The New Digs

I finally have the main floor of the house organized enough to take pictures!

When I say organized enough that means you will likely see tools, picture frames, random curtains (not on rods) and various other things lying about.

But you will just have to trust me that this is an improvement.

Something to keep in mind:

I took all of these pictures with my phone and I'm too lazy to fix the colors/lighting

Off we go:

Here is the view standing at my front door.

To the left is the kitchen

Ahead and left is the living room and Sun room

Ahead and right is the dining room and bathroom

To the right there are staircases heading up to bedrooms and down to basement

 Ta Da!  The stairs

The kitchen

Colors are off here but it has cherry cabinets and Terra Cotta walls

I love:

the big deep sink

the trash compactor

how pretty the appliances are

I don't love:

the dishwasher is WAY smaller than my previous one.  I'm still figuring out how to load it.

Smooth top stove.  I think they are a pain.

Microwave is very wimpy with no turntable. 

And I know you are loving my fabulous table!

Living room:

I managed to fit all of my furniture but it's tight.

I hope it doesn't look overwhelming but it'll have to do for now either way.

Sun room (right off the living room)

I managed to fit two very important things. 

1-my yellow phone

2-my turquoise frog

Dining Room

It has the look of an Easter Egg basically.

Purple walls, blue cabinet, white cabinet

But it's a big room with a nice window that opens to a deck.

It'll be great in the spring, summer and fall when we BBQ

(this is obviously where the tools are being kept for now)

Bathroom

Yes, more purple.

with blue

I live in an Easter Egg

and you are going to ask "Can't you paint?"

the answer is yes I can

But I don't know if I want to.

I may decide it's worth it but for now I'm living with the lavender.

That's your tour for now.

I hope to show you the bedrooms someday but glancing at how Carter's looks right now...

It'll be awhile.

For a good cause

Today I am packing up and shipping off my wedding dress.

It is going to Frank's mom's house where she will transform it from a dated 80's wedding dress to a lovely little blessing dress for my granddaughter.

I am excited about this idea!

I loved my dress.

It wasn't an expensive dress, as a matter of fact it was made by a fashion design student at BYU.

It was her final exam.

I brought her a sketch and she made the pattern, fitted me and sewed the dress.

I think it cost me around $100 plus materials.

The perfect price for a starving student.

And since I have no daughters to use it in any way,

and since it is an 80's style dress and no one would want to use it even if I did have a daughter,

I am glad I've found a way for it to live on.

computer troubles

So, for the last little while my computer has been acting crazy.

Slower than I ever thought possible

and

won't connect to the internet

Today I called my son to see what he thought.

And I realized that I am becoming my mother...she calls my brother for computer help.

Luckily for both of us, we have really smart kids.

After brainstorming with my son about what the problem might be I tried to get him to send a text to his Dad to tell him that I really needed a new computer.

I figured it couldn't hurt to hear it from another source besides the complaining wife.

But he said no way no how

Not getting involved.

sheesh.

Guess he's even smarter than I thought he was!

Love

I have a thing for throw blankets.

I really love a good, soft throw.

I have a lovely blue one in my living room (well, previously my living room...now my sun room)

It is super soft and light weight.

I have a bunch of red ones for watching tv.

I got enough for everyone to have their own

Of course that was back when there were 4 kids and 2 adults all watching tv together.

I have a beige one for the guest bed.

That no longer exists in this new house.

I have a few miscellaneous ones in the closet:

2 or 3 from the High School...seniors get them at graduation but none of my kids took theirs to college

one with some sort of logo that makes me think Frank got it at a work event

Now that we are down to 3 people at home I just don't need all these blankets

I mean, just the "tv blankets" alone are too much!

But as I walked around Target the other day I saw

*on the clearance rack*

these sweater blankets.

OHHHH

swoon.

Cute, comfy, soft and all cable-knitty

I wanted one so bad.

So

Bad

But I didn't get one because, well, all those red ones all over the place for one thing.

I keep thinking about it though.

it's calling to me.

Kids

They change.

But then again, they don't.

A sad moving story

As you are probably aware, my family is in the process of moving to a new home.

You are probably also aware that my family loves Tillamook cheese.

The two things might seem unrelated but this week they aren't.

Because today as Frank was unpacking some boxes in his office he opened one to discover this:

Yes, this box clearly labeled "office" contained ALL of our cheese.

Of course, the problem is that we used boxes given to us by other people.

People who had labeled their boxes for their move.

and I'm not gonna lie, we got a little lazy towards the end and started throwing things willy nilly into boxes

and apparently we didn't always label the boxes 

(no doubt thinking we'd unpack them right away or remember where they belonged)

Sadly this particular box sat for at least a week before being opened for inspection.

The good news is that Frank has a business trip to Oregon soon so he will be able to rebuild our stash o' cheese.

I'm trying not to think about how much all that cheese cost us.

The other good news is that Frank chose to organize his office today, not a month from now!

Saying Goodbye

Today I finally, finally finished moving out of my house.

Everyone keeps saying that it must be bitter sweet to move out of our lovely house of 8 years.

But the process of moving took so long and so much energy that I am just relieved it's over.

I'm ready for a new chapter.

Maybe this last year made me less attached to my "stuff"

I definitely think that's part of it.

But I do have fond feelings for the house and all the memories we had there.

I did one last walk through and took some pictures of the empty rooms as a way of saying goodbye.

Please notice how clean that garage is!  Carter and I did a fabulous job, if I do say so myself.

 the basement

 My scrapbook room in the basement.

The spacious kitchen.  It has it quirks but it served us very well!

and I still love the color...

My living room.

The only thing I'm sad to leave behind is my curtains!

 The "mud room" coming into the house from the garage.

Frank's office for years, and later Austin's room.

Carter's room

(the first time we let one of our kids pick their own paint color)

My ex-scrapbook room which became a guest room.

Master bedroom.

This room has been pink (previous owners),  beige, brown and finally blue.

the long, skinny master closet.

The "big room"

We loved this room and used it well.

We left the carpet and pool table for the new owners.

the back deck and yard.

Never got tired of that view.

Good bye wonderful house!

I loved you while I had you.

Forty Six

Here is what I did on my birthday:

got up and did not shower since I knew we'd be working all day

went and loaded up the trailer and van with all kinds of crap from the old house

(I don't know why I would want to keep any of it, but we keep schlepping it over here)

came back and unloaded

went and loaded up the trailer and van with even more crap

came back and unloaded

Ate lunch at Five Guys (my choice)

I like that place way too much.

went back and forth on whether or not to see a movie and ended up going home

Opened presents

A new novel from my in-laws!

Jewelry from my parents!

The suitcase I already knew I was getting!

Frank worked on making me a cherry pie while I sat on the couch and read my new book.

Did some vacuuming and put down the throw rug in the sun room.  

Tons of dead bugs in there.

complained about having a broken vacuum.

Ate cherry pie

Decided we should probably eat dinner

Frank and Carter went out and got lettuce wraps, my fave!

Ordered a new vacuum online!

another present I guess :-)

Watched "An Affair to Remember" on tv...missed the first half or so.

Frank and Carter barely survived the movie and mocked it a few times until I gave them dirty looks and reminded them it was my birthday.

Ate more cherry pie.

Went to sleep.

Yep, the whole day went by and I never showered.

Gross.

But it was a good birthday overall.

Did not meet the goal of getting completely out of the house 

but I think realistically we only have one more load!

YAY!

PS this birthday was WAY better than last year. :-P

Birthday eve

I told Frank that what I want for my birthday is to be out of the old house!

I'm seriously, seriously tired of moving.  

Now I know why movers cost so much...their job stinks.

So tomorrow morning, assuming he feels good, we are going to attack it for what I hope will be one last time.

Then if I'm not too tired after all that, maybe we'll go see Les Miserables. 

Unlikely.

Most likely I'll be exhausted and we'll veg on the couch before going to bed early!

the life of a 46 year old...

FORTY SIX

I did get one birthday gift already and here it is:

the cutest suitcase ever!

I will never stand at the luggage return again and wonder which black suitcase is mine!

I hope to use it later this year when Frank and I go on a trip to celebrate his one year mark since the transplant!

And I will also use it when I go to meet my new granddaughter.

Fun stuff coming up in my life this year

My kids

My kids all came home for Christmas!

I'm not sure it was our funnest Christmas ever...no, I take that back.

It was not our funnest Christmas ever.

Is funnest a word?

We were moving.

Still are.

But everyday after Christmas was about moving and getting as much done as possible.

I was stressed and actually got a little testy a time or two.

Hopefully my kids know me well enough to know how much I love them even when I'm testy.

I loved having them all here.

LOVED

Here are a few pictures:

Austin gave this to Ryan

All the "kids" together on Christmas eve

Austin being Austin

Brotherly love

Dance party

Thanks for putting up with me kids.  I love you all!

Hello 2013

I am writing this post from the living room of my new abode.  I am not all moved in, but we are living here now.  The old house has piles and piles of stuff from the closets and attic all lined up by the doors just waiting for me (or someone else helpful) to load it up and bring it over here.  Too bad I am perfectly happy with the amount of stuff we have here now and have no desire to bring anything else over...

Frank is currently upstairs feeling like death.  He got food poisoning from his deli sandwich at lunch and has been sick as a dog for hours now.  He's trying to sip juice so that his blood sugar doesn't tank (causing us to have to go to the emergency room).  But so far it's not going so well.  It might be a long night for both of us.

I spent the morning, along with some helpful church friends, making the aforementioned piles of stuff in the other house.  Then I hauled one load over before Frank got sick.

I really like the new place and once its organized, I think we'll be very happy here.
I ordered curtains today which was fun/nerve wracking.  We got a budget from the owners to do it with so I was trying to make myself happy while staying in budget.  Not as easy as you might think.

Saturday is my birthday.  I think my birthday will forever more be remembered for me as the day we found out that Frank had cancer.  So, in only 2 days we will be celebrating (?) the one year anniversary of stupid cancer invading our lives.  Thankfully, other than the current food poisoning issue, Frank is doing well and feels good.

I am grateful to have him alive and here with me each and every day.

Ok, well... time to go check on him now.

Happy New Year to one and all.  May 2013 be better than 2012 because,  honestly,  2012 kinda sucked.