While our house was on the market I was told about St. Joseph. I never realized Joseph was turned into a Saint, although he totally deserved it, what with being Jesus’ step-dad and all. So I did some Googling about St. Joseph and some asking around and everyone told me that once they buried St. Joe in their yard that their house sold 2 weeks later. I ordered the Deluxe kit cause I wasn’t taking any chances. I buried him like I was supposed to, said the prayer every day, put the keychain on my key ring, and hoped for the best. And sure enough, 2 weeks later our house sold! http://www.mcphee.com/items/11551.html”>Go Joe!
Bless Your Heart
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Y’all don’t have any idea how hard it was to not blog about my house being for sale. Two months of showings and craziness. One offer that came in just 13 days after being on the market- we conceeded to their demands after some negotiating just to have them pull out and not sign the contract. Bizarre feedback emails forwarded to us by our agent. Potential buyers would reject our house because of odd things like:
-client has small child and feels the pond is dangerous (our yard is fenced in and they would have had to physically chuck the kid over into the pond),
-client is turned off by location of laundry room (it’s downstairs next to the kitchen- very convenient for me, but not for them for some reason)
-client didn’t like house because of carpet, countertops, and paint. (you guys have seen our paint jobs inside, I thought we did a nice job and it was fairly neutral save the master bedroom and guest bedroom.)
-client needed more square footage. (well, the info sheet tells you how big the house is. if you need more sq. feet then don’t waste my time!)
We’d get calls for showings with only 10 minutes notice sometimes. I’d race around turning on lights, lighting candles, playing music, opening blinds and grabbing pugs. I’d hop in the car with the pugs and either roam around my neighborhood or go over to my mom’s. And then sometimes, right after all that madness and about 5 minutes into my drive I’d get a call that they’d cancelled. NICE.
We closed on our new house before the old house was sold. This was stroke material for CSP. I kept reassuring him that the old house would sell. And it did. But not before a series of mental breakdowns on his part. Poor guy.
The upsides to owning 2 homes at once:
-2, count them, 2 mailboxes. I heart mail.
-being able to load up my car and move bit by bit. We had to water the new sod every day or so, so we made the trips count by taking a load of stuff with us. Not having to move all in one day will be sooo nice.
I LOATHE moving. I hate packing and unpacking and lugging crap up and down stairs and not knowing where my stuff is. BUT, there are some things I love about moving:
-a new blank slate for painting and decorating.
-new address labels.
-yard sale.
-we’re getting satellite tv this time. the local cable company doesn’t offer dvr in our new neighborhood (the horror!) so I have to go with satellite to get dvr. It turns out we’ll be spending much less than before AND finally have dvr again. Not having dvr is wrecking my tv life. The Duel starts Thursday night opposite 6 Degrees and I haven’t seen CSI all season cause it’s up against Grey’s I think and I swear when the satellite guy shows up I just might kiss him!
-I don’t move toilet brushes and stuff like that so that means a big trip to T@rget for essentials.
-I try not to duplicate rooms too much from house to house. This means all new furniture and accessory configurations.
-IKEA TRIP! We had the builders not install mirrors ($60 credit for each one they didn’t install) since they were just gonna put up those plate mirrors and we’d buy new ones anyway. So I have to buy new mirrors for the bathrooms, bath tissue holders, towel holders, tons of new lighting to replace those awful builder’s choice globe lights, all kinds of new stuff must be purchased. Twist my arm to go to IKEA!
While watering my lawn I’ve been able to meet a few of my new neighbors. Everyone seems really nice and friendly. I can’t wait to tell you about Shirtless Fernando. But I’ll have to wait til tomorrow. Lots to do today. We’re moving on Wednesday! -
I want to make sure my address book is updated and correct since the holiday season is almost here. I send out Thanksgiving and Christmas pug photo cards, much to Kiki’s chagrin- not a fan of playing dress up! Please email me your new address if you’ve moved in the last year (esp if you received a Christmas card from us last year). And if you’d like to join the list then please email me your address. I’ll email everyone back with our new address. Thanks!
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Last year CSP & I were exploring ways we could raise $ for our adoption. We considered refinancing our home. We tossed that around for a while then last Spring we noticed some new developments being built in our neighborhood. We checked out the homes and while they were too pricey for our budget, they got us thinking. We started looking at our home from a parent’s perspective instead of a regular resident’s perspective. And while we love, love, love living here- we weren’t crazy about some things: the steep yard, the 2 story deck, the open “window” from the upstairs bonus room to the family room. Then one day we were out and about and noticed a familiar sign. It was a directional sign to a community being built by the same builder we’d seen in our town. We went to the community and the prices on the same houses were much lower than they were in our town. There were still some good lots left. So we discussed it and decided to sell our home and build a new one. We would be taking advantage of the growth of our town and subsequent dramatic rise in home prices (the national average is around 5% per year I think and we’re at 17%- at least for our personal home). The sale of our home would allow us to build a new, more kid friendly home, pay off our credit cards, and most importantly, finance our adoption. So we chose a lot, signed the papers, put the money down, chose cabinets and made other design decisions on our new home. It’s located in a county & town we’ve never lived in so it will be a new adventure. Our new neighborhood is full of friendly people from literally all over the country. The people across the street are from LA, our next door neighbors are from Kansas, and the entire community is really diverse and full of children- over 100 (!) meet the bus every morning.
I had to have my ablation surgery and recover before we could put the house on the market. We listed it at the end of July and we sold it last week! We close at the end of this month! I didn’t blog about it for a number of reasons: didn’t want to jinx the sale, and we wanted to maintain some privacy. The thought did cross my mind that some people who read this could gain entry to my house by simply contacting a realtor (and there are a couple of unsavories who I wouldn’t put it past).
We closed on our new house 3 weeks ago! I CAN NOT WAIT to get in there and start painting and decorating! And I know you’re probably thinking…well, what about the Parade of Homes? What was that all about? Well, I love this house and wanted to give it one last hurrah. Plus, I loved seeing all of your homes.
Now, about the adoption. We had to put it on hold because we’re crossing state lines with our move. Yep, I’m leaving my beloved South Carolina once again. =( I’ve already been in touch with my agency and they’ve set me up with a new social worker who’ll have to do a new home visit to check out the new house. So I’ve got the ball rolling again. And as soon as we close on the old house and the check’s in the bank I can finish up our dossier.
We’ve picked out which room will be Ling Ling’s and we’re very excited. A new house means less maintenanace and upkeep. A newer landscape means less time in the yard for CSP. A flat yard is safer for children and easier for us as parents. And a new house meant fun design options for us- choosing colors, making changes to the floorplans etc. We skipped the ridiculously underused fireplace option and built a screened in porch instead (makes a lot more sense since we live in the hot South). And you know what’s crazy? We were able to build a brand new house that’s almost 300 square feet bigger than the one we’re in now (2613 for the new- 2350 in the old) and the base price was almost $20,000 less than what we paid for this one 3 years ago!
So….after much ado (and I gotta rest the wrists- ouch!), here’s a peek at the new digs! (click to enlarge)
I’ll be sending out change of address notices soon (already took the pugs’ pic for that). Let me know if you’d like to be on the list! -
First, y’all rock. Thank you for all the sweet comments & emails. Even though I started blogging 5 years ago as a quick easy way to journal, I did wonder from time to time if I stopped blogging would anyone notice. Thanks for noticing.
So I had my nerve test last week, which by the way hurt like a beeeeyotch! I love how nurses/techs will tell you “this might sting/pinch/bite a bit” just before they stab/poke/or in my case electrocute you. They had to shock my arms & hands with electricity and insert needles into my muscles and make me move around my hands to see if I do indeed have carpal tunnel. I do, indeed. Moderate in my left arm, severe in my right. I’m hopped up on some pain meds right now so I can type for a bit more. I’ll have to have surgery in my right arm for sure. I started wearing braces/splints at night and they let me sleep through the night again. They are fabulous. But things like using my swiffer, eating, driving, blowing my hair dry- they all turn my arm numb and it hurts. Oy.
I’m quite the hot little number now with my Wonder Woman braces, as CSP calls them. Picture if you will my bedtime ensemble: ear plugs (pugs + CSP= SNORING), bite guard in my mouth, eye mask to block out light, my Darth Vadar mask contraption, and now my sexy rexy arm braces. The Cap’n is a lucky, lucky man. If lucky, lucky means patient and totally blinded by love. We were talking about Ling Ling yesterday and how I want to make sure the bedroom closest to ours is turned into the nursery so I can hop out of bed and run in to comfort my baby. CSP said “Yeah, I’d like to see you hop out of bed! You’re too connected to stuff with all your tubes and gear. And poor Ling Ling better not come into our room at night or she’ll be scared to death when she gets a look at you in bed!” I wonder if we can request a baby who does not startle easily?
So I’m going to ease back into blogging & computer use. I apologize if emails are slow. And there won’t be a fall line of jewels over at Bellatini =(. But I did realize I can post little videos with minimum typing. And I’m trying to use my mouse with my left hand. So stay tuned for video blog posts….and come back tomorrow cause I’m revealing a big secret CSP & I have been keeping since April. No, I’m not pregnant, we haven’t gotten another pug, and we haven’t won the lottery. But it is exciting news for us! (no spoiling the fun if you already know!)
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I think I might have told you guys about my arm going numb. I went to the neurologist and he thinks I have carpal tunnel (apparently there is an actually a tunnel in your arm called the carpal tunnel- who knew?). Now my left arm is going numb all the time too. I go for a nerve test on the 29th at the neurologist’s, so hopefully that will bring me some answers. Things are getting really bad with my arms. They go numb in the night and wake me up it hurts so bad. And I need my arms man! I use them all the time! So, the big problem is that it hurts to blog, to surf the internet, to type emails. This is not good. So I’m taking a break from ye ol blog.
Hope to see you soon. -
Sunday night I was watching tv and a commercial came on featuring very familiar looking items. Then the logo appeared. It was an IKEA commercial! WHA??? Then an hour later it came on again! What does this mean? I looked on IKEA’s regular and corporate sites and found nothing about a store opening anywhere close to my house, city, or state even. Has anyone heard anything? Or is this just a big mind trick the universe is playing on me?
Also, I just read over at US@ Tod@y this article about this new book and all I can say is Amen Sister Friend! Stop Dressing Your Six-year-old Like a Skank: And Other Words of Delicate Southern Wisdom should be required reading (basing this on the title alone) for all new moms or moms to be. It is NOT CUTE to dress your daughter like a pole dancer. It drives me nuts that the term “wife beater” has become a normal and accepted description for a shirt, but it makes me more crazy when I see little girls dressed like hookers. Obviously little BreeeAnNaH doesn’t have a job so the mother is shelling out her own money for slutty little outfits and thong underwear so her precious darling can go to elementary school and what? Do lap dances at recess? Ahem, I’m now stepping off of my soap box. Resume your normal activity.
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Haste Ye Back is painted on the sign you pass on the way out of the mountain house driveway. Every time I leave the mountain house I can’t wait to go back. I really can’t wait to get back together with my girls Shannon 2, Deb, and Susan.
We had a big time this weekend laughing, clapping, chillaxing, snacking, and did I mention laughing? I swear my face still hurts from laughing so hard. Deb, Shannon H & I met up Friday night at the house. The mountain house was built by my Papa’s grandparents in 1903. So it’s old. But not haunted I swear! We chatted and got settled and went to sleep. At around 3am Shannon H was in my room yelling and scaring the bejeebus out of me. Even though she’s a black belt in some sort of Tae Kwon Jitsu she sent me down to check out a noise. It was the wind banging the door and not a mountain man ax murderer. So back to bed we went. Susan joined us early the next morning. We headed out for breakfast, shopping, and touring around. After dinner we went back to the house for game night. Deb brought us all fabulous light up tiaras that we sported during a fun round of Scattergories. After some late night gabbing we finally hit the hay. The next morning we put the house back together and hit the road for home. It was so wonderful to meet Deb and to spend time with Susan and Shannon. It was as if we’ve known each other forever and I can’t wait for our next meet up! The LSKs will ride again!
*Note- I apparently had too much fun to take any decent pictures. So I’ll be relying on my comrades for photographic support. But hear me- if any of you post pictures of my interpretive dance set to Prince’s When Doves Cry, I will hunt you down and hurt you. -
Saw this driving through my neighborhood yesterday (click to enlarge). My neighbor is turning 50 and her friends pulled a bit of a prank. How fun!In other girlfriend news…I’m leaving tonight to spend the weekend in the mountains with Shannon 2, Deb, and Susan. I can’t wait! We’ll have way too much fun and I’ll be sure to post pics and tell you all about it when we get home. Well, most of it- us girls gotta keep some secrets!
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For those of you who are just joining us, we are touring our readers through our homes, room by room. This week we are heading outside to check out decks, patios, back yards.If you’d like to play along please leave a comment that you’ve posted your pics, along with a link to your site. All those who are already participating are leaving comments that their pictures are posted. Go check out their homes!
Check out the paraders below:
~ Elaine
~ Aimee
~ Lisa S.
~ Mrs. Gumby
~ Jacquie
~ Rachel
~ Julie
~ Michele
~ Judy
~ Jessica
~ Julie W.
~ Alfred’s Mom
~ Sandy
~ Kendra
~ Gabs
~ Jesser
~ Ani
~Melissa
~ Heather
~ Sara
~ Lisa
~ Leah
~ Alyson
~ Connie
~ Priscilla
~Krista
~Giao
~Tiffany
~Jamie
~TracyNow on to my house: click pics to enlarge
The deck was a big reason why we bought this house. It’s huge and runs the length of the house. Our house overlooks a pond so it’s really nice to sit out there and chill. This is what you see when you come out the kitchen door and look right:
Look left:
Straight ahead (you can see the pond at the top of the photo): 
Our back yard: (hard to get the whole thing in one pic but you get the idea)
I hope everyone has enjoyed taking a peek at each other’s homes. I know I sure have. Stay tuned for the next round of Bloggy Parade of Homes- the holiday edition! Coming in late October!
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Bless Your Heart 