Things I don't like about moving:
I (WE) own too much stinkin' crap.
To be honest with you, I think I could clothe about 6 families our size. I didn't know this before - but as I pack up clothes and look at what is left in the closet, and still piled high in the laundry room... I am embarrassed. It is shameful.
Friends have asked if I need them to come help pack. (Refer to point one) I don't really want to say yes - because it is letting them into a place in your life you let VERY few people. "Come, please, see the inner workings of our house and every little last piece of junk that we have that we haven't thrown out for seven years."
I am out of shape. I moved...say 25 boxes today (packed ones) - and it was so painful! What??? I'm about to move 1,300 million boxes in a couple of weeks, and 25ish boxes wore me out??? This is not encouraging news.
You buy a house - you think.... but you really have no idea. I mean, you invest ALL this time, and money, and effort and yada yada yada.... and your buyers (of your house) can 'legally' walk at inspection, or survey, or inspection resolution, or appraisal, or when they blow their nose, or eat dinner...... (I think you know what I mean) It is really frustrating.
In a similar vein as point one, we have too many toys. I was 'never gonna raise spoiled kids'. Nope my kids were not going to be raised like kids that have it all. But, um.. they do. They have it ALL. As in ALL of Toys R Us, Walmart, and Target combined. And I'm trying to not take it ALL with us. It is pretty tough to clear out toys. First you have the obvious - "MOM!! Why is my crown in the trashcan!?!?" (This actually happened today.) Secondly - it is difficult to sell them at a garage sale (IF you have time to have one before moving day). The kids come out and see their *favorite* toy on the lawn... and you know....
Anyway, that is my gripe fest for the day. I know if we DO move... and I certainly hope we do....
We will forget these days the way women 'forget' the pain of labor, and the sleepless nights of infancy. I know we will 'love' the new house. I know it will all be worth it. I try to remember that on days like today. Days when I consider throwing in the towel on it all! ;)
Having kids makes it difficult to be the perfect mom...
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The interview
This is a little deep maybe. Has the potential for going a little long, perhaps a bit confusing... but I have some thoughts going on here......
I have this feeling.... a strong feeling, almost like a belief, about some things I will be seeing and doing and living through in the years to come. I 'see' how me and my husband can be used, to touch people, to minister, and to offer practical help. I see this with my mind's eye often. Almost daily. It is a position of leadership, per-se, but not a glamorous one. But a leader nonetheless.
If my 'mind's eye' and heart are correct, and this would come to pass one day - I figure I'm a shoo-in for the job. I mean, it's like Jennifer Aniston auditioning for a movie that stars Rachel Green. (for you that are not Friend's fans, Jen played Rachel in the series.) It's a given.
Anyway..... lately.... I feel like I'm being interviewed for my very own job. And yes, I'm being cryptic on purpose here, I'm not going to post all of my innermost heart thoughts on a public blog. For many reasons.... but I am talking about something spiritual here.
What I see in my future with my spirit (heart), I feel is being tested in the spiritual and physical now. It's almost like I feel God is saying, "Yes, that could be yours, but can you hack it??? Let's see..."
To tell you the truth, I really would like to earn His trust and favor, so I dearly want to nail this interview... but it's a doosie. At least, it feels like it.
I don't know if you have been reading about our moving/not moving/moving/not moving house selling experience, but you only got the tip of the iceberg. Not the full guts and glory. You missed out on the gut-wrenching sob of a pity party every time we 'lose' a house. You don't see me reading the Bible trying to find just the right verse that applies to me - so that I can pray it to 'move' God. (that's not normal behavior... fyi.... but honest. Desperate times call for.... crazy actions.)
Then there are 'things' with my kids. I know, I know, every parent has their own 'things'. But.... I have been parenting for a few years now, with plenty of adventure, but when the 'things' all hit at once it feels more like a test, than a shared human experience.
Avalon out of nowhere... has been having "tickle-ish" lips. She means her lips are tingling, and I have given her Benadryl for it. This is common with an allergy - but to what?!?!? She has been the same day in and day out for 4 years, and now.... swollen lips??? Like I need more mystery in my life??? Or food allergies!! She even has woken in the middle of the night with it. And today, poor thing, they were all swollen and chapped from her biting them. The baby, Talia, has her own issues - which, really, to spare you, I won't go into detail. She also is supplying me with mysteries to solve.
Anyway... I was thinking about all I have going on in my life. I feel like it is some cosmic test to see how much I can handle without exploding. And somethings don't even have to be 'bad' to fit into this interview. Let's not forget the homeschooling, and constant cleaning of the house for showings. Oh! And we've also had three (3!) flat tires in the last two months. I mean.... what the????
All that to say, this is a looonnng interview. (wink) I sure hope I get the job after all this!
I have this feeling.... a strong feeling, almost like a belief, about some things I will be seeing and doing and living through in the years to come. I 'see' how me and my husband can be used, to touch people, to minister, and to offer practical help. I see this with my mind's eye often. Almost daily. It is a position of leadership, per-se, but not a glamorous one. But a leader nonetheless.
If my 'mind's eye' and heart are correct, and this would come to pass one day - I figure I'm a shoo-in for the job. I mean, it's like Jennifer Aniston auditioning for a movie that stars Rachel Green. (for you that are not Friend's fans, Jen played Rachel in the series.) It's a given.
Anyway..... lately.... I feel like I'm being interviewed for my very own job. And yes, I'm being cryptic on purpose here, I'm not going to post all of my innermost heart thoughts on a public blog. For many reasons.... but I am talking about something spiritual here.
What I see in my future with my spirit (heart), I feel is being tested in the spiritual and physical now. It's almost like I feel God is saying, "Yes, that could be yours, but can you hack it??? Let's see..."
To tell you the truth, I really would like to earn His trust and favor, so I dearly want to nail this interview... but it's a doosie. At least, it feels like it.
I don't know if you have been reading about our moving/not moving/moving/not moving house selling experience, but you only got the tip of the iceberg. Not the full guts and glory. You missed out on the gut-wrenching sob of a pity party every time we 'lose' a house. You don't see me reading the Bible trying to find just the right verse that applies to me - so that I can pray it to 'move' God. (that's not normal behavior... fyi.... but honest. Desperate times call for.... crazy actions.)
Then there are 'things' with my kids. I know, I know, every parent has their own 'things'. But.... I have been parenting for a few years now, with plenty of adventure, but when the 'things' all hit at once it feels more like a test, than a shared human experience.
Avalon out of nowhere... has been having "tickle-ish" lips. She means her lips are tingling, and I have given her Benadryl for it. This is common with an allergy - but to what?!?!? She has been the same day in and day out for 4 years, and now.... swollen lips??? Like I need more mystery in my life??? Or food allergies!! She even has woken in the middle of the night with it. And today, poor thing, they were all swollen and chapped from her biting them. The baby, Talia, has her own issues - which, really, to spare you, I won't go into detail. She also is supplying me with mysteries to solve.
Anyway... I was thinking about all I have going on in my life. I feel like it is some cosmic test to see how much I can handle without exploding. And somethings don't even have to be 'bad' to fit into this interview. Let's not forget the homeschooling, and constant cleaning of the house for showings. Oh! And we've also had three (3!) flat tires in the last two months. I mean.... what the????
All that to say, this is a looonnng interview. (wink) I sure hope I get the job after all this!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Home Sweet Home - maybe.... part 5
The synopsis:
I have to sum this up for you I feel. I haven't written in four days, you probably wonder what the heck is going on... The story is hard enough to follow at one time, let alone spread over two weeks!! ha
It truly is one of the longest, most confusing, weird stories I have ever lived or told. I will sum it up with points this time. Here's hoping it makes some sort of sense!!!
I honestly think it got to my health last week. I physically started breaking down. Spiritually??? I'm good. Tired, confused, but good. Trusting. On the more 'human', physical side... very very tired, and hoping something happens soon.
So, yesterday, we started at point A again. Our house is back on the market. And we are hoping to still get the little forest house before someone else does. Here's hoping!!
Oh.. and for goodness sakes... please, by all means, join us in prayer on this adventure, won't you???? :)
I have to sum this up for you I feel. I haven't written in four days, you probably wonder what the heck is going on... The story is hard enough to follow at one time, let alone spread over two weeks!! ha
It truly is one of the longest, most confusing, weird stories I have ever lived or told. I will sum it up with points this time. Here's hoping it makes some sort of sense!!!
- In Nov of '10 we found a house in the forest we loved.
- We put a contingency contract on it.
- The contract expired.
- The contract got renewed at 12,000 less. (yea!!)
- A 'real' buyer stepped in and we had 48 hours to get a contract on our home.
- We got a buyer.
- We lost the forest house anyway.
- We told our buyer - 'goodbye!' (we didn't want to sell for so little for no reason)
- We found another house - soooo much better (the pink house)
- The pink house ALSO had a potential buyer.
- We almost won that bid, but since it was a foreclosure, there was one requirement we didn't meet. We couldn't afford two houses at once. (crazy huh???) ;)
- So now, within a week, we lost TWO houses! Sheesh. The rejection is coming on strong. How hard is it to purchase something these days?????
- Oh, the little green forest house... the contract on that fell through. (what?!?! - sweet!)
- We try to get our buyers back.
- Our buyers agree to come back and buy our home!!
- Suddenly we have buyers, we make a solid contract offer on the original little green forest house, and we start packing. Closing date is just 2.5 weeks away!!!
- Our home goes under inspection.
- The bank for the forest house sends us a counter offer.
- We agree to the counter offer on the forest house... and just before we sign it.....
- OUR buyers WALK.
I honestly think it got to my health last week. I physically started breaking down. Spiritually??? I'm good. Tired, confused, but good. Trusting. On the more 'human', physical side... very very tired, and hoping something happens soon.
So, yesterday, we started at point A again. Our house is back on the market. And we are hoping to still get the little forest house before someone else does. Here's hoping!!
Oh.. and for goodness sakes... please, by all means, join us in prayer on this adventure, won't you???? :)
Friday, February 11, 2011
Home is where the improvements are..... part 4
I'm sorry I haven't caught you up on the story. I'm the living dead today. Suuupppper tired. Hope I'm not coming down with something. bleck!!
So, back to the story:
It was last Tuesday (a week and a half ago), and we lost the little, ugly, perfect forest house around noon. That very afternoon, of the same day, I am looking for houses online and find one that is cheaper... bigger... and updated just two blocks from the little green forest house. We drive out to see it, and peer in the windows (they are both vacant and owned by banks). It is a pink house. From now on they will be known as the small green house and the nice pink house.
We call our realtor and plan to see the pink house the next day. It just went on the market the same day we lost the green house. Wow!! Maybe this is what God wanted all along. Maybe it came on the same day we lost the other so that we would be poised to find it. We'd already be sold on the neighborhood, and looking - and blessed with a better house. Yes, that is what God must be up to....
We see the house the next day - it has 4 bedrms instead of 3, it has 3 bathrms instead of 2. The kitchen is updated with all new appliances and a double oven. Woo woo!! Give a shout out to double ovens!! The house has all new carpet, nice hardwood floors, nice bathrooms, nice arrangement of bathrooms, a large laundry/mud room, a HUGE three car garage with a pantry, solid wood ceilings with beams, three fireplaces.... I'm in heaven.
The land isn't soo hot. But it is land, and I'll take it. I mean, in Colorado, you're in the house most of the year due to weather anyway, right?? Summer is nice, but relatively short...
Oh, and it has a large lovely barn with water and electric. I can envision where the chickens and rabbits would be fitting.. (perfectly in the old horse stalls)
We plan to make an offer. I mean, shoot - even if we paid full price, we'd still be making a deal as it was cheaper than our bid on the green house. So that is the plan. Call the realtor of the house and put our bid in.
I figured that God took us down this path so we could end up with this much larger blessing. Yes, it was closer to the main road, so a little more noisy - and the land wasn't amazing - like the green house... but God knew what was best, and this must be it.
Right?????
(to be cont......)
So, back to the story:
It was last Tuesday (a week and a half ago), and we lost the little, ugly, perfect forest house around noon. That very afternoon, of the same day, I am looking for houses online and find one that is cheaper... bigger... and updated just two blocks from the little green forest house. We drive out to see it, and peer in the windows (they are both vacant and owned by banks). It is a pink house. From now on they will be known as the small green house and the nice pink house.
We call our realtor and plan to see the pink house the next day. It just went on the market the same day we lost the green house. Wow!! Maybe this is what God wanted all along. Maybe it came on the same day we lost the other so that we would be poised to find it. We'd already be sold on the neighborhood, and looking - and blessed with a better house. Yes, that is what God must be up to....
We see the house the next day - it has 4 bedrms instead of 3, it has 3 bathrms instead of 2. The kitchen is updated with all new appliances and a double oven. Woo woo!! Give a shout out to double ovens!! The house has all new carpet, nice hardwood floors, nice bathrooms, nice arrangement of bathrooms, a large laundry/mud room, a HUGE three car garage with a pantry, solid wood ceilings with beams, three fireplaces.... I'm in heaven.
The land isn't soo hot. But it is land, and I'll take it. I mean, in Colorado, you're in the house most of the year due to weather anyway, right?? Summer is nice, but relatively short...
Oh, and it has a large lovely barn with water and electric. I can envision where the chickens and rabbits would be fitting.. (perfectly in the old horse stalls)
We plan to make an offer. I mean, shoot - even if we paid full price, we'd still be making a deal as it was cheaper than our bid on the green house. So that is the plan. Call the realtor of the house and put our bid in.
I figured that God took us down this path so we could end up with this much larger blessing. Yes, it was closer to the main road, so a little more noisy - and the land wasn't amazing - like the green house... but God knew what was best, and this must be it.
Right?????
(to be cont......)
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Home Sweet .... Crap! part 3
So the middle of January came and our contract on the little forest house expired. There were two options. The bank could either renew the contract or give us back our earnest money.
They didn't want to give us our money. ;) We renewed the contract for 12,000 less than we had previously. Sweet!! Maybe all of that run-around was so that the Lord could give us the house for less. What a deal! Thanks God! The new contract gave us until the middle of March to sell our home and get a contract on the forest house.
Then - just two weeks later.... BOOM! The crap hit the fan - so to speak. And excuse the cussing.. but if you were living it like we were... crap is a mild word, really....
On a Thursday afternoon just shortly after renewing the contingency, a ''real" buyer came for the forest house. We now had 48 hours to either find a buyer for our home or let the contract go. We had til Saturday afternoon. Let the stress and prayers begin!!
I'll tell you something... I am summing up these house stories for the sake of not boring you. One paragraph here, one paragraph there... but living it. Waiting on 'nail beds' for answers and prayers to be answered was sooooo long. So tough... but one thing is for sure. My relationship with God got stronger over these past few months and I'm really learning to trust Him. Trust is hard for me. It really is. I like to be in control, or at least have a plan or a small idea of what may come. But blindly following??? Super hard for this chicka.
Anyway... mid Saturday about 2 hours from our deadline we had nothing. No buyers. No offers. I had to tell my realtor to let the house go. Patrick was out with a friend and having to do that by myself was soooo very not fun. I was with a friend, so I got to cry a little with her for a moment.
Two hours pass, the deadline passes.... but only barely.... by minutes.... and we get a call. It is our realtor. We have an offer on our house and we'll take it!! :)
We (he) immediately starts calling the bank (the forest home is owned by a bank - did I ever tell you that??) and the other realtor. An hour later things are looking good. It looks like we got it. We did reply by Saturday afternoon - technically, so we just had to wait until Monday morning to confirm this with the bank. (banks are closed on Saturday afternoons, fyi)
Well.... not like waiting on something important isn't hard enough, now we find out the 'bank lady' wouldn't be in til Tuesday. Rrrrrrr..... okay. Another 24 hours. We can survive that... right??? My blood pressure is normally pretty low, so I'm sure I'll survive this stress just a little longer......
Tuesday arrives. Finally. Hello!!! I'm so anxious I can barely focus. I did well until about 10am, and then I started 'losing it'.
Our realtor calls and tells us to pray, there are snags. I can't relate all the drama here.... but it comes down to this:
The bank says we didn't get it to them in writing by the 48 hour mark - and so we lose the house. WHAT?!?!?!?
Now I take a 30 minute pity party. We're up. We're down. We're up... we're down. Up down, up down..... so exhausting. A good portion of a tissue box was used and then... I was 'over' it. It is what it is. Super confusing.. but I had no control over it. Super confusing. I really really felt like that is where we were 'supposed' to be, you know?? It wasn't just a house - it was our home in a sense.... I could see our future there.
There are more details than that... things in Patrick and my heart, things we see as to come, some financial possibilities that that land had that no others do. It is complicated, but in short we believed God was calling us there. He opened all these doors, from winning the initial bid, to it passing inspection and plumbing with flying colors, to getting it for thousands less. What was God up to??? I had NO CLUE. This was beyond following Him blindly. This was blindly following Him on a skydiving trip!!
What choice did we have though?? If you are blind-folded while sky diving, you definitely hold on the One that took you!!
(still more to come....)
They didn't want to give us our money. ;) We renewed the contract for 12,000 less than we had previously. Sweet!! Maybe all of that run-around was so that the Lord could give us the house for less. What a deal! Thanks God! The new contract gave us until the middle of March to sell our home and get a contract on the forest house.
Then - just two weeks later.... BOOM! The crap hit the fan - so to speak. And excuse the cussing.. but if you were living it like we were... crap is a mild word, really....
On a Thursday afternoon just shortly after renewing the contingency, a ''real" buyer came for the forest house. We now had 48 hours to either find a buyer for our home or let the contract go. We had til Saturday afternoon. Let the stress and prayers begin!!
I'll tell you something... I am summing up these house stories for the sake of not boring you. One paragraph here, one paragraph there... but living it. Waiting on 'nail beds' for answers and prayers to be answered was sooooo long. So tough... but one thing is for sure. My relationship with God got stronger over these past few months and I'm really learning to trust Him. Trust is hard for me. It really is. I like to be in control, or at least have a plan or a small idea of what may come. But blindly following??? Super hard for this chicka.
Anyway... mid Saturday about 2 hours from our deadline we had nothing. No buyers. No offers. I had to tell my realtor to let the house go. Patrick was out with a friend and having to do that by myself was soooo very not fun. I was with a friend, so I got to cry a little with her for a moment.
Two hours pass, the deadline passes.... but only barely.... by minutes.... and we get a call. It is our realtor. We have an offer on our house and we'll take it!! :)
We (he) immediately starts calling the bank (the forest home is owned by a bank - did I ever tell you that??) and the other realtor. An hour later things are looking good. It looks like we got it. We did reply by Saturday afternoon - technically, so we just had to wait until Monday morning to confirm this with the bank. (banks are closed on Saturday afternoons, fyi)
Well.... not like waiting on something important isn't hard enough, now we find out the 'bank lady' wouldn't be in til Tuesday. Rrrrrrr..... okay. Another 24 hours. We can survive that... right??? My blood pressure is normally pretty low, so I'm sure I'll survive this stress just a little longer......
Tuesday arrives. Finally. Hello!!! I'm so anxious I can barely focus. I did well until about 10am, and then I started 'losing it'.
Our realtor calls and tells us to pray, there are snags. I can't relate all the drama here.... but it comes down to this:
The bank says we didn't get it to them in writing by the 48 hour mark - and so we lose the house. WHAT?!?!?!?
Now I take a 30 minute pity party. We're up. We're down. We're up... we're down. Up down, up down..... so exhausting. A good portion of a tissue box was used and then... I was 'over' it. It is what it is. Super confusing.. but I had no control over it. Super confusing. I really really felt like that is where we were 'supposed' to be, you know?? It wasn't just a house - it was our home in a sense.... I could see our future there.
There are more details than that... things in Patrick and my heart, things we see as to come, some financial possibilities that that land had that no others do. It is complicated, but in short we believed God was calling us there. He opened all these doors, from winning the initial bid, to it passing inspection and plumbing with flying colors, to getting it for thousands less. What was God up to??? I had NO CLUE. This was beyond following Him blindly. This was blindly following Him on a skydiving trip!!
What choice did we have though?? If you are blind-folded while sky diving, you definitely hold on the One that took you!!
(still more to come....)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Home Sweet Home part 2
How to raise your kids "That Way".
I know this. You can raise your kids 'that way' in a New York apartment, in a hut in Mexico, or in suburbia. For us, though, raising our kids 'that way' (see last post) would be a little more fun and a teenie bit easier if we had our 'dream' house in the country.
We dream of getting chickens and rabbits... maybe some year I'd be brave enough to get .... a goat????? I'd have a large garden and we'd eat the produce from it. The kids learn and re-learn to play with sticks and stones and sandboxes instead of video games and electronic toys. We share space in the house and learn how to do it in a way that we don't end up killing each other... as opposed to having a house so large we could go a day or two without actually having to share a room or tight space with each other.
That is how we (partly) define 'that way' for our kids. We want kids that use their imagination, read, day dream looking at the clouds, run in the yard, and have no idea what Sponge Bob or Bakugon's are. Did I even spell that right?? I don't even care enough to look it up and check.
So back to the story. We see this house and find out that even though it has been on the market for five months.. all of a sudden someone is putting in an offer on it. We want to put a contingency contract on it - same as the other folks, so it becomes a bidding game. With each of us shooting blindly in the dark we aim for some number to hopefully win the bid and enter into contract.
We got it! :)
We now have a contingency contract that expires Jan 13, 2011 with the house we think would be perfect for us. Since it is a contingency, meaning our current house needs to sell, we have what is called a 48hour first right of refusal. That means, that we are under contract with the little old house, but if someone else can offer a solid contract, we have 48 hours to step up ourselves or back out. We get the first choice. Doesn't matter too much though.... we'd have to absolutely sell our house first. Can't afford two houses.
Oh yeah... something I may have forgotten to mention. Since we are now under contract for a new(ish) home... our house goes back on the market mid November. Perfect. Just in time for the holidays!! haha
(to be continued...)
I know this. You can raise your kids 'that way' in a New York apartment, in a hut in Mexico, or in suburbia. For us, though, raising our kids 'that way' (see last post) would be a little more fun and a teenie bit easier if we had our 'dream' house in the country.
We dream of getting chickens and rabbits... maybe some year I'd be brave enough to get .... a goat????? I'd have a large garden and we'd eat the produce from it. The kids learn and re-learn to play with sticks and stones and sandboxes instead of video games and electronic toys. We share space in the house and learn how to do it in a way that we don't end up killing each other... as opposed to having a house so large we could go a day or two without actually having to share a room or tight space with each other.
That is how we (partly) define 'that way' for our kids. We want kids that use their imagination, read, day dream looking at the clouds, run in the yard, and have no idea what Sponge Bob or Bakugon's are. Did I even spell that right?? I don't even care enough to look it up and check.
So back to the story. We see this house and find out that even though it has been on the market for five months.. all of a sudden someone is putting in an offer on it. We want to put a contingency contract on it - same as the other folks, so it becomes a bidding game. With each of us shooting blindly in the dark we aim for some number to hopefully win the bid and enter into contract.
We got it! :)
We now have a contingency contract that expires Jan 13, 2011 with the house we think would be perfect for us. Since it is a contingency, meaning our current house needs to sell, we have what is called a 48hour first right of refusal. That means, that we are under contract with the little old house, but if someone else can offer a solid contract, we have 48 hours to step up ourselves or back out. We get the first choice. Doesn't matter too much though.... we'd have to absolutely sell our house first. Can't afford two houses.
Oh yeah... something I may have forgotten to mention. Since we are now under contract for a new(ish) home... our house goes back on the market mid November. Perfect. Just in time for the holidays!! haha
(to be continued...)
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Home Sweet Home part 1
So this is where the story began:
Last August we listed our home for sale. We started with a high price. Yes, we know the market isn't great, but we weren't in a hurry to leave our lovely home. We just had a hunch this was the time to move and we were testing the waters to see if we could make a 'pretty penny' on our home. You never know. There are a lot of dumb people - maybe one of them wanted our house enough to pay that price. Worth a shot.
Mid Oct: Nope. No one wanted to pay that much. I was tired of little showings, no offers, and the constant stress of perfect cleaning with four little kids. The house came off the market.
We decide to wait until Spring to list again. That way we have the holidays to ourselves without people touring our home. Patrick began to 'shop' for cars. We eventually needed a 4x4 for him again (for work) and we started the search. He was constantly on the computer looking for the perfect deal.
Mid Nov: Patrick was on the computer again one Saturday morning. What's new??
"Tara! Come look at this!" I assumed he found the perfect SUV. I come downstairs to see him looking at houses online. "This again??" I ask. I thought we had put this off til next year....
He is showing this ugly little house to me that actually, I had seen several times before. The weird thing about this time... is that Patrick is looking at it. See.... um... he hates ugly houses. Totally not like him. Completely out of character. So he gets a bug in his butt to drive out and see it. We do, and we love it. It sits on 6.45 of the most beautiful Colorado acreage that I've ever seen. But the house is ugly. And small. And old.
We call out our realtor to see the inside. It is vacant and winterized, so we freeze to death touring it... but love it. Well... I don't know about love it.... but love the potential. We see how we could make it work for our large family. It would require a lot of work, and some patience as we learn to live in half the house... but it would be worth it for the land and the opportunity to raise our kids 'that way'.
(to be continued......)
Last August we listed our home for sale. We started with a high price. Yes, we know the market isn't great, but we weren't in a hurry to leave our lovely home. We just had a hunch this was the time to move and we were testing the waters to see if we could make a 'pretty penny' on our home. You never know. There are a lot of dumb people - maybe one of them wanted our house enough to pay that price. Worth a shot.
Mid Oct: Nope. No one wanted to pay that much. I was tired of little showings, no offers, and the constant stress of perfect cleaning with four little kids. The house came off the market.
We decide to wait until Spring to list again. That way we have the holidays to ourselves without people touring our home. Patrick began to 'shop' for cars. We eventually needed a 4x4 for him again (for work) and we started the search. He was constantly on the computer looking for the perfect deal.
Mid Nov: Patrick was on the computer again one Saturday morning. What's new??
"Tara! Come look at this!" I assumed he found the perfect SUV. I come downstairs to see him looking at houses online. "This again??" I ask. I thought we had put this off til next year....
He is showing this ugly little house to me that actually, I had seen several times before. The weird thing about this time... is that Patrick is looking at it. See.... um... he hates ugly houses. Totally not like him. Completely out of character. So he gets a bug in his butt to drive out and see it. We do, and we love it. It sits on 6.45 of the most beautiful Colorado acreage that I've ever seen. But the house is ugly. And small. And old.
We call out our realtor to see the inside. It is vacant and winterized, so we freeze to death touring it... but love it. Well... I don't know about love it.... but love the potential. We see how we could make it work for our large family. It would require a lot of work, and some patience as we learn to live in half the house... but it would be worth it for the land and the opportunity to raise our kids 'that way'.
(to be continued......)
Friday, February 4, 2011
Look who's talking now!
My one year old has recently gotten quite verbal.
First we started off with the names of the family:
Ah- gex = Alex
Bibi-in = Vivianne
Ag-awon = Avalon
Tah-ya = Talia
Now she is good at screaming each name when she wants their attention or a hug.
"Hug!" is another big favorite. She is my cuddler/ mama's girl though.
Some other phrases:
I don't want that! (lovely, huh?)
I wanna get down!
UP! UP! UP!
Me cute. (unfortunately this sounds a lot like 'me toot')
Copy, copy copy. (When the older kids are annoying each other by copying what the other says)
I wanna go!
You may notice how many of them have exclamations. She is either getting used to a loud family, or realizes that as the fourth born she has really got to speak up to be heard!! haha
Oh, and she is also climbing on everything! She fell halfway down our flight of stairs yesterday, she fell off the kitchen chairs (that she now insists on climbing) countless times this last week. She fell into our tall master bath tub yesterday and was then trapped inside. She climbs on the stool by the main bathroom sink (for easy hand washing by her sister) and tries to swing her leg up and over into the sink.
I tell you, the fact she is alive and basically un-injured at the end of each day is a miracle. The fact I'm not in a zombie state at the end of each day from the work she alone requires (let alone the other three), is also a miracle! :)
First we started off with the names of the family:
Ah- gex = Alex
Bibi-in = Vivianne
Ag-awon = Avalon
Tah-ya = Talia
Now she is good at screaming each name when she wants their attention or a hug.
"Hug!" is another big favorite. She is my cuddler/ mama's girl though.
Some other phrases:
I don't want that! (lovely, huh?)
I wanna get down!
UP! UP! UP!
Me cute. (unfortunately this sounds a lot like 'me toot')
Copy, copy copy. (When the older kids are annoying each other by copying what the other says)
I wanna go!
You may notice how many of them have exclamations. She is either getting used to a loud family, or realizes that as the fourth born she has really got to speak up to be heard!! haha
Oh, and she is also climbing on everything! She fell halfway down our flight of stairs yesterday, she fell off the kitchen chairs (that she now insists on climbing) countless times this last week. She fell into our tall master bath tub yesterday and was then trapped inside. She climbs on the stool by the main bathroom sink (for easy hand washing by her sister) and tries to swing her leg up and over into the sink.
I tell you, the fact she is alive and basically un-injured at the end of each day is a miracle. The fact I'm not in a zombie state at the end of each day from the work she alone requires (let alone the other three), is also a miracle! :)
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