My Crazy Week

Tuesday - Threw out my back....it hurt...a LOT...and I cried....a LOT

Wednesday - Closed on my house - got keys - back still out. Went to the Chiropractor and he said my muscles were so tense that he would not be able to adjust it.... More crying...

Thursday - Thanksgiving Day - went to friend's house - back still out. Friend gave me muscle relaxers to help, nearly fell asleep at the table while eating. Spent the afternoon sleeping while everyone socialized...

Friday - Family & dogs went to the new house to work, I stayed home to rest the back. Big dog attacked little dog and broke little dog's jaw. Spent 3 hours at the Puppy ER while Poncho got his jaw wired...

Saturday - working on house...still...finally getting wood flooring down...back still bad. Cut house work short so we could actually enjoy life for a minute - rented movies with the kiddos and ate popcorn! Good times....

Sunday - Church with bad back....ouchie ouch ouch.

I'm recovering, everyone has been really nice to me and I've worked through the pain.... I'm thankful to have this new house and can't wait to move in!!! I'm also thankful that I'm healing. Poncho is healing too...

We Have A Closing Date!

So after all the stress and jumping through many hoops, we have a closing date!! We will sign papers for our house on Wednesday!

So the mad dash begins: We will be going to the carpet store today to pick out carpet. This weekend we will get the wood for our wood floors and TONS of paint!! We hope to have everything staged and ready for a full frontal assault on the 80's decor that we are planning to update.

As soon as we're done signing our closing docs, we will head to the house and begin tearing up carpet and prepping for paint! YAY! We have the long Thanksgiving weekend to get a bunch of stuff done so we are excited! Once we have floors and paint done we will be able to move out of the condo... Oh Happy Day!!!

It has been a very long month and a half... We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...and we are EXCITED!

Buying House #3

We are now in the process of buying a home! The condo life proved to be UNsatisfactory. We are ready to move in and make this home our own.

So, the details. We chose an established neighborhood that is close to the Junior High and about 4 blocks to the high school. The house is big - 2,500+ square feet. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It also has a basement. The front has really nice curb appeal. But that's where the visual appeal ends...

The house NEEDS work, it's "cosmetically challenged" and there was also someone who lived in the home before us who thought they were quite handy - there are some interesting changes to the home - there are speaker wires coming out of outlets, heating ducts changed to heat the garage, a dog run that is verrrrryy scary - all of this can be corrected. We have to rip up the carpet, paint every wall, change every light fixture and remodel 2 bathrooms. The kitchen will also get a complete overhaul. We are very anxious to get started....

We are going to be busy and we have already taken many "before" pictures - we can't wait to get the after pictures done!!!

So maybe 3-4 weeks until we close and then we'll be able to start our changes. It's so exciting!

JOBS!

So when I blogged back in August I didn't have a job and Murray was still doing his Navy thing...

We are both now working and enjoying our jobs very much!

Murray is working with the Department of Transportation as an Electronics Specialist - he gets to do cool stuff like climb towers, do electronics installs on Highway Patrol Cars, work on DOT and Game & Fish vehicles, and other various technical things.... Initially, it was Murray's dream to come to Wyoming and attend Wyotech and learn to work on cars - now he gets to work on cars and we saved $25,000 on tuition! How cool is that?!?!

I am an Administrative Assistant for Special Education Staff for Children 0-5 years old. It's a great job, it is very similar to the work I did in Washington for Early Intervention. Sadly, I did have to increase my work hours...I sure do miss my old Mon-Thurs schedule (read: three day weekends every week!!) but I appreciate the bigger paycheck and still have some great perks like getting school holidays off and a big chunk of summer. My coworkers are great and I am happy!!!

The girls are doing great in school and adjusting to their "jobs" as well!

So that's what's up on the work front! :-)

Our New Puppy

We have a new puppy that we adopted in Ft. Collins - totally on a goof, we didn't plan it but he really is a cutie pie. His name is Poncho and he's half chihuahua and half dacshund - and ALL BOY! When we got him he was 3 months old and a total spaz on the leash (still has his spazzy moments) and not potty trained... But we're doing really good on that front.

Two weeks after getting him we were at a state park letting the dogs run and there was a large concrete "berm" type thing - not sure what it is but the girls had climbed up on it and it's about 20 feet tall. Well...little Poncho took off running up to the top of this berm and didn't realize there was a steep drop-off and went right over the edge! He cried soooo loud, it was horrible. We took him to the Doggy ER and he was x-rayed. No broken bones, thank goodness! So we're happy. He's limping and he did knock out one of his baby teeth, but he's alive and he's a survivor!

House Hunting...

...has begun!

So we loved our condo for about a week. Then the walls started to close in on us. Walking the dog is a chore. Climbing all those stairs with our groceries is NO FUN. Parking in a parking lot and not in our garage....totally not cool. Especially when it gets cold. Having 1/2 of our STUFF in storage - icky phooey ka ka... You get the picture.

We were really gung ho on building our new home but after being in Oak Harbor and being close to everything we got spoiled. And upon arriving here it became very clear that buying a home would be much easier than building...and being close to the girls' schools is very important to us, esp as they enter teenage-hood and high school.

So last night our home search began and we will be going to see a neat looking house near the Junior High. It's exactly where I wanted to buy and the price is good. It needs work - it's stuck in 1983....but we're ready for some projects. I really think it might be a "hidden gem". I'll keep you posted.

Sooo much has happened...

It's been way too long - 2 months since an update. I will do that right now!

We're Here!

We're in Wyoming now!!! The house sale went swimmingly - not a hitch or glitch to be had. The trip out here was fairly uneventful as well, but the first day here was a bit stressful...I had to have a little boo-hoo for a minute. But after that - things started looking up and it's been really nice!

Our new condo is great, it's bigger than I thought and I'm almost done decorating. I'll be posting pics soon.

Also - Murray's retirement ceremony was nice too - more info to follow on that as well.

OK - just an update - we're here!

Moving On....

We got a contract on our house and all looks good... Our home inspection went really well, the appraisal should be done in the next week or two - and we have a great couple that wants to buy it. They would like to close by the end of the month soooo.....

Me and the girls will be moving to Wyoming on August 2nd. Murray's retirement ceremony and party will be on August 1st. We have a condo lined up for us and already have the keys so we're going to go ahead and get there, set up our new home and learn our way around our new hometown.

So just 27 days to go.....this is going to be good....

Tumbling Team Pics

We went to the beach and took pictures of Darian's tumbling team - they turned out really cute!

On the Market

OK....so if you have $245,900 burning a hole in your pocket - you can have our HOUSE! It's so beautiful now, we've cleared out all our extra 'stuff' and Murray has been working so hard on the yard and the house and I've been supervising my BUNS off...!! ha ha ha

We're excited to see who might show up wanting to see the house, we're ready to sell and move on to our next adventure!

Darian - Tumbling 2008

Darian took 1st place in the state in tumbling (Level 8 - Ages 11/12). She got 2nd in Trampoline and 7th in Double Mini.

Her tumbling passes were amazing - she has not been able to ace them both in competition until yesterday....and I have to tell you - I was IN TEARS after her second pass - it was a beautiful thing and I was all veklempt.....

Enjoy watching our amazing flying girl!

This is her 1st pass:

Here is her second pass:

Trouble at the Pump

OK, usually I blog about family events but I had to get this off my chest!

Gas is INSANELY expensive! With no signs of going down.... I finally had my lightbulb moment on Monday. I went to fill up my tank and used my bank card. Well...it automatically stopped at $75.00 ..... AND IT WAS NOT FULL!!!!!!! Yikes!

I got my beautiful Dodge Durango less than a year ago and I LOOOOOOVE it, it's perfect for Wyoming and all the wild adventures we'll have there. It's the nicest car I have ever owned and seemed like a great replacement for my wimpy minivan. But soon it will be $100 to fill the tank, maybe even MORE?!?! *Gasp*

So with a heavy heavy heart we're considering downgrading to something smaller and more efficient.... Boo-hoo!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter, in spite of the rain and wind! The kid's egg hunt/shoot was cancelled but we still had a great day. I made a slideshow of us girls....Daddy is in San Diego for work but will be home soon.

Deer Feeding on Christmas

So I told everyone about our deer feeding experience on Christmas Day - but I didn't post pics - it was soooo neat, the girls were excited and so was I! We only saw one 'boy deer' - the rest were girls. Here in WA we have to pay money to see deer at 150 yards away... In Wyoming they come right up to the house and eat out of your hand!