Winter Wonderland

Happy almost Christmas. I can hardly believe it's almost here, but it is. I can't even say it snuck up on me, I've been stressing about it for months, but somehow Christmas always seems to smack me upside the head faster than I wanted it to.

Katy's concert went quite well. Her section sounded best, but then they should, as they are the "elite" band of the school.
We managed to miss out on a nasty ice storm, thank goodness, but we did get hit with the first snow storm of the season.
Shona was deleriously happy and I had to let her go out into it a few times, despite the fact that she was just getting over a nasty cold. There's something so infectious about the joy of a child playing in snow. It almost makes me like it. Almost. If it weren't so darn wet and slushy and hazardous to drive in. Ah, such is the life of a practical mom. At least my child enjoyed it.
Today Shona's class had a gingerbread creation day. I volunteered to come in and assist and it was rather fun watching the children "glue" their pieces together with all that white icing. The one rule that was most difficult for them seemed to be the "no eating anything while in school" rule because the only place they are allowed sugary treats is in the lunch room IF they bring it themselves. Sad what this country has come to, but that's a rant for another day. I think Shona's house came out adorable, if not a little lopsided. Of course, that only added to its charm. We used it as a centerpiece at dinner tonight, which made Shona beam with pride.

Oh yes, and did I mention I got a 4.0 for the semester? Not bad for an old broad like me. That's about it in Anita's world. Another week, another bit of excitement. Until I blog again...hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Another ice storm is moving through the area this weekend. I'm having flashbacks to January, when the last storm knocked out power and paralyzed the area for about a week. It was hardly a fun time. Back then, they said it was a freak thing that hadn't happened in over 30 years, so who thought it could happen again a second year in a row? So far we have been lucky. Warmer temperatures have kept the freezing rain to a minimum and most of the really nasty stuff has hit my family a couple of hours north of here. We have a little bit of ice out there, but nothing like they do. They are losing trees and branches right and left. We moved since the last storm, and we are now on county power. That isn't a good thing because they were the ones who went a week or more without electricity last storm. If we had known that before buying out here, we might have reconsidered, but it's too late now. Anyway, we were freaked out enough by the forecast that we decided it was time to invest in a generator. Only one store in town sells them and we picked one up the other day. After reading the user's guide, John decided it was way too small for our most basic needs, and he set out on a quest to find a larger model. The closest store with one in stock was about 3 hours away, so off he went yesterday morning. He was tired when he got home, but at least we have backup power. We won't have TV or internet, but we'll have heat and hot water (if the city water pumps still work!), and that's what matters. When is spring, anyway? Bring it on!

And in other news, Katy has her Christmas band concert at school today. She is all dressed up for it. I think she looks lovely, it's just amazing how long it takes her to get ready. Ah, teenagers! Speaking of which, I'm off to the show.

The Trouble with Photo Shoots

OK, girls, I need to get a good photo for this year's Christmas card. It should only take a few minutes, so get along, smile nicely and sit up straight.
Not terrible, but it's too dark. Darn flash. Let's try again.
Yeah, yeah, cute. Stop goofing off and let me get a picture, would you?

No, REALLY, STOP goofing off and let me get a good picture.

Can you two stop picking at each other for five minutes and stop the goofing off long enough to just get a picture?

Let's move inside and try by the tree. Shona, did you get my memo about NO FUNNY FACES!? One picture. Just one picture. Is that too much to ask?!

You DO know I will keep at this all night, right? I'm not going anywhere until I get a decent shot.

Not bad. We might go with that one, let's keep trying.

For Pete's sake.... STOP ARGUING! This light isn't working for me. Let's try outside once more. Yes, I KNOW it's cold and it's going to be freezing and dark out soon, so if you don't want to be out there getting your toes frostbitten, I suggest you pretend to like each other for two minutes, smile nicely into the camera and let me get ONE good shot. I mean it, girls, I do have all night to do this!


Bingo. Thanks, ladies. Same time, same place next year. Just don't bring the attitude.

Decking the Halls

I finally feel like it's Christmas time. Before we got the house dressed, it felt like just another blah week, but the lights have put me in a holiday mood. I went a little crazy in the dining room because it had the most empty space to decorate. I've never had this much space to play with before, and that's sad since my house is not that big. I'm thrilled that I finally have somewhere to put the little "It's a Wonderful Life" houses my cousin has been sending me, too. That mirror we picked up at a garage sale this summer really enhances that end of the dining room. The only problem is that tall, dancing and singing Santa in the corner freaks out my dogs. It took two days for them not to bark at it standing still and I don't dare turn it on with them in the house.
I have a "new" Christmas item this year, but it's an antique. You light the candles, the heat from the flames rises and makes the top thing turn, which makes the angels spin around and when they go fast enough, they strike the bells. We tested it out the other night and it works great. I'll have to get a shot of it in action. That's about it in Anita world. I'm still plugging away at my classes, getting ready for finals in about a week. I can't wait to have a month off to do what I want...which is scrap!

Catching Up

So I've been pretty darn busy. Halloween came and went a little too quickly, then, before I could even blink, Thanksgiving was knocking on my door. How do days go by so slowly, yet years zip by with astonishing speed? I've never understood that. Maybe we're so focused on the day to day things, the big pictures slides on by when we aren't paying attention. In any case, this has been an unbelievably fast month.

My Mother-in-law came down and spent two nights with us over Thanksgiving. I can honestly say it was a wonderful visit, but that could be because I hardly spent any time outside my office. I had a monster of a term paper to write, one that required books and books of research, complete with citations, so it wasn't something I could try to blow off or fudge. It took many long hours at my computer, but I managed to finish that darn thing. Now the only thing standing between me and finishing this semester are about two weeks of classes and finals. I say bring it on. I'm ready to end the classes I'm in and move on to something else. I am carrying a 14 hour load next semester, plus I'm going to try my hand at substitute teaching a couple of days a week. Time to make a few dollars and get out of the house. Did I mention Katy went on her first date this month? The first official un-chaperoned, out with a boy evening. Of course, he had no car, so we picked them up and dropped them off at the theater, so it wasn't too stressful, but she was happy. Then the guy stood her up on Thanksgiving, so I suppose they have broken up. Such quick relationships these days. At least Katy doesn't pine over lost love. She goes through boyfriends like I go through socks.

The big excitement last weekend was the Christmas parade. Why they insist on having it before Thanksgiving, I'll never know, but it always is. This year, Katy and Shona both marched in it. Katy was in the band, as usual, and Shona carried a flag with the Girl Scouts. Both were very excited, but I must admit John and I were a little lonely without the girls on the sidewalk. It is harder to get into the spirit of the parade when there are no kids to scream and get excited with. The other problem was it was so incredibly hot outside, we kept getting overheated. Two days later, we hit the freezing mark. Gotta love Missouri weather.

This weekend we have been putting up our Christmas decorations. I'll update again if I ever get finished. Of course, tomorrow will probably be Valentine's Day if I blink.

7 Random Things

I've been tagged by Catherine to tell seven random things about me. I have a hard time with this because I already feel like everyone knows everything about me, but I'm giving it my best.

1. I cannot stand open kitchen cabinets. I think it's because my grandma used to leave hers standing open most of the time. Not all of them at once, just random ones always seemed to be standing open whenever I'd stop by. It bothered me, I've never been able to figure out why, and now it really annoys me in my own house. Just shut the doors, please.

2. I hold my breath when I walk past another person or they walk by me. I'm not sure if I'm phobic about breathing their scent or what, it's just something I've done since I was a little girl.

3. I complain about how much time my husband spends watching the History Channel, but when I have control of the remote and no one else is home, I often find myself watching it without him because I enjoy it, too. In my defense, though, I never ever watch anything to do with Nazis without him there. I still have my standards.

4. I used to be mortified when teenagers would call me ma'am. Now I wish more would.

5. I color my hair to keep the gray at bay, but I look forward to the day I let it go natural. I'm waiting until it's all a lovely shade of silver, like my mother's. Sadly, I don't think it will take as long as I hope.

6. I am seriously rethinking my college major, but it might be too late!

7. Sometimes I feel guilty with the amount of trees my scrapbook paper has killed. Then I pull out my scrap supplies and get over it surprisingly easy.

Life rolls on

I've just about given up blogging. It seems like it, anyway. Time just isn't my friend lately. At least I'm past mid-terms, but the second half of the semester seems to be flying by faster than the first. Right after Thanksgiving I start cramming for finals, and life will be interesting then. I'm looking forward to the week after next when I have a three day school week. I am going to luxuriate in my days home with no husband and no kids. Just me and the dogs and my scrap room. I want to get something accomplished because I haven't seriously scrapped anything but my assigned kits in months.
Tonight we had parent/teacher conferences, where Katy was mortified to discover she has a B in two classes. It's just the end of her world. She is a straight A student and doesn't want to be known for anything less. Her teachers had wonderful comments about her, too, as they always do. She's definitely my studious one. Shona had mostly B's and a couple of A's. The funny thing is, the subjects Katy is struggling with are the ones Shona is doing well in. Shona is my science and math whiz, Katy is my English and Social Studies brainiac. How two children reared in the same household can be such polar opposities in every conceivable way just floors me and reminds me that sometimes nature wins out over nurture!
As for my schooling, I have to register for my next semester in a couple of weeks and I am stressing out over what to take when. Looks like I'll be stuck taking Biology. John thinks it's hilarious I am going to have to take a class similar to what he teaches, because he knows my strong suit is NOT science. I informed him that he will be recruited as my hostile tutor for the duration of next semester and I'm blaming whatever grade I end up with on him!
Wow, I just realized next week is Halloween. Now THAT is what's scary. Wasn't it Easter just last week? It seems that way....

October Already?

I feel like I have all but dropped off the face of the Earth lately. All I do is eat, sleep, study, do laundry, walk and keep up with the kids' lives. On the rare occasion I get to scrap, it's for assignments, which is great since at least it nudges me to do that much, but I want more time for me. I knew it would be this way once school started, but the reality of it can be a downer. I just got through mid term exams this week, and it's a huge relief to be past that point. The good news is that when December rolls around, I will have a full month off school and everyone else in the house only gets two weeks. That leaves me with two weeks of ME time to do what I want. I am turning off the phone and computer and I am scrapping myself silly!
Let's see...since last I wrote, Shona has quit karate because it wasn't social enough for her (typical girl), Katy is doing practically nothing but marching with the band. Every weekend this month and most of next is taken up with competition. That's all part of the high school band experience, though, and I know she's enoying it somewhere under all that exhaustion. I feel bad for her when she gets home at 2 a.m. like she did this morning. I'm also reminded at those times how wonderful cell phones are.
The biggest news, though, is that we wound up adopting another dog. One of the paraprofessionals at the school John works at had a dog she couldn't keep. Her apartment is just too small and they were both miserable. He was being crated about 20 hours a day/night, which I just find cruel. Poor thing. I never would have even agreed to it except that one day in my stupidity I told the girls that IF we were ever to be given a jack russell terrier, we'd take it because that's their favorite type of dog. I felt completely safe in telling them this since no one gives away a purebred dog. No one. Ha. Wrong. I was afraid he wouldn't get along with Bailey and I knew that breed tended to be hyper, so it was with great trepidation that we took him on. For a while we thought we were in the clear when two other people expressed an interest in the pooch, but in the end it was us or the pound, and I just couldn't let him go there. It took a week, but now Pedey and Bailey are buddies. We did have to have him neutered, so there's no such thing as free, but it was a lot cheaper than having Bailey fixed. Pedey now is a sweet little wiggleworm who loves to snuggle with us. True, he's a little high strung, but he fits in well with our household and he keeps Bailey very happy as a playmate, so overall it was a stroke of great luck to add this little guy to our family. And I have learned my lesson when it comes to saying those "what ifs" out loud.

Rise and Fall of a Burro

I'm Edmond. Up until yesterday, I was living high in the rafters of the local Wal Mart store. It was an OK life, a bit crowded next to the Spongebob pinata and all the party balloons, but I had a great view and lots of attention. Then yesterday a wonderful person came along, took me down from my perch and showered me with attention. First, she filled me with sweet, delicious candy from the tips of my hooves to the top of my back. Then she dressed me in a lovely hat and let me stay in her warm, toasty room for the night. She even gave me my name, which I have to say sounds very macho. Then came today.
I was unceremoniously smooshed into the back of a minivan, carted off to a lovely park and once again hoisted into the air. What a beautiful view! I wasn't sure why the children all stood around with sticks and a gleam in their eye, but I wasn't worried. I was too high to be alarmed and I could see the entire park from in that tree. Then the mean man dropped me low and the beatings began. Oh, the agony! Those evil people took turns thwacking my hide until I couldn't take the torture anymore and exploded onto the ground. The sweet candy I'd devoured just the night before went crashing to the ground and those hordes of people ignored my dismembered state to snatch up the goods.
As if I hadn't been humiliated enough, they saw fit to take my disembodied head and prance around as if I were a hat. Oh, the shame. At least the two centers of attention seemed to be enjoying themselves, carving up a cake and serving it, and opening many gifts. Many friends were in attendance, making for happy times. I can hardly believe two friends would have their birthdays so close together and Sweet 16 is quite a day to celebrate. I just hope they remember me sometimes, their dear, sweet Edmond, who gave his life for their celebration.

Just another weekend

Come on, fall. I am ready for the big cool down and it just isn't happening yet. It still feels like summer. We had a lazy weekend, although I did manage to catch up on laundry. I decided after the four tests and paper from last week, I deserved a mental vacation, and I took one yesterday. I did a little bit of scrapping, played some games with Shona and just vegged out as much as I could. Today it was back to reading assignments, but it wasn't so bad. That one day helped immensely.
I finally broke down and bought one of those little bags of candy corn pumpkins today. I'm rationing them, though. They go into the freezer and I will only thaw one at a time. If I don't, I'll make myself completely ill on them in a week. I just have no willpower when it comes to those darn pumpkins.
Onward to the next school day. How many more days until the end of the semester?

Grump

This week in school is all about tests. I have one in all but one class this week, and in that one I had to write a paper. I think they are trying to kill me. The one that irritated me most was the one I studied the hardest for, only to find out 75% of the questions on the test weren't on the material we were told to study. That was a rude shock. He said not to worry about it because we could throw out our lowest test score, but really...is that even fair to test over material we aren't even supposed to have read yet? The joke was on him, though, because I was an incredibly lucky guesser and I wound up with an A anyway. So HA on him! I have my backup A and I can save it in case I screw up another test down the road.
Overall I'm enjoying classes. They are a lot of work, which they are supposed to be, but I think I'm adjusting. Some of it I even like, but don't tell.
Off to study. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be testing on things we actually covered.

Life

Yeah, I know, I've been a bad blogger. Life got in the way and wouldn't budge there for a while. The drama of summer is over and the house is back to a routine. I love that. The kids are enjoying themselves. Katy is taking Spanish and likes it so far, but then she has only learned a couple of phrases. Wait until test time. Shona loves her new teacher, which is a relief. As star struck as she was with the last one, I was afraid she wouldn't ever get over it and move on to like another teacher. She already claims to love this teacher more than last year's. Poor Mrs. Carter. Such is life.
John's classes are going well so far and he seems to have settled right in with his new classes. He's teaching Honors Biology this year, which is very different from last year, and he's happy about that. He's also happy not to have to share his classroom with another teacher this year. No two hour lunch breaks where he has to leave the building. At least he thought he was happy about that until he realized no more big chunks of free time during the day. Tradeoffs!
As for me, I'm still adjusting to my new career as a college student. I'm old enough to be a mom to most of my classmates, but I'm enjoying being back in a classroom. I always did love school. Some of my classes are pretty dull and I'm surprised at which ones. I went in figuring some I'd hate and they've turned out to be my favorites so far. I never thought I'd enjoy Political Science, but the teacher has a way of making it interesting and so relevant to my life that I look forward to being there. English Composition II I thought I'd love and it is the most dry, dull, boring class I've ever had so far. Hopefully it gets better because I do like the teacher.
Shona still loves karate, Katy is still in band and loving marching season. I got to see their first performance last night at the first football game of the year. They were fantastic, but then I'm a wee bit prejudiced.
And in other news, I'm 1.5 pounds from my goal weight. I can't believe it, either. I haven't quite got my head wrapped around that fact, but it'll hit me one day. Katy was thrilled to double her wardrobe when I hit her size, but now I'm actually wearing smaller pants than her and it has freaked her out. *sigh* Always drama somewhere, but hey, I've worked hard to get where I am and I make no apologies, child. Enjoy that glorious figure while it is easy to and while it is still all in the right places!
That's about it for my catch up post. Maybe I'll get better at keeping up, but with a 15 hour course load, I make no promises.

Yard Sale Finds

I used to be quite the garage sale junkie. You never know what you'll find there, and being the designated discarder of our family (see the last post), I have the power to walk away without buying useless junk. Nope, it must have a purpose and a good price to entice me into plunking down my cash. I hadn't been to them in years, though. Many, many years. I don't even know why we stopped going, other than having to drag Shona around and constantly chase her out of the freebie toy bins set up to trap unwitting parents into taking home junk.

This weekend, though, we decided to venture out just to see what we would find. Katy made out the best with stacks and stacks of clothing, mostly jeans. I love that she adores faded, worn clothing...actually, she prefers her clothing not to be new (not my child!)...so she's pretty well outfitted for school now. She even fell in love with a coat at one place, so that is taken care of. Katy is definitely the bargain shopper of my two. Shona, on the other hand...well, let's say she won't be a millionaire if early signs are any indication. She kept trying to give away all her coins and overpaying for every little thing she wanted. I do think she looked adorable by the end of the second day strung full of mardi gras bead necklaces, new shades and a straw hat with a lace bow. I wish I'd had my camera. My favorite find of the weekend was this mirror. We have been looking for something to go above the sideboard John inherited from his grandmother. I knew I wanted something of significant size but we were having trouble finding something that would compliment the wood. I think it was intended to be used as a bedroom mirror on a vanity, but I think it works quite well in our dining room.

Self Realization Time

First, a rant. Apparently, I have special powers in my household. For some reason, I am the sole occupant of this home that is capable of putting a new roll of toilet paper onto the roller. Either it's far too complicated for everyone else or it really does take special mom powers to make it happen. Another special power I have is cleaning the bathroom. Everyone else in this house can overlook a disgusting pigsty of a bathroom and never lift a finger to clean it. I suppose they think it magically cleans itself, which in their worlds it does when mom gets enough and can't handle the dirt any longer. Ah, my kingdom for a maid. End of rant.

I did discover something about myself today. Now I'm not a neat freak, never have been, and I can live with a certain amount of minor dirt and non-cleanliness around me. That I know. Clutter, however, is my mortal enemy. I can't function in too much of it and I finally realized today that in large enough quantities, it has the ability to completely overwhelm me. I am speaking, of course, of the plethora of boxes and junk in my garage. I cannot walk in there and even begin organizational efforts because I am so overloaded with...stuff. It's everywhere and it overloads my brain to look at it. I am the discarder of our family. DH is a packrat to the extreme but when we bought this house, I laid down the law. Everything must find a use and a spot or we get rid of it. Period. I'm tired of having stuff in storage. If it's been in storage for years, do we really need it? I suppose that's why the flurry of shelf building happened when we first moved in because he can't bear to part with his book collection. Now he's pining for a curio cabinet so he doesn't have to give up some of his trinket treasures. I'm fine with that. So long as it has a designated spot and I can tolerate living with it in my house (I recently nixed the idea of any dead animal heads EVER being displayed on the walls....think sudden, mysterious disappearances there) we'll work with it. Time's a ticking on the remaining boxes. I need tidiness, I need order in my world and I never even knew it. Who'da thunk it?

Blah blah blah

I think this has been one of the busiest summers of my life. I never seem to be home, and when I am home, things are a constant blur of motion. I suppose that's not a bad thing, but I can't seem to feel rested lately. Gee, I wonder why. I can't believe there is still another month until vacation time is over. I might not survive that long.
Today, though, was one of those days it might have been better not to have climbed out of bed. I was a grump from the moment I got up until dinner time. Bad news in the mail, or rather really aggravating news that set me off. Then I got a call from John saying he'd been in an accident. At least it was very minor and the other driver drove off saying "It's an old car, don't worry about it!" but still...I was such a grump that when my mother called I all but yelled at her. I get so tired of hearing from her on a daily basis when she has absolutely nothing to say. I miss when I could actually have a conversation with her. I really miss having a mother, period.
At least the evening turned out all right. We went to a new restaurant in town called El Sombrero and it was delicious. After last night's fiasco with finding what is probably the worst Chinese restaurant in Springfield for JOhn's birthday, it was nice to find a good place to eat. We'll have to keep hunting for a decent Chinese restaurant. We haven't found one yet after living here a year.
And speaking of John's birthday, I actually managed to surprise him. During our weekend getaway to Branson, he'd pointed out a bagpipe chanter set he was interested in and I snuck off to buy it our last morning there. He'd been wanting one for years, so he was very happy to open that gift.

Another Catch Up Post

We had a great Fourth of July, very relaxing. Well, maybe relaxing isn't the right word. The hubster and I spent the day shopping, then we picked up the kids (we had an extra one for the night) and went to the base for fireworks. We tried to stop in for a bite to eat, only to reach the doors just as they closed. Instead of leaving to get food and possibly missing the fireworks show, we opted for convenience store food and you know what? It wasn't bad. The show was great and we had a nice parking spot just up the hill from where we sat.

After the holiday, we escaped for a weekend at Celebration City in Branson. It isn't as big or as crowded as Silver Dollar City, which made me very happy. The longest we waited in line for any ride was 10 minutes. That's it, ten minutes at the peak of their tourist season. Life was good. I got some great shots, like this one of my three favorite people.
However, since it was my birthday weekend, I insisted on everyone taking an old time photo, a family tradition we hadn't been keeping up with lately. I love this photo.
It's going on the wall with my other old time family photos, dating back to when I was about 13. Such simple things make me happy.

Speaking of things that make me happy, or in this case don't...I was trying to get a good picture of myself tonight so I could make a DT page to send Felicia. It's going on display at her new brick and mortar store. I took at least two dozen shots and had Shona try to get some. I finally realized it wasn't the lighting and it wasn't the angle...I just don't like my face. *sigh* Maybe I need a new haircut, but somehow I still don't think I'm going to like my face. I would say it's a face only a mother could love, but she did remark on what a homely child I was. Then again, she is legally insane....

....and on that note, I'm off to scrap this face.

Shoot Me Now

If I ever say I'm moving again, just shoot me. I mean it. My next move will be to a retirement home. No other move in the history of moves (and I've moved so many times I've literally lost count) has kicked my butt as hard as this one. Of course, that could be because before I even got the joy of moving, I spent a solid week scraping wallpaper (over 30 hours of that alone), painting (I'm STILL painting!), building a fence, building a closet (still working on that one), cleaning, packing....oh, bother. I have been nonstop busy since we signed those papers and I am worn out, frazzled and really ready for a vacation. Tomorrow I get to clean out the rental unit (can't wait, rah) and Friday we do the final things like mowing the lawn. I cannot WAIT to be finished with that place and I am so over moving. Seriously. If I even joke about it, have me committed. The nearest looney bin is two hours north in my hometown. I'm sure they'll leave a light on for me.

Seven things....

So I've been tagged....twice! Still, I'm stopping at seven. That's difficult enough, even when I'm not sleep deprived and worn out.

These are the rules.... each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment. So, time for my 7 random facts:

1. Since everyone else is talking about their spelling bee champ status, I might as well come clean and declare that I was the third grade spelling bee champion. I won with the word "encyclopedia," and I'm still proud of that fact, so nyah.

2. I love to be outside, but it doesn't like me. I burn very easily, I'm allergic to so many plants that I'm paranoid about touching anything I can't identify (and that isn't much...thank goodness my hubby is a science teacher), and I am allergic to many bees and wasps. So....I stay indoors and gaze longingly out the window. I can take a hint. I know where I'm not wanted.

3. I want another tattoo, but since I doubt I'll ever decide what I want, I probably won't get one.

4. I have had two moments in my life when I truly thought I was dying, and I was disappointed both times when my life didn't flash before my eyes. Maybe when it does, I'll actually be dying and won't be disappointed...but then I won't be able to tell anyone.

5. I know from experience that if you die in your dreams, you do NOT die in real life. Just thought you'd want to know that. ;) And that is totally unrelated to number four.

6. Anytime you work on a house, it always takes longer than you think it will. Always!

7. Today is the anniversary of the day I met my husband (June 16th). It was 17 years ago and I still mark it on my calendar. Does that make me a romantic? :)

I'll have to tag people later. I'm worn out tonight. See number six.

And so it begins

The house is bought and the fence posts are sunk. They will spend a couple of days curing in the concrete before we string the rest of the fence. It'll be so nice for Bailey to have a real yard again. I have to admit, none of it seems real and it hasn't sunk in yet that we are homeowners once again. I guess having the keys and access to the house will help that! If they get out early, we could get it next Friday, but the official date is the 18th. When we moved the closing up, we couldn't change the possession date, but it wasn't a big deal since we just wanted the extra time to build the fence. Now to pack what we will before carrying it over. No pictures so far, we've been too busy.

The Last Great Housing Snag (I HOPE)

Well, I knew it couldn't end so easily. I knew there would have to be one final, ugly snag since the VA was involved in this. The final step in our loan process was having a VA certified "expert" (and considering the person we dealt with, I use that term very loosely) appraise the home. With a VA loan, you can ONLY borrow what the house is worth, period, and the house is worth whatever they say it is. That's pretty well true with any house, it's only worth what you can sell it for, but the VA is a whole other beast. They notoriously lowball everything compared with local agents who know the area better. They did it last time we bought a property, and this time they came up with a figure all of $300 short of the actual sale price. Since we can only borrow the value of the house, that meant either we dropped the sale, renegotiated with the sellers or coughed up the $300 ourselves. Now $300 isn't a horrible amount of money, but come on....$300? That's just nitpicking. We looked through the paperwork and there were several things she didn't even take into consideration, namely that there's a refrigerator and a three car parking pad in front of the house. Surely those things merit the other $300 so everyone's happy. DH called her today. Ha. What a total witch, and that's ironic considering her report ended with "and if you have any problems or questions at all, please feel free to contact me!" The woman was like talking with a brick wall and was extremely rude. It was obvious there was no working this out on her end. We could fight it, but after some of the stories she told us about other cases she's currently trying to fight, it isn't worth it for a measley $300 and probably the six months it would take to be rejected.
On to plan B, which our realtor suggested, which was ask for a price reduction from the sellers. We were hesitant since they had already dropped the price by nearly $20,000 a month ago and I can't blame them for not wanting to do it. I sure wouldn't and so we figured we'd just put off building the fence for our dog for a few months and just pay the $300. We were shocked when our realtor called tonight to say the seller's realtor had offered to split the $300 from his commission and hers, which means we get to keep our cash. I'm so relieved and I told her we would only let her do that if we can invite her over for a few steak dinners down the road as repayment. She laughed but agreed. I do have to say she's the best real estate agent we've ever dealt with and she has gone to bat for us multiple times the last six months. She's a great advisor in the whole real estate arena. We moved our closing up to Friday so that we can build the fence this weekend and hopefully the weather will cooperate. Soon we will be homeowners again and all the headaches that brings with it.

Blogging Nonsense

I got this from someone's blog but we are blaming Felicia for the whole mess! Answer in a word, if possible:

1. Yourself? quiet
2. Your husband? loud
3. Your hair? wild
4. Your mother? crazy
5. Your father? distant
6. Your favorite thing? my kids
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? tea
9. Your dream car? Lexus
10. The room you're in right now? dining
11. Your fear? spiders
12. What you want to be in 10 years? rich
13. Muffins? blueberry
14. Who you hung out with last night? Husband
15. What you're not? patient
16. Time? 7:07 p.m.
17. What you're wearing? cotton!
18. Your favorite weather? warm
19. Your favorite book? non fiction
20. Last thing you ate? fortune cookie
21. Your worst vice? computer
22. Your best friend is? stressed!
23. What you're thinking about right now? scrapping
24. Your car? truck!
25. Your life? insane

Yep, I'm slow at updating. Life just got a little crazy there for a while. Where, oh where to begin? The house inspection went very well. In fact, the inspector said he'd never seen a house that old in that nice of condition or that nicely redone. It is a pretty snazzy house and I can't wait to live in it. We did request that they fix four extremely minor things such as reattaching a section of flashing that had come loose. We only dinged the items it would be physically difficult for DH to do and I'm happy to report they agreed to everything and signed off on it. We officially close June 11th and get the keys by 5 p.m. on the 18th. The owners are going to let us put up the fencing as soon as we close, so that will be one thing out of the way before we actually move in, and that will definitely help. We'll be able to bring Bailey over and let her run around while we work on the house. She is in such desperate need of a yard. I keep telling her it's coming soon, but I can feel her desperation, especially since it's getting too hot for her to walk very far with me. Poor baby.
The girls are happy to be out of school. Shona's teacher hosted a reading night where each child read a book he or she had written. It was quite a good time, even though it dragged out a bit. I was impressed with Shona's ability to speak in public. She was a little nervous, but spoke in a loud, clear voice and showed everyone her photos to go along with the story. She did her required curtsey at the end and smiled at everyone. What a ham. I just know she's going to be in the drama club in high school. The good part is Shona is going to be in summer school (by choice!) and is going to have the same teacher she had this year. No big adjustment. Summer school starts in another week and runs through the month of June. Can't wait because that means scrapping time for me, when I can squeeze it in between packing, painting, wallpaper stripping, moving...ugh...did I say I was going to scrap? Well, maybe I'll at least get some good move in photos out of the deal.

The weight loss thing is going very well. I'm only 15 pounds from my goal weight and I never dreamed I would ever be able to say that. I had to go shopping for clothing this weekend because nothing fit and I had to shop for a bathing suit. Even when I was skinny that was an ordeal, so I can't say it was fun, but at least I didn't come out of the fitting room crying this time. And I even found a suit I can live with. I'm still chugging along, hope you do the same.

Happy Mother's Day

OK, to end the suspense...although there was a question about the size of the lot that went with the house, we did finally reach an agreement everyone was happy with and we are currently under contract on the house. The inspection should take place this week and hopefully they don't find a lot wrong with it. I'll update when I know.

My Mother's Day was wonderful and unexpected. We've never done much for the day, other than take our mothers out for lunch and drag them wherever they want to go. This year we live too far away for lunch out with our mothers (a fact we are enjoying quite a bit), so I said I did NOT want to brave the crowds out in town. I expected that to be the end of it since we don't really do gifts, either. Imagine my surprise when I walked in to see this on the table this morning:



Gifts! Each of my girls had picked out a plant for me to plant in our new home as soon as we get the keys. That really touched me. It is such a homey touch. Shona picked pink Victory roses, which I think are gorgeous. I'm already trying to figure out where I'll plant them in the new yard. Katy picked a house plant called a Money Tree. I can't wait to see it grow. I've always wanted a big, palmy plant for my living room. They did good! Shona had painted a cute teapot for me and each girl had a card. John had bought a necklace I know I hadn't mentioned in months, but he remembered. Do I have him trained or what? As a nice topping, my paper and a glass of tea were on the table, too. They fixed me a steak dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was a perfect Mother's Day!

In other news, though...here is why I don't let other people have control of the camera. I asked the girls to take a Mother's Day photo of me, hopefully closeup to get my necklace in the shot and although both tried, this turned out to be the best photo. Sad but true. Back behind the camera for me!

A Sudden Decision

We saw the house today with the office built into the garage. I liked it, it had a great yard and the office was very nice...it wasn't really roomy enough, but it would have worked for us. I was happy enough with it that I thought we should consider it and told the hubby that before he headed back to work. I knew he didn't feel the same way, it just didn't excite him. The more I thought about it all afternoon, the more the appeal wore off. It just didn’t feel right. Still, I also knew I didn't want to move back out into the country. I figured we were in for an argument this evening and the house hunting would continue forever.

Then around 4:00, our agent emailed an old listing of a house we looked at probably 5 months ago, showing me it had dropped in price today by a considerable amount. We had LOVED the house because it was fully updated and gorgeous. The problem at the time was lack of a basement and it only had 1½ bathrooms, meaning we'd have to invest a lot of extra money into adding on a bathroom. It had three living areas, so we knew size wise it would work and we liked the location a lot. With the price dropping as much as it did, we knew we could borrow enough extra to turn one of the living areas into a master bedroom and bathroom, fixing the problem. I called John to tell him we had to talk houses. He just knew I was going to argue for that house we saw today, but instead I told him about the house price drop on this one and he went silent. Then he said “That’s just too good to pass up. I’ll call her to write up an offer.” It was that easy, we both agreed. I don’t know how early in the day they changed the price, but hopefully by the time it catches someone else’s attention, we will have it under contract. What’s sad is the only reason that house hasn’t sold is because their agent is too lazy to market it right. The inside is beautiful, but the only photo of it online is the outside. I KNOW if they only put up more pictures, that house would have sold at higher amount. Idiots. But it’s all good because it works in my favor!

I know I've blogged the house before, but here are the photos to refresh your memory:

Living room:

Beautiful kitchen:

Nice deck:



So that’s the big news. We are giving them 48 hours from in the morning to respond. I'll keep you posted.

This is getting old

More house hunting today. My agent called very excited this morning to tell me a house that had been listed at $199,000 had just dropped to $125,000. Well now, that sounded mighty suspicious, but the description sounded promising. We raced out there after John left school and it sure was...um...memorable. It was built in 1840 and I don't think it had been touched since. Ceilings were falling, cracks were everywhere and floors were so uneven I tripped over them walking down corridors. Ick. Our agent was shocked the house was even listed for $125,000, much less almost $200,000! Needless to say, we RAN from that one! The first house we ever looked at here we dubbed the "Monster HOuse" because it was so awful, but I think this one was even worse. ***shudder****

Wednesday night we go see one other house and maybe we'll decide on the country house vs the one we are seeing then. The owners built an office out of part of the garage, which is what John was going to do with any house we bought anyway, so that would save him some time and sweat equity. I somehow don't see it beating out the new place outside town, but you just never know. I'm prepared for just about anything anymore after some of the houses we've seen.

What red house?

I think John found his dream house and tonight marked the fourth time we visited it. Two times we were just there on the outside, twice with our agent. Tonight we went to show the girls the inside. Everyone loves it and it's brand new. New! I would love a new house and now that I am getting over the fact that it's outside of town farther than I wanted, I'm really warming up to it. I was immediately taken with the inside, but being 8 miles outside of town wasn't something I wanted to do again. Everytime we drive it it seems shorter, though, and the house is definitely worth driving to get to. I think we are going to wind up making an offer sometime next week. We need to find out how much our insurance would run on it, how much taxes are, and if we can get DSL out there, but all indications are that we are going for it. Tonight we went to Lowe's to price out all the appliances we would want to put into it. Pictures? You want pictures. Well, OK.

Amazing kitchen:




Beautiful entry:


Wonderful, homey front porch:


Much bigger than it looks from the outside!


We have another house to see next week, but somehow I don't think it's going to light up John's world like this one. I just hope no one snatches it up in the meantime!

Goodbye, House

After a whole lotta wrangling with very demented Remax people, we have dropped the deal. They admitted they knew about the square footage discrepancy but didn't see a problem with it. Hello?! No problem with artificially inflating the value of the house? That might just be illegal, folks. Not only did they not see an issue, they tried to blame their client for providing them with the wrong square footage. First of all, they were the listing agents when he bought it and the paperwork went back to them. Second...it's an agent's JOB to measure a house they are putting on the market in order to calculate the square footage. This was a major red flag to our realtor because this exact same situation arose last year with another client and that client had to pony up the difference in the appraisal value and the sale price at closing. That wouldn't happen with us because of the type of loan we have (the VA protects against just such schemes), but it really set off our realtor and we decided to push the issue to make a point. That and with the reduction in value and size, we no longer wanted the place.

They wouldn't sign off on an amendment to lower the price to whatever it appraised to (which would have had to happen anyway thanks to the VA loan process but we weren't going to tell THEM that), we refused their offer to have it appraised at their cost because the only appraisal that will matter is the VA guy anyway, so we are dropping the deal. Actually, they tried to not let us drop the deal, but our realtor called our mortgage guy, explained the issue and he said he wouldn't finance a house with that kind of discrepancy in the paperwork. Since the sale is contingent on financing, guess what? Matter closed. Go away. Find another sucker.

I'm relieved, but we flat out refuse to look at any more houses sold by Remax. It's not just this issue, this is the third home we've inquired about through them that they've given us a ridiculously hard time about for various reasons. And we aren't even their clients. So....I won't even give them the satisfaction of a split commission, and after we buy something here, we are filing a complaint against them with the board of realtors, the Better Business Bureau and the state attorney general's office. It helps that my sister works for the attorney general's office so I can streamline my complaint right through their office.

But in good news, after over six months of looking at houses in the area and thinking we had found the one, John finally went gaga over a house. I did over one a long time ago, but it was sold by Remax and that was one of the houses they gave us such grief about. I won't go into it, it's complicated, but we didn't even put in an offer because they annoyed us so much. This house John loves is outside of town on three acres, is brand spankin' new and is as big as we want with the open feel we want. We walked in and his eyes just lit up. I'm not thrilled with how far outside of town it is, I guess I'm not the country girl I thought I was, but the kids love the location, too. I might be outvoted on this one, but I admit I was smitten with the house, too. The kitchen just took our breath away, the master bedroom has a walk in closet the size of a small office, and there's a jet tub in the bath. I don't even like baths but I might make an exception with that one! More later, I was going to do a quick update and wound up writing a novel.

Small update

Wow, it has been a while since I posted last. Every waking moment it seems has been consumed with house selling, house hunting and at long last, house buying. We put in an offer on a home here a few days after we closed on our old one. We wound up not choosing the house we made the verbal offer on because their response wasn't acceptable to us. Their loss! This is the house we picked out instead:


It isn't huge, but it works for us, it's in a wonderful neighborhood, and it has a lot of curb appeal. There's a lovely street lamp in the front and a porch with a swing. The backyard is pretty big with plenty of room for Shona and Bailey to run. We have, however, hit a snag. Yes, we offered, they countered and we accepted, but the next day our realtor discovered a discrepancy in the square footage of the house in the tax documents vs. what it was listed as. While the number doesn't matter to me, it matters a great deal to the appraisal experts and if the house doesn't appraise for what we agreed on price-wise, that would kill the deal. Why can't anything ever be simple? House selling and buying certainly isn't for the faint of heart and it isn't for quick-tempered people.

I'm tired, dangit

Another four hour round trip. Another full day spent putting stuff into storage. At least it's finished now. We should close on the house Friday, ending this long house selling saga. At least we had better close Friday. I might go postal on someone if it doesn't happen, especially since John dragged out with pneumonia today to finish putting things into storage. I finally got to see my grandma for the first time since Christmas and she doesn't look good. I'm sure she looks better than the last few months spent in the hospital and the rehab center getting her back on her feet, but to me she still seemed very frail. It's hard to see such a force of nature in a wheelchair with oxygen on her face. I hope to get up to see her far more than I have been able to this past year.

No news on the verbal offer on the house we want. Their realtor is playing stupid games, and it's just another drop in the vast pool of reasons I hate RE/MAX. I could write a novel at this point of reasons why they annoy me, but they are only hurting themselves. The more they play stupid games the less we want to submit the written offer next week. Idiots. If I were the sellers, I'd be wringing some necks. Now we are seriously considering building a house instead of buying one. It's cheaper, only takes between three and six months and we could have EVERYTHING we want in a house. We wouldn't have to settle one bit. Plus, it would be NEW everything. The more I think about it the more exciting it sounds. Still....my beloved '40s brick house downtown is first on the list and we'll put up with stupid RE/MAX games for a little while longer because we have a wonderful realtor guiding us through the madness.

At least it isn't snowing like it was yesterday. I won't even go into how wrong that was. Have a wonderful week. Hopefully it's a little more restful than this past one has been.

A long night and other news

DH hasn't felt well for a few days but I underestimated how badly he was feeling until he asked me to take him to the ER last night. He doesn't go there very often, so I knew it must be bad. It's an hour round trip to the hospital, so off we went. We were there for 3 1/2 hours while they drew labs, did X-rays and checked him over. The diagnosis was pneumonia, and I was afraid they were going to admit him. They did give him an IV of antibiotics that took an hour to administer, then loaded him up with other meds and sent us home. We got home a little before midnight, and he called in to leave a message for the school that he'd be staying home today. Imagine my surprise when I woke up at 6:15 this morning to find him all dressed to head to the school. "Where are you going?" I asked...very groggy because even though I'm a night owl, last night wiped me out. The crazy fool decided to go in anyway because he was feeling better. I personally think it had more to do with the science experiment he was scheduled to do with his classes today involving matches and danger more than it did any work ethic. Men.

We had a late afternoon call from our realtor yesterday saying the people who own the red house we are interested in would like to entertain our verbal offer. Our agent wanted to do a verbal just to see where we stood before actually submitting the offer we have written up next week. We were waiting to close on our house first. The seller's agent was a little snooty and said they have a policy not to accept verbal offers, so we were just going to wait. Apparently the owners caught wind of the offer, had some words with their agent and were "eager" to have an offer, any offer. I would imagine so after having it on the market for a year. I know exactly how that feels and any progress is better than none. The other agent had to backpeddle a little there, which I find a bit amusing. We should hear something by the end of the weekend, and I'm actually OK with it either way. Either we get this house or we don't, but I'm feeling very "zen" about the process right now, knowing I can have something built if this doesn't work out. As stressful as all this is, I do know we'll wind up where we are meant to and life works out like it should. I'll let you know when I know!

Still in limbo

I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd blogged, but it has been rather hectic. Shona's birthday was a bust. We invited four girls over for her first slumber party and no one showed up. Not only that, no one called to say they would or wouldn't be there. I find that so incredibly rude, yet it seems standard practice wherever we go. I was so annoyed by that once in Texas that I put at the bottom of an invitation to a bowling birthday party that anyone who didn't R.S.V.P. would have to pay their own way if they showed up on that day. Only one person did that and he was nice enough to pony up the dough. Still...how difficult is it to pick up the phone? To make Shona feel better, I was going to treat her to a movie the next day, but she behaved so badly all morning that she finally had it taken away. I felt bad for her, but I'm not rewarding bad behavior. I finally let Katy call a friend and I drove the two of them to the movie and paid their way in. I didn't want to sit through the film, so I left them there and picked them up later.

In house news...dare I say we might just close this time? I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like the 20th will be the big day. We have papers drawn up to submit an offer on a house after that. I do not want selling my house as a contingency on the offer, so we are waiting. The house we want has been on the market for well over a year, and I figure if it is snatched up during the next two weeks, I'm just not meant to have it! Interestingly, as we were out driving around this evening in some of the neighborhoods currently under construction, we happened upon a man working on a place. He's an electrician by trade but also builds houses. We really liked him and he gave us a LOT of information. If the red house doesn't work out, we might look into having something built. I'm not crazy about waiting up to six months to get a house built, but it seems to be a very affordable option in this area, and it might even be a better way to go since we could get everything we want in a house for what we are offering on the other one. Plus, he told us of two plots available for sale in an area outside of town. You get three acres out there as opposed to a quarter acre in town for about the same price. That got John's attention. He wants to be able to shoot off fireworks in the worst way. We will call and arrange a meeting with him to find out pricing on what we want in a house. Before I hire him, though, I know I would have to check him out with my sister. She's the investigator for the state attorney general's office and her area is contractors and the construction business. If this guy passes her test, I think we will have a winner.

More when I know more!

Good Day

With the winter we've had, the stress of trying to sell the house, and illness all around, I haven't had many really good days lately. Today was one. It started off with an early morning walk with the dog before everyone else woke up. I don't ordinarily do mornings by choice, but Shona had kept me up most of the night with her coughing and it was listen to it more or get up and do something. After my walk and shower, the mortgage man called to say we'd been pre-approved for a loan and for even more than I was expecting. That doesn't mean I want to borrow more than we'd planned because I know our comfort level on a mortgage payment, but it's nice that they have faith in us.

Next up, I did some research for Katy. She'd asked to go take her learner's permit test at the DMV, and we knew it was only during certain days of the week. Sure enough, it was Thursday. I was afraid I didn't have the right ID for her since I couldn't find her birth certificate (I need to order it again), but they take passports as proof of ID...even expired ones, so we were good to go. She took her test and passed on the very first try, but their machine was broken and they couldn't get her processed for her permit. We'll go back tomorrow or Saturday for it, but I'm very proud of her. It wasn't until after we left that she admitted she'd only read through half the book. Geez. Teens!

I had an eye appointment, at which I was going to gripe at the doctor because it took them TWO MONTHS to get me in for a simple follow up, but I was in too good of a mood. Even Shona puking in McDonald's didn't phase me and normally it would. Nope, not today. Not even when I had to clean it out of her leather shoe later because she was in the process of putting her shoes on when the heaving started and she was using the shoe to catch it. That's probably more of an image than you needed, huh?
I bought both girls a rubber duck at Wal Mart while we were there. It was just a silly thing, they both wanted one and I was in the mood. They have been squeaking them all afternoon. I also relented and bought some bleach to tip the ends of Katy's hair with. She loves it and now wants to add a little splash of purple at the very edges. Oh, the fun of a girls' day out. The bad part is John has the camera out of town and I didn't get to capture a thing on film.

Quick update

The weather has been gorgeous here. It has topped 80* several times, has been so breezy and pretty, and I've seen my share of birds and butterflies. Ahhhhh spring. I love it!
In house news, much as I hate to even update it for fear of jinxing something, we are under contract again. This is likely the last chance as far as selling it goes. If this contract goes under, we'll probably have to move back to the old house and spend another miserable decade working on that place. I really don't want to think about it, but it could happen. Keep your fingers crossed.
The kids and John are off for the week thanks to spring break. I might be climbing the walls by the time they go back to school. Two days in and I want to tear my hair out. It doesn't help that Shona is sick and whining. Here's to the week passing quickly!

A New Me?

I have been seriously working on losing weight since the beginning of the year. I decided it was a now or never situation and I was sick of feeling tired all the time but tired of hearing myself whine about it. As of today I've lost 30 pounds. However, I've been avoiding clothes shopping because I have a lot more to lose and don't like those "in between" clothes. I also hate clothes shopping in general because I'm forced to look at myself in a mirror, a fate worse than death in my book. I'd rather go to the dentist and have my teeth drilled. The only problem with my avoidance tactic is that my pants keep almost falling off. Not just in a "ha-ha, look at me, I've lost so much weight my pants are loose" kind of way. No, I mean I was giving Shona a piggy back ride one day and very nearly mooned my neighbors. Not good. I hate belts, too, and the pants are so baggy that if I did belt them I'd look like a wannabe hip hopper. Not going to happen. So....much as I dreaded it, I went to wally world for cheap "in between" stuff today. I was so shocked when I found out I no longer am a plus size. How can that be? I've been a plus size for over a decade. My brain hasn't quite wrapped around that fact yet, and it might not for a good, long while, but I think I can get used to shopping in the normal size range. Then John took me to the men's T-shirt section because I tend to prefer the heavier weight of men's T-shirts. No 2X for me. Not even a 1X. I wore a men's large. That's unreal to me. What a moment. I can't believe I've come this far. I'm only two more sizes away from my goal and now I have no doubt I really will get there. Until today, there was always the shadow of a doubt in my mind, but not anymore. I really AM going to get there and that knowledge renews my vigor and determination.

A Scrapper's Life

I have been getting a LOT of scrapping done this week. What a great feeling. I was blocked for so long and the sketch and ad challenges have been like cheating. This is my current favorite, Shona swinging in the breeze mid summer. I hate to admit I used my own sketch, but I did. I still love the way it turned out. The truck picture is my second favorite. I was wary of that kit when I first got it, but once I busted it open, it became one of my all time favorites. You just never know!



House news? Yeah, but nothing worth mentioning. Won't even bother.

Tomorrow we go shopping for the girls. Katy is in dire need of a few clothing items and I need to finish birthday shopping for Shona. That could prove difficult with her along, but I need to shop for Katy and I won't do that without Katy along, so that's that.
Spring Break is coming soon, but John will be gone for most of that. I was hoping to get a lot of work done to the house during that week, but it doesn't look likely anymore. They would have to schedule a seminar out of town during that time. Oh, well. We'll just have that much more work to do to the place before we can really be settled this summer. The one big thing I was hoping to get finished up was Shona's room. We need to frame in a closet, put up the drywall in the closet and hire a drywall finisher. After that, we lay the flooring, paint and move her in.

I'm off to do more scrapping since I won't get to this weekend. Have a wonderful week.

Scrapping away

Those are my little head butters. They make me so proud. Nothing new on the homefront, so to speak. The kids are doing fine in school, John is still ticked about the housing situation and is grasping at straws in the hopes of keeping his teaching position here. We do still have 2 1/2 months in which the house could sell and we won't have to move back, but I have officially stopped considering that as an option. He doesn't comprehend that I can't do that happy-go-lucky, super positive upbeat role. You'd think he would know after almost 17 years that I will never be that person. He's welcome to be the optimist. I don't consider myself a pessimist, more of a realist. I think it's important not to kid yourself, to be prepared for the worst. I still hope for the best, I just don't EXPECT it, and therein lies the difference between us.

Scrapaddict is having a week long crop and I've been cranking out Christmas layouts as fast as I can. I was going to print pictures to fit the sketches I wanted to do, but then I looked at the stack of pictures I already have sitting here needing to be scrapped, and I am going to force myself to use as many as I can from that stash first. I have been blocked for so long I'm hoping this drags me out of my rut. Onward through the fog.

Easy Come, Easy Go

Friday we found out our buyer backed out. Again. This is the fourth buyer to back out without so much as an inspection. The first couple backed out because they were unable to sell their house. I can't even remember the other two, just that it was ridiculously silly stuff, but this one just plain got cold feet. I'm really angry and I'm tired of the whole house selling experience. I'm tired of getting burned by insincere buyers. Why would you even put in an offer if you aren't sure that's what you want to buy? Maybe an inspection would change your mind, but if you don't even get that far, you should have to pay a penalty. I didn't used to think that way, but I sure do now. There should be some sort of penalty for stringing people along in the real estate market.
In any case, we've resigned ourselves to moving back to our house and moving on with life. In a way it's a relief and not a huge surprise that it's ending this way, I just wish we hadn't wasted a year of our lives and a LOT of money on rent here just to go right back to square one. At least John got a year of teaching experience out of the deal, so all is not lost.

Big Decisions

So, in the spirit of believing our house sale is going to go through this time, we went house hunting this weekend. We are just so ready to move on with the next phase of our lives and tired of the waiting, we needed to start. Saturday, we went to look at four houses. The first was in a wonderful neighborhood, had a phenomenal yard and came with a sun room and a hot tub. I still like it, but when we sat down to really discuss it later, we realized the layout of the place just would not work for our needs. It's a shame, because the neighborhood was so wonderful. There was also a little work to be done and I don't want another project house.

The second house we looked at was wonderful. It was so beautifully finished inside there would be very little to do to it. The kitchen was beautiful, the three living spaces (yes, three!) were plenty of room for everything, but the down side was there was only one full bathroom and the other half bath was way in the back of the house. The bedrooms seemed a little small to me, and the back yard wasn't fenced in. There also was no basement, which I really want because we living in tornado alley. It did have a great deck, though, and the garage was nice.





Our third stop was a house the realtor had heard wonderful things about and once we visited, we could not understand why. It was awful. I guess some people were dazzled by the fact that it had a pool out back, but the house itself was awful. The worst feature was an ugly, old pink tub that was installed into the floor in such a way that the top edge of the tub was at floor level. Ugh! Why!?

Our fourth stop was the red house I've been in love with since our first visit last November.



I know, I know, they say not to get emotionally attached to a house before you buy it, but I'm not sure I would want to buy a house I didn't feel some sort of attachment to. Why else would I want to live there? I just can't walk in that place without it calling my name. I love the history, the charm, the old feel to it. It comes from another era and doesn't resemble these horrible cookie cutter houses that are plaguing the suburbs. I'm sure we'd run into projects and issues with it, but I just love that house. Down sides? Only a one car, detached garage and John would have to go up and down stairs to the basement in order to get to his train area and woodworking shop. I'm not sure how many more years John will be able to maneuver stairs, so that's a big consideration. It's going to be quite the decision in the next few months, and we're just getting started.