Dream House

Brian and I enjoy looking at books and magazines of house plans together. We are actually people with completely different personalities and interests, but this is one of the things we like to do together. We like to sit down and plan our dream house, which we may or may not live in someday. Sometimes I find myself thinking of this dream house, and I thought it would be fun to put it in writing to see how it compares to what we actually end up in someday.

Disclaimer #1: If I heard of someone talking about wanting things in their house that I want, I would probably assume that they were rich snobs who wanted to show off their money. You have to believe that I'm not like that. The elements of my dream house are there because they're things I really want, and if I do get them someday, please don't think that I'm trying to one-up the Joneses.

Disclaimer #2: Brian may or may not agree with my idea of a dream house, so who knows what we'll end up with. He keeps talking about putting in a bat cave, but no one's supposed to know about that. He also wants to have secret passageways, and I think that would be cool.

Here goes, if you're interested. (edited to add: After writing all this, I realize how boring it sounds, and I actually sound kind of snotty. Sorry about that. Keep in mind that I'm referring to a dream house.)

The Kind of House that Will Make Carrie Very, Very Happy

• The feeling: I don't like today's modern houses. I don't like what home plans call the great room, which is basically a huge room that functions as a living room, family room, and sometimes kitchen and dining room as well. To me, these rooms feel too big. They feel great and spacious (Book of Mormon pun almost intended), and kind of make me feel overwhelmed. Okay, I guess I shouldn't say that I don't like them, because I've been in many houses where this is a beautiful arrangement. I just wouldn't prefer to live in a house like that. Another things about modern houses is that they feel too blocky to me. A lot of times they're just a large square or rectangle with windows. So the feeling that I want my house to have could be described as romantic or cozy. I want it to have the feeling of an old farm house or English mansion or Victorian cottage. I want it to have little details that make it interesting. While looking for places to live in Tacoma I came across an Italian bed and breakfast that was for sale, and in one of the bathrooms there was a beautiful, small chandelier hanging over the claw foot tub. I loved that. It just a really cool detail that makes it so much better than just having a light in the ceiling. I love how the older houses here in Forest Grove have the detailed trim around the windows. They're beautiful.
  
• The kitchen: Brian and I have never had a large kitchen. I don't need a huge kitchen, but I definitely want one that's large enough to do some serious cooking in. I would love to have two ovens. You know those lattice-looking wine racks that are sometimes built into the cupboards? I want one of those to keep sparkling cider or Italian Soda flavoring in. Being left-handed, I want the dishwasher to be on the right side of the sink.
• The family room: The family room will be right next to the kitchen, so the whole family can hang out together. I like it when I can have the kids near me while I'm doing dishes or making dinner. We'll put the t.v. in the family room, as well as the computer.
  
• The library: I want a library. It doesn't have to be large, or even medium-sized, but I do want a library. It'll be a place to keep our books, obviously, and to read and have quiet time. There will be no computer in the library.
• The living room: I almost want to call our living room the parlor, instead, because I don't want to live in the living room. The living room will be to entertain guests (usually home and visiting teachers), have scripture study, etc. I don't want it to be off limits for the kids, but I do want it to be a place that's treated with respect and that stays clean so you can feel the spirit. We'll also keep the piano and any other musical instruments in the living room for practicing. Alyssa keeps saying she wants to play the violin, and I keep telling her to wait until she's older.
  
• The staircase: Brian and I love the rotunda staircases, that turn in a circle around the entry way. They're just beautiful.
• The dining room: I've been back and forth on the idea of having a formal dining compared to having a dining area in the kitchen. I love the idea of having a place for guests to come have dinner with us where they don't have to see our messy kitchen and family room, but I also realize that so much happens in the kitchen, and even though it can be messy, it's a great bonding place.
• The ballroom: Yes, you read that correctly. This is one thing that Brian and I disagree on, but I want a ballroom. It doesn't have to be huge, but I want one so bad! You don't even know how many times each day the kids and I have dances together. If we had a ballroom, the kids could practice any type of dance they're interested in without kicking couches and the entertainment center, we could easily host Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, we could have a super cool place to have wedding receptions and murder mystery parties. Brian and I love to have people over, so having a large place to put large amounts of family members/friends would be great. The reason Brian doesn't like the idea of a ballroom is that it would be an empty room that would be used infrequently, but I honestly think that we would give it plenty of use. Anyway, if I ever get a ballroom, it will have lots of windows and probably three chandeliers, one large one in the middle and two smaller on the sides. Who knows?
• The bedrooms/bathrooms: Another thing I don't like about a lot of the modern home plans is that every bedroom seems to have it's own walk-in closet and private bathroom. I don't think this is necessary at all. At all. I can see having a boy bathroom and a girls bathroom, but even that is not necessary.
  
• The rooms, overall: I think with just about every room I've written about I found myself writing, or at least thinking, "It doesn't have to be very big..." I like older homes, because they have smaller rooms, and it just feels cozier to me. The living room doesn't have to be very big at all. The bedrooms and bathrooms don't have to be big. The dining room, if we go that route, doesn't have to be big, either. You get the picture.
  
• The garage: I want one of those garages that are turned to the side, because garages aren't too pretty.
• The yard: I want a large yard that the kids can run around in and have a blast. I love roses, and would love to have a rose garden and roses along a white picket fence, like my parents have. And there has to be lots and lots of trees.
  

Foolin' Around

This is how the kids looked when it was time to take Brian to school yesterday. I got Marcus up and set him on top of Alyssa and Ethan to wake them up. He just laughed and smiled at them, and it took a few minutes for them to even start to come around. I guess we've been playing too hard and staying up too late. But isn't that what summer is all about?

Here's another sleeping picture. Isn't he cute in his little green diaper?

Brian put a Red Ropes bucket on Marcus's head. They both thought it was hilarious. (Don't worry, he was supervised the whole time.)

Ethan is doing great with the potty training. He's been doing it all by himself. I'm so impressed !

The boys fell asleep during lunch. We've never had two go down at once during a meal before.


This is a normal-type occurance at our house. From the look of our pictures, Jacks like putting funny things on our heads. Here, Marcus is modeling a pair of Alyssa's tights.


We (the kids and I) went to the OMSI a couple of times with the Gennings. We got lost on the way home the first time, and it took three hours and me finally calling Brian, crying my eyes out saying, "We're stuck in traffic. I don't know which way to go, and I just want to be home!" Other than that, we had a great time. And we mapped it when we went again, and we had no problems.




















Here's Ethan climbing in the space shuttle. I think he needs to grow a little.



Alyssa and Michelle have become great friends.


Alyssa made a fabulous chipmunk. She was handing out vests to all of the kids and rounding them up to collect nuts for winter.


Marcus loved the baby corner.


You can't go to the OMSI without getting a picture of this.

La La La, I'm Not Doing Very Well With Titles Lately

Something very bad happened today, which I may or may not blog about in a future post. It's not anything too serious, like any one getting sick or hurt or anything, but it's certainly not a good thing. But two very good things happened today also, and I definitely want to blog about them.

I have been tired lately. Tired and cranky. Yesterday Brian offered to take the kids out of the house so I could take a nap, but it just didn't work out. So today after sacrament meeting, Brian took Marcus from me and told me to go home and take a nap. I did. And it was wonderful.

And the next wonderful thing is that Cali Hawkins brought over a loaf of homemade wheat bread. I don't know why she was baking in this heat, but I'm glad she did. We haven't seen the Hawkins all summer, so it was so nice to chat with her for a few minutes. And the bread is delicious. She brought it over while it was still warm, so when I cut off a slice (the ends are my favorite) and buttered it, it melted the butter just perfectly. Ooh, and it was yummy.

Finally, He's Starting to Talk

Ethan busted out with, "Here you go," when he was helping me clean out the dish washer today. He said it so quickly, that I thought at first that it was just his usual mumblings, but when I asked him to say it again, he did. We're so excited! I can't wait to see what he'll say next.

Negligence Has Nothing to do with Negligees

I have been greatly neglecting my blog lately. We've been busy having fun, sometimes I've been busy being miserable, but mostly we've just been busy. The horribly funny thing about this all is that now that I have a few minutes to type a post, I have absolutely nothing to say. I suppose I'll give an update.

We've decided to go to Tacoma, Washington and Oregon City, Oregon with Brian for his rotations. The original plan had the kids and I moving back to the Tri-Cities in August so Alyssa wouldn't have to change schools three times. But we started to rethink that, and with gas prices so incredibly high we decided that it would be way too expensive for Brian to come visit us on the weekends. If we were going to be able to see him, we'd have to go with him. So we'll be heading to Tacoma in August, Oregon City in November, and then the kids and I will move to the Tri-Cities during Christmas break. Brian's last rotation is in Walla Walla, Washington (a city so nice, they named it twice) and he will have free housing there, so we won't be going with him. Plus, he'll only be about an hour away at that point.

Ethan is busy potty training. Brian and I figured out that with both of the boys in diapers (and wearing Pampers) we were spending over $800 each year, not including wipes. I had considered cloth diapers in the past, but never seriously, but once I heard that diaper bill, I started looking into it wholeheartedly. We spent a couple weeks trying out different brands and types of diapers, and for about 200 bucks Marcus is set for the rest of his diapering life. I know, you have to factor in the money to run your washer and dryer, but even then the price difference is amazing. But even more amazing is the fact that I am loving cloth diapering. It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I've started to do all my real laundry on Saturday mornings, which leaves everything else free for diapers during the week. I only have to wash a load of diapers every other day - it's really not hard at all. Plus it really is a good feeling to know that my boys are in cloth. It just feels good. My favorite are the all-in-one Bumgenius diapers (2.0 version). Brian got quite a kick out of the brand names: Bungenius, Happy Heiny, etc. Anyway, the Bumgenius diapers are fabulous and very cute.

Oh, and the potty training. Since we've put Ethan in cloth, he's been so much more aware of when he's going, so he started heading to the toilet when he needed to. It's very cool.

Alyssa...well, if it wasn't irreligious I would say that Alyssa thinks that she's God. She is so in charge, and sometimes it drives me crazy. On the plus side, she's found a fascination with cleaning. She loves to steal wipes to clean the walls, and the table, and the counters, and the couch.... On the down side, she's talking back like nobody's business. This morning I was upstairs rocking Marcus to sleep, and I heard Ethan screaming because Alyssa was dousing him with water from the hose. I went to the window and told Alyssa to turn off the water. She didn't, so I told her again. Still nothing. "Alyssa, will you please turn off the water?" I asked in desperation.

"That's what I was waiting for," she said. "You needed to ask me politely." Holy cow. There's been quite a bit of that going around lately.

Brian's doing great. He's not seeing as many patients as he'd like to be, but he's having a good time. Last week I went in and had him check my eyes. It was the first time that he's done it "officially" on me, instead of practicing. Then the next day we picked him up at the Portland clinic and he helped me pick out some snazzy new glasses and prescription sunglasses. One of the things I enjoyed about that is that he started helping some guy who was in there asking everyone if the glasses he was picking were "chick magnets" or not, and the opticians were very impressed with his knowledge of lens types and frame materials. She said that most of the doctors she had worked for didn't bother to stay on top of things like that. It was cool.

We went home for the Fourth of July, and we had a fabulous time. We moved Callie the Cat from Melinda's house (thanks Melinda!) to my parents house (thanks Mom and Dad!) where she'll stay until we move back in December. We had a barbecue at Christina's house where we ate very yummy hamburgers and probably the best pasta salad I've ever had, took the test that you have to pass to become a U.S. citizen, and watched the fireworks from the grass by the stadium. We visited Brian's grandma, who had just had a knee replacement and was recovering at her house.

So yeah, we're having good times. I'll try to be better at posting. I miss this blogging journal of mine.