Lots happening lately

First and foremost, this rental house is cursed.  At least I really think it is, as there has been a sick person living in it since we arrived October 1st.  I'm just wrapping up my 3rd antibiotic in 4 weeks.  Bronchitis.  Still coughing.  Teagan has it now.  I had to pull over abruptly yesterday -- the angle of her car seat sets her off -- drove over a curb and into anPuzza Hut parking lot, where I pulled her out of her strapping and whacked her on the back a few times til she could breathe better.  It was awful!!  Damn cold.  Today we're avoiding the car and sticking to a stroller walk.  

Julianne's throat is now sore so I expect to be at the pediatrician with her tomorrow.  

Luckily Teagan was only up once last night so we both woke up in good moods today.  😂😂

Now on to house stuff.  

In the last week at the job site we've seen the house really starting to take shape, foundation-wise.  Brick facing is done, concrete stucco on outside-facing foundation walls, dirt brought in and spread throughout to bring up the grade, and yesterday the framing materials arrived!  Some pics:  

When Teagan wakes up, I'll head over with the stroller and see what's cooking today.

Lego House

The sales agent for the builder promised me that once the long wait for permits was behind us, that we'd really start to see things pick up speed quickly.

So you can imagine how I reacted when I drove through the 'hood just for the heck of it on a Saturday morning after a post office run, and saw THIS!!  I pulled over so we could watch for a moment and Tommy ran up and down shouting "Woo hoo!!"  Exactly, Tommy!

Well, we saw half of what these pics show, actually.  I had left my phone at home accidentally.  So, we kept the surprise and brought the rest of the gang and everyone freaked out.  Yes, that's how bad we want our house to be built.  By the time we came back that second time, they had laid twice as many cinder block bricks, per these photos.

Here's a view from the new home almost completed next door.  Second floor.  The men look so tiny!  Those are big bricks.  And that is some red Carolina clay.

It reminds me of a Lego fortress.  Can't wait to see what's in store the rest of this week!

Still sick.

I went to the dr. earlier today, and now it seems I have either bronchitis or walking pneumonia, and another round of antibiotics and decongestants.  Awesome.  And the kids track out for four weeks beginning Monday.  And Joe leaves for five days in California on Monday.  And my Etsy shop orders are piling up.  I'm trying not to think about it.  As long as none of the kids get sick too, I can manage.  I think!

Nobody Home

Ha!  I never expected to see this today!  It's Cyber Monday, I'm home, everyone's at school, I'm all set to do some Chirstmas shopping, and...drumroll...Target's site crashed.  Yikes.  Looks like it's Amazon for everything this year, 'cause I'm not interested to keep checking back.  #targetfail

I did, however, use my new favorite thing for online shopping: Ebates!  Cash back for shopping.  Zero effort.  Win!

Thanksgiving 2015

Instead of staying in this tight rental house for the Thanksgiving holiday, we piled into the minion van and headed to Long Island.  We had a great 4 days with my family.  Here are some pics I took during our travels.  These pics posted the opposite of chronologically, but you get the idea.  A 13 hour ride back (10 + 3 hrs' total stop time).  Not too bad! 😊  

Dinner at some place called "Squisito" in Virginia on the way back home.

Sweet baby with her blankie and Little Friend the Bear.



Checking out the birdfeeder



A fabulous win at this year's White Elephant party.



This boy.  I love him SO much!



Teagan is kinda camouflaged!



Daddy and Tea playing piano



We forgot a bib so a reversed sweatshirt will do.  Ahem.



This grass is ridiculous.  Like carpet!



Beautiful fruit arrangement from the South Boston Burkes.



The weary travelers just arrived and so did the fruit!



Love this.



Someone missed her Nana!



Welcome hugs from Nana



Mr. Henrik the Dog



Kids are so happy to see their Uncle!



James and Henrik.



Back in my hometown.  :D



Sacked out en route to North Carolina.



Hahaha!  A town named Burke.

evening car snooze en route to NY

Teagie playing football!

Taking a brisk walk around the neighborhood on a crisp November day.

Gobble Gobble

KIt's Sunday and I'm back from the near-dead.  Maybe a little dramatic, but I'm glad I got those antibiotics started when I did!  I offered to make extra turkey gravy for The Big Day and it's time to get started.

After 4 stores not having turkey parts, I finally hit the jackpot.  At Walmart of all places, but whatever.  It's Butterball and it's already thawed and there's no other option so we're going with it.

While the parts cook in the oven, I'm simmering 2 turkey necks in 8 cups of chicken broth with carrots, onion, celery, peppercorn and spices.  

I had turkey meat left over, so I asked Joe to grab some puff pastry sheets from the store and assembled a tasty turkey pot pie for dinner.  No leftovers!  Woooo!

Sick of Sickness

It seems like ever since we arrived in North Carolina, someone in this house has been sick.  Or with a runny nose, or an unrelenting cough.

Today it's my turn.  Since I was feeling crappy yesterday, I went to the dr. this afternoon and left with 4 prescriptions including a nebulizer because I wasn't looking or sounding very good.

The biggest kids both have strep, and the littlest kids are holding steady at "well"...or "well enough."  Hopefully Joe can hold off these bugs that seem to like our home.

House update: nothing happening.  :(  The lot has stalled at "pinned."  I ran into the builder earlier in the week at the model home, who told me that when the pipes were laid for the easement drain, some of the black fencing was pulled down.  This caused it to fail inspection so it would delay them a few days.  He seemed doubtful that we'd be underway this Friday...probably early next week, he said.  I

It's now Friday, but frankly, I'm too sick to care about the house today.  And the 500 mg Levaquin I'm taking is making me dizzy, so I'm ending this here.  Zzzzzzz.