Great success!

Clint got the job in Washington!! It's for http://www.ferro.com/ and he is super thrilled. He had the interview not this past Friday, but the Friday before. They told him they were doing interviews through Wednesday. They called him on Thursday and offered him the job!!! For the same schedule (m-f 8-5) and MORE money than he was making at Touchstone. Things are finally coming together! We are so excited!

And I get to get a new car soon, yeah!!!

Only one person looked at the house this week, but that's OK. We are going to take our time looking for a house (in a better price range!). And, if it takes a while for someone to buy our house, that will give us more time and options. There isn't a whole lot on the market right now.

But of course, as the trend with us has been lately, with the highs, there are also the lows. Last weekend I had a pretty sore throat. It kind of went away through the week, but I felt tired and sluggish all week. Wednesday, Owen had a 102 fever when he woke up. Clint gave him some Motrin to bring it down. It got higher. I called the doctor around 12:30, they got us in at 2:00pm (love the pediatricians). He has Hand, Foot and Mouth. If you don't know what that is, it's basically a children's virus that causes blisters to form in the throat, on the hands and feet, in addition to a steep fever and irritability. The virus has been running rampant recently in the Ohio Valley. The ped said a few weeks ago, probably 25 kids a day came in with it. The fever has passed. He still has some irritability, but his appetite has increased, so he must be feeling better.

SO... Sunday night at work, I'm trying to put it out of my mind that my sore throat has come back. Amy, my fellow supervisor tells me that Strep Throat is going around. I put it out of my head. Around 11:45pm, I start to ache. The whole night, I had been freezing. It's always cold in there anyway, but I mean freezing with a shirt and sweater on, with a small space heater pointing directly at me and FREEZING. I feel like I'm starting to check out. It was hard to focus, the aching was getting worse and I was starting to worry. I ended up going home around 1am, because I just wanted to lay down and sleep.

All night long, I tossed and turned, alternating between being so cold that I was shaking and sweating so much that my clothes were wet. My arms hurt. My legs hurt. My hips hurt. My shoulders hurt. My head was thumping. I felt like I was dying. Several times in the night I contemplated going to the emergency room, but settled for going to Med Express when they opened at 9am. The doctor initially thought I had Strep, but it ended up being negative. He says that I likely have a variation of the Hand Foot and Mouth virus. He gave me a really strong antibiotic and said I shouldn't be contagious in about 24 hours. I can't wait until I feel better, this is freaking miserable. I don't think I've ever felt worse.

And of course, my little monkey picks today to want to start kissing me unprovoked, when I can't kiss him. He was relentless though, and would not settle for my cheeks, so I had to tuck my lips into my mouth and let him give me a big smacker.

It's been such a shitty day. Thank God this happened before Clint went back to work, otherwise I would have needed some help today. Clint is so amazing in situations like this, taking care of Owen all by himself. He is such an amazing daddy.

Currently, it's 11:20pm, and I've been up for four hours. That's the longest stretch I have been awake and out of bed today. The chills/sweats is still annoyingly a major issue. I have taken two showers today and I think I will need to change my shirt before bed. Boo to being a sweaty disaster.

I have to start feeling better soon! I'm having Aunt Karen over for dinner on Wednesday!!! I'm making a delicious pork loin, couscous and steamed broccoli. Yum.

Some new little things, to distract us from the heavy stuff.

Some recent pictures:

Owey doesn't know what to do... He doesn't like to get his hands dirty.

First time with shaved ice... Don't let that face fool you, he loved it. He sad because I'm taking pictures, not feeding him.

Down at the waterfront.S.S. Volunteer.

In the park in Warwood. I played in this park as a first and second grader.Runnin'Thirsty at the Warwood Pool.

Last weekend, Owey got to have a hot date with his future wife Lily. Their time was spent snuggling on Virginia's lap, having a meal and dancing.

Actually, Lily did NOT want Owen sharing her mama's lap, they both scrambled to get their fair share of raisins, goldfish and a banana. The dancing part was all Lily.

Also, Clint and I made a deal that when he got a job, I could get a car. I wasn't exatly planning on a new car, more like a 3ish year old CRV. However, I went and test drove a brand spanking new Civic today and Mama Like. The payment would be the same for a brand new Civic as a 3-4 year old CRV. I need to figure out what I want.

The brand new Civic is very very very nice. But a CRV would have more space for Owen +1 in the back seat. Since we have no immediate plans to buy a house now, and since Clint is going to be working again, we really need to do this soon. Unless I want to be stuck at home, all day, every day. (no.)

I took a big walk with Owen today. I haven't walked in awhile, so it was good to go. Then after we walked for a half hour, we took a break to play on the mega-playground in downtown Wheeling. Owey liked.

Owen's bedtime! Peace out!

Ups and downs.

So, when one thing is going well in my life, something else will most certainly start to crap out.

As everyone knows, some dude made an offer on our apartment about a month ago. A week after that we put an offer on a house that we pretty much love. I get the mortgage set up... I set up the inspection. Pay for the appraisal. Drop a pretty penny on the earnest money for the house.

We found out today that the guy buying the apartment can't get his financing in order and cannot buy the apartment. Fortunately we set up a contingency clause in case something like this happened. I'm not going to be stuck with two mortgages or anything like that, but this still 100% sucks.

This means, the apartment goes back on the market. I have to get it ready to show again. We pray with all our hearts that we get another offer in time to close on the house by September 24 (or that we get a new buyer and the sellers on the house will give us an extension on the close...) OR, we totally lose the house.

I'm devestated by this. We got attached to that house, the neighborhood, the school district, the local park, the local pool, the walking trail, the pinkish pit bull in the yard next door, (I like to call her Pinky). The "dream" is gone.

I'm praying. I'm praying that if this is NOT our house, that the person who does eventually buy our apartment will do so at a time when OUR REAL HOUSE is on the market, at an affordable price, in a great location. It's just hard to accept that there is nothing I can do about it.

It felt like it was all too good to be true, because it was. Everything went so smoothly on my end. The offer and counter offer happened within hours of each other and we ended up settling way under what I thought we would be paying. The mortgage got set up without a hitch. The inspection was pretty decent. I'm counting on my faith and patience to take us through this. It could always be worse.


The good news... Clint finally got a job offer at a mental health facility in St. Clairsville, OH. He has accepted for now. Last friday he had two interviews, one at this job and another at a company in Washington, PA (about 30 minutes away) that would be almost his EXACT job from Touchstone, same salaray, same hours, everything. Perfect. He said the interview went very well, and they even said that if he wasn't selected for the job he was interviewed for, there was another position he could be considered for. Cross your fingers.

Maybe the reason this isn't working out is because Clint might get the job in Wash, PA and Warwood would be a little too far to drive every day. Maybe Elm Grove or Bethlehem would be a better fit for us. My friend Terry said to me today, "Just wait to see what God has in store for you."

So, the future is again uncertain. I'm just thankful the immediate future contains an employed husband. And extremely happy that Rpatz and Kstew were finally photographed kissing, in real life, in public, for real. THAT made my day.

And, I'm also very intrigued by Google Analytics. I can check to see who is actually looking at my blog. Meguro, Japan, Pelotas, Brazil, Bogota, Colombia, Brno, Czech Republic... I don't know who you are, but thanks for visiting! My blog has been visited by 16 countries and 21 states. I don't know who in Blairsville or Carnegie, PA is looking at the blog with such regularity. But I know those 20-some visits a month in Morgantown are from Virginia! And Mt. Vernon, IA is Krista K. So thanks friends, and loyal strangers! Identify yourselves and say hello!

More house pictures!

We went today for the inspection, which did not show anything major, so it looks like this is really happening! It should be official September 24~~!!

After the inspection, I snapped a bunch of pictures and measured all the windows so I can start buying window coverings!!! Upstairs hallway. Excuse the creepy guy to the right who didn't get out of the picture in time.Third bedroom, likely to be used as a spare bedroom/office area until the second and final baby shows up in a couple of years.

Staircase heading down.

Owen's room facing the back of the house.

Our bedroom.

Our bedroom door.

Living room to foyer <3

Kitchen into dining room.

Kitchen.

Foyer into the other rooms.

Entrance to bathroom.

Dining room to kitchen.

Bathroom.