Band Parents

Band Parents

Monday, June 25, 2007

Menu Plan Monday - June 25


Last week was a bust. I think Hubby and my 7 YO grabbed sandwiched on Monday before baseball. The rest of the week it was out because of the House hunting and Moving. So now that we have a contract to sell as well as a contract to buy, the fun begins.
I made an inventory of the stuff from the freezer and hope to eat it all up before moving. We have quite a few Stuffed Chicken breasts from Market day. I have 8 Turkey Cutlets, Italian sausage, a package of Bubba burgers, a package of chicken breasts....
Mon - Baseball - Sandwiches
Tues - Work Concession stand if no one else volunteers..
Wed - Baseball
Thursday - Home inspection on the house we are buying
Friday....
So I'm not even going to try this week.
For more (and better) menu ideas, visit Laura.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Woo-hoo! a contract accepted!

So after deciding that the sellers of the first house we were interested in did not seem very interested in selling their house to us, we looked again and found a better, and less expensive house. The offer has been accepted.

So today we started to pack some stuff into a box. We will be eating off Tupperware plates and drinking out of plastic cups. I packed my pottery and glasses. This should not be a problem.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Walking away

So we placed a bid on a house we liked. We felt pressured to find a house to move into because we have to be out of our current house July 26 - Closing date. The idea of moving our stuff more than once was horrifying.

To put it simply, the buyers were being a bit of a pain in our book. So we have decided to apply our house-buying dollars elsewhere. It fels so liberating! We are scheduled to look at another 4 houses this afternoon.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Drivers 10 Commandments

So the Vatican issued a list of 10 Commandment for drivers.

Excepts from CNN

'Drivers' Ten Commandments'

The "Drivers' Ten Commandments," as listed by the document, are:
1. You shall not kill.
2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.
4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.
5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.
7. Support the families of accident victims.
8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
10. Feel responsible toward others.


And it suggested prayer might come in handy -- performing the sign of the cross before starting off and saying the Rosary along the way. The Rosary was particularly well suited to recitation by all in the car since its "rhythm and gentle repetition does not distract the driver's attention."

Wow! I may be a bit ahead of things. The post describes my attempt to combat road rage and those self-defeating negative thoughts by praying the Rosary.

Is the world becoming a bit sad the the Vatican feels the need to develop this list?

Monday, June 18, 2007

Menu Plan Monday



So it was a busy weekend. We signed a contract to sell our house Thursday night and went house hunting Saturday and Sunday. We had done enough looking that we were able to zero in on our First choice neighborhood. So we found a house we really liked that meets our budget. The 12YO went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for the next three weeks.

Mon - Baseball game - A will eat his pizza leftover from last night's dinner out

Tues- Most likely be out since we plan to take one last tour of a house we are going to submit a bid on. See this post for the story.

Wed - 6:00 Baseball - Turkey Sandwiches.

Thursday - Meatloaf

Friday - Some sort of Chicken breasts.

For more great menus, check out Laura's blog.

House Hunters - Madcap style

So have you ever whateched "House Hunters" on HGTV? After showing a couple look at three houses, the announcer says something like: " So Which one will they choose, The Traditional budget buster with all the room, the well-priced two-story with wite carpet, or the smaller home with the screened-in porch.

So we plan to submit an offer on the well-priced two story.

We had visited 5 houses Saturday and found the Budget-buster. It was within the range Hubby had expanded our search to, but the A/C was not working. Mr. HVAC wanted to tour the house with it working right. But then a funny thing happened. He started getting cold feet about spending that much on a house. Mr. We-can-afford-that-payment.... We looked at two others on Sunday. The 7 YO was with us (not happily). He liked the Home with the screened-in porch. It was in a different school district than the other two and thus had higher taxes. It was a bit smaller. Especially the Kitchen. (Our kids will be attedning a Parochial school). A drawback on our chosen house it storage space for DH's tools. There are no outbuilding allowed re: Home Owner's association - but a big pool. So everthing will have to go in the basement. But it has the almost light carpet throughout. So we may have to alter the basement a bit.

Friday, June 15, 2007

We have a contract on our house

Our real estate agent came over about 10 PM for us to sing the papers. Yipee. We will come out slight on the negative side of the money equation, but we knew it would be close. I think we will mkae up the difference in saved gas expenses over the next year or so.

So now the house hunt begins in earnest. We have been in contact with an agent. She sent a list of 44 houses that meet our criteria. I put 22 of them in the NO pile becasue we had seen them and did not like them or they did not have Gas heat. There are 22 left. I picked out 5 and requests showing of them tomorrow. They are all in the same subdivision. I will have Hubby go through the rest of them for possible showings Sunday or even next week.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

My Commute and my boys

So I drive 50 miles one-way to work. See this post and this post for reasons.

But now that my boys are out of school, I am taking the 7yo to Daycamp at a YMCA about half way for me. Yesterdy morning we are about 25 minutes into the drive and he asks "When are we going to get there? I am tired of riding." I guess he thinks if he's going to be int eh car for more that 20 minutes he'd better be going someplace exciting, like Grandma and grandpa's (That's about a 9 Hour drive) or to Chicago to see the other Grandpa (5 hours) or even to Uncle Bill's (about 50 miles). I just can't belive him. But he's also the boy who walks into the kitchen where there are 2 analog clocks and three digital and demand to know what time it is.

My 12 YO is riding all the way with me. He is attending Baseball camp in the morning and hanging out in my office in the evening. Last night on the way home, he observed: " Only 4 more days of this"

Me: "Of what, hanging out in my office?"
12YO: "No, riding in the car this long."

Sigh. I could at least hope for some empathy or appreciation of what I have been going through for the past year.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Menu Plan Monday - June 11, 2007

Hi All, This morning was a logistical nightmare getting the 7YO to the new YMCA for daycamp, picking up 2 carpoolers, parking, hopping a campus shuttle to take my 12 YO to baseball camp and getting back in time for a meeting.

Anyways here is the meal plan:

Monday - Salisbury Steak
Tuesday - Chicken pot pie
Wednesday - (Baseball game at 6:00) - Probably drive through
Thursday - Steaks on the grill
Friday - Pizza with my cousin from out of town.

For more menu ideas, Check out Org junkie

Monday, June 04, 2007

Menu Plan Monday



I missed last week's post. Still showing the house. I'm ready to move after school is out this week.

Mon - Ground beef night - Dad's Choice

Tues- Chicken - Chicken Potpie from leftover chicken from Saturday's beer can chicken

Wed - (Late Baseball game) - Turkey Cutlets

Thurs - Chicken Kabobs

Friday - Homemade Pizza

For more Menu's visit Laura's Blog

Friday, June 01, 2007

Happy Friday

Hey Blogville,

We have 3 and 1/2 more days of school after today. The 12YO has a full-blown case of Summer-itis. His teacher said that this is not uncommon for kids who will be going to a different school next year. He just flat out does not want to complete his homework.

The last 11 weeks have been difficult first with Dad changing job and his start time so that the morning routine was turned upside down. Then the house went on the Market and we made plans to move him away from the school he has been in since Kindergarten, the only house and neighborhood he has known, the friends... Keeing his room presentable has been a mighty challenge for him, but he has rose admirably to it. Before last night it had been a full 10 days since I last asked "How many times do we have to tell you the house hunters look in closets to see how much room they have? You cannot hide stuff in the closet." The week after school is out he will be going to Baseball camp in the morning and hanging out in Mom's office in the afternoon. Then he is going to stay with Grandma and Grandpa at their lake house for three weeks. He did express a concern that we might move while he is gone, but I told him once and I need to tell him again, that moving takes time and we are willing to fly him home if it comes down to it.

Meanwhile, this week has been a little slow. We did have someone come view it on Wednesday. Of course I forgot to open the blinds in the bedroom.

Have a great weekend!