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March 26, 2008
I'm usually pretty good with secrets... especially my own...
until today that is.
The Rohlf household is a whirlwind of activity as we are currently in the process of praying through/seeking counsil about keeping our duplex, renting out both sides and purchasing a new home in Coralville all within the next month or two. Needless to say, due to my prego brain and all of those details/scenarious coming together- my brain is fried.
We had the appraiser coming to our house today. We have been trying to our appraisal done on our duplex for the last 2 weeks. We were orginally told that it was going to be 2 days... so we are still waiting. Anyway, I was anxious for her to come (we were told she would just take a look around the outside, since she has been in this house before) (and this is a big deal to get #'s to know if all of our plans/ideas are going to work out). Anyway, I see her pull in the driveway and about 3 min later she rings the doorbell and asks to see the other half (inside) of the duplex. Well, this poses a problem. We have renters there and we have in our lease that we will give them 24 hours notice of entering the house. So I stutter slightly and say something about not having let them know that we needed inside (all the while trying to not panic that she is going to leave and have to come back another day - therefore putting this entire process on hold again). I was thinking that I could call Jason and have him call the tenants and see if they would mind if we came in when in 2.5 seconds she shakes her head, says "nevermind- does it look like your side" and walks in our front door! AAHHHH! Here is how the next 3 minutes went: (Remember- I am not ready for a complete stranger to walk in the door- I"m not thinking about what upgrades we have done to the house- my child and I were just watching Clifford the big red dog! :)
Appraiser: "Oh I love the colors on the walls, does the other side have that?"
Me: "Um no, they are white walls."
Appraiser: "New baby in the house?"
Me: "WHAT?" (Wondering how in the world that was her second question)
Appraiser: (Pointing up the steps to a purple baby outfit that was hanging on the closet door)
Me: "Oh, well, I"m pregnant."
Appraiser: "Its a GIRL!"
Me: "Um, no... it is a boy...that was an outfit that I bought before we knew were going to find out the gender of the baby that I have to return" (Again, wondering what in the world this lady was doing in my living room.)
Appraiser: "What is his name?"
Me: "We are not telling his name... its a secret"
Appraiser: "Oh just tell me! I will never see you again!"
Pause.
Hesitate.
Pause.
Me: "Ok..... well, its ___________"
Appraiser: "Oh! Spelled just like it sounds?"
Me: "Yes-sort of"
Appraiser: "I like it!... Ok, well, the basement on that side look the same as this one?"
Me: "Yes."
Appraiser: "Ok, well I will have these numbers turned in tomorrow! Bye!"
Me: "Bye".
Right, so that totally caught me off guard and now some random appraiser lady in Iowa City knows what we are going to name our son! I"m going to have to prepare for situations like that better in the future! :)
Posted by Leah at 04:42 PM | Comments (5)
March 19, 2008
Random Questions:
#1) Why does everybody assume that at Easter you are supposed to eat Ham? Did I miss something somewhere? It doesn't help that I'm not a huge fan of ham- but so many people and adds for stores connect ham with Easter. I don't get it.
#2) Jason and I found a $1 Easter hat for Belle last night. It has a ribbon around it and forms a bow at one point. We need someone(s) to tell us where to place this bown on her head. We have both decided it is not the front. :) However, one of us thinks it goes slightly to the side and the other one says that it should go it back. Can anyone help us?
Posted by Leah at 04:24 PM | Comments (7)
March 07, 2008
Relationship "Savers"
Remeber WAY back when, when you were dating/courting/engaged to your sweetheart? For some of you, that might be now( you can just read this blog in 3 years,) and then for some of you, you have now spent more time together than you did apart. Remember the long talks covering everything under the sun? Jason and I went through a little something called "courting questions" that took us through 8-10 big areas of life where couples can trip up in a ways because they hadn't talked about how often in-laws would come visit or who was in charge of the garbage ...ect, ect. I remember going through those questions and not having a lot of disagreements- we were pretty sure that we were destined to be together forever since we couldn't find much that we couldn't stand about eachother! :)
Fast forward 3 years....
We are still hopelessly in love! :) And we still get along quite well. (Just thought you would all like to know!)
HOWEVER, as we have walked along this path it has been interesting to watch couple's go from single to "having someone special and I can't stop smilling" to married with jobs, and finally to lots of lil' tax deductions running around. :)
It seems as though each couple comes up with one or a few relationship "savers" that are worth the time, energy and effort in their lives to make their relationship better. I was talking to my sister-in-law the other day and was quite amused to find out what has made their relationship so much better. There isn't hardly as much stress- they are smiling more and find themselves enjoying eachother so much more now. Wanna know what they purchased?
Any ideas?
Drum roll please.....
A BRAND NEW WASHER AND DRYER! :) Now, I'm just guessing, but if you would have asked them 9 months ago before they got married if they would solve their love problems in the first year with washer and dryer- i'm pretty sure they would have laughed! I'm laughing now- but then being married a while, I can understand the different ways people make this wonderfully, hard, rewarding, 'i wouldn't trade it for the world" journey together.
So it got me thinking...what do other people use as their relationship saver? Wanna know ours?
I refuse... absolutely refuse to buy long sleeve dress shirts for Jason that are not wrinkle free! I know that sounds weird, but it is true. When we first got married, he had just started his job and didn't have a large budget for clothes. So whatever shirts he could find for a good price- he bought. The result: A closet full of shirts that needed ironed every week. Yeah, that lasted about 6 months! :) I started out such a wonderful and perfect wife, ironing every week and never thinking or mentioning anything about it. Then I got pregnant and I got so sick and nothing got done on a regular basis around the hosue... not cooking, cleaning or ironing. I think it was around that time that we found a couple good deals on some wrinkle free shirts. I did'nt think much of it because I sitll have a closet full of them to take care of. Then we bought a house and we had a baby. Yeah, ironing...where is the iron? I'm lucky to get a shower in the morning, let alone get the ironing done. Then the baby started growing up and I tried the ironing thing again. This time with a baby that moves and could pull the iron down- yup- pretty sure I should give this up.
And now? Well, let's just say I find it to be the most unrewarding job. :) Seriously, Jason has only 2 or 3 shirts left that need ironing and I find that if I don't iron them, he doesn't wear them so then I don't have to iron them! :) No, but really, I finally got the iron out last week and informed Belle that she needed to play in her room as to not knock the iron over and I got the three shirts ironed and put back in the closet. The rest of the day I felt great! I felt like "susie homemaker" and that I had done my duty as a wife. I was ready to soar on this cloud for the next week- but then you know what? Jason picked out one of those shirts to wear that next day! AAAAAHHHH! I didn't even get the satisfaction of knowing that the shirts were ironed and ready to go in the closet. That's it! I'm done! I plan on hitting the Kohl's clearance section to finished off those three shirts with wrinkle free!
Anyway, I'm done now. But I'm curious to know what has "saved" your relationship. Is it the take out number already programed into your phone in case dinner gets burned again or perhaps your dry cleaner is on your christmas card list? :)
Posted by Leah at 04:49 PM | Comments (3)
March 05, 2008
Clogged toilets....
are not my cup of tea. However, I"m guessing because I grew up thinking "Unclogging toilets is a man's job!" that God decided he would give the angels a little entertainment in their break times.
Seriously, clogged toilets follow me like a shadow. Now, before you go getting any ideas- they are not always because of me that they get clogged! :) Summer of 2000 I was in Myrtle Beach, SC living in a home with 7 other girls and the 1 toilet we had got clogged at least 3 times and overflowed another 2 more times. Wanna know who stepped (not very happily) up to the plate? Yours truly. I don't know what it is, well, I probably do. The GERMS!! The nastiness, the fact that it is someone else's... well, you know. Plunging totally grosses me out. The sound of it, the way the dirty water splashes out of the toilet, onto the wall and floor. Not to mention that the pluger just sits around waiting for the next toilet that wont flush. Uck! I'm done now with all those details, I"m going to make myself sick.
Anyway, thankfully my brilliant father once told me that there is another way to unclog a toilet besides plunging. If you take large buckets of steaming hot water and pour it down the toilet at an incredibly fast pace- after a few of those... it will ususally break through the whad of (insert problem here) and you are in the clear! Thankfully I listened to that advise o-so-long ago and it has helped me unclog more toilets than I care to count and I think I've only had to plunge once!
Yesterday, I was once again faced with this dilema, only it happened in our half bath- so there was no shower on the first floor to quickly fill large buckets of water. So I had to walk back and forth from the kitchen sink filling up my largest mixing bowl with steaming hot water. It took a little longer than I had hoped, but 5 large buckets of water later-- ta da! "I am WOMAN, hear me ROAR!" ;)
ps. THANKS DAD!
pss. PEOPLE-if you are having one of those dumb and dumber moments in the bathroom ... FOR THE LOVE ! just take the time for a courtesy flush!!!
Posted by Leah at 01:13 PM | Comments (2)