Been considering making a lateral move since I never really cared for the other username applied. The new site can be found here: http://www.xanga.com/bluemarsupial   For archive purposes this blog will remain up, but all future Wombat entries can be found at the new and improved blog (which looks alot like the old one).

If you've came here, remember the new site is now up. Delete this blog from your subscription list if you like and head over to the new location of this blog:

New Blog here

And the hits just keep on coming...

This little house we have isn't a bad house at all. Its got three bedrooms, two baths, hardwood floors, and is comfortably situated in the worst part of town. Problem being its small, and the bigger our two girls get; the smaller the house gets. Oh, and did I mention that we are just about in the worst part of town? Its really not as bad as I make it out to be, of course. Most of our neighbors steal from the rich part of town and therefore leave our stuff alone. We always have a policecar nearby, perhaps in part since our across the street neighbors have been raided for drugs. Three times. We've got little storage space in the house, no garage, and the driveway is literall a 30° grade (really fun in the winter). So we've been looking around for another house, mostly to no avail since our income is somewhat shall we say limited. After several months of looking, we came across what could be described as our dream home. 2500 square feet, 4 bedrooms, large garage, granite counters; the works. Definatly a steal for only $30,000. The only catch is it needed to be moved to another location due to construction. This requires land. We don't have land. But wait, Dad does!

A little background on Dad. He's not exactly been there for us over the years. Aside from a (shall we say) state-paid vacation for 5-years back in the 80's, the entire family moved around the country for a few years until moving to Hong Kong. We both moved back to Oklahoma in '94/95. Mom & Dad passed through literally once. We got married in 1999, and neither one of them came back for the wedding. They were not there when Joey or Jocelyn was born. They wouldn't have even seen Joey had we not flown over to China to see them. Dad hasn't even seen the house we've been living in for the past 8 years. The excuse? In '98 they adopted two Chinese girls that technically don't exist. You've all heard the story, China allows couples to have one child and therefore alot of the girls are dumped on doorsteps or left in dumpsters. Its terrible, but it happens. Mom & Dad "adopted" two girls, now 7 and 5 years old, but never actually did any paperwork. They just took them in. So they've basically anchored themselves in China since the two girls they adopted can't leave China since they are not American citizens (or Chinese citizens really). They don't exist. They've got a little house about 75 miles into China just north of Hong Kong and another house in Hong Kong. Mom stays with the girls there 100% of the time while Dad stays 5 days a week in Hong Kong and then visits them on the weekends. So until the adoption is complete, he claims they can't visit. Except that when Grandma got sick last year Dad dropped everything and flew from China to Illinois to spend 4 months with her....and yet he's still never seen one of his granddaughters (wouldn't have seen either had we not gone so far out of our way to take her to see him).

So Dad has some land here in Oklahoma that he's had since the 80's, about 4 acres with a pond total. One one side of the pond sits a small rent house and a mobile home. On the other side of the rent house sits...nothing. At one time it was far on the edge of town but now is sitting in the middle of what is essentially the well-to-do neighborhood. We'd like that land on the other side of the pond. Although in the middle of several neighborhoods, its quite private due to the pond and the trees around it. It would be perfect to put a house on. So we asked for it, not as a gift of course, but we offered to pay for it. Dad said he'd think about it only to call us back three weeks later (after the dream house had already sold) and told us no. Big surprise. After all he hasn't done for us, I don't even know why we try anymore.

Today's Positive: Joey went on the potty again! I can just see it, the $15 we spend in diapers going towards something else. Its amazing how quickly she's growing up...

Today's Negative: Just set a pewter mini down last night that I was painting, turned around to get a drink, and the cat knocked it on the floor where it broke into about 4 pieces. Stupid cat.

Currently Listening The Definitive Collection By Lionel Richie see related

Productivity!

So I've had a somewhat productive weekend. Got all the bills filled out, paid (with money left over), and mailed out. Feels good to be current for a change. Got the grocery shopping done Friday for the entire week as well. Granted after expenses and bills we've got a whopping $5.62 left for 2 weeks, but who needs money when you have love....and 24 individually wrapped packages of Ramen noodles of course. Actually got the turn signal wand on my Dodge Intrepid fixed this weekend as well, took a whole $25 plus about an hour to fix. Okay, so I just held a flashlight and played scrub nurse while it was fixed, but damn skippy it works. No more rolling down the window to signal for me. Took Joey to the new Aquarium that just opened up in town as well. She loved looking at all the various cuttlefish and sharks and seahorses, plus she even got to pet a stingray. Those little things feel like those boneless chicken breasts right before you cook them. Too weird.

Sunday was Phacade's birthday, so I'd been talking to his best friend for a bit on how to surprise him. The plan was to get up early, make him breakfast in bed, and then go to church and hopefully get him over to friend's house for a surprise birthday party. Well plans didn't start off well when we all slept in and nearly missed church. Put on a thong (God I hate those things) since I thought he'd like it for his birthday and then went to church. Bad idea. Dropped Joey off in Sunday School and proceeded up to the balcony with Jocelyn in his carseat with Phacade. Sat down in the front row of the balcony (its got more room to lay out a blanket against the railing on the floor) and got Jocelyn all situated. People behind us kept making a fuss everytime I'd bend over to give her a rattle or give her a bottle or whatever. Couldn't figure it out until an usher came over and whispered in my ear "Miss, can you perhaps put your jacket back on?". Yep, evidently I was unaware to my thong-riding ways....and I'm so overly critical of girls that do that. Anywho friend asked Phacade to go help him saw a few trees down out at his place, which was planned since he didn't want to get killed by a 50 foot walnut tree falling on him, and gave me the chance to get a small surprise party setup. Off they went together, two men and a chainsaw (thats epic material right there), only to show up a few hours later just in time for everyone to jump out and yell surprise. Good times.

Today's Positive: Feel very productive this weekend, got working signals on my car again, and feeling like that nasty chest cold is gone. A slight little cough pops up every now and then, but some good sleep ought fix that. One of my annoying neighbors moved out across the street and a lawyer moved in, which I might add is never there.

Today's Negative: Found a spot on the carpet where one of the cats ripped a whole in with her claws. I'm so ready to just punt both of the cats out, except for the fact I'd wonder what happened to them and Joey loves them. Miserable leeches, they don't even catch mice.

Currently Watching Bullitt see related

White, white everywhere!

This may be somewhat simplistic, but I really love it when it snows. Sure, that means its cold, and so be it; but the overall feeling it gives me when it snows is a subtle reminder to me that all is right in the world. Let me set the mood. Just hoving or slightly above freezing with little to no wind with giant snowflakes hovering down that are already perfectly packable. Love it. It covers all the ugly spots in the roads, the sidewalks, and makes everything seems just a bit nicer than it was previously if for only a little while. I love the feeling of snow falling down on my nose and cheeks while shuffling along in ankle-deep powder. I'm not a caroler, but the is something nostalgic about being about when its snowing. Its almost sensual in the clean way it protrays the city in a near virginal state. It'll all be gone tomorrow, but for today I'm just going to go out and enjoy this overcast day while it lasts.

Today's Positive: On my break today I was talking to Joey, my adorable 2-year old, and she told me that she missed me and wants me to come home soon. It was sooo cute, and naturally I just want to drop everything and run home right now. Unfortunatly no can do. Still I am amazed at how her language skills are developing, she is such a smart little girl.

Today's Negative: I'm so tired of this cold. The sniffling, coughing, sneezing, running nose...basically everything on the side of a NyQuil bottle treats; I've got. Its been hanging on since Sunday night and I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I've been popping Halls, Sudeafed, NyQuil, and God knows what for three days and beyond making me sleepy, its beginning to make me cranky.

Currently Listening Static Prevails By Jimmy Eat World see related

The peepshow

Bathtime. She loves it, she hates it. I love it, I hate it. Granted the times and frequency of the love/hate relationship of the scrub session with my 2-year old never quite synchronizes at the same time between her and I. She loves to splash, roll on belly, kick and scream. She laughes outloud with all of her toys in her bubble filled aquatic playground as the water prunes her little hands and feet. Her smile of pure joy turns into a shriek of dispair as we begin washing her hair. A few rinses later and we are all done as I wisk her out of the now luke-warm water and dry her off, sending a naked little butt running into the other room to proclaim her new-found cleanliness to the cats and anyone else who might listen. This bathub is aweful. Its unusually deep and about as old as my great-grandmother. I can't say how many times I've about nose-dived into the bathtub trying to get the plug out. Yesterday night, I finally did. Leaned over and began removing a number of bath toys from the water and was just trying to pull the plug when I slipped and went in. Fortunatly the only thing injured was my pride. Grumbled a bit as I took my web shirt and pants off and went into the other room to finish getting my still-running-loose-and-naked little girl dressed. Just as I got a diaper on her when I heard a knock on the door, which I assumed was my signifigant other coming home from work. Swung open the and immediatly shut it when I realized it was someone going door to door selling oranges (I've seen this guy trying to sell fruit door-to-door before). Bah, teaches me to use the peephole next time.

Today's Positive: Throat feeling somewhat better. Picked up some cough drops, throat spray, and some Sudafed PE. Hopefully this'll fix me up (or drug me up to the point where I don't care).

Today's Negative: Iced tea looses all flavor when mixed with throat spray and cherry flavored cough drops.

Currently Listening Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness By Smashing Pumpkins see related