Well, that happened fast. Staycation Day 7.

Well, well, well.

Things happen really fast in my world, apparently. 

I mentioned in my previous post that we went and looked at houses Friday morning. 

Here's what happened.

Let me back up.

My sister got sick a few weeks back.

Sick enough that she was on 2 antibiotics and a steroid.

In our family, when we get sick, we NEED to rest our lungs. It's just how it is. If we push ourselves too much, we'll end up in the hospital, with IV antibiotics and IV steroids, on O2 and pulse/ox monitoring. It's just not ok to treat us like regular people when we're sick.

I've never gotten "just a cold" - it ALWAYS turns into bronchitis and I'm really, really sick for about a week.

Steve didn't get it at first.

I got really sick one time. He didn't believe me and rolled back over and went to sleep.

I had to kick him and barely got the words out "call 911"

He JUMPED up and started helping.

I ended up in the hospital for 5 days.

That's the point in which Steve realized.

My sister's boyfriend does not get it.

He didn't help her.

He didn't go to the store for her.

She had to get up, go to the store to buy a chicken so she could make her own soup (I wish I knew she was sick! I would've sent food to her ASAP! I would've been there, but no one told me).

So when I did find out, I was PISSED. My poor sister!

He apparently thinks that if she can't get up and go to the store, she should be in the hospital anyway. Um, what? No, we take care of ourselves to prevent that shit from happening. The last place I want my sister is in the hospital so she can then contract a hospital-borne-infection. That's how most people DIE when they get to the hospital.

It makes my blood boil.

Anyway.

My mom and I were chatting on Wednesday, when I was making all the food.

She told me she wanted me to find a small house for Jennifer. She said she'd move home in about 10 years and live with Jennifer.

GREAT PLAN.

But, how would we afford another house right now?

I'm not putting another mortgage in my name.

I convinced my mother in the course of 30 minutes to move home now. While she's still healthy.

She'll be able to see the kids weekly, if not more!

I'll see her weekly, if not more often.

The houses we looked at are abut 35 - 45 minutes away from my house.

However, the. houses are super close to both Steve's work and my new office. Like 5-8 minutes away.

So that's a huge plus.

Steve can check on the house/cars/utilities/driveway/etc. since his work is right down the road.

If anyone is sick, I can go there and work from there, since I just need Internet to do my job (and my sister works from home too, so that's a plus).

My sister would be on the East side of town, and way closer to me.

If she got sick, my mom will be there, and I could stop in easily to help. My sister would never have to fend for herself again like she did before.

I wouldn't have to put the kids in daycare/summer camp in the summer or school breaks. I probably would, but now I have more options. My mom/sister can pick them up for me and then keep them until I get out of work.

My sister can take care of my mom as she ages (remember, she's an RN).

My mom can help my sister with her finances, if she needs it (my sister is on the ASD spectrum and can have difficulties with priorities and bills and such).

The ONLY thing is the winter. For my mom and her arthritis.

I told her that she wouldn't have to drive anywhere - Jennifer can drive her. Plus, since they are so close to BOTH me and Steve's places of business, we can easily get to them and drive them someplace.

This would take care of two of my biggest worries: taking care of mom and taking care of my sister. They will be close to me and in one place. And they'd own the house and my sister can pay my mom "rent" which will take care of bills/tax and my sister would never, ever be without a home. And also not have to pay someone or a landlord her money.

We found the house and it's super cute.

It's in my old town, next to the town where we grew up.

The first couple of houses we visited were complete busts.

The first one was clearly a flip and a crappy one at that. Everything was "new" but it just looked like shit. Like a contractor-wannabe did it. The finishing touches were crap.

The next house we went to turned out to be a house of someone I went to high school with. It was directly next to the busiest street in that town, so we didn't even go inside.

The 3rd house was the house.

You could tell one family maintained this house with love.

The paint colors were horrible, but well-done.

The wallpaper has to go.

The bathrooms were not renovated (the upstairs is legit from the 70's). But they weren't falling apart either. Tile/grout was still impeccable on those yellow/green mini tiles.

There's no master suite or master bathroom.

There are stairs to the second floor where there are 4 bedrooms. 2 huge. 2 smaller.

Kitchen was well maintained. New cabinets and corian countertops. Under cabinet lighting. Big drawers.

Deep double sink.

Needs new fridge and stove and washer/dryer.

But.

BUT.

The 3-season room sold us all.

Absolutely stunning room (with heat!) that has windows on 3 sides. Double doors from the lovely, large living room and doors from the kitchen.

Tall ceilings with a ceiling fan.

Stunning floors.

So we put an offer in!

We are waiting to hear back. We should know more tomorrow.

Fingers crossed.

We're all so excited.

Mom says that if this works out our trip to Vegas is canceled.

She said she'd pay for our trip...stay tuned to find out where we're going! 

Staycation Day 5 + 6 - The Day I Cook and Thanksgiving with the in laws.

I love Thanksgiving sides.

Just give me ALL the sides.

Growing up my mom made both Chinese dishes AND American dishes.

As I aged into adulthood, I totally took on the American way.

I got Grandpa Teenie's recipes and I haven't looked back since.

Steve gets a turkey each year from his work, so we gave that to Peck (Papa) so he could get that ready on Thanksgiving.

I'm preparing the following:

Mashed potatoes
Southern squash casserole
Green bean casserole (with fresh green beans and my own homemade mushroom cream sauce with bacon). Yeah. I said it. Bacon. 
Grandpa Teenie's dressing (or stuffing, I call it stuffing, but the official recipe says dressing)

Don't forget that I'll be making a separate batch of each for the girls. I know they won't eat it, but I have to have it ready just in case! They'll eat the potatoes...and corn.

I'm excited that the girls are off of school and we can have a lazy morning. No alarms. No driving everyone everywhere.

Just jammies and coffee.

And TV.

Cooking channels all the way. I love watching holiday baking shows on repeat. The only thing that would make it better is if Steve was home.

One of my most cherished items from Steve's family. They gave me all the family recipes in one book for my birthday one year. I cried. 

Grandpa's dressing recipe (with a few changes).

Prepping is part of the fun for me.

I made my own mushroom cream sauce

Shred your own cheese, people! It makes a difference! 

Southern Squash Casserole

This is not in the recipe, but I added it

and two pans of stuffing! 

I didn't get any pictures of the food before we dug in, since we were in the moment and just waiting for the turkey to finish cooking lol. All in all, it was delicious and we had a lovely time at Steve's parents house. 

We spent pretty much the whole day there and relaxed. We chatted, the girls played, had a generally good time. 

I also spent a good amount of time laughing at my husband and his dad. 

His dad was a really good football and basketball player in his high school glory days. He makes sure to mention something about those days every time we visit. It's cute...but it gets old. 

He apparently spent an entire day looking for a VHS video from 1968.

lol, like what the fuck is this?

Trying to explain this to the girls was hilarious. 

And they actually found it. And yes, he made us watch it for about an hour. You could barely see it. 

We called it an early night and headed home around 5. The girls played nicely while Steve and I chilled in a food coma before bedtime. 

Tomorrow, we're actually going to go look at houses! It's a really short story, and I'll explain later. But some things happened over the weekend and it looks like we'll be looking at 3 houses tomorrow morning. 

Stay tuned! 

Staycation Day 4 + UPK Volunteering

UPK Volunteer Day!

Today is the day Ava's been waiting for...well, forever.

She always asks why I don't stay at school with her.

I always have to tell her that I work and that it's not easy to take PTO and have it line up with volunteer days at school.

I told her that if it worked out, of course I would do it.

So this week, it worked out!

I get to spend the full 2.5 hours with 15 of Ava's classmates.

I cannot wait.

The first thing she said when she woke up was "you're volunteering today!" so cute. 

Started with cutting out some gingerbread men

Sorted letters for our friends' names. Glitter EVERYWHERE.

Centers during Art Class - Ava was VERY excited to remind people that we have this game at home and that we build BIG ONES. lol.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do with these random pieces of cardboard. None strong enough to build with. Too floppy to really do anything with. So, I call this one a bust. 

Centers in class. I was managing a different activity. I was very proud of how Ava handled herself while I was in class. 

I was surprised at how quickly the time went by. We accomplished a lot it seemed. Almost rushed? Maybe that's on purpose for the ones who have shorter attention spans. The age range is 3 year olds turning 4 by December 1 and then kids like Ava, who are on the older side. Turning 5 while in UPK. 

I was interesting to say the least. There are so many different personalities to work with. 

And, even though she's on the older side, I realized today really how smart she is. She just picks things up naturally or something. She seems to just "get it". I was really proud of how she behaved while I was there. She was excited of course, but still was able to pay attention and share my attention as well. 

We had a ton of fun!

Afterwards, we stopped at my office to drop off decorations and was I SO happy to see this.

We had teams and each team adopted a family for Thanksgiving. This is Team 2's basket (my team).

Other teams. So happy to see everyone be so generous. 

Then it was off to the Mall to have lunch with an old friend. 

My BUBBA! 

Of course we get ice cream.

And go for carousel rides

And went for another walk while we waited for Mila to get off the bus.

Ava started to get punchy as the day went on. I'm not sure if it's because she's getting bored with me, or if she's just out of routine. 

We ended our night watching The Polar Express. Ava doesn't remember it from last year, so it was pretty exciting for her. I was waiting for her to ask me THE QUESTION.

But she didn't. Thank God. 

Tomorrow is my day of cooking. I'm totally looking forward to it!

Staycation Day 3

The kids have school today and tomorrow.

I'm working from home.

Kind of.

I'm keeping an eye on emails.

I sent one proposal out.

I finally filled out Ava's birthday invitations!

She wants a Unicorn party, so that's what she's getting! 

She was pumped to hand them out at school today.

I took the kids to school.

And Ava forgot her drink at home, so we stopped and got a juice.

This Bubba.

Such a big girl.

Then I stopped at Wegmans. Third day in a row. lolol.

Eyelashes done! Why does one eyebrow always look fucked up?

We went for a walk before picking Mila up from the bus stop. I need to take more video of the kids. I want to remember their little voices.

I was having her throw the big rocks from one side of the driveway to the other. 

Trying to work on those arms!

We have another fun-filled day planned for tomorrow. UPK Volunteering!

Staycation Day 1-2

My staycation is off to a busy start!

It started with a movie Friday night.

Steve told me about Ford V. Ferrari months ago.

I heard it was good.

Really good.

And it was.

Incredibly interesting to see how it all unfolds.

Being a "Ford family" I never, ever thought of the history.

Steve being a For guy knew some of the story, but not of the driver.

It was a superb movie. I will likely buy it for Steve when it becomes available.

Saturday was also eventful (for me, anyways).

I got my eyebrows and lashes done, finally!

It's been way too long and I was starting to feel like a wooly mammoth.

My sister's birthday was last week. She hasn't been feeling well.

So I decided to bring the girls over there and bring her food and a gift.

Sun's out! Decent day for a drive. 

My crew riding deep. It's an hour drive to my sister's house. She also doesn't have ANY kid toys, so I told the girls they could bring some. 

Tablets have been a lifesaver since we drive a lot. 

One of my favorite features! Panoramic Sunroof.

Aunt J with the girls! This was the first time visiting this new house! 

We spent a couple of hours with Jennifer before heading back home. They have a dog, Moose and Ava was starting to react to him. Ugh. This allergy shit is for the BIRDS, I tell ya.

Even with Zyrtec AND Benadryl, she started to get hives on her face because Moose is kind of all over the place (as he should be, since it's his house). We were there about 2.5 hours before we started to head home. We decided that Aunt J would be coming over on Christmas Day! I'm really excited for that. 

Steve also decided to look into ski equipment for Mila. She did so well last year, we decided to invest. The company we went through, The Ski Company has a good trade-in program for youth skis. It'll allow us to trade up cheaper as her feet grow.

As part of her Christmas present.

On Sunday, I had a coworker come over with her family for a few hours. This coworker is a loyal egg customer of ours and they wanted to stop over to see the "farm". Their little girl LOVED the chickens! She was a black chicken for Halloween, so she really got a kick out our little black baby chick!

Sunday night, we took the girls to see Frozen II! It was a fantastic movie - highly recommended.

Today, I'll be finishing up my Thanksgiving sides grocery shopping (just need a few more key items for the stuffing). 

I have plans with a friend Tuesday, after UPK volunteering in the morning, cooking all day Wednesday, then Thanksgiving! 

It's been a busy two days!