Boxes, boxes and more boxes

It is amazing and extremely frustrating how slow the unpacking is going. Mom reminded me that I have 2 more kids this go-round, but seriously... over a week in this house and we're still trying to dig our way out. The kitchen was first priority, so that's pretty much done. Everything else is still halfway there. Since I'm on a roll, I'll explain all the other annoyances going on here.

The mold... it won't go away. I'm convinced the garage will never be without the mold smell again. I can feel my lungs filling up with mold spores every time I go out there. Okay, not really- but the smell is awful. Mom's suggestion of Lysol is probably going to be my next route. We keep the door open all day to air it out, but it's not cutting it. Yesterday was trash day, so we threw out a bunch of our yucky stuff. It ended up being two bookcases, an entertainment stand and two trunks that were Steve's from West Point. I put notes on the really gross ones to warn people away, but the two moldiest items were still taken off the curb. It amazes me what people are willing to try and salvage. The worst part about this all, though was our dealings with insurance. I mentioned before that the storage unit refused any responsibility for ruining our things. So we figured our renter's insurance would take care of it. We were wrong! Since mold happens over time, the insurance won't cover it. Had it been an act of God, like tornado ripping the roof off, they might have considered covering us. That news did not make me happy. So we're just out the money for the items we tossed. At least they're finally out of our garage and the smell can start to dissipate. We cleaned up our kitchen table and the cedar chest, which were the two things we really wanted to keep.

A few other things: there's something terribly wrong with our water, the plumbing isn't working right, Steve is still sick (could be the water?), and I'm still living with boxes.

On a positive note: we are living in our own space. I love carpet. My birthday present TV is really, really nice. Like Dad mentioned, one way or another we will be getting that fourth side of our fence (a Better Business complaint has been submitted, but if that falls through- a guy in the ward has offered us his fence for free as he's moving in a few weeks). As far as we know, most of the mold has been eradicated. Steve is still home from Iraq. Yeah... can't really think of a lot right now. Pretty sad.

The girls are changing quite a bit. They love having all their new toys to play with. Ellie and Katie both enjoy their "big kid beds". Sarah is much more interactive with the girls, which is sometimes hilarious to watch. She's trying to talk more, but it just ends up being really loud screams just like her sisters. She's very good at getting up and down stairs, which is comforting. Katie is getting rooked into playing with Ellie and is usually in the middle of the trouble as well. Katie ends up being the daddy or the baby most times because Ellie is always the mommy. Ellie is back into the mode of changing clothes many times a day, which I actually enjoy watching.

Something funny- Ellie asked me the other day if being the mom was annoying? I had to laugh at that one.

Hopefully the next time I post I will have better news to report. This has been a horrible week for us and we are anxious to be done with it! :-D