southern not-hospitality

today our van officially became a south carolina resident. we put it off as long as possible due to the very inhospitable vehicle/property tax that we had to pay before we could register the car. not only do residents have to pay it when they register their car, they have to pay it each year when they renew their registration. the tax is 5% of the purchase price (maximum being $300). it's outrageous. our michigan registration was set to expire in september, so we figured that waiting until september to register the car would be a good idea. that way, if/when we move at the end of jeremy's residency (in august), maybe we won't have to pay the tax again next year.

is it just me or does anyone else feel that a trip to the DMV is comparable to a dentist appointment?

the level of unpleasantness is certainly close, if not equal to visiting the dentist. (although if i were to choose, i guess i would go for the DMV over the dentist).

i don't know if there has ever been a time when i have gone to the DMV and actually done what i came to do in one trip. no matter how many papers, forms, and proofs i bring with me, there is always something more that is needed. it is so. frustrating.

today i showed up armed with all the papers we own about our van. the kids were secured in the stroller and i had two lollipops in my pocket for when they got antsy. i had even filled out the paperwork in advance, so i thought i was good to go. (still, for some reason i get very nervous when it's my turn at the counter and the seemingly unhappy worker glares at me, asks what i'm there for, and starts going through my pile of papers).

despite all my preparations, i was missing something - jeremy's signature. who knew that we both had to sign the form? there was only one line and nothing that said both owners needed to sign. alas, i dragged the kids out to the car (both were eating their lollipops by this point) and off we went to get jeremy's signature. my level of annoyance was quite high at this point.

the story ends three-and-a-half hours, four lollipops, and two emergency happy meals later when we finally walked out of the DMV with our new license plate. by that time jobot was screaming and a man actually jumped up from across the room and ran over to hold the door open for me. i think everyone was just glad that i was leaving at that point.

whew. it wasn't as bad as when we got our driver's licenses. that took three trips to the DMV and i think i actually cried at some point. but still, today was frustrating.

since we moved, life has often felt like a lot of paperwork...addresses to change, health forms to fill out, student loan deferments, health insurance paperwork, preschool forms, and on and on. it tempts me to move to a remote area far from civilization and live off the land. but, that would present a lot of problems as well. i just get tired of life being about papers and tired of my desk being covered with papers to deal with.

meanwhile, our michigan license plate has joined all the other ones we have saved from past states and cars. someday we will have a garage where we can display all those reminders of frustrating trips to the DMV. ha.

new house tour {our porch and yards}

here is the last post in my little tour of our new house.

{backyard}

pros:
- fenced in
- good shade
- the yard is really big with lots of space to play and explore
- quiet and secluded
- perfect spot for a fire pit (maybe this winter if jobot is old enough?)
- fun little cherry tomato plant that we got on clearance shortly after we moved here. love fell in love with it at the store and we brought it home. it has died and come back to life a few times, but is still producing a small harvest. love enjoys picking the tomatoes and sometimes enjoys eating them.
- plenty of little critters to find (bugs, snails, slugs, frogs, worms...)
- the kids have lots of fun with the sandbox, little swimming pool, hose, and sprinkler.

cons:
- no direct access from house (have to go out the backdoor and around the house to get in the gate)
- mosquitoes!!!
- creepy storage sheds (i tried to make them less creepy by hanging a colorful banner up, but they are still scary!)

we spend a lot of time in this backyard and we really enjoy it. i am really looking forward to later this fall and winter when the weather is more pleasant (not so hot and humid!) and we won't be fighting with mosquitoes whenever we are outside. but, we have already used this backyard a lot and are very thankful to have it.

{front yard}

pros:
- front porch always has shade
- carport is a great place for riding bikes (the kids have been doing that more lately)
- a great place to be to see neighbors
- feels relaxing

cons:
- we have to watch jobot every second to make sure he doesn't go in the street

we've actually been spending more time in the front yard than the back the past few weeks. there are less mosquitoes and we like seeing neighbors, especially on a long day at home. we've been going for walks in the mornings and then playing in the front yard for a bit before it gets too hot. the kids have been enjoying their bikes (trying to ride them). the porch is a great place to sit (although it has been too hot lately). we have enjoyed sitting there together after the kids are in bed and look forward to doing lots more of that when the weather cools down a bit.

see the white wicker rocking chair on the porch? we got it off the curb! it is a bit worn, but still works. a while back we picked up a cushion for it on clearance, and we have already gotten quite a bit of use out of it. i have always wanted a wicker porch chair.

also, i have two basil plants on the front porch. we got them on clearance shortly after we moved here and planted them in wine boxes we found on the curb (those and the wicker chairs are the only things we have found on the curb, but all were good finds!). the plants have been thriving, and we've been using them a lot (caprese salads, pizza...i love basil). some bug has been eating them though, so i've got to figure that out. i love that these plants are decorative, but also edible! that's the way to go.

new house tour {jobot's bedroom / the guest room and full bathroom}

{ jobot's room / guest room }

pros:
- 2 windows with nice view into backyard, lots of natural light
- nice color on the walls
- large room
- seems to be the coolest room in the house

cons:
- very small closet
- random stuff being stored in this room because there is nowhere else to put it
- mirror on dresser is really dirty. i should probably wash that.

jobot's room doubles as the guest room, so when we have company, he sleeps in a portable crib in our room. we did the same thing at our old house, only his bedroom there was tiny, so it is really nice to have a bigger space for a shared bedroom/guestroom. i would love to decorate the walls a bit more in this room. i have a few trains that i would love to put on a shelf on the wall somewhere, and i would also like to put some art on the walls. i have lots of ideas for this room, but no budget to do anything with them...so blank walls they will stay for now. that's okay.

{ full bathroom }

pros:
- this room has a working toilet, bathtub/shower, and sink
- recent installation of ceiling fan
- cute curtain sewed by me (i do not like mini blinds. they are fine in other people's houses, but i just don't like looking at them all the time in my own...i would much prefer a curtain on my windows.)

cons:
- this room is narrow and tiny
- there was clearly a problem with mold before as there are mold stains on the ceiling and walls. we scrubbed it all down after we moved in.
- the caulking around the bathtub looks gross
- toilet flushes very slowly and uses a lot of water
- didn't have a door when we moved in (jeremy found the door in a backyard shed and put it on)

this isn't the greatest bathroom, but it is functional, so we'll call it good.

a quick beach trip

we got back last night from an overnight trip to charleston, sc. we had a great and eventful time. these little trips have changed quite a lot over the years. bringing a one and three year old to the ocean is definitely not relaxing, but it is such a joy to watch them experience new things.

memories from our little trip...

we visited fort moultrie and viewed fort sumter from afar. it was SO hot.

jobot and i got painful ant bites.

jeremy walked into playground equipment and got a minor but bloody gash on his forehead.

we saw a very interesting beach house.

jeremy and i caught a minnow (after a near-argument and an intense exercise in teamwork - ha!).

we flew our kite on the beach.

we spent sunday afternoon at a wonderful beach with tide pools - perfect for the kiddos!

jeremy, love, and jobot swam in the atlantic for the first time (i already had).

we walked and walked and walked downtown charleston trying to find a place to eat on sunday night. it was all too fancy and expensive. finally, we drove away from downtown and got some food.

we saw an amazingly beautiful sunset that we wouldn't have seen if we hadn't walked for so long looking for a place to eat. (as usual, pictures couldn't capture it).

the kids tried {free} cotton candy for the first time. love happily dove in and jobot was a little timid...until he tasted it.

we all successfully slept in one hotel room overnight. it went pretty well. (also, for some strange reason it looks like jeremy has a tattoo on his upper arm in the photo below. he doesn't.)

the kids watched t.v. in the hotel room. we don't have a t.v. and we learned that love didn't even know what a commercial was! funny!

we spent part of monday morning exploring a beach for sea life. love was thrilled when we found a dead jellyfish on the sand! she had high hopes of seeing a jellyfish on this trip! we found another one later in the day. she was a happy camper!

 we also found a crab. he wasn't too happy that we caught him. we all got a good look at him and then let him go.

jobot showed off his little bum at the beach.

the beach was beautiful.

we went through an entire tube of sunscreen and no one got sunburned.

the kids and their daddy had a blast in the public fountain in downtown charleston. i had a fun time watching them!

we spent a rainy part of the afternoon swinging on the pier.

we walked the public market, visited the animals in the big red barn, marveled at the horse carriages going by, and the kids got ice cream. we loved the cobblestone streets, colorful houses, and beauty of the city.

we hardly took any photos because we were both too busy chasing kids!

our trip home took an extra two hours due to bad traffic and then a torrential downpour/severe thunderstorm that was so bad we had to pull off the road for a bit. the kids cried and screamed...a lot. it was all quite stressful.

when we got home we put the kids in bed, dropped all our stuff in the house, took showers, and collapsed into bed.

this morning was an extra cup of coffee morning. we did laundry, unpacked, and even had time to wash all our shell treasures.

love drew this picture today. apparently the jellyfish left quite the impression.

new house tour {our bedroom & bathroom}

continuing with our house tour...

OUR BEDROOM & HALF BATHROOM

pros:
- lots of natural light (3 windows!)
- wall color is nice and works with our quilt
- it's a large room
- has 1/2 bath
- large closet
- ceiling fan
- we already had curtains that worked in this room. (they might not all be the same color...but we are working with a very limited budget here.)
- toilet used to sound like a fire siren when it flushed. then someone (who shall remain nameless, but it's the only person who attempts to fix toilets in this house...and that's not me) tried to fix it the other day and dropped our screwdriver down while it was flushing. as of wednesday, we have a brand new toilet!

cons:
- this room also houses the furniture that we couldn't fit in the rest of our house (basically, all the furniture that used to be in our dining room minus the table and chairs).

overall thoughts:
- this is my favorite room in our house. even though there is extra furniture and even though the toilet sounded like a fire siren, it is a really nice room that feels relaxing to me. i enjoy keeping this room clean and also toy free.

oh, and by the way, i LOVE having everything on one level in our house! while i wouldn't mind a basement for storage/extra space (no one here has basements), i am totally going to go for ranch style houses from now on. it is so much easier to keep clean this way! it's also easier with little ones to not have to take them up and down stairs all the time. so...that's a win (i kinda knew it would be)!

new house tour {living room and kitchen}

it's about time for some photos of our new house, so here is a little tour of the living room and kitchen.

LIVING ROOM

pros:
- fireplace with mantle (it even already has four hooks for our stockings)
- wall color (it was already here and i like it. we haven't painted and won't paint any of the walls...too much work)
- wood floors
- two new windows in the front of the room
- window on front door very similar to window on front door at our old house

cons:
- two really old and dirty windows
- the place where we have seen the most cockroaches
- no keys to the front door
- fireplace that jobot frequently walks into and bumps his head on

overall thoughts:
i really like this room. it is where we spend most of our time. arranging the furniture was a challenge, but i think we figured out a good set up. the two chairs by the front windows are perfect places for reading (except when it is dark...we need another light on that side of the room!), the couch is perfect for snuggling, and the floor is great for playing (though a rug would be nice).

KITCHEN

pros:
- nice space above stove to store spices and cookbooks
- window above sink with a view of our street
- nice little window sill above sink
- garbage disposal, ice maker, and dishwasher
- plenty of outlets
- cute curtains (recently sewed by me)
- lots of cupboard space

cons:
- awkward and crowded space by table/back door (difficult to navigate with two kids and a bag)
- garbage disposal switch at perfect spot for jobot access (covered by the neon pink tape below the sink. seriously...who thought that putting the switch there was a good idea?)
- no dining room (i really miss having a dining room)
- lack of natural light. room is usually quite dark and the red paint doesn't help.
- a big, blank red wall (we don't have anything to put on it!)
- cupboards/drawers are difficult to open and close
- love's bedroom is right off of this room (narrow door by table is hers)

overall thoughts:
this kitchen is okay. the arrangement of the cupboards/counters/appliances make it very practical to work in. to me it feels crowded and dark. not my favorite, but it could be much worse, and i am thankful to have a functional kitchen.


we are slowly making this house into our home. stay tuned for photos of the other rooms. for the post about how this house came to be ours, click here.

little critters

the world is truly our classroom and we certainly find our share of small critters! thanks to grandma mary back in michigan, we now have a book so we can identify some of these little friends we find. yesterday love and i found and correctly identified a dead stinkbug! we also used our little book to identify and learn about love's plastic bugs. we had fun making our "bug chart" - we drew a circle around each bug, figured out and labeled what kind of bug it was, and learned about and wrote down what it eats. we also noted if it was a stinging bug!

each kid currently has a dead bug in a little plastic container that they carry around. love had one first (the stinkbug), and jobot wanted one so he could be just like her. thankfully, our porch has a never ending supply of dead bugs, so it was easy to find one for him. they are the most loved dead bugs i have ever seen. they get carried around like little trophies and i often see the kids sitting down staring through the lid at their bug. last night we just about had to pry them out of their hands so they could eat dinner.

the beautiful luna moth (first photo) took up residence in our carport for two days last week. we loved looking out the window and checking to see if it was still there. we were all a bit sad when we woke up one morning and it was gone.

never a dull day around here.