Archive for the ‘Updates’ Category
Before And After
Monday, May 17th, 2010
Here’s an idea of what my floors looked like before Mike refinished them:
Bedroom Before:
Bedroom After
Dining Room Before (with floor already sanded. It looked a lot like the Bedroom Before)
Dining Room After
Play Room Before (Again think Bedroom Before in terms of what it looked like before it was sanded)
Playroom After
Girls Bedroom After (I think I deleted the ‘before’ picture but I know I already showed you that one on an older post)
Don’t the floors look great? Those who have been to my house will especially appreciate how different and new they look. The only room that needs to be done now is the living room. We’ll actually have to stay somewhere else for about three days since we won’t be able to use our house at all while the living room is being refinished. It’s the hubbub of our house and you can’t “get there from here” without walking through the living room.
We’re slowly taking the packed boxes in the garage from our almost move in January and unpacking them. The girls are especially excited for us to find their Zhu Zhu Pets we had packed away after Christmas. It’s kind of sad for me to unpack the stuff that I had excitedly packed away thinking we were moving into a bigger house. I had thought that I wouldn’t be using that stuff again until I was UNpacking it in a new home.
*SIGH*
In unpacking these boxes we’re also taking stock of what we really need and what actually fits in this house. If the item doesn’t fit that category going to our yard sale at the end of May/ beginning of June.
I had planned another part to this post to be about the Before And After of how God has been working in me lately. Especially after the miscarriage. I realized that’s going to need a post of it’s own.
So be waiting for it!
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Katelyn update:
We’ve had several more mini bug episodes since last Wednesday. Nothing like the original one, however. She’s slept through the night a couple of times but has also gotten up several times needing reassurance that there were no bugs in the room and that they were only in her mind.
The direction and steps I’ve taken with her that are working are:
~Praying with her. Reminding her that Jesus is protecting her and He won’t allow any harm to come to her.
~Reminding her that seeing bugs or NOT seeing bugs are in her control. She chooses what she sees and she’s the boss of her bugs. If she’s seeing bugs it’s because she’s choosing to.
~Reminding her that spending the day at the doctor’s was not fun. If she continues to see bugs it means she’s sick. If she has to go to the doctor she misses out on playing with her friends. Is that what she really wants?
~ As a last resort we have also put her in the shower ( at midnight!!! Aye!!) to calm her down and soothe her and then I’ve rubbed my Neutrogena Sesame Body oil on her and told her that would help her skin feel better and smell nice. That has worked wonders. But, I’d prefer not to have to do that in the middle of the night a lot!
~Keeping more lights on.
~She’s woken up coughing which has triggered her to wake up in the middle of the night. I’ve been giving her some honey before bed and kept her humidifier going. That has also made for more restful sleep.
~ One thing I don’t want is to tell her is that certain things will keep the bugs away or any such thing. No showers to “wash the bugs off”, “special lotion that keeps bugs off and keeps them away”, “sprays that will protect her room” or ” a special doll that wards off bugs”. I feel like that is just going to feed into her fear. I don’t want her depending on those things. Once that special lotion doesn’t “work” anymore or the doll is protecting her anymore we’ll have to move on to some different, magical thing. I want her to face the reality that there are NO bugs to “keep away”. It’s all in her mind and that’s where she needs to fight them.
She got up three times last night. The first time she kept telling me ” No, mom, there’s reeeaallly bugs in my room this time. Really!” And kept looking under her pillow and her blankets and on her arms and legs. She screamed when I pulled the blanket away to show her there were no bugs. After (irritably) reminding her that she was choosing to see bugs and that if she kept seeing them we’d end up at the doctor again (which she definitely doesn’t want) she settled down. Only to wake up two more times. Thankfully each episode lasted between ten and twenty minutes. I’d much rather be getting up in the middle of the night with a new infant! That’s what’s supposed to be happening. Not with my four and a half year old daughter who is hallucinating.
I called her pediatrician’s office to day for the result of her Strep test since they haven’t called me yet.
Not getting enough sleep is really messing up my daily routine. I’ve been sleeping in which throws off my Bible reading and exercising (meaning, non existent). It also sets a bad tone for the day because I’m irritable and out of sorts.
Here’s for a restful week and winning the battle of the bugs!
Have a great Monday!
Yesterday I was. Today I’m Not.
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
Yesterday I was PREGNANT! I was going to have my 2010 baby. My Christmas baby. I was finally starting to wrap my head around the fact that I was finally pregnant. Then today all of that was shattered. I miscarried. And that really sucks. I was making plans, looking at baby stuff. Getting all excited. Now I’ll forget for a little bit and then remember that I’m not pregnant anymore and I’ll start crying all over again.
I started spotting yesterday and then it went away. I know that can be pretty normal at the beginning of a pregnancy. Then I started spotting more right before and during our FPU class. Yes, I went to to the class get my mind off what I figured was going on. Of course, the pregnant couple who started out with us brought their adorable, brand new baby boy to class. I congratulated them and all the while was thinking ” How ironic. I’m most likely losing my baby right now”. But I kept hoping and praying. Then I developed the mother of all migraines and was up all night moaning and tossing and turning from pain, vomiting and watching my spotting get heavier and stop. And then start up all over again. I swear I even got a little delirious at one point. It’s all a huge nightmarish haze now.
We got up this morning and headed to the doctor. All the way there I prayed and begged God to still let me miraculously still be pregnant. That I knew He could do that if He wanted to. They took blood work and told me that , indeed, I was not pregnant anymore. That I’d most likely had an early miscarriage. The doctor I saw today is the main doctor of the practice but I’ve never actually seen her before. I usually see the Nurse Practitioner, Angela, who I really like. The Doc I saw today must have said every cliche in the book about miscarriages. She said ” Was this your first?” I told her that no, it was my third. And she replied ” Oh! You already have two? Then why do you want more for? Isn’t two enough???”
WHAT?? What kind of question is that??
Then she told me that it was probably for the best because that was nature’s way of telling me early on that there was something probably wrong with the baby and it could have had Down Syndrome or something.
I was thinking ” You have got to be the worse person at comforting I’ve ever met!”
And so what if the baby had Down Syndrome? I would have still wanted it!
Mike has been doing his best to comfort. Obviously he’s upset too. We both know the pregnancy was still very early in and that it was better to have happened this early than later on.
It still HURTS. I still can’t believe it. I’m still angry.
I’m overwhelmed with everything right now. My upside down, hugely disorganized and messy house. How behind I am on keeping track of our spending. My piles of laundry EVERYWHERE. I don’t want to cook dinner or see anybody.
I forget what day it is and what obligations I have.
I just want to sit and hug my girls and watch t.v.
And cry. And be mad.
I’m also exhausted from not sleeping last night.
Everyone has been so wonderful with the comments and outpouring of love on Facebook and Twitter. All the comments have made me cry even more, but, in a good way. Everyone is trying, in their own way, to say the right thing. There’s no right think to say but I appreciate every single comment.
We tried to do something “normal” this evening as a family. We went to the mall for dinner at Chick-Fil-A and then to the pet store next to the mall to get more fish. While there a lady behind me commented on how the dog in line in front of me was pregnant. I wanted to laugh at the irony. Oh,and I also had to stop at Wal-Mart to buy feminine hygiene products. I’ve never hated having to need those things more than I did today.
I know God is in control. I know there is a reason for this. I’m still mad at God for allowing it. And I know there are so many other women out there that have gone through miscarriages and losses many times over. I don’t know how they do it. Once is plenty for me.
I’m frustrated because I have no control over this. First of all, I never actually thought a miscarriage would happen to me! That always seemed like something that happened to other women. I can’t control or dictate when I’ll get pregnant again. And then, who’s to say I won’t miscarry then too?
It just sucks. Plain and simple.
Now I won’t be having a baby this year. I don’t get to be a part of the group of women I know who I was supposed to continue to be pregnant with.
I just wrote a post on my TTC support blog about how I was going to close it down for now so I could focus on getting myself together, prioritized and ready for this coming baby. I won’t be closing that blog down like I thought. Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to close it down in the first place. Other women hurting doesn’t stop because I got pregnant and life doesn’t stop because I’m not anymore.
Please keep me in your prayers. I know this isn’t the end of the world. I know I”m still richly blessed and I know my God is still good.
God is still good.
He gives and He takes away.
But He is still and forever will be good.
I’m So Excited And I Just Can’t Hide It
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Wow. Yesterday was a terrible day. I called it a sucky day. I’ll have to blog about it at some point soon. God gave me a much better day today.
This was probably the most exciting thing that happened to us today:
Oh wait… that’s not a very good picture. Let me try this one:
Yep! It’s true!! God has answered our prayers in a big way! I’m….
If you’ve never ready my blog before and don’t know my story at all I’ll just bring you up to speed:
WE’VE BEEN TRYING FOR ALMOST 21 MONTHS TO GET PREGNANT WITH #3 AND FOUND OUT THIS EVENING I’M PREGNANT!!!
Think we’re excited much?
I know, I know, I’m announcing way early. It was that way with my two other girls. This is the type of thing we can’t keep in! I wanted to share with you, my wonderful readers, since you’ve been following my story and offering such wonderful encouragement and support. If something terrible were to happen within the next few weeks and, God forbid, I were to lose the baby I’d still want you guys to know about how God blessed us and would seek your support during our loss. To each his own. That was my little disclaimer!
I’ll share the whole story of how I found etc later. I just wanted to share my good news.
Due date is December 28th.Since I’ll most likely have a c-section and if it happens the same way it did with Madelyn I’ll have the baby on the 23rd. So, I pretty much know when this baby will arrive! I’m just so so thankful God is giving me my 2010 baby!
I’m still in shock and so grateful. Mike and I both cried.
I’d appreciate your prayers!
Paint And Grocery Budget Update
Monday, April 12th, 2010
Last Monday Mike took the day off to get some painting done around the house. We had three rooms to paint and he got them all done by Wednesday night of last week! Some of the paint we’ve had for several months. I love how the rooms turned out. It’s amazing how a little paint cane change the look and feel of your house.
I’ll show you the girls’ bedroom first:
Here’s the before
Pardon the wall border mess. Mike was in the middle of peeling it off. I don’t think I’ll ever do border again! What a mess! This room was the nursery and still had the original nursery theme used by both Katelyn and Madelyn when they were babies. It was kind of bittersweet putting all of it away. I can use it again if I need to in a different room someday!
Here’s the after!
It’s a little bold but I think once we get all their stuff and other decorations on the walls it will tone it down a bit. Mike ruined it a little bit for me when he started calling it ” The Dora room” because of the color. The pink/orange combo was also supposed to be 60/40 not 50/50 like it ended up.
Mike wants to sand their floor and re-stain it then we’re going to move them back in. I can’t wait! We got a free set of bunk beds from a man at church so once we buy the mattresses we’ll set that up in their. We won’t set them up as bunkbeds ,though, since we feel they’re a little young for bunkbeds still. I’m not going to have a real “theme” for their room since they have an eclectic mix of stuff already. Their bedding is Disney Princess (they got it from Nana and Papa at Christmas)but their new valances are some mod looking flowers with pink and orange in them. Because the princess bedding has a little orange in it ( I think!) it should go fine with the pink and orange on the walls.
Here’s the color of our bedroom walls. This is the first time we’ve painted in there since we moved in 6 and a half years ago. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the color. It’s called “Tibetan Orange”. If my room had been clean I would have shown you the whole room. But it looked terrible so I’ll have to show you a picture once wall art and picture frames are back on the walls and my bed is made (with the new bedding I got for Christmas!).
I don’t have a before but just picture a dingy off white with ugly holes in the wall!
The color does darken our room a bit. That’s my only complaint about this color.
Here’s the color that we painted the playroom. The playroom was originally the dining room so I hope any prospective buyers will like this color for a dining room. I love it, although I know it’s another bright color and some may not.
Any of you who have been reading my blog for awhile have caught occasional glimpses of the walls in this room. They were the same dingy off white as my bedroom.
This color is called ” Japanese Fern”.
All in all I’m happy with it! When we had been looking at moving our realtor had kept telling us to paint everything neutral. But a) We already had most of the paint and b) Maybe I’m different, but I liked the houses that had the bold, trendy colors. And if someone were to like our house enough to buy it in the future, it’s just paint! They can repaint it if they want. But I think these colors add a little something to the appearance on the inside.
Just my two cents!
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Grocery Shopping On A Budget Update
I mentioned several weeks ago that our grocery budget was being cut almost in half once we started budgeting when we started attending Financial Peace University. I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to manage on $105 a week in groceries when we had been buying $200 a week before. Well, we’ve managed!!! And done pretty well at it too. And I haven’t been using coupons all that much. Not because I don’t like them or clip them. I do. I just haven’t been able to find too many coupons of stuff we actually buy. I’ve shopped with my list, kept a running tally with my calculator and bought a lot of store brand stuff.
Note: I have found that store brand stuff is not always just like the name brand stuff like many people claim. I bought store brand cheerios and gave them to Katelyn. I didn’t tell her they were different cheerios. After taking one bite she said ” What are these? I don’t like these Cheerios.”
Store brand dish washing powder has also not cleaned like Cascade. As soon as I’m done with the box I have I’m going back to Cascade.
I also switched grocery stores. I started shopping at the cheapest grocery store in our area, Market Basket. I’ve never liked them because the inside is usually ugly, old and sometimes not even that clean. But, boy, is my grocery bill smaller by shopping there. Like Mike reminded me, I’m not shopping because of the look of the store. If I want a nicer store I also have to pay higher prices. And I’ve found that the one I use is not as bad as I remembered and has a pretty good selection. Menu planning has really helped and not buying a lot of “extras”.
I don’t buy yogurt cups anymore. I buy the container o’ yogurt instead and spoon it into small cups. I don’t buy a lot of snack items i.e bags of chips, 3 or 4 different kinds of crackers, cookies etc. I don’t buy a lot of frozen stuff anymore. I don’t buy a large selection of breakfast cereal like I used to. I stick to Cheerios and Kashi Go Lean Crunch. Buying in bulk has helped. All of these small changes have made a difference.
I’m trying to make more stuff from scratch. I do still want to get the couponing thing down. My problem is finding coupons that I can use! I’ve also been price comparing( more than I ever have. EVER!) . I found 2% gallons of milk at Sam’s way cheaper than our cheapest grocery store here. Sam’s was selling them for $1.85 a gallon! I don’t know if that’s permanent or not but I grabbed 4 gallons. (Expiration on 4/24) I felt so proud of myself for noticing! I used to not really notice the price of grocery items unless they were outrageous. And when I used a coupon here or there I thought I was doing a great thing.
I’ve found that living on $105 (or less!!) a week is very doable.
Happy Monday!
Everything AND the kitchen sink!
Monday, February 8th, 2010
If ever there ever was a post with a mish mash of stuff, this is it! The kitchen sink included!
Way back when we thought we were moving( you know, two weeks ago…) Mike put up a much needed back splash behind our stove and sink. He used left over tile from our bathroom when we renovated that. I thought that was a very smart and frugal move on his part. The tile is pretty and very neutral in color. I took some pictures so my mom could see how it came out. My mom knows how ugly my walls were behind the stove and sink so she’ll really appreciate how much better it looks. You’re welcome to appreciate Mike’s handiwork too.
As usual, I wish I had taken a “before” picture but didn’t think of doing that while Mike was working on this. This may not seem like a big deal but we threw away our ugly, moldy (yes! it was moldy on the bottom, unbeknown to us!) dish drainer and bought a smaller one. The old one used to be to the right of the sink, taking up a lot of that space and making it look cluttered and ugly. I also had a cookie cooling rack laying there too for an extra spot to air dry dishes. We cleaned that area out and I put a smaller, prettier, non-moldy dish drainer to the left of the sink. It looks much neater and nicer and creates extra counter space to the right of the sink. I also took my dish soap, hand soap and sponges out of an ugly, plastic Tupperware container and put them in a glass pie dish. ( I never make pies!) It’s amazing how you get accustomed to certain areas of clutter and don’t even notice them anymore. Then once you finally notice it and make a few simple changes it makes a world of difference!
This is the back splash behind the stove. The walls were hard to keep clean and because I’m a messy cook they were usually splattered with grease and oil etc. Before Mike put up the back splash I scrubbed the wall behind the stove and to the right. It looked much better just with the walls washed. The back splash actually seems to make the kitchen look bigger and “homey-er”
And one last little detail that my mom will appreciate….
I finally changed the kitchen valance. It had a green, satiny looking valance that wasn’t hideous but wasn’t super pretty either. It was dark green. I never changed the valance after we moved in and have been ignoring it for almost 6 1/2 years! I finally put a cheerier one up. The previous owners also painted over the beautiful dark wood work around the window and doorway. Maybe now that we have time, we can sand that paint off and re-stain it.
Now we move on to my health update:
My nurse practitioner called a couple of weeks ago and said they were having trouble with the machine that reads the results of the holter heart monitor. So, I have to wear it for 24 hrs again. They’ll call me…. (hmm..I should probably follow up on that since they haven’t called me yet.)
I’m still having the same dizziness as before but have kind of gotten used to it! I’ve been taking my vitamin D and prescription iron pills. Even if those don’t help my dizziness they’re still good for me.
*If you’re a man reading this you may want to stop reading here if you don’t want to read about women issues..*
My ultrasound results came back and I have a cyst on my right ovary. That’s all the nurse said when she called. She said that could create fertility problems but from what I understand those are pretty common. So, they want me to go through two monthly cycles and then come back in for another ultrasound to see if the cyst has gone away on it’s own.
Fun stuff, right? So, we’re on a new lead with that. Not sure what will come of it but I’ll keep everyone updated.
On a side note, Katelyn just had another UTI so she was on another round of antibiotics for it. The doctor thinks she’s not wiping correctly and that’s what is causing these infections.
Now, I’ll leave you with some cute pictures of Katelyn in her dance costume. She really wanted to wear it all the time when we first got it. I’ve put it away and she’ll forget about for a bit until her recital in May.
Stop.Wait.
Monday, February 1st, 2010
image courtesy of photobucket.com
Stop. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200 a new house. At least…not right now. That’s what God pretty much revealed to us this weekend. We had to put on the big, ‘ol mean crappy breaks on our moving plans. After busting our butts for a couple of days ( and me pretty much for a whole month) our realtor came over on Saturday and told us we’re going to have to list our house for 30k-50k less than what we were planning on. She showed us a market analysis for our area and it was not pretty. We could sell our house right now but we wouldn’t get what we need for it to be able to buy a better house than the one we already have. So…..we stop. And that really sucks. Big time.
So, in the mean time, we wait. Just like we’re waiting for God to answer other prayers. We unpack some stuff and other stuff we leave packed. After a sad and disappointing weekend I feel better today. God showed me I should be thankful that I have a house right now. He’s meeting our needs above and beyond what we deserve. The house looks the best it’s looked in a long time! Mike did a great job putting a back splash behind our stove and sink. There’s much less clutter. We have a bunch of stuff ready for a garage sale in the spring.
But I’m still really disappointed and upset.
We’ll chug a long here. I’ll be back to blogging more frequently now.
And we’ll wait.
The Bible says a lot about waiting. When I did a search on the word “wait” on Biblegateway.com there were 142 verses that popped up. When I searched for “wait on the Lord” 42 verses popped up. Apparently there’s something about waiting that God wants us to learn!! Here are a couple of my favorites:
Psalms. 27:14
Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strenthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!!
Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on teh Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Psalms 130:5
I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope.
I know I’m not the only one waiting on God. Who else is waiting?
I pray these verses bless your heart like they have mine.
This Boot Is Made For Dancin’
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Yep, this girl is just fine now. We went to the doctor yesterday and she was given a clean bill of…..healthy foot. Now she can continue to dance without than cumbersome thing!
Of Boots, Heart Monitors and Floods
Monday, January 18th, 2010
If you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook you know that last Friday and Saturday were not my best days.I promised a post on everything that happened so lets get started, shall we?
Thursday night, right before bed, Madelyn tripped over one of her toys and hurt her foot. Since it was bed time we comforted her and put her to bed. Friday morning she got out of bed and started crying because her foot still hurt and started limping. So I made her an appointment at the pediatrician’s office and the first available appointment wasn’t until 3:00pm. Which was fine because I also had appointments that day for myself. Friday was originally supposed to be a day for me to tackle packing and cleaning to get our house “show worthy” for when we put it on the market. My inlaws were going to watch the girls. Well, that was not meant to be. Let’s get back to Thursday again….
Thursday I had an appointment with my Nurse Practitioner for a physical and to talk about the dizziness I have been experiencing for over a week now and it having been a while now that we’ve been trying to conceive. So, they listened to my heart and said that I have an irregular heart beat so they have put me on a Holter heart monitor for 24 hours. I just got that put on today. My NP isn’t sure if maybe that has something to do with my dizziness. She looked in my ears and saw that I have a hole in my eardrum so wanted me to see an Ear, Nose And Throat doctor. She wasn’t sure if maybe that had something to do with my dizziness. She also scheduled an ultrasound for this Wednesday to check things out “in there”. She wanted me to have lots of bloodwork done.
Now let’s get back to Friday…
I went to have my blood work drawn at 8:30 am, had an oil change appointment at 9:30, then had my ear appointment at 2:15 followed by Madelyn’s pediatrician appointment at 3:00. Well, I had to wait over an hour for my turn in the lab so I had to cancel my oil change appointment. I didn’t get in to have my blood drawn until almost 10:00 am. I then went home got some of the kitchen cleaned and headed out again at 12:45 to meet my inlaws at their house and watch the girls so they could go pick up their van. Then I left for my ear appointment and my mother in law met me at the pediatrician’s office at 3:00 with Madelyn. The ear specialist said he didn’t think that my ears were the cause of my dizziness.
Once at the pediatrician’s office(after waiting 40 minutes to see the doctor) Madelyn’s doctor felt that Madelyn had, indeed, most likely broken something in her foot. I say “most likely” because the x-rays she had taken later on didn’t show anything but her doctor said at this age they have so many tiny bones and muscles in their still growing feet that x-rays don’t always pick up everything. So, off we went to the cast room at our hospital. After another long wait the orthopedist looked at her foot and decided she should have a boot. By this time it was around 6:00 pm. He finds out they have no more small boots to fit Madelyn so he sends us to another local hospital to get one from their cast room. When we get there we have to register(again) and fill out all sorts of paperwork etc before we can go the boot. Finally the boot is put on and we can go home. Thankfully, Mike was able to get out of work and come to the hospital for some of this.
Saturday morning, we get up and Mike takes a shower only to find that it won’t heat up. So he checks the hot water heater in the basement and finds that our basement is flooded and the hot water heater is broken. He stays home to get the basement cleaned up and get a new hot water heater. I take the girls to Katelyn’s dance class and go check out two more houses. Thankfully everything was taken care of and our basement is back to normal again.
As I type this I’m wearing my monitor and having to write every single thing I do that makes my heart pound, cause shortness of breath, dizziness or any other kind of symptom. The little booklet also indicates that I should write any bowel movements that cause any of those things! I thought that was funny. I have already had to write that “yelling at my kids” caused my heart to pound. I’m afraid that’s going to happen a lot within the next 24 hours….
I’ve included some pictures of Madelyn in her Wee Walker. It actually looks really cute on her! She has to wear it for a week and then we’ll follow up with the orthopedist. She’s been doing fine with it and has come close to running in it. Nothing stops her!!
House Hunting Update
Monday, January 11th, 2010
I’ve been kinda blogging apathetic here lately. No, I don’t have a fever! lol Losing my camera with all those great pictures that made for several great blog posts really threw me for a loop. House hunting and packing has also taken up a lot of my mental energy and time. The good news is I did buy a new camera. I returned my Kodak and bought a better one. And I’m not telling what it is! I like it and I don’t want to know if it’s crap this time or not! I haven’t taken good pictures with it yet, other than just to play around with it. I’m still sooo flipping dissapointed that I don’t have any of our 2009 Christmas pictures or some cute ones I took before that and during my parents visit. Anyway, I must move on and not dwell on that anymore.
So… for an update!!
We looked at 6 houses this past Saturday and I have two more scheduled to look at myself this coming week. One of the houses was the very first one that we liked that started this whole moving process. It’s also still the one we really like and the one we’ll most likely put an offer on. It’s in a great location and in a nice neighborhood. A neighborhood!!! If you don’t understand why that’s exciting to me, let me explain. Right now, I live on a main road. There’s a busy street in front of my house with lots of cars, honking and sirens going by constantly. We’ve gotten used to it for the most part. But we’ve had to be very safety cautious with bike riding and the girls playing outside. The street the house we like is on is quiet and has an acre of land. Part of it is “wooded” and Mike is having dreams of playing paint ball in the woods in our backyard. It’s also close to the highway which will cut Mike’s hour long commute to about 40 minutes. It’s a short sale which means the house is heading towards foreclosure but the seller and the bank is trying to get rid of it before that happens. The problem with short sales is that getting the house takes much longer, lots of tedious paper work and kind of a pain in the butt!! It can take anywhere from four to six months for everything to go through. And sometimes, even then, the buyer ends up walking away from the house. The seller can ask for a price that the bank ends up not accepting. The bank can take forever to approve your offer. So…we’re trying to not get our hopes up. A couple of the positive things about it though is:
a) We are not in a rush to get out of this house. Having to wait awhile will give us plenty of time to pack and get our house in order.
b) The seller is already asking a good price for the house and we will probably try to get an even better one. Many times you can get a good price on a nice house with short sales since the bank is just trying to get rid of the house without a complete loss.
c)Once the seller accepts an offer and the buyer starts the whole process no one else can put an offer on the house until the bank accepts,or doesn’t accept as the case may be, and the buyer decides whether to keep going or walk away.
However are continuing to look at other houses and not putting all our eggs in one basket.
I tried to copy some pictures from the listing but they won’t save! So, I have no pictures to show.
Basic stats: Dutch Gambrel style, 4 bedrooms and one bath upstairs, 1 bath, living room, formal dining room, eat in kitchen, office on first floor and basement with two more rooms in it. Unfortunately, no garage but we would look into building an attached garage to the side of the house. Especially if we could get a good price on it!
I’ll be updating more as we keep looking. Our house should be ready to put on the market within the next couple of weeks. We’re very positive about the selling of our house. We’ve put a lot of work into it and it has a lot to offer.
I apologize for how boring my blog has been lately. I’ll have some more “fun” stuff in the near future.
Have a great day!
New Year-Changes And Goals
Monday, January 4th, 2010
Happy 2010! I never thought there would be a debate going around on whether you should say “two-thousand-and-ten” or “twenty-ten”. I personally prefer “twenty-ten”.
Anyway…now that we got that business out of the way…..
I’ve obviously been on blogging hiatus for two weeks and it was actually nice! My parents were here for ten days visiting and it was a great visit. Christmas was great! I’ll post a summary of our activities as soon as I post our Christmas pictures. Which will be as soon as I find my camera! Yes, I seem to have lost my camera!! If you know me at all you know I am constantly taking pictures and posting them on my blog. So, I’ll be lost without my camera. And I’m not so sure my hubby will be too keen on buying a new one right after Christmas. Not to mention the pictures I’ve lost that are on my camera! We’re changing our playroom around today and I’m hoping I’ll find it in there somewhere. If you think about it please pray that I find it!!
We do have some goals and changes we would like you to keep in your prayers for us:
1. After two years of prayer and keeping our eyes open we’ve finally decided to move! We have been casually looking at neighboring towns and the housing market for the past two years but the houses have just been way out of our price range. The housing market has come down since then and we have been able to find several houses we like and can afford in the two towns we’re looking at. One of the biggest advantages is location. If we move to either of these towns it will shave off 40 minutes a day off Mike’s commute. He’s usually on the road two hours a day so this will be a nice bonus. One is the town Mike grew up in and the other is a town we like and know pretty well. We’ve started “sprucing up” our house so we can put it on the market and have started packing some stuff away. I’m excited! And a little….sad. Maybe nostalgic? We’ve been in this house for six years.It was our first house. I had both my girls here. We had church cookouts and other social events here. There are a lot of memories in this house. But, after this past Christmas we realized it is waaaayyy too small for us!! The next few months are going to be stressful, but worth it. We’re going to hold a garage sale (in the winter!) to get rid of a lot of stuff. I’m looking at our backyard and wondering how we’re going to get all those toys and backyard climbing toys out from under all that snow!
So if you’ll specifically keep these things in your prayers we’d appreciate it:
a) That we’ll find a house that is perfect for our family size wise and price wise.
b) That selling our house will go smoothly and with no complications
c)That the packing and other details will also go smoothly.
I’m going to cut down on my blogging (gasp! Say it isn’t so!!) while we are in the packing and moving process. I’m going to try to cut down to three times a week unless I post something that’s quick and easy. I’ll keep everyone updated on our moving.
2. My other huge prayer request that you all know about now is us having another baby. Please pray that the Lord will allow us to conceive this year. It’s now been 18 months of TTC ( Trying To Conceive to you fertile folk ;o) ). I’m making an appointment with my doctor in the near future to talk about this matter. I didn’t think I’d have to do that again but here I am. I’m sure there will be blood tests and all the other stuff I went through with trying to conceive Katelyn coming up. Again. Maybe there will be some answers. Maybe there won’t. I know that ultimately it’s a God thing and I have to wait on Him. And I have to be ok with whatever His answers are.
I do have somewhat of a resolutions list but you’ll have to wait for Top Ten Tuesday tomorrow to see what they are! I do have to say, I like my cousin Lydia’s goal of losing 5 pounds a month until June. That’s very do-able!!
Here is my 2010 Bible verse for this new year. It says it all for me right now!
Psalms 71:14-16(NKJV)
But I will hope continually and I will praise you yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and your salvation all the day. For I do not know their limits. I will go in the strength of the Lord God, I will make mention of Your righteousness of Yours only.
Well, there you have it. My first blog of 2010!
Happy New Year! Many blessings to you and yours this year!
