Chinese Chicken Nuggets

     I really wish I had a cute picture to go with this post.  Not only has my blogging suffered, but my camera is gathering dust as well.
     Our house closed escrow!  We told the kids awhile back that we would go out to a celebratory dinner when we got the money from the house.  The kids had been bugging us to go ever since they knew we had gotten the money.  Well, we finally had a free night and no dinner plans.  It seemed the perfect time.  We could hardly agree on a resaurant.  Natalee was in tears at the thought of not getting Chinese food.  Haylee and Mackenzie were in tears at the thought of having Chinese food.  Well, we finally decided Sizzler is a place we all like.  Well, Sizzler is closed.  There was a place called Ridgecrest Steaks and Salads in its place for awhile but I was pretty sure it was closed too.  The kids wanted to drive by and I told them I would, but if it was closed, we were going to the Golden Dragon-yes, a Chinese restaurant.
     Sure enough, the place was closed and off to the Golden Dragon we headed.  I expected some tears but, surprisingly, everyone seemed pretty excited.  Natalee didn't even need a menu to know that she wanted orange chicken.  I knew I wanted walnut chicken.  Haylee wanted something Daren makes sometimes called "Dragon Balls."  There was an appetizer that seemed similar so Haylee ordered that.  Mackenzie got the sweet and sour chicken, Daren got the Moo Goo Gai Pan (spelling?), and we decided to order Nate some lemon chicken.  Almost done, except, wait!  What do we order Kelsey?  Kelsey rarely even joins us at the dinner table because she is such a picky eater.  Her diet is pretty much entirely quesadillas, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and maybe a banana or fruit snacks.  She used to be the best eater I had but somehow became the pickiest by far!  The only reason she was sitting peacefully at the table with us is because her sweet little 4 year old mind thinks all restaurants serve chicken nuggets.
     We ordered some sweet and sour chicken for her as well.  I noticed her trying to tell the waiter every time he passed us, "Chicken nuggets, please!"  But he didn't notice her.  I turned to her and said we already ordered her food and we got her "Chinese" chicken nuggets with "Chinese" ketchup.  She gave me the happiest smile and the biggest hug.  Luckily, she absolutely loved her "chicken nuggets."  She even ate some rice!  Now she keeps asking for Chinese chicken nuggets every day at lunch.  I'll have to take her back for them again sometime!

Practically Homeless

Well, this is a pretty long story but I'll try to keep it as short as possible.  Back in November (2011) we started talking about selling our house.  I mentioned on facebook that we were looking to move into town and one of my friends asked me for more information.  I gave it to her but didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks.  Daren and I decided to get serious and start preparing the house to sell.  We made a list of projects that needed to be done and decided to spend Thanksgiving break giving the house a fresh coat of paint.  The second or third day of painting I got a message from my friend on facebook saying she knew someone who wanted to see our house.  We got into contact and showed them the house the very next week.
     They really liked the house and came back again to see it a couple of days later and we started the negotiation process.  We finally came to an agreement on the price.  They had thought about buying the land next door as well but with the price they said they could afford, we said we couldn't sell them James' land.  They said okay, and we went into escrow.  We also finally transferred the land next door into James' name.  And escrow finally closed on February 13!  Only 11 days late.  Before escrow closed (actually even before escrow was supposed to close), we moved out of our house and into Grandma Poetschlag's house.  Most of our stuff is in storage.  We are so grateful to Grandma for letting us crash here while we figure things out.
    Now, for the story of the next house.  We put an offer on a short sale in Heritage Village.  But it's been going really strange and now we're thinking of rescinding our offer.  Unfortunately, the owners of the house live in the house next door.  The bank says we have to pay 90% of the back association dues which have sky-rocketed to about $3300 since Heritage sent it to their attorneys to get it collected.  Not only that, we think the owners have been renting the place out under the table.  Admittedly, we are jumping to conclusions about people we don't really know.  But all the same, we're concerned about moving next door.  There is another house we really like.  It's a For Sale By Owner and it's a fabulous house.  However, it is quite a bit more expensive than the Heritage house.  But it's definitely a lot nicer so we're thinking that it's worth the extra money.
     So here's where we're currently at.  We made an offer on the house not in Heritage (we call it the Sydnor house).  It was $14,000 less than their asking price and we still haven't heard back from them about whether they'll take it or not.  We pretty much worded it as a take it or leave it kind of thing.  So we'll see if they take it.  In the meantime, we haven't rescinded the offer on the Heritage house yet but I'm thinking we'll probably do that tomorrow.  If we don't get the Sydnor house, we'll probably rent for awhile and see if prices come down at all.  And who knows, if we're ever supposed to leave Ridgecrest, not being tied to a house would be a good thing.  In the meantime, it's nice to be living in town for now.

Auditions

Awhile ago I noticed a page on facebook announcing that a local theater group was putting on a production of Beauty and the Beast in the fall and was having auditions the beginning of February.  Daren and I have been thinking that Natalee needed an outlet for her more dramatic side. :)  This seemed like the perfect opportunity.  The age limit for auditioning was 8 and up so Haylee decided she would like to tryout too.  Then we found out that they were desperate for adult men to try out so we talked Daren into joining in as well.

The first night of auditions was February 2, a Thursday night.  I was so proud of the girls.  Natalee learned to sing the song "Tomorrow" from Annie.  Haylee learned "A Spoonful of Sugar" from Mary Poppins.  We downloaded a karaoke track of each song for them to sing to.  They were both nervous to go in front of the judges but they did great!  I was so proud of them.  I was so happy that I got to go and watch them.  Unfortunately Daren was sick the first night of auditions so he didn't get to sing his song.  But I admit that I would have been very disappointed if I hadn't been able to go watch the girls audition.

The second night of auditions was dancing and readings.  They told me to have Daren come to that night and they would find a time for him to sing for them at the end.  Unfortunately Haylee had picked up Daren's cold by then and wasn't feeling too well.  She went to the beginning of the audition but called me about halfway through to ask me to pick her up.  She had been able to do the dancing but hadn't read for any parts.  Natalee read for the part of Chip and Daren read for the part of Maurice, Belle's father.  They were told that the 3rd night of auditions was 'call backs' and they would post a list on the News Review the next morning saying who needed to be there.  Daren and Natalee were both asked to return for call backs.  They both did some more reading and then were told that the final cast list would be posted on the News Review on Monday evening.

For our Family Home Evening activity we went to check the cast list and then went out for ice cream.  We were so happy to see that Natalee and Haylee both made it to the list of villagers/enchanted objects.  Natalee was also the understudy for Chip and Daren got the understudy part for Maurice.  Daren says he's not a villager but I think since he got an understudy part they are definitely planning on using him elsewhere in the meantime.

The play isn't until September or October so we'll be spending lots of time at rehearsals.  Well, Daren, Natalee, and Haylee will. :)  I am so looking forward to being a bit of a stage mom/wife and watching them perform.  I can't wait to blog about it all and post pictures.