Holy Shizzle - We Got A Hizzle!

Yes! It's true! But I'll get to that in a bit, I have other topics to discuss.

1) My Beebie had a great trip to Texas. I love that she hangs out with my dad and watches Hannah Montana all day. She's still at the age where she thinks it's fun to go to the grocery store. Then my parents flew back with her and stayed in St. Louis for a week. They got to see the house we were looking at, and they liked it too. Enough to help us afford it.

2) Beebie turned 10 last week. That means that I've been doing this Mom thing for a full decade. You'd think I'd have the hang of it by now, but I don't. I still feel clueless. It's all day-to-day.


This picture was taken in our old apartment. I used to bring her into the bathroom with me when I'd take a shower. It always put her to sleep. I remember taking this picture. It was the day I first started calling her Beebie. I was trying to capture on film the way she would raise one eyebrow whenever I'd say in my really silly voice, "Hi, Beebie! Hi, Beeb!" Needless to say, it stuck.

3) I have a date for the Stitch N' Pitch! Shannon! I'm looking forward to hanging out watching my favorite team play my favorite sport in one of the most beautiful ballparks in the country - while knitting. And drinking beer. I'm not going to take a project that I have to concentrate on or one that would be ruined if I spilled beer or nacho cheese on it. I'm thinking dishcloth cotton. I'm making myself some dishcloths for my new kitchen.

4) My stupid eyeball ulcer is STILL not gone. It's been bugging me since mid-June. Have I ever mentioned on here the extent to which eye-related shit freaks me out? I won't eat a grape or a cherry tomato because I can't stop thinking that's what it must feel like to bite into an eyeball. Ugh, I just hate being in the eye doctor's exam room with the cross-section of the eyeball on the wall - or worse, the model on the desk. GAG!!

Ok, so yeah, we bought us a house! And here's the part where I prove to the world that I can, contrary to the opinion of my husband, admit when I was wrong. We bought the house that R found when he upped the high-end price of our search parameters. The one that I liked sold. And I was sad, but it's really ok. This house is much nicer. It cost $10K more, but it's definitely $10K worth of nicer.

Beebie will have to change schools. This is fine with her. Her new school is one of the few in the area where I don't have someone I dread running into. We've got Stella Dallas, of course, (not to be confused with Anti-Stella, who rocks) at the school she went to from 2nd to 4th grade, and Dr. Eyeball (not to be confused with Dr. Creepy French Teacher who is currently treating my creepy eyeball in the absence of Dr. Hottie Smartass) from the school she went to before that.

There were some others I didn't want to run into either, but those are stories for another day. Just to whet your appetite - I didn't want to deal with Shatner, Junior Perv or Shut Up Angel. Somebody please remind me to tell those stories.

So I'm starting at this school with a clean slate. Right now I love everybody and everybody loves me. We'll see how long that lasts. I bet I'll piss somebody off within the first two weeks.

Beeb doesn't know anybody at the new school, but she will get to continue in the Gifted Program, where she will see some of the kids she knows from other schools. Beeb and I were thinking about how nice it would be if she had a good friend like Jack on her first day at a new school. And then of course we started bawling.

Pie will know a few kids from his preschool, including his cool friend Camille whose mom is great but super-duper intense. I can't remember if I've already assigned her a name yet or not. And I think Whiney Pete is going to be there too.

Oh, AND - NO MORE CHURCH NAZI!!!! We're moving out of the parish to a church which has the Cry Room our other church lacked! This great news is nearly outweighed, however, by the lack of Summer PSR (meaning that the kids will have to go one night a week for some Church Learnin' - whatever) AND the fact that we'll now live in the parish that both The Aldi's and Mrs. Aldi's freaky family attend. Maybe we'll start going again just so I can talk about Mrs. A and Aldigirl's horrific Garbage Blanche Haute Couture fashion blunders. That could be fun.

So we don't technically move until October, at which point I'll be able to officially tell Evilite Property Mismanagement to SUCK IT. I'm considering sending them a picture of my lily white ass along with my final rent payment, since I doubt we'll get much of our deposit back.

But more about the new house - it's less than 2 miles from where we live now, perfect! And it's got everything. Two-car garage, level fenced yard, big semi-finished basement (by that I mean linoleum on the floors and painted white walls), a large Master Suite with two walk-in closets and room for a Knitting Nook, a formal dining room, living room, fireplace, kids' bedrooms are large and UPSTAIRS - and they have their own bathroom as well as good-size closets, a patio with a gas grill, and a nice kitchen with custom cabinets AND.... A DISHWASHER!!!! No more Kitchen Sink Jenga!!

It's in a great neighborhood, on a cul-de-sac street. It's really just awesome and I love it. And FIL signed off on it, can ya believe? I guess I can kinda believe it, since it was really the high end of our price range. If he'd seen some of the houses we could actually have afforded, he'd have tried to talk me into moving outside the school district, which I was not willing to do, and we would have had Issues.

As it turns out, FIL really digs this house and has not only offered us a gas dryer but also offered to build shelves in the basement! He is a master carpenter, and these will certainly be top-quality shelves, but I have a little teeny concern that my house will soon become FIL's Ongoing Project. Like I'm gonna let him suck the joy out of our long-awaited homeownership.

Not a chance.


And THIS is just for you, Yorkie: