The House, Part 1

If you came here looking for my WW post, it's at my photoblog. Thanks!

You may be thinking that this is about our grand house hunting/buying adventure this year. But it's not. I think I've made reference to our old, small house a couple times here and have always thought that I'd like to compile the story that goes along with that house. But it's long. So it will come in parts. The story, not the house.

Many, many years ago, back in nineteen hundred and ninety-four, we sold our little 900-some square foot home so we could move to something a little bigger, seeing how there was hubs, me, and little bitty ClayGuy (we didn't know he was ClayGuy back then, though - he was only 5 months old. He'd likely have choked on it, had we given him clay). And our dog, Cody. And the cats, Sam & Hobbes.

Thus began the process of Finding the Right House (FRH). I wasn't a stay-at-home-mom at this point, so both hubs & I were running around at lunch time for FRH. I had certain expectations - it must be OLD, the older the better. After all, the old houses had character. They were interesting and unique. Not just a boring cookie-cutter home. Plus I grew up in the older part of town, so they really had a special place in my heart. We also wanted to be closer to my sister and her husband, who were living in an older part of town.

As I look back at FRH, I don't recall hubs having any particular input to my OLD HOUSE expectations. I think this was pretty much my own deal and I just ran with it. Being the kind, loving, and sweet hubby that he is, he wanted his wife to be happy, so I think he joined in for the ride.

When we started this process, we prayed diligently every day. We had a mental, not-on-paper list of what we did and didn't want in our new home. Somewhere along the way, we were derailed.

We came upon a house just three blocks from my sister and husband. It was charming, quaint, cute, and full of old house character. It had a beautiful wood stove right in the center of the biggest wall in the living room. The stove sat upon a beautiful tile platform. I had always wanted a wood stove. How romantic. There was hardwood on the kitchen and bedroom floors. It had an L-shaped porch on front. The people who owned it had it decorated ever so sweetly. I fell in love with it. Not so sure about hubby.

{Side note: the housing market was hopping in those days. Houses could sell very fast, have competing offers, and you really couldn't "just take your time" if you liked something.}

Our interest rate had been locked in, but wasn't going to last much longer, so hubby was getting a little antsy to find something. Since we were living with my sister and husband at the time (with our baby, dog, and two cats), it was getting a little cozy, plus I really wanted to buy a house, move in, get settled, and all that goes along with that.

So by now, our judgment was a little clouded. We may not have been praying regularly at this point, either. We made an offer on the house. It was accepted. It would seem that everything was moving right along, according to plan.

Stay tuned for part 2

Video Meme

Alrighty then. I have no webcam, no digital camcorder, but I found a way to play anyway. Heart of the Matter's Friday meme (yes, as in yes-terday) was a video meme. I thoroughly enjoyed watching everyone else's videos, so here I am.

When I watch this on my computer, the quality is fine, but as soon as I upload to YouTube, they kindly pixelate me. Blast them. I tried doing it multiple ways, but this is it. I have other things to do, so I apologize for the pathetic quality, but you'll have to take that up with the folks at YT. Actually, you might be able to click through to YouTube (or go directly to the video here) and sometimes there's an option to choose to watch in high quality. Actually, you probably should do that - it's definitely better in their high quality mode.

Also sorry about the shakiness. I had to hold my camera for the entire time. Or I guess I could've gotten the tripod out. Obviously I didn't. Anyway, without further rambling aimlessly ado...



I hope someone still comes to watch, even though I'm totally late. Oops - last night was the deadline for nominations for the Homeschool Blog Awards. Sorry. Watch for voting next month.

No, I didn't win Sprittibee's digital camera, but I did become a blogger.

Teeth and Macaroni

I was just reading Darcy's fun little tagger blog meme thingy and her #1 and #2 things reminded me of a story.

Many, many years ago, we had apple bobbing at our little 1st grade Halloween party. I promptly bobbed me an apple and began munching away. Then Tommy Page looked at me and inquired, "Where's your tooth?"

I was shocked and stunned! My first ever loose tooth was GONE! Apparently, right on down the old esophagus along with the bobbed apple. After recovering from said shock, I was incredibly sad. Not because I ate a tooth, but because I had nothing to put under the pillow for the tooth fairy. It was a devastating moment in my little six year old life.

I trudged home after school and naturally my mom wanted to know why I was so incredibly sad. I filled her in on my tragedy and being a mom, she knew EXACTLY WHAT TO DO!




Yep. She made a faux tooth from a piece of macaroni. Talk about a cool mom!! Obviously, I had the best mom evah! (STILL do, btw)



And the even cooler thing? The tooth fairy FELL FOR IT. Hook, line, and sinker. I got some coinage and TF got a little piece of macaroni, resembling the tooth of a six year old girl. Not a bad deal, in my book.





Post Script: Flash forward a whole bunch of years and I'm babysitting a friend's daughter. Who loses her tooth while eating. And is incredibly sad. But it's all good, because I am prepared. I've had good, solid training from my mom.



Macaroni anyone?







images courtesy of photobucket.

Wordless Wednesday - Two Heads Are Better?

Go here, here, and here for more wordlessness.

Hear That?

It's a winsome and lonely breeze blowing through this here blog. Like searching out a vacant building, as it seeks a post of substance.

What a terrible paragraph that was. Sorry excuse for . . . I don't even know what. My apologies. I'll cease and desist with the pathetic writing.

Still nothing, peeps. I think being tied to a physical cable at the desk has compounded my creativelessness (like that? now I'm making up big words).

I am, however, happy to announce that the 4th annual Homeschool Blog Awards are starting up over at The Homeschool Post. Nominations begin tomorrow (I think. I should know this. I'm on the team. My apologies to my awesome fellow team members for being so dense out in la-la land).

Tell you what - click that logo right there and it will take you directly to the site. If the nominations have opened, you'll find out. If not, you can read something else homeschool-related. Then try again the next day. Eventually, you can pick and vote.

Maybe a trip to Starbucks would jolt my creativity. At least I could blog outside of a box-insulated house.

On a happy note - the battery charger for my camera has been located. I can be a camera junkie take pictures again. Maybe even something blog-worthy. Of course, everything is pretty much blog-worthy. Unless it's just too boring to look at. Like when you accidentally hit the shutter while moving your camera and you get a blurred and angled shot of your foot and the couch. Not that I've ever done that. I'm just saying.

What to Write?

I think there has been so much stuff bouncing around in my brain that I can't locate the creative cells. In any way, shape, or form. I want to create. I want to go shoot some awesome photos, write something touching or hysterical, or do some scrapbooking. Or something. But the well is bone dry.

What do you when you come up empty? Not just in writing and blogging. I'm a little restricted in photography because I can't find my battery charger. I'm on the second battery, so when it's dead, it's all over. Sadness, indeed.

Writing? I was supposed to write a devotional for the The Homeschool Post last night. I had nothing. Big, fat, zippo. Praise God for Ann at Holy Experience for graciously allowing us to post something from her archives.

My own blog? I have a few things started, but nothing comes together. And here I am, mostly connected to the internet and all. You'd think after all that time of disconnectedness, I'd have a TON of ideas rolling around, waiting to be tossed up onto the screen. Nope. I think they're hiding in a box. Somewhere.

So for now, I'll leave you with this silliness from a couple of weeks ago.

hmmm...like that third arm?

Wordless Wednesday - Breakfast

Mostly wordless. This is what happens when you can't find the toaster for your bagel.

More WW here, here, and here.

I'm Back, sort of

Whew! Well, a lot has happened since I last posted. First being that I've had no internet access, short of going to a public wi-fi location. With all the moving of stuff, the opportunity just never came up, though.

So here I am, chilling at Starbucks with the boys and blogging.

We interrupt this program to bring you a quick Wordless Wednesday photo break.

45 minutes later...

Gee, I wrote a lot, didn't I? I caught up on some email, read some blog posts, caught up on twitter, chatted with Carrie, and some other stuff. But this post? Not so much. But tomorrow might just be the day.

The day I have a landline and DSL at home. If not, I'll come back to Starbucks. But now it's time to go home. Back to the clean, pack, unpack, sort, put away routine.