Did You Know????

Well, since we have been working towards putting our house on the market, we have been in constant cleaning mode.

The other day Hope purchased a silver sharpie pen from the school store.  Now keep in mind that I cannot stand the school store.  Every Wednesday volunteer parents set up a store in the school entry and sell all kinds of cool stuff to raise money for the PTC.  I see it as a perfect way to waste my money.  Hope always wants to take money and also adds an additional argument into our tight schedule every Wednesday morning.  Anyway...she snuck money to school and purchased the sharpie.  I didn't think much about it and she was using it at the bar area in the kitchen.  A few days later I realized she had gotten permanent silver marker on our granite countertop.  This is when I really started "cussing" out the concept of the school store.  So I immediately went to Google to see if there was any ideas of how to get Sharpie marker off of granite.

WELL...I was in luck.   The best suggestion was to color over the marker with a dry erase marker and wipe it clean with a paper towel.  Of course I thought, NO WAY am I going to be this lucky to have that work.  But I dug through Hope's art supplies to find a brown dry erase marker (chose that color since it matches our granite---just in case it didn't work).  I was SO shocked because IT WORKED!!!!  It was slick how easily it came off.  So never underestimate the power of answers from Google.

So several of you have asked for more pictures of our new house, so here are a few more...for some reason they did not load in the right order, but I didn't take the time to put them in a better order.

This is the 3rd bedroom on the main floor...which will likely be Grandma's room when (either) of them come to stay.

This is the basement family room...I love how much light it has.

This is the basement looking down the hallway to two additional bedrooms and a full bathroom.  One of those rooms will be my scrapbook room and one will be Hope's toy room.  We will also be putting our computer desk in the same spot.

This is the room Hope has picked...she likes it because there is a flower box right outside her window.  We will be planting some special flowers in those boxes for her.  :)  She has also requested her room be painted like a rainbow.  Again, not sure we will accomplish that, but we will see what we can do.

This is the master bedroom...

Master bathroom...and closet.  See that little box/door in the closet???  That is a door that opens to the laundry room on the other side.  Cool!

This is the back of the house...

This is the eat in kitchen/dining area and triple window with a sliding door to the deck.  I LOVE all the light and I think this is one of my favorite parts of the house.

The kitchen...

Another angle of the kitchen.  The doorway goes to the master bedroom.

Here you can see part of the arch over the entryway...

The living room/fireplace...

The back yard...LOOK no close neighbors!  Woohoo!

And of course, this is the front again...

Well, we have had storms again tonight.  While listening to the live coverage Hope heard them say to wear a bike helmet for safety from flying debris, so she went to the garage and got hers and put it on.  Here she is watching the radar on my iPad with her helmet on.  LOL!

I want to congratulate Hope's birth mom Jessica and her husband Robbie on the birth of a beautiful baby girl today.  They named her Hannah.  Hopefully we will be able to visit soon.

So in Hannah's honor, here are a few birthday cards and a few mother's day cards I forgot to share...

Alright, time to get Hope to bed.  Hopefully we don't have to head for the basement again tonight!  Goodnight!

Darla

It was a dark and stormy night...

...and the Weber's were all EXCITED because they BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!

Isn't it pretty?  It was a crazy day.  We fell in love with it by the pictures on line and scheduled an appointment to see it today and made an offer.  It wasn't the only offer they received, but they went with our offer.  Now to get our house sold.  YIKES!

We did the same thing when we bought this house too. We always do it backward, buy they house you love and then sell the one you already own.  Good Grief!  I guess I thrive on stress, or at least that is what I am telling myself.

We are schedule to move around July 22nd, so it will be a busy 60 days.

Friday night Hope had dance pictures...and I would show you how she looked but I can't get the picture to load so she is not standing sideways.  Oh well.  She was cute!  End of story...

One day last week I came home from working out and had this...artwork...of hangers in my closet door.  My first reaction was...WTH????  Then I just smiled because I knew Joe and Hope had worked on it for me to find.  :)

Annie and Ally had their dance recital yesterday and they did such a great job.  Hope loved it and there is a chance we might move to that same studio so the family will only have to endure one 3 hour recital instead of two different ones.  :)  I think there are more class opportunities for Hopes age other than just tap and ballet.  I think she would really enjoy the other dance types like hip hop or jazz, etc.  We will see what she decides to do.

Hope funny...

I don't think I share this last post...Last week I fixed pork chops for supper and we made her try a few bites before she could have something else to eat for supper.  Anyway, it was quite the battle, but we all survived.  A few days later she ended up in bed with us in the middle of the night.  After a few hours she was talking in her sleep and she yelled out "I don't like it!"  I just cracked up because that is what she was saying while we were asking her to try a bite of the pork chop.  I wonder how big the pork chop was in her dream?????

Annie and Ally also had a softball game this weekend, one of many we have been to recently.  This is a layout I did of their first year playing, which was almost two years ago now.  Crazy!!!  They have improved so much.

Well, it is storming pretty good here, so going to cut things off short...I think I feel the need to find decorating ideas for my new house.  I better get busy looking at Pinterest!!!!

Here are some Celebration related cards in honor of us buying a new home....

I think there is something for everyone to enjoy in those cards.  Lots of different paper lines, designs, etc.  I am sure it will be a while before I get a chance to scrapbook again, at least until we get the house sold.  Then it will depend if I need to spend that time packing if it is close to moving day.  Oh my!  My head is spinning with all the things to do, but it will be so worth it!!!!

Darla

Finally spring...

Had a great evening tonight enjoying the nice weather.  This afternoon I finally went and bought some flowers to plant and spruce things up around here.  We needed some extra color to brighten things up.

Maybe I will get some pictures of them tomorrow once I finish things up.

Hope and I also replanted some plants within our fairy garden containers.  They look much better without the snow.

Joe and I have been cleaning out the house.  I think we officially decided to sell our current two story house and move to a ranch property.  We found a place we liked and decided to make an offer on.  Unfortunately, we couldn't come to an agreement on price, so we decided to pass since we  haven't even listed ours for sale yet.  So once we finish up some projects around here, we will put a sign up and get things rolling.  We are going to try and sell it on our own since our local market is pretty active right now.  And if it doesn't sell in a month or two then we will just decide if we are staying or list it with an agent.  Time will tell.  At any rate, we cleaned out EVERYTHING and got rid of a LOT of stuff we have had in storage and NEVER used.  That feels great!!!

We did have someone come look at the house already this week, but they ended up making an offer on a different house they had looked at the same day.  That is ok, because I know the right family will come along and fall in love with it like we did when we decided to buy it.  In some ways it makes me sad to sell it, but on the other hand, I would really love to move into a ranch style home.

We are focusing on a few specific areas, so saying prayers the right house comes available at just the right time.

On the opposite side of things, my favorite neighbor was moving out today.  It makes me a little sad to see them go.  Luckily they are not going far and actually live close the one of the neighborhoods we are looking in.  So the kids would go to the same school IF we are lucky enough to get a house in those areas.  Again...praying.

Tomorrow, I finally get to take a little rest.  Joe and Hope are going to visit his mom and I am going to stay home and do a little scrapbooking to celebrate a quiet pre-Mother's Day.  :)

So in honor of Mother's Day coming up on Sunday...

This is the card I made for my mom.  She has always sewn and this card just reminded me of her.

The rest of the cards will be received by many moms across the country, as several of my friends requested hand made cards to send to their mom's and sister's, etc that were moms.  I hope they enjoy them.  I know I certainly enjoy making them.

I might even make cards all day tomorrow instead of layouts.  They just have that instant gratification unlike some of my layouts that take me a while to create.

Well, I am off to go peak out the window.  I hear LOTS of rumbling going up and down the streets of my neighborhood.  It is junk weekend where you can set stuff out and the city will take it to the dump, but most of it gets picked up by scavengers before then.  They have been circling the neighborhood for hours now and it is always funny to see what they will pick up.  The neighbor's lawn mower went pretty quick.  I don't think they have taken anything of ours.  How embarrassing, nobody wants our junk.  LOL!

Good night!

Darla

Seriously...

Mother Nature!  You need to get UP NOW!  It is May 2nd and it is snowing out.  It has been snowing here since 5:15 am, this morning when I arrived at the Y.  Good Grief!

Poor fairies...they are buried under there.

And I am sure this robin thinking...WTH!  I know I am!!!!!

Poor tulips.  I wonder how they will survive down in Pella????

I didn't get around to posting yesterday about May Day, but Hope did receive a few baskets.  Believe it or not, I did think of May Day a few days ago, but didn't really think to buy some goodies to put in the baskets.  Oh well!  We improvised when we got home with some clear solo cups, pipe cleaner handles and some snacks from the closet.  :)

This was definitely the coldest May Day basket delivery EVER!!!

At work we celebrated an early Cinco de Mayo...

My department was in charge of the drinks, so we thought it would be fun to blend up virgin margaritas, daquaris and pina coladas.  They were a big hit!

Well, believe it or not, Hope is bugging me to go up and clean her toy room.  Wow!  Must be because she is not allowed to watch tv or play games tonight.

Here are some cards to brighten this wintery/spring day.

Have a warm and cozy night!

Darla