" A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. ~James Dent"

I have far too much to do.

but I don't want to!!
Story of my life. but mostly it is the repetitiveness of redoing the same crap. I JUST packed that, I JUST did laundry ,I JUST cleaned that room ! I don't know how many times I can repeat the same action sanely.

.
Any way.An update on the situation.
I effing hate packing. and I am too stressed.

(the 20th) we were getting ready to go out with Val& fam for a Fathers Day dinner-
Rory and I have the oddest sleep lately, and napped through when we should have been getting ready,
Ri took too long to get home and they showed up before we were completely ready...
leaving me to forget my camera, almost too stressed to want to leave the house.
So. I didn't get any pics or the cake they surprised me with! We had a really amazingly nice dinner- and a fun ride in the Vimo ,Rory sang music from Annie to Seth and talked all about the new house.

.... and got to chat a bit with Tom about this house.
He knows a bit about the housing market and said he could give us advice. Ri has consulted everyone he could think of about what to do with this house.
I don't like most of it. It has been far too stressful. Ri has been way too hard to deal with it over it. Months ago, I told him "I gave up, We have to be out of this craphole before Rory starts school.Handle it."...and for his part he IS getting us out - but I haven't held up my give up side of it .give up. Let him handle it because I cannot deal with the stress.
Instead, I stress.
I blew out the candles on my cake with only one wish.
That horrible 3 syllable F word would never come to pass ,to the house, in our name.

Somewhere. somehow I think someone/thing might have heard that wish. Ri woke me on my birthday the next day to tell me we might have found someone to buy the house. Maybe. I am afraid to even count on it.Ever so hopeful though.

Enough about that.

So instead- Here is a massive picture post. I can do that. Technically it is my birthday blog post, So I can do whatever I want.
And you will scroll over every picture and leave a comment about their awesomeness...
because I said so.
Because the 21st was my birthday, and even though it is the 25th I still have divine rule on this blog , for this moment.
(Give me that much.ok.)

Lissy and Steph came and picked me and Rory up to go to Mom's and hang out.

And Wish Dad a Happy Father's Day as well.

I love my Dad


Nico calls Mom&Dad's house uncleJJ's house... and pretty much visits to visit JJ








We ate lots of junk. Chatted about junk and stuff..and Lissy and Amy's upcoming weddings.
Took the kids out to play.

When we had pulled up we couldn't believe how overgrown with wildflowers the yard was!

I had to google the name of the white flowers.
Oakleaf fleabane
We always called them daises or baby's breath...but really know it is neither one.
Can you spot Rory?

----

I love these pictures soooo much












...Yeah. So Maybe I did photoshop the powerline out of these pictures... what's your point?






darn. I missed the power line in that picture.


I love these pictures

there is something so dreamy about the out of focus kids behind the tiny in focus flowers




here they are IN focus:






See. it is cooler this way.



............................................uh-oh. Nico spotted my camera!



"Lemme jus move dees out of my way"

"Alright, I'm ready for pictures"
I love that lil ham




I love these pictures sooo much I finally went and slapped together a new blog post on my Fairytale blog.
called I remember being small <---------------Click it,it is short and cute. Besides these pictures are awesome to me. One more... See doesn't it melt your heart.




Well. Just in case your heart is icey.
I still have heartmelty pictures up my sleeve.Amy came over to celebrate with my niece Allura
She has Soo many expressions
(please, look at the child and ignore the fact I can contort my face into having both a double chin and resembling a Velociraptor from Jurassic Park... I'll just cute myself out of the next ones to be less distracting)

"Oh my god-the large baby is hugging me"

Whoa!What the ...? Mom. Didya see that, he hugged me!"

She found something- Look at her trying to crawl off!




!!!!!
How can you not giggle at this picture!!

And then- Wes came in with his fuzzy beard and she was all :

Mommy got me a great cake!


How Awesome is that birthday cake??


If cheesecake birthday cake isn't awesome enough- try
Allura's reaction to her 1st taste of cheesecake

...the ONLY thing more awesome than THAT
was when mom would eat pieces of the graham cracker crust- and Allura was completely offended
"How DARE you touch MY cheesecake!"

We were laughing SOO hard. That baby could no believe Eggy(thats what she calls Grammy) would dare eat part of her cheesecake.



Oh- check This crap out
subway, at the nearby citgo- RIGHT as we are moving away.
no fair!


Thursday,yesurday-sorta.
we went to st.auggy with Ri's stepbro to start painting and cleaning
Of coarse the water was turned off, So all my plans to clean sort of fell through.
Grr.


I mostly played with Rory while they painted.

We managed to talk Ri into leaving the kitchen yellow. Rory decided she wants her room blue too- So they got a sandy color to go over the drab gray walls, and a blue color to go over the white- bedrooms and dining room.
Rory does want some purple flower wall art in her room though.

Rory and I did help paint a little




Rory did an amazing job entertaining herself and playing.



I am pretty proud of her able to have no tv, and only a few little pets to play with and spend the whole day so behaved.
I let her borrow my camera



yes.she takes better pictures than I do.

At one point I ended up falling asleep on the musty carpet . I have been sooo overtired. I spent too much time the past few month not sleeping it is catching up the past few days.

Ri and Carl got the 1st coat of beachSandy tan color on the living room and bathroom- it looks 100 times better. We had plans to go back tomorrow to do a 2nd coat and the blue.
but I am thinking I will stay home and clean here more. This house is a disaster area
.I don't feel I was terribly helpful with .Lissy was talking about going out for a bacholorette type party - but brokeness is a factor.

Well.. I have a severe case of coffee jitters and way too much to do to sit here any longer.
PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

I don't have time for you June- come back after August..We'll plan for the fall..

Sigh.
I don't have time for this post.
Hell, I don't have time for this month. My brain is functioning a full month ahead- focusing on all we need to do by July, and August. It is stacking up.

If I was feeling a touch more obsessive I would have a good hundred lists actually penned out,instead of floating around my head weighing it down
( though- the extreme electricity and pressure in the air lately is playing a huge part in that weighty feeling) .
I realized today that I have forgotten all about June.

In fact, if Lissy hadn't called to harass me about it I wouldn't be putting this post up now..
("Jeez,Ani they are like 10 days apart now- I even had a dream you posted and rushed to look when i woke up")

It didn't even dawn on me that it was almost fathers day AND that my birthday is THIS Monday until Lissy said it. Holy Crap!
I don't have time to get older.
June needs to come after August I simply do not have time for June this month

I have shit to pack
not that I am doing that either.

I have shit to clean
...nope not doing that either.

I have shit to plan...
thinking about doing so counts for that one, right?

I have shit to get..
and no money to get it with.

I have shit to watch
I wanted to rewatch Weeds before the new season started- that I am doing. I can do that while I pack-theoretically, right?

I HAVE to stop cursing so much.
and I have 1million pounds of every sort of anxiety known to man.With all my worldly possessions spread out across my floor to pack and everyone dropping in to witness it I feel raw, and exposed sort of anxiety worse than normal. Plus. Ri decided we should smoke less- and with it being 1 million degrees that wasn't too hard,,,but now that it is cool and stormy it is.
All together,I think I have a new condition they shall name it babyhellfire disease.
there is no cure.

It has been a huge mess- stress with the house and money and how we will leave/sell/rent/explode this house, and car for that matter.
advice from soo many people- hating most the advice and the contact with people.
While Trying to figure out how to do Lissy and Amy's weddings, and get what I need for them-

AND taking a day off to go on a HUGE long bike ride with Ri ALL over St.Auggy to map out how far our new house is from everything.(thank goodness Ri's mom was able to watch Rory so we could do something so crazy- we rode from the downtown to the beach and back!! )

AND trying to get ready for Rory's 1ST YEAR OF SCHOOL! She is going to be in kindergarten ahhhh!!!



but, you don't care about my mental dilemma,
You just want to see pictures of the chaos causing it.

However.I have also failed at that. Despite all the trips to St.Auggy, and the trips out wedding shopping with my sisters I haven't got many pictures.


In fact the only really great pictures of the new house are the ones Ri took
(which we got the keys to Thursday so we can start working on it)
Monday it is being tented and fumigated, so we can't start anything until after





and looking over the pics , all that I can see is the work we need to do along with packing and moving in.
That front door must be rekeyed.. Luckily the guy Ri rides bikes with is also a locksmith.

The bathroom is my biggest concern- Ri is more worried about the stuff I don't mind like the paint color..
He has been looking up a new faucet for the shower



I sort of like the med cabinet- and the tile floor. the bathroom is tiny, but it might be a smidge bigger than the one we have now
the plain white dingy walls must must must go


The backyard is AMAZING
Just amazing..Rory loves it
but we need to hire a lawn guy.
I'm not maintaining that.

So excited about the screened in porch


but it needs to be cleaned and rescreened- and the a new backdoor.
they cleared all this stuff out- except this old purple dresser- that needs to be moved.
The walls needs pressure washed.

That tree needs to be trimmed blocking the back door.
For that matter,a bit of the plants need to be trimmed back one half of the fence is COVERED in jasmine- completely overgrowing the gate so it won't close.. but it is soo pretty I'm not sure if I'll have the heart

We aren't sure yet if we will fix the backyard fence, Noobie could/would escape the fence regardless- so really she is stuck with her tieout/leash rules

Rory took this pic of random plant


The living room isn't all that bad ,but the carpet need to be steamed


also.. this couch
Do you want this couch? Should I keep this couch? Ri doesn't want it..
it is standard ,I could find a slip cover.
Ri doesn't want the gray walls either

he hates them.
I honestly think it is a nice neutral- if a little dark for the small space...
he wants them gone.
Please.
advise.


Also, the kitchen.Ri wants to paint the kitchen,
Honestly.
The yellow may be the only color that could brighten and stretch that tiny room and not clash horribly with the black.
He wants bright basic colors red,blue
but those those might be too dark in this room.
he doesn't like a lighter blue.
IDK.
I have changed that wall 90million colors in photoshop.
It might stay yellow.


It is much smaller.
No dishwasher.
sigh.
But there is pantry space and floor space enough to put in a small island or maybe that playtable like we have here.And it isn't open to the whole house.
So when Janedoe Judgmental opens my front door she doesn't have to cringe at my sink full of dishes- or unwiped cofffee spill counter.


Then there is this OTHER room
dining room, computer room,craft room. It is the converted garage space.
bigger than the other rooms.


This pic shows half of it.

Here is Rory's room:


She likes it. She gets the big front window.
it is smaller I am concerned about that. her room is PACKED with toys as it.
She will need to be more organized. She says she wants shelves.
Our room is similar - not much bigger either.
but two closets.
two closets in the hallway,
and a closet next to the front door.
at least we know we can store stuff..
and the little half garage WILL fit our deep freezer, we were momentarily wondering what we would do about that.

The bay window needs a cushion.

....anyone know how to make one? No such item exists on the interents.
help.

It also needs a pressure wash and paint.




I could nitpick my current home this way as well...
but I won't
those pictures are FAR too embarrassing.

Overwhelmed is not a strong enough word.

Anyway.
As far as the prep for Lissy&Boo AND Amy&Aaron 's wedding goes ..
well it goes things are falling into place. Went all over creation with the group of them last week.
They decided on a sunrise sunset thing.
Sunrise on the beach for a small party with Lissy-
then running back for sunset and Amy to get married
then big joint reception hogg roast, and fireworks.

Found/put together bouquets at hobby lobby
Lissy's looks AMAZING. Amy's will look awesome with her dress.

We went all over St.Auggy, with little luck before deciding to stop in at a little wedding boutique in Palatka before dropping Lissy off-
when we saw a local childrens store we thought they might have a flower girl dress for Rory
instead- Amy found the red pooffy prom dress of her dream wedding,
and we basically tripped over the perfect bridesmaid dresses for me and Steph IN OUR SIZE! The one fore me is even extra long!
Craziness it was too perfect. Lissy spent the other day with Steph and found the dress of her dreams- spending more money than planned but she is still happy.
Now all that is left is Rory , I think.
I hope.
Rory is HARD to shop for right now, she is stuck in the gap between toddler and girls sizes- some dresses aren't even available in a four/xs girls... but a 4t is too small, and a 5 girls is too big!!

Oh, oh-
and I have been trying to scour the net for a dog with lissy- she wanted a decent size dog while Boo will be gone- and she found one at a shelter
a puppy brained hyper boxer/cathoula leopard dog
they said his name was Hogan, but it didn't fit.
they tried a bunch of names on him, Nico insited the dog was Boo and babyBoo's therefore his name must be booshy-then the two different colored eyes they started calling him Bowie and he
answers
here is a vid of him

He is to hyper and nibblefectionate for Rory she says he frightens her. I think he will adjust and be fine,though. He still has lots of puppy in him.



On the subjects of shelters,
they crazy feral stray we named GraceFolly ,the one we thought had kittens in the woods so we kept feeding her in hopes she would bring up the kittens and we could catch her in a trap to get her fixed- she quit coming around. We had run out of catfood since Bailey is gone and all, and tried putting her out some of Noobie's salmon flavored dog food- I guess she didn't like it, and stopped coming around. I think the other neighbors (who have outdoor cats) have better food so she brought her kittens over there. I hope anyway.
All is well that ends well I guess, we really were hitting crunch time with figuring out what to do to help her before we moved.

Noobs seems sort of stressed between the packing and the stormy weather.. I hope she handles the move ok. poor rotten dog.

Rory is nervous about starting school and not eager to help plan or even shop for it.
but.She wants littlest pet shop everything. How bad would it be to bribe her to go to school by buying her a littlest petshop lunch box??

Well.
Anyways.
it is 5 am.
it is Fathers day. Sometime tonight we are 'spsed to go out with Val and fam for dinner.
So HAPPY Father's Day! Love you dad!
and happy birthday to me or something...

but for now I am off to watch Weeds... er, clean and pack.
That's a lie too,I'm totally gonna take a nap for awhile before anything.


One more thing.
Don't come over.
unless you want to leave here with two tons of junk, clean, move stuff to st.augustine for me, or get drunk and play scrabble.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

I smile because you are my family, I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it!

Awww! Family dorkiness. Seems like a good beginning for this post.

I know what you are are thinking..
"Where have you been BHF?!?! "
"Do you just not have ANYTHING going on to share?? "
or "Are you soo busy with a real life that you haven't had time for a blog post?!"


..Yeah. I got the fancy computer and computer desk, and mostly use it to catch up on tv shows-
and yes, all the good shows have just had season finales,
and new shows so far suck, and I still haven't blogged...
(WHAT?! I never claimed to have good taste.)

Despite that evidence of the lameness of my existence..
I do have some news I just wasn't comfortable sharing it until today
...and if I can't share it sorta defeats the purpose of blogging
(...not that anybody reads this, but that is another subject)


It started Saturday..
Well.
It started long before Saturday, but Saturday is the point of interest.

Did I ever mention we have been looking for a rental place in St.Auggy??

We are even talking about getting rid of the big money Prius and keeping on with house payment AND a rental payment(and get a more affordable old used car for the time being, until we can sell the house).

Well, Ri found an ad on craigslist, it didn't mention pets- but it was in our price range and he just decided to call..
the guy was REALLY nice.
Ri checked it out for himself and asked if there was a time Saturday he could bring us up to look-

It is in a really great neighborhood, right near the elementary school we want to send Rory to.
It is set up a lot like our house- except smaller.
but, it also has a screened in back porch
- and they actually did that thing with the garage(turning half of it into a room and using the other half for storage) that we always talked about.
Oh and a bay window..
Rory and I are both freakishly in love with the bay window..

However, Rory calls it a Simpsons Window.
- our child is so quirky.


It was sort of weird to look at because his current tenant hadn't moved out yet(their new place wasn't ready yet)
, but they were having a huge garage sale - and also really nice.

So... We might move soon, just in time for Rory to start school . The guy called today and emailed us the lease for us to go over.
I am scared to even be excited, but I can just feel a bit of the tension ease off my shoulders.


So, that was early Saturday afternoon that we looked at the place. Ri stopped and got us lunch and we drove around looking at a few more places and discussing it.
And Lissy called asking if I could come over on my way back-
and help her with a big life changing event of her own..

No.
She isn't pregnant.
She is gonna marry Boo!!
he is about to leave ,for a year for work- so they decided to get married.
NOW.

They were talking about just going to the courthouse - but then decided they would rather it be
on July 4th. So then, they started talking about a little beach wedding.

Funny thing is Amy has been talking about getting married to Aaron too- Mom has sort of discouraged her telling her Lissy had to get married 1st-
but then they started talking about both getting married on July 4th.

So Ri dropped me off to help plan such insanity.
Rory was NOT happy about not getting to go.
Girls night without her was NO FAIR.. but she was excited to learn she would get a flower girl dress.

and I rode with Lissy to drop of Boo- and baby Boo.


and to pick up these two




You see that! I caught her! She smiled before she could see my camera and make the " I hate your camera face"



... I don't know what was over there.


Steph came over and we planned, and thought out all sorts of crazy things.

...and we laughed .
A lot. me and Lissy were running on about 2 hours of sleep so it probably contributed to the gigglefits
Lissy had Dr.pepper ice cream floats- that I sucked down while trying my hardest to stay awake

Boo & Wes picked up Nico and he hung out for a little bit being a sweetie pie with his cousin Allura




- I managed to get rid of a big box of toys giving them to Lissy when she brought me home..
I hoped Nico would go through them and they could give the ones he didn't want to Allura,but Lissy says to their dismay he is in love with all of them.



I still have LOADS to go through and pack. I have started reorganizing things and tossing junk


I even boxed up some knickknacks, and decorations- but there is soo much.
Soo much junk accumulates in 5 yrs.

I figured out if I can get up, and get going- workout, and start moving I am much better about keeping moving .
I at least tackled the bathroom organization yesterday.. I am still not ready to do Rory's room though.
Last night I quit while I was ahead and made veggieloaf , with broccoli and mashed potatoes



Rory took some convincing to get her to eat her broccoli trees, planting them in her potatoes seemed to help

















Lissy & Amy 's wedding planning got a bit stressful for them- two different ideas for style and weddings started to clash..
Dad has friends offering to do the reception, or the whole thing, at their establishments-
There was talk of beach theme, and luau , and more..something about Amy wanting to wear black, and Dad wanting to wear his biker gear(chaps and all)
and of course a hog roast- get it, Hogg roast...maybe its an inside joke.

- I think Lissy has decided to scrap the double wedding, and go ahead with planning a small sunrise wedding on the beach,
Amy will move forward with a later in the day larger Goth wedding at the place they hold the reception
and all to share a reception party at the campground Dad's buddy owns- I heard he does amazing fireworks so it should work out really well...hopefully.

The rest of month looks to be packed full of planning and preparation for everyone. stressful,nerve racking,crazy and exciting.
Just my style.
sigh.

Well- I think I have an ear infection and the wooshing noise is enough for me..
plus I'm feeling all too blabbery and tangenty for a coherent post tonight- I'll end here before it gets out of hand.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

A clean house is the sign of a boring person.

I once heard people with my birth date tend to over accessorize..
I'm not sure if that is possible.

The other day ,
me and the kid got all dressed up to go out with my mom ,and visit the family..

But... we just ended up kicking around her house with my niece-who prefers shades as the ultimate accessory.
- and later got to see my nephew who is in love with anyone who wears a hat..

I did find an accessory that is too much for even me.. In my brother's car!
He says he just "found it"




...Yeah. I just copied that from my dailybooth.
I really haven't got a lot going on right now-
Other than visiting with my family Sunday , and a scary crazy storm knocking my power out , I haven't been up to much.

Ri missed a few days of work last week when their fridge died and the part took longer than expected to come in.
We had planned to go to the Blue Crab Festival (where we 1st kissed 11 yrs ago)
, but Ri didn't want to,
I didn't want to make him..
I mean, I am sort of sad about it- it isn't that it would have been some great romantic thing, and if he didn't want to go it would have really been torturous for us all- but .sigh.


I've been grumpy. I am not dealing well with Ri & Rory both having this tendency towards short fuses and low BP "I haven't ate yet" meltdowns.I just don't get it.
Get up, eat breakfast, be over it. It starts this whole downward spiral where they feel like everything is going wrong- because their own attitude is in their way of functioning.
Normally, I am a pretty sympathetic compassionate person... but not about this and it just makes it all worse.

Noobie joined in on the whining for food last night,
Ri gave her a taste of baklava he got from Rita... and Noobs spent the next hour by his side whining and howling for more! Dog is getting out of shape.
that baklava is mine.

Otherwise though, as long as I can get these freaks to eat something all is well in the world.. and things have been going really well.
One extreme to the other sort of dynamic around here. Either we are having the most awesome amazing time getting along together playing games and laughing
- or we are all bitchy, and/or annoyed, or sent to time out.

Things aren't going anywhere on the house . Sorta stagnating.
Ri spends most his time off surfing , bike riding , or chatting with me- I am not sure when he sleeps,and every night he is like " Why am I soo tired?!"
Gee ,I wonder.

I had a few breakdowns this week that sent me into frantic reorganizing mode - I got rid of a HUGE bag of junk from Rory's room and I STILL need to go through and straighten it out, she has toooo much.How does one child have soo much?!
And it isn't like some kids I see that have favorites and play with one toy at a time- she will seriously have the whole village and every littlest pet toy out to play, and when she plays dolls- she is usually got a nursery set up with all her babies and accessories set up.. she plays with ALL of those toys.

I have been pawning some off on relatives- and may continue to do so. I dunno though- I had a really nice time hanging with my siblings Sunday . I don't want them to start hating me for my inability to throw away toys lol

That laundry pile taunts me . I swear I hang clothes every day just for another pile to appear.
Rory has a new rule -an outfit for the day, a dress-up pretend outfit, and a nightgown.
I am not enjoying it as much as she is.

Well, Rory just told me I need to play on the wiifit..
then I will need to turn on pandora and defeat the kitchen mess I made making beans at 2am.


Oh.
yeah.
Our schedule has been shit again.- at least this time it appears to be more on our end than Rory's.
hooray.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICKEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE