Husband, Dad, Mechanical Engineer, Bass
Player ...
Obsessed with all things Engineering.
AMY
Wife, Homeschool Mom, Webmaster ...
Obsessed with all things Political.
RACHAEL
Daughter, Sister, Sophomore ...
Obsessed with all things Geological.
NICHOLAS
Son, Brother, 8 year old ...
Obsessed with all things Historical.
(especially Egyptian!)
Favorite Books/Curriculum
The Well-Trained Mind Singapore Math Greenleaf Guides Apologia Science AIG Science curriculum Story of the World
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Dining Room - After (or perhaps in progress!)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Jeff installed a new chandelier in the dining room. Of course, we also painted & replaced the furniture since the "Before" pictures. I'm also contemplating some curtains. We don't really need them for privacy (our back yard is pretty private), but I think it needs something - if only for aesthetic purposes. I just hate to cover up our gorgeous view!
We've begun to make some progress in Rachael's room, but the best part of the renovation process is getting to spend hours of uninterrupted time with Jeff. Nick is ecstatic that he gets to play online for an extended period of time, Rachael hides out upstairs reading so that she doesn't have to work, & Jeff is in heaven getting to do all the physical labor that he's missed since becoming an engineer. It's a win-win for all involved! ;-D
The seal on our freezer is somewhat inadequate. I have to be ever vigilant about making sure it's completely sealed. In the rush to get out of the house on Friday, I guess I didn't check it, because we came home to a Winter Wonderland inside our freezer! I'm hoping that since it was almost sealed that the electric bill won't be astronomical!
Of course, there is a silver lining to all of this. As any homeschool mom knows...if all else fails, turn it into a science project! What better way to study crystalline structure! ;-D
Today is bittersweet. I spent all day cleaning, and left the keys in the mailbox. Today is the last day that our old house was 'home.' Rachael was two years old when we bought this place. We have some amazing memories here. I love the house, but am excited to move back nearer to our church, Jeff's work, and our homeschool co-op. The saddest part of the day was going out to eat with Heather & the girls. I know that we'll still see them often, but it's just going to require more planning. The best part of the day was knowing that after weeks of working, I'm done cleaning and packing! (at least for awhile!) Now comes the unpacking...
I didn't take any pictures today, but thought these cave photos were appropriate now that we're officially homeless. I took them when we went to Bluespring Caverns a few months ago, but had never gotten around to posting them.
We closed on our house this evening, therefore, we have 30 days to vacate. I'm actually more excited than anything. I was teetering on the edge of nostalgia during the past few weeks, but I think I've finally moved past that. The kids are downright giddy to get back to their lives up north, and the snow flurries today reminded me that Jeff will be able to avoid the horribly long commute this winter...
Brent's realtor came and looked at the house today and wrote up the purchase contract. Meanwhile, Rachael was across the street trying to coax a limping puppy out from underneath a fence. She saw the puppy limping around and followed it to the abandoned house across the street. Every time she tried to reach for it, it would whimper and growl. She spent over an hour sitting next to it and talking to it before Jeff came over and helped her move the fence so that she could retrieve it. The poor thing was filthy and in pain. When we finally got it to the house, Jeff fed it some leftover ham that we had in the fridge. Rachael begged and begged to keep the dog, but Jeff convinced her that it needed medical attention and that if they took it to the animal shelter, someone would definitely adopt it since it was so young and cute. She finally agreed, and the people at the shelter said there were two more puppies probably from the same litter that were turned in from the same area. How someone could abandon these tiny puppies is beyond me! This one, a female, had a dislocated hip and its gums were slashed - presumably from being hit by a car or kicked. Anyway, she got the medical care she needed and I'm sure will find a good home soon. Had we not been moving, I have a feeling Rachael just might have been able to convince Jeff to keep this one!
We had co-op today. They're still studying the New England states in US Geography and we discussed the history of political parties, major and third parties, & party platforms in our Election class. Since Rachael's Taekwon-Do was cancelled, we decided to drive around and look at a few houses that we had seen online. I'm not going to seriously look until we have money in-hand, but these were our top two choices. The first one is smaller (1920 square feet), but it has the wooded setting and character (hard wood floors, large kitchen) that the other lacks. The second one is large (nearly 3000 square feet) and has a basement, but the neighborhood (although very nice) is sort of cookie-cutter... flat with few trees.
Most of today was spent scrubbing, mopping, and polishing, so here's a picture of a beautiful local building. (Trust me, you wouldn't want a picture of me in cleaning mode!) ;-D
My friend, Brent, brought his mom to see the house this evening. He also said that he wants the house! I thought that I would be ecstatic. I've wanted nothing more than to get moved back to a place that's closer to Jeff's work, our church, and our co-op. I guess I always figured it would be in the distant future. We didn't even have our house listed yet! Upon the realization that we'll be gone by Christmas or even sooner, I'm in a panic! I really do love our house. Yes, it's too far away and WAAAY too small, but I love it. It holds so many memories. Rachael was only 2 years old when we moved in. By moving away again, with no house to fall back on, it represents a new chapter in our lives. I really want our next house to be the last one. It's not really the physical act of moving that I'm trying to avoid, but for our entire married lives, we've always been in a temporary state. We've never had any true permanence. When we moved to CA, we didn't anticipate that we'd grow old there. It was too expensive. When we moved to MI, I hated it. I knew we'd never stay. Even when we bought this house, we knew it wasn't permanent - it only had 2 bedrooms. We just wanted something that we could pay cash for and live in while Jeff went back to school. When we moved to our townhouse, it was only to get this house ready to sell. The time has finally come that we can find a permanent house, and it looks like we'll have a very short amount of time to find it. The more that I think about it, the less I want to settle on just "any" house. I'm really considering renting again for awhile so that we'll have time to find that "perfect" house. Of course, no one ever knows that any house will be their last, but it would be nice to at least feel like we can unpack all of those boxes that we've had stored up for the last 15+ years!
Day 286 - Pumpkin Painting, Finger Weaving, and Friends
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Heather and her girls came over on Friday to paint pumpkins, do some finger weaving, and hang out. We were also going to watch a movie, but apparently our DVD player isn't working - not a good thing since our math curriculum is DVD based!
We also got some good news regarding our house. Brent (an old friend from high school who was looking at our house) has narrowed his selection to two houses; ours being one of them. He seems to be leaning toward ours. Say a prayer that all goes well! Jeff & I are both a little nervous about the timing. With the current economic situation, it sure is tempting to want to stay in a house that is paid for - even if it is too small and too far away from Jeff's work (an hour & a half each way) and our homeschool co-op (2 hours away)! I hate to think about having to find another house and get a mortgage right now - especially since he's in a hurry to move in once he decides. Oh well, I guess we could always rent for awhile until we found something we liked and then hope that the current crisis is over. At least then we wouldn't have the additional stress of trying to sell.
It's actually pretty amazing that we may have sold the house. The housing market is REALLY bad around here and we didn't even have it listed! I just happened to mention to Brent that we would like to move back to Bloomington to get closer to Jeff's work and our co-op, and he mentioned that he was looking for a house. If it does sell, it was totally a God thing! Everyone at our old church has been fervently praying that we get moved back up there. I've been dismissing it for over a year and telling them that the house isn't even on the market yet, but they've been persistent saying that nothing is impossible for God. That said, I'm leaving it up to Him to either get it sold or to have us hold on to it. I'm not stressing about it. I'm not stressing about it. I'm not stressing about it...
Here are pictures of the entryway. We also have a full basement, but I'm not going to take any pictures of it. It's just an old unfinished basement that contains workspace and our laundry/utility room.
Name: Amy Home: Indiana, United States About Me: I am a Homeschool Mom of 2 awesome children. This is my attempt at Project 365 - to chronicle our world through daily photos... See my complete profile
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