Proverbs 31:22

After months and months of periodically looking for a new bed covering to replace the too small one that was about 10+ years old, I finally found THE ONE today at TJ Maxx. I truly don't know why I don't visit that store more often because I love all the housewares. Even the back is pretty. I took this pic with my cell phone just to send to my daughters and thought I would do a post here with it. I absolutely love this quilt. I realized after I put it on the bed that I have several other items in our room with this same color scheme--robin's egg blue, pink, and lavender. I had to take down the burgundy curtains, of course, so I'll have to replace those. I'm thinking something lacy and white. This quilt goes good in our current room, which has lavender walls but it will also enable us to use different colors in our next house. Yes, we are still in the process of trying to sell our home and buy a smaller one in town. After 6 months with one Realtor, when our contract ...

We're STILL trying to sell our house and move back into town. I'm having a hard time being patient. We did the work that needed to be done in our crawl space so hopefully we'll get a bite soon. Last week, we viewed a For-Sale-By-Owner house and it's "the one!" We just hope it stays on the market until we have a buyer and hope they'll except our offer, which will be lower than what they are asking. The house is in a perfect location -- right in the middle of our jobs, 2 minutes from a supermarket, the bank, and (most importantly) the quilt shop :-), 5 minutes from the YMCA. It is the perfect size for us -- around 1,900 to 2,000 square feet -- not too large; not too small. The kitchen was redone about 3 years ago and it has the double wall oven I've always wanted to have. The cabinet color is a little light for me and I would prefer a gas cooktop instead of electric but at least it's a smooth cooktop, which is what we have now and prefered over the c...

When we woke up Thursday morning, the appraisal on our house was scheduled to happen that afternoon. Before lunch, Michael called me at work and said that the buyers had rescinded their offer. When we bought this house, there was foundation work that had to be done at the seller's expense. It was damaged by waterborne fungus. The workers removed all the water-saturated insulation from in between the floor joists; they installed a drying fan; and they repaired (or replaced) rotten joists and put some supports in. End of story, so we thought. On inspection for this sale, they found standing water and more damage under the house. When the buyers set up the appointment Thursday morning to come back with the foundation specialist, we thought they might ask us to pay for repairs, installation of a sump pump, etc. We never dreamed they would withdraw their offer, but they did. They are first-time home buyers and the damage scared them. Needless to say, Thursday was a depressing day. I ha...

Well, except for the long process of actually purchasing and moving. We had an offer on our house this past week that was satisfactory to us (after a little negotiating). So, we had to make a decision on the ones we have seen up to this point. Remember the one I posted a kitchen photo of last time ? That's the one we made an offer on. I snapped some photos when we were there taking a second look at it. The power is off so some of them are on the darker side. Also, the present owner still has a lot of junk (and some really beautiful antiques) in the house (even though he's not currently living there). All the bedrooms are a good size. There are 2 larger rooms on one end of the house away from the living area. This will be what we will use as the master bedroom. This is the master closet. Not the biggest, but we'll have to add organizational things to it because it's really just an empty box (except for the shelving unit the current owner has in it). We've looked at h...

I am so disappointed (and appalled, actually) that the house we made an offer on earlier this year in Lakeside Highlands is now owned by a family who could so totally trash a home and yard!! We finally got to see the house they have put on the market. It was so bad, our Realtor said, "I won't let you buy this house!" It was disgusting and had so much junk still in it and it was in horrible shape on the inside as well as the backyard. One of the four we were scheduled to look at yesterday had to cancel. We will reschedule because it looks really nice (even the kitchen). Here's a photo of that kitchen taken from the MLS listing . So, we looked at three yesterday. The one is Lakeside is definitely off the list! There was one in our 2nd neighborhood choice, but it also didn't make the cut. The remaining one made the cut, even though it is on the small side. The house has been beautifully redone, with awesome moldings and a pretty (but small) kitchen. I snapped some ...

We are looking at 4 more houses today. The one in Lakeside Highlands finally came on the market. It's not a great sign that there are NO photos of the interior of the house. But, we'll see. It does have an in-ground pool. That's a plus. It's in Lakeside Highlands. Another plus. It's small, though. A negative (perhaps). Several of the ones we are looking at today actually have nice kitchens (very unusual in our price range; of course, they are at the upper end of our range). One of the new ones we looked at last weekend had a nice kitchen, too. It was a nice house, but when we went into the back yard (with no fence) the dogs in the yard next door barked ferociously at us. We would have had to park one car on the street. Michael really liked it, so it may still be on the list even though it was priced a little higher than what we really want. It's only been on the market about a week, so negotiating power might not be so great at this point. We have scratched the ...

This was my first week at the new job as a medical transcriptionist in a cardiovascular clinic. My brain and body are SO tired! I came home each evening just exhausted. Even so, I am surprised to say that I really like the job. Everyone in the office is nice. The lady training me has been there for more than a decade. She is retiring in October 2009. On my first day, she really surprised me by saying, "You're the first one they've tried that I've been hopeful about." I don't have any training in medical transcription. I did do one file for a doctor while working for Internet Transcribers. It was a conference call for parents of children with ADHD. After that one file, I said, "I don't want any more medical stuff!" Really, that one was a piece of cake because it was mostly meds that I had to Google to find spellings on. This job is definitely a lot more than meds. The most difficult part is actually being able to distinguish what the docs are sayi...

Lots going around here lately. I haven't had time to blog much. As I wrote before , I took a seasonal, part-time job at Sears because it was the only offer I had. I started a few weeks ago. I don't hate it, but I don't really like it either. Does that make sense? After 3 times of working with someone, they had me scheduled to work alone this week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. First thing Tuesday morning, I started making mistakes and having to call for supervisors. When my immediate supervisor finally came around at lunch time, I told her that I really wasn't comfortable being on my own. She graciously understood and sent someone over to work with me the rest of the day. Jessica was awesome and she taught me a lot. On Tuesday, I had a call from one of the staffing agencies I applied with. They had a position for a medical transcriptionist open. I told her that I didn't have experience or training in medical transcription. She relayed that to the administrator...

This past Thursday, Laikyn and I looked at four more properties. One of them was in Lakeside Highlands and it made it onto the short list out of these four (mainly because of the neighborhood). One other one made it as well and it's in my second choice of neighborhoods (Edgemont). We are scheduled to look at both of them on Thursday with Michael. Out of the two houses, I would choose the one in Edgemont. The one is Lakeside is nice, but it would need new flooring and new appliances. The one in Edgemont is move-in ready. One downside to this house (besides it's not being in Lakeside) is that the kitchen only has a few cabinets. click any photo to make larger These are the ONLY cabinets in the kitchen. There is a china hutch, though, that comes with the house that would be good for storing dishes, etc. There is also plenty room to add more cabinets, and the kitchen would not need to be gutted like so many of the other houses we've looked at. This photo is looking from the spa...

I spoke to the Realtor this morning about getting our earnest money check back on the house on Lakeside Drive. While we were on the phone, she told me what the other house that's coming on the market this week will be set at price-wise. It will be out of our range. BUT, she did tell me that she ran into someone at a garage sale this weekend who just happened to be the woman who made the offer that the owner on Lakeside accepted. (She never met the lady because the buyer used a different Realtor to see the house.) Her house isn't on the market yet because she doesn't need to sell it first (must be nice). They want to do some work on it before they list it once she moves out. It also is in Lakeside Highlands. She did say that it only has 1.5 baths, but we had already decided that that was okay; as long it's not only 1 toilet, we're fine with it. (Of course, we liked the fact that the one on Lakeside had two full baths.) Anyway, the Realtor asked her why she was sellin...

The Realtor called today and said that the owner of the home we made an offer on decided to take another offer. :-( I'm disappointed, but not overly so. We all are disappointed. She did tell me about another house in the neighborhood that is supposed to be coming on the market soon, though. So, it's back to the drawing board, so to speak. On a brighter note, K&D&N came over for supper today! They had visited a friend before they came here and Nathan soiled his clothes while they were there. They borrowed a shirt of their friend's grandchild for him to wear. It was a size 3T and it was only a little big for Nathan. The kid is a chunk-a-munk!! Michael said Nathan's thighs are as thick as they are long. He has so many creases, it's crazy. And the little dimples where his knuckles will be are soooo adorable.

We ran an ad this week in a local paper for our house. It really hasn't generated any more call volume than the yard sign did. We did show it last night, though. It would be so nice to have someone come along who was pre-approved for a loan (or had CASH) and who didn't need to sell their home first. God can do it! But, will He? I hope and pray He will. I'm okay if He doesn't, though. We went back to look at the house on Lakeside Dr. on Wednesday. Kimberly and Dewayne (and the baby) met us there. I wanted their opinion on it as well as another chance to make sure that it was adequate for us. We really like the house. Kimber and Dewayne liked it as well. The house has many more positive things about it than negative things. The negatives are: less counter space in the kitchen than here no built-in bookcases like here (Michael can build them) the overhangs in the back need painting (the front looks great, though!) the third bedroom is a little small (but still adequate fo...

We heard from the Realtor on Friday. We are pondering whether to negotiate more on the price on the house we made an offer on last week. We offered him his full price, but asked him to pay the closing costs. He didn't like that. We might meet him halfway; we're still thinking about/talking about it. I was fully prepared for Michael to say that we needed to just walk away. I even told the Realtor that on the phone. "I think we'll probably just have to walk away." But, Michael said, "We'll think and pray and talk about it and make him wait a few days." Today, we went to visit Kimberly, Dewayne, and Nathan and figured out that moving to Lakeside Highlands would cut our driving time to them in half . That's a BIG plus. We've only had one more call (today) on our house. Still no appointments to see it, though. We are running an ad in a local paper this coming week. We will see what happens with that and then make the decision on listing with a Re...

We made an offer on the house in our old neighborhood yesterday. We haven't had any word yet from the seller. We put up a for sale sign for our house on Sunday. We have had three calls, but no appointments set yet. We are deciding if we want to list with a Realtor. I know that if the seller refuses our offer, then it's God's will. But I'll still be a little disappointed. Even though the house is really nice, my disappointment will come from something else. We drove by the house on Sunday again. While in the neighborhood, we drove down to the community park and boat launch. I had forgotten (or didn't realize) how much I missed living near the river. When we lived on the other side of Lakeside Highlands, we were around the corner from Veteran's Park, which is on the Tennessee River. We often walked to the park and down the river when we lived there. Even when we were living through the difficult months of Michael trading online from home, we would walk down to the...

Our house search has heated up this week! :-) Laikyn and I looked at a total of 6 houses Wednesday. The gas has been eating us up driving to look at only a few each day, so I decided to spend the day in town looking at numerous ones. (We did look at only one yesterday. We didn't look at any today. I'm worn out!) After the last tour was over, I called Michael and said, "I just looked at a house that I want you to see and I seriously want to make an offer on it." It's in the neighborhood we first lived in when we moved to Florence. We would like living there again. The neighborhood is 5 minutes from the main shopping area of our city. It's also right around the corner from Veteran's Park. Plus, there is a neighborhood boat launch and park that residents can use for an optional fee of $35 a year. Michael is already planning to take Nathan down there to fish. (And Dewayne, too!) The house is very nice, and the best part is that we wouldn't have to do much ...

Laikyn and I viewed 4 houses today--the two that I showed pics of the other day plus two others. The green cottage was SOOOO cute and I absolutely LOVED it, but the kitchen was tiny and the washer and dryer were in the tiny kitchen, too! The dining room was small also. I was trying to think of things we could do to remodel, but the price isn't really conducive to our remodeling it as well. Of course, we could make an offer for lower than what they're asking, but for now we're just going to keep looking. We aren't opposed to getting something that needs some updating *IF* the price is right, because it would allow us to make the home into what we want. The stone cottage also would need some adjusting of the layout. I didn't love it enough to even seriously consider it and it also was not at a price conducive to remodeling. On the way to one of the other houses we looked at today is a yellow ranch-style house that I commented on each time we passed by it. It was re...

Kimberly, Dewayne, and the baby moved out late last week. I'm happy for them because they now have MUCH more room than they did here in Kimberly's old bedroom, but we sure do miss having them here. They came for a visit today. Laikyn said it looked like Nathan had gotten fatter in just a few days! :-) He's got a double chin and rolls on the back of his neck. Too cute! I'm soooo in love!!! Since we now have two bedrooms more than we need here, we are contemplating moving into a smaller house (with a smaller note) back inside the city limits of Florence. I, for one, have really missed living in town, closer to shopping, etc. I've missed having the services in town, too, like curbside recycling and large trash pick-up (limbs, etc.). Laikyn and I spent yesterday morning and part of the afternoon driving by some properties for sale. Even after living here nearly five years, we still don't know all the different neighborhoods. We have appointments to see two propertie...