damage from the move?  (As much as I love getting a good deal, I also love giving one if it means getting it out of my house.)

Basement Bathroom

Not only do we have a basement and a garage for the first time, we also have two bathrooms.  How luxurious!

As this home tour is concluding, I must be honest that my house is not always this clean and organized.  And because you've stuck with me and read this far, I'll let you know that I kicked laundry and toys from one room to the next to take the pictures.  However, I am proud to say that we are all unpacked, and the only place left for me to organize is the storage room in the basement.  I guess I'll need to have another baby just for the 6-week maternity leave to tackle that one.  Ha ha!

Basement Storage

Well, now that you've had the grand tour, don't be strangers.

It's Garlic

Have you ever been wandering through the produce aisle in the grocery store and looked at some of the stuff there?  There are definitely some weird things, and I for sure don't know what everything is or what they all taste like.  Who knows, maybe if I did I would find my new favorite food.

Lately, Jason and I have been trying to eat, and be, more healthy.  That means I've been doing more shopping in the produce aisle.  The unusual problem I'm finding is that it takes me a lot longer to check out.  It isn't because of a price check or because of coupons, and it's not because the scale or scanner is malfunctioning.  The hold up every time is that the checker doesn't have a clue what I'm buying.  She  pours over the produce code list for minutes, which in a grocery check-out line is an eternity, hoping to have a revelation and find it before giving in and calling over the manager, which takes even longer.  Some think I look trustworthy enough to ask me what the green thing in the bag is.  Some just guess.  Once I almost paid $132 for a watermelon, so watch closely.

Yesterday, I felt especially bad for the lady behind me in line.  The checker was a teenage boy who clearly hadn't been through the produce aisle in a while.  He breezed through the apples and bananas, but then came upon ginger root.  I don't blame him for asking for help on that one.  Next, he held up my onion.  At least he knew it was an onion but needed to clarify if it was white, yellow, or purple.  The bagger helped him out with the yellow squash, and he finally found the garlic on his code list.

On the way home I got to thinking.  After all, doesn't a trip to the grocery inspire everyone?  In the medical world I have the pleasure of seeing what our love of convenience food is doing to our bodies.  It isn't pretty.  Our family is just as guilty as the next, but I found it sad that we're getting to a point where we don't even know what garlic or squash or, heaven for bid, an onion is.  After this day, Owen's next word lesson may come from the produce aisle.

Word

Having a toddler is awesome.  Literally, awe-some.  He leaves me in awe quite often.  Currently his awe inspiring feat has been his ever expanding vocabulary.

It wasn't always that way, however.  At 12 months, and then at 13 and at 14 months, too, I thought there was something wrong.  As much as the baby babble flowed, he didn't really say words.  And even without an M.D. behind my name I knew that he should be saying more by now.  At his 18-month well child check up Jason and I racked our brains trying to think of every real word he could say.  Does "uh oh" and "oof oof" count?  After we had exhausted the list Dr. Mogenson kindly told us to "keep an eye on it."  He was doing well on everything else, surely it would come soon.  The whole way home we kept rattling off the words he knew to make sure we hadn't missed any or miscounted.

Like his mom, it seemed that Owen didn't like the thought of coming up short.  Within days he was saying new words, and they haven't stopped coming since then.  (If only we had scheduled his appointment for the next week.)

Owen's first word, according to his baby book, which, as we all know, is the official, legal, binding record, was "ma-ma" at 11-months old.  We won't mention that, for the life of us, we haven't been able to get him to say it for the last six months.  But, of course, he will scream "DA-DA!  DA-DA!" when Jason drives up or even when he sees his photo in the frame on our end table.  If it wasn't so stinking cute, if it didn't sound like he was using every bit of his air and strength to force his love out of his lungs, and if I didn't absolutely adore their daddy-son bond I might be a little jealous.  Honestly, I treasure the way that he looks up to his dad, and am thankful that he has such a wonderful man to aspire to be.)

His favorite word, by far, is "ball."  Or, as he would say, "BA!!"  On our vacation to Kansas City he screamed "BA-BA!  BA-BA!  BA-BA!" endlessly when we walked into Kauffman stadium.  It drew a few stares and several smiles - mine the biggest.

His newest words "book" and "poop," sound oddly similar making it difficult when he goes into the room where the changing table and shelf of books are next to each other.  

"ti chu" and "meaz" as "thank you" and please".  I love that he is learning manners.  I seriously would like him to say "Yes, ma'am," and "No, sir," eventually.

His most random word is, without a doubt, "Applebee's."  Who knew?  He has never been there, and I don't think I've ever said that word in his presence.  The commercial came on one afternoon, and he said it as clear as day.  "ap bees."  It makes me realize that we should turn the t.v. off a little more and find something else to be the inspiration for new words.

Doesn't it make you wish you had a toddler?  So funny, so adorable, so awesome.  I have no idea how many words he knows now, and by the time I figured it out he would know more.  Instead, I'm going to focus my energy on protecting his innocent ears to keep an innocent tongue.

Step 3

I can finally enjoy my maternity leave now, or at least a little more.  Another big monkey is off my back.  Step 3, the two-day final exam in the series to get my medical license, is complete (and hopefully passed).

It may seem strange to take a test now, I know, in the middle of my "vacation," during the time when I am definitely not well rested, and when I haven't seen a real patient in 5 weeks.  But trust me, I didn't exactly plan it this way.  Actually, I wanted to take it way back in February, but it didn't worked out.  The next time available was the beginning of July, and, well, it was a good thing that I paid the $60 to reschedule for August because we all know what happened instead at the beginning of July.  With a deadline of August 31 and the best babysitter/Dad going back to work on August 12, there was no better time then right now.

We packed up the Buick and headed to Omaha Monday afternoon.  With intentions of leaving at 1:00 (Owen's nap time), it wasn't too bad when the clock read 1:27 as we backed out of the driveway.  But those were a not fun, chaotic, unorganized, where's-my-keys, where's-my-phone, and loud 27 extra minutes.  However, mission accomplished and Owen drifted off to sleep as we headed down the road.

A pit stop in Central City for Jason to complete some paperwork meant an extra hour added to the road trip, milkshakes from the all-too-convenient DQ, and Owen's nap ending way too early when he felt the car come to a stop.  The rest of the trip was full of whines and tears from two tired boys in the back seat, one-lane highway construction, and a "short cut" that ended us on our way to Fremont.  A little over 4 hours later, we made it.  It was seriously the longest Grand Island to Omaha trip ever.  EVER!

To think that I had eight hours of sitting in front of a computer the next day was unbearable, but I did get to bed at a decent time.  Because my husband is wonderful and knew that I needed to rest, other than feedings, Jason was in charge of Griffin all night, and he can tell you about "unbearable", too.

Bright and early the next morning I headed off with a few butterflies in my stomach, a bag full of way too many snacks (just in case), and a pump to keep Griffin's tummy happy when I got back.  Day 1 of Step 3 was underway.

During Diet Coke break #1, I faced the biggest dilemma of any working mom... where do I pump?  When I was pumping for Owen I hauled that thing just about anywhere I could find some privacy: on the floor of the ER bathroom, empty clinic exam rooms,  random hospital on-call rooms, my car, and even an airport bathroom.  Thank goodness for the battery pack and alcohol wipes.  Today, my choices were just as narrow: the public restroom or my car parked in the sun in the public parking lot.  Equally attractive options.

Some how I made it through the day, and then the next day.  It is finally over.  Studying for Step 3 is off of my To-Do list, and it's time to move on to something more fun... like painting the $15 dresser a picked up for Owen at a garage sale.

Life

Quiet?  Is it actually quiet in my house?  I am now sitting down on the couch to enjoy this quiet with my bowl of Life cereal.  It's one of my favorites.  How ironic, though, after the last four hours of my real life.  

It was just one of those nights.  You know, one of those.  One of those nights where Owen, Griffin, and I were all equally exhausted making for one heck of a battle.  And trust me, there were battles.  One of those nights where swear words went through my mind towards Jason's softball team for making it to the championship tonight of all nights, and I wonder how single parents do it.  One of those nights where Owen went to bed 45 minutes early because we both needed it.  One of those nights I lost track of time-outs.  One of those nights Griffin's excrement wouldn't be contained by his "nb" sized diaper.  You know, one of those night.

Thankfully, it was just one of those nights.  The day part of today was actually really good.  My mom, the boys, and I went to the farm to help my grandparents harvest sweet corn again.  Last weekend there was a lot more entertainment for Owen with all of the cousins around, so today when it was just us I was nervous he was going to be into everything and make my grandparents wish we had never come to "help."  However, to my surprise (and delight) Owen was an angel.  He helped himself to a few, okay several, handfuls of corn and was quite content with his job of throwing the empty cobs into the back of the truck to get hauled away to the burn pile.  He looked so cute stomping around the farm.  Little farmer Owen.  By the time we were ready to go home it was perfectly nap time, and he slept the whole way home - not a peep.

Finally back at home it didn't take long to realize I should have napped in the car, too.  (And, no, I wasn't driving.)  Now, with Owen rested up, it was too late.

Before all heck broke loose there were a few moments of calm.  Griffin asleep in his crib.  Owen as-quietly-as-he-can playing in his room.  As soon as I realized the perfection of the situation: pitter-patter, pitter-patter.  Stomp, stomp.  Stomp.  "Ball!"  Owen was back in the living room expanding the destruction zone of hurricane toy box.  And literally within second of his arrival: cough, cough, whimper. Cry.  Scream.  Coming from a tiny body laying on his car and truck crib sheets.  It was down hill from there.

Now as I look over my cereal bowl at my living room, it doesn't take long to remember that it was definitely one of those night.  Mrs. Potato Head, who in Owen's world is shaped all to much like a football, is laying body-part-less in the middle of the room.  Her pieces are strewn about all four corners  as if I had been practicing some cruel, gruesome amputation surgery.  Books, pillows, shoes, balls, and Cheez-Its as far as the eye can see.  The rug is bunched up an crooked.  The remote is long gone.  My cell phone is hiding in the wicker basket under the coffee table.  

But, you know what... I don't care.  Because at this moment, it is quiet.  Ah, quiet.  Although it was one of those nights, there are two beautiful, precious, sleeping boys in this house.  And one is laying here beside me smiling as he dreams.  So I'm going to sit here on my couch for the next several minutes and enjoy my Life.