steph's stuff

A disappearing act

 

I didn't mean to pull a disappearing act. I really didn't. I just thought we'd look at this pretty little farmhouse out in the country for something fun to do. And in the two weeks since, this is what has happened:

• We looked at the farmhouse a second time and decided we really did love it - it wasn't just a whim.
• We made the decision to move (by spring at the latest).
• We also looked at 10 other houses and found a second one that we love just as much.
• We cleaned out our basement, all kitchen cabinets, every single closet in the house, touched-up paint in 3 rooms, painted the kitchen cabinets, painted the exteriors of almost all of the windows, fixed a couple of broken closet doors, and thoroughly cleaned everything.
• We secured financing and spoke with the superintendents of different school systems.

And we thought all of that was enough. However, we underestimated the "bouncing back" of this housing market. After having a realtor walk through the house, we realized that there are a ton of houses just like ours in this price range. We have a lot of competition. So, in order to make any money on the house, we have to do more work. In the next 10 days, we hope to do the following:

• replace the carpeting in the living room and dining room
• rip up the carpet that covers the hardwood floors on the stairs and hall (done yesterday)
• refinish hardwood floors
• strip wallpaper in the kitchen
• paint kitchen, living room & dining room
• add new cabinet hardware
• paint a couple of ceilings
• install new kitchen countertops
• build and install new hardwood handrail on stairs
• paint the porch
• refinish the upstairs tub
• stain bathroom cabinet
• replace trim on exterior windows
• install new water softener
• re-stage the entire downstairs

So, if I'm not around much, you'll know what I'm doing. :)

 

Am I crazy to put my house on the market now?

At times during this past week as I've been knee-deep in closets cleaning them out, I've gotten spooked by some invisible force and the hairs on the back of my neck start to raise. And then the doubts creep in. "Are we crazy to put our house on the market in this economy? Especially in the late fall? Who's going to buy a house during the holiday season? I have a cat, a huge crazy puppy and two parakeets - what do I do with them while I show the house?" Question after question comes racing into my mind.

But, I keep doing what I'm doing and cleaning, packing, and purging. There's a stronger force telling me that this is the right thing to do. We're moving very quickly towards getting this house sold. We've cleaned out our entire basement and re-organized it. I cleaned out every single cabinet in the kitchen, emptied out the pantry and put it back together again, and purged tons of stuff. I've taken half of the books and photos off of our bookshelves and packed them away to make the den look bigger. I'm cleaning out closets, taking photos off walls, and I'll tackle the kids' bedrooms tomorrow, paint this weekend, and a cleaning service comes on Monday to do a final thorough scrubbing before the house goes on the market on Tuesday.

It's been a whirlwind but it feels good to get it all done. I've also looked at 10 other houses up in Michigan and didn't like any of them. I have two more to look at this weekend and, unless I fall in love with one of those, we're making an offer on the farmhouse this weekend.

Wish us luck!

Oh, and I've found a wee bit of time to play with Cathy's new templates at Designer Digitals. Sigh. LOVE her templates. :)

 

To everything there is a season

This must be my season to change. As if perimenopause and having a pre-teen weren't enough. Sigh. To know me is to know that I don't do change well. So, this is all taking some adjusting for me.

We went to see the farmhouse again last night and we still love it. But, we've also decided that it would be in our best interest to look at other houses in the area before we make an offer. If this is going to be the "forever" house, we need to take some time to make the decision. In the meantime, we're going to try and get our house on the market in the next couple of weeks so that we're ready to go if we make an offer on this house or another house.

It's a lot of change that I didn't plan on. Don't get me wrong. I've always wanted to get out of a neighborhood and live in the country and we've driven through these areas for years dreaming about it. But I didn't plan to do it right now.

Spur-of-the-moment stuff throws me. It's all good and I know I'll get exctied about it again very soon but for now, I need just a bit of time to let it sink in and let me get used to the idea. So, I'm taking the day to not think about it and just work on other things. :)

We're in for it now

We're going back to look at the house tomorrow night. I think we're in for it now. We're pretty obsessed with this house and can't wait to get back there tomorrow. This time, we're taking family with us to help us with some architectural and building questions. If all goes well and the assessment is what we think it will be, I think we're going to take the plunge and make an offer.

And that makes me shake in my shoes. You know the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"? Basically, one action leads to a snowball effect and the 1st action turns into 15,000 other actions. That's where we would be. If we make an offer on the house, we'd have to list our house by next week. If we list our house by next week, we'd have to repair windows, paint, tear off old wallpaper, fix broken closet shelves, clean out the basement, get rid of our birds, and on and on and on.

It would have to happen quickly!!!! And all during the holiday season. Yikes!

If anyone has any positive thoughts, prayers, or HELP with my sanity, feel free to comment. :)

(The above photo is the property line on one side of the house. The house we're looking at is just to the other side of the trees. So, the next door neighbor is a vineyard. Sigh. It's just so pretty.) 

So now what?

 

This is the back of the farmhouse we went to see last night. And we love it. LOVE it. 

But we weren't planning on moving. We sure weren't planning on moving out-of-state and lengthening Tom's commute. And we definitely weren't thinking about changing the kids' school.

So, now what?

ACK!
 

Here & Now

 

(Another CZ template - all supplies listed here at Designer Digitals.)

It's been a crazy and very busy week around here. We have had Parents' Visiting Day at school, family movie night, done a lot of sewing, gone to the library, gone to the apple orchard, decided on a total whim to look at a house in Michigan and consider moving there (notice how I'm burying this in the middle of the sentence), bought pumpkins, played football, watched football, got some scrapping done, gone out to eat, and had a fantastic visit with some old friends. Whew - and we have two more days of lots of fun things planned. I'm trying to take pictures as we go but I simply can't keep up. I'll try to be back on Wednesday with lots of photos.

In the meantime, we still have guests with us and had a really amazing visit over the weekend with some friends from my childhood. I can't wait until I have some quiet time to sit and think about it and blog about it. The sad part is that I *gasp* didn't take any pictures at all. :(  I was so busy enjoying the visit that I didn't even think about it. I'll just have to rely on memories for this visit.

Back on Wednesday. :)

And we have a winner!

The winner of the free pass to YOUR KIDS: CAPTURED THROUGH THE LENS with Katrina Kennedy is:

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 17 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

And that person is:

Kathleen said...

If there's ONE thing I need huge improvment on right now for my three kids, it is this. My baby is already one and a half and I'm missing the opportunities to get those shots while she's itty bitty!

Would love love love to win this.

Watch for an email from me, Kathleen!! Congratulations!!!!!

How to take great photos of your kids

 

You all know how much I love photography. It's a huge part of my life and it matters to me that I have great photos of my kids. I have very few photos of my childhood and I would give anything to have better photos of me growing up. So, I make it a priority to take great photos of my kids. It's worth the time.

And someone who has helped me a lot is my friend, Katrina. Her photo above just makes my jaw drop. And now she's offering a photography class specifically geared towards getting great photos of your kids at Get it Scrapped! and the best part is that I get to give away a free pass! :)

Here's a description of her class:

YOUR KIDS: CAPTURED THROUGH THE LENS with Katrina Kennedy

Love photos of other people’s children? Do you wonder how they possibly capture their kids in such great ways? In six lessons we will explore methods to capture your children’s photos in creative ways and minimize the headaches you may have experienced in the past. We will cover ways to engage your children in the process and techniques to use your camera more effectively.

Learn practical techniques for capturing your kids from experienced guest photographers who just happen to be moms! Class includes their images and pointers for working with kids of all ages, including the speedy toddler, the uncooperative teen, and many other child archetypes you probably know well.

And here's a direct link with a lot more information and a syllabus:

Your Kids: Captured Through the Lens

I've taken Katrina's photography classes before and I just love them! I can't wait for this one! You are going to love it and love the results even more!!!

To be entered into a chance to win a free pass to her class, leave me a comment on this post. I'll leave comments open until Saturday and announce the winner on Sunday. Class starts Monday, October 12th.

And here's another amazing shot that Katrina took. :)

 

Life is a rollercoaster

 

It feels like Christmas morning at Designer Digitals! We are having so much fun with Cathy Zielske's new templates and there's more coming every week. Her first templates go on sale this Saturday at 6 p.m. For now, you can see a sneak peek on Cathy's blog (including my layout :) ) and a lot more layouts by the Creative Team in the Designer Digitals gallery. 

And then there's some devasting news for those of us in the midwest. The most amazing scrapbooking store in the area (maybe even the country) is going out of business. :( Pages in Time is just down the street from me and has been a big part of my life for the past 5 years. I was devastated to hear about the closing and finally drove past the store last night. As soon as I saw the big signs all over the front of the store, I had a little cry in my car. I wish Julie and Mark and the entire staff all the best. I'll be headed in tomorrow for one last time. :(

And, sigh, I have two sick kids at home today. Emily has bronchitis and Elizabeth has a strange fever with no other symptoms. Em has been out all week long but we're hoping she makes it back tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep my sanity while listening to whiny, miserable kids.

On top of that, we have out-of-town guests coming tonight. I called last night and let them know about our sickies in case they wanted to change their minds. But I haven't heard from them so I'm off to scrub the whole house and try to get it presentable and germ free.

Did I mention I was lucky?

I may have mentioned just a few times how lucky I am to be on the Creative Team at Designer Digitals, right?

I just got luckier. :)

I spent much of yesterday jumping up and down with excitement over this news and it was announced last night and we then spread it around Facebook gleefully!

CATHY ZIELSKE IS NOW DESIGNING FOR DESIGNER DIGITALS. :)

Yep, I'm yelling. It.could.not.get.any.better. Seriously.

I made this layout in 2006 and it still holds true for me.

 

Except now I get to work with her stuff every single day. Did I mention I was lucky? :)