Educating the Wheelers

We hemorrhaged money for about 6 months there. Getting ready for the move, the move, recovering from the move, buying the house, moving into the house, settling into the house.

Honestly, I’ve only started regularly cooking meals again in the last couple of weeks. Today, I made my first batch of homemade yogurt since Texas. That has to be some sort of milestone!

Getting used to winter again after 15 years is hard to do, frugally. Since our ability to go play outside is limited, opportunities to leave the house and get out an about are usually tied to shopping or otherwise spending money. Admittedly, I’m a bit of a homebody, so it doesn’t make me go totally insane to not leave the house hardly at all during the week, but my mom is cautioning me to not do that … and she survived 20 years of motherhood with my brother and I, so I shoudl give her words some weight.

Audrey loves the indoor playland at the local mall … but it’s at the mall. What are the chances you wouldn’t spend at least a little bit of money at the mall, especially since the playland is right next to the food court?

On the upside, our house has multiple “loops” throughout it, where we can run around in circles through the living room, hall, kitchen, dining area, or in a loop down in the basement [with the added benefit of a smooth floor for tricycles, etc]. So the kids are able to burn off energy even when it’s cold and snowy outside. And I don’t have to spend 30 minutes getting the kids ready to go outside, just to have them say they’re too cold after we’ve been outside for only 20 minutes.

ADDED: And another thing! [Always another thing … ] My husband usually isn’t home by 7! So how am I supposed to go to a “parents only” meeting 20 minutes away at 7? Tell the dog to be gentle while putting them to bed? Okay, I admit, now I’m just venting … *sigh*

Okay, I guess I just don’t get it. Why is it that every MOPS-style [Mothers of Preschoolers] organization that I come into contact with thinks that 7-9 pm is the best time to have a required meeting?

I have an 8 month old and a 3 year old. Do you know what I’m doing between 7-9pm? Feeding them. Nursing them. Getting them ready for bed. Rocking them. Putting them down for bed. Let’s see … we start this process around 7, and it’s finished around 9.

Is it just us? If you have one of more kids under the age of 5, what are you doing between 7 and 9 pm?

Note: if the answer is supposed to be, “Oh, it’s only once a month, your husband is supposed to put them to bed while you’re at the meeting,” I guess we’ll have to figure out that whole male lactation thing that we read about on the Interweb …

*sigh*

I’m just a little frustrated.

When the house you bought that cost 20% less than the Other House allows you to get a 15 year mortgage instead of a 30 year mortgage, but the monthly PITI [Principal, Interest, Tax, Insurance] payment is the same.

Thanks to everyone who has peeked in on us lately or dropped us a line to make sure we’re still breathing. We are!

Life has been amazingly hectic lately, and I haven’t been able to keep up with email, let alone blog. As it is, I am typing this one-handed while I rock a fussy Owen…

We did end up buying a house, after a lot of hustle, fuss and grief. We found one we liked that dropped their asking price by 50k before we made an offer, which made life easier, since we didn’t have to try to come in and explain why their house was 50k overpriced. [Which is what killed our previous deals. I should note that neither of those houses have yet sold … ] We only had to get them to come down just a little bit farther.

But, we’re happy, we like the house. Moving in and settling has been very slow going. We closed mid-November, had to do some flooring work, didn’t move in until the day after Christmas. To this day, we still have boxes and furniture in the garage, only one bedroom set up.

I’ve only cooked a couple of meals in the kitchen, so you know we’ve been burning through money while we settle. Last night, I managed to make Whole Wheat pasta [on sale for a buck a box] with Cream Cheese Basil Sauce from Hillbilly Housewife and a 3-bean salad from my new favorite cookbook, Hopkins’ Healthy Home Cooking .