Home Sweet Home for Sale

Our house 'went live' Friday night at 7:00.

It's odd, putting your beloved home up for sale. Allowing others inside its doors to judge its character and beauty. Such pageantry.


I think she dolled up pretty well. She performs well in the intro sequence.


In the swimsuit category, she's top-notch:

But we all know that to truly judge the character of a champion, we must look at the inside.

Top:




And sometimes, back to bottom:


There's plenty more to see. Lots more to judge. If I find time through the week, I'll try to show you a li'l more. And if you know anyone interested in moving to an adorable 3 bedroom ranch in southern StL county, lemme know!

Ike Wins Again

More thoughts to come...but I have just a minute to update.

Storms projected to come through Nashville forced race officials to detour the full marathoners to the half marathon route. Unfortunately, we were not able to complete the full marathon today.

Life in the Fast Lane :: Random Thoughts

I'm here.

But I'm sleeping in my daytime clothes. The question is: Why?

Is it because I'm too exhausted to change? Because I haven't folded the laundry all week - and I don't feel like climbing down the stairs to sort through 4 baskets of clothes just to find a different t-shirt and shorts?

Does anyone else out there ever choose to sleep in their daytime clothes - just because?

Life is a whirlwind right now. Training for the marathon has all but ceased. Or it has ceased. You'll notice on that fine li'l ticker on the right that we are down to just a few days. Whereas I originally planned to finish strong, my new goal is just to finish. Alive.

The house is nearly packed. How do people do this? Move? I've been a wreck all week. A bigger wreck than normal. I vascillate. We definitely should move. Look at this house ~ we could totally stay! Think of that house ~ it's a dream come true! I'll miss the pool. There's a subdivision pool. I'll miss our friends. You'll make more friends. I'll miss our church. You'll find a new church. How does anybody do this?

Is it 12 years of marriage and the same house? Is it 4 kids? Is it years of thinking I needed all 'the latest?' We are renting 2 storage lockers for all our stuff. Stuff that we evidently don't need, because it can be stored and we can go on living. I have requested It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh from the library - cuz I just don't need to spend money to buy a book. When I have packed 12 boxes full of books I've never read. And because I think it will be interesting to read what he has to say about life. And clutter.

Anyone have any good ideas how to NOT give presents to a 6 year-old on his birthday? Seriously. I'm talking, buy the kid a skateboard (the one thing he desperately wants) and have the family go to a ball game together in lieu of presents. Will anyone be on board? He'll remember that. Another toy in this house ... in another house ... may drive me all the way to insanity. We. don't. need. more. stuff.

And I'm buying corn-fed family raised beef. From my friend's friend who raises backyard chickens. I bought her eggs, too. Well, her chickens' eggs. And my small group is studying The Seven Pillars of Health. I think tomorrow is living food. (Is he going to tell me not to eat beef? Although, it's living, so there you go. Well, it was.) I'm not doing so well on drinking filtered water - I'm living off Icee Mochas. Seriously. Lost 12 pounds after the stomach flu while training for the marathon. I think I've gained it back in fat content this week. But my beef will be organic.

Is God green? I think He might be purple.

We have an accepted contract on a dream house to be built in O'Fallon. Funny story. I went to put $$ down on the lot only to discover that I had to start negotiating a contract. With JT on a plane to Dallas. Second week of 3 full weeks of travel. He said, "Ask for the moon and we'll settle in the stars." So, I asked for it all. Luxury Kitchen. Luxury Master Bedroom. Luxury Master Bath, for that matter. Walk in pantry. Extended Living Room. Fancy Fireplace. Everything. We offered. They countered. We asked for even more stuff. They agreed. In our price range. Everything I asked for. Everything.

I came home and started packing. For five years, I have poured over design shows and magazines and MLS listings and everything. Five years of trying to find a house. And now, I get to stage this one. Pictures were taken this morning. While T lay on the floor with cold symptoms. And Pookie's nose bled for 12 hours. Yes. All day. And Sashi stared at the TV and Meiners went to Sammy's to play. My beloved home will be on the market Friday night. While I am in Nashville, picking up a blinged-up 'Marathon Mom' t-shirt and a coveted '26.2' sticker for my momobile.

Please pray the house sells quickly. Cuz even with everything in storage but for one toy per kid, it's amazing how challenging it is to keep the place clean. If only we could eat somewhere else for Who knows how long.

I'm tired. And I'm sleeping in street clothes tonite.
Thanks for tolerating my choppy update.

God Bless,
Karin

One Dog Night

Last Friday, Miss Ellen arrived, driving her fire engine red pick-up truck. Her hands shook in anticipation of meeting her new friend. All the kids were home, as Dad ran to the store for just one more thing before I chaperoned the whole gang to the school dance. It was better that way. They met her. She met them. She met the brother, too. The words she spoke that struck me most were, "I'm sorry. He just doesn't seem high maintenance to me."

Miss Ellen drove away with Luke riding shotgun. The kids agree that Miss Ellen is the right Forever Mom for him. We've decided he was meant to help us deal with our grief over Riley and that we took care of him until Miss Ellen was ready for him. She plans to train him to be her companion while she volunteers teaching botany classes to children at the Missouri Botanical Garden. {Could he have a better life?!} Just 15 minutes away, she has promised we can visit anytime and can arrange dogdates for the two brothers.

Before she arrived, Miss Ellen visited the pet store and purchased balls and chew toys and food for the dog she had yet to meet. She took our crate so he would learn to sleep beside her bed. She knew he was right for her by the look in his eyes.

Since then, Obi has taken walks with us, has ridden to school with us; he even accompanied us to drop off GoodWill donations tonite. His chewing on kids' toys has been eliminated. He goes out the front door and sits on the front lawn without direction while the kids chase each other with light sabers or gleefully fly past on their bicycles.

Tonite, he lays at my feet, fast asleep. I miss Luke. But it's turning into a One Dog Night.

Mental Checklist

It's not for everyone. But it is for me.

It's good to make lists. It keeps you on track. It reminds you, as you continue ripping and adhering miles of blue painters' tape on the walls that there is a beginning and an end to this task, too. And it will be here before I know it. So it's good to keep perspective and know what is, what was, and what is left to be.

Amen.

OK.

The List:

• paint
• pack
• pretty

Got it?

Got it.

And in between, dog, laundry, eat, sleep. In that order, actually.

We have a solid interest in our dog Luke. From a woman whose dog of 9 years passed away and left a void in her life. She is single, has a privacy-fenced back yard, and lives next to a park. She believes Luke is the dog she has been waiting for. I'd like to think she's right. Perhaps we were not meant to be his forever family, but instead he came to us at a time we needed to heal from Riley and now Auntie Ellen is ready for him. (No, she isn't really related to us.)

Which brings me back to the day I drove up 270 on my way to a house Hubs and I called, "The Blossom." It was the dream house. But so not the right house for us. Maybe in about 30 years. But as I drove west to drool over it again, JT called and encouraged me to look at the house we eventually called, "The Heritage." As the story goes, I prayed as I drove, asking God to find us a house.

"I already have."

What? What was that? Who was that? God? Is that You? You already have?! What does that mean?? Does that mean the house we're already in? Does that mean the house I'm about to see? What does it mean???

I slowly began to realize He meant this house. Because doors kept getting closed. Over. And over. And over. And, seriously over again. I truly began to believe that this house was meant to be ours forever and ever. Amen. (again.) And I would go along with Hubs and look at another house and fall in love with it and desire it and try to buy it and it always fell through. For one reason or another. It didn't really matter. They just always fell through.

And I reminded myself, "He already has."

Tonite, as I ponder the events of my house hunting life, I see, yet again, how He weaves. Perhaps, as our pastor said recently, He doesn't actually have a plan - except to prosper us - taking us to Heaven in His time - but His hand is still in the mix. He's pulling and kneading that dough to make the best bread, perhaps one could say.

Because two posts ago, I wrote that the perfect house does not exist. And yet - and I say this with utmost sincerity, the house we are going for this time - is perfect. The neighborhood is perfect. The schools are equivalent to what we have now, so in and of itself, that is perfect. And things are falling into place. (Did I just say that again?)

I spent 40 days cleaning the hidden areas of my house. Who does that? Someone God told a few years ago that she had to get this house in order {mental and physical} before He could get her another one.

I placed an ad for the dog after months of vascillating on what to do with him - and a near-perfect, at this time, situation arises for him.

I have a list of 3 things to do to ready this house. Will it take time? Absolutely. Can we have the house on the market by mid-week next week? I'm certainly trying.

We have a reasonable bid in on a house that is countering within our price range, so all that is left is to tweek and accept. And that house is perfect. Five requirements. All five met.

God is good. All the time.

{Check.}

Cheap Art

Have I used that title before (maybe I was fancy and said, "Inexpensive")?

Doesn't matter. Cuz cheapo/inexpensivo art can come from anywhere. I've used my kids school projects. I've shopped the house. And lately, I'm discovering I'm a little artistic myself. We're having these printed in 8x10s with a Target frame (Because, apparently, you're supposed to remove all personal photos when you go to sell your house. And, wouldn't you know - that's all the 'art' I have! But, not anymore!)

Imagine these babies framed with a nice white mat.

(We're getting closer in this whole process, can you tell? Let's just say I have blue painter's tape up all over the house right now! I'll keep you posted...)

Falling Into Place

Things seem to be doing just that right now. And it's a good feeling. I just have a LOT of purging left to do, even after 40 days of doing so ... banners to update and font colors to explore (oh wait - that's the blog...) and rooms awaiting paint and a ton more than that.

Tomorrow evening, a realtor stops by our house to assess the areas we need to fix before we try to put our beloved home of 12 years on the market. I'll keep you posted!

In the meantime...He is Risen!

"He is Risen, indeed! Hallelujah!"