The week in review

Okay, I know. I have officially entered the kingdom of Blog Loserdom. But I have my reasons, which I will articulate with my "Week in Review.

* The house went on the market, officially. Though I whined about the staging thing, it was worth the effort. The house turned out looking so clean and fabulous that we thought twice about actually putting it up for sale. I painted walls. Bill spray-painted old furniture black, which looked suprisingly fabulous! We shampooed. We shooed away dust bunnies. We decluttered. It was like a version of "Trading Spaces" without the trading. It all resulted in....

*....the house selling. 10 days after being put on the market. Okay, knock on wood.....termite inspection and appraisal pending, the house is sold. And we have to move out on October 31st....eeeek!!

* Have decided we will probably build a few miles south. Nifty neighborhood with cool playground for the girls and a neighborhood pool to boot. Which means....

* Need an apartment for several months. Eeeeek! Browsed one today. Four peoples in a small space in a Nebraska winter. Anyone care to join us???? I didn't think so.

* Unrelated.....Boogies and sore throats. Let me clarify that: LOTS of boogies. Camille and I have both been sick. Not too fun to be a laryngitic mother of a two-year-old who is impossible to talk over on a good day and a four-year-old who happens to rely heavily on verbal information.

*Speaking of two-year-olds. Wow. What happened to my sweet, innocent Liv? Seriously---whoever has her, give her back. STAT. Pronto. Seriously....this is not funny. The old Livvy that I birthed does not take off running outside of the donut shop, leave her shoes in the parking lot, and throw herself screaming on the sidewalk whilst mother tries to navigate Camille with white cane in tow towards the van. But this new and not-so-improved version seems to have a flair for the dramatic, which can't possibly be genetic.

* AND.....DRUMROLL....Camille is starting to read. No joke. She's known her letters for quite some time now, but today, Carrie, Camille's Teacher of the Visually Impaired, was at the house and had supplied a new "D" book, which Camille had never seen before. She opened the book and rightfully predicted that Camille would read what was on the page. She pointed to the words as Camille read something to the effect of "I see a dog" or "This is a dog"...can't remember exactly. Made my day. My week. Now, with the writing thing not going so well because of visual motor difficulites, we just somehow have to get her as interested in her Braille as she is in her print.....

*Oh, and even better than that, though one of our favorite caregivers of Camille's at K4J has left her job there, she wrote us the dearest note describing her true friendship with Camille. A genuine friendship between a 22-year-old (at least that's what Camille says) and a 4-year-old that has blessed Camille and our family in the most special way. Thank goodness Miss Elizabeth wants to continue to be a constant in Camille's life and in ours. Only Miss Elizabeth would endure more readings of "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" than Bill and I combined. How we love her so!

And finally, I am painfully going to endure an 18-hour scrapbooking benefit for the Make-a-Wish Foundation on Saturday with Carrie. Okay, so it will be pure bliss. Can't wait.