Mud. Just another reason boys shouldn’t wear white.

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The dishwasher was scheduled to arrive between 12:30 and 2:30pm today and it arrived at 1:20pm. How ’bout that? I had them open it so I could take a good look at it and it looks perfect! I can’t wait until it’s in my kitchen … but that will take some patience for now.

I am still holding on to the hope that my kitchen will some day, sooner rather than later, look something like this:

Thanks to Susan at Alexander Lumber for her awesome customer service and for providing these drawings of the Schrock cabinets I want!

I’m crushed. Devastated. Mad as all get out. What the heck-shooting-dern-dang-every-slang-word-that’s-not-quite-a-cuss-word do you mean “rejected?” I’ve been rejected but never did it hurt like this one.

Harris Bank rejected our request for a loan because the house was appraised really low. The kicker is that it was rejected yesterday but they never even bothered to call. Thank goodness we didn’t buy that refrigerator we looked at last night. We had been waiting to hear from the appraiser to talk about work that has been done on the house (two remodeled bathrooms, plus a new roof) but apparently he did an unannounced drive-by or something just based on paperwork without an ounce of care for anything but the value of houses sold recently in the neighborhood. They know darn well nothing is selling right now!

This is the final straw for Harris Bank which messed up our account a few months ago causing months of headaches and “lack of funds” fees for Matt.

As for the kitchen, who knows. We’re going to have to do something, so we’re moving forward, but I’m guessing Monday is NOT our start date. We’ll be doing the work as much as we can ourselves so it will be an even longer, more painful process than it was before. Sigh.

This on TOP of the fact that I missed the gall-darn Menards sale on the kitchen cabinets we wanted. I had been checking every flyer that came in the mail for the past month or two in anticipation. I even went to the web site last week, but there has not been one word about the Schrock sale. So, I finally called today to find out when it starts. The two-week sale ended Sunday. Sunday? Sunday. Sunday! ARG. I knew it was coming, and I still missed it. How is that even possible without Divine intervention? Needless to say, I am in a pretty foul mood. OK. There you have it. Or, to be more accurate, there you don’t.

Related posts: It just keeps getting better
But, wait, there’s more!

Avery built a farm for her babies one day (after our cross-Iowa trip, of course!) using wodden blocks. The funniest part is that when I went to take a picture of her, she was so excited and wanted me to take a picture of each animal, front and center on her face. She carefully opened the pen for each baby and returned it afterward. So, I have an adorable series of pics of her with her “farm babies.”

For more Wordless Wednesday: WordlessWednesday.com or 5 Minutes for Mom.

My husband and I were watching a movie last night when I heard Avery call for me. She was having a hard time falling asleep (she’d had a later than usual nap and she actually slept so I knew it would be a later night for her). She said she was afraid, which is her way of letting me know she just wants me to stay with her a while because she can’t sleep. I usually kiss her on the head and sing the VeggieTales’ “God is bigger than the boogeyman …” as I say good night and leave the room. This time, though, she said she wanted to ask me a question (another way to stall). I wanted to just keep walking, but I went in and let her ask. She wanted to know why God was in Heaven. And why He comes up and down [to earth]. I am glad I didn’t brush her off! We had a great conversation about God and Jesus, His Son. Then she asked if God was afraid of the dark and I said “No! He is the light. He brings light into all darkness.” Of course, she didn’t understand but she let that sink in. “Is He scared?” she asked. No, but sometimes we are. We talked for a while about all the different emotions we have and how it’s okay to be scared or happy or sad or angry. But you can be brave in all situations because God is on your side. She asked if God would save her from the darkness. “Yes!” He can and will save anyone and everyone who asks Him to. So, we started naming all the people we know and love who could could be “safed.” It was a good 20 minutes before I was able to resume my movie night, but it was time well spent!

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

As it always goes, our start date has once again been pushed back a few days. It’s now scheduled for Monday, July 28. But, we have a date! It works out for the best because we have family coming to visit next week, my sister and my parents, and we still need to finalize the loan. Because we remodeled two bathrooms and reroofed since the last appraisal, the bank is planning to send someone to see the house. Wouldn’t be good if we tore apart the kitchen before they came! We also want to do as much ourselves before our handy man takes over, and we have a super busy weekend ahead. Next weekend will be better for getting the nitty gritty stuff we can do out of the way.

As far as financing … Unfortunately, Harris Bank also changed it’s policies three weeks ago, so instead of being able to take out 85% of the value of our mortgage, it’s 80%. With falling home values and increasing percentages, we’ll be taking out about half of what we had originally planned. The good news is that we can do a five-year loan instead of ten-year so it’s paid off sooner, and our monthly payments will be less. It will be an opportunity to put to good use our practice of stretching the dollar!

Happy 9th anniversary, honey!

1. Mid July. In Iowa. What were we thinking?!?!? Thankfully, the day before and after were miserable weather-wise, but our wedding day had clear skies and little humidity.
2. I wore the wrong color lipstick. Any time I wore any (which wasn’t much), it was a berry color. For some reason I put more of a red on and it looks orange-y in the pictures. Yuck. Sadly, applying the lipstick and thinking it was okay at the time is one of my most vivid memories.
3. My husband almost left me at the alter … sort of. There was a “Bible check” during the message a friend of Matt’s gave, a flashback to his days at a Christian boys’ camp where you were always to bring your Bible. Of course, he didn’t have one with him but his friends from camp sitting in the pews did. My face, I am sure, was hilarious. I was in shock that he was actually going to leave (but he only took a step before he turned back around).
4. My then 2-year-old nephew cried when he didn’t catch the garter!
5. I tied maroon ribbons onto ev-er-y-thing!
6. My favorite part of my ensamble was the shoes. They were satin mary janes with a bit of a heel. So cute. Just a tad tight, but it was worth it (not that anybody ever really saw them under my dress).
7. For some reason, I was the only one left at the hairdressers so I panicked about not being able to get a ride to the church.
8. Once all dolled up and ready to go in my dress, I ate a Subway sandwich with a garbage bag draped around me. Oh-so lovely.
9. I didn’t get nearly enough photos of me my girls. I guess we took too long in the dressing room. But we have a ton of pictures of Matt with his friends in their tuxes.
10. There wasn’t air conditioning in the basement of the church so people left rather quickly after the wedding. We were disappointed not to be able to talk to everyone. Serves us right for not having a dance and cash bar. Ha!
11. The cake was AWEsome, although the only bite we got to eat was when we cut the cake. (And a year and a half later when we got the cake top. Yeah, not so awesome.)
12. When we got “clinked” into kissing at the lunch, Matt took an another bite and took his time chewing before he kissed me … just for a laugh. Of course, I rolled my eyes.
13. I was perfectly prepared to walk down the aisle with emotions in check … until the double doors were opened and I saw Matt standing there waiting for me. The first look everyone got at the bride was me a blubbering mess! At least nobody had a chance to notice the lipstick!
[Edited to add 7/17:
13b. How could I forget! We wanted rice thrown at the wedding, but no that was bad for the birds said our pastor. How 'bout bird seed, then, that's good for birds. No, that will get stuck in cracks and cause weeds to grow. Okaaaaay. So, we "chose" bubbles. But Matt's sister had other things in mind! She smuggled some rice (or was it bird seed?), which she and her husband threw at us as we came out of the church. Quite a surprise, considering the gentle nature of floating bubbles! But we had quite a laugh about that one.]

Charlie was dancing on the bed after a bath with the flag hanging in the window in the background the week of July Fourth so I couldn’t resist taking a picture.

For more Wordless Wednesday entries: WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes for Mom.

The Sears Outlet Center is having a sale that ends tomorrow and they get new stock in on Tuesdays, so our plan was to go tonight and, we hope, find just the right refrigerator for us at just the right price. We have an unofficial official start date of next Monday, the 21st, to start the remodel. We got our work permits from the village yesterday!

[Edited to add: Never mind! I got a flyer in the mail for the next sale, which is the same percent off refrigerators. We don't feel like going tonight. Matt's going to the store to get srews to possibly fix the side view mirror instead. It's good to know we have time anyway.]

Last week, my husband woke up before work to find that the sideview mirror of his Grand Am had been broken off. We park in the street in the summer, so things do occassionaly happen. Several years ago, a rock went through my Saturn’s windshield, and not too long ago, Matt’s car was sideswiped by a drunk driver.

I helped him out by taking it in Tuesday to replace the mirror. $124 later, it’s good as new. So, we didn’t think too much about it. BUT, now, it happened again this morning. It was fine at 10pm when we came home last night (It was a beautiful evening so we went to Ribfest in Lake in the Hills, and Sonic Flood was playing. We had a fun time!) This is just too weird to be a coincidence. Twice in about a week when it’s never happened before? I don’t think so. But who would do such a thing? I am frustrated and hurt. Matt is livid. What can we do?

[Edited to add 7/14: Actually, there is more to the story. We live right next to a bike trail, and there is a bridge over the street where it crosses. Young hooligans as we call 'em like to throw tree branches and rocks and other things over the bridge at cars driving through (and parked in the street). We've called the cops on them in the past, as have our other neighbors, but not recently. We also this winter built a snowman in the yard who was decapitated one day and a few days later stomped on.]

This is the summer of headbands! I have re-discovered my hatred of the summer humidity here in the Midwest. And with my hair shorter, it seems to even more so be in my face and in general all over the place. What havoc the humidity wrecks on my don’t-want-it-to-be-curly hair. A contact at a pr firm for Goody generously sent me samples of the new Precious Metals and Paisleydelic decorative hair bands so I am excited to be able to change things up and keep it interesting this summer, especially when things are super sticky. I need to liven up the pony tail I’ve been sporting pretty much every day!

Both lines have some fun and adorable headbands, but I don’t as much care for the Whisked Away gold and silver plated barrettes/pony tail holders.

I do especially love the Metallic Flair headband … it stays in place but is not too tight. And they look classicly stylish. The Wildflower headbands similarly balance style with function and are oh-so-cute, but they are just a tad tight for my head. Even though they need minor adjustments during the day, though, I like them. The Thin Metallics fit great and have combs to keep them in place but my hair is a bit thick to be tamed by them. Works with a pony tail though. And even though the thicker bands from both lines are fashionable and colorful, they just aren’t comfortable on my head. I get a headache from them poking my head behind the ears. I gave them to my daughter though, who loves them.

All styles are available exclusively at Target.

My husband having fun at Brookfield Zoo in June. He has a way of being silly without looking like a dork (like me). I just love his expression in this picture!

For more Wordless Wednesday entries: WordlessWednesday.com or 5 Minutes for Mom.

After much hemming and hawing, we did it … we finally bought a dishwasher! 

 Sears had a sale too good to pass up. I had already picked Kenmore’s 1374 and it was again the number one rated best buy by Consumer Reports, so we were pretty confident that’s the one we wanted. It still took two trips to the Sears store and two to the Sears outlet before we finally went online and gave them our money. Not only was the sale 20% off with free (well, rebated) delivery, by buying the thing online, we saved money on gas (we’d already done more than enough driving), and taxes (5.5% instead of 8.5%), plus did you know you could search for online coupon codes? I did a search for “Sears coupon codes” because there was a prompt on several pages. That saved us another $5! Ok, it’s not much but every bit helps. The grand total for a $700 dishwasher? $589.58.

The only better deal was at the outlet store, but they were still $460-550, with major cosmetic damage. We’ll likely buy our refrigerator there since the savings are more substantial and the damage isn’t as noticeable, especially once I cover it up with photos and my kids’ artwork!

Anyway, it was a very exciting purchase for me, even if it doesn’t get delivered until the end of the month (so we don’t have to store it until we’ve at least gotten started on the demolition). I can not wait to get it up and running. Can I leave the dirty dishes I have sitting in my sink until then? Sigh.

On Monday, we submitted our permit applications with the city. As soon as we receive them (could be two to three weeks), we’ll be one step closer to our kitchen remodel! We finally had to give up on the addition we hoped to do at the same time.

We first had to decide whether we would hire a contractor to take care of all the work (pros: fewer decisions for us to make, quicker and less painful process; cons: expensive and we won’t be involved in some of the decisions, which might not be the most cost-effective) or whether we want to be our own general contractor. The project required an aggressive construction loan (and required we have a gc), making it cost-prohibitive. Basically, we could have afforded a mid-range loan, enough money to get the project done without a gc, but the bank won’t give us that money. So, we’re going instead with a home equity line of credit (not nearly enough to finish everything now).

I’m bummed but it means we can move forward without fearing for our financial future! The kids are doing well sharing a room for now and we’ll just have to decide what to do when the time comes to separate them. This may mean moving, so it does impact our remodel some (but not much since we weren’t doing a luxurious design anyway!>.