950sqft of Miller

Our landlord dropped by a couple of weeks ago and allowed us to break our year long contract if we could find new tenants. I thought this would be a piece of cake and that there would be lots of people interested, after all the house is nice we just need something bigger. Well things changed quickly when he said he wanted us to up the monthly price from 1,050 to 1,100 pounds and that I had to do all the advertising for it. I have it on a local website that many military people look at and with 2 adds (each of them having been looked at over 300 times) there still isn't much interest. So here is a little tour of our home.

This is the second level: The house is small, around 950 sqft

I made the curtains in Ava's room from a Full Sheet set. I think they turned out really cute, but they don't do a whole lot of light control, her room is really bright in the morning.

Ava loves to look at pictures of herself on the computer and camera, so I thought the perfect art work in her room would be pictures of her. She likes to describe each picture and where it was taken.

Yup that's really it! Well there is one more room (the junk room) that I used to hate until yesterday when Dave and I put some serious elbow grease into cleaning it up but I haven't found my camera to take a picture yet.

Some fun facts about the house:

1. There is no air conditioning or air flow so you have to vent by opening windows or mold will start to grow

2. I have to iron in the hallway

3. There are no outlets in the bathrooms you have to use an extension chord if you want to look at yourself in an mirror while doing your hair

4. There is a washer dryer combo unit built into the kitchen cabinetry. It will wash 2 pairs of jeans or 5 shirts in a 2 hour cycle, and don't even think about using it as a dryer, just hang them

5. My fridge is the size found in a RV camper, I buy milk every 4 days

6. I do the dishes is a single basin sink

Church Farm Petting Zoo

We visited a small petting zoo last weekend called Church Farm, in Downham Market. It was a sweet little farm, very well kept with nice friendly animals. I wasn't sure if Ava would be brave enough to actually touch the animals but she surprised us and really liked stroking the pigs and chasing the chickens. They had trampolines and a huge Swiss Family Robinson play place. It was a beautiful, hot Saturday and I'm so glad we got to spend it with Dave. He was been working a lot lately and it felt like a treat to spend a weekend with him. Ava can't stop talking about this farm so we might have to make another trip.

I accidentally let one of these goats out of the pen while trying to shut the gate behind me. Dave tried to round him up but instead got all the kids excited and they all started chasing this poor goat. Finally a worker hollered "everyone stand still" and the kids stopped running, she got a bucket of food and the goat was back in. This was the first thing he did after re entering the pen, and being the good mom that I am to took a picture instead of grabbing Ava out of the way. They only did it once and then went back to eating the grass.

Love my NEW bed

The other day I was talking with a friend and she asked if Ava was still sleeping in a crib? I said "yes" and quickly gave the reasons both good and bad on why. They went like this:

She hasn't learned how to get out of it yet

She likes her crib

I really want to get her a twin and skip the whole TODDLER BED

Mattresses are a lot of money

There isn't enough space in her small bedroom for a real bed

I thought we would start fresh with a new bed when he move to a 4 bedroom house. . .

Dave and I had actually thought and talked about the differences between a toddler bed and a real mattress bed. I liked the idea of skipping the cost of a toddler bed and just giving her something to grow up with. Dave knew how much Ava liked her cousin Dani's bed and thought she would adore a small bed of her own. So yesterday we agreed to go look at what the base furniture store had. We didn't know exactly what we would leave with but knew Ava needed a little more freedom and choice when it came to getting up and out of bed by herself. Plus potty training is imminent.

In typical BX fashion they had only 1 toddler bed available and the twin mattresses were way out of our price range ($700) We decided to take the bed and had a sweet surprise when we found out it was "ON SALE" At the pick up zone we found out why we had been given the discount. It was the last bed left and the box was completely damaged. After inspecting it and making sure we had a signature proving damaged packaging, we took it home. Ava was so excited she kept saying "Ava's new bedroom"

The first night was a complete success! I know she got out of bed at least once because all her stuffed toys that were on the floor were now on the bed, but she never opened the door or left her room. I woke up a few times in the night and wanted to check on her but held back thinking she is a BIG girl and I need to just let her sleep. In the morning Dave looked at her and she had turned around backward but was still on the bed sleeping. What a good/big girl! I'm proud of you Ava. Now we have to see how an afternoon nap goes.