Dinner

Riley asked for my beef stew for dinner. It all was going so well with the browning of the meat. I made the mistake of walking away from the kitchen just for a moment. I hear Riley yell "MOM", the smell hits me. I have burned the meat. I add water to see if it is salvageable. I also add spices in order to cover up the taste. If you don't smell it , it is still edible.

I was disappointed in myself since Riley is so thin. His pants slide right off his hipless body. Trevor on the other hand is now a 38 waist line. He is too big for his father's pants. Both boys very politely tried to eat the stew, but there were no second helpings this time. The dog loved it.

To make up to them for the burnt dinner the night before, I came home from the house viewing and long drive and offered to take them out to dinner. It was already 6:30, they had been home since 3:00. They jumped at the opportunity to eat out. What they didn't tell me is that they had been snacking on cereal and other foods.

I wanted Chinese, but Riley had had Chinese for lunch. I didn't want Dennie's. I wanted something a little nicer. KFC was passed on. The end result was we all agreed on the local pub. The atmosphere is great and the food also. We passed one of Trevor's teachers on the way in to the restaurant. Trevor said hello, she waved.

Riley orders root beer and Trevor orders the bottomless pop. Trevor orders his usual double hamburger. Riley orders a Rubin sandwich. I have a lovely stuffed sole. The boys barely touch their food. They are too full from snacking. We end up boxing most of our dinners and snacking on them at home later.

At the dinner table, Riley starts a philosophical discussion on God and Satan and the Bible. If God made us all perfect including Satan then how could we sin. Where was the logic if we are perfect. What made Satin sin. I answered free will, free choice. Trevor found the discussion not at all interesting so it didn't last. But I loved being able to discuss with Riley. I asked him to bring it up at Bible study. He said sometimes they don't have the answers fully. We may need to bring in an older member to the Bible discussions soon. I can't expect other young students to want to delve into these questions as Riley does or have the answers. He enjoys stumping people. But I also know he is comfortable with his peers, where he may not feel free to question adults.

Riley was invited to sit with a group of older students the other day at lunch. I asked if he knew
them. He said he recognized them from school and middle school. I asked if he was already at the table. He said no they called out his name to him as he walked by and invited him to join them.

I think he has some followers in his classes. He must talk in class and bring up discussions and questions that others wish they had. Some times you don't know the question to ask until you hear someone else ask it. Riley is one of those that does ask and work at understanding the answer. His questions are sharp and pointed. He wont let you gloss over a bad answer.

The boys are still playing chess in the mornings. I set the table up for a game when ever I see the pieces not in their place. I am afraid pieces will go missing unless I confirm them all to be there. The game belonged to my Father and his Mother before him. I would be really upset if something happened to it. As a result the boys have been playing often.

As I sit here and type, I try to place myself in the big house. I am thinking the sun room needs to be our office area. It is just off the kitchen and is bright and sunny, which is what I like. I also like the idea of the boys being in a public area when they use the computers. I walked in on Trevor after 11:00pm last night. He was supposed to be going to sleep. He was watching netflix on my old computer. I confiscated the computer in good humor and hid it.

I am having a hard time placing all our things from our various rooms into that house. The game room for Tom is a no brainer. But he also needs his business office. I am thinking the boys want the downstairs that I somehow have to connect to the house easily. Tom wants me to ignore the basement. But I see it as an incredible opportunity.

In this house the pool table is in the living room coexisting as adult game room and company room. The guest room is combined with the boys game room. My office I share with Tom. The big house has big spaces but the nooks and little rooms are missing for the offices and sitting room. My sitting room may also be my office. 4 bedrooms, but one is smaller than my office. It does have a closet which we are thinking of confiscating for another master closet and having Riley be downstairs.

I think we need to put in the stairs to the basement from the house. I think we do need the space. It will only add value to the house in the long run to have that as finished space. I see it as a great positive. Though stairs are expensive to install or retro fit. I think the sun room is the best place to install them, which shrinks my office/sitting room. Though I could take the small middle bedroom as an office, though the view is not nearly as nice.

That basement looks more appealing the longer I muse. The boys need to see the house. They may have ideas that would work. I tried to discuss the house at dinner, but without having seen the house themselves, there was not a lot of useful impute.

The view of the house

I went through the house with two friends. Neither liked it a whole lot. It is modern and big. There are light bulbs and closet rods missing. The stove someone tried to remove and couldn't, causing counter damage. There is no fire place when I thought there was one. I can't put an opening in the stairwell to access the basement where I want it. The house doesn't line up with the garage in the right place for the access to be at the top of the stairs. The sky lights are leaking, but they probably just need new caulking. Tom is going to look at the house again. We have time. The bank has still not said yes or no. I told him to take a friend also to bounce thoughts and opinions.


On the plus side, there is a big party room. The living room has hard wood floors. There are lovely bright windows. It has huge spaces. I did get the insurance company to come down a little in replacement costs. $515,000 to replace the house, which lowered our insurance to $1700 a year, still double what we pay now on our Oregon house. They also insured our personal possessions for $350,000. That is a lot of clothes shopping and toothpaste.

I did see an adorable house on Maplewood, but it was only 2400 square feet. Vintage details throughout. It did have a room for the pool table, but that was the only extra room and just big enough to accommodate the table. No extra room for the boys to play. Incredible master suite with an attached sun room/sitting room. A great master bath and plenty of closets. Laundry was in one of the closets, right in the room. Same price as what we are paying for the big house.

I am tempted to paint the ceiling cedar just to tone it down a bit. It may be the busy patterns that overwhelm me. I think I will bring in a design consultant for some opinions.

I have also not given up my dream on the country club address. It still sits neglected and unloved. I can see me in that house so easily. The boys would be down stairs. I would turn the living room and garage into a master suite. The entry area would become the living room. I would open up the wall in the kitchen into the room with the fireplace and have a lovely dining area. Strip the floors down to the hard wood. They have been painted, probably with lead based paint, knowing my luck.

I have a vision of a lovely summer home there. I wish they would turn us down on the big house. I would go right back to country club immediately. I am afraid we are going to lose it. I do know its value and the amount of work it would take. Tom is just so not thrilled with the idea of living in it while we are under construction. What about building just in the back first, a completely independent unit. We want to bump out the back. I sat for months drawing plans. We were planning to put a kitchen and bathroom in that unit. Then we rip off the front end later for the garage area. And live in the new unit and the original structure. We could have it on its own independant power before we move into it.

It could also be a massive money pit. $80 a square foot and limited resources may not get us as big a space as we seem to find necessary. Which is why we offered on the big house.


The downstairs is a dump. We need to go down another foot to make the ceilings the right height. I don't like the two levels of the basement. Only the very original three rooms of the original house are worth saving. It all needs a new roof. The chimney that was removed to make the stairwell downstairs is leaking onto the stairs. The floors have settled heavily. Ah, but it is such a lovely location.

On the big house I am contemplating drywalling and/or painting the ceilings white to tone down all that lovely exposed wood. If it weren't so low or had a pitch to it so you felt less squashed. We'll live with it for a short while. I am going to get decorating advice. The house is just off a little and we want to get that wow factor, not the "interesting" factor. It has the potential and the neighborhood to carry it off.

Both homes are the worst homes in the best neighborhood. Its all about the deal, getting the best price going into it to make it worth while. I just don't see us in 5 years needing 5000 square feet. I also don't want to be driving to and from the club when we could be a golf cart away. I have always been about convenience. The boys will need a car to get everywhere or they wont go anywhere. They will become vegetables in front of their electronic games.

NO new is good news

We are still waiting for news. Next week is our original closing date. I am taking measuring tape and a flash light up to the house for another look. I need to figure out the bedroom situation and furniture placement. I am taking a friend to get perspective from her. While we are up there we will see the dive again and a couple of houses we did not view on our marathon and pick day. We had just been too tired and burned out.

I want a back up plan just in case. You just never know with banks. My neighbor, of the vacant house, had a deal and the bank after months of contemplating the offer, turned the offer down. I still love the old neighborhood. If the dive wasn't such a dive, it would be a perfect location.

If Tom hadn't already started work we would have time. He came home the first night. I loved seeing him. He also had a list a questions regarding house and health insurance we needed to call on in the morning. He found it cost him $40 in gas to drive to work round trip from our house. Its sad to think it will cost $20 a day once we move to our new location, being half the distance, better but still costly.

With the crisis in Japan, it is going to be hard to get a Prius or hybrid car with out paying a premium. Priuses are the first modern car ever to appreciate in value after a new purchase. Most cars lose 20% in value when you drive off the lot. It looks more tempting when gas prices are $4.00 a gallon and talk of $5.00 is not out of the question. I always did like public transport. I hear there is a bus that circles our new town, just like the one that runs by our neighborhood where we live now. I just doubt the bus comes up the hill in our new neighborhood. It will be a hike to the bus stop.

Trevor is not thrilled about contemplating taking eighth grade again. I think I will take him to tour the schools. We get out a week earlier than they do, so there will be time to see the schools in action.

Riley seems to be doing well on the decreased meds. He had a soar throat Monday so I kept him home. He said it was better but still lingering on Tuesday. He felt well enough to go to school. Trevor missed the bus Monday, not having his brother remind him it was time to go. He was into a new book and read right through the bus pick up time. I drove him to school.

Tuesday I got a call from Trevor, right after school started. He had forgotten to wear his band uniform. They had a performance competition that day. I drove his uniform to him. Its just a white button down dress shirt with black pants and black shoes. He does look handsome when he wears it. They wont know for a day how they did in their performance. 30 schools competed over the course of the day. His wonderful band teacher fell over the weekend and broke her elbow. Its sounds nasty. She will need surgery and will be out for the rest of the year probably. She wont be able to conduct. The high school band teacher, a man, will be in charge of the class. I don't know what will happen to the Coeur D'elaine competition. With Trevor's grades he wasn't going anyway. I just feel so badly for his teacher. She is one of those shining stars that inspire students, when students are lucky enough to have a great teacher fall into their lives.

I am going to go grab my tape measure and flashlight and notebook and head out for the day. I wonder how Tom would react if I did find another house I liked better. It will be hard to beat 5000 square feet of space and party room. The insurance said to replace a house that size with all the cedar beams and ceramic tile and hard wood, it would cost $680,000. Even when I told them to take it down to the standard quality of carpet and drywall, the replacement cost was $650,000. Ack. We will be paying $2040 a year for house insurance. That is over double what we are paying now. I am going to get a comparison bid on Friday, from the agent that works across from us at the mall.

There is always something to keep my blood pressure up. I don't stress (humor), but if I did I sure feel like I have a lot to stress about.

Improvements

I am making lists now of all the changes we would like to see on the new house IF we get it. It is looking promising. The bank is assessing our offer. We may hear by Monday. First week of May is closing date, unless we have to extend it.

The boys would stay in school until the end of the year at this point. I am having our favorite moving company come bid us the move. The only bad move I ever had was when we didn't use these guys. We had to use a company his job wanted us to use. It was a nightmare. The original owner of this company is an old family friend. His company has moved our family from grandparents to children just out of college multiple times. I am going to see how much they charge now for packing and moving. Tom doesn't do the heavy things anymore, and gets mad if he sees the boys and me trying to do it.

Tom has his list of things he would like to see happen in the new house. I need him to put them down on paper so we can prioritize. It can't all be done in the first year. But knowing us, we'll try.

Tom has been board this week. He said he was looking forward to getting back to work. He starts next week. I told him if we lived in Longview he probably wouldn't have been board, he would have been at the club. He said I was probably right.

I think he will love this project though. Starting in from the ground up, and being commutable from home, its just what he likes to do. He is excited.

Even the boys are excited about the move. Trevor can't wait to see his old friends. Riley just seems to like the concept of a change. He is doing so well in school, he wants to see what the new high school can do for him. I am hopeful Riley will remember old friends.

I did have a talk with the boys about the prevalence of drugs. This area we are moving to has a very high incidence of drug use. From their school classes, they knew more about drugs than I did. It kind of made me uncomfortable, how much knowledge they had. The different ways you could ingest cocaine and the street costs.

What they both agreed on was that once hooked you are addicted for life and all your extra money goes away. Now that is something they understood no money, and addiction (their Dad's very expensive and stinky tobacco habit). I can hope that they stay strong against temptation when it is offered.

We also talked about the new pill parties. Kids stealing prescriptions and tossing them in a mixing bowl taking what ever, having no idea what, and ending up dead later from time released drugs. Riley commented that they had better not take his or they could die. Its true he is on some pretty hefty drugs at the moment, Auto immune suppressants that could trigger who knows what in another person. I plan on having these conversations again and again. Trevor told me two boys were expelled from school, eighth graders just recently. They were caught doing drugs in the bathroom. Without this little pep talk about drugs, Trevor would not have shared his news with me. These conversations are even more important than I realized.

The district is considering combining the two middle schools back into one to save money. One thing I liked about the middle school now was the intimacy. The teachers could catch the culprits. There was control in the chaos. They may be able to pull off combining the schools with keeping sixth grade in elementary one more year, so the numbers of middle school students stay reasonable. It would just be seventh and eighth graders. I wonder how they would divide up the wings. I liked the dedicated grade level wings. It felt like an intimate school within a school.

Moving to Washington, I am hopeful that the education is still exceptional. I know that their budget crisis is not nearly as severe as Oregon's. I know they are not contemplating closing schools, or cutting major programs. They still have orchestra and band in Washington.

One thing that Trevor mentioned along with the drug discussion is that I am considered one of the strictest moms according to Trevor. I smile with pride. One thing I can say about my own very strict mom, to her credit, in the end all her children graduated from College and turned out to be contributing members of society. Personally, I feel like I am a push over when it comes to my boys wanting to do something they and I think is fun. It is all perspective.
If Trevor would only hand in his homework, he would find out what a push over I can be.

The grades

Riley rocks with energy and excitement about school. Trevor loves school but just doesn't do the work. He showed me a great review test in math. he had a perfect score. I pulled out $5 and told him to go print out his grades off the computer. He didn't come back. The next thing I hear is Tom yelling at him. He had left the screen open and his father had seen the overall grades. Three weeks into the last semester and Trevor has three Fs. Missing assignments across the board. He is in homework club twice a week. He still can't get the work handed in.

He tells us he has no work at night when we ask. I go through the list of classes. But when he pulls up the classes on line, they are all missing work. Tom has agreed to let me start him in eighth grade again. A move supposedly takes away three months of education. Trevor is at the very young end of his class with an August birth date. He can easily be held back age wise.

The councilor said he was marginal emotionally as far as not feeling stigmatized by being held back, retained being the technical term. He sees himself as being big and being even bigger if he is still in eighth grade next year. If we lived in Oklahoma, he wouldn't have been able to start kindergarten when he did. You have to be 6. Once we decide what to do, depending on his final grades, we will play up the positives for him so he can see the advantages.

The house we bid on shows pending, so they are treating it like we will get it. Hopefully we will hear something next week from their bank, approving our offer.

I called to confirm district boundaries on the schools the boys would be attending. I knew there would be a football summer camp. I wanted to get Trevor set up, so he wouldn't miss it. They are sending the sports package to us so I can get Trevor's physical taken care of down here where we have a doctor.

The bank on our house wants us to raise the price to their recommended value of $289,000. They wont budge on the price, though it is above what we owe including realtor sales costs. Since I don't want to move until school is out in June, I don't mind. They are being silly with our house. It is a flag lot, and the house in front of us is listed and abandoned for $259,000. Who would want ours for $30,000 more, when they could have the house with street appeal for less.

Just in case the house we offered on has stinkers for a bank also, I am watching the other houses we looked at. None of them are moving either. The only houses moving are the ones on our old block. Location location location. I wish there was something for us there.

Tom suggested after we get this big house, we bid again on the dive. If we close with enough time, and it is still available, I would love that. We would have a place to live while we consider and plan our dream location. That would be heavenly. We could rent out the dive and take our time.

House shopping goes on

Tom caught the vomit bug last weekend. He was supposed to be golfing and instead spent the day watching TV in bed. For him to miss a golfing opportunity tells you how mucky this bug makes you feel. Meanwhile, we are waiting to hear on the big house Tom likes. Its a short sale like us, so we have to wait for their bank to OK it. It could take a couple of weeks before we hear anything.

Tom is starting his new business as an independent contractor/project manager. He starts his first project next month. The commute is too long from here and he wants his company to be based in Washington. Oregon really has some serious issues that are chasing us away. Extremely high property taxes on top of an income tax and still to have bad funding for the schools is inexcusable.

Our district has done amazing things to keep going, but my boys miss a month more of school every year than Washington students, and they are cutting more days from next year's calendar.

We want a social life for both of us. Tom wants his golfing. He is renting a friend's spare apartment until we can find a place big enough for all of us. School gets out in June so I am in no hurry to move until summer. Then we can take our time.

I had to laugh, the dive is back on the market. It would have been a done deal if they would have accepted our offer. Its on the block we want. Now we are strapped and have offered elsewhere. But we could never have built a house as big as we are trying to get, and it is near move in ready for us. Just a few tweaks here and there to make it ours. But I really wanted the club. Though Tom and I would have fought tooth and nail on a house construction. With everything so cheap these days, it is hard to argue for a construction project.

Maybe it was a sign that we were not meant to be on the block , yet. We get this other house and do our improvements then later come back to our old street when the time is right. The boys move out in 5 years and are off to college. We wont necessarily need a 5000 square foot house then.

I still have to get in there and figure out what I want to do with that basement. All sorts of options come to mind; A huge master suite or a separate apartment or a big laundry with closets or a party room like that 70's show, though without the pot, even doing chickens again out of the spare garage stall. This place is so big I could house mine and Tom's families without ever having to see them. All I wanted was room for the pool table and ended up with a mansion.

The idea of this place is growing on me. But I am still watching our other choices, which are hanging out there not moving either.

The numbers

I haven't posted the fantastic numbers Riley has been getting. With all the home shopping and relocation issues, I didn't want to run downstairs and get the sheets while I was already at the computer. So here they are, taking in to account Riley had a cold last week that the doctor says helps bump up the numbers. Still we are ecstatic and we don't see him again until May 2. Riley will down his dose again on June 13, but we don't have to go in for a blood draw before doing it. That is a real sign of confidence in his healing.

4/4 (sick visit to ER just in case, with tummy cramps- turns out to be just a bug combined with constipation.) white cells 5.9 Red cells 3.73 Hemoglobin 12.0 Hematocrit 35.5 Platelets 128 Neutrophils 85 Lymphocytes 7 monocytes 6 eos 2% BASO 0% Neutrophil real count 5 (smear of blood under a microscope)

The numbers we watch are platelets and white cells, and the neutrophils and lymphocytes and monocytes, which are the new stem cells being produced, which shows bone marrow production, yeah!!

Now, again remember the body produces more white cells and neutrophils when you are sick. So there are some changes both up and down, but all the changes show good response. Riley's body is responding naturally the way it should to a cold or flu.

The cyclosporan suppresses his immune system so it doesn't fight itself. The risk with taking him off the drugs is that his bone marrow will shut down again and his numbers will fall off. The awesome red cell count and Hemoglobin and platelet count, and a white cell count pop and then not crash all the way to 2, indicate that all is going as it should. We are now hopeful for a full recovery. Modern medicine is amazing.

4/14/2011 white cell 3.5 red cell 3.78 hemoglobin 12.4 Henatocrit 35.5 Platelet count 174 Neutrophil 53 lymphocyte 8 eos% 5 BASO% 1.9 Neutrophil # 1.9

I didn't get to go to this visit as I was laid up with that bug and feeling not up to the visit. Besides they are very strict about bringing bugs into the hospital. Tom and Riley were very pleased with the meeting. Everyone got their way. The doseage change is in the morning , a whole 50 milligrams. Then in a month another 50 milligrams. A whole hundred milligrams all before we see the doctor again.

I am a liittle stressed at the two months lag in blood test, but we are switching insurance also and that will help with the ease of transfer. Besides at the first indication of a problem, I would be rushing Riley to the ER or getting him a blood test. The key is not to sit and stare at him waiting for him to pop.

Riley told me he still has that loose tooth in his mouth from last year, spring. The doctor told him not to pull it, to let it fall out naturally. Well, Riley has it lodged in that hole and is not going to let anyone touch it, no matter how ready it is to come out.

He presented "how to make brownies" to his speech class. The comments were all wonderful. Other than needing to make eye contact with the audience more, they all said they loved it. They had little note cards to write their comments on, in pretty hand writing, unlike my boys' hand writing. Riley tells me other than three other boys the class is all girls. Today's presentation was from a girl on "how to get ready for the prom". Riley yecked at the topic but you can tell he enjoyed it. He liked the audience of girls liking his cooking demonstration. He picked the topic himself. He has such a sweet tooth he has had lots of practice making brownies

I sent Riley off to school with a basket full of items for the cooking demonstation; a table cloth, a chefs apron and hat, along with a toaster oven and all the ingredients for the brownie mix in little lidded ramikins with a mixing bowl and wisk. He made up a batch of brownies the night before so he could show the finished product and serve it to the class. He even took whip cream in a lunch cooler on an ice pack. I was glad I gave him the table cloth as he didn't have to clean up a mess at school, just ball up the table cloth and bring it home to wash. There was chocolate batter on the apron and hat and on the table cloth and the dish towel. When I unloaded the basket, I just tossed everything into the wash. It was an easy clean up. I can only hope the class room didn't look that bad.

Sick

have been laid up in bed for two days. I never vomited again, but I felt close to it several times. I did feel tingling in my hands and arms. Tom held my hand the whole ride home from the club. He kept saying it was the black mold causing this. Personally I think it was a combination of Trevor's bug and the black mold.

I told Tom I felt like I had a hang over, but I hadn't had any alcohol, it was so unfair. I got up a couple of times, but my energy level was zero and eventually would go back to bed and sleep for hours. Tom came up to watch TV. I loved the company, if only I had felt better. I listened to the history channel do a story on Thomas Jefferson.

Tom and I were both disappointed that more wasn't done on the civil war 150th anniversary. The children came home from school and not one teacher had mentioned it. Fort Sumter was attacked, starting the civil war this week. There was a nice insert in our local paper about it. This week should have been Abraham Lincoln or the Generals of the civil war. It was a pivotal time in our history.

Tom has the theory that had a different president been elected and the civil war not happened, we would still have eventually abolished slavery. England and France and other countries that had slaves, eventually realized the evil of slavery without going to war over it. But it would have taken a longer time. Did we just cram all those body counts into a shorter window of time?

The civil war was not just about slavery. The real argument was states rights. Did the federal government have the authority to tell the states what they could and could not do within their own boundaries. Lincoln fought to preserve the union first, and abolish slavery second. The emancipation proclamation was not until much later in the war. The southern states just didn't like his getting elected. North Carolina seceded first, then attacked Fort Sumter as a northern military outpost in their state, which lead to other southern states joining North Carolina, everyone taking sides and the war was on. The first shots fired were from North Carolina at Fort Sumter.

I guess it made sense to be listening to Thomas Jefferson this week as he was also a man who took his role of president as being more than just leadership. He expanded the powers of Federal government. Under Jefferson we started a Navy to fight piracy at sea. He bought from Napoleon the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the country with a pen stroke. He did these acts without consulting congress and took some heat in the press. But there are no "take backs" when you are President.

So I lay in bed listening to the TV. It made me nauseated to lift my head or use my eyes. I still say "watching" TV is bad when you are sick. I probably would not have had it on if it weren't for wanting Tom's company.

I am off to work today. Just a half day. We are inventorying the stock. Riley needs more yogurt. I got on him about all the open jars. Now he is throwing them away, which means I have to buy more more often. The doctor's visit went well. Riley had another bump in his numbers. Though he was sick again. The doctor says it is hard to tell with those bumps and his being sick. But we are happy, and decreased another dosage level.

mold abatement

We saw a house today. 4000 square feet. Ranch on top of ranch. It had fallen into the wrong hands a few years ago. It used to be a drug house. Pot was grown in the downstairs daylight basement. Black mold was on the walls. I loved the layout, but it would have been a gut job to the bones. Tom called a friend in the business. He told us there is no guarantee to get rid of black mold other than burning the house down.

After our second visit into the house, we all had mild headaches, Tom the realtor and myself. That was a little scary as we hadn't been in the house that long.

Tom didn't like my other choice,too small and chopped up at 2700 square feet, built in the 1980's, which left his first choice, contemporary, 4000 square feet with another 1000 in unfinished basement. You get to the unfinished part through the garage. It was a similar design to what we have but the bonus room over the garage was huge. Two pool tables could easily have fit with room to spare.

Once home, I lay in bed trying to figure out how I could improve the number one house for us. Its missing the double closets we have now. One of us could fit his clothes in it. Only three bedrooms on the second floor and one of the boys will have a smaller space. By the front door is a guest room, easily accessible for someone who can't do stairs. That was a plus. A shower is in the bathroom across the hall on the main floor. This is the bathroom everyone would need to use for the bonus room, clear at the other end of the house. There may be a view once the blackberries and scrub trees are cut back. The hot tub on the deck has been vandalized, missing its engine. So it needs some love, just not as much as some others I have seen. The neighborhood is full of lovely homes, which is a plus. Probably nicer homes than the first neighborhood with the drug/mold house. We just can't do that mold.

The bank will be lucky if they sell mold house at all. The power had been off and the cleaning crew missed cleaning out the refrigerator. So the odd smell was not just the mold but months of rotting food. There had been a hole cut in the living room floor. We guessed to hide money or something. You could see all the way down to the downstairs through the hole. Downstairs, hooks hung on the walls and ceiling that had been used to keep the plants upright. Outside was a big pile of potting soil, at least a cubic yard, by the sliding doors. Some one with more money than us needs to take on that project. We did the math in the car, new roof, new floors and all the dry wall replaced, plus the windows were old aluminum needing replacing. I sighed and passed on the house.

So we look at this funky contemporary with a great above the garage party room. I don't know if I want it or not. My mom says to picture your furniture in it. Well, the resistance trainer will fit and the pool table. But all my antiques I just couldn't see it. I don't know where Tom plans to set up his office or mine either. Its a very open floor plan in some ways. I think we may have to tackle the unfinished addition sooner rather than later so the boys and I have spaces also.

There is a back garage downstairs in the unfinished area. I thought about getting a goat for the blackberries. The space would make a great animal manger . There are no CCRs. But its a very up scale neighborhood. I doubt having animals will make me popular with the neighbors. But first we need to see what the overgrown back yard space looks like without the blackberries climbing up the deck. Perhaps if we get it I can borrow some ones goat for a short time.

The other portion could be turned into a lovely office with a back door exit. Or perhaps for all my clothes that will not fit in the closet in our master bedroom. I could have one of those dream closet set ups with room and planning. The only problem is there is no easy way to get to the basement. I can see opening up the wall in the laundry area/ sun room to get to the stairs more efficiently for traffic flow.

It has that open living room lofted to the second floor bedroom balconies, like we have now, that costs so much to heat. I don't remember a fireplace. No spare office off the master. Tom was so enamoured with the bonus space, he didn't care about the other issues. I don't know if it had a heat pump or air conditioning with all those windows. I do know the furnace in the basement is right in the middle of where I want to put my new room.

I didn't like his second choice. Another contemporary with a great view. The wrap around deck was great. He loved it for the wrap around deck, but eventually you have to go inside and it was laid out with the laundry in the basement and the master was poorly designed on the third flight of stairs away from the laundry. Lots of useless wasted nooks on the master floor. I didn't like the spaces. Honestly, none of the houses popped out at me, but that is what you get in our circumstances and budget. Its all about compromises.

So we will see what happens. Hours after seeing the mold house I still had a headache. We were at the club trying to decide what to do. Friends were there to assist. It was so good to see all those familiar faces. They all had tales of whoa regarding black mold. The mild headache was really what killed the deal on the drug house. I ended up in the bathroom vomiting. Luckily no one else came in. I felt miserable. Now, it could have been Trevor's vomit bug from the weekend compounded with the head ache. I called Tom on his cell to interrupt him from talking to his friends at the bar, telling him it was time to get me home. All I had was 7 up with lemon wedge to drink because I wanted to keep my head while making these life changing decisions, thank goodness. It came up easy. But I still felt miserable on the hour ride home.

Moving on

We have yet to find a house, but the boys are doing so well in school I am not so pressed to move. I should say Riley is blossoming at school. Nothing does a heart better for confidence than a perfect report card. He has friends and tells me all sorts of fun things that happen to him at school. I dread moving him. Trevor will bounce. We are even thinking of having him repeat eighth grade. Trevor is not thrilled, but we can play it up that it will be easier for him to enter high school with friends from middle school. We'll figure that out as we go. He is young for his class. His concern is he is so big. But as an eighth grader there are other big kids. It will give him an advantage on the football field.

I have Tom all Wednesday. We are going house looking. We have to get something. He has rented an apartment from a friend, as he starts work in a week. The drive was too far a commute to his new office. He needed an address in Washington for his new business. We did not get either of the houses we wanted in our old neighborhood. Tom was disappointed as was I. The dive was almost a relief not to get as we would have fought over every step of the tear down and remodel. That would have been a real project.

The move in ready sold for almost asking price. $30,000 more than I wanted to pay. Tom thought I was cheap not to just buy it as he felt it was worth it. I am trying to stay in a budget. There are other houses. Its a compromise not to be in our old neighborhood. But if we can get the deal I want, who is to say we can't buy in our old neighborhood later down the road after Tom's business takes off and we can breath easy again. We showed the house last weekend.

Our realtor called to tell us the mortgage company wants to set the price at $289,000. I laughed. That is not a short sale price. It is more than we originally listed it for when we were not a short sale. It hasn't sold at $259,000, the price we thought they would like. Why they think asking more is going to get it sold I have no idea. I am not concerned about moving before June. The mortgage company doesn't mind, so neither will I. I can tell you we are doing our best. The house is clean and tidy for the showings. We are putting our best foot forward. With a house right in front of us abandoned and listed at $259,000, it is out of our hands. If the bank wants to try and get us $289,000, which is not a short sale and would save our credit history, let them try. But any doubts are gone that the banks got us into this mess with their eyes wide open. There is no guilt left. We truly tried to work with them and are continuing to try, but I wont be sorry to leave this financial mess behind us, even with a potential 100 point hit on our credit. We have been for sale since the beginning of March with no offers and four showing, and a dozen Realtors at an open house. Now the bank wants to raise the price.

I am off to work. I let them know that we would be leaving and to start finding a replacement. I will miss my job dreadfully. It just fit so well into my life with the flexibility and helping people. It made me feel useful again. I loved the pay check too. Tom wants me to find a career in Longview. I haven't decided what I will do yet. I am a people person and a great salesman. We will see what comes up for me.

PS Trevor was home vomiting Sunday. I never know if he is really sick or playing me until he really starts puking. He stayed home from school Monday. But this time his dad was home. As soon as Trevor showed signs of feeling better, Tom made him do chores. I just ban TV when the kids are sick. Too sick to go to school, too sick to watch TV. Tom thinks that banning TV is too severe a punishment for a sick child. I have been meaning to ask Trevor which he preferred, no TV or doing chores at the first sign of feeling better. He hinted at the no TV being better, but his Dad was standing there.

I loved coming home to dinner last night. Pork chops in mushroom sauce, canned green beans, and rice a roni. It was lovely. We all sat at the dinner table. Tom did take the end that faced the TV, but I just enjoyed the five minute camaraderie of everyone being at the table for dinner for once. I sat at the spot that kept my back to the TV. It didn't take long to eat. Trevor stuck with the rice only. His appetite was down from vomiting. We could tell he was on the mend. He ate ever bit of rice. He just wasn't ready for meat yet. Our advice is always to chew well and eat soft foods that come up easily when you have the vomit bug.

We thought Trevor might be allergic to something the way he was sick on Sunday. His face was brightly flushed and he complained of tingling in his toes and fingers. We watched him carefully, but what ever set him off he had definitely flushed from his system one way or the other. We called the doctor in the evening, who recommended flat Coke to settle his stomach. Tom went to the store to buy a can. he mixed in laxatives when he gave it to Trevor, thinking this bug was like Riley's and perhaps he needed laxatives. Trevor puked again. But that was the last time. He woke in the morning feeling tired and sore, which is why he stayed home from school. Tom wondered why Trevor's eyes were red and bloodshot when I got home from work. I told him it was from watching TV when he should have been resting. That went over as you can expect. I didn't offer any more thoughts, but set the example by going to bed early and getting a good nights sleep.

Editing

It seems blogger is having an editing problem with their program, thus the lack of paragraph spacing. Its very irritating and hard to read when there are no breaks in the writing. Hopefully the problem will resolve itself soon. But I am not going to slow down on my only stress relief writing. The house had a showing last night. Report cards came so I took the boys out to dinner to celebrate Riley's perfect As report card. There was even an A+ with an Outstanding student comment. Trevor did not have such an outstanding report card. Awful would not be too mild a term. He pouted much of the evening as I told him "No, he did not get a treat or extras." Riley basked in the glory of proud parents and many compliments. Trevor's music teacher had asked if I would reconsider sending Trevor on the band competition. She asked if I would chaperon. This report card put the last nail in his coffin. I am not relenting. We are not going on the trip. I do feel badly as I know many families can't afford to go or their children did not make good enough grades either. There needs to be some repercussions for Trevor's poor performance. This was an easy decision. It would have cost $500 for us both to go plus spending money. Trevor needs to learn and feel the pain. Next year he wont be able to play football if he can't make the grades. He has to try. Last Thursday when I had to pick a friend up at the airport, I left the house only to realize I had left my wallet at home. I had left Trevor working on his math. I walked in the door not five minutes later and he was already upstairs on the computer watching Net flix. I call to him asking if he had finished his math already. He answered yes. I went over to his paper where he had shoved it under his binder on the dining room table. Luckily it was a green sheet and very prominent. I knew immediately which page it was. It was blank. He had quit as soon as the door had shut when I left the first time. Now I was going to be late picking up my girlfriend and her family, because I had to sit on Trevor while he worked. That same weekend, Trevor got himself up on Saturday morning, grabbed a rake from the garage and walked to our local park where Kiwanis club was doing maintenance, spreading bark. Of course they did serve donuts for the early birds and pizza at the end. But he motivated and volunteered all on his own. I wasn't even around to remind him. So I know he can do things on his own. The things he wants to do. Some how we have to turn school around so he wants to do it. He is now constantly reading. But can he hand in a reading log to his humanities teacher on time ...no. I wish she would make them write essays now, after they finish the book, a summary. I think that would be more useful than reading logs. But then if he can't hand in a reading log, how can he write an essay and get that handed in. I just think it might be less boring and more interesting to summarize and try to sell a great book that he liked reading and might want to share. Work on writing skills at the same time. He went out the door to the bus this morning without his homework. I yelled and he came back for it. I did ask to see his work and see how much he had finished last night. I have no idea how much he was supposed to have done. According to the teacher's blog, the map was to be done and handed in at class already. Trevor says they are still doing it in class one more day. I am having a hard time trusting him. Riley is back in school. He missed only one day due to the stomach cramps. Tom gave him laxatives and that seemed to cure the problem. We were all relieved it wasn't appendicitis. We can't help thinking the worst when ever he gets sick. Riley's numbers were great. Which was also really uplifting. Our concern was that he is now off 25% on the drugs, his numbers might fall. They are not falling. His Creatinen number is still going up, which is why we really want him off the drugs soon. That is the kidney stress indicator. It is higher than a recovered alcoholic friend of 55. But the kidney does repair itself and Riley is young. He just may not be able to indulge and imbibe as much as his parents, which may not be a bad thing. Riley is loving his speech class elective this semester. Not a lot of kids are in the class. I knew it would be a great experience for Riley. Because of the small numbers he finds it less intimidating to perform. He also discovered he does best with props. He had to describe himself and took a book and a football and a brownie pan. He said he got the class to laugh during his speech. That class has been a growing experience for him because it is all about performance, standing in front of people and talking. It has only been two weeks and he talks about the class all the time. Tom asked me to look into private school for Riley in our new city, when we move. We are looking at all our options. He even told Trevor that another report card like this one and he would agree with me about repeating eighth grade. Its the band and football part I dread. Will Trevor be able to connect with the teachers and coaches and continue to grow. It might not be a bad idea for Trevor to reconnect by starting eighth grade over at a new school. He would then hit high school with established friends and network.

ER

After a great party weekend, adults only, Tom and I came home. Tory looked exhausted from a weekend of parenting teenagers. They had all gone to the movies and out to lunch with Margaret. Trevor and Eleanor had fallen asleep in front of the TV all night. Tory had slept with William in our room. Not condussive of the best nights sleep. We, Tom and I had golfed in the rain, stayed up way too late talking to old and new friends. I had been good the first night then had wine after midnight the second night and ended up talking until three am. probably more like babbling. I really need to knock off the over indulging on alcohal at parties. But I just couldn't keep up the steam without the help of that glass of wine after midnight. the night before I had crashed early to bed after a rigorous game of golf. I wasn't going to be a party pooper two nights in a row. Not many women came on this trip. Some childhood friends of one of the hosts flew out from the east coast to attend this 50th gathering. I was impressed that so many had stayed in contact. I know no one from my childhood that I am still in contact with. You really have to stay in one place for a long time to have those long term friends. And be the outgoing fun loving person that people want to stay in contact with, as our good friend with the many childhood friends is. The house was an old Victorian. Many beds and bedrooms to sleep the many guests. There were also a couple of other homes available for the overflow. Not everyone could stay the whole weekend. some only lasted Friday night, some only came down for Saturday night. I loved meeting all the new faces and seeing the other facets of my friends' lives. The weekend came to an end and we sadly headed home. Everyone scattering again to their different directions. Great memories and and laughs to hold us until the next time. Once home I called for early bedtime. Vacation is over for everyone. School starts the next day and I have to work. It was a great day at work with little bursts of business that even though the day felt slow, the end results were good on the books. I came home to Tom having cooked a great dinner. Marinated flank steak and rice a roni and beans ready when I walked through the door. I gave Tom a big hug. he called for dinner and Trevor trooped down the stairs ready to serve up as much as he was allowed. Riley also came downstairs. He was subdued, complaining of a head ache. After dinner I gave him Tylenol. Tom suggested he take his pills early so he could go to bed and not have to get up again to take them later. I provide the yogurt and spoon. While I clean up the kitchen I watch Riley curl up on the couch. Tom drapes him with a blanket. Trevor and I play chess in the corner while I keep an eye on Riley. Its been a while since Riley has been sick. We are down to 150 mg twice a day of his cyclosporan. My thought is maybe it was too fast, maybe he is relapsing. Tom and I whisper about his headache. I search for a thermometer, getting cranky that I can't lay my hands on one right away. I have to empty out the junk drawer completely to find one. I take Riley's temperature three times and get three different results each one higher than the last. I search for another thermometer, dumping out my travel purse in the end to find it. This one gives 101.6 then 101.9. I dig in the garage to find the binder with all Riley's medical information. The book says call the clinic if temperature is over 100.4. So I make the call. I talk to the on call doctor. While talking to him and asking Riley questions while he lies prone on the couch looking miserable, Riley tells me he has been feeling nausea for over twenty four hours. That he felt sick yesterday. He has been having pain after he eats. he hasn't pooped today but had a small poop yesterday. My alarm bells are going off. pain and nausea with headache and fever in conjunction with the decrease in dosage. The doctor agrees that it might be a good idea to be seen. He will let the ER know we are coming. Another dark drive to the ER. The weather is pouring down rain. My wipers whine at every other swipe irritatingly. Riley has wrapped himself in his shawl I handed him as we headed out the door. I have packed an overnight bag for us both just in case. I also grabbed his Dale Jr jacket for luck. It is also a great conversation piece if we end up staying a while. I figure if we arrive fully prepared then it will be unlikely we will need to stay. So here we are at the ER. The nurses drew blood and Riley took his time to pee in a cup for them. They hooked him up to an IV and gave him some anti nausea meds. though he is not acting nearly as sick as he was earlier lying on the couch, he is trying to sleep. You can hear the nurses station people chatting outside the door. An infant cries down the hall. Riley didn't want sound on the TV, but he didn't want the TV turned off either, even though he has his eyes closed and is trying to sleep. The lights are dimmed but not out as we wait for the lab results. The concern was the abdominal pain, appendicitis. But when the Doctor probed Riley's stomach he did not flinch or feel pain. He said it was only after eating he has been feeling the pain. The headache had become just a dull throb. On a scale of one to ten he said it was a three. I worry about internal bleeding, but he said his pee was normal and so was his poop yesterday. Nothing looked out of the ordinary when I flushed the toilets today. Maybe constipation or gas is all it is. The IV has made him feel better. He has finished the bag. We sit quietly and wait for those all important lab results. Riley gets to sleep in the bed under the blankets. We were supposed to see the doctor next Thursday to get lab results and see about lowering another 10% dosage. The problem with ER visits is they are always at least 4 hours. We arrived at 8:30 pm. It is now 10:30. We probably have another hour of waiting. It will be a long dark wet drive home when we are done. I can see we may have over reacted but its best to be careful. I just didn't know quite how to react with stomach pains, headache and fever with the dosage change and it having been so long and that fever bouncing around on the thermometer. The nurse comes in and says he will be getting an IV dose of antibiotics then he can go home. They are just being proactive but nothing jumps out at them We will get to go home in an hour.