Random

Just a random photo......

So I'm getting stuff done. Worked almost the whole day yesterday (took a break to eat lunch and another to make/eat dinner. I got a lot done. I was hoping to get more done today but I went to the Antique Mall....probably for the last time, sniff, sniff. Also had lunch with my hubby, tonight I am off to The Web with the boys and the neighbor girls. We allowed each of them to pick one activity they wanted to do before we left and they both wanted the same thing, score!

One of the things I've been doing a lot of is looking through this site:

http://favoritepaintcolors.blogspot.com/

I am SOOOOOO sick of "trying to sell my house so I can't have any fun colors or photos of my family on my walls"

I am thinking of painting the kitchen a turquoise-ish color. Not too bright, not too pastel, something fun and non brown. The cabinets will be white and there is so little wall space in the kitchen I think it will be fine. What do you think? Here are just a few (very few) of the colors I am considering....

Beyond the color on these walls don't you love the storage and the picnic table? I'm thinking of doing similar storage in the boys playroom when we move.

The home inspection was finally scheduled for Monday. Chris will walk me through the house and take a whole bunch of measurements for me and then I'll be heading to ikea before we move--not for everything but we at least need some storage for the playroom and I'd like to get some expedit for the family room. Speaking of ikea, another site I've been looking at lately is http://www.ikeahackers.net/ it's fun to look at others creativity.

That's it for now. My head is still swimming with things to do so I'm going to tackle a few before I pick the kids up from school.

Have a great day.

An ode to Jenny

Is an ode a poem? If so, then I guess I shouldn't call it an ode. This is perhaps better described as a letter to a dear friend.

So I have this friend. Her name is Jenny and she is awesome. Seriously.

She Rocks!

She makes her husband breakfast every morning and even packs a lunch for him.

(My husband is lucky if he gets dinner).

She is a very giving wife!

She plans crafts for her kids, enrolls them in fun classes, supports their interests, goes outside and plays tennis, basketball, baseball, etc with them.

She is a wonderful mom!

She goes out of her way to save coupons and magazines for me. She makes homemade cards for friends and relatives.

She is a generous friend!

So why am I writing this, because I want to cheer her up. Jenny is pregnant with her 4th bundle of joy and some relatives made not nice comments to her this past Easter weekend and I want her to know she is beautiful and loved. Not only is she pregnant with #4 but her husband commutes to work 45 minutes away which means he is often home after she goes to bed (he's a principal and stays for sporting events, etc). And if that's not enough on her plate her house is on the market and has been for the last two years. She is handling it all with grace and love.

I love being around her, she is funny, kind, creative, caring, and just a wonderful person. I know that if I had everything going on that she does that I would not be 1/2 the person she is.

Jenny, I adore you. If you need me to bring some duct tape and rope to your next northern Ohio event I will only be 2 hours away and I'd love to kick some tooshie on your behalf.

I'll miss you dear friend.

3rd time is the charm

So....we are hoping that the 3rd time really is a charm. This is our new house. Chris bought it on his own.....I have never seen it, except for these pictures.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1480-Canterbury-Lane_Fairview-Township_PA_16415_M47859-44833

I trust him. Looks like a great house, except when I ask him questions he gives me blank looks. He will go up for the home inspection and we plan to video chat so he can walk me through and I can ask away. :)

I have 2 weeks until the movers come so I am trying to do a final purge and get the house in order.

Have you ever had so much on your plate, so much to do that it renders you unable to do anything? Hoping to do a brain dump today so that I can start attacking things little by little and it doesn't all seem so overwhelming.

What's on my mind today?

Buster's home. We picked him up Friday from doggie boot camp where he has lived for the past month. He is like a changed dog. As well he should be for all the money we paid. He has to wear a leash and pinch collar for the next week as he gets used to the fact that we mean what we say. I think the girls wish he'd go away because they aren't allowed on the furniture anymore and we are making Izzy wear her bark collar. They want it back the way it used to be when they ran things. But I am loving it. It is so calm. No tipped garbage, no opened freezer, no yelling at Buster for getting into the sink or eating toilet paper or underwear! It's lovely.

I need/want a haircut. I really like Callie's hair on Grays but I think mine is too fine. I've been searching for one I love, one that is super easy but I haven't come across one yet......

Our Erie house underwent her inspection today. She has been very neglected, poor girl. The attic is covered in mold, the furnace exhaust goes into the attic space but the attic isn't ventilated properly for the carbon monoxide to escape...... The gas has been shut off by the utility company--we assume for unpaid bills. Our contract says all utilities are to be on for the inspection, the seller is playing dumb saying he didn't know it had been turned off--there is actually a physical lock on the on/off valve put there by the utility company. So frustrated! We are giving him until tomorrow to turn the utilities back on or we are withdrawing our bid. Even if he gets that done he's going to have to find 2-6K to fix the mold in the attic......It isn't looking good for this guy or us for that matter. To top it all off there aren't any houses in our price range that we would even consider bidding on at this point.

Aiden came home today with an oops. He hit another child. He was trying to hit her bear but accidentally hit her. When asked why he said "because I felt like it" Grrrr. He's been having major respect issues at home and now it's bleeding over into school. Luckily he has an appointment with his psychologist tomorrow.

Just a few of the things on my mind right now.....I'm sure there are lots of others that I just can't put my finger on right now.

Good-bye Cinci! Hello Erie!

It was mean of me to say I was back and then suddenly leave again but the last 2 weeks have been CRAZY! We spent part of the boys spring break in Erie to introduce them to their school and the area, we went to Pittsburgh for the day to go to museums, etc. It was a great trip, more on it later. Then when we got home I went to a homeschool conference in Cinci--more on that later too.

Then on that Saturday April 2nd my prayers were answered and we accepted an offer on our house. YAY!!!!

My mom came on Tuesday to take care of the boys so we could go back to Erie to find a new house. We only had 3 on our list so we thought it would be fairly easy. But home buying never is, is it? We made an offer on one property on Wednesday but after their counter we withdrew the bid. The house was a bit small for us and although the lot was plenty big to expand there weren't a lot of families, or kids close to our kids ages in the neighborhood.

On Thursday we went back out after looking at a few properties that weren't going to work--one Chris wouldn't even go in to because it reeked of smoke so bad. I basically ran through that house because the smoke smell was so overpowering. It actually made me sad because it was a house we might have considered but we were never going to be able to get that smell out of the house.

We went back to one property that was VERY overpriced but in a fabulous neighborhood. We made an offer and then a counter and then another counter and finally reached an agreement today (Monday). We still have the home inspection to go through and we may withdrawal our offer if there are too many hidden fixes that we haven't already seen.

So here's the house.......

The front....garage is on the side of the house. Lots of very mature trees.
Formal dining room. Owner is leaving the dining room set. Not sure if we will sell or keep.
Kitchen. It's in bad need of updates. Will start by painting the cabinets....then we'll start replacing appliances as our finances allow.
Backyard. It's smaller than we have now. Only about a 1/4 of an acre, we have almost 1/2 an acre now. But the yard has lots of mature trees and the boys don't play much in the yard anymore. I am excited to finally have a hammock!!
Formal Living room. It's quite large! It will become the boys game room as there isn't a finished basement and we don't plan on finishing the basement because it's not that big.
Family room. Complete with fireplace. YAY! (The other house didn't have a fireplace.)
Didn't really get good pictures of the bedrooms (there are 4). here is the master.
Here is what will be my craft room/guest room.

We are so very excited. Hoping that the home inspection goes well.

⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5-7