Quick House History Lesson

I have shared my blog and pictures of my house, but how about a quick lesson?

My tiny little 1100 square feet house was built in 1952. It has had 3 families, including mine, occupying it. The first, built the house and stayed in it until 1954. After that, my great grandparents, Willie and Bernice bought it.

My Nanny (their daughter) lived here from the time she was 12 until she married my grandpa. Something I didn't learn until after I already lived here was that they were married in my living room, just a few feet from where I am sitting. It was not a shotgun wedding, my mom was a honeymoon baby born 10 months later.

Willie and Bernice died in 1972 and 1973, respectively. All of their belongings, the house, the land, etc went into a trust between my Nanny and her 4 brothers.

My Nanny's oldest brother took care of the house then. He actually came to town to take showers and use the phone because the extremely small house/shanty he lived in didn't really have those accomodations. His son and daughter in law lived here for a brief stint in the later 70's or some time in the early 80's.

In the 90's my great uncle built a new house and no longer had a need for the town phone and shower.

After that, it sat empty. My Poppy (My Nanny's husband) was paid for upkeep and maintenance. He mowed the yard twice weekly in the summers, and checked every Friday on his way to the grocery store.

When I graduated from college, I talked with my family about buying it cheaply so we could fix it up. Everyone said we would not buy it, they would just deed it over. Well, all but one of my great uncles children, he passed away a few years before.

The cousin who lived here with his wife in the 70/80's was offered, by the great uncle's children who didn't want us to have the house for nothing, to buy their share of the family land. He agreed, but also wanted their share of the house.

Once that happened, he deeded it right over to Chance and I. I repeated the same process with the other brothers kids and here we are now.

While this 2 bedroom house is nothing like the house my great grandparents lived in, it still has some great history. My only hope is that they can see all the work we have done and are pleased. I know my Nanny would love the turquoise paint in the kitchen, it was one of her favorite colors.

My other blog

My other blog is all about the progress on our house. I haven't blogged much about it lately, but we have made some progress on it in the past few months.

Anyway, we made a big change in the kitchen today, so go check it out!!

Classes I'm thinking about taking

THEORIES OF COUNSELING 6002 COUN -5543 W 3 Welch GL 20 20 08/19/2009 - 12/18/2009 ARR PSY117 (Web-Based Course)

MULTICULTURAL CONCEPTS 6009 COUN -5423 V 3 Ray S 20 5 08/19/2009 - 12/18/2009 W 05:15PM 07:45PM EDU213 (Interactive Video Course)

ETH/LEG/PROF STANDARDS 6008 COUN -5893 V 3 Neasbitt SK 30 10 08/19/2009 - 12/18/2009 M 08:00PM 10:30PM EDU203 (Interactive Video Course)

ADV PSYCH OF LEARNING 6687 EDPSY-5723 V 3 Barnett JR 25 22 08/19/2009 - 12/18/2009 M 05:15PM 07:45PM EDU201 (Interactive Video Course)

ADV ABNORMAL PSYCH6634 PSYCH-5633 V 3 Edwards JH 30 12 08/19/2009 - 12/18/2009 T 05:15PM 07:45PM EDU213 (Interactive Video Course)

Sorry for the jumbled mess, but I needed to save this information, but would also like to share my thoughts with the world.

I'm only 26 hours away from my masters in school counseling, but I just don't know if it's worth it. I don't really have a quiet place (As I type this, Chance is singing like a little gay girl, in a pitch only dogs can hear. It's a stupid nothing that he made up only to annoy me because I'm not to him.) to study or to keep up with my work.

The classes are night classes, so I wouldn't need a baby sitter, but I know Chance will hate having to keep Archer that late after working a long day.

I emailed my old graduate advisor, and I would only need to call the registrar to enroll, so my only obstacle right now is money! If only the world were fair.

100th Post!

Nothing much going on in my life today, but I did notice something first thing this morning.

Archer looks different. His little face looks different today than it did last night when I put him to bed. I'm not sure that I'm ok with that. I'm not sure that I am ok with my baby going to bed and waking up looking like a little boy.

I'm waiting to see if my mom notices it when she comes for lunch.

Anyway, nothing much else to say, so I'll see ya later! : )

Baked Potato Soup

It was a nice rainy day, and the temps hit about 85 instead of the 105 we'd been having, so I decided it would be a good day for crock pot potato soup.

4 large or 6 medium potatoes
1 can chicken broth
1 can condensed milk
1/2 package bacon
1 package instant potatoes

Cook potatoes in microwave until soft, put in freezer to cool. Cook bacon over medium high heat. I like mine chewy, cook yours to whatever texture you like. Empty can of milk into crock pot. Once cool, remove pulp from two potatoes and discard skin. Quarter and chop remaing potatoes, skin on and add to milk. Add chicken broth to desired thickness. Salt and pepper to taste.

This time that I made it, I added too much liquid and instead of baking another potato, I just added some instant mashed potatoes.

Top with your favorite cheese and green onions if you like em!!

Image from KitchenScoop.com (but mine looks like this)

Archer's birthday bike!!!

He loved it. He climbed right up to it, swung his leg over, scooted his little butt center on the seat, and took off pushing it with his feet. Then, he started trying to push with the pedals, but his little legs aren't long enough.

Sorry guys, have been trying for an hour and a half to upload a video, but it's just not happening! : ( Guess I'll have to send it to YouTube tomorrow.

Present Idea?

Since Archer could crawl he has been crawling under anything that looks like a hole. You can't prop you head on your hand without him trying to crawl through the nook that is made by your arm and head. Chance suggested he needs a tunnel of some kind, so, after searching, I found this.

It suggests that you can add balls, so I'm sure Archer will love that too! : )

Time Traveler's Wife, The movie

Went to see this Saturday night. I really enjoyed it more than the book. There were some things that were different, but overall I liked the movie different.

With movies like Twilight and Harry Potter, there were so many details that were left unattended. Well, with Twilight, only a few details were actually taken from the book, the rest were made up. This movie was different. I was left with a sense of, "Ok, that's not quite how it worked in the book, but it still works."








**Spoiler**

The ending of this movie is the reason I liked it. I could tell from the previews which clip was the ending, so it was why I was excited to see the movie after reading.

Clare doesn't spend her life in turmoil and being miserable waiting for Henry like she does in the book. She is still sad, and she still waits, but she gets to see him again before she's 82. I like that, and I like that the casual watcher doesn't know that Clare had sex with her best friend's husband while desperately trying to imagine it's her own dead husband. That whole story piece didn't sit well with me.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

So, this is a fun, make you smile silly movie.

I wasn't really sure if I would be able to stomach some of the silliness (the mannequins come alive and entice her to shop, really?) but it has a cute story. That's the perfect description, it's cutesy.

I kind of regret paying $5 to see it, I probably should have just waited for it to come out on HBO or something.

**Spoiler**
I knew she was going to sell her clothes when she found the note from the friend calling it all crap. But, before that, for a second, I actually thought her parents were going to bail her out.

Life note:
I have a really good friend who got into credit card trouble in college. She was given 2 credits cards at 18. I think that is absurd, she is paying off her debt and has been out of college for a while. I am super proud of the accomplishments she's achieved in getting that debt under control, but I think it's insane that credit card companies are allowed to target people who have no reliable source of income. Credit cards make it too easy to spend money and not feel as responsible for it. Thus the reason I have an emergency card and no debit/check card. You spend less money when you have physical reminders of how much money you really have and need to live on.

Movie Night

After my self-ful day, Chance and I are going to see the Traveler's Wife. This will be the second time we have been out to the movies since Archer was born. I just finished the book last week, and I liked the idea, I just didn't like everything that happened. (Which you can read about here if you just want my thoughts. Or here if you have already read it and really want to know what I think.)

Archer will be staying at Chance's parents until we get back. He doesn't really get to stay over there for very long on his own, so this will be a new one for him too. I'm looking forward to our evening out.

Mmmm, Saturday

Here we are once again, my beautiful Saturday off! It's so nice to just sit on the couch and not have to worry if Archer's eating crap off the floor or making supper or cleaning something.

Did you know I hate cleaning? Like seriously, even if God himself had told me 10 years ago this was where I would be, a housewife with a degree not working, a husband and a baby that I take care of daily, I wouldn't have believed him. I used to despised the idea of June Cleaver and Aunt Bea. That wasn't me.

And, I have to admit, it still isn't me. When Chance gets home, there are a few dishes from lunch in the sink, there are toys from one corner of the living room to the other. There is still laundry in a pile in the bathroom. I'm just not big on cleaning my life away, not that I ever would or could by the way, but I just would rather spend my days playing with Archer and blogging during nap time rather than picking up toys. Just not my thing.

My Barbie's had house cleaners and jobs. And nannys. : ) Guess life's not as predictable as we think.

Have I ever told you guys

About my addiction to tattoos? I, myself, only have 2, but I have big dreams about others. My husband, also only has the two, but that's just because he doesn't have big plans. I would love to come up with awesome designs and just cover his body in ink so I could stare at it daily.

I saw an idea the other day, just little tiny wings, black and white ( I think ) on either side of my achilles heel. The thing is, I want them to stand for different things, so I want 4, one on each side of each foot.

For instance, my Nanny, my mom's mom, was an angel sent to Earth from God himself. Don't get me wrong she had a few faults, but mostly she was a deeply religious woman who did whatever she could to help whoever might need anything. I want one wing to be angelic, as a reference to her.

I think I want one to be sort of broken, to represent my Poppy's MS and my dad's alcoholism.

I'm not sure about the other two, but I can start with those, and decide later!! : )

Here is some idea of what I want:

Just the wing though, not the rest.

I would also eventually like to get a cross composed of the lyrics to 'I'll fly away." I saw this idea on LA Ink, my 3rd favorite show. I loved it, it was super cool! I would love for it to be on my upper back, between my shoulders, but my back is so ticklish, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it or not!

Arrgh!

So, bitching about Chance earlier right? I had some of his change leftover in my billfold, he asked yesterday if he could have 10 of it for lunch today. I said, that's fine leave the rest.

I just checked my billfold, nothing. Apparently he needed all $17 for lunch.

To get up quietly, help your wife, and shut the back door?

Chance has to get up at 430 for work. Archer did not go to sleep last night until 1.

When Chance got up to go to work, he bangs drawers around in the bedroom looking for something to wear. First off, all of his work clothes, except socks are in one drawer, therefore no need to open and shut drawers repeatedly. Oh, and he turned on the overhead light instead of the small lamp right near the dresser. How hard is it just get up quietly and dress yourself without waking up your sleeping wife (who has only been asleep 3.5 hours) 3 times?

About 10 minutes (can't ever really tell time when I'm asleep you know) after he gets up and gets dressed, he comes back to the bedroom to tell me I should get a bottle ready for Archer because he is awake. I should get a bottle? Because it's too hard for him to do it? How hard is it to make the damn bottle yourself?

And, a while ago, when I woke up: I came to the living room, sat Archer down, went to the porch to check the mail, came back and sat down. I notice there is a fly swarming around me. I look into the kitchen and see a few more flies swarming around. I look a little further into the kitchen only to see the back door is wide open and the a/c is on. There are flies all around the back yard because it's August in Oklahoma and that's how it is.

Growing up is hard to do

Archer is growing up. I'm just not ok with this, I don't want him to grow up! : ( I'm sure these pictures seem silly, but I need them for myself, to look at when this boy is 18.



I'm trying to wean him from his bottle. That makes me sad.

I love the bear he is holding. He has been using that bear as a pillow for months. Like, before he could crawl. He's a pillow fanatic and I love that bear, so I would hold him and prop his head on the bear.

I haven't thought of a name for the bear yet. I'm going to have a few in the wings and suggest them to him, because I would hate for it to have a really dumb name, like Chance's bear Big Bear. He got it from one of my favorite cousins at the baby shower, and I have decided he will love it too. I've been planning it since then, I sneak it in and play with it with him.

Anyway, sorry for the over obsessive blogging today, had some free time! : )