A lil strange

I am beginning to think my baby is a little strange. It would come to her naturally, look at her DAD. Hahahhah. Ok, I can be strange too. I consider my strange really funny and Kevin's strange is just, well strange.


She has a few things that she has done that I have thought might just be her age and her discovery of new things. Well, most of them come and go and some change to other types of the same behavior. For instance, she likes to wear her sunglasses. She used to wear them just for riding in the car, then it was wearing them into summer camp, and last night it was while eating dinner. For any of you who knew Kevin and I when we started dating, you might remember me complaining about how he wore his sunglasses everywhere. To dinner, to the movie, in the mall, everywhere. I finally had to ask him to stop wearing them other than when it was during the day and outside. Bothered me so bad. I felt like he was trying to hide something.


Anyways,SHE WOULD NOT TAKE THEM OFF. I tried, she screamed. She is the same way with shoes. From the moment she gets up until you put her in bed, she has to wear shoes. On occasion Kevin will let her go to bed with her shoes, because he does not want to fight her about it. Then we finally figured out we could trick her by letting her wear her house shoes instead of tennis shoes to bed. I don't know what it could be. I guess she likes to have her feet covered. She did not get that from me. I hate to wear shoes. I will definitely pull a Brittney Spears and go barefoot into a public bathroom. Ok, I wouldn't go that far, but I prefer not to wear shoes. It's a country thing ya'll. Although, my sister, Tara, would not be caught dead with her shoes off anywhere in public, because she a germ-o-phobe, and she grew up country.

I will have to think about all the other strange things Rosie does and let you all tell me if she is weird or normal for a 2 year old.

Finally...pictures

Ally making Sallie Rose smile

A family picture where no one is crying, including me

A family picture Sallie Rose evidently did not want any part of. Kevin tried so hard.

I love this one, she was doing a run way show for me, showing off her dress. She loved it!

Work it lady.

Awww....love this girl.

It rains almost everyday here, so we finally got her rain boots and we finally put them to good use. Susan said her outfit looked like something I would wear.

Someone's in the kitchen with Dina

I thought it was about time to post something about my boo boo, Sallie Rose. She does prefer for her Mommy to call her Boo boo. She is 21 months old this week and she is such an amazing little person. I can't believe how much she knows and how well she speaks, and all the colors she knows, how she can count to 16, and how mean she can be at times.

This morning she started off by sitting in bed with me singing someone's in the kitchen with Dina. She knows all the words and even will hold a key for a few seconds just like her Daddy does. If you have never heard a 21 month old sing "i've been workin on the railroad all the live long day", you haven't seen anything. It is the most precious thing I have ever seen in my life. Maybe more precious than the day I gave birth to her. It is a toss up. Maybe not.

She really has begun to string long sentences of words together. We went for ice cream on Sunday and as we were driving I said, "whose excited for ice cream?" From out of the backseat came "Sawee Wose excited ice cream". Kevin and I started laughing and couldn't believe that just came out of our baby's mouth. That girl loves ice cream, she will even say Cold Stone when we are driving, because she thinks that is all we do is go get ice cream.

She is a doll, she is becoming independent and wants to wear her pajamas to Summer Camp. We had a little drama this morning, because I told her she couldn't wear her horsie pj to camp. The other day I took her to the grocery store with me and she wanted to wear her socks with her sandals. Not just any socks, but her socks that look like rainbows. Kevin couldn't believe I was letting her leave the house like that. She needs to explore her fashion sense and like he has any room to talk. I know my family knows what Kevin used to dress like.

She has quite a few little friends that she is making at school. One is named Sassy. What do you think about that name? The other is Boots. I think her real name is Elizabeth, but they call her Boots. Don't know. She says their names all the time. She has finally quit saying all the boys names and now has some girlfriends. They are all so cute.

The rest of the Summer will be pretty busy as we begin to try and wrap up our rental season and I am wrapping up my career for now in an office setting. It is interesting thinking about what the next few months will hold. Maybe I will take a break and just hang out with my girl and study for my tests. I know we are dropping her buns off in Dallas and Daddy and I are going to San Francisco. We book it tonight! Yeah, a vacation away from the landlord life. It is much needed.

I promise I will post pictures soon!

What would you do?

Well, once again, being the owner of houses has brought on a very exciting week. Not only have the calls for rentals been a little more interesting this week, but we had a hard decision to make with a guy that was doing some work for us.

I never knew that having rentals would be so hard at times, besides the 24 hour a day calls of course, and would really test your morals and kindness. My kindness and patience have definitely worn thin and it can be seen in almost everyday now of living with me, just ask Kevin. Questions are very hard to answer, because who the hey has time to answer little questions about "have you seen my keys?" Poor Kevin, as my coworker likes to say.

Anyhoo, so Kevin had hired a nice guy to cut our yards (at the properties, our personal yards are dirt that require no cutting) and do a little painting and odd jobs. He found this guy from his flyer he had left in our door. He asked our neighbors about him and they had hired him to cut their grass and do some other things. We would see him around in their yards.

Well, he starts cutting the yards and then slowly we start asking him to paint and do a little extra errands around the properties. He seemed nice, although I knew he had already started drinking by about 11 most of the days I would interact with him. He and I started interacting more and more as I needed him to paint and move furniture around. The guy is a nice guy, just drinks a little. I mean, can I judge? Most of my family is drunk by 11 too! I'm kidding, ya'll. Kind of.

Anyways, as I begin to get to know him, I trust him more. Not trust, like leave my child with him, but trust him to lock the doors behind him in the empty apartments and then put the key in our office door. So, I let him paint, and I leave to go get Sallie Rose from camp and so forth. He returns the key, nothing thought about it.

At this point, as far as we know, he is living in a carriage house a few blocks from our house. He is working a few other odd jobs with gardeners and other landscapers. He works for us 1 or 2 days a week, when I am there to boss him around. Ha, like I have ever been able to boss anyone around.

So, he starts showing up more, saying that he appreciates the job and just wants to show his gratitude by doing a little more sprucing up to the bushes and things. Fine, just don't expect me to pay you, cuz we can't.

I finally go into an apartment that he had painted to show to a couple of students and it smelled like smoke. I open one of the closets (no one lives here and hasn't since May) and there is a pile of clothes and a sign that says "will work for food". I was so shocked and confused. I call Kevin. He asks if I think it is "yard guy's". I say yes, I recognize the clothes. He had been staying in one of our empty apartments that I had given him the key to for painting.

I was hurt, I was mad, and I felt betrayed and used. Why didn't he just ask me? I MIGHT have said yes and not told Kevin. What happened to his other place? How long has he been staying here? Is this the real reason he was doing extra work? Was he feeling guilty for trespassing on our house?

Kevin called him and told him to give us the keys and to not come back or of course he would call the Cops. I felt sad for him, but a little mad still. I thought about it all day. I was so out of it the rest of the day. It really effected me. I liked him and I thought he liked me.

That night as I sat on my nice couch, watching my gigantic tv, I burst into tears sad that I had put a man out on the streets. He has no home. He has no home and he was harmlessly sleeping on the floor of one of our empty apartments. I was so torn up. I felt ashamed of myself, but at the same time was still mad that he had betrayed my trust in him.

Today, I don't know what the right thing to do was. This is one of those situations where I am torn to do what I feel is right as a Christian and what I feel is right to do so that I don't get harmed. I have been in many of these situations and have made the decision that felt like the Christian decision and have been lectured by many people for putting myself in harm's way. Just ask Curtis, Cody and Makell. They have a good one to tell.


I pray for him, for everyone like him. People who might not make good decisions and it leaves them on the streets. All of us make bad decisions, but they don't all leave us homeless. Why are they different? Why do we see them as such harmful people, but really they are just people without homes and who are drinking by 11am in this case. He worked hard and did a good job. What did he do with all the money? Hell, he was making more money a week that I was. How does that happen and he is still homeless? This is so hard for me and I doubt I will ever know the right way to deal with it. I face these types of things everyday over in our lil ghetto. Hookers on the streets. Call the Cops? Why shouldn't I? It is illegal, but then again I think about what their life might really be like, do they have kids to feed? It so tough for me, especially now that I am a Mom. Things change when you have another person to look after.

Thanks for listening y'all. Say a prayer for our "yard guy".

Untitled

I don't have really anything specific to say, so I couldn't think of a title. However, now that I am sitting here typing the thunder is booming and I have a feeling the rain is soon to come. Kevin and Sallie Rose are out at Nana and Pop Pop's for a visit and I had to take a pass. I needed some alone time. That does not happen often, but lately I feel a little overcrowded and like I take care of everyone, so give me a break, please.

Kevin's back has been out for a week, and that has not been easy. I take that back, it has not been that bad, but now after a week I am ready for a break. I get tired of cleaning up after three people and carry everyone around on my hip. Now, my back hurts. Poor Kevin, he is miserable too. I think at first he enjoyed the rest, but now he is tired of it as well. We all are! Get better Kev.

Things are hard right now on the working two jobs front. I am so over my job at the architectural firm. I am very opposite from the principal and it is beginning to really get to me. He is one of those who doesn't do a lot, but takes credit for everything when someone else is around. Yes, it is his name on the door, but that is wrong and I am tired of standing for it. The only thing that really is hard, is that he has to approve my final hours of my internship for me to start taking my exams. It has been 5 weeks and he still hasn't signed it. My career is in his lazy hands. So irritating. I do not look forward to going to work every other day, but I gave my word to finish a project and I will. The second worse thing is this final project. It was supposed to be a high end office and he gave the client a really low budget and now the contractors have bid it and it is $25,000 over his estimated budget. Now we have to cut costs. That is a lot of cuts to make. I could go on for days about how irresponsible and crappy he is, but I am trying to let it go and learn a lesson from it. Don't be lazy and expect to get employees and clients to respect your so noted experience.

On the other hand, Sallie Rose is doing great. She is beginning to talk in full sentences, most of which you can understand. She loves to sing and now she loves to play with other kids too. She is loving her summer camp. It doesn't hurt that she has so many boys she likes to see every other day. She is super cute and loves to repeat everything. Her favorites are still "oh my goodness" and "oh Sallie Rose". I love that girl.

We have been going to the pool a lot. It is so hot here. I am glad that she likes the pool. She now has a little tan and it is super cute.

She loves family hugs. She loves talking on the phone, not to real people of course. She loves for Mommy to give all her babies diaper changes. She loves to color with markers and crayons. She of course loves ice cream and Popsicle. A summer must have.

Next weekend we are going to meet Suz, Luke and Ally in Charleston for a little vacay. I can't wait. I love getting out of town, but even more love going to see some of my family. Kevin and I are still dreaming about going on a trip alone in September and it might actually work. Initially he wanted to go to the Keys, but it was going to be a pain getting Sallie Rose to Texas for the week. So, now we have decided to find somewhere along the way. We might go to California (plane tickets are so cheap there???) or just go to San Antonio. I don't care and I can't say that enough. I just want to get away with my husband. I really want SR to spend some alone time with my family too. She is finally at the age where I think she will enjoy them more and not be such a Mommy cling on.

Have a good week everyone and I hope I will have some good news on my future career in the next few posts. I have my first furniture painting commission and I am super pumped about it. It is my hairdresser's front desk. Woo hoo, free hair cuts!

Weekly highlights

Wow this week was a doozy and had some really good parts to it. I am surprised I can remember any of them, because I have basically been working around the clock to get my final project out for bid. That happened this week and it is going to be a super sweet office renovation. I will hopefully get some pictures in September after construction is over. It was kind of a dream client: no budget and no idea of what they wanted and they trusted me to do a good job. I hope I don't disappoint them. How could you disappoint someone when they will have marble floors, wood ceilings, onyx counter tops, amazingly expensive light fixtures and the best office furniture on the market? We'll see. I am really excited about the project and so fortunate to have this as my final project before I venture out on my own.

Anyhoo, so these are the highlights of our week:
1. Spending Sunday with my family at the pool, after a 3 hour nap of course

2. Giving up the binky for good. In the trash and never coming back. Wasn't that bad

3. Sallie Rose repeating everything we say: "oh gosh" "oh my goodness" "oh Sallie Rose (when she has done something naughty)" and my favorite "oh shit". Her Dad said that one on Wednesday morning and she promptly repeated 4 or 5 times. I laughed so hard.

4. Finishing construction documents for my project on time and not yelling at anyone for them being idiots (like my boss) or procrastinators (like my boss).

5. Picking Sallie Rose up from Summer Camp and finding her in the playhouse french kissing some ugly kid named "Joe Joe". Not once, but twice. It was hysterical, awkward, and embarrassing all at the same time.

6. Opening boxes that Dad and Patty sent me from our now former house. They made me cry, laugh, and smile just like Patty said they would. There was some really funny stuff in there, besides my collection of Michael Jordan stuff. I will hopefully post some of those tomorrow.

7. Finally having time again to blog, relax, and wonder what I should be doing.

I am feeling very fortunate and positive lately and it feels good. I am so blessed and my baby girl is so funny and so cute that I can't help but thank God for everything he has given me.

Summer Camp pictures

Always on the move

First day of summer camp. A little tired after Memorial Day festivities.