Goodbye Ole 40 Footer?

Well, its always funny to me the way things turn out in life. Every week around here lately brings some sort of unexpected change. A couple of weeks ago, I finally talked Travis into selling the Quantum wagon. As much as we love the 40mpg, the car is too small for three car seats and we need to upsize anyways. So, I finally convinced him that we shouldn't put any money into repairing it, but rather just try to get some money for it. These old diesel VW's are pretty desirable, so we knew the engine and tranny would bring enough money that we ought to be able to buy something else to get around in. So, I started looking around online to get an idea of what to list the car for, and came across an ad on the Olympia Washington craigslist from a guy who wanted a Quantum, dead or alive. So, I emailed him, thinking I probably wouldn't get a response since he probably wouldn't really want to tow the car all that way, but since these cars are so rare it was worth a shot. Well, lo and behold, the next morning I get an email from him saying he was on his way to our town anyways, he was driving a friend here, and would love to check out the car! What are the odds? He thought one of his friends was playing a practical joke on him. Well, he came and looked at the car, and said he was interested if we made him a good price. Trav and I talked about it, then emailed him a price the next day. I didn't hear from him for about a week, so I lowered the price and emailed him again. That same day, I found out that my cousin has a 95 minivan for sale, cheap, and the thought of buying a car from someone trustworthy excited me. Well, the Quantum guy called that afternoon, and got my hopes up, so I texted my cousin to see about the van. But, when I called the Quantum guy back, I discovered he wasn't calling with an offer to buy the car, but rather an offer to fix the car for a couple hundred bucks. So, no money for the minivan. We agreed that he could try and fix the car, that way at least we have it driveable, and we can always sell it later. But, I was really excited about that minivan. Well, yesterday, a couple of good friends came by and helped Travis work on his truck, and one of the guys expressed interest in the school bus. (I once sold him my 1969 Mercedes, many years ago.) Travis and I had tossed around the idea of selling the bus a few weeks ago, in our desperate times. Well, this morning we found out just how seriously he wants it, because he was willing to pay our price, even though he needs to make payments. So, it looks like its goodbye to the old yellow 40 footer, goodbye to our school bus conversion plans. But, it isn't goodbye to hopes of life on the road, it will just be a slightly less grand lifestyle. It will be a travel trailer for us. I'll miss seeing that giant yellow billboard advertising freedom out my kitchen window every day, but I've had a lot of experience accepting change in life, going with the flow of life is what I do best. So we'll just see where that flow takes us next. Hopefully I won't be stuck with a minivan forever! :)

In the ski pulk

Cute cousins under the Christmas Tree

Stone From Montana, Blue Eggs, and other Myths

Well, in the end, we did manage to suffer a few more blows during the month of December. I finally was able to get in to the lab for my three hour glucose tolerance test, and failed, so I have now joined the league of daily finger pokers and I get to think all day about what I can and cannot eat. But, on a positive note, my blood sugar seems to be fine for the most part, and who can blame my body anyways after all the stress it has endured this past month! A few days after my test, Travis headed back up to the Dalles to pick up his Dad who was helping the grandparents, and our trusty little Quantum, (which incidently, Trav just managed to fix by replacing the glow plugs and what-do-ya know? it starts right up) had a disaster four blocks from Grandma and Grandpa's house. The front axle pretty much self-destructed, possibly damaging the transaxle as well. So, once again we were facing the possibility of a broken car in another city. Grandpa Stewart saved us though, and let Travis and his Dad tow the poor Quantum home with his truck, and it now sits broken and sad in the garage. We've already had one person check it out and express interest though, and I haven't even advertised it yet, so with any luck, it will move on soon and my two and a half year love-hate relationship with the "grunge-mobile" will be over. Above all else, I will very much miss the 40mpg, especially with diesel up to $3.45! The weekend after the axle shredding, Travis headed back down to Malin with his Dad to fix the new truck. So, for our anniversary I stayed stuck at home surrounded by broken vehicles, and he spent the day in his Dad's driveway fixing a broken vehicle. When we got married on January 1st, I think we thought it would be an easy day to celebrate our anniversary, but so far, nearly every year has been messed up (in the past by the arrival of little munchkins). Oh well, at least he was successful in getting the truck back to Bend, so in the end it was worth it. And, thanks to my incredible Aunt and Uncle in Portland who allowed us to leave our broken van in front of their house for several weeks, we were able to broker a deal to sell said van without even returning to Portland. So, hurray! Happy New Year, all the vehicles that we've been scattering around the state are gathered up, back on our own half-acre, or sold and gone. And, we get to drive huge old diesel Fords around for a while, the new "Big Tan" which will hopefully become the next Veg-Mobile in town, and Grandpa's old Flatbed. I really feel like a hillbilly driving the flat bed around with my two kids, ha ha. Reminds me of a family I saw back east that pulled up to a convenience store in a little Toyota pickup, and huge mom and dad with mullets climbed out of the cab while four or five mulleted children piled out of the bed. Hopefully we can at least avoid the mullets, and the hugeness! At any rate, its awfully nice to have a vehicle sitting out front that will start when I want it to. And on a very happy note, Marmie finally made it out of her undignified position in the snow in the side yard and has happily returned to her hiding spot beside the travel trailer in the back. Since her tags are very expired, and come due in March, we've decided not to make use of her reliability unless necessary so as not to have to renew the tags twice in a year. And come March, she will only be an option for me for a few weeks, since there aren't enough seat belts for three car seats. So, the old gal is back to semi-retirement, and we are once again on the trail of a family vehicle. One that will fit all five of us plus dog and stuff, one that gets good mileage, one that starts reliably and always runs!
So, in spite of all odds, the end of our most difficult month ever, and the beginning of this new year brought us unexpected "prosperity." Amidst all the vehicle chaos, we have of course been suffering a lack of work as well, due to this mysterious truck load of stone that was supposed to have left Montana about six times over the past four weeks, but never seemed to arrive here. We had pretty much decided that the stone from Montana was just a big myth, and Travis was in fact scheduled for a more permanent unemployment. But, amazingly, last week, the stone arrived! And Travis went back to work full time. Of course, I haven't actually seen this stone yet, so I still wonder if its real. On Christmas day, another "myth" was proven true as well. Since getting into the world of chickens, I have wanted Americanas, the easter-egg chickens who lay blue eggs. Well, some friend of ours had has a similar desire and had purchased a couple Americana chicks one spring, only to have both escape their pen and get eaten by neighborhood critters. I decided to brave it anyways, and bought three Americana chicks last spring. Well, one managed to escape the chick pen while they were still small and I was out of town, and of course disappeared without a trace. Another grew up desperately attempting to hide his beautiful long tail feathers and roosterly strut as all the girls picked on him mercilessly. So, he had to go to a new home. Americana chick number three grew up as well, but the months passed, the other chicks began laying, but no blue eggs showed up in the nest boxes. I had pretty much decided that either blue eggs are completely a myth, or she was in fact some mixed breed chick that had ended up mixed in with the americanas at the feed store. Then, surprise! A green egg for Christmas! She was simply a late bloomer, and now I get that lovely green egg in with all the brown ones every other day or so.
And as for the happiest thing of all? The other day, I sent off the full payment for our mortgage! After all that, we made it through the month, we paid all the bills, we didn't starve, we somewhat resolved the vehicle situation, and we had a wonderful, happy Christmas. So, here's to a better New Year, filled with more happiness, more love, more prosperity.

Well, the final blows (I hope) were delivered yesterday when Travis discovered that our little VW wouldn't start due to an abundance of air bubbles in the fuel line, likely the cause of a cracked fuel line, and, he didn't get to work yesterday either due to an abundance of snow. Here we are, for the first time in our lives, wishing it would stop snowing, and also, for the first time in our relationship, completely vehicleless. The Quantum was our remaining legal vehicle, and of course, Marmie still sits in her snow trench, with tags that expired in March of 2009, nearly flat tires, and probably not enough gas to even make it to the street. And she certainly isn't going to climb out of that snow without a huge amount of help anyways. So, yesterday morning started with such delightful discoveries, and I knew right then that we were either due for a turn in luck, or our house would likely burn down. Well, around noon, our very good friends whose dog we had been sitting for the past week came home and collected the little menace, which was good news in itself, but also, they offered us the use of their second car for a few days to buy us some time. This is the kind of friendship that I value so much. Because our families are all mostly so far away, having friends who are like family is invaluable. Anyhow, now we get to drive around in a Mercedes for a little while, which brings back fond memories of my good ole 1969 Mercedes I had many years ago. What a fun car to drive! The major differences are about 15 years in age, and of course, this Mercedes starts reliably, where as my old Olaf might consider starting every other day or so. With much gratitude, I can say that we are not entirely stranded now, and Travis has a way to get to work, should he ever get to work again!

Ugh, having a tough time right now. My usual positive outlook on life has suffered some severe blows lately. I keep reminding myself I don't have it nearly as bad as so many people in this world, but it isn't helping too much. On top of the difficulties I described in my last post, things have continued to slide downhill. Travis didn't work for nearly two full weeks, and upon returning to work, he is only getting four hours a day, which will definitely not catch us up. I have been desperately trying to make money selling things on craigslist, my efforts yielding a few dollars, but nothing like what I was doing last month. Four days ago, after my glucose tolerance test, I got the dreaded phone call. My blood sugar was elevated. So, there goes my remaining hope of a healthy, normal pregnancy and birth. Of course, I have to go in and do a three-hour glucose tolerance test, and both yesterday morning and this morning I tried to go in to the lab. I can't go in during the week while Travis is working because a) no babysitter and b)we only have one car right now and he's driving it to Sisters. Anyways, our delightful car, being a particularly persnickity diesel, wouldn't start yesterday till around 1 in the afternoon, and of course, it wouldn't start again this morning. So, now, I won't be able to do the three hour test till a week from Tuesday, when my Mom is here visiting. That ought to make my doctor happy. I even tried to bust trusty ole Marmie out of the foot-deep snow in the back yard. While she obligingly started up after a few tries, and she put up a valiant fight against the slick, bumpy hill out of the back yard, she ended up ingloriously stuck sideways in the side driveway. Where she will undoubtedly stay until the snow melts, pouting in her embarassment. Yes, Volkswagens can pout! But for the record, in my eleven-year relationship with Marmie, she has only let me down just a couple of times, so I can't hold it against her. I'm impressed she even started.
Meanwhile, the van that is stuck in Portland has been for sale since being left there, and we've had a lot of interest, including a couple of cash offers. So, with any luck, it will sell by the end of the month, one big load off, and enough money to fill in the gap on the mortgage payment.
The month of December may well go down in history as the longest month of my life. Unless, of course, as is usually the case, the third trimester goes even slower than the rest of this longest pregnancy ever.

Ever have one of those days when it feels like everything is in crises and you can do nothing right? That was today. We've had a series of difficulties around here lately, beginning with the truck we bought in Merrill (we had my father-in-law check it out for us so we actually bought it sight unseen). We went to collect it in Malin on Thanksgiving and discovered the radiator is full of oil, so it needs about $400 in repairs, and it still sits in Malin. Then, the new family van, the 1987 VW Vanagon we bought just three months ago, had a critical blow out in its engine on the freeway in Portland, so it still sits in Portland at my Aunt and Uncle's house. We can't afford to repair it, and the can't tow it home because the truck sits in Malin, also broken. Then, to top it all off, Travis hasn't worked for a week because the stone they need for their next job did not get ordered or delivered on time. And this comes after having the past two pay periods short on hours. So, now we are in near-dire financial circumstances, unsure how we will pay all the bills and our mortgage, and we have two broken vehicles on opposite sides of the state. Needless to say, I am feeling the pressure. And then, today, I felt like I couldn't even do a good job as a mom. I know all moms make mistakes, all moms have days and moments they regret, but I just hate having those. I hate letting my kids down, I hate that fear that I might be forever screwing up these two little boys with the mistakes I make. I will be glad tonight when I get to snuggle up with little Eli on the bunk beds and read to the boys until I hear that sweet sound of their sleep breathing. Glad to wake up tomorrow to a new day, another chance to do a better job, to learn and grow as a mom.

We're Still Here!

Well, last month was national novel writing month and I succeeded in writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. So, now I am returning to my long neglected blog in hopes of a continuing creative outlet. I apologize to those who have checked back here only to find that I haven't posted in an eon. Life has swept me away into the world of busy small people as my two boys continue to grow and develop so fast. I am still in shock as we enter the month of December that Isaac will be four and Elias will be two this month. The years fly by so quickly.
Of course, the months do not for me right now. As most of you know, I am expecting our third and final child, and I can honestly say this is the longest pregnancy in history! March is still a long, long ways away.
This morning I awoke to sugar-coated trees and that beautiful, snowy light in the early sky. I love mornings like this, they are mornings that make me miss being one of the first to arrive at Sunrise Lodge to open up the mountain. How I miss that quiet, snowy air before the lifts begin to run, before all the skiers and boarders show up in splashes of noise and color. It is difficult for me to get out into the snow these days. Any attempt requires about an hour of dressing and bundling small bodies, and my own not-so-small body just doesn't operate like normal, making balance on slick surfaces challenging. I look forward to Decembers in the future, early sugar-coated mornings when I can take my three children up to the mountain for a day of powder.