What happened?

Well I have no clue what happened last night, but my 2nd post of the day seemed to make the 1st post of the day appear. Go figure.

Last night I found out that a very wise friend has entered the blogging world. Go check out Jim's Journey. He has some good stuff to say. Me, I just ramble... but he knows how to think.

Lots of good stuff going on here, but I am unable to express it. Suffice it to say I am learning more and more of God's faithfulness, even when I am not at my most faithful. I am so glad he doesn't wait until I deserve to be blessed to shower me; otherwise it would never happen. On the contrary, he does just the opposite. It's mindboggling.

2nd post of the day

But the 1st was eaten by Blogger. Doggone this thing!

Halle is getting closer and closer to 100%. The virus she had totally knocked her for a loop. Monday she still didn't have much of an appetite and was very tired all day. On Tuesday she ate a little better, but still wound up sleeping a lot. Today she ate even better (but still not as well as usual) and managed to stay awake all day. She did have to sit out bowling, though. It was too much for her. She picked up the ball and said, "This feels heavier than it used to be." Hmm, could the fact that my tiny little girl lost 5 pounds in less than a week have anything to do with it??? She bowled 2 frames before deciding she needed to "just watch."

Had a pretty good day today. Ordered some new stuff for the kids' schooling and made plans to go to the state Christian homeschool convention on Friday so I can shop for more.

Tomorrow will be filled with WW weigh-in and ladies' prayer/study group during the day and taekwondo for kids at night. We'll find out then which of the kids will be testing for a new belt on Saturday morning. I'm pretty sure Halle will be; Noah might also.

Time to hit the hay...

Still working on normal

Whatever crud the kids picked up is taking Halle forever to get rid of. I am hoping today is the day she is finally back to normal. She has just not had much energy at all these last few days.

We now have our temporary living quarters lined up. It is going to be a bit of a challenge stuffing all 6 of us (plus the dog) into less than 1300 sq. ft. We'll be moving things over there on the 9th of April and having everything in the house packed and moved on the 11th, 12th, and 13th. We'll be there until we head to California around June 1. I'm not sure whether we are moving our internet access to our temporary digs or not, so it is possible my blog will be silent for a couple of months. *Gasp*

We took the kids to see Ice Princess yesterday afternoon. It was a good movie.... actually rated G, a rare thing these days! Probably not one we'll buy when it comes out, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Guess I'll cut this short, as I have a little one here asking for breakfast.

Where do I start?

I don't know where to begin to tell you about my weekend. There is no one word to describe it. I felt horrible for leaving my husband here with the 2 sick kids, but there wasn't much else we could do. Thankfully they are both pretty much back to normal now. They spent most of the weekend watching DVDs with their dad and sleeping a lot.

I made it to Kansas City a little before 7:30 Friday night, picked up my room key and tossed my bags in the room, then got to work helping judge the display events (drawings, paintings, sculptures, mixed media, photos, scrapbooks, banners, bulletin boards). My kids were already working on their first event of the weekend, Bible Bowl. I finally saw them around 9:30 or so during the opening session. Emily asked to spend the night in her best friend's room, so Noah and I got our hotel room to ourselves the first night. I don't know when the last time I've had a bed to myself was!

Saturday was filled with going from meeting room to meeting room to view and/or judge events. I judged the 3rd-6th grade song leading event. It is so neat to watch these young kids. I was able to see Noah's first foray into puppeting, as he was part of a skit enacting the story of the prodigal son. Emily's puppet skit was going on during my song leading judging, so I missed it; I'll get to see it when the kids perform for the church in a couple of weeks.

The kids all did a great job in their events. Noah cracked everyone up after his drama; he was playing Zacchaeus (the wee little man who climbed a tree to see Jesus). At the conclusion of his skit, while the actors were trooping off the stage, he grabbed a mike and said, "God bless America, folks!" There was no rock for me to crawl under.... Thankfully everyone found it to be quite amusing. It will be one of those stories we tell for years, I imagine. I am also glad the judges didn't mark the kids down for that. They all received a gold medal for their skit.

After closing ceremonies, a group of about 40 of us from our entourage went to Jack Stack BBQ a few blocks from the hotel. We had a YUMMY dinner and enjoyed relaxing with each other after the hectic events of the day. I think most of us pretty much crashed in our rooms once we got back.

Sunday morning brought an intimate worship in our congregation's suite on the top floor. We filled the room... kids on the floor, adults on the furniture. We called Brian on the cell phone and Noah talked to him for a bit. That probably wasn't a good idea, as Noah wound up in tears for the first half of worship, missing his dad. After all, his dad had been gone all week before he left... he hadn't seen him for more than 15 minutes in the last week.

Checked out of the hotel afterwards and headed towards home.... about 20 of us stopped at Cracker Barrel in St. Joe for lunch. I made it home shortly before 5 pm. The kids were happy to see us and we were glad to be home. Rather worn out, that's for sure!

Now it's time to work on all the little details for getting ready to move into temporary quarters before we close on the house on the 14th.

A little inspiration

I just found this in my drafts folder today; I had originally gotten this post together back in March of 2005! I had to look and see why I didn't get it posted and it turns out it was during a rare time of illness in our house prior to Easter weekend that year, when I had 2 little ones battling an intestinal illness. Yeah, real life gets in the way sometimes!

My sources tell me this was written by Bobette Bryan.

Now That's God

It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through.

Every day, my husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone off. If we didn’t see some rain soon...we would lose everything.

It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes. I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year-old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn't walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort ... trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches; thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an hour: walking carefully to the woods, running back to the house.

Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be seen...as he was obviously doing important work and didn't need his Mommy checking up on him). He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked, being very careful not to spill the water he held in them ... maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his little face, but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site.

Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him...he didn't even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn lying on the ground; obviously suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy's hand. When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree.

I followed him back to the house to a spigot to which we had shut off the water. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip, drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup," as the sun beat down on his little back. And it came clear to me: The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me to help him. It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him.

His little eyes just filled with tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he said. As he began his walk, I joined him...with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, other drops...and more drops...and more suddenly joined them. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride.

Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. Those miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can't argue with that... I'm not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm...just like the actions of one little boy saved another.

I don't know if anyone will read this...but I had to send it out. To honor the memory of my beautiful Billy, who was taken from me much too soon... But not before showing me the true face of God, in a little, sunburned body.


*~THAT'S GOD ~*

Have you ever been just sitting there and all of a sudden you feel like doing something nice for someone you care for?

THAT'S GOD! He speaks to you through the Holy Spirit

Have you ever been down and out and nobody seems to be around for you to talk to?

THAT'S GOD! He wants you to speak to Him.

Have you ever been thinking about somebody that you haven't seen in a long time and then next thing you know you see them or receive a phone call from them?

THAT'S GOD! There's no such thing as coincidence.

Have you ever received something wonderful that you didn't even ask for, like money in the mail, a debt that had mysteriously been cleared, or a coupon to a department store where you had just seen something you wanted, but couldn't afford.

THAT'S GOD. . He knows the desires of your heart. .

Have you ever been in a situation and you had no clue how it is going to get better, but now you look back on it?

THAT'S GOD! He passes us through tribulation to see a brighter day.

What next?

I guess I spoke too soon. Joel threw up at the end of taekwondo class last night, and Halle woke up doing the same at 4 o'clock this morning. So our plans for the weekend have radically changed. Brian will be staying home with the sick ones while the 2 older ones and I go to Kansas City for our LTC convention. I've already sent the big kids on their way with friends so they will arrive in time for the Bible Bowl event tonight at 7. I have to wait for Brian to get home from work (another unplanned thing... he wasn't supposed to have to work today) before I can go. A friend is going to ride down with me to keep me company, as I don't have a great history of driving long distances in the evening. Seeing as how I never really went back to sleep this morning, it is a very good idea.

I'll "see" you all when we get back Sunday afternoon.

Karen

OK, today is the day. I really mean it.

Thanks for all the sympathy and well-wishing yesterday. I think it worked. Only one other incident of spew and it was before 9 a.m. It did affect my day, though. I didn't get all the things done I had planned to, which leaves trying to get it all done before taking the kids to bowling this afternoon. Oh, and with the addition of getting all the kids bathed and showered before we go (although why I bathe them before going into a smoky-smelling bowling alley, I don't understand.... but we have church after that and not enough time for baths and dinner between bowling and church.).

Here's to a day of much greater productivity.

It's everywhere, it's everywhere!

Little did I know my morning would begin like a bad scene from Daddy Daycare. As I began to settle in here for my morning blog ritual, I hear a small voice say, "Mommy, I need you." That phrase will forever strike terror into my heart. I went upstairs to find Joel standing by the railing outside his room. "I puked in my bed." I begin the process of cleaning that up and am carrying the pile of laundry downstairs when he cries for help again. Arms full of sheets and blankets, I tell him I'll be there in a minute... get the laundry started on the sanitary cycle, and then return to the bathroom upstairs. This is where it gets horrifying.

It looked as though a veritable Vesuvius had erupted. Joel's legs were streaked with poo, it was in puddles on the floor, in rivulets down the side of the toilet, and even in splatters on the front of the bathroom vanity cabinet. He was standing on the bathroom rug (now splotched and splattered as well). Taking a moment to recover from the stench, I searched out the bag of baby wipes and began cleaning him up as best I could. Once I got the better part of him done, I carried him to my shower to finish the job. Then began the Sisyphean task of cleaning the bathroom. Thank goodness for Scrubbing Bubbles Wipes!

One more load of wash to do from this incident and then hopefully it will all be over. No, that doesn't sound right. It's already been all over. Hopefully there will not be another chapter to this story.

He's how old??

Overheard:

Noah: I'm going to watch this Lindsay Lohan video (he's surfing Radio Disney on the other computer).

Joel: She's hot!!

Do I need to remind you that Joel is *4*?

Methinks the 13-year-old needs to watch her words when around the younger ones.

*************************************************************************

Today has been such a do-nothing day. At least not anything productive. Oh, ok... I did make reservations for our flight to CA next month, plus lodging and car rental reservations. But that's about it. Took the kids to MickeyD's so I could have girl-chat with my best friend. Then she took the kids back to her place to hang with her kids. I came home and spent a while looking at California-related stuff (housing, community theater, miscellaneous stuff) here online.

Tomorrow I buckle down. And take the kids with me.

Animal House

I was in here earlier IMing with my sister while the youngest 2 children were snacking on Chocolate Lucky Charms (sans milk) in the kitchen. Noah informed me with sadistic glee that they were making a mess. Halle and Joel told me not to come in, that they would clean it up. I gave them the chance, but when time was up I was greeted by quite a sight: A good half a box of cereal was scattered all over the kitchen floor. Turns out Joel wanted a food fight... and he got one.

I banished both of them upstairs with orders to get ready for bed. Emily and Noah helped me get the kitchen clean, then I went up and read Joel a couple of stories, turned out the lights and layed down beside him. He was asleep in less than 5 minutes. Halle tried to sleep in my bed, but I told her she lost that privilege by her behavior. I settled her in her room with her books and a flashlight (we need to get her a nightstand and lamp when we get moved). Noah and Emily got the privilege of popping popcorn and watching a movie. Here it is 8:30 at night, 1 kid is asleep, 1 is in bed, and 2 are being cooperative. Life is good.

What will tomorrow bring?

It's official!

The "SOLD" sign is now up. The house passed inspection with flying colors. Now all that is left is to make our temporary housing arrangements and schedule the dates for the movers to pack us out of here. Brian has an appointment next Friday morning to get the packing dates set.

So we spent the day at church, taking a 2-hour break to take the kids to see The Incredibles at the dollar theater. We had to clear out of the building for those two hours because there was a wedding using the building during that time. Afterwards, we went to Kobe Steakhouse for Brian's late birthday dinner and to celebrate the sale of the house. My best friend and her husband and kids came along, as well as our minister and his wife. Emily had a friend along as well; her best friend Ali is spending the night tonight. We had a great time, aside from my friend's youngest being a little frightened of the fire at the beginning of the meal. It was a new experience for all of them, and her kids learned that they do like Japanese food (at least the hibachi chicken). My kids have been eating hibachi/teppanyaki for pretty much all their lives, so it is old hat to them.

It has been a long day and I am more ready for bed than I think I ever have been.

Run here, run there...

GRRRR... Blogger ate my post. I've gotta get this thing moved to a new server. Oh Miss Zoot...

Anyway, what I was going to say in my last post was that I probably shouldn't even be sitting here... I need to be clipping coupons and throwing out old ones so that I can go grocery shopping this morning. The big kids have taekwondo at noon, so if I am to get the grocery shopping done before that, I have to be out of here by 9 or shortly thereafter, since it takes me a minimum of 1 1/2 hours to get the shopping done (drive time included). Then there is the hauling in and putting away....

Emily has a sleepover tonight, so I will need to run her to that. Then pick her up at 9:30 tomorrow morning to take her and Noah to LTC practice. Brian will stay here to supervise the house inspection and join us at the church building afterwards. The plan when that is done is to have a nice dinner out with friends to celebrate the sale of the house.

Sunday brings another trip out of town for Brian and another day-long event at church for the rest of us. I'm thinking maybe we will have our weekend on Monday and Tuesday... we need a little R&R.

Potpourri

Well, Brian's birthday wasn't a total bust... he actually made it home before 5:30. The kids met him at the door with birthday cards they had made for him. He liked the ITunes giftcard and car adapter for his IPod... now I have to find the other thing he needs to go with it; when I bought the adapter, I didn't read the fine print on the package which said he needs a Belkin TuneCast Mobile FM Transmitter or Cassette Adapter in order to hear it through his car stereo. And now that I have been reading reviews at the Apple website, I am thinking maybe I should just take it back. **sigh** But I digress. We had time to run to Wendy's before church for a quick dinner, then afterwards we headed across the street to Maggie Moo's for ice cream, accompanied by a couple of other families from church. Brian's mom called while we were there to wish him a happy birthday, as did our brother-in-law. All in all, it wasn't a bad day, considering he had to work. We figure we can really celebrate Saturday after the housing inspection is over... kind of a double celebration.

We had a great ladies' class last night. We started a new book, Managing Your Moods. I think this is going to be an awesome study. Last night we covered Chapter 1, "A Bundle of Emotions," and talked about how our moods can control us and how backwards that is to how it should really be. We shared a lot of laughter as well as some insightful thoughts on getting a handle on our moods. Next week, we will be covering "Happiness at Any Cost." We take turns facilitating the discussion each week, and I have signed up for Chapter 8, "Scattered." Hmm, I think I feel somewhat qualified to share some things about that!!

Today was another little brunch-type gathering for my friend Kami. She is in my ladies' small group that usually meets Thursday afternoons. Her parents were coming in from Searcy today at lunchtime, so we bumped up our meeting to this morning and had bagels at Panera together. It is hard to say goodbye and she keeps reminding us she will be back at the end of May for our minister's daughter's wedding. Then it will be time for us to say goodbye to everyone; that will be our last hurrah before we head to California.

Speaking of our minister... last week his mother died. He and his family got back from Arkansas Tuesday night, so last night was the first time we had seen him since getting the news. I told Halle and Joel about Mrs. White's passing earlier yesterday and said that Mr. Jim would probably appreciate a hug. So when we arrive at church, Halle happened to see Jim before she went to class. She went over and put her arms around him and patted his back and said, "I'm sorry about your mom." I was standing there and saw her and had one of those pleased mother moments. Later, at Maggie Moo's, Jim told me how Joel greeted him after class: "Your mom died. My mom says I should give you a hug." Out of the mouths of babes! But what I thought was really cute about Joel's reaction to the whole thing was when I told him and Halle that even though Mr. Jim was sad, he was also a little happy, because his mom loved God, Joel said, "Then she's ALIVE!" It was a really sweet moment. It's one of those things that makes you understand what Jesus may have been talking about when he said we should become as little children.

My, I wrote a book today... The kids are waiting for me to run them to a friend's house to play, so you are spared a longer entry!

Just another day

Today is Brian's 40th birthday. He has to work all day and then we have church tonight, so nothing special planned. We may not even have time for a nice dinner before church, as he may have to be there later than usual. Oh well, guess them's the breaks.

The house inspection is scheduled for Saturday morning. We had other plans, but apparently that is the only time it can be done, since the new buyers are supposed to be here for the last part of it. We are supposed to be having LTC practice all day (10-6); I'll head on to that with the kids and Brian can follow after the inspection is over.

On today's to-do list: put away laundry; bathe kids; wrap birthday present; have kids make birthday cards; bowling in the afternoon; church.

Passages

Try as I might, I can't stay asleep tonight.... went to bed early and keep waking up, so I decided to come downstairs and blog. Seems life is in such an upheaval these days. We signed a purchase agreement on our house this (Monday) morning. While I am glad we don't have to worry about selling it any longer (just waiting for the house to pass inspection), a big part of me also resents our buyers for insisting on an early moveout date for us. They are a small family of 4 whose belongings are already in storage.... yet they are asking us, a family of 6 plus a dog, to move out 6 weeks earlier than we need to. We will most likely wind up in a 3 BR furnished apartment of about 1200 square feet.... spending about $4-500 more per month on accommodations and utilities than we currently do in our 3400 square foot house. I resent their "We did this 4 years ago when we sold our house, and it was really easy and cheap." (Never mind it was only the 2 of them and an 18-month-old.) Add to that the insult of "If you have trouble selling your playset, we'll buy it for $500." (This is a Rainbow Monster Castle, which cost $7K 2 years ago.) I am just disgusted with the audacity and arrogance of these people! OK, breathe...

On to lighter subjects. Hubby's brush with fame wound up landing him on the local TV news as well, where they featured a clip showing his face on the Parade cover. Too bad they didn't try to contact him so he could correct the "registered nurse" part. One nice thing about the Parade exposure was that an old coworker from Eglin Air Force Base called to talk to him. He was wondering if the picture would bring any old acquaintances around...

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I am having lunch with girlfriends from church. It is a bittersweet day; we'll be helping one friend celebrate her birthday (which was last Tuesday) and saying goodbye to another. My friend Kami (the Creative Memories gal) is leaving this weekend to move back to Arkansas; she and her 3yo daughter will be joining her husband, who has been living down there without them since right after Thanksgiving. As of yesterday afternoon, her house here had not sold yet, but there was someone who had expressed an interest after seeing it Sunday afternoon. I'm hoping they have called her back and made an offer. It would be a perfect way to end this whole episode.

I think I'll see if my brain will let me sleep now.

All the news fit to print (at the moment)

Today's news:

1. Hubby did indeed make the front cover of Parade today. He is right next to Lindsay Lohan. I told him to enjoy it; it's probably as close as he's ever gettin' to her! He is also on the front page of the local paper and is featured in a short article on page 2. 15 minutes of fame.... of course, on the Parade cover, they referred to him simply as a "registered nurse," which miffed him a bit. I told him they couldn't fit "certified registered nurse anesthetist" on one line, but he countered with the thought that those last 2 words would have fit. I'm not sure why they didn't feel the need to more accurately describe his job title, because there is a big difference in earning between a traditional RN and a CRNA.

2. Last night was our benefit auction for the non-profit adoption agency. Our totals were down this year... many of our regular attendees and good bidders were out of town and not able to be there. But the ones that were there gave it the old college try. Some of our big-ticket items that brought in large bids: a queen/king denim quilt made by a group of ladies from church brought in nearly $500; a homemade chicken fried steak dinner for 8 went for around $300 (this is a popular item every year); and 2 season tickets to a local college basketball team's games garnered a little over $300. Much appreciation to everyone who bid.

Now, time for me to get the kids ready for church. It's another all-day Sunday. Just have to hold out till Easter and we'll be done!

Unbelievable

Less than one week on the market... and we have accepted an offer. We wound up with an offer $3000 less than our initial price, but well within our appraised range.... closer to the upper end than the lower. The one drawback is that we are agreeing to vacate by April 15, about a month earlier than I'd really like to. It will be interesting to see where we end up for the last 6 weeks before we head to CA. It is quite possible it will be a 3BR apartment.... won't that be interesting with a dog??? I've not done apartment life with a dog before, only houses with fenced yards.

The nice thing is that we will have closed before we move and will have the $$ in hand for first and last month's rent on a house in CA. We want to go out at the end of April and look for a place.... closing in the middle of April will be a big help.

Sure will be nice not having to worry about the house being in showing condition at all times. But I still hope we can keep it from getting super messy again.

OH! Before I forget... my hubby will be featured in Parade Magazine (the Sunday paper insert) this weekend. It is the annual "What People Earn" issue. He is supposed to be on the cover... I don't know if the cover is the same nationwide or if they change it for different regions. And I don't know whether it is the main picture or one of the smaller pictures on the cover. He was interviewed and photographed for an article for the local paper this week as well, once they found out there was a local person on the cover. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

On a roll

Good to see blogrolling is back up. That was just a bit scary this morning!

The people who looked at our house Wed. afternoon are coming back tomorrow morning. Plus, we had one couple look at the house this morning (they gave us 30 minutes notice.... they were ready to make an offer on a realtor-listed home when they found out about ours and wanted to see it first.). This couple came back AGAIN this afternoon and by 5 had an offer on the table. It was laughable, though... under appraised value, PLUS they wanted us to throw in our 2-year-old Rainbow play structure (big wood playset with fort, monkey bars, slide, 3 swings, tire swing, rock wall, trapeze bar, and air pogo) in for nothing. We have counter offered and are waiting to see what they say. Other not-so-good thing about their offer: They want to close next month. They are living in TLF (temporary living facility on base) and want out ASAP. I'm not keen on the idea; my husband is willing if they meet our price. I don't know where it will end up. I am hoping the other couple coming back will also make us an offer, one that is more attractive and won't require us to move out before we need to.

Found out today that one of my friends (my Creative Memories consultant) is moving next weekend. She and her husband have been separated (only geographically) since Thanksgiving; she has been here trying to sell their house while he has been in Arkansas at a new job. They have finally had enough of the separation and are listing their house with a realtor so she can take their 3yo and go live with him. I don't blame her. It has been a long winter. I am going to miss her. She is 10 years younger than me, but has so much spiritual wisdom; I've learned a lot from her. Plus, she knows how to make me laugh. Our loss is Arkansas' gain.

Where'd everybody go?

If this is someone's idea of a joke, it isn't funny. Blogrolling appears to be down, and my long list of reads is gone. So for now at least, I cannot read your lovely/thought-provoking/side-splitting/mind-blowing blogs.... which means I cannot comment on said blogs. Not fair. Not fair at all. You'll have to just imagine what I would have said. And let me know how you liked it. :O)

In other news, the people who looked at our house yesterday seemed to really like it. The wife was jonesin' over our finished basement. She is a Creative Memories consultant and could envision using the largest room to have her open houses/crops... and filling the storage closet (one whole wall) with her inventory. They made it sound like if they are able to get out of their lease before August (when it is up) that they would make us an offer. We could be hearing back from them by the weekend. This whole thing has led me to discover a downside to doing a FSBO: actually meeting all the potential buyers. It certainly helps one get one's hopes up much easier.

Still alive

Guess it was late Friday night the last time I posted.... it has been a whirlwind of activity around here and I have had very little time to do much of anything online, other than check email.

Saturday afternoon we took a break from getting the house ready for the open house and took the kids to a movie. We saw The Pacifier, with Vin Diesel. Great family movie! Our whole family enjoyed it and more than one person asked if we would be getting it when it is released on DVD. I imagine we will.

We were up pretty much all night Saturday night doing all those last minute things to get the house in order. The kids didn't even fall asleep until 1:30 or so... I had to go lay down with them to get them to sleep. I fell asleep and slept from 2-3, then got back up and worked until 5 or so. Slept till 7 and then got up (sans alarm, even) and got ready for church. Hubby slept till 8:15 then he did more stuff on the house while the kids and I were at church. Held the open house from 2-4 and had 5 people (pairs) come through; most said they were scoping houses for other people. I figure that wasn't too bad for our first day, especially with no advertising other than our signs. I did get a phone call today from someone who is coming to look on Wednesday; they are friends of someone who looked on Sunday.

My next big job is getting ready for the benefit auction for our non-profit adoption counseling agency... The auction is Saturday evening. I finished up the programs today and am making copies tomorrow. We have a meeting tomorrow night to finalize some things. The auction is always a lot of fun; lots of friendly competition.

Off to watch a movie with the kids...

Nearing the end

We are so close to being done!!! I hope any regular readers aren't tired of this saga, at least not any more tired of reading it than I am living it. Dear Kathy (the same Kathy who helped me get the kitchen unloaded after the carpet was installed in here) came over this afternoon and helped me get the basement put back together. It looks better than it ever has. (Dagnabbit... got the place lookin' all purdy and we has ta move!) Before she came over, I managed to get a load of laundry washed and dried, boxed up 2 or 3 more boxes of books, then taped up and labeled the 7 total boxes I had in here. We got those carried upstairs to the storage room over the garage tonight.

For a short while this morning, we thought Brian was going to end up with knee surgery today. One of his knees has been giving him grief for the past week and he finally had it looked at this morning. (There are certain advantages to being hospital personnel.... wait times tend to be much shorter for some things!) The orthopedic guy thought it was a torn miniscus (don't ask me what it is; I'm still not sure), but the MRI showed it wasn't torn yet. He has a bad sprain on one side and the other side looks bad, but not bad enough for surgery. So he is limping around and still planning on cleaning out the garage and taking stuff to storage tomorrow.

The plan is to get everything finished up tomorrow and have an open house Sunday. The weather is supposed to be very nice... near 70 degrees... so lots of people should be out looking. Mostly what we have left to do is get the garage cleaned out, clean and dust blinds, clean kitchen, lots of little things like that.

Puppy love

I caught some happy moments between Campbell and Noah tonight. Campbell is a fun dog to have around.

Here he is enjoying a Chew-Eez...

Campbell loves to use his paws like hands; I wonder if he wishes for opposable thumbs??

$300 later...

The kids have a new throne in their bathroom. I was wrong about why the old one was leaking; it was cracked. So now there is a shiny new one. It will be interesting to see how quickly it gets dirty.

Brian finished the landscaping today (mulching, spreading rocks, raking yard). Emily wrote her version of the day on her blog. A 13-year-old's viewpoint is rather different.

I didn't do nearly as much today as needed; I was gone the better part of the day. Before I left, I washed 3 loads of clothes and folded 1. Then I took the boys to get haircuts around 11:30 and afterwards went looking for house slippers for the 3 youngest. Found a pair of ballet house slippers in Halle's size, but other than that, no house slippers for kids at all. The boys wound up picking out some flip flops to wear around the house. Boxed up 4 or 5 boxes of books after I got home, helped pick up leaves and grass in the front yard, then went and bought some groceries at Super Target.

A neighbor down the street stopped by while we were outside raking; she is an Air Force spouse also. She and her husband will be moving the month after us and are getting ready to put their house on the market, too. She brought us a shamrock plant for luck. Wasn't that thoughtful?? So while I was at the store tonight, I bought a Sara Lee Dutch apple pie for her.... to put in the oven before someone comes to look at her house. I have heard from lots of people that good baking smells are a good thing to do when showing your home. (I bought one for us too.)

'Nuff said tonight. I am going to go relax with the kids before bedtime.

What'll they think of next???

Last night before bed, I was looking all over for Noah. Here's where I found him. No, he didn't sleep there, but I think he would have if we'd let him.

Bright beginnings

I got up this morning and hauled laundry down here to the beautimous laundry room. Brian did a great job on it last night (I didn't see it till this morning... I bailed on him and went to bed while he was still painting; of course, I got up before him, so it all evens out.) There is just something about clean walls. Now, if we can just keep them that way!!

I have the second of 3 loads of laundry going right now. The phone rang earlier and it is a plumber who is on his way to look at a couple of the toilets (they keep running.... you'd think they were preparing for the Boston Marathon. Plus one is leaking around the base; I think the guys who installed the vinyl in that bathroom last week didn't get the seal right when they put the toilet back in).

Just remembered some pictures I took last night... I think I'll get them off the camera and post a couple.

Shorter is better

At the risk of boring you all with another "what-I-did-today" post.... let's just say that I didn't do as much as I wanted to. Brian started prepping and painting the laundry room, so the 2 baskets of laundry I was going to wash today will have to wait for tomorrow. I mostly did some running around (3 oldest to taekwondo from 12-1 and 3 youngest to bowling from 3-4:30). Was able to get some cleaning done in bathrooms and kitchen as well.

The carpet guys showed up late this afternoon and got started on the basement. They were only here 2 hours (we had to leave to go to church) and they got the old carpet/pad removed from the largest section of the basement. They also put down the pad and have the new carpet cut and laid down. I have a feeling tomorrow isn't going to be as long a day as the others were. The stairs won't take as long as the ones on the main level because they don't have to be wrapped.

So the list of stuff to do is slowly getting shorter. We still have to get some smaller boxes to box up books to store, clean out the garage and move stuff to storage, paint the inside of the garage, and touch up a few places outside. I sure hope whoever buys the house appreciates all the work that has gone into it.

Fun with books

1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it. Just grab what is closest!

The Purse-Driven Life, by Anita Renfroe:

"Robin not only laughed about it in the moment but also continues to laugh about it twenty years later (we're still friends). Come to think of it, Robin is my only former cheerleader friend. I think the cheerleaders all stick together through life and may not befriend the lesser mortals as a rule."

Checking things off

Today was a fairly productive day. I managed to get the boys' bedroom picked up; cleaned out their closet; and straightened up their drawers and their bookcase. I'm still working on the ginormous pile of laundry they had stacked up in the corner. They are sleeping on freshly laundered sheets (ahh, nothing like sheets fresh from the dryer!). I also put together a storage unit that sits over the toilet in our bathroom. (We have one of those bathrooms where the toilet is separate from everything else and I needed a place to put things I didn't want sitting out in the open when people are coming to look at the house.)

Brian was busy as well. He got all the cellular shades installed in our bedroom and bathroom (4 windows), a curtain rod and valance hung over Emily's window, and new towel bars in the kids' bathroom. He also bought mulch and started covering the flowerbeds out front.

The basement was painted today and the carpet installers may be here tomorrow if they finish up early someplace else. Otherwise, it will be Thursday before they come. I just hope they can get it all done in one day if they have to wait till Thursday. I'm beginning to think we won't be putting the sign in the yard on Friday or having that Open House on Sunday.

Emily is trying to revive her blog and bugged her dad into starting one. Guess that makes us a blogging family. Most of the work on Brian's blog so far (except for his starter post) is Emily's handiwork. I think he needs to change his password so she can't mess with it any more.

I suppose that's all the news worth telling.

I've got it covered

Mrs. Rum asked me to post a picture of the piano bench after I finished it. Here it is!

This is a closer look at the fabric's design: