Dual Dell's and an Engagement Ring

I've been connected to my Dell Latitude D610 (left) for the past year or so and I have nothing but positive to say about it. So it stands to reason that if I were to buy another notebook for say my wife - that I'd probably choose the same one right?

Wrong...

Actually, I did stick with Dell since they have shown over the years to be one of the most reliable and advanced computer companies in this modern era. But I chose one of their new home notebooks, the Inspiron E1505 (right), because it had the 15.4" WSXGA screen, was fairly light and could be customized to our needs for less than $1400.00 - seriously! I'm talking Windows XP Pro, 1.80MHz Core Duo processor, 1GB RAM, larger 9-cell battery that gets you close to 6 hrs when new..., 60GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, multi-format storage card reader, and DVD Rom/CD burner.

I must say I'm a bit jealous, but then again it's in my house so if I ever need a fix, I can just go fire it up and delete some of Tammy personal files...

[Add romantic self-disclosure here...]

A pretty cool thing happened while I was making this purchase. I was looking at the different companies and the notebooks each offered, trying to find the best technology for the best value and just weighing all the options. When suddenly I was transported back in time.

There I was out in the big city of South Bend, IN looking for a diamond (yes for Tammy...). I was learning all about color, cut, carat and clarity. I was weighing all the options, placing orders, watching it all come together and keeping the whole thing a secret - hoping that it would be the perfect engagement ring - capable of momentarily blinding her and disorienting her so that she'd consider spending the rest of her life with me.

And I got a twinge of that when buying the computer. I was excited. I was spending time, energy and money on the woman of my dreams. When it finally arrived her response was not quite as dramatic as it was when I proposed, but she had that gleam in her eye that says, "Ya, I still think you're pretty cool..."

I'm Exhausted

For those of you who don't know, it is official we sold our house and bought a new house and it all happened in about 2 weeks. We don't have an official closing date yet,but it will be sometime between April 10-24. We are still waiting on them to finish up inspections on our house, that is a whole story in itself. Just be glad you were not in screaming distance of my house on Wednesday.
I never thought this whole process would be so exhausting. We spent the last 2 months spending every weekend getting our house ready to put on the market, thinking we would have a few months to sit back and relax while it was on the market. Well that didn't happen. Now all I can think about is all the work that needs to be done. Our whole house needs to be packed and then unpacked, I am thinking it would just be easier to start over, along with changing all of our utilities and such over and then I find myself thinking about how to make the new house our "home". The list is really endless in my mind.
I am just exhausted, emotionally, physically,mentally. I never thought it would be so emotional to sell and buy a house. I still haven't figured out if it is the fact that I have brought 3 children home from the hospital to this house, or if it is just missing my mom through this whole process. I really do wish she could be here to share in all of this. All I can do is just keep plugging away knowing that it will all get done and in the next month or so it will all be over.
On a totally different note, I am SO excited about tomorrow. The girls are getting out of dodge tomorrow. We are leaving the kids and the husbands behind and heading to Chicago to hang out and spend some quality time together. I can't wait to hang with the girls and just get away for the day!
Oh, one more thing. I am typing this post on my new laptop, my husband bought it for me with some of the money he is getting for doing a web site. He is way too nice to me. Love you babe!

Big Changes Ahead...

For all I know it's bad luck to post a picture of you new house before the sale is final, but I'm going to do it anyway... ...probably because I'm ok with whatever happens. Through this entire process it has been fairly simple for me to have God in the driver's seat. In fact I don't think I even told Him to slow down when things were going 100 miles per hour.

Yes, our house sold within a week and we signed on this one a few days later...

Sure there are inspections, and closing isn't for another month or so. But for all intents and purposes we've made the transition from "starter home" to the house we can grow into over the next 20 years or so.

The above picture shows part of the Great Room - where we will undoubtedly spend the majority of our time. I took these before figuring out that I can take multiple pictures in succession and convert them into a cool landscape picture. Oh well, maybe next time...

Pray for us as we go through the closing process and definitely the moving process!

A Slob at Any Income Level is Still a Slob

[NOT in our price range!!!]

As Tammy and I were looking at houses today, we came to the stunning conclusion that just because you live at a higher level (income) does NOT mean you live at a cleaner level. For some reason we tend to put wealth and cleanliness on the same scale, but now I'm not sure why...

The next home we buy will probably be our home for the next twenty to thirty years, so we are looking at significantly higher priced homes. But that doesn't appear to mean a thing as far as cleanliness goes. In fact, some of the homes we walked through made me very glad we have the house we do!

I think we found that middle range of homes (somewhere between small homes that can be cleaned by blowing your nose and mansions complete with maids, butlers and bakers.) Apparently many homeowners in this range have the means to own the larger house, but not the means (or personality) to keep it clean and presentable.

So where does that leave us? Well, if we find that we can afford a house this size (4 bedroom - roughly 2000-2300 square feet), we will be faced with the daunting task of keeping it up and looking presentable, or letting it fall apart because it's too much work. And that's what today taught us. Regardless how wealthy you are or how big your home is, you still have the choice: Do I keep it up, or trash it?

Apparently, a slob at any income level is still a slob...

My solution: Child labor (after all, we have three kids - cleaning should be a snap!)

A Offer Has Been Made

Oh yeah, you read that right. The house has been on the market now for 5 days and an offer has been made. You will never believe this, but the offer has been made by a couple who has not even walked through it. I came home on Wednesday late morning to find a couple peering through our windows and walking around our house. Thank goodness no one was home. Not sure if this is the same couple who made the offer but we are pretty confident. The first offer they made was way low, so we turned it down all together. They then came back with another offer yesterday and we counter offered. Here is the kicker, they want to close in 30 days, YIKES! Part of our counter offer was to close in 45.
They are coming again today to at least walk around it, yep that is what Leah, our agent, said. They are just asking to walk around the house, we think it has something to do with their culture. So we will see, our counter offer is good until 7pm tonight. Needless to say we will be spending all afternoon tomorrow walking through houses. I have to admit this is a little quick for me, I am on the verge of freaking out!
I'll keep you posted.

Boy Ballet vs. Girl Ballet

Later that night the girls wanted to show me the difference between the way boys do ballet and the way girls do ballet. The first "movement" is for the boys and the next few are girls ballet moves. I'm trying to picture them on a Broadway stage 15 years from now, but it just isn't happening.

Hope you like it...

I'm Going to Be a Big Star Some Day

The girls found a new use for their Chicken Limbo game. The poles make great microphone stands!

You'll notice Tyler joining in half way through and taking over - even adding a few notes to the recital...though nothing phases Allison as she finishes the song ever so gracefully.

There's No Turning Back Now

So it begins. The house is officially up for sale and the sign has been placed in our yard (took a guy with a large posthole digger to do it too...wonder if he'll fix the hole before the new owners move in?)

So Tammy has gone out of her way to get/keep the house clean. It's a daily process now to make sure that everything is picked up and looking "spiffy" (is that even an acceptable word in today's lexicon?) so that it can be walked through at a moments notice. Hopefully this won't take long...

UPDATE!!! (as of 3/10/06) We've already had some people look at the house and who knows - we may be moving sooner than we thought...more info later.

Happy Birthday Friend

Let me introduce you to the Birthday girl. We have many names for her, the kids call her "aunt " Becky, my husband calls her "Red", and then there is Beck, Becky, Callender, and I cannot forget her given name of Allison (though we never really call her that, I am not sure she would respond if we did and besides it would really confuse our Allison), and my favorite name for her is best friend. I have known Becky for almost 20 years, we went to high school together and hung out in the same group of friends but we weren't best friends then. We lost touch for awhile when we went to college, I remember meeting Adam (her awesome husband now) when they first started dating and then I did not see or talk to her for awhile. I did not talk to her again until I walked into my first job out of college at Madison Center and there she was working in the same office I would be. I could not believe it. It didn't take us long to pick up where we left off and before I knew it we were best of friends.
Since then our friendship has continued to grow and she is more like a sister to me then a friend. She has played a huge part in making me the woman I am today. She is part of the reason I am now a Christ follower and she played a huge part in making me the parent I am. There is absolutely nothing I would not do for her or her family. Her family is mine and there is nothing that will change that. We have been through a lot together, we have cried together when it felt like the world was collapsing around us and we have laughed together when everything in the world was right. She has a great sense of humor, she is a great mom, wife, friend, sister, daughter, she can act like no one I have seen (I love to watch her in drama's at church), she loves Jesus with all her heart, she is a hard worker, and her family/friends are her top priority. She has also showed me what it means to truly forgive.
Thank you Beck for being the best friend a girl could have, thank you for loving my kids like your own, thank you for always being there. My life is so much better because of you.
Happy Birthday Friend, I cannot wait to see what the next 20 years bring.