Still trying to close

Yes. We're still trying to go to closing. We've heard everything from 'one more signature' to 'one more person' to 'there's a condition'. UGH! We're so far into this, we don't feel like we can walk away. Our original closing date was May 21st and you can see the date (June 14th) and we've still not closed. We have a packed moving truck in our driveway and boxes within the house. We're living on the bare essentials and not having fun.

Our landlord asked us to be out by June 15th, but I asked to be able to finish out the school year until June 20th to give us time to clean and get the carpets cleaned, as well. Now, it's like we won't even make that deadline!

We'll be living in our camper, or, at least, Fred will. My hope is to go to Florida for a significant amount of time while the house is getting renovated. My sister, at this point, has arranged for us to get into Disney for FREE on June 24th. That's 10 days and, with all the delays we've had so far, doesn't seem possible. I would like to start driving south by this Saturday, the 20th, but who knows. As of right now, movers come on Thursday, the 18th, and carpet cleaners on Friday. Hmm...wonder if we'll make it. Wonder if we'll have to postpone those dates, too.

BTW, the first offer that was written on this house was March 29th. It's been 2 1/2 months!!!

New Home Purchase

It's been so long. I'm a slacker, but I'm also working on my master's and just tired of 'writing'. Sooo, here's an update.

We weren't really looking for houses and stumbled across a foreclosure just 4 houses down from where we live now in our rented home. What makes this house so desirable for us is the location. We went inside and saw a lot of cosmetic things, nothing major. This was on a Saturday.

We went for another visit and decided to put in an offer. It went back and forth and we ended up with a good deal/offer/acceptance. Now we're in the process of picking out the details of our renovation. The kitchen is going to be the biggest and costliest project, so I'm highlighting that. The kitchen is a galley, so not much to do there. However, it is getting gutted. One day, I will add before and after pictures. Right now, I just wanted to get this started.

I will take pictures of other rooms and the outside, but the baths and kitchen will show the biggest changes. We are also going basic on floor coverings due to costs. We plan to make our 'dream renos' in the future when we won't have to finance them into a 30 year mortgage.

Stayed tuned. :)

End of the year 2008

I'm not one to make new year's resolutions, so if that's what you're expecting, so sorry. I have also never written a Christmas letter. So this is sort of my version of one for this year.

This year has brought our family many changes. It started out fairly busy. Fred left just after the new year for an advanced course in Alabama. He was gone for about 4 weeks. He returned for about 3 weeks and was off again. This time for 6 weeks. In the middle of this course, was Spring Break for the kids and I. So we trekked it the 11 or so hours to Alabama from Indiana to visit for a long weekend. It was a nice time. We headed out the next day to an indoor water park for an overnight trip in Indianapolis. It was a great size for just me and the two kids. I could plant myself in one spot and see both kids. At the same time, I could see snow on the ground outside! We said we'd want to come back next year. During this same time I started on my Master's degree for Education, as did Fred (MBA, though). Boy, were our lives changing!

Just before the school year ended, Fred heard grumblings about a position in the Washington DC National Guard. He'd get to fly more and possibly secure his retirement. We left on our annual furlow to our favorite camping spot for the Memorial Day weekend and had it in the back of our minds. I finished up my first series of classes and started my ESL summer school position for the next 5 weeks. This after flying the kids down to Florida to spend it with my family down there.

The first of these weeks were met with a tornado and flooding. A tornado hit Camp Atterbury where Fred was doing his annual training and nearly totaled our truck. It took them a month to fix it. The tornado was followed 4 days later by flooding that made national news! What a mess. We were spared, but so many in our community were not.

At the end of the 5 weeks of summer school, we still hadn't heard about the DC position, so our lives were literally on hold. The principal at my school was anxious to hear, but promised me that I would retain my position, despite the fact that I may be leaving. This brought us to mid-July.

We left on our week-long vacation at the end of July and returning the beginning of August. We visited and explored Northern Indiana in Amish country. We learned a lot and sampled some great food. They have the best cheese up there. Yum!

Still no word...then wait! Around August 8th, 3 weeks before Labor Day, we had the word. Fred was going to DC. They wanted us there by Labor Day. That was 3 weeks! and 2 1/2 weeks into the school year. We had to act fast. In the middle of all this, Fred had to do a weekend drill. Then we headed out to Virginia to look for housing. The following week, we moved. We sold a lot of our furniture, but nothing from the bedrooms and loaded up a Uhaul and moved! Oh my! What a trip. We took 3 days, but the Uhaul would only go about 30 mph up most of the mountains! We were moved in officially on Labor Day and registered Tristian for school the next day. That was the first day of school in Virginia.

We then set off to look for a pre-school for Kaela. We found a local Christian school and checked it out. They observed our interactions with her and suggested she try Kindergarten for a day. She did and did extremely well. So, bam, she was enrolled in Kindergarten. Of course, we missed her first day of school pictures because we weren't expecting her to start Kindergarten. Oh well. So next year, we will have the choice of whether she will start Kindergarten again or 1st grade, but she's doing extremely well in Kindergarten, so we'll see.

I got a job as an ESOL teacher, primarily teaching 1st graders, which I love! The school is on the Northern part of Manassas, but it's a quick commute, taking about 20 minutes from Kaela's school. Tristian wanted to join me, but all his friends would be all the way across the county and that just wouldn't be fair. Maybe next year all 3 of us will be together! ;)

Tristian was involved with Basketball for the first time and joined the Cub Scouts. He's in a wolf pack. Kaela has taken up ballet and tap and is also a Daisy, which is girl scouts for Kindergarteners. They both love their activities and will continue with them into the new year!

So we ended the year on a good note. We are wavering back and forth between saving more to buy a house or jumping on the housing opportunities now. We love the area we live in and wouldn't want to settle for another area at the moment just because the price is right.

I guess that's all for now and have the plans to do a real Christmas letter next year. Uh, was that a resolution???

The Letter Game

My daughter came up with this game we play in the truck. We play it on the way to and from school or anywhere that we are driving to/from around town. It's very simple, but it keeps her busy. Keep in mind, she's 4 1/2.

The game is called "The Letter Game". This name she came up with herself. She announces, "Let's play The Letter Game." And usually, we agree. It starts by her saying a letter and everyone has to come up with words that have that letter in it. When we started this game several months ago, we came up with words that began with whatever letter. Now, it's more challenging, in a way: You have to come up with words that you hear the letter. Everyone takes a turn saying a letter. We go 'round and just shout out words and when there seems to be a lull in words, we move on.

So, tonight, we're playing the game and the letter is "d". Several words are said and my daughter yells out, "Dammit". My husband, very seriously, explains to her that she shouldn't say this word. I am in the passenger seat silently laughing my ass off. Then we are having a very quiet conversation about what if the letter was "f" or whatever. Oh boy!

Maybe you had to be there, but we were dying.

Furniture Shopping

We went furniture shopping yesterday. What do we need? Living room furniture (except side tables & coffee table), family room furniture with side tables and a new mattress for our bed. My hubby is trying to talk me into one of those memory foam mattresses. Can't get the feel of that? Not very comfy. The FR couch has to be long enough for him to nap on and comfy. We definitely don't want a sleeper in the family room. So, we went to Value City. Eh, not so great. Something called Room Store (?), eh, okay, but nothing "jumped" out at us. Then to IKEA. Looked a lot like dorm furniture or kid furniture, but great storage ideas and basement furniture, maybe. Then we ended up at Ashley. Didn't even know they had one. We probably would've bought furniture there, but the sales people were very pushy. Not a good point in our eyes. Leave us alone and let us look! So we walked out, but we left liking a lot of things they had. Now we need to figure out what to buy. I hate this. I wish someone could just come in and say, "Oh, well the couch and chair and ottoman is a must and the other chair would be fine too." But, no such luck! UGH!