My high school reunion...

I'm not sure how it happened, but I ended up being on the 'committee' that is organizing my 20th high school reunion. At first it was just supposed to be 'helping out' here and there - after all, how much can I really do being in Florida and the reunion is in Illinois? Well, apparently A LOT! I've had the joy of reconnecting with SO MANY PEOPLE from my class! Up until about 2-1/2 years ago, the only person I've kept in touch with since I graduated was my dear best friend Laura. We've known each other since kindergarten. In the past couple of months though I've come in contact with about 25 more. That's pretty good since there were only 65 in our graduating class! So anyway, with Tammy Stroup Monier and Lauri Ramsey, I'm helping plan our reunion. For the past several nights I've been trying to get manila envelopes and invitation envelopes addressed...talk about hand cramps! Next up is to print out our little 'newsletter' to include with the invites telling about what's going on during our time together and about our family picnic and print the RSVP cards but I'm waiting on some more detail before I do that. Lauri had the wonderful idea about creating a memory book so she developed a questionnaire that will go in the manila envelope as well. She'll take that data when they are sent back and create a digital version for me to take to Kinko's and have published. I'm really excited about it! I'm actually really looking forward to going back to Henry. I haven't been there since Laura's wedding in '94. Henry always has a big 4th of July celebration with a carnival in town, the large parade and a huge fireworks display over the river. So, we thought we'd take advantage of that and hold our reunion that same weekend. I'm excited to take Randy and the girls back so they can see what a 'real' small town looks like!

Emily at the fair...

The kindergarten classes at Maniscalco Elementary School performed at the Florida State Fair, 3 of them yesterday and 3 of them today. This is the 15th year of them performing various songs wearing costumes from the Little House on the Prairie-era. They were absolutely adorable! And yes, before you even say it, the Florida state fair is in February, and yes, it was COLD! Look at Emily shivering while she was singing! Still, it was precious watching them and also listening to Grace sing along, after all, she's been practicing the songs with Emily and I for the past 2 months! (If the music player kicks on, just click the play/pause button to stop it.)

Sonny

We got a dog!!! We found him today and brought him home tonight. We started off the day going to PetSmart and Petco, went to see what type of dogs were there from rescues. We were uncuccessful since the only rescue there was for greyhounds. So while we were at Petco I got on their computer and searched Petfinder. I found a 1-year-old male at the Pasco County Humane Society so I called about him. The man I spoke with answered my questions but then told me that he had received a call a short while earlier from a woman with a 1-year-old Labrador Retriever / Golden Retriever mix. I told him we were definitely interested in him and got directions. We drove out there, probably a 40 minute drive, and the woman hadn't arrived yet (this was around 2:45) so we took the girls for some lunch. I called Ed back at the Humane Society and the woman still hadn't shown up so he told me he'd call me if she did and we headed back home to pick up some groceries. Around 4 o'clock I got a call that the woman had called and would be there in about an hour. So we unpacked our groceries and waited...and a little over an hour later got the call that Sonny had been taken in. Sonny's previous family was moving and could not take him with them. So we made the drive back out to Pasco County...which took about 45 minutes...and as soon as we walked out to the kennels I saw the most beautiful dog and my first thought was 'I hope that's him because that's the dog we've been looking for!'

We'd been told that he was timid when he first gets to know people...well, I'm not sure where that came from because he's not that way at all! When he came out of the kennel, he went right to the girls and let them pet him all over. Randy was given the leash and he started to walk with him like he's been part of our family the whole time. We filled out the adoption paperwork and walked him out to the Durango. We moved Emily's seat to the very back and I climbed in the middle with Sonny and Grace. Sonny immediately jumped in the front seat...and was properly seated before Randy had even had a chance to get in! Grace and Emily started laughing so heartily...it made my heart warm! THAT, hearing their sincere laughter, made everything worth it!!! I absolutely LOVE hearing them both laugh.

Sonny eventually returned to the back seat with me...and promptly laid down with his head on Grace's lap. She just very naturally draped her arm around his neck and started petting him. Of course Emily was jealous, having to be in the very back, but we made that up to her by letting her walk him in Petco. He was great in the store, not really pulling much on his leash or trying to go to all the other dogs.

Sonny is a year old - at least that's what we were told but I think he's certainly on the plus side of one year. He's already 50 pounds and more retriever than lab. He's absolutely beautiful and we look forward to many, many years of him in our family!

As soon as I find my card adaptor I will upload pics of him from my phone!

Grace...

I had to run up to the grocery store tonight to pick up some blueberries and french fries. The french fries were for supper tonight, the blueberries for making muffins with Emily in the morning. Anyway, Emily went with me and Grace stayed home with daddy. Later in the evening Randy told me about a conversation he had with Grace that went something like this...

"Daddy, I can fight like a boy," said Grace with her arms up by her shoulders in a boxing stance."

"You can?" asked daddy while Grace tried taking a few jabs at daddy. He put his hand on her head, keeping her an arm's distance away and let her swing until her little heart's content.

"Yeah daddy, see?"

"Well bug (a shortened version of our nickname for her, Bugaboo), daddy doesn't want you fighting at all. Mommy and daddy don't want you hitting anyone."

"But daddy, if someone gets up in my face," she replied with the flat side of her hand right in front of her face, "I'm gonna knock the shit out of him!"

"Bug," said daddy, trying as hard as possible to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing in front of her, "what did you say?"

"If someone gets in my face, I'm gonna knock the shit out of him!"

Of course Randy addressed the inappropriate language, still trying to keep from laughing! The funny thing was, less than an hour later after Emily and I came home, Emily got in her face and Grace calmly grabbed the plastic caddy she was playing with and hit Em in the chin with it.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my 7-year anniversary! To say I've reached a milestone would be an understatement. I married the love of my life on Tuesday, January 29, 2002, at the courthouse in Shalimar, Florida. Randy was in the middle of 'Chiefs Week' on Hurlburt Field, a mandatory requirement after making Chief Master Sergeant. We wanted to get married before he deployed to Afghanistan and since I was leaving the following weekend for a pain management course in San Antonio, Texas, that was the only time we could do it. We didn't tell anyone except Keri MacDonald and Mike Mahowald, who went with us. Randy left during the middle of a golf tournament, met us at the courthouse, and returned two holes later, never telling anyone why he'd left. The next day I drove to Tennessee to pick up his mom for the Chief's Induction ceremony at the end of the week, we never told her. We did tell my mom though and she sent a gorgeous arrangement of fresh-cut flowers. It wasn't until after I returned from Texas (Randy had already deployed) that everyone we worked with started figuring things out - after all, my name had changed!

It's been 7 wonderful years, of which I have so much to be thankful for. Baby, you've given me two wonderful, beautiful daughters. You are my soulmate, my sounding board, my voice of reason, the go-to for everything! I rarely do anything without your input. You've taught me how to see more than one side to every situation and we make a pretty good team when it comes to figuring things out. You've been there for me when my illness has made me an extremely difficult person to be with, you've called me on the carpet when I've been wrong, you see the person I try to be when many others only see the person I am perceived to be. I cannot imagine my life without you. You are my everything.

So Happy Anniversary baby! Here's to many, many more!

I love you!

We're getting settled in...

I know it's been a while since I've updated here...but I think I've had an excuse!! ;) We're getting settled in, although it's still slow going. Emily is adjusting well to her school and was even selected for Student of the Week last week! Most mornings we don't make it to the bus in time so I end up taking her and then Grace and I are there every afternoon when she gets off the bus. Then we walk back home, have our afternoon snack and do homework. Yep, that's right, Emily has homework almost EVERY day! Sometimes it's elaborate, sometimes it's as easy as counting and writing by 5s from 0 to 20. I'd been told when I got here that Georgia schools are more advanced than Florida's but I think whoever told me that was mistaken. Emily is already reading! She struggles with math, like her dad, but seems to have a very creative streak in her (also like her dad)!

Grace is doing ok, although her strong-willed personality is certainly coming out! I thought Emily was bad but Grace is proving to be even more so!!! She's got a mouth on her, something neither her daddy nor I are happy about and are trying everything we can to change. She's very stubborn and VERY much routine-oriented. She doesn't like anything out of place, except when it comes to her room which for the life of me, I cannot get her to keep clean! Emily, on the other hand, has learned quickly that with a clean room she gets to keep her TV...quite the incentive for an almost-6-year-old!

Randy is doing well with work. He's been busy on proposals, trying to get new business for the company. He had to go back to Warner Robins the week after we moved down here and a couple weeks ago had to go to Valdosta, GA. Next week he'll be in Charleston, SC for several days.

We had our first houseguest last week. My great friend Tammy came down from Fort Walton Beach for several days and we had a wonderful visit! She definitely lives too far away. Mom didn't make it for New Year's due to blowing out two tires on her car in Indianapolis and being stuck there for a few days waiting on it to be fixed. Leann ended up having to pick her up and take her back home with Stephanie taking her back the following week to pick it up. This spring mom and pops are planning on flying down, Stephanie is planning on bringing the boys (and Tom too if he can get off work!), and Leann is coming in April.

Katie and Liliana will be here on the 11th of February! Efren is trying to get the time off work so he can come too. I MISS, MISS, MISS that little girl! Of course I miss them all but I miss hearing Lily say 'love you nana!' While they are here Randy and I are going to the Daytona 500. It's our anniversary and Valentine's gift to each other. It's actually kind of funny since we've never really done gifts for either occasion for each other! Our anniversary is Thursday, the 29th. I can't believe it's been 7 years, the time does fly.

I'm busy with the house, of course. I'm getting boxes unpacked, one by one, and slowly I'm starting to see the floors. I've actually hung pictures on the two big walls in the living room, created a 'family' wall in the family room, as well as decorated both girls' rooms. My incentive to get done is that Randy has said when I'm finished, we can get a dog! I want one really bad, it's been over 5 years since we had to find Andrew a new and just under 5 since we had to put Mack down. I miss having a furry little animal in our house. We're looking at getting a yellow lab so it won't be a little dog, but I'm excited!!! I've been checking out rescues around here with the help of my older sister Leann and her rescue contacts through her own rescue.

Well, I'd better close and get back to unpacking some more. I just started a pot of fresh green beans with bacon on the stove and am going to fry chicken for supper. At least that's a meal I know the girls will eat! More later on my latest venture...helping plan my 20th high school reunion!!!

What a strange holiday this has turned out to be...

I can't believe Christmas is over! I never again want to move during the holidays and I swear, if one more person makes a comment to me about moving this time a year I ask that I not be held responsible for going postal. WE DID NOT CHOOSE TO MOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR! Yeah, we could have waited until January but really would not have been any better off. We did manage to get our Christmas tree up and quite a bit of holiday decorations. Randy and I even hung lights, garlands and bows out front. Yes, we are still up to our pits in moving boxes but when you have little ones, you can't exactly put Christmas on hold. I told Randy on Christmas eve that #1, no one will ever appreciate what I did since moving here to make it all happen, and #2, if we didn't have kids we probably would not have even had a tree! But we did the whole thing and now I'm ready to take it all down so I can get the rest of our house in order. I'll probably start this week.

My mom is on her way down to spend the week with us, but I'm not sure she's going to make it. She decided to drive because she is bringing Jack with her, her little Shih Tzu who is extremely attached to her. I spoke to her this morning though and found out she had just blown out two tires on her car. Later we found out the rims had been destroyed and the only place to get them is the Volvo dealership...which, of course, is not open on Sundays. So, she and little Jack went to a hotel and will deal with her car in the morning. I think this is a sign from God that she shouldn't be coming for whatever reason and that when her car is fixed she should turn around and go home. As much as I'm looking forward to her visit, I would rather she be safe, go home, and try to come in between the girls' birthdays when pops can come with her.

I did manage to get the spare room unpacked today and even made the bed in there! YEAH!!! So, with Emily's room done (although already trashed by her and Grace) I now have 2 rooms done, 7 to go...not counting the 3 bathrooms. So tomorrow brings more of the same...unpacking, unpacking and unpacking!

What a strange holiday this has turned out to be...

I can't believe it's already over

Merry Christmas!

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last updated our blog! So much has happened since then that I don't even know where to begin. First of all, let me tell you that Randy, Emily, Grace and I hope all of you the merriest of Christmases and may we never forget the true meaning of Christmas.

Our gift-giving started a couple of days ago after Randy came home from last-minute shopping. He had my gift in the back seat of his truck and needed help removing it so I got it early - an absolutely gorgeous solid oak hope chest. I have always wanted one to help preserve keepsakes and as he usually does, Randy came through and gave me one this year. He bought it at a store in Tampa that sells only Amish hand-made furniture and when I say it's heavy, I mean it is HEAVY! And like I already said, absolutely gorgeous. Thank you, baby!

The gift was quite a surprise since we had decided not to do gifts for each other - a new house is quite a large gift! Plus, we bought the new flat screen for our bedroom so I thought that was it. I still wanted him to have something in his stocking though so I got him 3 gift certificates for 1-hour massages. Hopefully they will help relieve some of the tension he's been experiencing from his new job.

The girls had a wonderful morning...but not without drama last night. As is typical with most children, they did not want to go to bed last night and used every excuse they could think of to keep getting out of bed. Grace was so bad about it that I finally put a sign on her door to Santa telling him not to leave her any presents and that the only way I'd take it off her door was if she didn't get out of bed again! Well, it worked...until she came in our room at 3:30!!! Emily did better...until she realized we'd forgotten to put out the reindeer food. Once that was done though, she was out like a light.

The girls were ecstatic when they saw the tree this morning with gifts from Santa. The best gift for Randy and I has been that the two of them have played together VERY well, with no fighting to speak of!

I called my younger sister Stephanie's a little bit ago - the entire family is there today so we were able to speak with almost everyone. It was nice being able to tell them I was sitting outside on our lanai in shorts, enjoying the 76 degree weather. But I have to admit, at times I would like to brave the cold and snow up there just to be able to be with my entire family for the holidays.

We're going to be starting our Christmas dinner soon...a wonderful crab boil with shrimp and lobster tails. Randy is off work until Monday so it will be nice having him home and actually being able to spend time together. Our second shipment of household goods arrived yesterday so I'm thankful to finally have everything under our new roof. More on the 'move from hell' to follow in another blog. In the meantime we're going to try to unpack as much as possible and get the spare bedroom ready for mom's arrival on Monday. Right now it's become a catch-all room but she'll be here late Monday to spend the week. We're all looking forward to her coming down with her Shih Tzu Jack.

I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful Christmas and may we never forget that the true meaning of Christmas is not the presents under the tree but the birth of Christ. May the New Year bring happiness and prosperity!

The Anderson FAMILY has arrived...household goods to follow...

We finally arrived, are now in our new home with the majority of our household goods and the rest to follow on Sunday.

Black Friday...and painting...

For those who know me best, go ahead now and pick your jaws up off the floor because yesterday morning at 3:30 I was in Wal-Mart waiting for the sales to begin. Yes, I know it's hard to believe but due to the fact we are moving I couldn't really do my online shopping that I love so much so I was forced to battle the masses in Wally-world. Why did I pick there, of all places? They had a tv on sale that we wanted for our bedroom...plus I could get everyting else I wanted and needed. So, in the course of 2 short hours I finished the majority of my shopping (actually STARTED and FINISED is more accurate)...as well as purchased the supplies needed to start painting in the house.

Which brings me to my latest project...painting the girls' playroom. I've decided after today, 2 hours of scrubbing till my hands cramped and fingers were sore, not to mention going through 4 Mr. Clean Erasers, Grace is no longer allowed to have colors of any kind...crayons, markers, colored pencils, chalk, you-name-it! All four walls had graffiti, which is why the entire room has to be re-painted. So while Randy is gone to Tennessee - he's not going to Tampa this next week so said he'd take his mom back home this weekend - I've spent the majority of the day scrubbing walls and taping off outlets, switches, windows and doors...but only in the playroom...I still have their room to do! UGH!

As for our holiday, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my mother-in-law, Katie, Efren and Liliana, and our former neighbors and good friends, Lisa and her kids. Randy deep-fried the turkey again, which was absolutely delicious! He even did one for our neighbors! Randy and I spent the night before and most of Thanksgiving day cooking all the food...my grandma's casserole mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, green bean casserole, corn, dressing, dirty rice, seafoam salad and my grandma's wonderful pecan pie. Lisa added to that a delicious apple and a delicious pumpkin pie and our cleaning friend even surprised us by stopping by with a pumpkin pie she had made. Everything was delicious, everyone had a wonderful time and we certainly gave thanks for the blessings God has given us this year. We also said goodbye to Efren, who left early Friday morning for another TDY and won't return until after we've moved.

Well, time for me to close and get painting. Now that the 'hard word' is done and everything is taped and covered, painting should go quickly. We all hope that all of you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. We certainly did...I just really miss not putting up our tree right now!

Time is getting shorter...

...and my list of things to do keeps getting longer! I spent this weekend driving to middle Tennessee to pick up Randy's mom so she can spend this week with us. I woke up in the wee hours of Saturday morning and decided that as long as I was awake I would go ahead and leave early and drive to Nashville and go to a sale I'd been told about that was going on that day. It was a Kelly's Kids warehouse sale and I had no idea what I was in for! I got there about an hour early and realized later that I should have gone to get in line as soon as I got there. There were people in line since 4:30 AM! For those of you who don't know about Kelly's Kids, there clothes are absolutely adorable but very expensive so when they have a sale where they are selling all tops and bottoms for $9.99 (regularly priced $28 to $42 EACH) and dresses, longalls and dress coats for $14.99 (regularly priced $48 to $65 EACH), a lot of people tend to show up. I talked with some ladies in line who told horror stories of other Kelly's Kids sales they had been to where some people went in and just grabbed entire racks of clothes! A lot of people go and resell the stuff on eBay. By the time the door opened I was hoping to get lucky enough to get an outfit for each of the girls. Well, ten minutes after walking in I was walking out having found a few things for Emily, Grace and even a complete outfit for Liliana. I estimated that I saved approximately 75%! Then it was on to my mother-in-law's where I spent the night before returning with her the next day. Randy had dinner ready for everyone and I crashed early! Today was spent at the doctor's...my last regular appointment with my pain management doctor, my only other appointment with him being next week for trigger point injections. After that we had lunch with Randy and then Judy, Emily, Grace and I decided to brave Wal-Mart and get as much of our Thanksgiving grocery shopping done as we could. We came home and shortly after Katie came by and treated her grandma to a pedicure. When they came back Efren and Liliana were with them and stayed for dinner. Tomorrow is another doctor appointment and then Randy and I have an appointment to get our wills done. He just informed me though that he has a phone conference with his boss at 2...in the middle of our appointment. He's known about this appointment for two weeks and I asked him if he could adjust the time of his phone call but I'm not holding my breath. We've said since we moved here that we would get our wills updated (they haven't been done since right after we got married) and we haven't, now Randy says he wants to wait until after we move...but I know it won't happen anymore than it happened after we moved here. Oh well, I'm still going to get mine done. Everyone will probably be here again tomorrow night for dinner. Wednesday Randy is making gumbo and then we'll start cooking everything we can ahead of time for Thursday.

Sometime this week I want to start on the painting that has to be done. We're not painting the whole house, don't feel we should have to after having lived here 4 years, but both of the girls' rooms need to be done and their bathroom in order to cover up the evidence from them coloring on the walls in each of those rooms! I still need to pull out all of the holiday decorations in the crawl space upstairs and move them into the garage (we're moving them in the u-haul so we have them immediately when we get down there). Randy still needs to empty the shed and bring everything up to the garage as well. He did tell me today that in addition to not working all of this week, he's not going to Tampa next week but instead work out of the Tampa office so he'll be here to help get done what needs to be finished before the move. The week we are moving he'll be going down on Monday though...I'll be here when the packers come Wednesday and Thursday...he'll be there for the closing on Friday...and I'll clear us out of here on Saturday and head down with the girls.

So instead of staying on here blogging, I'd better get off and see what I can get done tonight. There are always boxes to go through and clean out! Hey, I just realized that since Randy isn't going to Tampa next week, maybe he'll take his mom back on Saturday. That's going to be a quick turnaround trip though...there and back same day, about 12 hours drive time. There's just too much still to do to be away two days again.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Now the fun begins...

So now the fun begins. We close on our house in 4 short weeks and I have a lot to do to get ready to move. We are fortunate in that Randy's company is hiring a moving company to come in, pack us up, load up the truck and move it to the new house as well as unload our things and put furniture back together (i.e. the beds and anything else they have to take apart to move). So at least I don't have to do that! I spent today scheduling them...they'll pack on 10 Dec and load up the truck 11 Dec...contacting both girls' schools to let them know we're leaving and to find out what to do to transfer Emily to a new school down there...contacting doctors' offices to request copies of medical records...notifying our property manager that we finally have a date and are leaving...cancelling any appointments I already had sceduled after the 5th of December...whew! It's been quite a day and the battery on my cell phone died from too much use!!! Randy and I hope to be able to get the painting done before household goods are packed, one of several projects to do on the weekends when Randy is home. Both of the girls' rooms need to be re-painted, everything else just needs to be touched up from where we hung pictures on the wall, chairs scraped the wall, etc. The problem is though that there are only 2 weekends when we can really do it together - this weekend, and we're not ready yet, or the weekend before we move. The two weekends in between are going to be spent with me on the road to Tennessee. Randy's mom is coming for the week of Thanksgiving and I need to go pick her up and take her home. Randy would do it but with him travelling back and forth to Tampa every week, the last thing he wants to do is spend more time in the truck travelling. So, I offered to do it. It'll be great having her here, our last holiday in this house. Once we move to Tampa it'll be more difficult to see her for weekend trips like we have since living here.

Well it's late and I need to finish a couple more things before I catch a few hours sleep. It seems as if the work to get ready for a move never ends and sleep suffers as a result. But hey, is anyone ever REALLY ready when it comes time to move???

WE DID IT!

Yep, it's official, our offer was accepted this evening!!!

Housing offer, round 2

Our offer was rejected though we're not surprised since we asked for a lot and offered a low price. The current owners did accept our request that they pay closing costs though so that much is good. They countered with a higher price as well as a change in closing date (one week later which is not a problem) and the use of a different company for the 1-year home warranty (which is also not a problem). Our realtor has suggested that we take the difference between what we offered and they counter-offered and split it and re-counter with that. I've put a call into our mortgage guy to have him run the numbers but am still waiting on him to call me back. I have also called Randy but he has two big-wigs from corporate in town so is in meetings all day. So I sit and wait...

Pics of our *hopefully* new house...

We may have found our new home!

Randy and I decided to take today a little differently. Instead of all of us piling in the vehicle together and heading out through every house, Emily and I went while Randy and Grace stayed back at the hotel. He was getting frustrated with not finding what we were looking for so this gave me the opportunity to 'weed out' properties I knew he would not want to see. So, he and Grace eventually met up with us at the 4th house of the day, arriving at 16606 Blenheim Drive in Lutz (pronounced LOOTZ) to meet the realtor, Emily and myself. The flyer for the property describes it as:

"4 Bedrooms, 3 Full Baths, 3 Car Garage, New Stainless Steel Kitchen Appliances, Solar Heated Swimming Pool, Outdoor Kitchen & Scenic Pond.

It will be easy to make this wonderful house your home. It has a spacious open floor plan featuring high ceiling & decorator shelves. The kitchen has been updated with all new Stainless Steel Appliances and features a built-in desk. The formal living and dining rooms offer an opportunity to display your finest furnishings. There's a cozy family room / kitchen combo with decorative wainscoting, built-in entertainment center, a wood burning fireplace and breakfast nook overlooking the pool and pond. Nearly 2,700 s.f. of living area in this sturdy concrete block / stucco home offers plenty of room for your family to grow. The exterior paint, A/C handler, water heater and pool pump are fairly new. The huge 15 x 30 swimming pool has all new sreens and is solar heated. There are beautiful shade trees everywhere. Windsor Park is a gated community that features tree lined streets, scenic ponds, playgrounds, tennis courts, an activities pavilion and a boat/RV storage area for your use."

So, we went through it as a family and we all really liked it. Randy especially loves the pond view and there was even a duck swimming across while we were there. The owners put a wooden bench swing down near the water with a lattice arbor as well as a wood & rope swing hung from the tree. We left there though and went and looked at a couple more but finally decided we just wanted to go back and see the first house together again. I have to admit, I never had the AAAAAAHHHHHHH moment I was hoping for but I can definitely see my family growing in this house and us definitely making it our home. There is a wonderful little pond when you walk up to the front of the house and when you reach the front step the 'mauve-colored' tile becomes very noticeable. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention there is mauve tile throughout the house but the owner's were going to to change it out before they received a job transfer so are giving an allowance for the cost-estimate they received. The mauve tile even surrounds the wood burning fireplace! It's actually not that bad though - I'll know better when the house is completely empty. The master retreat is huge with sliders to the pool area. There are also sliders from the formal living room, the breakfast nook (2 sides) and the family room with a separate door to the pool bath which is next to bedrooms 3 and 4 (on the opposite side of the house from the master retreat). We will probably convert the formal dining room into Randy's office - guess that means we'll have to do better about keeping it clean!!! Bedroom 2 has it's own bath and private door to the outside of the house, but it's on the side of the house and not the back where the lanai and pool are located. The pool is beautiful with a lage covered area and the whole thing is screened. There is also an outdoor kitchen with a built-in down-draft Jenn-Air grill. In anticipation for the dog the girls want to get, there is also a dog run located on the side of the house!

So, we've returned to the hotel for the night and our realtor went on to run the numbers and see what sort of realistic offer we can make. We already know the taxes on the property so all I have to do tomorrow is call around about insurance. Then our mortgage-guy will crunch them all together and let us know if we're within the ballpark of where we want to be. So, tomorrow's the day...hopefully we'll find out if our total number is within our reach, make the offer, and hopefully have it accepted.

This is painful...

...I mean, REALLY painful. Day 1-1/2 of house-hunting proved no more fruitful than the first 1/2 day. We've already paraded through about a dozen houses and I have yet to experience that 'AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH' moment. You know what I'm talking about...think Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo standing in the middle of nowhere with their freezing kids in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. All of a sudden through the trees though they, or at least HE, sees the perfect 50-foot Christmas tree already glowing in lights and you hear the music in the background - 'AAAAAHHHHHHHHH'. That's what I'm waiting for but all I'm hearing is the little voice in my head telling me to run, Run, RUN as fast as you can out of there! No, it hasn't been that bad and to be perfectly honest, if we could take one house we saw and put it on another property we saw, our search would be over. We either find the perfect house with no yard to speak of or the perfect yard with the house that screams 1970s! We've also found a couple that would be great...with very attractive prices...but they would require a lot of work to be done before we could even move in. It's been almost sad at times walking in some of these homes that are bank-owned where the previous owner lost it through foreclosure. It's actually pretty pathetic when you see every appliance has been removed, light fixtures and ceiling fans torn down, baseboards and crown molding ripped out. Our realtor told us she went in a house once that had been foreclosed and the previous owner had even torn out the toilets!

So for us, at the end of today, we've looked at the homes that meet our criteria that are within a 30-minute commute for Randy...but without any luck. I haven't seen a single one that I would like to go back and look at again. So tomorrow we expand our search to include the 30-45 minute commute area and hopefully we'll have better success.

Daddy has a snatch...

...or at least that's what Grace says. She's been on this kick lately about who is a boy and who is a girl. We haven't gone into WHY some people are boys and some are girls but she does know there is a difference. Daddy was on the love seat this morning enjoying his cup of coffee when Grace walked up to him and informed him once again that he is a boy and she is a girl. Then she went on through her mind reciting the name of every person she knows and telling him who were boys and who were girls. Then she told him he has a snatch! and poppa has a snatch! but that even though Efren and Ryan are both boys, they don't have snatches!!! Have you figured out what she was trying to say? Moustache! We tried correcting her, as we have in the past when she's said it, but she just can't get her mouth to say the word right. I guess it's like our friend Henrietta - she's Grace's best bud but she can't say her name to save her life, she calls her Miss Mari-hetta! So yes, in Grace's mind some boys have snatches. I can't wait until she's A LOT older and we can tell her why this story is so funny!!!

Barack Obama, President-elect

I have to admit I was greatly disappointed Tuesday night when John McCain did not win the election, but I also must admit I wasn't surprised. Senator McCain had a lot to overcome, baggage from the current administration, that he unfortunately was not able to do. I am a flag-waving Republican, conservative by most standards, and very protective of my money. I don't like the idea of campaign promises made by a candidate that mirror socialism. I earned that money, my husband earned that money, and I'm not too keen on the idea of having to share it with those who 1. choose not to work, 2. prefer to milk the system of their own 'perceived' entitlements, 3. or to have it re-distributed in a system that does not promote furthering of education or job skills. Where is the incentive to better yourself when your money will be taken from you and handed out to those with less than you? That being said, I fell I should retire my soapbox. There is nothing that can be done now, the majority have spoken and the electoral college followed. Barack Obama will be our new president on 20 January 2009. I am excited...yeah, I said I'm excited...that history has been made and the first African American has been elected to the highest office in our country. However, I am concerned about articles I have read pertaining to 'friends' in his past (i.e. Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright), I am concerned about the controversy surrounding his birth certificate and wish the original would be produced to shut that theory down, I am concerned about his Muslim ties, but what I am most concerned about is his complete lack of experience to lead this nation. That, my friend, is what scares me the most. My hope and prayer is that he will surround himself with a cabinet of people with more experience than him and utilize them heavily. My hope and prayer is that a peaceful withdrawal of our troops in Iraq will occur with no lasting repercussions on the citizens of that country and that what has been accomplished the past 5-1/2 years will not have been done in vain. I pray for change and I believe Barack Obama will deliver, I only hope that it's the kind of change that benefits more than takes-away. If President-elect Obama is the God-fearing man he claims to be, I pray that he will maintain and further develop his faith and convictions. This can be...is...and will be an exciting time in American history and despite the fact that I feel that John McCain would make a better president, I will no longer stand opposed to President-elect Obama. I even removed all of my anti-Obama 'flair' from my facebook page. I will admit, Barack Obama is a very eloquent and charismatic speaker, he has a gift. He may just be the right person to re-unite the un-united of this country and this world. He has an ability to draw in the masses. I only hope it's not like the Pied Piper drawing in the mice and directing them off the side of a cliff. I hope his promises for change ring true and that my fear of American becoming a socialist country becomes unrealized. After all, campaign promises have been broken by, I'm sure, almost every president ever elected. But hey, if not, I hear Canada is nice.