We. Are. Homeless!

Well, that's not entirely true. We are just technically no longer homeowners.

WHOOOHOOO!  YEEEHAWWWW!  (Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

It may have taken 10 months, but the day finally arrived.

We sold our house.

In case you haven't figured it out, the closing went off 'without a hitch'.

I wondered how I'd feel to NOT own that home anymore.

In a word?

Relieved.

We loved that house.  It was great for a season of our lives. But... this past 10 months.... it caused stress. The memories we created while living there are just that.... memories.... that we carry in our hearts and minds.  We no longer NEEDED the house.  We had moved into a new phase - a new home - a new season - that didn't include THAT house.

So.... as the closing took place without our presence, I had no sad feelings.  No nostalgic thoughts and daydreams.  It. just. happened.

Now, we're here.  We're in Cincinnati.  Just minutes from our 'old' house.

On Friday, we're going over to 'meet' the new owners and drop off keys and some instruction manuals that go WITH that house, but managed to get packed and moved to Wyoming with us.

I wonder what THAT will be like?  Will knocking on the door, seeing someone else ANSWER the door, viewing someone else's belongings in what was once 'our' house, cause a different emotion?  A more sad reaction?

Or..... will we simply rejoice - yet again - that the house now belongs to someone else?  Someone who will love it as we did, for this season of THEIR lives.

Even if we do get a bit 'emotional'; if tears threaten; if memories come flooding back; I know one thing.....  I'm THRILLED to be 'house free' - homeless, if you will, at this point in time.

We'll miss the 'old neighborhood':  the caring neighbors, the 4th of July parade and picnics, the fall bonfires in the driveway, and the outdoor movie nights.  But, we're thrilled the new owners will now have an opportunity to connect with those very same folks; build similar and new 'traditions' in that community.

We're also looking forward to all the new adventures we'll have in our new rustic neighborhood.  Horses, deer, moose, maybe some goats and chickens.  It sure will look different, but the memories will once again be created.  Bonds will be made.

Home is where we are---- as a family ---- together!

House Closing

I haven't posted much about our house sale lately.

I guess it's just been 'moving along' so I've not thought of it. Well, that's not true.  I've thought about the house and it's sale OFTEN - daily really - but there's not been much 'new' to write about.

This Fri - the 15th of Nov - we will close on our house in Cincinnati.  At 4 PM, our realtor, the buyers, and their realtor, will meet in an office;  paperwork will be filed; the house will be sold.  Our signatures will be all that's representative of our presence. 

Guess that's something new to write about!!!

{Of course it's all contingent upon some documents that are SUPPOSED to be appearing in my e-mail to print, sign, and be notarized.  Yet, said mythical documents have yet to materialize.  Sigh!}

It's been a L-O-N-G journey.

We had our belongings moved and put into storage on Dec. 10, 2012.  At that time we moved into Techno's dad's house for the remainder of the month prior to moving out west.

We spent a week with my folks in Ashtabula to celebrate Christmas, then... we packed up the remainder of our possessions and 'headed west'.

Once we removed the last our our belongings, a painter came through and 'neutralized' the entire house -- top to bottom. Beige.  It no longer looked anything like the home we had developed over the years.

The red chalkboard paint kitchen with the black and red breakfast nook -- gone.  The tan chalkboard paint and magnet school room wall - departed. The teal-ish and brown basement playroom - nothing but a memory.  The boys black chalkboard wall and 'library' shelves - removed.  The girls pretty purple chalkboard wall and fairy wall hangings - erased.  The 'Sitting Ducks' and clouds painted on the bathroom wall - nonexistent.

It's a shell of what it once was -- at least in terms of OUR memories.

All in an attempt to 'sell quickly'.

Guess that didn't happen.  LOL!

The house was finally on the market by mid to end of Jan 2013.

{Here it is Nov. 2013 and we are FINALLY closing.} 

TEN MONTHS!  TEN MONTHS!!

Admittedly, I never thought it would take THAT long to sell.  I expected a few months, but 10?  Not so much.  After all, we LOVED that house.  Why would't everyone else that walked through it?  I was convinced that once families gazed upon that wonderful great room in the back, stepped out on the expansive deck, not to mention the grandiose size of the house...... they'd....... be ....... S-O-L-D!

What I didn't take into account?  Most people ALSO noticed the outdatedness of the house.  Those things we just 'overlooked' b/c they weren't all that important to us.  With new houses sprouting up ALL OVER THE PLACE, who wanted a house with dark wood paneling in one room, a blue tiled/tubbed/toileted bathroom, as well as a yellow tiled and tubbed bathroom?  Not to mention an antiquated intercom system installed in several of the rooms.  Plus, people found the 'bigness' of the house a turnoff.  Guess we're among a minority with such a LARGE family.  Sigh!

But, God had a plan.  All along we'd been praying not only for the house to sell, but for the house to sell to the RIGHT family.

That's exactly what happened.  God had a specific family in mind and it just took a while for them to a) know the house was for sale, b) see the house, and c) sell their house.  They weren't even REALLY looking to buy a house when they came through.

YET..... they also LOVED the space -- just as we had.  Plus, God nudged them to purchase our home. He made it clear to them that this was HIS plan.  They.  Were.  Moving.

Therefore, here we are.  TEN MONTHS later.  Closing on our house.  The family GOD intended to live there moving in this Friday.  All because God called us to 'mosey' on along to the wild west.

Our 'old' house.  It was a great  home!  So happy for the new owners.  Pray they love it as much as we did.

Teaching by Example

How often do we teach by example?

100% of the time - whether we realize it or not; whether we admit it or not; whether we LIKE it or not.

Granted not ALL that teaching is what we'd WANT our kids to learn, but yet, they still learn and tend to mimic our actions and words.

Recently, I was struck by how often we encourage our children to 'take responsibility' for their actions.  A good and noble trait.  Yet..... I also noticed just how often, as adults, we do the exact opposite.

Not maliciously, not purposefully, but..... we do it all the time.... we. make. excuses.

When the veggies get a little 'over crispy' while preparing dinner, instead of taking responsibility and owning up to the fact I wasn't watching carefully enough, I make an excuse.  "Well, the oven cooks hotter than I'm used to.  I was so busy getting this or that done, I didn't get back to it on time."  The list could go on.

When doing a task, we get angry because no one offered to help, yet we never really asked.  Rather than accepting the fact we should have asked, we get irritated that no one volunteered.  I know I tend to be bad at this with Techno.  I assume he'll notice the messes in the same way I do and WANT to act and do something because he knows it'll be helpful to me.  In reality, he needs ME to ASK.

When we trip over a pillow, toy, shoe, or some other odd/end left in the floor we lash out because of the object being left there.  Granted, all should 'pick up' after themselves, but..... we too should be watching where we walk.  Instead of acknowledging we weren't paying attention, we yell at the individual who's item 'tripped' us.

All EXCUSES; NONE taking responsibility.  Hmmmm......

Wow - I guess those 'simple' things are spreading the wrong message.  It's NOT ok to make excuses for my own mishaps and mistakes.  It's also NOT ok for me to expect our kids to be better at this than I am.

Training in this area for myself and our children may be in order.  However, even more important would probably be my doling out of forgiveness when our children learn from my example and DON'T take responsibility for their actions.

I know I need that forgiveness too.

Glad each second we can start anew.  Thankful our God is a forgiving and longsuffering God.  'Cause I sure don't get it right all the time.  Prayerful that I'll learn by example and mimic how God reacts to me - with forgiveness, love, patience - and show the same to those in my life.

Pantry Reveal

It's been a while since I last posted on my blog.  What can I say - life. is. B-U-S-Y!!!

Homeschooling 6 kids; house projects; the warm weather/cold weather clothing swap; gift making for the Holidays; clubs starting up; church; appointments --- time slipped away.

All good things and I'm blessed by each and every item on my 'to-do' list, but.... it does make writing more difficult.

This will be short(er than some), but wanted to share our Pantry Reveal.

It took A LOT longer than I could have ever expected, but....... it's finally D-O-N-E!!!!!

Happy Happy Happy Dance.

As you might recall it all started after we quickly finished off my craft/sewing nook.  I decided the pantry might as well get a make-over too.

It started out simple enough.  Remove everything from the space, hang shelves, put everything back.  That.  Was.  The.  Plan.  A weekend event - tops.

Well.... if you know me.... you know I rarely manage to keep things too simple. Especially when it comes to cleaning/organizing a space.  ;-)

Once emptied - as I mentioned before - I had to clean it --- REALLY SCRUB IT, top to bottom.  Then... I mused.... might as well paint it.

THAT is where the trouble began.  I don't dislike painting. I LOVE the results.  But..... TRIM?  Well, Id rather NOT mess with it. So..... my project lingered on and on and on and on.

Finally I mustered up the energy and cracked out the trim.

Then..... hanging the shelves.  Simple, easy, no problem.  Right?

Techno found the studs, measured, leveled, and put up the strips. We eyeballed spacing and began hanging the brackets for the shelves.

Dum, da da da da, dummmmm......  This is where things fell apart - again.

The brackets in two of the strips wouldn't stay. We'd put them in, secure them, put a shelf on and as we were putting the next shelf up, the one above would crash down onto our heads.  Ouch!  

After various alterations and attempts, we were off to the hardware store for more strips.  Took 2 hardware stores and and a less than helpful salesperson, but we got what we needed.

Techno took down the original strips, hung the new ones and slipped in the brackets.  Hmmmmm.... still wanted to slip out.  A little fenangilling and a mallet and all was good.

Now that the shelves were secure, I began re-shelving all our food and pantry items.  (After a day of procrastinating by folding all the summer clothes for storage.)

Baskets were put on a small wire shelving unit, tin buckets were hung on the wall and ...... VOILA!!!!

The. pantry. is. finished!  Can't you just hear the the sounds of rejoicing in the background?

The red chalkboard 'message' wall.

Painted and shelves installed. PHEW!

Only about a month after we started the whole shebang.  LOL!

The black trim was what tripped me up so much.

All three walls now house shelving to hold all our pantry items.

All the food in it's place.

My 'chalkboard' wall that's now
my 'bucket' wall.

Techno's favorite aspect?  We can now welcome people to our home through our FRONT door.  No longer do we have to rush to the front and motion for them to 'go around'. Plus, WE can use the front door.  YEAH!

Our front door with a 'clear' path to come in/out!