Feeling Accomplished!

My MIL helped us out this afternoon and took Kyle for the afternoon.  Her friend has a golf cart and Kyle loves riding in it.  He sits in my MIL's friend's lap and "honks the horn."  Anyway, after they drove off, Shannon and I went to work in the garage.  We went through the rest of the boxes and threw away anything we no longer need or use.  We actually downsized quite a bit and finished going through the boxes!  We even found some of our plastic drawers, so Shannon cleaned them and we'll move them upstairs to put our clothes in.  For the last 2 years, we've had our clothes piled in neat stacks on the floor.  So having our clothes in plastic drawers will be a nice upgrade for us. 

We feel so accomplished to get our stuff in the garage all organized!  We still have to worry about organizing/packing our stuff we have upstairs (clothes and the things we use on a daily basis).  We still have a ton of stuff upstairs that I want to throw away.

Lastly, we still need to find a place to live!  We're hoping we can find a place that will rent to us!

The dumpster

We rented a dumpster this week.  I've been throwing away old clothes, trash, and cardboard boxes that we had piled up.  Shannon and I have tried to go through our stuff (that's been packed away in the garage) and throwing away anything and everything we don't need, use, or fit in.  Kyle doesn't like us to be in the garage, he starts crying and having a tantrum.  It's not part of "the routine" so when things don't go the way they are supposed to or if we aren't in the right place, he freaks out. 

This week is Spring Break, so Kyle has been home from school.  Next week [while Kyle is in school] we plan on throwing away about 98% of his toys that are scattered all around the floor and continue to go through our stuff we have in the garage.  We just want to downsize as much as possible so we have less to pack and move.  We decided to throw away all of his baby clothes and toddler clothes. 

Today, Shannon and I got through 3 boxes or so.  Shannon had to go watch Kyle so I did another 2 boxes while he was doing that. 

Overall, I am excited that we will soon (hopefully) have our own place.  I am also looking forward to start looking for jobs in a bigger city that we are moving to.

How it turned out...

Yesterday I wrote about my urge to make Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, after getting the idea from watching Desperate Housewives.  Well, I made it this afternoon and it turned out perfect!  I am so surprised that my first time making this cake, it turned out so nice!  I need to get a deeper pan because the one I have is too shallow. 

Here are the results:

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Watch out! I am going to bake again! My first attempt at baking bread turned out pretty well, I was actually really surprised at myself!  Even my husband loved the banana bread I made!  Last night, I decided that I wanted to make pineapple upside-down cake.  I got the idea from watching Desperate Housewives!  I don't think I have ever tasted pineapple upside-down cake but it sure looks good, don't you think?

Unfortunately, my "baking" skills are pretty much like Gabrielle's, rather than Bree's!  So, I am hoping it will turn out!  I am trying to do things that challenge me, and baking seems to do that.  I am trying to find new interests and things that make me happy!

I looked up a few recipes and found one from Betty Crocker that I liked and that looked easy enough for me to follow!  I bought all of the ingredients I need and will be making it tomorrow!  My husband said he would have some if I made it!

I just hope I don't get this reaction to my cake.  By the way, I think her expression is priceless! 

Happy Easter!

Today is Easter!  We didn't do anything to celebrate today.  The last thing I want in the house is candy!  Kyle did receive some plastic eggs with candy in them and he dyed some eggs at school.  He brought home a plastic bucket with his Easter eggs!

Yesterday, we drove out to Winston-Salem and drove around the area!  It's a huge city that Shannon took the wrong freeway (he was supposed to take Business 40 and not Interstate 40).  Anyway, when we took Interstate 40, it brought us to the other side of the city and there's a Wake Forest University campus on that side but it's the Medical Center, not the Law School.  We ended up stopping at Hanes Mall for about 15 to 20 minutes.  I walked around JC Penney with Kyle and he didn't like it.  He took me for a walk instead of the other way around.  He's used to being in a shopping cart while we are in the store and this time he had to walk.  He likes routine and when it doesn't work out the way he wants, he gets nervous and can have a tantrum/freak out.  So I took him outside since he was going to start crying and freaking out.  We tried to comfort him after we got him back in the car but it didn't work.  We drop around a little more and finally found the right exit.  We drove through Wake Forest University and it is so pretty!  The drive is all tree lined, so there's mostly shade on the campus.  We ended up getting out and letting Kyle play on the baseball field.  He would run down the little hill towards the field and slide on his legs to the bottom getting his pants legs wet and covered with grass!  We let him play for about 10 minutes and after that, he completely forgot about being upset.

We saw 3 apartment complexes but two of them are completely out of our price range!  The first one we saw is nice and clean looking and affordable for us.  I wouldn't mind living there.

On our way out of Winston-Salem, we ended up going to Clemmons.  About a year ago, my in-laws found a little community that they really liked and wanted to move to.  This community is right next to a grocery store and a few other stores.  It's the perfect place for us.  It is really affordable, but you have to buy the place, unless you find someone who will rent to you. 

Unfortunately, Section 8/Public Housing is closed to new applications for the county of Winston-Salem, so we can't even apply!

Our Plan, so far

Since I posted our update a few days ago, Shannon and I decided that we're going to visit Winston-Salem, NC and see some apartments.  We don't want to consider staying here in our current city, nor Mooresville (rent is expensive).  He told me to start applying for jobs in Winston-Salem, I retorted with the fact that I have never been there, I have no idea what's out there as I have never been there!  So we're going to go this weekend, to drive around the city and just check out the area. 

We are considering Winston-Salem because it's the same city of where he wants to go to law school, they have really affordable rent, and hopefully there will be more jobs out there.  In the last few days, I have searched online and even applied for a few jobs for both Shannon and myself.  I am using our cell number as our main contact number on applications, cover letters, and resumes.  I ended up looking up apartments and found that rent is pretty affordable.  Besides finding an apartment, our next priority is finding a job for at least one of us and then go from there. After that, we'll worry about getting Kyle registered in the new school district. 

My in-laws are going back and forth about when they want to move out.  My FIL was saying he wants to be out by June 1st.  Just a few days ago, they were saying they are looking to be out by June 30th.  I just hope we can get out of here around the end of May, which is just around the time school ends for Kyle.  Luckily most of our stuff is still packed away in the garage, but we want to go through it and downsize our stuff.  We also have the stuff we use everyday (clothes, toys, etc) that we'll need to pack. 

Kindergarten Checkup

This is the last week before Spring Break and Kyle had his "Kindergarten checkup" today with his doctor.  He received the 4 vaccines, the last he needed before he could enter Kindergarten!  His appointment was at 3:30pm and we just barely made it about 5 minutes before his appointment.  We didn't get called in until about 10 minutes later.  In addition to his 4 vaccines, he ended up trying to reach/grab for one of the needles and sliced the inside of his hand.  Thankfully it wasn't a deep cut.  The nurse put a band-aid on it and it stopped bleeding about 10 minutes later. 

We now have all of his required paperwork to get officially registered for Kindergarten!  I am so glad that is over.  

After we arrived home, Kyle seemed tired and had a dazed look to his face.  He somehow got a second wind and started acting like his normal self (running around, playing, etc). 

He took a bath with no issues.  He even went to bed tonight without any problems.  Just as I was trying to fall asleep (just before 11pm), out of nowhere he threw up a few times!  It was just out of the blue.  Shannon automatically brought up that his vaccines may have caused this!  I just hope it was that and NOT another round of a virus that will last 3 or more weeks!  We're going to keep him home tomorrow from school because he may still be in pain or be fussy.  Plus, school policy is that they have to be "throw up free for at least 24 hours." 

We put everything he threw up on (his clothes, sheets, and the towels we used to clean him up) into the washer tonight.  I don't care that it's late, they need to be cleaned and we can worry about drying them tomorrow! 

As I was writing this post, Kyle threw up again about 45 minutes after the first time.

Update

We currently live with my in-laws and as you can imagine, it's been "oh-so-fun."  Can you hear the sarcasm?  We've lived with them off and on (mostly on) for almost 4 years and that is just way too long for me.  I am a private person, I like my having my OWN SPACE!  I've lived on my own since I was 20 1/2.  To put this in perspective, 4 years is half the amount of years my husband and I have been married. 

Anyway, my in-laws plan on walking out of their house either May 30th or June 30th simply because they cannot afford to live here.  Since they are going to be moving out, that means we will be homeless.  My husband and I plan on going to apply for Section 8 tomorrow while our son is in school.  We aren't sure what to expect, but we're hoping the waiting list isn't too long and how long we'll have to wait until we hear if we are accepted into the program.  I don't think we'll have a problem getting approved since my husband and I are both unemployed.  I am going crazy not knowing where we're are going to live.  I am putting all of my hope into getting approved for Section 8 and once we get over that hurdle, we can start looking for a place to live. 

Meanwhile, I know of only one expense we can cut down on since that is not a necessity.  The only other bill we have (beside paying rent to my in-laws) is our car insurance and we really can't cut that off. 

Mae Minerals ~ all natural mineral makeup, skin care, and lip gloss

Future up in the air

So our future is up in the air.  We talked about applying for Section 8 Housing and it looks like we'll have to do that.  Why?  A few factors, but the main reason is that my in-laws want to walk out on their house (we currently live with them) to move to South Carolina.  Or at least that's where they want to move at the moment.  A year ago it changed to South Carolina, Winston-Salem, and Cary.  Now they're back to South Carolina to live near the beach. 

My in-laws want to walk out on their house because they simply cannot afford to live here.  I don't blame them, because the same thing happened to us, we had to walk out on our house almost 4 years ago.  Since they want to leave, that means we need to find our own place.  I am glad that [hopefully] we'll have our own place again since it's been way too long.  I am unsure when they want to move, but I don't think they'll leave us high and dry.  I just hope we can get approved and get on the list for Section 8. 


Mae Minerals ~ all natural mineral makeup, lip gloss, and skin care.

Haircut x2

While Kyle was at school, Shannon and I went to get our haircut at the same time!  There's a "shopping center" with a barber shop and salon right next to each other.  A majority of their clientele are senior citizens.  Thankfully the salon accepts "walk ins" so I got right in!  Shannon also got right in without a wait.  Shannon was done about 15 minutes before me.  I am just so glad I got my haircut since it hasn't been cut since July 2010!!!!  My hair is just below my shoulders and I have long side swept bangs that go to the middle of my cheek and longer.  My hair has layers in it too.  I love it.  Shannon needed to get his haircut because he has to go to court on Monday and he didn't want to appear shaggy. 

I turned in the paperwork to get Kyle registered for Kindergarten next year!  I still need to turn in a few more papers but I can't do that until we see his doctor next week! 

Pool, Bath, Haircut, Repeat!

Kyle had an eventful day yesterday!  The weather was sunny and warm enough for him to play in his pool!  He loved it!  Here are the videos I recorded:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPwseG_J2fk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-cNZoCuPZM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41aaKpQExz4

I believe it took 5 hours to upload all 3 of them to youtube!   I didn't go to sleep until about 11pm because I didn't want to start over.  Plus, I couldn't leave my computer because I would have to restart if I left it alone too long.

Kyle playing in the pool for at least an hour, if not more.  He always has so much fun.  After he got out of the pool, I gave him a bath.  Then my MIL wanted to cut his hair since it was getting so long (as you can see in the videos).  Kyle sits on the kitchen counter so my MIL can shave his head.  Shannon made sure he didn't fall and I held a mirror up so Kyle could "see" was happening (he loves mirrors).

After his head was shaved, he jumped into the pool and we let him play for another hour or so. Instead of giving him another bath, we just dried him off and got him dressed again.

Post Office and Food Lion

Today marked my one month anniversary since starting my new workout program, Turbo Fire!  So far, I am happy with the results and I can't wait to see what month 2 will bring. 

Kyle's class will be starting a garden!  It sounds like a lot of fun for him to be able to play in dirt! 

After Kyle got home from school, Shannon dropped us off at the grocery store (Food Lion) while he went to the Post Office!  I bought some fresh fruit and vegetables and other things we were running out of.  I also bought hot dogs for Kyle since he loves them so much!  I also bought some nutella since I heard it was really good.  I tried some with grapes and it was so good!  I'll have to try it with other fruits! 

Does this make me a baker?!

I just made my homemade banana bread!  I am so proud of myself because I am not much of a baker!  I figure I can read, so surely I can figure out how to make something.  I am inspired to try more recipes!  I hope to try much more cooking and baking once we get into our own place again.

Last week, I had the idea in my head to make banana bread.  My son loves bananas, but sometimes he doesn’t.  That usually means that if we have bananas on hand and he doesn’t eat them, I freeze them to add to my smoothies or shakes. 

I bought all the ingredients needed to make banana bread a few days ago and then had to wait for the bananas to ripen!  Today was the perfect day to make them since I was bored and the bananas were ready!  Here is a picture of the finished product:

I had Shannon slice the bread, since he is better at that than I am.  He ended up loving the bread!  He said “it was good” which means a lot!  Although, he isn’t too picky on food, as long as it is edible.  If he didn’t like it, he would have said so.