I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it would be like to not sleep in the same bedroom as Babboo. Would it be weird to wake up in the morning and not have sleeping Babboo be the first thing I see?

I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to have kitchen drawers that aren’t broken. Or how it must feel to have a dishwasher that actually gets your dishes cleaner instead of dirtier.

I wonder what it would be like to have space enough for my child to run and play in. A place where he could set up his train set and leave it set up without fear of his mommy tripping over it and cursing it’s name. I wonder if Babboo would know what to do with this space, or if he’s been forever conditioned to only running in confined spaces, back and forth, back and forth.

I’ve also been thinking about what it must be like to be able to bathe your child in a bathroom where we can both fit in the room without the door being closed. Or maybe just a place to hang all of our towels on the wall. I’ve been thinking about how nice it would be to have a place where we could tuck Babboo’s toys in after he goes to bed. Or a shelf that would hold all of his books.

I wonder what it would be like to have to have a closet where I can keep my shoes. Or a place for extra bars of soap and tubes of toothpaste. Or our winter coats.

Heck, I wonder what it would be like to have a place to keep our stroller.

When we moved into our little one bedroom apartment it seemed perfect for us. Sure, it was much smaller then the three bedroom house we just sold, but it was only The King and I. Plus the apartment would be temporary. We’d only be there a short time. And like my mom always told me, you can live anywhere if you know it’s only temporary.

We knew we’d be bringing home our baby to the apartment. But dude, babies are small. They don’t take up any space. Having a baby in a one bedroom apartment would not cramp our style.

Plus, it’s only temporary. Until the new house is finished.

Can you believe it’s been over two and a half years since we moved into our one bedroom apartment? Our once tiny baby is now two years old. He has no idea what it’s like to have a place to keep his toys and books. He’s never had his own bedroom to go to at night. He’s never eaten a meal at home with his mom and dad at the table. The concept of multiple bathroom is lost on him.

As far as Babboo knows, tiny hallways are synonymous with playrooms. Apartment lobby’s are where you go to play with your bouncy calls. He thinks all houses have elevators and pools and that mommy’s do the laundry in laundry rooms located on different floors. He thinks you get your mail from a slot in the wall and not out of a mailbox on the street.

Babboo also thinks that daddy’s are always working and aren’t usually home for dinner or bath nights. He thinks mommy’s always cook dinner and do the dishes and daddy’s are only home in the morning before taking him to school. He thinks the only day you can stay in bed and snuggle mommy and daddy is on Sundays, when daddy doesn’t have to work.

I’ve been thinking a lot about all of this lately because this week something happened that we’ve all waited a long time for.

We’re giving notice at our apartment.

That’s right, in a few week’s we’ll actually be living in The (New) House The King Built. We’ll wake up, together, every morning and go to bed, together, ever night. And by “together” I mean, all of us in our own rooms. (Well, The King and I will still be rooming together. You know what I mean.)

It looks like it’s finally going to happen. And frankly, I can’t wait. It’s an exciting time for our little family. Big changes are a foot.

For the last five months my little family has been attending the new church congregation that we’d planned on attending once we moved into the new house. This new congregation (referred to as a “ward” in my LDS faith) is so awesome. It’s full of other young families and tons of kids for Babboo to play with. The church house is old and very cool looking, which isn’t really typical in my faith. I love the Sunday school teacher and the ladies that are in the Relief Society with me. They have fun activities (like the Super Saturday that’s scheduled in a few weeks. Hours and hours spent doing some really cool crafts. Like making a purse out of a place setting!  And jewelry!). The teachers give meaningful lessons every Sunday and I leave church feeling edified and ready to take on the new week.

During the main worship service (Sacrament Meeting) last month I noticed one particular teenage boy that had blond curly hair and perfect teeth to match his perfect smile. He was waring a dark suit that made him look even cuter. I learned over to The King, “if I was a teenager, that would be the boy that I would have a super crush on!” The King just rolled his eyes and reminded me that I’m a grown woman. Whatever, this kid was adorable.

I noticed The King begin to scan the room. After a few minutes he leaned over to me. “See the two Sorenson girls sitting over there with their family? I can’t decide which one Teenage King would have a crush on. I guess which ever one is the older of the two.”

The meeting went on and eventually my Crush was invited to come up to the podium to make an announcement. Naturally I was excited to hear what he had to say.

Blah, blah, blond hair, blah, curls, smile, swoon, blah….apparently he had just received the letter informing him where he’d be serving his two year mission for the church. “Good. At least now I know he’s nineteen and of ‘legal age’. I don’t feel so bad anymore.” The King said I should still feel a little embarrassed.

As this kid continued to talk about his upcoming plans I sort of fell out of crush with him. He was just so unorganized and I noticed he was pretty pimply and heck, just so young. I told The King, “and now Teenage Isabel’s crush is over.” “That was fast”, he said.

Teenage Isabel is fickle.

“Well, I still haven’t decided what Sorenson girl Teenage King likes better. After thinking about it for the last few minutes I think Teenage King might just be using the Sorenson girls to get closer to their mom. She’s hott.”

“Right, because Teenage King is just so confident and suave that he can seduce the mother of his crush?”

The last few Sundays, I’ve walked into church and immediately scanned the room to see what the Sorenson girls are wearing. Those cute little tarts are always dressed to kill in sweet summer dresses and open toed heels. Teenage Isabel would be so jealous of them.

Teenage Isabel has yet to find her own new church crush.

Too bad the Sorenson girls don’t have a brother for Teenage Isabel.

Oh wait, I’m a grown up.  Never mind.

So tell me, I’m not the only one that develops crushes, right?!

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Have you been watching “Dexter” on CBS this season?  The finale was on Sunday and I blogged about it over at WeHeartTV.

When I was a freshmen in college I started dating a boy sophomore. Without really getting into that toxic relationship right now, let’s just cut to the chase; Crusher and I dated most of my freshman year. We both moved back home that summer which was about three hours away from each other. The next year Crusher transferred to a major university quite a few hours away from the college I was going to.

Thus began my first official Long-Distance-Relationship.

Guess what? They suck.

I didn’t even really like Crusher, and it still sucked. I hated having to someone work my weekend-only job around driving the gazallion miles to spend a Saturday night with Crusher. Now my situation might have sucked even more since Crusher, for whatever reason, didn’t drive. (At all. I know!!) And he didn’t have a job. This meant that if we did do something that required spending actual money while we were together, I was paying for all of it. (Did I mention that I was also in school and trying to pay for what I could?)

I hated feeling the pressure to do well in school, work a part time job, and maintain my first real relationship. I hated trying to get my laundry done during the weekdays so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it on the weekend. I hated having to go without food so that I could afford to put gas in my car. I hated having to drive the hours to see Crusher after I got off my waitressing shift on Friday night. I hated trying to squeeze some roommate/college/study/family time in the middle of all of this.
And really, I didn’t even like this guy. I just didn’t know how to break it off with him. I was young and immature. And again, first real relationship.

In case you hadn’t heard; winters in Utah are brutal. And while I pretty much learned how to drive in the snow before I learned how to walk, it still wasn’t a great idea for me to be driving over the mountain pass from my small town college dorm to Crusher’s university dorm every weekend.

Blah, blah, blah, Crusher was a tool, blah, blah, blah, and an idiot. Blah, I finally broke up with him.

And then I vowed to never ever again have any part in a long-distance-relationship. I made a promise, to myself, and the God’s in Heaven (and my friends and family) to only date boys that lived within 15 miles of my parents.

While I spent less money on filling up my car, the boys that lived closer to home weren’t any less tools then Crusher was. (Maybe the dating years between like 18 and 24 are laden with idiot boys?) (Ah-ha, I’m on to something!) It was nice to not have to worry about driving over a mountain pass to visit my latest boyfriend, but still, boys….blah.

I used to go to The Big City to go dancing or to clubs, but I never met a guy there that I was going to date. Dude, I was very serious about my vow. No long-distance boyfriends. None at all.

My first husband literally lived less then a mile from my parents house. He was like an answer to my promise to the God’s to never partake in a long-distance-relationship. It was like I married him because he lived close by. I was lazy. I didn’t want to have to drive or rearrange my work schedule to spend time with my fellow.

After my failed first marriage, I must have realized, on some level, that this “staying close to home” dating plan wasn’t really working for me.

Enter The King and the 1400 miles between us when we met.

Thankfully that long-distance-relationship didn’t last long because I just packed up my life and moved closer to him. Easy, breezy.

(Yeah, not easy. And not really breezy either. But whatever. It’s been 8 years and we’re still here.)

My cousin, who is twenty, just got a new boyfriend. She slept over a few weeks ago (while The King was away on business) and spent the entire evening gushing over her new boyfriend. He seems like a very nice guy. He’s cute and going to college and has a nice family and is good to my cousin.

The thing is, this new boyfriend is going to university about four hours away from where my cousin is going to university.

She’s been drying the super duper long drive out to visit him every other weekend. Just thinking about this makes my heart ache and my butt hurt (that’s a lot of time sitting in a car). New relationships are always fun. Those first few months with a new person are magical. But dude, I don’t envy her.

Because seriously, I’m just too darn lazy to drive that far for a boy. The whole scenario brings back too many bad memories for me. Memories of not being appreciated and putting all my efforts and eggs into one basket.  And then having that basket run over by a Mac truck.
It’s times like these when I’m thankful that I’m married and that The King lives close enough to me that when I roll over in bed, in the middle of the night, he’s always there.

So tell me, even had a long-distance-relationship? How was it for you?

You know how we bought a fancy camera back when Babboo was born? Yeah, you probably don’t know since we don’t fully know how to utilize all the awesomeness of our fancy camera.

This weekend, while away for a well-deserved over-night excursion, we tried to use the fancy “timer” option that our fancy camera has always taunted us with.

“Oh, we can finally take a picture of all of us together for the interweb!” The King proclaimed and he pushed the timer button and prepared for a family picture to treasure for years to come.

And then we tried again and again to get a picture of us enjoying our snuggle time in the hotel room. Eventually we just gave up on the snuggle-time family picture.

The next morning, before heading out to breakfast, we tried for a family picture. Again. This time, instead of on the bed, we opted for the couch in the hotel room.

We weren’t too successful with the “family on the couch” picture either. Although The King did manage to get this lovely picture of the carpet in the hotel room.

Oh great, we are all actually in this picture. (I mean, our suitcase is also in the picture. But whatever, it’s a nice suitcase.)

The King was now confident in his skillz with the timer function. Now if he could only figure out how to focus. Hey, that’s hard. You have to twist the little thing on the front of the camera. It’s very technical.

After we got back home, I decided to try to figure out the timer and get a few shots of Babboo and me. You know, for posterity.

Crap, maybe this whole “timer” thing is harder then it looks.

Oh crap, and so is the whole “in focus” thingy. Especially when used in conjunction with the timer setting thingy.

Great. I finally get both the timer and the focus to work simultaneously. But Babboo choses to cock-block me and totally steal the shot.

Oh yes, the kid is not impressed with any of my mad camera skillz.

And let’s be honest…neither will any of you.

So tell me, what percentage of your pictures are as awesome as mine?

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Did you miss the Old 97’s on the Tonight Show last Thursday? (Let’s not talk about how lame my DVR was and how it only got ONE MINUTE of the performance). Anyway, go HERE to watch the Old 97’s in all their glory. Feel free to watch it over and over and over again. I did.

I often tease The King about the time he confessed that he was “making a commitment to the environment”. He made it sound like The Environment and he had kneeled at an alter, hands entwined, family and friends witnessing, and made a commitment to each other. They would now do everything they could to help each other become better.

The King + The Environment = True Love

While I like to make it sound like a joke, The King truly is committed to the environment. And he’s getting greener by the second. He has yet to switch over to an all hemp wardrobe, but he does wear eco friends shoes. (we found two pairs at Ross for $15.00. I kid you not!) It’s only a matter of time until he starts to grow dreads. So The King may not be the greenest person I know (would that be Kermit?), but he’s pretty darn green.

When we decided to build another house, we knew we wanted to take the green practices we used on the first house and take it up a notch with the new house. Plus, and I’ll be honest here, building a more green house would make it worth more money when we decide to sell it. Especially here in Seattle.

Our new house will be Certified Built Green, something The King is very proud of.

We used in-floor radiant heating in the first house we built. The King and I installed it, working together in the crawlspace to install the piping. While we have no complaints about in-floor radiant heat, we were anxious to try something new with the new house. Plus, with the years The King spent living in Europe, he feel in love with the European use of radiators for heating. He fondly remembers being able to put his clothes out on the radiator, on a cold winter morning, and have the radiator heat them up to a cozy temperature.

And so, we’re using radiators as our heat source. There are a lot of different styles of radiators out there, and we were able to find some that will fit with our modern house. We were also able to buy radiators for the bathrooms that also double as towel racks. This way, our towels will always be warm when we get out of the shower.

Another product that we learned about, thanks to the Europeans, was the dual flush toilet. A dual flush toilet is exactly what it sounds like-there are two different types of flushes. One button for #1 and another button for #2. This enables you to use less water to get rid of your toilet waste. These types of toilets are common practice around the world. But, for whatever reason, they aren’t very common in America. (Thanks to Jihan for hooking us up with all of our fixtures for the new house.)

Since this new house is being built where a previous (non-renovateable) house was demolished, we’re making sure to reuse as many building materials from the demolished house as possible. We’re using the old wood flooring as trim in the new house. The old paint and nail holes were planed down, and the wood is gorgeous. We’re excited to be using it as a way to reuse, and to save us money.

We’re using low energy light bulbs, we’re planning on utilizing as much natural light as possible (in Seattle?). We installed super efficient windows and doors. Our appliances are all EnergyStar approved and we rarely use the dryer for our clothing. We plan on planting more trees and appropriate plants. We are using the demolished house’s foundation as part of our landscaping walls. Our faucets will have low flow constrictors. We’re using recycled carpeting (and recycled carpet pads), where applicable.

We are recycling at the construction site and plan to continue recycling once we move in. The basement flooring is concrete foundation slab. No vinyl flooring or siding for us. We’re using cement siding and metal on the outside of the house. The roof is also metal. We’ll be using recycled plastic for our decking. All of our counter tops are concrete, made by The King. And we used extra installation.

While we aren’t doing as much as we could or should be doing, we are doing our part. The King and I feel that this earth was gifted to us to use. Part of showing our appreciation for this beautiful world is showing our respect and love towards it. And to help ensure it will be here for our kids and our kid’s kids to also use.

And if this means using flusable diapers and dual flush toilets, then sign me up.

So tell me, what are you doing to be more green?

The King drove three hours to Portland last night to see The Cult in concert. One of his good friends from college lives down in Portland and they thought this concert would be the perfect chance to reunite. This meant that Babboo and I had the entire night to ourselves. It as like our own private slumber party.
Early yesterday afternoon I decided that Babboo and I would take advantage of not having to be home to prepare dinner and would go out to eat at the local Cheesecake Factory. All by ourselves. I daydreamed about what I would order for dinner. I also gave my dessert options a lot of thought.

Unfortunately I forgot that I was also meeting Kathleen (and baby Elanor) for lunch yesterday. So by the time dinner time rolled around, I just wasn’t hungry for a huge plate of Cheesecake Factory fare. Crap.

I guess Babboo and I will just have to find something else to do to bide our time.

Hey, that was easy. Hang out at the local bookstore in the kids section. Grab a few gossip mags for Mommy. Let the night float away.

Pretty much I admit that this is better then stuffing my face at the Cheesecake Factory. Plus, we ended up making French toast for dinner. I’m loving French toast these days. (And so is Babboo.)

The King made it home safely from Portland at about 2am this morning. When I woke him up for work before I headed out the door, he assured me that he got enough sleep. I’m thinking that come lunch time today he’ll be wanting a nap.

You know what I’ll be wanting come lunch time today? The little box full of St. Patrick’s Day candy that I got from my Secret Sister last week. After three weeks of doing fun little Secret Sisters gifts, the big reveal took place last Tuesday night. Of course I was busy seeing “Mamma Mia!” with internet buddies and missed the reveal evening at the church.

For those that want to know what I ended up giving my Secret Sister…well, the second week I gave her a little black and white bag from the blogger mecca, also known as Sephora. Inside was my favorite gold eyeliner. (I love giving this little eyeliner!) Last week I gave my Secret Sister an awesome mix tape CD with my fave Rhett Miller and Old 97’s tunes. I gave her the CD on Sunday at church during my own little mini-reveal. She wrote me yesterday and told me she loves the CD. I’m not surprised. I had a blast doing the Secret Sister and can’t wait until they do that again.

And for those of you that want to know if anyone I know in real life delurked to tell me they read my site…yeah well, nobody did. I’m not surprised, really. I mean, would you delurk if you had found someone’s blog you knew in real life?
I probably wouldn’t.

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Babboo and I made the trek to my aunt’s house on Saturday to dye Easter Eggs. It’s my latest New Thing. The experience turned out just about as good as I thought it would.