haircut for the hubby

Chris and I have been married for almost seven years.

For most of the entire time we have been married one of the longest ongoing struggles I have seen him go through has been finding a good place for men's haircuts.  I cannot begin to tell you how many times he would come back from a place unhappy with how it initially looked, or how bad it would grow back in after a few weeks.

So sometime last year I finally talked him into going to a real salon.  I told him that, yes it may be a girly environment, but those people know what they are doing.  He went and has never gone back anywhere else.  

Well the other day he got his hair cut and I see that he spent $80 at his salon.... he bought a few hair products.

🙄

Oh boy, I hope I did not create a monster... 

houses.

We are looking for a house to buy.

Ever since we got married we always talked about buying our first home.  Well, maybe that was more me doing the talking and Chris listening while secretly thinking Yeah right, not anytime soon.

But as of six days ago, we are in the market of house-hunting.  It's exciting but I'm trying so hard to not be a cynic about it.  It's kind of weird but that's really the emotional battle that I'm finding myself dealing with.  I've longed for a house of my own for years.  All the friends gatherings we would host, holiday dinners with family, planting a garden.  Time and again, I have celebrated friends buying their first homes while fighting off feelings of jealousy.  I know that comparison is the thief of joy, but it can get messy when it's dangling right in front of you.  About two years ago when we first moved back to my hometown, we met with a mortgage company and got pre-approved for a decent-sized mortgage.  We half-seriously started to look around at homes with a real estate agent, knowing that we likely wouldn't be buying anything at the time.  Well, then I was shown THAT house.  The one with so many things on your checklist and you're already seeing your furniture in it with your kids running around in the backyard.  And I wanted it....so much. 

Well long story short, the bottom line is that we were not in a position where buying a house was financially responsible.  We ended up walking away before even thinking about making an offer and I was crushed.  I was well aware that it was just not the right time for us and that we had to focus on other financial goals first, but it didn't make the taste of reality less bitter.

But enough about that...we are finally in the process of looking for our first home and I am trying so hard to be as excited as I thought I would be.  We made our first offer on a home a couple days ago but it was out-bided by another buyer.  Chris and I are a middle class family faced with the challenge of wanting something that many other buyers want in a price range that will be very competitive.  I'm certain that it won't be the first home we get out-bided on.  Thus, I have been more of a cynic and refuse to get emotionally invested before I hear the words "Your offer was accepted".

I just want to be free to be excited and happy without fear that we will get out bided every time we make an offer or that something will happen during escrow.  It's such a struggle, sometimes hour by hour.

So our first offer was not accepted and we continue our search.  I am just so overjoyed at the thought of my girls finally having a back yard to play in.  If I want to paint my walls, then I can go paint my walls a new color.  Being free to remodel a bathroom or my kitchen because it's MY home and I can.  My years of HGTV obsession will be put to use as I design and decorate my home that I own and can do whatever I want to do with it.  I can hardly wait.  We are so ready!  Just have to keep my emotions under control until then.

this is a picture of the house we did not get...may its new owners have many happy years here.

On Call

I actually wrote this last night but my internet was being really awful, so I had to wait to post it until now...

I received a phone call this evening around five.  Generally speaking, on the days (or nights) that nurses are scheduled to work, receiving a phone call around five (AM or PM) is a universal sign that we are going to be put on call.... or that my mother was calling and wanted to talk for a minute (I might be lying if I said that it didn't annoy me a little bit when it is my mother because she got me all excited for a minute by thinking I was being called off for a few hours).  But today, it was not my mother... it was in fact my place of employment asking me if I wanted to take call for the night.  I happily accepted the job of taking call; it has been probably over a year since I was put on call or cancelled altogether.  Plus my husband had been attempting to make dinner for us while our girls were simultaneously deciding to make the evening a crying, whining, make-life-miserable-for-daddy evening.  So everyone wins.

It's 1 AM, and still no call.

I have a love-hate relationship with being on call.  One the one hand, I enjoy being able to have a non-rushed dinner with my family and help get the girls to bed before potentially going to work.  But on the other hand, the rest of my night is marked with constant anxiety over where my phone is at all times and those Oh crap, where's my phone?  Did I miss a call?! moments.  And of course there's the never answered question of Go to bed?  Stay up because I'll probably get called in?  I don't know if there's ever a good rule-of-thumb answer to that question.  However I am not complaining because I'm still at home in my pajamas sipping on coffee and not at work doing.... all the things that I cram into a 12-hour shift.

Chris (the husband) and I have the next two days off together.  I have no idea what we will be doing, but I'm glad we'll be home together.  My 3-year old always has a special spark about her in the morning when she notices that we are eating breakfast "allllll together".  It's adorable.  Chris is a nurse like I am but he switched to the day shift a month ago and now leaves the house around 6 AM.  So on the days when he is at work the girls do not get to see him until the evening just before they go to bed.  It has been an adjustment but I think we are all enjoying a better rested Chris instead of groggy, no-energy Chris.  Needless to say, our days off together are very much valued.  Even to my 3-year old. 

It's now 1:35 and I think I might try my luck by going to sleep for a bit.  Half of the shift is over so I might be in the clear zone by now.  

a spring day in the northstate.

Today I slept in a little bit while I shamelessly allowed my husband get the girls up and start on their breakfast.  I kept hearing my husband periodically call my name while my girls scurried around the kitchen, beginning their day's mess quota.

It was wonderful to sleep in, because I do not get the opportunity often.

After our morning breakfast together we all got dressed and left for church.  

Milestone for our family... my oldest girl turned 3 years old on March 11 and thus graduated from the church nursery to the children's building where all the rest of the children attend their Sunday school services.  I had a moment of "how are we here already?!" before it dissipated at the sight of the delight in her eyes as she scanned her new Sunday school classroom.  Without even saying goodbye she was off to go play.

The remainder of my day was spent getting caught up with my house chores that I have been ignoring for the past several days.  Every now and then the "super mom" in me goes on strike and I somehow block the mess and piles of laundry from my sight.  I made the wonderful discovery that head buds have a speaker into them so you can conveniently have long-overdue phone dates while folding laundry.  

It was a lovely and rainy Sunday.  Even though most of it was spent at  home folding laundry and cleaning, I somehow enjoyed it.  Days when the husband and I are both home are very much appreciated... especially when I get to sleep in.

Here are a couple of pictures of my amazing and adorable girls...because I'm sure that everyone needs to see more pictures of kids that aren't theirs  😏

phew...I'm so glad that awkward first blog post is over with!