We Got a New Dishwasher!

Moving into this little house has been so fun. Our family was already a low-tech family. Living here has taken us a step even further backward, and we love it. We have no cable, we don't own a printer, no home phone (just cell's- which Pete finally let us get last October), no dishwasher. That is right folks, NO DISHWASHER! How can we survive you ask? Don't we go through at least 7 plates and 7 cups at each meal? And because I am in the middle of teaching multiplication to Emily, I know that equals a minimum of 21 plates and 21 cups a day.  And that doesn't include pots, pans and utensils!

Believe it or not we feel LIBERATED with no dishwasher. I am the type of mom who CRAMS the dishwasher full, forgets to turn it on and then needs to go out to eat because there are no clean forks. I was crippled if something was in the dishwasher. The thought of taking something out of the dishwasher to wash it myself so I could use it, was somehow overlooked as an option. Now all my dishes are clean...all the time. I have no dirty dishes...ever.

Why, you ask?  Well, I have to thank my mom for this. I was raised with the policy that no dirty dishes stay in the sink. Growing up we NEVER were allowed to have dirty dishes sit. And the thought of letting dirty dishes rot in the sink and leaveing the house was absurd. What if you were to die and the police and relatives entered your house and witnesses the dirty dishes? What would they think? I have got to admit that this type of brainwashing stays with a person forever. And because of it, I now have the same policy. No dishes sit dirty EVER!

And now that Emily is almost 8 (in about 24 hours) we have a new dishwasher. I could not be more excited to celebrate a new Melnick milestone. She loves not having a dishwasher too! Can't you tell?

Home is Where We Are Right NOW!

This is where is all began for us in Mobile. When we found out we were moving to Mobile out of Alaska we promptly booked tickets, boarded the plane and went house hunting. We were looking forward to living in the "lower 48" again. Our first stop was in Florida, a hefty 8 hour drive from Mobile Alabama. We left Emily, Molly and Jack at my moms so we could find our new house in peace .

Pete and I were pretty excited. We had about 5 days with only the child in my belly (Lucy). The day of our drive was sunny,crisp and perfect. We drove our 8 hours on a Sunday, pulling in to Mobile about 1:00. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining and Pete and I were intoxicated with the old homes and big old oak trees. We got a little turned around when we were looking for a particular house and we pulled up along side this one. It was for sale! Our mouths dropped. Pete called the number asked how much and three days later we bought the house. It's the way we like to do things!

Six months later we finally moved in. The kids had never seen the house until the day it was ours. We signed our lives away, got a key and drove to our new home on Church St. We were in the house for about 3 seconds when I thought to myself, "What have we done?" A thought I would have appreciated having 6 months earlier, not 1 hour after signing away our life. The kids all took off in different directions. I thought having 4000 sq. ft would be a dream come true with our little group. Not even for a second. Even though the house was empty it did not change the fact that every room had a mess in it after the children were done tearing through. Meanwhile I'm following them saying, "Where are you? Stay in that room until I can find Jack." What have I done?

I began praying that night, "Please God, let us sell this house." I know it sounds odd, but I had a hard time feeling at home in that big beautiful fancy house.

God answered our prayers about 18 months later. Friends of ours loved the house. They wanted it! I wanted to give it to them. We all agreed. We swapped some stuff, money, keys, hugs and tears!

It would seem that Pete and I tend to do things at a rapid rate. Sometimes it can work out for us, sometimes ...not so much. The jury is still out about this time. We wrapped up the house deal in about 30 days. That means we had to move 4000 sq. ft of furniture into a rental house by ourselves. There were a couple of problems with that too. First, we had no rental house. Second, we had no rental house. And third , we had no rental house. At the last minute, before Pete had to go to Alaska for 2 weeks, we found a furnished house that was in the same area we were currently living in. Perfect! Not so much. The rental house was furnished because it was a Show Home. A staged home that was for sale. All we had to do was keep it in perfect show condition, mow the yard and get out at any time the Realtor needed to show it. All of that would be hard with no kids, try adding 5! We had to do it though. At the time there was no where else for us to live.
We had to store our stuff while we lived there because it was a fully furnished house. I randomly called a storage place, called some friends, packed some boxes and moved ALL of our stuff into the storage unit.

The whole show home, living perfect, sitting on someone else's couch set up got pretty old REALLY fast. I, of course wanted to move into something a bit more "us" sooner rather than later. I convinced Pete to come look at a rental house with me one afternoon before his night flight. On our way back we pasted a building that was up in flames. Fire trucks were everywhere turning people away. You could not even drive down the street. As we are getting turned around I realize it is our storage building that is blazing. Mouths agape, hearts pounding we realize all of our things are GONE!!

What's a girl to do? I quickly found a small rental, bought some furniture and moved us in! Now we live in a tiny house that is feeling more like home. I miss our things. I miss all of my Halloween decorations. I miss my signs I made over the years. I miss all of my scrapbooks. I am trying to be patient and rebuild our life slowly. It strikes me every now and again when I think of something like the turkey platter I bought with my mom in San Diego the first year I had Emily. When I think of the notes and letters I kept from Pete that he wrote to me from the Academy. Home is not about things, I know that, but it does help make a house your own home. I will keep trying!

You Never Know

I only have 1 brother. I have always wished, hoped and pined away for a sister. Not because I do not love my brother..I do, but I just always wished I could have a girl best friend who had to love me.

My brother I had lots of fun when we were little. I do remember the pure joy I had when I was torturing him with my non stop chattering. My poor brother was tortured by me his whole life in lots of ways. He is the strong silent type whereas I am more the strong, laugh a lot, talk even more type.

People always ask Pete and I if we come from big familes.  Even though neither of us did we eventually decided we wanted lots of kids. I wanted to create what I wished I had when I was little. My grandmother had 10 children. My mom, Pete's Dad and Mom all were 1 of 4 and we thought it would be amazing to have all those people love you. 

Now I just wish I could have made a brother for Jack. I know Lucy thinks she is his brother. She thinks she is a boy some days, "I am a good boy too mama!" she will say as she takes off her shirt because Jack took off his. So when people ask me EVERYDAY, "Are you going to have anymore?" I just answer, " You never know."

Buckets of Fun!

Emily is about to be eight. We had her first sleepover this weekend. It was a small affair, just 2 of her friends. I did not really plan to have the sleepover this weekend, but it just worked out. I remember my first sleepover party. We stayed up and told weird and scary stories and my cousin filled brown bags with various food items to go along with the creepy stories. For example, 2 olives were the eyes of the neighbor..you know good creepy fun stuff.

I pulled myself together and threw her a pretty fun last minute party. Complete with a fun craft that I thought you all might want to try. It is super easy, super cute and super CHEAP!! I ran to the paint store and bought empty paint buckets. They cost about $1.40 each.

After we got our paint buckets I took the girls to the craft store and let them pick out 2 pieces of 12x12 paper. Paper usually runs 50 cents a sheet. I admit I had to help with coordination a little, but overall they got the picture. I was a little hard to get them to understand there can be too many flowers and too much pink. After we worked out the paper picking we then went to the ribbon section and each girl picked out 3 spools of ribbon in coordinating colors. Ribbon can be the tricky spot in the budget. The ribbon I bought was all 1.50 a spool. I could get carried away with ribbon but to stay cost friendly a little control was used in purchasing the ribbon. And just to let you know I always throw in a black ribbon . I just can't help my attraction to black things, clothes, shoes, tops, coats, ribbons, paint, furniture...the list is endless.

Here is the easy assembly directions. You fold your pattern paper in half and cut into 2 pieces. You fold your solid paper in half and cut into 2 pieces. You only use one of those pieces, fold in half again and cut into 2 more pieces. The solid strip of paper has to fit around the side thing that holds the handle, so at each end cut a 1/2 circle and fit around the handle piece.

 I used scrapbook adhesive to adhere the paper to the bucket. Then take your pattern paper and slap in on the bottom half. Now, take your ribbon and cut 3-4 inch pieces and knot around the handle. Then sit back and think to your self how amazing you are that you made this adorable bucket that you have nothing to do with now!!

Here are the ones we made.  Guess who made the Halloween one?

Drool, Drool beautiful Drool

I really knew nothing about babies eight years ago. I am still collecting data.

As soon as I think I may have made an advancement in my baby knowledge another baby comes along to remind me of how little I know.

One thing I absolutely KNOW is babies drool. Some more than others, but drool is apart of the tooth making process that none of us can avoid.

This summer I had my sweet college age cousin come and stay with us for 1 month. Something I hope she does not regret. After a few days of on the job training I heard her say to her own mom, "Priscilla is like a slug, she leaves a trail of slime wherever she goes." At least she will know more than I did when she starts out.

The Greatest Gift I Never Asked For

I remember when her stick turned pink. I was extremly tired for about a week. I had a 3 month old so I did not think much of it. One afternoon I had to run out to get some milk. Pete happened to be home so I got to go with just my baby Jack! I walked into Lakeside Grocery store in Sitka Alaska. To get to the back of the store where the milk was I walked straight down the first aisle, which happened to be the first aid aisle. And then it hit me!! I saw the PG tests and I knew at that moment that God had called my number again. As I was holding my infant I put the box on the checkout counter, of course forgetting the milk. The clerk just looked at me and whispered, "Really?" I replied, "Maybe."

My heart was promptly in my throat!! What do you mean pregnant when I have a three month old? I am still nursing, my body has not even regained proper function for this sort of outcome. I am sure Pete heard the deep pounding of my heart before he even heard the car pull up, crunching rocks on our gravel driveway.


"Hi Babe. Just have to go potty, can you hold the baby?" I ran to the bathroom, to afraid to even voice my hunch. I preformed the required contribution and even before the stick turned pink I knew the answer. TEARS, is all I can say. I guess I should clarify...lots of tears!!

Pete came in shortly after I entered. A mom in a bathroom alone is cause for alarm around our house. He just looked at me and knew right away. He just SMILED. "How fun is this going to be? This is so great! We are officially on our way to a big family." I needed him to say those things and really mean them. I needed him to feel it enough for both of us. I did want a big family, and typically I like things to move along at a good clip...but when I am the one MAKING A HUMAN, I could have used another minute of two.

After giving birth I decided I needed a little refresher course in Natural Family Planning. As I was reading I came upon some statistics about fertility and nursing. It seems that the chance of me conceiving Lucy before I ever got my period back within the 1st 3 months of nursing was 6%. That means that I had 94% chance of never conceiving Lucy. She was meant to be here. I was meant to be her mom .

It's About the Heat Baby

There is a lot I want to do in my life. I want to learn Latin with my kids. I want to run a marathon by the time I die (it used to be by 30, then I decided why box myself in with a specific age). I want to go shopping and buy things without looking at the price tag. I want to make dinner and have everyone eat it!
Another thing I have always wanted to do is sautee garlic like they do on the cooking shows. All the garlic just bubbles in the oil staying a nice white color. I tend to brown my garlic a bit more than I should. I knew that was not the right way to do garlic but I have been too busy to think much about it .













This is the way my garlic usually looks. A bit more burned than sauteed! Well, no more. I refuse to ignore my short falling of garlic sauteeing . I want better for myself and the people I serve garlic to. So, today I practiced. I peeled several cloves of garlic, heated olive oil and practiced. I threw away several pans of browned garlic simliar to what you see here. I should have taken a shot of the final product..but I got to excited and forgot to take a picture. I definatley learned heat is the name of the game. Some of you may be thinking.."Duh". As you may have read before I am not a fan of being patient..so the #6 heat setting on my stovetop has always been my best friend. I am learning to include more friends, like 4 and sometimes 3. Heat is the key Lisa, and a little patience.