Twenty eight

I am now officially sleep deprived again. It is unfortunate how easily my body adapts to staying up late and sleeping until 9 or so in the morning.... so since school is back in session, I am getting up at 6:11, but still going to bed around 11 or so. Also, Mark had his work schedule change, and he now goes to work at 9:30 at night and gets home around 7 a.m. I REALLY miss having him around to cuddle. The first night I put a pillow in the bed in his spot, but it just isn't the same. I even have to use the electric blanket! Things feel like they are on the verge of getting holiday hectic around here. I have always loved Christmas, but the last few years I am really trying to simplify and enjoy myself more. I was thinking today of maybe going on a fun family outing every week of Advent... maybe on Saturdays. The thought occured to me while I was driving by the bowling alley. Maybe bowling one week, hiking at Fern Canyon, going to the beach... It sounds great to me, but I know I will meet stern comments and huffs and rolled eyes from the teenagers when I suggest it. It 's just too bad they don't appreciate what a fun and entertaining set of parents they have! :-) Anyway, sorry about ditching the NaBloPoMo thing, I just got bored of the computer and had to take a break! Maybe next year I will make it a whole month.... I was thinking of going on some sort of theme.... Any suggestions? Love to all! Nancy

Twenty five

It's the last day of vacation, and I spent 4 hours at my classroom today. Once I got home, I also spent an hour on my bed cutting and creating pieces for a project tomorrow. After that, I spent about an hour putting together 3 new homework bags to start sending tomorrow. Teacher Nancy is back!!

Twenty four

Went to see the Bee Movie today with a big group of people... it was very cute and funny... although I had to keep biting my tongue to not tell Mark all of the incorrect scientific facts about a bee's life. In my class we do a BIG wonderful bee week in the spring, and boy! do we learn all about bees!

Twenty three

Enchanted Today I went to see this movie with Ann, Karen and Kyla. We missed the beginning, but overall it was really cute.... cute with a capital C-U-T-E! It was all about love forever and ever and love's first kiss being the most powerful thing in the world. It did have a lot of parts where fairy tail singing and dancing and mushy talk were shown to be weird and out of place in today's society. It kind of reminded me of that Sex and the City episode when Carrie is dating the Russian, and all his big romantic gestures seem fake and out of place to her. I don't think I need too many big romantic gestures... but a little bit of sweetness each day (like cuddling before you go to sleep, or bringing someone a soda when you are getting one for yourself, or walking all the way across the house to give your love a kiss) that's what makes happily ever after for me. Also Patrick Dempsey is yummy to look at!

Twenty two

I had thought of making a list of all the great foods I ate at my TWO wonderful Thanksgiving dinners, but then I thought I'd make a list of all the things I am thankful for instead (it does include several of the foods I ate at my TWO wonderful Thanksgiving dinners) 1. For Mark, who knows just when to change the subject to keep me in line 2. For Mason, who smiled his "no teeth/braces showing smile" for picture after picture because I promised to pay him for them 3. For Kyla, who said "I love you because you are weird, Mommy." 4. For Pepper, who is sitting on my lap right now keeping me toasty warm on a cold night 5. For my Mom who always makes all of the dinner and won't let anyone bring anything and always does all the dished even when you try to help 6. For my Dad who tasted my cranberry sauce (which I brought without telling my Mom) even though it had "sticks" in it (They were cinnamon sticks and whole cloves) 7. For my sweet sister who walked with me this morning to counteract the TWO dinners and bought me Mike's Hard Lemonades to drink 8. For Alyssa who lets me call her string bean and makes me laugh 9. For Alivia who is just beginning to read and sat on my lap and read "Pickle Things" to me 10. For Madi who jumped up and hugged me as soon as I arrived and said, "Happy Thanksgiving, Auntie!" 11. For Ann who handled cooking and serving dinner to over 20 people with grace and thoughtfulness 12. For all of Mark's family... His Mom, Ann, Dennis, D3, Karen, Blair, Jessica, Saeng, John, Liz, Charles, Nick, Cheryl, Josh and Hannah for making the effort and come together for a family holiday. 13. For the best ravioli I've eaten maybe ever 14. For getting to hold a baby even if he was tired and overwhelmed 15. For Lemon Merengue pie... when Kyla ate it she said "What's in merengue?" and we told her and she said, "No wonder it's gross!" 16. For my sister remembering about 8 years ago when I called Kyla "Lollipop" and Alyssa said, "Just call me sucker!" because she wanted a cute nickname too 17. For my mom's yummy stuffing 18. For candlelight 19. For conversation with 5 and 6 year olds... I am starting to miss my class 20. For sunshine all day and moonlight all night Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Nancy

Twenty One

Here's an old photo of me (with the wing hair, buck teeth and tucked in sweater vest) and my always cuter sister in her tan corduroys with the embroidered jean pockets. The cat in the bottom left is Sadie. He was my personal favorite cat for most of my childhood. He had long. soft fur and stripes in all the right places. I named him Sadie because 1) I thought he was a girl, and 2) He had "sad" eyes. I actually considered naming him Saddie, but was talked out of it by my mom. I was obviously a very concrete minded child as my first cat (before Sadie) was named Blackie. Can you guess what color he was?

Well, I am really looking forward to tomorrow as we are spending the morning at my parents house with my sister and her family. Then, the evening at Mark's sisters'. This will be the first year that all of Mark's siblings have had a holiday together since 2000. I am going to be in my official photographer mode, so hopefully I won't imbibe too much! I did buy a bottle of Mum's tonight... am in the mood for some yummy champagne. I guess we'll see!

Cheers! Nancy

Twenty

Today was a pretty joy filled day for me, but I am starting to suffer from mourning my lost vacation. It's silly, I know, but about half way through a vacation I start to feel the pressure of accomplishing all the wonderful ideals I had envisioned before it started. I thought I would have time to work out every day, and scrapbook, and get caught up on household chores and spend a day at work getting ready for Monday. None of these things have happened, but I am trying to look on the bright side, so here's a list of what I did accomplish today: 1. walk/run 3 miles on treadmill 2. New hair color 3. Pedicure 4. Fun lunch complete with expensive champagne to celebrate my sis in law's birthday (Happy Birthday, Karen!) 5. Grocery shopping (Wow! was it crowded!) 6. Went and looked at several houses on the market to try to prepare myself for giving this one up in a few months 7. Yummy dinner cooked by me (Chicken oporto, pasta and asparagus) 8. Watched the Netflix movie that has been sitting around here for over a week so I can send it back tomorrow (The Good Shepherd... I liked it, but Mark loved it) 9. Watched the Bachelor After the Final Rose... interesting how it turned out this time 10. Left no mess in the kitchen and did 2 loads of laundry So, does it look like I am accomplishing much on my vacation? Happy Tuesday! Love, Nancy

Nineteen (I'm finally back on track!)

Today I.... 1. woke up with a sick stomach and headache 2. got showered and ready and said goodbye 3. rode in car to Angel's Camp and bought snacks 4. rode in car to Williams and ate western bacon cheesburger and fries (#2 hangover cure) 5. napped in car almost the whole way over highway 20 6. sat in car for 1 hour and 20 minutes because of a big, scary accident about 20 cars ahead of us where a helicopter was brought in 7. rode in car to Willits where we got more snacks 8. picked up Pepper and M from my parents (in his dirty clothes) 9. Dropped K & A off at my sister's house ( I could really use a break after almost 10 hours in the car with them) 10. Unloaded the car, checked email and blogged

Eighteen

On Sunday I..... 1. Got up and went to house to do clean up/ winterizing. 2. Vacuumed, scrubbed, removed cobwebs and dusted top floor of house including ceiling fan 3. Saw my first ever, real life black widow (wow was it big!) living in our outside garbage can 4. Vacuumed, scrubbed, removed cobwebs and dusted middle floor of house 5. Over saw K & A while they attempted to wash windows and clean up doors with magic erasers 6. Vacuumed, scrubbed, removed cobwebs and dusted bottom floor of house including 2 big windows 7. Went back to Joannas and took a shower 8. Had a fun evening with Joanna and Rick and Anne... drank 2 hard lemonades & 4 glasses of white wine

Seventeen

On Saturday I .... 1. Slept in late and still felt yucky from overindulging the night before 2. Had a relaxing morning visiting with Rick and Joanna 3. Dropped Mark off at the golf course to meet a friend 4. Tried unsuccessfully about 10 times to reach my friends to set up a time to get together 5. Puttered around WalMart and TJ Maxx looking for Christmas presents 6. Ate a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese and fries for lunch (my faithful hangover cure) 7. Tried to take a nap in the car after 4 more unsuccessful attempts to meet my friends 8. Finally got a hold of Shelley and made a date to meet at her house at 2:30 9. Wandered around the cute shops in downtown Sonora still Christmas shopping 10. Waited at Shelley's house until 2:55 11. Kristin got dropped off and we went for drinks at Alfredo's ( I had water) 12. Ran into sweet Karen and said Hi 13. Shelley arrived at Alfredo's 14. Had a great catch up time 15. Picked Mark up at 5:30 from golf 16. Bought food for a get together at Joanna and Rick's 17. Enjoyed a night of catching up with friends in front of a HUGE bonfire 18. Drank only 2 hard lemonades

Sixteen

I have spent the weekend living my real life instead of my cyber life... so here's a list of what we did on Friday.... 1. Left the house at 7:40 am (only 10 minutes late) 2. Dropped M off at school (the last thing he said to me was don't forget to leave my suitcase at Grandma's... the last thing I said to him was don't you want to say goodbye to Pepper?) 3. Dropped Pepper and all his supplies at my parent's house 4. Ate lunch at the new Straw Hat Pizza in Williams 5. Dropped all our cleaning stuff off at our house and saw that we forgot to leave M's suitcase at my parents' 6. Dropped K & A off at a friend's house 7. Went to Joanna and Rick's and got ready 8. Had a good dinner with friends to celebrate Joyce's birthday 9. Went to the Seven Sister's and had 3 lemon drop martinis 10. Listened to a weird bluegrassy chick band... didn't like them 11. Went to bed cranky and pretty drunk after 4 lemon drops and a glass and a half of wine

Fifteen

I am taking tomorrow off so we can drive down to the "old house" and do some winterizing. For me it's actually so I can go and see my friends who I miss so much! I really hope Mark doesn't try to put me to work. I can handle vacuuming the whole house or something, but any wheelbarrow/rake/pine needle removal will be met with intense resistance! I just checked the weather there and it's supposed to be 68 or 69 and partly cloudy the whole weekend. For here that is summer weather! Should I take my capris?

Fourteen

Even though I have exercised for 5 days in a row, I feel incredibly fat! It may have something to do with the tasty mini weiners in their exquisite little homemade buns that Cindyanna made for goody day today.... they even had this delish homemade honey mustard! or maybe those cute pecan tarts that I ate 2 of! What a great cook she is! Despite the fatness, I went shopping after work for a new outfit to wear on my trip this weekend and maybe something for Thanksgiving. I got some jeans that I really like and 3 new shirts and a quilted jacket. I like everything I got but was disappointed in the color selection available. This season's color palette seems somewhat limited. Everything I got was black, brown or red. Would have liked something with a little more va-va-voom! I was just thinking I need to get off here and make a couple of phone calls, but then I saw the time. I never call anyone after 9:00 p.m. If you're reading this Joanna, I promise to call you tomorrow! Since I have more time, I guess I can tell you about the book I finished reading while I was walking on the treadmill tonight. It's called "Vanishing Acts" by Jodi Piccoult. I really like her writing style and was pulled into this story. It's about a 32 year old woman who finds out her father (whom she adores) kidnapped her at the age of 4 from her alcoholic mother. It is told from 4 different character's viewpoint. The parts told from her father's point of view as he is in jail, and the things that go on there were especially disturbing for me, so tonight I am going to pray for all of those men and women who live under those conditions. Those who have hardened their hearts out of necessity. Those who feel they have no place in the society outside of jail. Those who are driven to commit desperate acts. Those who wield a vengeful power over others. Those who are isolated. Each of these people is of value... even if they have forgotten (or never even knew it).

Thirteen (my 200th post!)

Hi all, Well, luckily for me I was granted 2 of my 3 wishes today! Can you guess which one did not come true? If you said #1 you are absolutely right! No shock there! On a different note, we had a great time celebrating my sweet niece Madi's 5th birthday on Sunday. She used to be a pretty wild and crazy little gal, but since starting Kindergarten she has really settled down and become much more sweet natured. You can see the wild and crazy came out at party time! What a crack up! Love you Madi! And the rest of you too! Nancy

Twelve

I was thinking of writing about the inept customer service I received while trying to get pictures developed at Long's today... or maybe making a list of what I did today (I do so love lists).... but instead I think I'll make a list of what I wish for tomorrow: 1. That our realtor will call and say we have an offer on our house 2. That the oreo cookie turkeys we are making with our 8th grade buddies will turn out 3. That it will not rain during any recesses I'll let you know how it all turns out. Love, Nancy

Eleven (yes, it's late, but it's not my fault!)

The community I live in is pretty isolated. And about every 2 months the internet and all cell phone service is completely lost due to a problem with the cable..... you see, in most places there is more than 1 cable connecting an area to the cyber world, but here there is only one, and people keep chopping, sawing, cutting into it with large machinery. On a separate note, Saturday I was buzzing around the internet and I looked on "How Much is too Much" and loved the weekly challenge. It was to use an entire alphabet on your scrapbook page. So yesterday morning I made this page with a baby picture of me that had been sitting on my scrapping table. The paper is actually scalloped all the way around the edge, but my scanner couldn't fit it all in. Bye!

Ten

Lovely, lovely Saturday. Sleeping late A 4 mile walk with my 2 favorite boys: Pepper and Mark Pasta for lunch Toodling around at work for 2 1/2 hours while M worked the snack shack at the football game Pasta for dinner Watching "Pride and Prejudice" A glass of wine later Aaaaaahhhhhhhh......

Nine

I am soooo happy it's finally Friday! And Monday is a holiday for me so I am practically beside myself with joy! What a tiring week this has been. Everyone in our primary has noticed that the kids are harder than usual to deal with. Lots of loud, off task, rough and tumble behavior. In addition to that it was parent teacher conference week. I really do get worn out from being friendly to people I don't know well. It doesn't mean I don't like the person... it's more along the lines of stressing out about whether or not they'll like me. I am really ready to sleep late and putter around my house accomplishing a lot of nothing. On an entirely separate note, I came across this quote from my "Generous wife" tip from yesterday... Let me be a little kinder, let me be a little blinder to the faults of those around me. Edgar A. Guest This is a goal of mine in dealing with everyone I come into contact with, not just my husband. Let's face it... if you are intent on disliking someone, you will be able to find faults in them and overlook their better qualities. We are all imperfect and in need of acceptance and love. So, in the spirit of being a generous wife, mother, teacher, friend, sister, daughter, in law, etc. this is my goal. TGIF! Love, Nancy

Eight

So tonight while I was happily walking on my treadmill reading my newest Jodi Piccoult adventure, Vanishing Acts, Kyla came rushing into my room screeching. Apparently M had tried to kill a spider in his room, and somehow it escaped and found its way into her room... under her bed. She was beside herself.... howling about how freaked out she was and how no one would help her.....how she could not sleep in her room, etc. I told her to ask Dad for help, but she already had (I must add here that I know from experience Dad will not take you seriously when you are crazy freaked out and being unreasonable). My next advice was to take all the bedding off her bed then check under the bed by moving it away from the wall. She left now whining instead of howling.

A few minutes later Mark (Dad) came in and said Kyla was freaking out... They had removed the bedding and looked under the bed and the spider still missing. He said she was afraid the spider would crawl into her mouth while she was asleep. I recommended she sleep on her brother's top bunk.

After I was finished with my workout and sitting here checking my email, she came in and we were talking and she said, "You know, spiders can do horrible things to you."

I said, "What do you think it is going to do?"

"Well," she says, "Once this boy had 2 spiders crawl into his ear and they mated and all the baby spiders came crawling out"

"That couldn't really happen," I said.

"Yes it did," she insists.... "I read about it in a book." Then she adds, "And once, a spider laid an egg sack in a girl's cheek."

Trying to be the voice of reason here, I say, "If someone had an egg sack on their cheek, you would just pull it off and flush it down the toilet or throw it away. It couldn't hurt you."

"But all the spiders came crawling out!" she says.

"Do you know how long it takes for spider's eggs to hatch?" I ask. "It doesn't just happen overnight. You would see the egg sack and get rid of it."

"But it was in her skin," she says

"How could a spider put the sack under the skin?" I question her.

"I don't know, but I read about it in a book," is the answer she gives.

"What book"

She grins and me and looks sheepish. "A book of horror stories."

This is further proof to me that my 13 year old daughter has MY overly active imagination and will not be allowed to watch horror movies until she moves out of the house. Seriously, if a book of kid's horror stories has her this freaked out, what would happen if she saw "The Hills Have Eyes"?

And just so no one out there worries that my daughter is actually infested with sacks of spider eggs ready to hatch, the spider ventured out of it's safe hiding place and was sufficiently squished.

Bye for now! Love, Nancy

Seven-a book list

I stole this from Professor J who stole it from Lanie Painie who stole it from Grammar Snob. Copy this list and Bold those you’ve read. Italicize books you have started but couldn’t finish. Add an asterisk* to those you have read more than once. Underline those on your To Be Read list. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Crime and Punishment Catch-22 One Hundred Years of Solitude Wuthering Heights The Silmarillion Life of Pi: A Novel The Name of the Rose Don Quixote Moby Dick Ulysses Madame Bovary The Odyssey Pride and Prejudice* Jane Eyre A Tale of Two Cities The Brothers Karamazov Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies War and Peace Vanity Fair The Time Traveler’s Wife The Iliad Emma* The Blind Assassin The Kite Runner Mrs. Dalloway Great Expectations American Gods A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Atlas Shrugged Reading Lolita in Tehran Memoirs of a Geisha Middlesex Quicksilver Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West The Canterbury Tales The Historian A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Love in the Time of Cholera Brave New World The Fountainhead Foucault’s Pendulum Middlemarch Frankenstein The Count of Monte Cristo Dracula A Clockwork Orange Anansi Boys The Once and Future King The Grapes of Wrath The Poisonwood Bible 1984 Angels & Demons The Inferno The Satanic Verses Sense and Sensibility* The Picture of Dorian Gray Mansfield Park* One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest To the Lighthouse Tess of the D’Urbervilles Oliver Twist Gulliver’s Travels Les Misérables The Corrections The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Dune The Prince The Sound and the Fury Angela’s Ashes The God of Small Things A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present Cryptonomicon Neverwhere A Confederacy of Dunces A Short History of Nearly Everything Dubliners The Unbearable Lightness of Being Beloved Slaughterhouse-Five The Scarlet Letter Eats, Shoots & Leaves The Mists of Avalon Oryx and Crake Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Cloud Atlas The Confusion Lolita Persuasion* Northanger Abbey* The Catcher in the Rye On the Road The Hunchback of Notre Dame Freakonomics Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance The Aeneid Watership Down Gravity’s Rainbow The Hobbit In Cold Blood White Teeth Treasure Island David Copperfield The Three Musketeers

Happy Reading! Love, Nancy

Six

It was a pretty good day at school today. It is parent teacher conference week, and I get sort of worn out from all that chatting. Making conversation with people I don't know is very trying on my poor nerves. I am, after all, painfully shy. I had about 6 conferences yesterday and 5 more today. I am glad to be finished with the bulk of them only 5 more for the rest of the week! Yay! I took down the scarecrow/pumpkin patch bulletin board and put up all the funny pilgrims my class made. I will take a photo after we add some writing to spruce it up. It has been hard coming up with ideas to make the students start to understand what life as a pilgrim was like. Today we read a Thanksgiving book and had a discussion I thought went really well... lots of good comments from the kids. Then, when we were finishing up our drawing of the Mayflower,one of my smartest boys says, "Can I draw a motor on it?" I try to look on these moments as opportunities for more teaching.... which is what I did... more questions... more discussion. But, some days I just want to pull my hair out. Without a time machine, how can I give them the knowledge of "Long Ago"? They are so wrapped up in the here and now... in what they can touch and feel and smell. They can't imagine a camera that doesn't show you the picture on the back right after you take it..... how am I to teach them about life without electricity? I will keep on plugging along. Looking for the best story books and websites and activities and videos. I will keep collecting the realia. Maybe, just maybe some of them will (sort of) get it. Off to walk on the treadmill... Love, Nancy

Five (LATE!)

In response to my ranting #4 post, sweet Cindyanna brought me a cup of cocoa on Monday morning. How lucky am I to have such a thoughtful friend?! It really brightened my day.

The ranting was mostly due to anger at poor Mark who often has to suffer for the baggage I have brought with me into our marriage from my previous life. I overreacted to him not doing what I wanted him to do (come shopping with me). This overreaction was caused by the disfunctionality in my parent's marriage and had very little to do with my marriage.

Lastly, I have no good excuse for my lack of posting on day 5. It was pretty much just forgetfulness.... this is not a good sign for the month ahead!

More on Four

P. S. I am starting to simmer down.

Four

I have anger bubbling up out of me like a sauce on over boil. I don't know where it's coming from. I am going to try to take a moment and get it under control before someone becomes scalded and scarred..... but it may be too late. Many anger filled words of resentment have already splashed out.

Three

Today my mom came for a quick visit to drop off some apples from one of my dad's trees and some Halloween candy for the kids. She was telling me about how Livi and Madi (my nieces) were out in front of their house trying to sell their Halloween candy! Usually Livi has a lemonade stand and Madi has a chocolate milk stand, but I guess today they were out of lemonade. Hence, the candy stand. It would probably work pretty well if every other kid in the neighborhood didn't have three pounds of candy at home as well! This conversation brought up the time I tried to sell pet rocks out in front of my house. I guess I was about 7 or so, and I saw something about pet rocks on TV. It made me think I could make a fortune selling pet rocks to the tourists who drove passed our house while touring the Avenue of the Giants (an ancient redwood forest). Unfortunately, our house happened to be on a stretch of straight road where the forest is far away, so all the tourists sped up and flew by without even a glance at my "Pet Rocks For Sale" sign. I also tried many summers to raise money for the Fortuna Rodeo (always a BIG goal for me) by picking and selling blackberries to the aforementioned tourists. This also was always a big flop. My friends and cousins and sister and I would spend one day picking as many berries as we could. Then, the next day we would try to sell them... but after a night in the fridge those juicy, ripe berries were always pretty soggy and most of the tourists who stopped didn't want them. It was always so tragic. Another big letdown for raising money was the penny scramble. I would always have visions of collecting so much money I would be set for the upcoming carnival by scavenging at the penny scramble (which took place the night before the carnival's opening). I would imagine money raining down and counting up, say, $15 or $20. Of course, my total was usually around $2.50. But for some reason I always got so excited. I guess that's why some people call me 'idealistic'. Isn't that just a nice word for gullible? So what are some of your childhood memories? Love, Nancy

Two

Good News and Bad News today... luckily it's mostly good. First, the people who looked at the house didn't want it. (Good) Second, we get to renew our contract here for 6 months. (Good) Third, we have to allow other potential buyers to see the house with 24 hours notice. (Bad) Fourth, I walked 3 miles yesterday and 3 miles today. (Good) Fifth, I have seen a noticeable enlargement in my poochy tummy due to Halloween candy consumption. (Bad) Sixth, I didn't eat a single piece of candy today. (Good) Seventh, it is Friday and I survived Halloween week and get to sleep in tomorrow. (VERY Good) See you tomorrow! Love, Nancy

One

So, on a whim I joined NaBloPoMo. I have seen this acronym around and thought it sounded kind of nasty (I have a VERY dirty mind!) but never had the energy to find out what it stood for. Well last night I finally checked it out and it meas NAtional BLOg POsting MOnth. Hmmmm not so interesting as when it's an acronym! When you join, you challenge yourself to blog faithfully every day during the month of November. So, put you seatbelts on people! You are going to be buffeted by posts!!!! Hopefully they won't all be boring... I'm shooting for 50% boring, 30% mildly entertaining, 15% pouty or grumpy and 5% fabulous! Today's notable items: 1. I left work at 3:15 today. (Usually leave around 5:00, so Yay me!) 2.My friend, Cindyanna called me on my cell around 4:10 to find out where I was... again SO unusual for me to leave before 5:00. 3. I was at the public library when she called and got many dirty looks from other patrons as I giggled about her 'having a guy give me a massage is creepy' problem. 4. At 5:10 a couple came to look at the house we are living in because they may want to buy it and kick us out since we have been unsuccessful in selling our old house and closing the deal here. When they came to the door, I couldn't even look them in the eye. I immediately took off walking with Pepper and left Mark and the kids behind as I cried and walked as fast as I could. We should find out tomorrow if we're house hunting again. 5. Before the people came to look at the house I frantically cleaned it all up as if I actually wanted them to like it. I guess either I'm really, really well trained in wanting your house to look it's best when a realtor is showing it, OR deep down I want them to buy it and end our wondering if this house is really "the one", OR I am just such a people pleaser I can't stand the thought of someone looking at my house and thinking it's dirty. Sorry for the weird ramblings... I am somewhat scattered tonight. Love, Nancy