Thursday Thirteen #14 for me

Thirteen things we've done in the past few months to get our house ready to sell 1. painted the inside of the house 2. removed wallpaper in the kitchen, dining room, E's room, both bathrooms, and the breakfast room - I will NOT have wallpaper in my new house! 3. hired someone to clean up the front yard, trim hedges, and put new pine straw around the natural areas - curb appeal, baby 4. repaired low window sills that our cute, but very destructive puppy, had chewed to smitherines - No wonder we only kept him 6 months! 5. replaced carpet throughout the house that our cute, but very destructive puppy, used as his personal potty 6. repaired the wall where our cute, but very destructive puppy, chewed through the plaster at the corners of some of the walls 7. rented a storage building so that we could clear out some clutter - trying to make the house look bigger by having less "stuff" in it 8. packed, hauled, and stored at least 60 boxes in the storage building 9. cleaned out the basement - or at least started- We sent a ton of stuff to the American Kidney Foundation 10. put a "For Sale" sign in the yard and at the entrance of the subdivision - Evidently, you're not allowed to put one at the entrance of the subdivision on a road that is owned by the state. The sign was removed within a few hours. 11. cleaned out every closet and drawer to get rid of clothes and things we can no longer wear or use 12. replaced the towel racks and "hardware" in the bathrooms to look fresh and new 13. replaced air vents that looked old and one that was bent due to our son's curiosity about where the vent would lead




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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Sunday Seven

Seven significant scenes from this past week.

1. I thoroughly enjoyed watching my youngest daughter play basketball. It is her first season to play and their team had only won one game until yesterday. They won. That was fun, but the thing that was the most fun was to watch her become at ease on the court. She felt more confident and relaxed and had fun! It's fun to watch your child do something they really enjoy.

2. I had the opportunity to spend Saturday with my parents. I haven't seen them in a while and they came to Nat's game. Afterward, we just hung out at home and talked. It's always so good to spend time with them and chat!

3. We had dinner this week with RJ's family. What fun! All of us (with the exception of one child who was attending a birthday party) around one big table, eating, talking, and catching up.

4. RJ and I have talked a lot this week about "the house" and "the land". We've made some big decisions that have had to be changed and we've made new decisions this week. He's a very level-headed, calm man. That calms me.

5. I got back in touch with old friends this week. I have 2 college friends that I haven't seen in almost 3 years. I miss them! However, life had gotten hectic lately and we'd not kept in touch as closely as we usually do. By "we", I guess I mean me. I was the weak link. But they kept on sending notes and this week, we've connected again through email - much easier to me than phone or snail mail. I love hearing what's going on in their lives again!

6. I turned in my preference form at work stating that I would be seeking employment in another county for the next school year. I've been at this school for 14 years and I've loved it. It's an excellent school, but I'm ready to make the move - and now it's becoming "official" that I'm leaving.

7. It's not been a restful week, but it's been a productive one. My grandmother has said that often the things we DON'T do wear us out more than the things we DO. That's definitely true in my life. This week, I was able to catch up on many things that have been on my TO DO list much too long.

A Done Deal...Again

Can you picture a house sitting here, looking out at the mountain? I can. It will be our house. RJ and I started an adventure in house-building last summer. It is January 25 and we've yet to break ground. When we started looking for land on which to build, we settled on this 10 acres very quickly. It is gorgeous! The very back of the property is a huge field, and the rest of it is wooded and fairly flat. From the very beginning, I could see our three children growing up on this property, playing in the woods, running in the field, and enjoying the outdoors. Toward the back of the property there is a slight rise of the earth which would make the perfect spot for the house. That's where this picture was taken. We bought this property before really looking at any other pieces of land, contracted a builder, picked out a house plan, signed a contract, had the building site cleared of trees, and had a date for the building to begin.

Then, the adventure really began. To make a long story short, due to a subdivision developer who made us an offer on the land, we changed builders and house plans, signed a contract to sell the land, searched for a different piece of property, and signed a contract (after many, many hours scouring the city) on a smaller parcel of land which happened to be right across the street from this lot. We switched gears - went to plan B. Plan B is never easy for me. Well, yesterday, plan B started to crumble before our very eyes. Today, plan B is history. As much as I resisted plan B when it started, it was hard to watch it fall apart. The developer of our original 10 acres is backing out of the deal, which means we can't buy the 4 acres, which means we're back to plan A. I like plan A. Here is our future home site - the place my children will grow up. We loved it the first time we saw it, and it's easy to come back to now. We hope to close on the construction loan within 2 weeks and start building by the end of February. I'll keep you posted.

Thursday Thirteen # 13 for me

Thirteen Things I've missed about blogging! This is not an exciting or even terribly interesting post. But, hey, at least it's a post. I'm taking baby steps back to the blog. 1. expressing my thoughts 2. having an outlet for my emotions 3. having some time to myself to think and type 4. feeling like part of the "blogging community" - something bigger than just my little section of the world 5. feeling in touch with family - Many of my family members blog, and I like to read what they write. 6. keeping a "journal" for my children to read sometime in the future 7. checking everyone else's blogs - I miss reading about what's going on with everyone else. 8. thinking - Not that I don't think all the time anyway, but there are some clever blogs out there that make me laugh, smile, wonder, and think. 9. having time write - which is something I really enjoy 10. participating in all the little memes 11. reading everyone's answers to all the cute little memes 12. venting, contemplating, considering, organizing, ranting, raving - I missed a venue for my feelings 13. Sunday Seven - One of my favorite memes - an opportunity to count my blessings regularly and frequently


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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Thursday Thirteen - #12 for me

It's hard to believe that the Thursday Thirteen meme has been around for 102 editions! Some people, like my mom at Daddy's Roses, have written posts for almost ALL of these editions! Wow, I'm in awe of that! I've written a whopping 11 Thursday Thirteen posts, and haven't written a new one for several weeks. Here are 13 reasons I haven't written a TT in weeks. 1. I can't think of anything else to write about! I hate to think that I've only got 11 ideas in my head, but that seems to be cold, hard fact. 2. I haven't been able to write anything lately. I don't know what's up, but the computer and blogging time just haven't floated my boat lately. I've enjoyed reading other blogs, but can't seem to write on my own. 3. Woops! There's only 2 reasons - not 13. See what I mean?

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Sunday Seven - # 12 for me

Where do I begin?! It's been an incredible week! Here are a few of the highlights.

1. We were able to go and see my family last weekend. We had fun visiting.

2. We brought our nephew home. He's a trip! We had a wonderful time taking him to basketball camp each day. We were able to see his final scrimmage and awards program. He won top score for the week in the daily hot shots contest they had! He did great and it was fun to see him play basketball! The kid can hit a shot from anywhere on the court!

3. Each afternoon after the camp, the boys and I would take a fun "field trip." We had fun skating, bowling, painting pottery, and playing at Chuck E. Cheese! But, some of the most fun we had was playing video games together at home!

4. My girls stayed with my parents for the week. They had a blast playing with their cousins and seeing family. They were able to go swimming and bowling, see Rae play basketball and LaD play tennis!

5. We've had a roller coaster of a week involving some property we want to purchase. It's 10 beautiful acres that could be a great sight for a future home. However, we've run into some snags with the survey. The deal's been on again and off again all week - frustrating and emotional, but we want to make sure it's the correct survey before we purchase. Thank goodness RJ caught the mistake on the original survey!

6. We worked together in the basement yesterday. I have worked this summer to get the upstairs cleaned out and organized. Now that the upstairs is looking good, the basement needs the same treatment. It's going to be a huge job, but now we've officially started.

7. We are five again. Years ago when E was three years old, our oldest daughter went on a camping trip with her girl scout troop. E has always been fascinated with numbers and was very aware that our family was not all together. We did some shopping the night B left and E sat in the shopping cart and repeatedly said, "We're not 5. We're 4." Our family of 5 was missing one and it bothered him. Well, we're 5 again after being apart this week. It feels wonderful to be back together.

The Three Blowing Lily Pads

In Art class, E's kindergarten group had been studying different mediums when he created his masterpiece. He used paint as his water background. Then, he used textured paper and crayons to make the lily pads that he cut out and glued on the painted water. He envisions the lily pads drifting across the water as the wind is blowing. E's art work adorns our living room in along with B's and N's.