Google Yourself!

Have you ever done a Google search for yourself. It's weird, isn't it? I googled myself and found out that there is someone out there with my same name, but she lives in New Jersey and is the general manager of a gym. She apparently made some news by banning grunting in her gym. I didn't read any of the articles because they sounded a little boring, actually. I also saw that a little piece I wrote about the death of our pet hamster is out there. I used the Google search for my daughters as well and found absolutely nothing out there for two of the names and a bunch of stuff out there for the other two of my daughters. I didn't read any of that stuff either because most of it was in Italian! So, I was glad to see that my older girls are obeying the rules of using the internet and that my oldest one has not posted anything on the internet about herself. Good going girls! I think I will Google my maiden name. One time my brother got a call from the Colorado State Police asking him if he knew a woman with my same name. He said he knew his sister's name (me), but that I had never been in Colorado. This woman had robbed a bank or something. It is a little unnerving to know someone is out there doing things, for good or evil, and has the same name as you. So, go Google yourself. You might find out something juicy!

Century21 Realty

This whole house selling fiasco is so frustrating for us, I can only imagine what our Century21 realtor is going through. She has had to go to the house to check on it for us, and has had to deal with open houses and all the negative market news. Now we are going to have to have her arrange to have the whole interior painted, just to make it more marketable. Our real estate experience has been one twist after another that keeps costing us more money on top of paying both of our mortgages. Real estate agents, Century21 and all others, really have to work hard for their comissions these days! Thank goodness ours is trustworthy and willing to put the effort in.

I Need A Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute. . .

My husband woke me up at 3:00 this morning. He couldn't sleep. We have had a lot of restless nights lately. He told me he worries every minute about money. He also said that he was sorry he moved us here. I am prone to worrying myself, and have not been happy about the way things are working out for us here, but to hear him say he regrets the move made me feel a little panicky. We have not had anything work out smoothly. For my husband, the grass certainly looked greener here than where we were, and we all know that sometimes you just have to test out the "grass" on the other side, but this is not what we had hoped for. All of 2007 has been one trouble or worry after another, so I don't know why this mess is surprising us so. We have pretty much decided that I should get a job, and he might need to get a second job as well. Just when we will squeeze these jobs in is unclear. I have not worked for pay for fifteen years, so I'm not sure I will have much to offer in the way of marketability. We also have our four kids to think about too. They are too young to do much housework and I really don't feel comfortable leaving my fifteen-year-old in charge of her three siblings. With all the worry and stress, I am reminded of that Christmas song from the Broadway musical "Mame" that goes: "We need a little Christmas, right this very minute. . ." Maybe that is what my family and I need: to worry less and think about what this Christmas is season is all about.

Sometimes Things Just Suck

I really am not a complainer. I have been a pretty positive person my whole life. The life I have is a good one, but sometimes stuff just sucks! It seems that this whole year, we have had nothing but struggles and worries and saddness. It seems like everything for us this year has been one big conflict or mess after another. We just can't seem to come up for air before the next thing comes at us. We have two huge mortgages because we moved before our house sold. We live 600 miles away from our old house, so its not like we can just zip over there to check on it or do anything with it. What is so frustrating is that some people don't like the colors of it, or the floorplan or the view from the back. When we were looking for houses, the last thing that would keep me from buying a house was the color of the kitchen! For heaven's sake, paint is relatively inexpensive and I would almost always bet that no matter what color our kitchen is, someone would not like it. Why can't the people looking at the house just make an offer and see if we will give them credit toward paint. Sheeesh, this is getting old. The other thing that sucks right now is that our cars are old and need to be replaced. We spent last Friday buying a car so that my husband can get to work, but our Suburban now needs $1200.00 of work done on it. Where is that money going to come from? We can't catch a break. I sure will be looking forward to a new year, and hopefully a little easier time of it.

An Answered Prayer

So I have been lamenting about this move we made to Virginia. I have had a pretty bad attitude about the whole thing for selfish reasons: my family is all back in Indiana, all my friends are in Indiana, I don't know anyone here. . . Please notice that all of these reasons begin with the word "I". Recently, I have been thinking about how self-centered I have been about this move. Yes, we moved because my husband wanted to; that's what it boiled down to, until something else occurred to me. On three different occasions, from three completely different people, I have heard the same thing: how glad they are that our daughter Gabby has moved here. The first time I heard it was from a mother of a little girl in Gabby's class. They had invited my daughter over to play for the afternoon, and this mother said how excited she was that her daughter wanted to invite a friend over. Her daughter is painfully shy, and the family was dreading this schoolyear. Along comes our little Gabby. New to the school, new to the state of Virginia, and open to everything. She started playing with this little girl, and now they are good little friends.


The second time I heard about our Gabby was from another mother of a little girl who had invited our daughter over to play. She said that her daughter had said how nice Gabby was to everyone, and she was glad they were in the same class. The third time I heard about our daughter was from her teacher. She said that Gabby is friendly and kind to everyone and is a real asset to the class and indeed to the whole school. Well, of course every mother wants to hear how great their kid is. I am very proud that my middle daughter is such a kind and friendly person, but the more I thought about it, the more it occurred to me that this is something more.

Our daughter is the kind of kid to whom people are drawn. She looks like a chubby, sweet, cherub, has a twinkle in her eye, and has just plain nice personality. Until now, however; I never really looked at her for who she really is. She is someone who truly has a purpose here on earth. She was one of those "00ps" pregnancies that happened while I was on the Pill. We had only planned on having two children. She was a lovely baby and an easy toddler. She was popular in preschool, as well as in first grade. Second grade was a little tougher for her and friends were few and far between for some reason. She took this big move to Virginia in stride. After pondering all the why's about this move, it has become clear to me that the reason we moved may have had something to do with my husband, but it could also have been because a shy, lonely little girl living in Northern Virginia prayed every night for a friend. A friend who could accept her just the way she was. No matter that that little girl would be coming from Indiana! Maybe God is using our daughter in some small way. Maybe our daughter has become the answer to a faraway prayer. I believe that God answers prayers in unexpected ways, and Gabby may be one of those answers.

Buy This House!

I am starting to feel a little desperate. We have now been living in Virginia for almost three months, but our house in Fort Wayne, Indiana has not sold yet. I know the market stinks, I know the media keeps spinning how bad things are in real estate, but we really need to sell our house. It is in great condition on the inside, and on the outside we have over $12,ooo worth of landscaping. Everything is done. The buyer only needs to move in and put his or her own personal touches in it. Please, please, if you or anyone you know is moving to Fort Wayne, please have them check out our house. The neighborhood is nice, the neighbors are great, and the schools in the area are quite good. There is every convenience you could possibly want within a ten minute drive including a movie theater, shopping, restaurants, doctors' offices, and two top rated hospitals. The cost of living is relatively low and the quality of life is great. Please check it out!

Patrick Dempsey Doll

Since I have a house full of girls, I was considering taking them all to see the new movie, "Enchanted". The Disney Channel has really been pushing this thing and the girls think it looks good. I am rather neutral about it, but what I find interesting is, as a fortysomething mom, that a forty-one year old man has a doll made in his image that is being marketed to little girls. I just find it a little creepy. They did a better than average job capturing Mr. Dempsey's charming looks, but I'm still a little creeped out by it. Maybe it is because there has only really been Ken and the GI Joe guys that have been seen on store shelves all these years. Maybe something else that is hanging me up on the doll is that I know how old the actor is. There is just something weird about letting a six year old girl play with a 41 year old man doll. I would rather buy the doll for myself. The other thing is that I haven't seen any dolls of actresses who are in their forties being sold at Target stores. The whole thing is odd to me.