Monday, May 20, 2013

Day 59 – { sold! }

100 days of gratitude tag“Step into my parlor” said the spider to the fly. . . .

A huge blessing that we have received in the past few weeks is the sale of our house. It was listed on Friday 5/3. Three showings were scheduled for Sunday 5/5. (That ended up being quite the adventure, since our van broke down the night before and it was Fast Sunday, so we were stuck with no way to get us all out of the house at once and no way to provide dinner. . .until our sweet friends the Nielsens rescued us. :) Less than an hour after we got back in the house that Sunday, our realtor called saying we had received a full-price offer.

 

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Now that we have passed successfully through the inspection and the appraisal (well, the appraisal just happened Friday and we haven’t heard yet, but we think it’s okay), we are considering this house SOLD.

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See my sweet friend Laurie? She talked us into the black garage door and picked out those lovely ironwork dealies that make it look like we are stylish and classy. haha! More about Laurie later – she is amazing and super nice.

Such a relief to only have shown it on one day! I took photos just before vacating the house, and want to share them on here. The ones the realtors took for the listing turned out hideous and this will just help me feel better.

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NOTE: our house has never looked like this the whole time we have lived here and let’s face it, it will never look this clean and decorated again, but I still want to show it because it makes me happy and it’s my blog.

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the ‘entryway’

 

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See those pansies on the ottoman?

Minutes before vacating the house, Exacto discovered that Rosebud had picked an armful of pansies from the front yard. He told her, "Rosebud, you're supposed to leave those there! Why did you pick those?"

Rosebud, calmly: "For my wedding."

 

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Onward into the kitchen. . . .

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Here’s where Laurie really made miracles happen. She painted the walls, helped me for nearly a week with sanding and painting the cabinets, sanding and painting the dining set, then came again and helped me decorate with pretty stuff. Without her help, I would probably still be working on the kitchen. She was IN. credible.

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If you detect some craftiness in her smile it’s because we got sneaky and used gorilla tape to stick those platters/plates to the wall because the realtor was coming to take pictures and we hadn’t found plate hangers in time. Hey, it worked!

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Shall we head upstairs for a bit?

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I love our realtor for letting us keep some of our pictures of the Savior on the wall.

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Here we have the master bedroom, pre-Euro monsters.

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Now that I learned how to paint kitchen cabinets, I’m itching to paint that left bedside table. . . . We’ll see if the itch lasts after we get to Colorahdo.

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And the boys’ bedroom. Yes, all three sleep here (see the trundle? the poor dears are packed like sardines).

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And Rosebud’s room. . . .

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(She has outgrown that crib-day-bed situation but we shall have to wait till Colorado-land to buy her new bed.)

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Not pictured are the garage or closets. I know, you’ll just have to get over the disappointment. :)

This whole experience of preparing and then selling the house was filled with tender mercies for us, including generous help from several friends besides Laurie. I wish I could tell you about every single little miracle that happened! So grateful! It brings me hope as we face the next step that currently seems almost desperately daunting--finding a place to rent on the other end. . . .

Dear Mom,

It was quite a week. We had two wonderful band concerts, DC’s last professional symphony performance,  a court of honor (where Exacto received 4 merit badges and the On My Honor award and Fluffy received Tenderfoot rank), the house inspection and appraisal AND Fluffy’s 12th birthday!

I wish I had time to upload some photos and even video clips of the band concerts, but this is one of those times where the post will be “simple.”

One of my favorite parts of the week was seeing my first live armadillo walk across the road. I had just been saying the night before how sad it was that I had lived in the South this long and never once seen an armadillo that wasn’t roadkill (‘cept in the zoo). The Very Next Morning, lo and behold. . . .:) It was like a smile from Heavenly Father.

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But my MOST favorite part of the week was celebrating Fluffy’s birthday. He is such a good, sweet, funny boy. Now young man, I guess. sigh.

 

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He gave his first talk in Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday, on the Priesthood and how it has blessed his life and our family’s. He prepared it 100% on his own and did such a great job.

He is always one to try to help me feel better when  I get stressed out.

His sense of humor takes me by surprise almost every time still – it reminds me of his Daddy’s.

He received the “Outstanding Trombone Student” award at his band concert Monday. This was impressive because his band is gargantuan (47 clarinets, they said at the concert) and he is one of nearly 20 trombone players. :)

He has a pure, very real love of the gospel and a strong testimony already. Oh, how I hope he continues to grow it and that he will prepare well for missionary service and a lifetime of loving the Lord.

Anyway, I Love that son of mine. I know you do, too. Thank you for the amazing quilt you are making for him – he loved seeing the pictures!

And now, things are really wrapping up for us here. I have 4 days left actually here in Arkansas, with our trip to Spain and Germany in the middle of them. I am SO EXCITED and still can hardly believe it’s really going to happen.

Can’t wait to see you tomorrow! I love you!

~Michelle

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Dear Mom,

Happy Mother’s Day! I am forever grateful for your influence in my life, not to mention giving me life in the first place. How blessed I am to be your daughter!

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I love how you look in this photo from your last visit here when we were facetiming with Baby Austin. (Hummer’s expression is a little alarming, however. :o)

This is the first part of your Mother’s Day gift this year. I’m glad that you enjoyed receiving my journal every week last year by email but I really miss my handwritten one. And so I thought maybe this year if I gave you a blog post for every week—especially one with pictures—then maybe you would enjoy that, too.

So that is my plan. It may sometimes be late or very simple, but hopefully I will write to you every week on average here.

So, how has your special day been? Hopefully I’ll get to talk to you later on, when you’re home from church.

We have had a most excellent week here in Arkansas.

Monday our realtors came over and ‘splained the contract to us. We feel super blessed to have received such a good offer so soon after listing the house. As long as everything goes through with the inspection and appraisal. . . . Also, Rosebud discovered a great new use for Mardi Gras beads – voila, infant carrier! :0)

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The catmint, spirea, and irises are all in bloom. The irises are hand-me-downs. The ones on the far left are from the Hendersons, who planted them with the other flowers when Benjamin died. The rest are from our sweet neighbor Thelma. I wish we could take them all with us. . . .

 

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We loved having Exacto home with us for a couple of mornings this week. He even gave Rosebud an impromptu horn lesson, during which they worked on So This Is Love. :o)

 

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And since it is Mother’s Day and my sweet DC is making dinner, I shall attempt to share a video as well. . . .

 

When my friend Laurie and the realtor were helping me stage the house for showing, Laurie prescribed Euro pillows for our bed. The realtor enthusiastically seconded that, and I knew that I could never be happy until I had them. I would feel like our bed was hopelessly underdressed. haha

 

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And so, here is our bed fully clothed! It has taken us some time to get used to the fact that they take up roughly HALF of the bed’s surface area and also to moving ALL THOSE PILLOWS every morning and every night, but ya know, I think I like them. (Do you and Dad have Euro pillows on your Rush Grush bed? :o)

 

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It was the highlight of the week. Just kidding, actually the highlight of this week was Exacto passing his Eagle Board of Review! YIPPEE!

 

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Super proud of this boy. I wish so much that you could be here for his Court of Honor! He has worked so hard and done many grownup things that he never would have done without Scouting. I am glad for your wonderful example of supporting the program – I have such fond memories of your den leader years. :o)

 

And here we have a lovely photo of the boys burning 9 years’ worth of our taxes and bank statements that I realized are completely unnecessary to move to Colorado. Way more fun than a shredder! Especially later when we pulled out the giant marshmallows. Note Ruby licking Fluffy’s feet – she is quite maternal sometimes (meaning in a canine way – I don’t usually lick my puppies’ feet). 

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Rosebud is growing so fast. Just this week I came to terms with the fact that she can no longer wear size 3T. She is so smart and funny and beautiful and I know you agree and are just as biased as I am. :o)

 

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Other notable events this week: DC took his finals and our internet was out for two days. Unfortunately that coincided, at least for his Anatomy & Physiology final. He went to the public library to take it there, and their internet was down. He ended up taking it at our neighbor’s house!

My week was spent largely on the dadgum garage and all its accumulated stuff from 9 years. I can’t post a picture because it’s still not done. (Wish I had done a before and after. . . )

And last night, I watched DC perform with the symphony as a professional player for the last time. The ASO did a wonderful pops program with Cirque de la Symphonie. We invited our beloved friends the Nielsens to come with us. It was so fun! They have been like our family here – we’ve even done Christmas Eve together and Sunday dinners. We are really going to miss them!

 

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Maybe I can add some photos of the symphony after Kelly Hicks put them on facebook. . .

And today has been a lovely Mother’s Day for me. The Sweet Ones brought me an amazing breakfast in bed.

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See, those Euro pillows come in mighty handy!

Three of us spoke in Sacrament Meeting, and the other three of us sang with the Primary (Fluffy’s last time, Rosebud’s first :o). We visited Benjamin’s grave after church.

I hope that you have had a wonderful day, too. I miss you so much and can’t wait to see you in just a week and a half!

Love from your daughter,

Michelle