Life Lately--the good, the bad, and the ugly (smelly?)

the Good--

I am still loving the "character" of my house--the yard, the neighborhood, the doors, the thick molding, etc. etc--it's all very uplifting.

I am loving the "smallness" of my house.  My house still gets just as out of control as my other house, but it is so much easier to get this one back under control.  I have not been joking over the years when I talked about the stress of keeping my house clean.  That stress is not here in this little house of mine.

School is going much better.  We are settling into a routine that involves both school and keeping the house straight.  This is my daily mantra--beds, kitchen, laundry, clutter.  If I have a free moment, I run through that mental check list to make sure things are in order.   It's working.  I even have a video of Ada reciting some of her stuff, but I can't get it to download.  I will keep working on that.

I am also making it a point to shower and get dressed every morning.  I never believed Fly Lady when she said that this was an important step. It turns out it is an important step for me.  I am forming a habit--no more afternoon showers for me.

On that note, with the new--much more "normal"--budget, I have plans for a much needed hair cut and a few new fall clothing items.  Now that I am getting dressed every morning, I am finding that I don't have very many clothes.  Okay, let me rephrase, I don't have very many clothes that I will wear.  So part of this process is getting rid of a lot of clothes.  It has been so long since I have been able to buy anything new, unless it was like 75% off at Target, so a few new items are much needed.  Don't get me wrong, these new clothes will still come from Target, Old Navy, Forever 21, etc. etc., but it's exciting for me all the same.  Plus, the last time I bought clothes it was for a working wardrobe.  I need a stay-at-home-mom wardrobe.  Let's face it, jeans are the dressiest I am going to get, and I need to face that and embrace that (didn't mean to rhyme).  

As for the hair cut, my hair has been very neglected over the past years due to the cost of a decent hair cut.  I was always of the mind set that I would rather not get my hair cut at all then get a bad cut.  So...I have at times gone up to a year between cuts.  I am working on that year timeline now, so I have scheduled a much needed cut.  I am very, very ready to go short again.

I am also embracing the early wake up hour and just going to bed earlier.  I decided to deal with the fact that John is going to wake us all at the crack of dawn, so we need to plan bed time accordingly.

So, things are good.  I continue to feel God answering many prayers that I have prayed over the years--and to think, the string of answered prayers began when Scott lost his job.  When we hit rock bottom.  And here we are, and I feel very "light" these days.  I am thankful to feel light versus the heavy that has often followed me around over the past couple of years.

The bad--

The very, very bad.

There is a horrible, disgusting smell currently coming from our walls?  our attic?  Where is it coming from?  I wanted to list all of the good first, so that the smell wouldn't overpower that...but the smell is sort of consuming my mind right now, so I had to blog about it.  I have talked to the landlord, and we are going to try to figure it out.  In the mean time...any tips or tricks for covering a smell?  Any other readers living in old homes have tips for this?  I know it goes with the territory, but that doesn't make it any better.  I HATE the smell.  Luckily, Scott and I tend to find humor in situations like this, so we have laughed about the most-likely-dead animal in our walls.  But underneath the laughter, I sort of want to cry;)

And that is us lately.

I apologize for the words.  So many words.

We do have our little "stash of cash" from the sell of the Altima (as God continues to provide in ABUNDANCE), that I am going to use to buy a new camera.  In fact, anyone want to recommend a user-friendly dslr?  I want to make the right decision here, and I have started researching reasonably priced, good for beginners, dslrs.  Advice?  Anyone?

Is anyone even still reading all of these words?  I promise, I will post pictures next time.