Wild Animal Kingdom

Emma and Reagan’s Room is finally completely done!  My parents came over a week ago and installed the window seat and cushion, and as a surprise to the girls, zebra striped curtains and valances!  They’ve been talking about having zebra striped curtains ever since they started talking about designing their room over two years ago.  My mom had extra fabric and made them each a pillow for their beds, as well, and they are thrilled!

    
   

Reagan was very quick to arrange her new pillow from Nana on her bed, and she loves sitting in the window seat.
 

We spent quite a bit of time Sunday rearranging their stuff and reorganizing.  Their room is very clean and they both *promised* me it would stay that way!  I guess time will tell. 

The Special Ornament

We have a few Christmas Traditions we observe as a family.  One of my favorites is the day we go to the mountains to get our tree.  This year was cut short  little bit as we didn’t have a lot of time to get it done, but we still spent a great day in the mountains and we found a perfect tree.  Closely related to getting our tree is decorating it.  We make hot chocolate and decorate the tree.  When we’re done decorating, we all snuggle down and watch a Christmas movie.  This year it was How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey.  Funny!

One other annual tradition is the new family ornament.  Each year we get one new ornament for each of us that is specific to that year.  Each ornament is labeled with the person’s name and the year.  I am posting pictures of two of our most recent ornaments because I had to special order last years’ ornament and they didn’t arrive until after Christmas and never made it on the tree.  Our tree is pretty eclectic – gold styrofoam stars, Santas from my trip to Haiti, Princesses from Disneyland, etc.  There are  lot of earthy/woodsy ones, but there’s some really quirky ones, too.  You get the basic idea – if we’ve had a special event duirng the year, the ornament represents it, otherwise, it’s whatever we find that we really like.

This year I found these really quirky birds, and I immedately loved them.  Usually I purchase a little higher quality ornament because it is ment to keep as  memory; however, this year, they were very inexpensive.  They have real feathers worked into their gold glitter covered styrofoam bodies.  Very kitchy, but great anyway.

Last year we had this tiny little project we decided to undertake.  It was just a little one, and it took just a little bit of our time, but I decided to commemorte it with an ornament anyway.  Since we spent the greater part of the year building the TOD Family Dream Home, I scoured the Internet until I found the *PERFECT* ornament.  It took forever (which is part of the reason they didn’t show up until after Christmas, but it was totally worth it!  I found these great old-fashioned glass hammers.  You can’t get much more perfect than that!

I just wanted to include a few pictures of some of my other favorite ornments.  Sparkly icicles, moose & tree covered balls, pine cones, and – yes you’re seeing correctly – a moose using an outhouse.  We have fishing and hunting ornaments, angels hand-crocheted by my Aunt Mary, tons of sparkly lights!

    

I love our tree – it’s just us!

The Door

The front door of our house is {red}.  My favorite color – Aaron’s least favorite color.  When we decided to paint our new home dark gray with white trim, he indicated that he thought the door should be white, too.  I really wanted a colorful door, but I could not think of any color that would look better than {red}.  It took FOREVER, but I finally convinced Aaron to let me paint it {red}on the condition that if he still absolutely hated it we could change it.  He doesn’t hate it, actually he really likes it – sometimes you just have to see something to “get it”.

This {red}door opens up into our foyer and great room.  The {red} is warm and inviting – something I hope our home is.  {Red} is the color of love – the foundation of our family.  {Red} is a strong color, and we are a strong family.  {Red} is the TOD Family.

If you look closely at the doormat in this picture, you’ll see it is very unique.  It was a housewarming gift from my parents; handmade by my dad.  Can you see what the different tones of wood illustrate?

Here’s a closer picture.  Can you see it now?  The “TOD” spelled out in darker wood in the center of the doormat.  I cannot imagine how long it took my dad to come up with the pattern to get our name “just right”, but I am so grateful he did.  This beautiful piece of artwork now sits in front of the {red}door welcoming visitors to our home.  It is exquisite!

This last picture is just to show the level of craftsmanship and detail it took to make this mat.  Each tile was vertically drilled, then thick wire fed through the entire width of the mat to hold each “row” in place.  So much very hard work – appreciated so much because it was done with love for us.

I am continually amazed and inspired by my dad’s creativity and talent.

Open House

You are invited to an Open House/Housewarming Party!

Sunday, July 26, 2009
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Aaron & Amy Tolar’s Home
81690 Pleasant View Road

We were finally able to schedule the Open House Party for our Dream Home.  If you have followed the construction process and would like to see the final result, you are welcome to come.

Please e-mail me if you need directions or have any questions.

And So It Ends

I posted a major update on our Dream Home Blog tonight.  The construction process is slowing down – it’s nearly at a stand-still.  Not because of any problems or hold-ups, but because we are pretty much done with it!  We have several loose ends to tie up, and once they are done my parents will be leaving, taking Luna, and moving back to Cove permanently.

They will be living in their lovely home that they’ve given up for the past seven months to live in a 20-foot camp trailer on our property.  Since graduating from High School, I’ve never lived with, or within minutes of, my parents for more than two months at a time (summers home from college, after Emma’s dad and I separated, etc.).  Quite frankly, I liked it that way.  I liked being close enough to go home when I wanted or needed to, but I liked being far enough away that we weren’t able to just drop in on each other.

I’ve changed my mind.

I don’t want them to go home, even though I know they are ready to go home.  I am feeling extremely selfish, and I want to drag the project out just so we can keep them around longer.  I can honestly say I am going to be very sad when they do make that final trip home, and I am sure I will be home-sick for them for quite some time.  That realization makes me very happy because it means our relationship has grown stronger and closer through this construction process when it could have been tested and strained.  I have had a unique opportunity to get to know my parents again; not as Mom and Dad, but rather as Burr and Donna.

More than ever, I am very thankful that we are only a short, two-hour drive away.

For the time-being, I am going to treasure every day of work we have left until they pull up their temporary roots and move back to Trickle Creek Corner and get back to their own lives.

Thank you , Mom and Dad, for everything you’ve ever given me.  You two truly are amazing, and I love you very much!

Christmas Eve (Finally!)

Christmas Eve was WONDERFUL!  Aaron and I got up early and moved our couch and a chair so that when our guests came over they didn’t have to sit in lawn chairs anymore.  Moving in has been such a relief.  It’s the final step – the REALITY of this project we’ve been working on.

Early afternoon Christmas Eve we celebrated Christmas with Aaron’s sister’s family (Megan, Brett, Cade, & Mya) and their dad and step-mom, Mick and Susan.  We all had a great time, and the girls love playing with Cade and new cousin Mya!

      

After our first celebration, we all headed up the road to Aaron’s mom and step-dad’s (Tom & Carol) for Christmas with them and Aaron’s step-brother and sisters.  Great food, fun stories, games, and gift exchanges.  It was Emma’s first year participating in the “Chinese Gift Exchange” game, and she had a blast!  Reagan and Cade played behind Grandma’s couch adn put on a puppet show for anyone watching – luckily I had my camera handy.

       

After stuffing ourselves silly, we headed home to get ready for Santa.  The girls opened their traditional one package on Christmas Eve (new pajamas).  Reagan got to open the new “Santa’s Key” I found and put it on the outside of our door so Santa had a way into the house.

       

I have lots more updates to post – it’s amazing what all happens in 20 days without Internet!

Amazing

Amazing stuff happening at the Tolar Dream Home.  Click the links to the left to check it all out!

Do you know what the significance of these two pictures is?  I know it looks like a bunch of laundry baskets full of crap.  It’s not.  It is so much more than that.  These two pictures represent the first load of three it took in my Camry to empty the ENTIRE kitchen at our current house and MOVE it all to our new home.  As of today, at 160 SE Tenth Street, there will be no more meals shared by the TOD Family.  No more cooking, no more dishes, no more homework at the dining room table.  None of that stuff will happen for our family at our old home anymore.

  

We will be moving the refrigerator Tuesday (its nice when the weather is this cold and we can keep food cool enough in the garage).  We will also be moving the washer & dryer and mattresses Tuesday, as well – as of tomorrow night, we will no longer be sleeping in our old home, rather, we will be sleeping under the roof of our Dream Home!  There is still work to be done, but we will just deal with it. 

We have to be completely moved out of this house by the end of the month, but Aaron has to have surgery on his foot the 29th, so we’re pushing to be completely moved by the end of the day on the 28th.  That way, I can spend the day of the 29th with him, and clean our old house on the 30th.

I cannot explain what a relief it is to have started the moving process, even though I absolutely hate moving.  It’s a good thing we plan on living in this new home the rest of our lives because I REFUSE to move ever again!  Just the simple act of moving the kitchen and putting stuff away at the new house has lifted such a worry and burden from my shoulders, its incredible!

Just in case I am unable to get Internet service again before Thursday, Merry Christmas and blessings to you and your families!

Christmas Came Early!

Early this fall, Aaron and I made the decision that we were going to make a huge cut to our Christmas Budget because we are getting this beautiful new home right at Christmas time.  The girlies don’t really need anything, and we have such a big family, they definitely won’t be going without.  It not only made the stress of purchasing gifts so much easier, it was the first year we actually planned out what we were going to get them, and it made shopping and sticking to our budget SO MUCH EASIER!!!  Novel concept, I know.    We also decided that we would not get each other anything, just that we would get one gift for the family.  Now, let me pre-empt this by saying that we normally would not even spend close to this amount on our entire Christmas, but we have been saving specifically for this one thing.  We bought a new flat-panel TV for the Great Room.  Since it has to be at the new house when the satelite technician moves our service to the new house, we “opened” it early.  Also, I don’t think the big 36-year-old kid in our house could wait to have it open and hanging on the wall.    The girls were so excited they squealed.  I need new eardrums.

     

 Remember the craft project I talked about with the snow-sprayed pine cones?  Reagan got to finish that, too.  She combined her pinecones with miniature green and gold Christmas balls and Christmas Lights in a Hurricane Jar.  She thought it was a great thing to do with her pinecones.  When we were done, she found the cut-out piece of counter-top from our sink and made a little table with a couple of pieces of styrofoam.  Then she moved Mr. & Mrs. Moose and arranged her table “just so”.  I think it looks wonderful – she did a great job!

  

Mom and I made chili Friday (that smelled so good all day long), and after a nice hot meal in the new house, it was time to decorate.  Goliath finally got dressed.  It’s amazing to me how long it took to decorate him, and how many additional boxes of lights it took to fill him up!  I guess when you have a giant tree, that’s what happens!

     

These are some of my favorite ornaments.  A fish I got from my parents, an elk for Aaron, four little angels hand-crocheted by my aunt for the girls, the balls with the  moose on them, and the words I got from my mom.

   
   

Just to show that I can make fun of myself, I am posting this picture.  I may chicken out and take it down in a day or two, I don’t know.  When I was unloading all the Christmas decorations, I found these two candles that had gotten a little warm and bent.  You can’t tell in this picture, but from the side, they look like walrus tusks, so that’s what I was doing.

Please . . . don’t call the mental ward, I really am okay.  The stress of the house hasn’t gotten to me that bad – yet.  I don’t think. 

No Internet

Our phones have been moved to the new house, and that means that our DSL has been moved, as well.  Unfortunately, the DSL is not working at the new house yet, so Internet Access for us is sporadic.

Fortunately, at the old house, I can pick up a signal from EZ Wireless in Hermiston, so I’m able to do basic Internet stuff.  I haven’t been able to upload pictures to the blogs, so that will just have to wait until I have better service.  There has been A LOT of progress at the new house, and I can’t wait to post the pictures!

For now, if you need to get a hold of either of us, call our cell phones.  You can call the land-line, but you will likely have to leave a message.

Happy Weekend, all!

I don’t cry!

I just don’t.  For me to cry is monumental and rare.  I do get emotional, and it’s not that I’m uncaring, I’m just not a crier.  Usually.  I have cried more in the past two days than I have cried in the past two years.

The past month(s) have been a huge struggle, and I have kept trying to tell myself that I just needed to suck it up and get on with life.  I have felt like there are so many things pulling me in a hundred different directions, and I am spread so thin that at any moment something is going to snap and cause it all to collapse in around me.  I felt like if I complained about it I’d get the “be thankful for your blessings” response and don’t wallow in self pity.

Building this Dream Home, while it is a huge blessing, has been very physically, mentally, and now emotionally trying.  This gift our family is being given – having a home custom-built for us by our parents – is amazing, and it is a legacy that we will treasure forever.  It has also been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done – let alone one of the most rewarding.

Our 14-year-old daughter is sweet, wonderful, and is one of those “invisible” kids because she never makes any waves.  This school year has been a struggle for her.  She has struggled with her grades, with her siblings, with girls at school, and with her parents (all 4 of us).  I worry about her because she is one of those girls who will be picked on just because she is who she is.  I was that girl, and I know exactly what it feels like to be the target.  It flat sucks, and I finally moved to a completely new high school because of it.  I don’t know how to help her understand that the “mean girls” are just that and they don’t matter.  Unfortunately, when you’re 14, they do matter.  I worry that I don’t know how to help her through it.

I really am overwhelmed, and everything is just coming to a head all at once.

We are so close to moving into our home we can taste it – we have to be out of our current house by December 31, so no matter what, we will be moving within the next three weeks or so.  We haven’t started to pack up this house yet, and that is overwhelming but easy to deal with.

I know that no matter what, all I can do is offer my love, advice, and support to Emma and pray that she makes it though this time in her life with her head held high knowing she stayed true to herself.

I read a blog today, and I immediately started crying because it explained EXACTLY how I’ve been feeling. 

It started like this:

Reality

Isn’t always pleasant.
Isn’t always cheerful.
… but it isn’t always bad.

At the end, this is what it said:

Make a list of the many good things God has deposited within you. When tempted to condemn yourself for failing, instead pull out your list and rejoice in what God has done {and will do} in and through your life.

Hmmm….

I do count my blessings, and I am thankful for every single thing in my life – the blessings and the trials.  Counting my blessings sure doesn’t make dealing with the trials any easier.

The other thing I don’t do often is ask for help.  I am now.  Please send positive thoughts and prayers this direction – I could sure use it.  Thank you!