"she works hard for the money"

With everything that's going on with my family (financially), you'd think I would be aware of how shitty the economy is, right? Wrong.
We had our house appraised in November by our realtor. Now that we're ready to list it, he "ran the numbers" again, and it went down twenty thousand dollars. In four months!!!! I'm flabbergasted. I'd better get my list crossed off quickly or it will go down again!

lists

It was report card time this week. Just once I'd like to get my kids' report cards and smile. But, noooooo. They're crappy. So, Braden and JJ are both on my shit list.

Last weekend I cleaned out the back flower beds and dejunked the basement. This weekend I'm doing windows and the front flower beds. Two more things crossed off my list.

We have our next three books picked for book group, so, for once, I'm going to plan ahead and order the whole list at one time. Save some money on shipping. Here's what we're reading:

"Gifted: A Novel" by Nikita Lalwani

" The Housekeeper and the Professor" by Yoko Ogawa

" The Story of a Marriage" by Andrew Sean Greer

"you've got to move this, you're doin' fine...."

Well, the decision has been made. We've decided to put our house on the market and to find a less expensive one.
Now, there's so much to be done! I have to paint the whole upstairs. I have to have the carpets upstairs shampooed. The garage has to be de-cluttered. I have to dye my living room curtains. There's an interior door that has to be replaced. Oh....and clean! Not that I'm not clean, but I'm not "show-your-house-to-complete-strangers-hoping-they'll-love-it-so-much-they'll-want-to-buy-it" clean. Plus, outside there's a ton that has to be done.
But the hardest thing of all is that we're going to have to agree on a new house. I might need to get a professional mediator.
Part of me is overwhelmed thinking about all this stuff....I'm starting this weekend on my list, but another part of me is relieved that we're going to take some action. It took a lot of persuading to get Keith to take his head out of the sand and agree to this.
Braden's upset, but kind of excited to move into town and be closer to his friends. JJ's just upset.

Ugghhh

Back to work tomorrow. It was nice having a couple of days off from school. I still did my other job, but only working one is better than two.

Easter dinner was a success. The crown roast was delicious and moist. The roasted vegetables were my favorite...and I even tricked Afro into trying them. The banana cream pie was just so-so. I'll have to look for another recipe.

I've made my decision

I'm going with the crown roast. I found a recipe in a Martha Stewart magazine. With it, I'm going to serve roasted root vegetables (fingerling potatoes, parsnips and turnips). I'm not sure what vegetable yet...something green.
Banana cream pie and strawberry shortcake for dessert.
If anyone doesn't like it, they can go hungry.

Suggestions, please?

Life around here has returned to semi-normal....not that normal is so great.

I'm trying to decide what to make for Easter dinner. We always do a ham, but we just had ham and since I'm not really in the mood to do Easter at all, I thought if I mixed it up a bit, I'd get into it a little more. I have to cook for 12, so it has to be something not too expensive. At first I thought a beef tenderloin...but that would cost me a third of my weekly grocery budget! Now I'm thinking maybe a pork crown roast. Any thoughts or suggestions?

My dad

To get ready for my dad's services, we all went through our old pictures. Here are some of my favorites. The first one is he and I this past Christmas. The middle one is him with Afro about three years ago. The last one is him in his 30's on a fishing trip. It's funny, looking back now, I see how he aged. But, if you would have asked me two weeks ago, I would have said he only aged in the last six months.