Monday, July 10, 2006

Our House...In the Middle of the Street

Well hallelujah! We have finally moved in. OK – Let me just say that when I was living by myself and I moved (ok, ALL the times I moved), it just did NOT seem this difficult. At least, I don’t think it was. I should probably ask all the people who volunteered to help me. Maybe they would disagree. Nah.

We got the trailer all cleaned up and hope to keep the pee smell gone until we get rid of it. That’s why we haven’t shut the a/c off yet. SHOOOOWEEE – We can’t let that carpet get warm or the neighbors might even vacate. We are planning on donating it to charity. However, the trailer park that we live in wants to look at it. They think it looks good on the outside and may want to buy it if it looks good on the inside too. I hope they don’t look behind the couch that we left there to cover up the extra air conditioning that Norman decided to install right into our wall. (fingers crossed) Oh well, even if they don’t want to buy it, we already have a commitment from Charity Motors to take it away. We will be so glad when that trailer is gone.

I painted the full bathroom (medium sage green), our bedroom (mustard yellow), and the guest bedroom (orange). I am a walking paint sample right now. When anyone asks what colors we painted in the house, I just ask which room they want to see and point to the particular body part that is still displaying that color. It’s really easy to show them the guest room since I dumped a whole paint tray of it on me. Fortunately, the dump took place on the half of the room that I just happened to put a drop cloth on. It’s all over me. And what’s REALLY amazing is that I still look hot, even covered in paint…unbelievable. Ladies, don’t be too jealous. Some people can just wear paint better than others.

Man, I think I have extra muscles in my body that not everyone got when God created them. I hurt all over. Things that shouldn’t hurt are hurting. My arches are falling (in my feet, not my eyebrows), my forearms hurt, my TOES hurt…my butt even hurts. (Keep your comments to yourself). I creak and pop…unbelievable. Mark married a senior citizen. At least I age well.

So, now we’re poor. Not POOR poor, but poorer than we’d like to be. Don’t get me wrong, we are so grateful to God for His wonderful blessings on us. We are so blessed. We know He sent us this house. It’s just perfect for us. I can’t wait for everyone to see it. We will be taking pictures of it soon once we get it all put together and will send that link along to you all.

Norman and his daddy aren’t getting along very well right now. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want the house to smell like dog pee either…but Mark wants to beat the little thing to death when he pees. It doesn’t work with a dog like it does with a kid. Shoot, when we have kids, he can beat ‘em until their black and blue if they pee or poop on the carpet, but not Norman. I’m trying to get him to be patient – Norman is 8 months old and has been peeing in our trailer (unbeknownst to us, but still….). We can’t just expect him to stop doing that all of a sudden. So, we may be having a puppy adoption soon if things don’t get better. Not really – We’ll have a husband adoption before we have a puppy adoption. :0)

We have the nicest neighbors! Three different families have already come over and introduced themselves to us. In fact, one day, we came home and there were two potted geraniums on our front deck. We have no idea who put them there, but we are so glad that the neighborhood is nice. Now that we are settled, I want to bake some chocolate chip cookies and take them to all three, so that we cover all our bases.

I guess I’m done writing for now – These blogs are shorter now that I’m trying to keep up with them more often. No need for applause – Just lots and lots of love.

XOXOXOXOX-The Real Estate Princess

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Firecracker, Firecracker, Boom Boom Boom!

Happy 4th of July Everyone! I realize that it’s a day past, but we were away from our computers yesterday, so you get belated greetings.

Congratulations to US!! We closed on our house last Thursday. We now live like the middle-class live. You know, garbage disposal, ice maker, and no more rules and little notes stuck to our front door with a list of the rules we have most recently broken.

Mark and I had a really really fun 4th of July. We moved stuff into our new house. From 8:00 am until 10:00 pm last night, we, along with Mark’s brother Monty and his wife, Sue, packed and moved and packed and moved….Of course, it was me that started giving out around 6:00 pm. Everyone’s sweating and dirty and packing and lugging stuff around and huffing and puffing, and there I am in the front yard with a sour look on my face, whining about how I just can’t go on. Forget Monty and Mark who loaded up a queen size bed, a washer, a dryer, a refrigerator, two dressers, and a 36” television with the base, and then unloaded it at the new house…I simply could NOT go on. What people have to remember is that it takes a miracle to get me to focus on something for more than 5-10 minutes. I had to focus on packing and moving ALL DAY. Hello???? Their physical exertion was no comparison to my mental agony. (Keep your comments to yourselves).

We brought the couch to the new house and, Good News, it doesn’t look as bad with the carpet as we had anticipated. Our couch is plaid and the carpet is multi-colored. We were concerned, but it actually looks fine. Once we have everything settled, I will take pictures for you to see my fabulous paint jobs….oh yeah…I definitely should have been an artist. No one can turn a paint drip on a wall into art like I can. Good stuff.

On a less exciting note, my car finally kicked the bucket. Monty says we may have completely blown the once only leaking gasket. All I know, is it will most likely cost a lot of money. Of course it will. We just bought a house…And a stove…and a lot of paint…ugh. Oh well, fortunately, I serve a God who will find a way to take care of it. Hallelujah!!!

Norman absolutely loves the new back yard. He cannot believe he gets to run and not be jerked to a halt when he gets 16 feet away from me (when his leash runs out, for those of you reading this late in the day). :0) He has so much fun out there and is quickly making friends with the neighbor’s dog. His name is Churchill and he is big and he is male dominant. Norman hasn’t quite figured out that he isn’t the same size as Churchill. He just jaunts right up to the fence and sticks out his chest….and Churchill pees on him. And Norman tries to drink it. Norman really showed him who the new boss in town is…

Our neighbors all seem very nice, at least the ones we have met. Churchill’s parents live to one side of us. The husband’s name is Mark and he looks JUST LIKE my Mark. It’s quite funny. I looked out the window and at first thought Matt had stopped by.

The neighbors across the street seem nice too. Anne and Gary – Anne saw us outside the other day and came across the street and offered to baby-sit Norman while we got settled. I thought that was very nice of her. We’re a little protective of him because of a situation our friends got into, so we won’t just hand him over to anyone, but that was really thoughtful. She seemed almost as nice as me.

In other news, one of the worship leaders at our church, Ellsworth, is really excited about my CD. So much so, that he has contacted the owner of one of the local “Family Christian” Bookstores and asked if I could stand in the store and sing to promote the CD. Also, he is working with a friend of his to use their church to put on a concert for additional promotion of the CD. Down in Oklahoma, my mom and my God-mom, along with a few friends, are working hard selling the CDs in my home state. I am so blessed. I am just waiting for QVC to call me and get me on their show. Hold on, I think my phone is ringing….





OK, I’m back. That wasn’t QVC. It was RCA Records. I told them I couldn’t talk and would have to call them back because I was expecting a call from QVC. Now, where was I?

Well…I guess that’s it for now. I have to get back to work so we can make our house payment. Looks like it's mac n' cheese for the next couple of months! Being poor is gonna' be so fun.


I will put pictures up on my website when we get settled and you can see for yourself how adorable our house really is.

Love to you all –

I’m a Brick House