I've breathed the mountain air, man, Of travel I've had my share, man, I've been everywhere

I move around. A lot. Some moves were by choice, some moves were decisions that were forced upon me. Since graduating college I've lived in 7 different locations, and the last 18 months accounts for 3 of those locations. I've already been preparing myself for a possible move next year, but I wasn't expecting anything this year. Until I got a phone call on June 7 from the property manager at Century 21.

She started the conversation with reminding me that our 12 month lease is up at the end of the month. I agreed and I thought it was just a courtesy call to ask us in to sign for another 12 months. Instead, she informs me that the owners of the house is going to put the house on the market, and would I be interested in purchasing the house? Now, there are those who are active duty in the Air Force who do purchase houses, but for me and Scott, it just doesn't make sense. So, I decline the offer saying that for us, it would not be a wise decision.

The lady on the other end of the phone starts talking very quickly and tells me that we have a month before the house goes on the market and we need to move out as soon as we can. Because I do not like to conduct business over the phone where there is no record of what is being said, I asked her to send me an email or letter.

Since then, Scott and I have been determined to be out of this house before we have to worry about strangers looking around our things. I've gone through this process before when my landlord in the last place I lived in Elmwood Park put the house on the market and it's very different when it's not really YOUR house people are coming to look at, and yet you still have to take responsibility for the living space.

We would prefer not to use Century 21 again. Even though we have only been renting through them for a year, I've had my fill with how they run their business. When I first went through the inspection of this house before we moved in, there was a mouse trap in one of the cupboards and they told me that 'there was no mouse problem on record.' Within two weeks, that trap had caught a little mouse and I called them again to tell them that there seemed to be a mouse issue. They gave me a spiel about how the nearest exterminator was in Boise and they wouldn't pay for it. I explained to them that my husband and I were going to start a family (I didn't tell them I was already pregnant, because no one outside of family and a few friends knew) and I did not want to worry about diseases carried in the mouse poop. It took them another month, a failed attempt by the handyman they hire to come to the house on the day he asked for and didn't show up (without calling me to let me know), and 7 more mice later for them to finally send someone out to come up with the highly technical solution to the problem: find the hole in the side of the house where the mice were coming in through the crawl space and plug up the hole. It was barely a $10 solution they could have done the day after my first phone call.

I've had other problems with them, like that same handyman showing up at my house without any heads up and when he finally does call me gets annoyed that I had the gall to be on vacation while Scott was training at a different base.

And yet...

We were scrambling to find another place to rent, so I made arrangements to see 4 other locations through them. A realtor, we'll call her Stephanie, told me of a 5th listing that she was going to see about talking down the price. This past Saturday morning, a different lady, we'll call her Deb, showed us around to some ok places and one that would have been better if they had bothered to clean the carpet of the pet waste stains and the broken hot tub that they didn't make use of the cover to hide the disgusting leftover water and odds and ends inside. After the 4th place, I had mentioned about the 5th location that the Steph spoke of, but Deb wasn't made aware and had already taken a phone call part way through walking us through the locations  and was rushing us so that she could meet her next appointment. She took my phone number and promised to call me before 4 to take us to the very last place. I have yet to hear from here and it's already Tuesday.

Knowing that I really wanted to part ways with Century 21, I had made an appointment with a different company for late Saturday afternoon to look at the one location he had left for rentals. It turns out that he is highly recommended by people Scott works with and we were assured that he is a stand-up guy worth checking out. We met up with him and we saw a perfectly adequate house for a good price. And he was prepared and brought a list of other houses that were just a little over the price range we had discussed, but Scott and I wanted to check out just one last listing.

And this last house is the one we really want. The realtor is working on negotiating a lower price for rent and we will hopefully know by the end of the week if we are going to move into this house. It's bigger than our current place and has 2 floors, a beautiful open kitchen and a nice-sized baby room for Violet. I don't want to get too excited, but both Scott and I really want this place for however much longer we live here in Mountain Home.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks

In honor of the brand-spanking new baseball season, I am going through my 'Baseball' picture folder on my flashdrive. I have photos from every MLB stadium I've visited, and as it stand now, I've been to 16, four of which have been decommissioned (Shea, Yankee, Veterans, and Busch.) I also have tickets stubs to about 80% of the games I've gone to all stored away in memory boxes that will eventually turn into a scrapbook. I have a horrible memory when it comes to who played and who won, but I do know where I've been and what I've eaten.

Next Friday will mark my 11th home opener for the Mets, and I'm somewhat surprised I get to go. Even though when I first moved to Tennessee in 2008 I made a promise to my partner in crime that I would still make it to any future home openers no matter how far away I moved (he lives in Los Angeles), I really thought that just having a baby and Scott's work being super crazy in the month of April would make me break this promise. But luckily, I have in-laws who are itching to see their new granddaughter, so we have new sets of hands to help while I steal away to Queens.

I won't be able to watch the Mets' first game today, but I will have the Phillies/Astros and Red Sox/Rangers game on in the background as I do things around the house.

Winter is done, spring is here (well, mostly.)

Let's go baseball!

2002 Home Opener

Gary Carter and Doug

Friends in Camden Yards

Veterans Park

Jacobs Field

White Sox

Milwaukee Brewers

Turner Field

Me at Shea - NLCS 2006

Fenway

Outside of Fenway

Shea Stadium 2007

Shea winding down - 2008

First game of CitiFields

'86 World Series trophy

Yankee Stadium - 2008

When I see you smile, I can face the world, I can do anything

Violet is now just over 6 weeks old and I have come close to figuring out how to go about my day to day. Most days are really great. Then there are some that prove to be really hard, like when she screams so loud, it reminds me of Harry Potter's screeching mandrakes. I'm trying to do little things here and there that would make me feel more human and not just a frazzled first time Mom. But, again, it's super difficult and I get frustrated. Thankfully, she has yet to give me two really bad days consecutively.

The great thing is, Violet is starting to smile at us. She's smiling more and more in the last couple of days, and I swear, it's a magic spell. I can only imagine how much more my day will brighten when she starts to laugh. But for now, I'll enjoy looking down and seeing this:

Dimples are a gift from Dad.

2nd birth announcement

She's Here Birth Announcement

Birth announcements, Valentine's cards, & invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

 Since Snapfish has been taking forever with sending me the orders, I'm giving Shutterfly a chance. Let's see if it's worth it..

EDITOR"S NOTE: Cool - I just earned a $10 off coupon for posting this on my blog. And the postcards came in today. I think I do prefer Shutterfly over Snapfish. Next project: Easter cards.

Life used to be so hard, Now everything is easy 'cause of you

My parents always had music playing in our house. It would be a potluck of music from their generation, their parents' generation, the current soft rock and Christian contemporary. There are a few songs that really stick out in my memory and "Our House" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young is one of them. When I finally got to the age when the words I was mindlessly singing started to grab real significance, I remember thinking that this song is what represented being an adult with a home and a family and not just a place to live.

Well, I finally have my home, an awesome husband and a cutie daughter, so I decided to buy a bunch of frames and decorate the walls and bookcases. As we were figuring out the best placement and arrangement of the photos, I started to see how some of my favorite photos/artwork represented some of the people and memories that mean a great deal. Here are some examples.

 

This is at the edge of the kitchen and dining area. The bagel sign on the top is of Finagle a Bagel, a chain bagel shop I tried to eat at every time I visited my friends in Boston during their college years. Boston still stands as one of my all-time favorite cities because of all the great times I had up there.

The frame in the middle with the colored glasses and champagne flutes was taken at a bachelorette I threw for a friend. Actually, that was from the first try. There was a do-over for the party, which is a much longer story.

The framed quote to the right was decoration taken from Derek and Ashley's weddingish, May 17, 2009. It reads, "The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships. ~Anthony Robbins." That weekend is still one of my top 5 best weekends ever, and it was also very significant to my relationship to Scott.

The house is where I grew up in Wyckoff. It was a lovely home and sadly, it no longer exists. The man who bought it from my parents in 2005 decided to knock it down and build a monstrosity. Very sad.

The Chinese garden was a photo I took from an outing to Duke Gardens with Cyrus Chi. The Man-Chi and I had a great time wandering around the huge indoor botanical gardens and I was able to take a bunch of great pictures. For anyone who lives in NJ, check it out - you will not be disappointed! Duke Gardens

The picture of the waterfall is from a family trip to our relatives in Montana. I have no idea where this particular waterfall is located because I took this photo either in middle school or early high school.

The collage of pictures are of my friends from NJ. The group photo of the girls are of my close gal pals from high school; the group photo above it was from our prom weekend (with the Funqwat buried underneath us); and there are a couple other pictures of a different prom, my favorite of which is the one with all the guys hanging off a swing set.

The large frame hanging on the wall is something that Scott received when leaving the base in Minot, North Dakota. A bunch of people saying how awesome he is, which is all true.

The frame on the left sitting on the bookcase was taken from my exploring Jonesborough, Tennessee. Every year they have a festival dedicated to storytelling and it's a big, big deal. The town is so tiny and quaint, I couldn't help but feel like I've been transported to a different time. The hats are bolted to the side of store and people can stand underneath them for a photo. I just thought it was super cute. Oldest town in TN

The two smaller frames next in line are both mementos from my brother-in-law's wedding. This was one of the first few 'dates' I got to have with Scott back in 2005 and I'm happy to have kept the escort card.

The frame to the right is a collage put together by Derek and Ashley given to us as a wedding gift. There are several pictures of Scott and me from their wedding and a couple from when our group of friends would just hang out at the Sonderfans' home in North Haledon or at the pool hall in Pompton Lakes. The quote on the top is, "The art of love... is largely the art of persistence. ~Albert"

The frame on the top shelf is a group photo at the Cheesequake rest stop. I forget who started the tradition, but anytime our group of friends went down to the Jersey shore, there had to be a photo taken at this rest stop. I believe this one was from summer of 1997.

The black and white photo is from our wedding ceremony at The Garden of the Gods in Colorado. There were a ton of pictures taken by our family and friends, but this is my favorite of the few friends who got to come to our very small ceremony.

The frame on the right is of my family at Hershey Park, Pennsylvania. I can't remember how long ago this was taken, but it was before my sister had her two little daughters and when I still lived with my parents.

There are more pictures and artwork I tacked up on the wall, but I just wanted to share a handful of the love mementos with which I surrounded our home. Pretty soon, there will be many photos of Violet as she gets to meet the rest of my relatives and friends. I look forward to all of it.

Mr Sandman bring me a dream

Scott and I are still trying to learn Violet's likes and dislikes, and more importantly, what will help lull her to sleep. For the past couple of weeks, we've been having difficulty finding the various combinations of actions needed to convince her nighttime is for sleeping. We are fully aware some children are night owls (I'm looking at you, dear brother), but we are still optimistically hopeful.

We were given a swing by a coworker of Scott's who has two kids of his own and the younger one just recently outgrew the swing. When I ran out of ideas of how to soothe Violet after one of her feedings, I decided to have her try it out. The results were inconclusive--

In my prison cell I bide my time, Always thinking, Always busy cooking up an angle

Violet will only allow herself to be swaddled on very rare occasions now a days. It's as seldom as when she allows me to set her down either in her crib or pack n' play for her first morning nap so that I can have breakfast.

If by chance she lets me swaddle her, there is a time limit. After a short while, she channels Houdini and this is what I find while I listen to her grunt and strain against her straightjacket:

Esc-a-pay