I agree totally...

your gift is going to be simple and homemade. please don't feel like you have to get Ben & I anything.

http://laurenalexis1.blogspot.com/2009/11/christmas-without-presents-i-like-it.html

10 p.m.

Ben's second full time job right now is the Hampton House. Usually as I go to bed, he is just getting started on the house. I just got him to contribute to my blogging...he sent me this picture of what they are working on downstairs! It doesn't give their hard work justice though.

The house update: Downstairs is going to have 2 bedrooms. (One quite small, that Zach is going to live in; the other a good size for Zach. Zach is a good friend of Andrew's that has been living there for a while. We like him :)) A bathroom, washer/dryer, living room & kitchen. So basically it is like a duplex now, I suppose.

The downstairs is framed out. Rusty (THANK YOU!) is there now helping/doing the electrical work. They are calling the plumber this week. And, then it is insulation and sheet rock. Then Andrew & Zach move downstairs. And we can start nesting :)

Andrew says they will be downstairs next week. Who knows. Ben says Charlotte is going to get a new room for Christmas. Who knows.

All I know is that for my own peace of mind...and so I don't continue to drive those boys crazy: I'm putting up a Christmas tree here in my comfy little basement I call home. For now.

I did help some over the break. The backyard is almost clean! It doesn't look like dirty nasty people live here any more :) (There was a TON of junk in the backyard that came out of the back garage from the last owners.)

I've made friends with the men at the dump. They laugh at me as I've driven my stylin' truck, and attempted to back it up & unload it.

My new studio to be is almost cleaned up. I'm just waiting on some $$ so I can put up insulation & sheet rock. Ben hung a swing in the middle, so Charlotte is happy while I'm cleaning. Well, actually Charlotte is always happy...and loves to clean. What a gal!

I feel relaxed & thankful. Thankful for a roof under my head. Thankful for my friends. Thankful for my family. Thankful I know that my hope is not in this world.

Are you wondering why I am awake at 10pm? Coffee at 5 pm. Goodnight.

hmmmmmmmmmm.......

What is funny is that I'm so anxious and worried NOW. The $@(*! hit the fan this time last year. That's when we had real issues. That's when we were really prayerful and had our new priorities in order. I wasn't having near panic attacks and crying at the drop of a hat.

And, now the house is getting VERY close to finished! I can walk into my new studio, and I'm going to have a studio, our bills are getting paid, our family is super supportive and I'm freaking out. Sounds like the priorities are out of order.

The season of Christmas/Thanksgiving is about remembering what you HAVE, not dwelling on what you don't have.

So, pray that I can focus on the good, not be so hard on myself, not have expectations of a "time frame" for the house to be finished, be kind to my husband who is working his butt off, and that I will find time to make National Boards a priority without being discouraged.

PS Charlotte is my SUNSHINE. She is wonderful, happy, cheerful, joyful. She makes life so so much better. Remember that, Liz.

Blogging at school

YUP, I am. It is either that or flip out on some undeserving middle school student.

YIPPEE, a 5 day weekend. A "break." A "holiday." But, that makes me anxious, nervous, irratable.

I want to decorate for Christmas. I want to make crafty Christmas gifts. I want to listen to Christmas music and drink hot coco.

But, my "home" is a wreck. The literal "home, house."

It is hard to be patient. It is hard to prioritize. This is not easy.

But, at least I did not flip out on a kid because of my issues :)

Thanks for listening....mom, Sarah. Love ya!

Ode to the Prius...

Bye bye prius (that is spelled wrong, isn't it?). Maybe it wasn't meant to be. I loved my little hybrid, the quietness of the car, the windows that have let me see the world through my vagabond adventures, the simplicity of it, oh and the gas mileage. Loved that car. Goodbye.

Hello my black jetta. Oh, stick shift, diesel, lowered with hot black rims, Auto Extra's graphics and tinted windows to hide...(see picture to the left.)

FYI, this is one days of "mom bags." lap-top bag to do NBC stuff, diaper bag, cups to return to Ama, Charlotte's car/toy bag, purse, and clothes for me to change into (long day).

<--- Ben's car.

Is the Glass Half Full...

or half empty?

Life is a rollercoaster. FULL. empty. FULL. empty.

GREAT great day. Whimsical, inspiring, uplifting. Fun. FULL.

Husband came this morning for a second. FULL.

Hoping to have family time this evening. Pam & Bill out of town tonight. Shop closes at 3. 6:30 husband still not home. empty.

You know back in the day, I wrote in a diary. Now, when need be, I blog. And, sometimes you only get the FULL, and sometimes you get too much of the empty. Not trying to be a downer.

Back to the blog world.

Drummmmm Roll Please!

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28th....ready OR NOT (and very likely not!) we are movin' into the Hampton House.

Just to clarify, this does not mean that ANYTHING is finished....at all. But, we are 'a movin' in. So, Ben says.

Will this motivate all individuals involved?? Or, drive us all crazy??

I must say, I"m excited. Charlotte will get her own room, Ben & I get a real room again. And, the rest will just be a smooshed cluster of a house.

It will get there. That's all I've got.

I didn't take a shower & forgot to brush my teeth...

DISGUSTING! I know! Who would admit to that?? I just did. You would think that would mean that I wore PJ's and watched movies all day long....but, who has time for that? Read between the lines.

I woke up yesterday to POO, and it just occur ed all day long. The sewage was backed up again at Pam's. This caused a gross smell, no shower, too grossed out to brush my teeth (I took my toothbrush with me, but found gum instead. Wow, liz!), and financial stress with the in-laws. No fun. Despite the Poo, the rain, the cold....I wanted so badly to be productive yesterday. God had other plans.

Well, I don't think it was his plans for the truck to get stuck in the back yard....I should have listened to my husbands last words, "don't drive the truck into the backyard." Even though I wasn't the driver. Oh well....small annoyances!

Not much got done at the house....other than a little bit of "eye-opening" to what I can now do.

The day got better though!

**QT with my mom! :) We, not really, SHE baked cookies! I got to sit at the bar and do a little bit of school work.
**Pumpkin Spiced Latte' with Tonia!! Love it!
**Seein' Dee & Cute Riley in the belly!
**Watching the CMA awards & hanging out with Ben.
**OH, and the library with Charlotte.

OKAY, the day was better than I thought!

SKIP all of this...

& Read SUPRISED @ THIRTY!! FUN!!

Three posts...

or none. I always get on this kick.

Cute story. Today, Ben called and asked for Charlotte's SSN. I asked why, and he said that Charlotte went to put money in her piggy bank and it was too full to put in any more $. She loves to "save her money" and fill up her bank.

So, daddy & Charlotte went to Truliant to open CZ a savings account. She carried her piggy bank into the bank. How stinkin' cute.

She is a blabber mouth. I love it. She sang Happy Birthday the other day, FINALLY went to Sunday School without crying (and I picked her up and they said she talked the whole time...and no pacifier!), she points to everything and says "mommy's.....(shoes, purse, medicine)" or daddy's or ama's. Cute. She loves to talk on the phone, and you can kind of understand it. FUN!

And about the Hampton House....

Ben has been in Las Vegas for the past week. He came back motivated. And to a more relaxed wife. Thank God. Seriously.

Last night we went to the Hampton House to figure out some more walls. I'm going there tomorrow, hopefully the rain won't get in the way, to clean out some trash from the new STUDIO!!! Yippee.

It shouldn't be tooo long before we start moving something in somewhere. Ben & I talked, and agreed...that we either need to still be "somewhat settled" at Pam's or the Hampton House by Christmas. I don't want Christmas morning to be in a strange messy place for Charlotte. So, that's the thought. We shall see. Oh, and about Christmas....if you read this....I hope that homemade is good with you. This is going to be a simple SIMPLE simple Christmas. Please don't get me anything....seriously. Spoil any kids you know...or a stranger.

SUPRISED at 30!!!

WOW. WOW! W-O-W!!! I am in NO WAY exaggerating when I say that I had THE BEST birthday ever. Seriously. I did not think that it was possible to suprise me. Never in my life have I been suprised. Really. I always know what my presents are, I usually ask for them myself, or find them. Or, someone is too excited and tells me what it is. Or, gives it to me early. I could give you countless examples.

THIRTY WAS DIFFERENT. And, I LOVED it. Once I got there. Getting to thirty was a different story.

You know you have good friends, when they go through considerable effort to throw a party when your attitude is TERRIBLE. Wow, I was cranky. I was in no way interested in going out on Halloween, much less at 9p.m., and I definately did not want to dress up. This is not "normal" Elizabeth behavior. But, the second half of 29 hasn't been very normal. It has been tough. Really tough. My attitude has fluctuated between super thankful to a huge pity party. I did not want to spend my 30th birthday at an event with a bunch of strangers. I did not want to go to a party. I didn't say it out loud, but I really wished that I could have a party of my own. My friends knew what I would want. And they pulled it off.....PERFECTLY.

It's funny how everything worked. I had a reflective week before my birthday. I remember having conversations, more this year than ever, about the awesome Halloween Parties I always had growing up. I always LOVED Halloween growing up. My mom decorated the house, and never skimped on how I invisioned that years party. It was great. I told more than one person the week before my birthday about these parties, and I told someone about dressing up as Dolly Parton when I was little....only to find this exact picture on one of the tables at my suprise party. What a suprise.

I had hoped that by 30 I would be living in my "own" house again. I didn't think there was anything that could really "de-funk" my mood. I was wrong. FRIENDS truely lifted my spirits...once again. But, man they had to work hard to pull it off.

Tonia asked weeks ago if I would to to this "Sports & Rec" event at the Millenium Center. I ignored almost every e-mail she sent about it. Ben asked me about it, and I said "NO." I was kind of proud of myself for being so hard headed about my "no." It was "MY" birthday, and that wasn't what I wanted to do. Not, that I don't LOVE Tonia...I just didn't want to go to a party with a bunch of strangers. I was really a pain about it......I was not interested what so ever. I had a conversation with, I think Ericka, about it. I told her, I really should go. Tonia hasn't wanted to do anything since Carter has been born and if she wants to do something I should go and have fun with her. Come to find out, it was something for ME, not even for HER. How selfless. Inspiring!!

OKAY, fine....I'll go to this party. But, not with a smile. Ben said we were going to go as the Simpsons, because I told him that if we were going to dress up than he would have to figure out the costumes and find them. I wanted nothing to do with it. What a beeeiiiitch. And, by the way, I hate(d) the Simpsons. But, I cared so little, I didn't complain. He had figured it out, and that was fine with me.

My birthday weekend. Still CLUELESS. And, ill. Ben was leaving on my birthday for Las Vegas for a week. I had no expectations of anything other than a card...because I was also pretty clear that I wanted NOTHING but a card. Period. Friday afternoon I had off, and my mom didn't have any other kids. Like the good-ole-days, we got to go out to lunch and piddle around. I loved it. It has been FOREVER since we have done that. It was nice. My mom was a little over excited about making me a red necklace for my Marge costume. This is not completely out of character....but, it was 100% her excitement and idea. Of course, not mine. They all had a plan.

Thursday, I was downtown for the "Shoe Shrine" exhibit. Matt said he would buy me a drink...I said OK, since it is my birthday. I played off not knowing my birthday was Sunday. Debbie said, "oh, you didn't tell me it is your birthday." She was in on it all...and came in an awesome costume. There were lots of little moments like that that just slid by me. I was clueless.

Lying is not always bad. Without lying you could not plan a suprise party. Lies that were told:

Lie: Sarah had a big project due on Monday and was coming to my parents for dinner after she got off work on Sunday. Truth: She got off on Sunday to make my birthday perfect.

Lie: Tonia had a remote on Saturday. Truth: Everyone was decorating.

Lie: "You can't come show me your Halloween costume, we have 'traditions' on Halloween, said Heather. Truth: She was at DADA getting ready. And, Sarah Baker didn't return my text....she was busy painting my brother black while driving down the road.

I spent all of Saturday getting my costume, and Charlotte's costume together. It really ended being much more about Marge & Homer than it did the cute little duchie. Oh well, next year she'll actually be able to eat all of her candy. Pam worked for about an hour on my blue tall hair. When Ben got home, we hurried to get painted yellow. We trick-or-treated at one house and then headed to my mom's house to trick-or-treat. Ben, Pam, Bill, Charlotte & I headed over there. I was still grumpy, but I began to like my costume better. I wanted to go home and go to sleep!

But, we had an hour and a half at least before Tonia & Derek would be ready. So, we went on a DATE to Village Tavern....looking like this! Wow. It was fun. They put "Simpsons" on our tab.

After dinner we went to Derek & Tonia's to pick them up. Again, grumpy words from Elizabeth, "Can't we just meet them down there? We can drive two cars."

At about 9:15 we left for downtown. Tonia said that we had to pick up tickets somewhere near the Millenium Center. I was brainstorming the possible places, but knew there wasn't much around. We pull up on Liberty Street, near the Art Cue, and walk towards DADA. I AM STILL clueless. I know that there wouldn't be tickets in the Dada center. But, I had NO clue about all of this!!

It was raining and obviously dark. We walk up to the dark DADA center...still clueless as to why we were walking into a pitch black room...we walk in.

"SUPRISE!!"And a TOTAL suprise it was. WHAT AN AMAZING PARTY. SO fun! We danced and laughed. Then we went and danced some more at the Millenium Center. Ben & I won 3rd place in a costume party. It could not have been a more perfect and uplifting night!! I love you all!