Sunday, August 5, 2012

Family, Food, Finances & Fun

Where to begin? My title wasn't really that good and may not necessarily be indicative of what I have to say, but I couldn't think of anything better. And the title fairly well sums up my life on any given day-my family, who's eating what when, the financial aspect of life (especially here lately) and the fun we have...

It has been a week of good news-my friend Nora and her husband Josh found a new house in North Carolina. They are getting transferred there from Beaumont, CA (what a change!) and were out house hunting. Beautiful home-I hope they will be very happy there!

Jason & I started thinking about vacations for the kids and we were going to take them on one for their Spring break in March 2013... but after doing the planning and everything we have discovered that there is too much to do in the time that would be allotted to us! So we are going to wait until summer of 2013 and take them right when they get out of school. Its a surprise for them-and I'm not mentioning it anywhere in a public forum. If you want to know, private message me or text me. Keeping it hush-hush; lets see if we can do it for a year, shall we?

I posted on FaceBook earlier about listening to certain music that you love, but shouldn't listen to, because of the effect it has on your brain. Y'all know what I'm talking about?
For me, its anything by Sponge. It makes me restless-makes me want to travel, to move; it makes me almost unhappy with my life, the things in it and where I'm living it.
I don't know what the connection is, but its somewhat annoying-usually I am very happy with my life, the things in it and where we live it.
Today I started wondering if I have been barking up the wrong tree lately. I had started looking at/applying for jobs in other parts of the country; wondering if maybe there is more opportunity there than here. But most of those are coming up dead ends. I got a couple of nibbles before, but that was all they were. Little nibbles. Nothing helpful.
Jason has a potential line on some stuff through his work-room for advancement and all like that. Maybe even transferring to Huntsville. I might could live in Huntsville... I've always really liked the city. My favorite thing- I love the view of the mountains when you first come in to Huntsville on 72.

We saw a house the other day that had three bedrooms. I think it is going to turn out to be a little rich for our blood... The house itself is a little small; and I think we would still be cramped.

We saw a house just yesterday that  has an interesting story...

A few weeks ago, Roger came to us and said he had a friend who's brother had a house for rent on the corner of Smith Street here in Florence. Said he'd been trying to sell it, but it had sorta gone to pot and wanted someone to fix it up for  reduced rate. We found what we thought was the house and looked at the outside. Not bad.
Roger talked to his friend and it turns out it wasn't the house he thought it was. The one his friend's brother is selling is on another part of Smith Street.
So today, Roger went to the house we were looking at originally and started nosing around. The next-door neighbor came out and asked him what he was up to, so he explained the situation. They had an extra key and let him & Jason in to look around.
Turns out the owner has been trying to sell the house, but took a teaching job in Oklahoma and has been living there for the last two years. The yard has gotten overgrown, there's trash in the garage and the storage building, the pool(!) is all  yucky & slimy. Also, it needs a new central air unit.
Those are the downsides.
The upsides-it has a beautiful kitchen with a breakfast nook, 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, a playroom and an indoor laundry room.
It needs some cleaning on the inside, but it was really nice-I was impressed with how few dead bugs there were (after apparently being shut up for 2 years) and how good it smelled.
It is sort of a raised-ranch style; the kitchen and living room are on one level, you go up 1 step to two bedrooms and a bathroom; and on the other side of the house, up half a flight to two bedrooms and a bathroom. At the same place you go up half a flight, you can go down half a flight into a finished basement room. Behind that room is a laundry room with more storage. I like the indoor-laundry thing, as well as the enclosed room that's underground. Safety.
The yard has a gazebo-thing and the aforementioned pool.

Next-for anybody who didn't know; Mimi is currently away at Diabetes Camp, but she will be coming home on the 14th. Home. To Alabama. I'll save the long ugly story from here; but it was.
Jason still has to go to court for Lizzie, but we think that one's in the bag as well; given that a) we already have Mimi and b) apparently Becky's had some not-so-savory activities here recently. The courts don't like to separate blood siblings, either. We're not worried.

So what else? I have decided that as of tomorrow, I'm jumping back on the exercise bandwagon. I have a Denise Austin DVD that sounds good and I'm going to once-again give up drinking soda. Other dietary changes to follow... it should be somewhat easier with Mimi back here. Unlike some folks, we try to tailor our meals around what she can & can't have. We're also going to be working on portion control.

Love to all Who's, near & far...