Ghosts, Water and No Heater

I know it has been awhile, so I will bring you all up to speed.  My last post was from the summer when it was still warm outside.  It is now winter and the lack of heat in this old rent house is getting to us.  3 space heaters and two electric blankets are not enough.  Needless to say the chill in the house is causing sickness to latch in.  Brian got strep throat last week and now I have it.  So I am snuggled in bed with the dogs and the heating blanket.  But at least I have time to catch up!

Things are moving along with the new house.  We are pre-approved for the VA loan!  Which means we can actually see progress on the property!  The well is in and water is flowing.  It is clear and tasteless.  The power company has been out to decide where the power lines will run as well as the gravel guy for the road. The house is marked and we should have a slab by the end of January!


As for our rental, we have a ghost.  Briana had been saying for awhile that there was a shadow man in the hallway upstairs.  We really didn't read to much into it.  Just thought she didn't like being upstairs alone.  But she just became more and more dramatic about it.  She would sit on the stairs and cry if she was asked to go up by herself.  Then things started happening downstairs too.  I was asleep in the middle of the night and sat up straight in bed thinking someone was smoking a cigarette in my bedroom.  I walked the whole house and even looked out the window thinking someone was in the backyard.  Nothing.  A few nights later I woke up just knowing someone was watching me.  The girls were asleep upstairs, the dogs and Brian were asleep in bed with me, but yet the curtains were swaying back and fourth like someone was running their hands across them.  Then I started smelling the smoke smell when I was up late by myself working.  And things would happen like the printer tray being played with and the dogs reacting to nothing.  Sienna sees our friend and he plays with her.  She jumps around like someone is about to throw a ball for her.
After all of this we decided to stop telling the kids ghosts don't exist and embraced it.  We had a family meeting in the upstairs hallway.  We took turns talking to our friend and saying anything we wanted to him.  things have quieted down and Briana still sees him but just tells him to go on.  I talk to him when I feel him in the room with me.  I often get a puff of smoke smell as an answer to "Are you hanging out with me tonight"? We have decided he is just board.  So we accept him and share the house.

And that brings us up to date.  I should have some more exciting news soon!

That's How Country Girls Roll

Forgot to post one.  This happened back in the summer.  

My mom came to visit this weekend!  She had not been out to see the property yet. So we got ready and made sandwichs for the Brian and Robert. They were killing cactus and burning brush.

Knowing it is around 100 degrees we dressed for the heat. Mom and I had on jean shorts and tank tops.  I had on my Justin Boots. Monkey had on a sun dress and her Justin Boots. K had on a t shirt abd shorts and mud boots. The girls were wearing their cowgirl hats. We looked pretty.

Needless to say a stop at Dollar General was in order. "Cause you don't have to get all dressed up like when you go to the Walmart".  The girls, feeling very country, got 6 shooter toy guns and a toy shot gun. I may find the tom boy in them yet!

Dinner Time

So our landlord put new smoke alarms in the house. The ones that are all liked together so if one is set off they all go off. It was a nice thought. There are about 5 alarms downstairs alone. One is IN the kitchen. Not just outside the kitchen, not around the corner from the kitchen, it is IN the kitchen. Now this causes a big problem when we use the oven. When we heat the oven for pizza it is preheated to 425 per directions. When the oven reaches 425 I put the pizza in. With in 4-5 minutes the smoke alarm starts going off in the kitchen. The whole house begins to answer. The kids start plugging their ears and screaming, the dogs run from room to room in a panic and I reach for the umbrella to push the button. The umbrella works best because it is long enough and has a pointed end. I wonder what someone watching from the outside in (who can't hear) would think. They would see the dogs and kids in crazy mode and the parents acting like nothing was wrong. Tonight it happened when I made sausage in the frying pan. Guess this is the new normal for dinner time. "Hey kids the smoke alarm means it's time to wash hands and set the table!"

Good Morning Connor

Our landlord is a really nice guy. He and his wife bought this house and have put LOTS of money into getting it fixed up. Connor has put LOTS of his own blood, sweat and tears into this house. We moved in before they were really ready to rent it out. We were willing to live though his repairs and I am sure they were happy to be making some money off it. They first two weeks here Connor was coming over almost everyday. The girls and I were fully into summer vacation mode. We were staying up late every night and sleeping in every morning. Brian was on early morning calls. We told Connor to just let himself in. After a day or two of knocking he learned. The girls and I would get up and stroll into the kitchen to find Connor working on the dishwasher or upstairs working on the bathroom. He is so good to the kids. Let them help paint and made box houses for them. I think we lucked out in the landlord department.

One Hole

It is late. My family is asleep. I finished my show in the living room and head to the bathroom. I am startled by the mess I see. Bath toys all over the floor, towel tossed, shower curtain ruffled and not how I keep it. As I sit down on the toilet I started laughing. I am giggling so hard! The vision of the events that left my bathroom a mess hit me. Let me back up a bit and say we have one well working bathroom downstairs and an upstairs bathroom we are all scared to poop in. It tends to back up an overflow. The floors are not the real floors it is the floor beams from the orginal building. So when you splash water out of the tub or overflow the toilet it runs between the slats of the floor beams and leaks into the downstairs bathroom. Yuck. Here is what happened... The hubs and I were enjoying Cowboy & Ailens while the girls played in the bath. They had been in there awhile. All of a sudden Hubs had to GO! NOW! He runs into the bathroom forgetting the girls were in there. He tells them to get out fast and walks back out. After a few moments of pacing the floor he goes back in. He is yelling "Get out now! Go! Hurry!" I suddenly have two dripping wet and cold naked girls crying living room. I send them to my room to dry and dress and calm them down. I did some explaining that daddy had to go potty and no one wants to be taking bath while someone if going number two. LOL.  

The North 4...

It's close to 40 right? So we don't actually own 40 acres. We do own 4. It is a very nice 4 acres. It was given to us by my mother in law. She was given 46 acres from her parents. One day the rest of the 46 will become ours, but I hope that doesn't happen too soon. Anyway, we put our earnest money deposit down with a custom home builder. Hopefully they will come and stake out the house in the next few weeks. We are really excited and have begun counting the days until we move out of this rental. I miss things that work. Right now the double fluorescent light in the kitchen won't work. The bulbs are brand new. They were replaced in May. Those things should last forever! They worked Monday morning and by Monday afternoon they would not turn on. And the hubs keep flipping the light switch on out of habit and is getting shocked. I have been using the excuse "the light is out" as to why I can't cook dinner. Here is a look at our house plans. We have made a few changes. We took off the front porch and added a big back porch. We also added a 3rd full bath and a larger guest room. http://www.tilsonhome.com/HomePlan.aspx?PlanID=64

How Did We Get Here?

Back in April we met a friend of a friend who was looking to buy a house in our neighborhood. I half jokingly said "mine could be for sale!" She walked through our home the day after my daughter's 9th birthday party. (It was a monster high slumber party). My house looked like pink and black goth Barbies threw up. She was very nice and understanding. She said she was interested and we should look at numbers. We got serious and crunched numbers. Knowing we had not been there 5 years yet we didn't expect much money back. But things always work together when they need too! So we moved out on Memorial Day weekend and closed the following Tuesday. Now we are renting a home in a town south of where we plan to build. It was built in 1936 and has gone through several changes over the years. Kinda fun to leave our mark. With an older home one can expect problems. I hope to look back a laugh on all these very frustrating things. Like how the dryer would trip 10 minutes into drying. It took FOREVER to dry a load. Thankfully that got fixed quick! Hope you have enjoy reading about out Rough Road to the North 40.