So yesterday, Craig came home from U-Haul with 50 new boxes for us to start packing. (Trying to find free boxes being given away has been a nightmare the past two weeks.) That means I'm - you guessed it - packing. And finding stuff I haven't seen in years. And getting rid of stuff.

A lot of stuff is going to Good Will or I'm freecycling it, but there is some that I can't do either with, that I don't want to just throw away if I don't have to. So if I think it's appropriate, you might find stuff here on my LJ.

Like what I've giving away today.

A couple years ago at Phauxcon, makd was clearing out her printed/bound fanfic, and I picked up a two-volume copy of Misty Flores' "How to Date a Beautiful Woman (In Less Than One Week)." It's an AtS fic, for those who are curious (details here). I'm offering it today to the first person who asks for it. These are the conditions:

1. If you're in the US, I'll pay the postage, so there will be absolutely no cost to you.
2. If you're in the UK, I'll still pay the postage, but you have to wait until after 7/14 for it to get mailed because I'll send it over with the kids when they visit their grandparents and have my MIL mail it from over there.
3. If you're anywhere else, you'll have to pay the postage, because it can get a little expensive to ship stuff overseas, and this is a 2-volume set that weighs over 2 pounds.

So that's it. There might be more stuff to come over the next two months. I have a lot of stuff, lol.

In a much better mood so far today, and currently fighting my bag addiction because I desperately want this.

It's so cute! I don't care that I have a bajillion bags. Or that every time I pull one out, my daughter gives me the evil eye and says, "Don't you have *enough* purses?"

Which I do. So. Must. Be. Strong.

Having a stressful day, so I put a guilty pleasure movie on.

Don't mock.

It's Newsies.

I'll be singing this for days now, lol.

I'm here, just so, so busy with kid stuff and life stuff and Father's Day stuff. I'm going to make a real post soon, but we took a trip out to the new house to see how it's going on, and the pictures are up, so I wanted to share!

Today's trip to the new house

The drywall is up, which makes it start to look like a real house. They're actually 2 days ahead of schedule, which is good to hear, and we're still on the ball for closing at the end of August. I'm so in love with this house already, it's not even funny. I'm going to be absolutely silly when stuff like cupboards go in, lol.

On top of everything else I just posted earlier, Alicia hurt her ankle while she was playing outside this afternoon. It started to swell and hurt to walk on it, and when ice/heat/elevation didn't do anything - and the swelling got worse - Craig took her to the ER.

Turns out she's got a dancer's fracture. Splint for now, then tomorrow we call her GP, get her to a bone specialist and get it cast.

On the first day of summer. As Pepper said, it's just like that episode of the Simpsons where Bart broke his leg on the first day of summer. And this is on top of her pink eye this week. I really need to make it up to her.

*Sigh*

I fell behind again. I suck. But so much was going on, and then I was somewhere my internet connection wasn't great, and then there was sickness, and...I still suck. So here's yet another overview of what's going on in my life:

( Behind a cut because this got long )

And that's it. Lots of little stuff. Lots of time-consuming stuff. I'm alive, and I'm reading everybody, and I miss all of you.

I really need to get back into the habit of updating. So more on the drama that is my life:

1. Craig drilled his finger on Sunday. He was drilling something for the boat, had it in the vise and was all safe, but the bit broke, the drill skidded sideways, and went through his left index finger. It was gushing blood, but we cleaned and wrapped it, and when it looked like it had stopped and he said it didn't hurt anymore, we decided not to go to the ER. He went into the doctor's on Tuesday instead, and we discovered then that it had actually gone all the way through. Completely bypassed bone, nerves, and major veins, somehow. He was very lucky.

2. We went out to the development for a new owner's meeting, and got to see how far along the house is. The second floor is all framed up and Craig got to walk through it with the camera, so we've got some video of that. It's all up on the website if you want to take a look, including some additional photos Craig put up on some of the earlier dates.

3. I am not looking forward to this weekend. At all. The next three days will be insane. School open house tonight, three ball games over Friday and Saturday, then Saturday night, 8 girl scouts descend on my house to spend the night. Something insane I volunteered for. Hell, I even suggested it. I am certifiable.

4. Amidst everything in the next couple days is the fact that my tenth wedding anniversary is tomorrow. We're not doing anything. Maybe we'll order food after Alex's game tomorrow night. Oh, and we're going to go out and buy something for us to commemorate the event.

5. joss_las kind of aborted the last round last summer, scrapping it when it hit the final four, of which I was one. That means I have my last piece that has never seen the public. So I'm going to post that some time soon. Maybe tomorrow.

Snagged from everyone. Name your 10 absolutely favorite couples (het/slash/canon/fanon) and ask people to see what trends they notice about your couples. Try to pick different fandoms.

NOTE: I wouldn't necessarily say these are my 10 absolute favorites, but I wanted to have 10 different fandoms represented, so even though I'd put Wesley/Faith on there, or Wesley/Willow, or Oz/Willow, they're all part of the same fandom so I didn't want to do that.

1. Spike/Buffy (BtVS)
2. Catherine/Warrick (CSI: Las Vegas)
3. Ben Wade/Dan Evans (3:10 to Yuma)
4. Jamie Fraser/Claire Fraser (Outlander books)
5. David Addison/Maddy Hayes (Moonlighting)
6. Dale Cooper/Audrey Horne (Twin Peaks)
7. Tad/Dixie (All My Children)
8. Marius/Eponine (Les Miserables)
9. Denny Crane/Alan Shore (Boston Legal)
10. Murphy/Kincaid (The Dresden Files)

I should probably post an update about what's been going on with me...

1. ( American Idol results )

2. It's been a week of medical stuff. Craig had an outpatient procedure done on Tuesday that thankfully showed he's healthy, so that's a plus. On the not so plus side...( Stuff about my mom )

3. Speaking of medical stuff, Alex's cough is back. :(

4. We've gone ahead and purchased the kids' flights for the UK. They'll be gone for 5 weeks. I also might be taking an interim trip with them out to visit my mom before that.

5. My 10th wedding anniversary is next week. Craig and I don't have real plans, because, guess what, we're hosting the Girl Scouts end of the year sleepover at our house the same night, lol. We've decided to do something after the kids leave for the UK to celebrate both our anniversary and my birthday in July. Right now, we're going back and forth between NYC and Hawaii. I think I'd have more fun in NYC, but we've never been to Hawaii.

6. The new house is underway. Craig has thrown up a website for us to share pictures and videos of the process. It's easier than wasting bandwidth to show family, so I'm sharing the site with you, in case anyone's interested. :) The interior pictures of the model home are just for reference. For instance, one picture of the kitchen has the layout, while the other has the cabinets/countertops I picked out. Ditto for the pictures on the floors. We wanted reference of the carpet and tile we picked out (the lighter ones), rather than just the dark tile in the model home.

I'm annoyed.

( A rant about other people trying to tell me what kind of parent to be )

Well, we went and did it. Today, we drove out and signed the papers to purchase a new house. It's exactly what we wanted, and after all the research, knew it suited all our needs. Even better, we got the upgraded kitchen cabinets for free, as well as found out that the original date we'd been estimated had been revised. We had initially been told the house wouldn't be done until Sept/Oct., but now, we have an escrow date of 8/28, with our walk through scheduled on 8/24. I want it to be August now!

But this is the house we've wanted, and waited for. I can easily see us there for at least the next 10-12 years, our promise to the kids that this will be it until after they graduate high school (barring unforeseen life changes). That means pets are on our horizon as well.

Life is good. :)

Remember when Pepper and I were rewatching BtVS and AtS? And we got stopped because of weird schedules and everything else? Well, we've been talking for months about getting back to it, and so tonight, we did. :)

( Doomed )

( Somnambulist )

So with the California housing market finally getting a tad more reasonable, Craig and I have been house hunting for the past month or so. While we've found a couple, we're heavily leaning toward buying new with Pulte. Does anybody have any experience with new homes, or advice to offer? We've done research online, but I'm curious about personal experiences/knowledge if you have some.