Neatokimmo: I'm back and not so cranky :)

Updates!

Eye - up to about 80%. I had IV treatments and tons of pills and have an appointment on Thursday to assess how much visions loss there is. They are optimistic that it will go back to 100% with time. I'm still not driving, Thursday will be my first time since July 21st and it will be weird. I have gas in my car that I bought on 7-15 still lol

Kittens - Still have them and they are still rotten. They are healthy enough now for new homes and I am trying to place them. If you are local to me and would like a kitten please let me know. I am taking the litter to get fixed hopefully on Friday, I don't want anymore kittens around. I am happy to report that the 5th kitty that I wasn't able to catch didn't die and is living at my neighbors house. I am hoping she'll be able to tame it so it too can be fixed.

This is my baby booger that I am keeping. No wonder he's so fat, grandma lets him eat whatever he can hold! :)

Baby - I used to think she'd already been born and was waiting for me. Not so much now since referrals are slowing down. I really thought I'd have her this Christmas :( I have in my head that I'll be in China in June 2007, a full year after I expected to be there and I think she'll be born in Oct 2006. Heck I thought she was going to be born in Oct 2005. But such as life, the extra 171H costs are just going to happen and there isn't anything I can do about it so I'm over it.

Work - Still feel bad about everyone having to do my work while I was gone. The worst part of it, when I go back next Tuesday, I am only there for three days before I leave for my beach/disney trip. I hate that it worked out that way timing wise but I bought and paid for the trip in April with no way of knowing I was going to be messed up all of August.

My Yard Sale - The only good part about my eye is that they gave me pills, very good pills. They give me incredible energy and I sleep only 4-5 hours a night. I managed to totally reorganize my house and pull out tons of stuff for a yard sale this Saturday. If I can even sell 10% of what I have ready then I'll be rich. We are thinking we'll do one Saturday, one of Sept 30th, one in March and one in April. We set it up in my mom's unfinished den so nothing will get messed up during sales, its an ideal set up. My goal is to finish clearing out my basement before Sept 30th because we are really at max capacity for the first sale (and that is sad because we have about 800 SF full between the two of us). I have things that I just need to let go of like a baby boy bedding set that I had purchased in anticipation of an adoption from Ukraine. Its gorgeous and some cutie pie out there needs to be sleeping in it.

Kitchen - I've made the decision to remodel my kitchen. I already have the tile floor so I am planning on new cabinets, countertops, sink, dishwasher & stove. I will try to get by on my old fridge since it is just 4 years old and in perfect condition. My dishwasher is only a year old but it was cheap and I hate it. If you are in the market for a dishwasher, get the $300 one or you'll just be unhappy. My stove and oven are currently separate and are ancient, like from the 60's. They work but the oven can barely fit my cookie sheet in it and doesn't fit any of my killer stock pots that can go in the oven. I can't cook a turkey either. So I am going to get a basic normal stove/oven like what everyone else has and it will be fab. My budget is $3,000 since my dad and I can hang the cabinets. We can do the countertops too if I don't do granite (I don't think I can do granite for 3K even with a small kitchen). I've got such a small amount of money into my house that I can redo the kitchen in designer mode, add a sunroom and add a half bath and maybe get it up to it's tax assessment. I'm running at a 35K appraisal surplus compared to costs so another 3K for a lovely little kitchen is good :)

Shopping - I can't clear out the house without replacing just a little bit of it :) Mom and I went to the Tree Street sales in JC over race weekend. We ran into several great houses for us but as usual I spent way more than her. My first big purchase was at a house that was selling retro tuperware for great prices and it was very nice. Mostly that bright yellow color I like so much and the milky white stuff from the 70's. They just wanted $1.50 for most of the pieces, I thought that was a great deal. My second big find was the interior design group from ETSU's sale. They collected fabric samples from all over JC to sell, just 3 for $1. I got some beautiful silk pieces to make pillows for my bed, some fun funky bird prints for kitchen chair cushions and they even pulled out a piece large enough to make a new curtain for my over the sink window. I'm even going to attempt to make a tote bag out of a cool burlap piece. We got to dig through several hundred samples, it was a lot of fun. The last house that I really did well at had baby clothes. She had the prettiest 2 & 3 piece sets but I felt like I was risking it because they were all 6-9 months so I passed. But I did find a few pieces that I really liked in size 12-18 months. I bought:

Gymboree courduroy bunny outfit (overalls and top)