Brad has been driving a 1995 Green Ford Escort Station Wagon in hot, sticky, summer weather back and forth to work every day, vowing not to buy a new car until after we close on the house. Thanks to my mother's assurances that it would not hurt our debt ratio, Brad finally bought himself a car.

His slightly used car is a 2004/Honda Accord EX with a V6 3.0 liter engine that is decked out with leather seats, seat warmers and a satellite radio. The best feature, according to Brad, is the AC.

Doesn't he look happy? Bishop is also happy because he inherited the Escort.

The only problem is that now our cars look like FSU colors. Go Gators!

Manicures and Construction Work

I’ve been staring at my hands too much lately. My nails accidentally grew long. Usually I don’t grow out my nails because then my hands become decorative rather than useful, but since I haven’t been sitting at my computer writing papers and chewing my nails lately, they’ve gotten a little long. Then I made the mistake of painting them with some clear polish and now they’ve grown even longer.

Now things have gotten really out of control. I bought a French manicure kit. This is a multi-step process. First you have to put these tiny stickers on your nails and then paint just the tips white. Then you paint over the whole nail with the really light pink polish. In between each step I have to wait for the polish to dry, and I can’t really do much of anything because it will mess up the nails.

This morning I was sitting around painting my nails and watching the workers put in sand behind our house. I know nothing about construction, but I assume that they are preparing a foundation. So far today they have brought in loads and loads of sand in those big trucks that tilt up. Every time the truck empties the sand, the tail gate slams back down and makes a huge noise. Even though I know what is happening, I still jump. After a couple of truck loads of sand, the bulldozer flattens the mounds out. Then the trucks go back and fill up with more sand. In between, though, the construction workers are pretty bored. They do a lot of sitting around while they wait for more sand.

This is how manicures and construction work are alike- busy for a little bit and then nothing to do for awhile.

Testing, testing...

I am one step closer to being a certified teacher. Last weekend I took two state certification tests. I am happy to say that my classes in the education program prepared me for these all important exams.

Also, I spoke to my directing teacher who will be sharing her classroom with me this fall, and she said that I am welcome to attend planning next week. I am so excited! Finally, after so many education classes I get to experience the big picture. This may be the last summer that I ever feel happy to see summer end.

Brad is also happy. He got his Jaguar season tickets in the mail. His seats are way up in the stands on the home team side of the stadium. If he invites you to a game, be prepared to climb some stairs. The seats are five rows from the very top, but as Brad says, the important thing is that they are IN the stadium.
The countdown to the end of summer includes visits to schools to get schedules and books. Mitchell's registration was today. He wants permission to wear flannel pajama pants to school so we asked the teachers at school teoday if they were allowed. Four teachers gave four different answers. Oy! We struck a deal. He can wear them if he carries a pair of shorts with him so that he can change if he is sent to the dean for inappropriate clothing.

Lest you judge my decision... listen, I had to hear an hour's tirade about how UNFAIR it was the he had to wear UNCOMFORTABLE clothes just because I thought they were more APPROPRIATE than pajamas. I cannot have a fight with him every day about pajama pants. I have to fight with him every day to get him to wear shoes! "Why should I have to wear SHOES everywhere just because YOU want me to?!"

This school we will have four children at four different schools. One of them will be wearing pajama pants (and shoes if we are lucky).

The House Next Door

I don't know why I assumed that the house being built in the lot next to ours would be a one story, so when I saw this, I was surprised! The house next door is big. Although we have some serious envy, it is fun to watch this house go up.

I wonder who will live here.

The other day we met some very nice neighbors from across our new street. It is hard to believe that in only seven or so months we might actually live on this street.

We got two letters in the mail from our builder last week. Each was a form letter about a minor change in their general policies. Still, for a brief moment each time we hoped that it was something important, like a design center appointment.

While we continue to be patient, life marches on. The land behind our current home has been cleared to make way for a condominium development. We have always looked out our back windows to see woods, but now there is a huge hole. Every morning we wake up to the sounds of cranes and bulldozers. I feel sorry for the people who are living in our new neighborhood because they have to live with constant construction, too. So, there is one advantage to buying the last house on the street. Once the construction is done on our house, the construction is done.

Coincidentally, it is the same builder that is putting up the condominiums behind us here as is building the houses in the development that backs up to our new lot. Luckily the new lot backs up to a preserve area because when this builder clears the land, they leave no trees behind.

Baby Love

Tonight I got a glimpse into our past when I visited my friend, Elizabeth, and her family. Her son Benjamin is eight months old and he’s full of sweet baby love. He’s round and cuddly and busy and sweet, sweet, sweet. Of course I was reminded of all the baby love that we’ve had, and although I don’t want to go back there, it was nice to visit for a little while.

Charlie is at quilt camp this week, and he’s found a new passion. He loves sewing! Olivia is at Girl Scout Camp this week, so she comes home everyday good and tired from crafting, swimming and singing all day. Bishop’s got a job at a local restaurant. He comes home wet every night smelling like a kitchen. Brad used to smell the same way when he was a chef. What’s Mitchell up to? He’s at camp sleep-a-lot.

Only 2 ½ weeks until school starts!

Moonlit Madness

The full moon lured us to the ocean last night. Actually it was my idea. I thought that we’d have a mellow moonlit walk on the beach. It was a beautiful night. The water was warm, tickling our ankles. The moon reflected off the waves and some occasional fireworks lit the sky. Unfortunately, only the setting was mellow.

In between yelling for somebody to stop hitting somebody else on the butt with their flip flops, or stop running and splashing people who don’t want to get wet, or stop rolling in the sand there were a few peaceful moments. You would think that a woman with four children would know better than to expect them to be mellow at the beach.

What was I thinking?! Well, next time I'll be prepared for the craziness.

Photo found here.

A Quiz

Tilt your head to the left and consider why a handsome young man would be wearing such a ridiculous outfit.

A. He's color blind.
B. He's so brilliant that he cannot be concerned with a minor detail like dressing himself.
C. He's famished after a day of swimming and tubing down the Itchetucknee, and a pesky "no shoes/no shirt/no service" law is all that stands between him and a meal.















Tilt your head again to the left to see Mercedes and her pink tube, which needed to be rescued during lunch when a person tried to walk off with it.
















The river was very high from all of the recent rain. There was a lot of jumping from trees into the river by some- including MeMe. We even walked up to Blue Spring to swim over the caves and feel the strong pumping of the water. I think that everybody had fun.

Tomorrow Mercedes and Sebastian will be on the way home to Seattle. I wonder if they'll have any chocolate covered popcorn from Peterbrook's for their mother?

A television in the BATHroom?!

Patience is a virtue.
Good things come to those who wait.
Don’t wish away today longing for tomorrow.

That, dear reader, is not advice for you; rather, it is advice for us.

We did not pick out spots for our phone and cable jacks when we signed the contract. This gave us an opportunity to go back to the sales office to talk with our sales agent again. The story this time is that the house will probably get started in late August. We are the very last house on the list. Since we signed, there haven’t been any other sales in our development because they are just now getting the land developed- roads put in, lots designated, etc…

If they say the start date will be in August, hopefully they won’t begin later than September. If they say that it will take four months to build, maybe it won’t take more than six. That would put us in the house in February or March maybe?

Patience is a virtue.

Brad decided on a treat for himself: a television in the bathroom so he can lay in a tub of hot water and watch hockey. (We have to give credit to Jan and Peter who inspired us with their luxurious bathroom in the house on the river.)

Yes, HOCKEY! Thank goodness somebody agreed to something so that there will be a hockey season this year. Brad is very happy. Maybe it will make waiting for this house a bit easier.

But, I predict that this will cut into my decorating show watching time. My current faves: Designed to Sell (for obvious reasons) and Christopher Lowell.

Tomorrow we are going down the Itchatucknee- (actually, I’ve been corrected. It’s the Itchetucknee) for the FOURTH time this year.

Flooring

We spent a lot of time this week putting in a new floor downstairs. The plan was to put it in the kitchen, bathroom and half of the living room, but once we got it all down, the carpet looked yucky. So, we put it down everywhere downstairs. The flooring is a vinyl tile that looks pretty good. It is a huge improvement over the worn out carpet and linoleum that used to be there.

We pulled up the old quarter round and put the tile up to the baseboards. Now the baseboards look very battered so we are painting them. I have always wanted to paint them white since we moved here. I love the way that white baseboards look with some color on the wall. So to finish up we have to cut all the new quarter round to the strange angles that we have in this house. Once it is all done, we’ll post a picture.

In the next house we vow not to wait until we are selling to fix things up.

Oh, and spending several days on our knees may have made us more willing to pay builder prices when we pick the flooring for the new house at the design center.

Soaked on the 4th

We waited for the first rain band to pass before heading to the river walk to stake out our spot for watching the fire works. Unfortunately, the sun was brief and we ended up soaked! The fire works were amazing, but next year we are going to bring big umbrellas and stay dry, like Mike.

We got wrapped!

We got our first visible sign that something might be happening to our dirt. They’ve wrapped our lot in plastic! They also wrapped the other Mercedes lots/houses with plastic so it could mean nothing, but that doesn’t quell our excitement. Unfortunately the wood and dumpster are for the house that is being built in the lot next door.

Rolling bowling relatives

The other cousins also came to visit this summer. Among other exciting adventures, there was a bowling trip.
Josh is the king of NINE, but when he pulled off ten, you should have seen the victory dance. Charlotte’s bowling skills were sharp and in between shots she took pictures of the fun.


Charlie got a couple of lucky shots in there and had a few strikes himself. Olivia was looking stylish in her ultra cute hair-do whilst she experimented with several bowling approaches.









Mitchell had the highest score the first game and the lowest score the second game proving that sometimes you are up and sometimes you are down. Either way he played it cool, earning the title of “the casual bowler.”



Bishop is the power bowler. He made the pins quiver in fear, and when he figured out how to aim, he was racking up the strikes.




Pop-Pop showed everybody how to get it done with the high score on the second game. We heard the sounds of gobble gobble when he bowled a turkey.

It's raining relatives

The Seattle cousins have come to town, and they’ve brought the rain with them. That didn’t stop anybody from having fun, though.

First we went to the pool and swam in the rain. Then we just played in the rain.

This is what happens in our neighborhood when it rains a lot.












Mitchell’s first words to Sebastian: You’re tall. I hate you. Mitchell is a year older, but a foot shorter than Sebastian. Except for that, there is definitely a family resemblance.













There was some ganging up on Sebastian by the girls, but he got them back.




















Isn't this a nice picture of Mercedes... except for Sebastian's foot?

Reunioning

I'm trying out the new blogger picture feature with a shot from the reunion.

Wow, that was easy! Expect more pictures.

Reunion, Reality and Relief

Last night was my 20th reunion, but since Brad graduated a year before I did, he knew lots of people. We had a super time catching up with folks that we didn't even remember that we'd forgotten. I also was lucky to see a lot of friends that I've kept close in mind over the years. The best part was being there with Brad.

Lynn, Marie, Tom, Jill, Charlie W., Brent, John T., and Leslie- we missed you. Everybody else who came- Gosh it was great to see you all!

Today we drove by the dirt and stopped in the sales center to see the model homes again. The 7-9 month time frame is a bit optimistic, we think. This is going to take more like 9-12 months. This is really okay because I’ll have a job after December and it will give us a chance to build up the savings account even more before we have to start making the big mortgage payments.

Brad’s getting handy. Although he can build you a worldwide network and data center or cater your wedding, he’s not as skilled with handy man stuff around the house. All that is going to change, because now he is collecting tools. Bob Villa- move over!

Oh, and just the other day we were driving out to see the dirt and our children actually got a bit excited about the house. They passed around a floor plan and drew in the furniture placement for their rooms. I played it cool and did not show my amazement, but secretly I was thrilled to see them imagine the future a little bit.

The cabinets

Of course we disagree about the cabinets. I want a white kitchen with black counter tops because I think the combination will work as a neutral for any color palette so that we’ll have the flexibility to change the look of the family room/kitchen in the future.

White and black choice 

Brad likes a darker wood look. He thinks that the white will show dirt too easily and that the wood is more beautiful. We do agree on the style of cabinet. We both like simple rather than ornate.

We both like 
There are three beginning decisions for cabinets: door style, wood type and finish. It only took about an hour in Lowe’s to come to an agreement: simple doors, maple or cherry, dark finish. We are going with the dark cabinets because I like them, too. If I get tired of them later on, we can always paint, but we cannot go from white or ivory laminate to wood.

The floor was surprisingly easy. It must be able to handle wet children because of our future pool. Tile would be the most logical, although slippery choice, but we both like a light laminate that looks like hardwood. Durable enough for a pool house, but pretty. If we can’t afford it at the design center, we’ll have to choose something else and wait until it wears out, then replace it with laminate.

The master bathroom gets some upgrades, too, but those will have to wait until we get there. We go to the design center and we have two hours to make all of our choices. Unfortunately, we don't have any prices beforehand, and almost everything is based on price. So, we are setting priorities and I'm basically obsessing while Brad tries to look interested.

To move or not to move

A house in our neighborhood went up for sale last Thursday and sold over the weekend for their asking price. This has set off a bit of a frenzy for us. Should we jump on the bandwagon and try to sell now or wait until the roof goes on the new house to put this house on the market? It is so tempting to try to sell now. We could rent the house that is right next door to our lot and literally watch the house being built.

BUT, we’ve decided to sit tight instead. Moving twice is expensive and twice as difficult. Bishop needs to finish high school here and I’m interning at a school that is 10 minutes away. We have plenty of work at this house to keep us busy until it is time to sell, and even if it does not sell, we can still buy the new house. Like I always say, patience is a virtue. Unfortunately, patience is not one of our strengths.

We had a nice picnic for Father's Day this past weekend. My children were kind enough to pose for a photo.

Happy Father's Day! 

Conflicting experiences

I should have known that everybody in the family would not be as excited as I'd hoped when we went to see the model home. I thought that they might imagine what our house will eventually be like, but instead they bickered over rooms. “Why does he get the biggest room? Why can’t I have the room closest to yours? Why do I have to share a bathroom?” Oy.

This is an important lesson for us. Not everybody in the family is going share the same level of excitement. Mitchell said something that made sense to me. He said that moving is so far off that he just doesn’t want to think about it yet. We’re going to have to save our excitement for the final reveal.

The next step is to begin to choose cabinets, counter tops and flooring. We will go to the design center in about a month. They’ve sent a list of choices, but there are no pictures or prices. Since the family room and kitchen are so connected, we have to make these decisions all together.

The never ending debate about how much work to put into this house goes on. I am always in favor of doing more, and Brad is always in favor of just knocking a few bucks off the price and letting the new homeowners worry about it. Still, we press on. We are painting as much as possible. There are only six weeks between now and when I start my internship, so even though selling is still several months away, my free time is dwindling.

Dirt update: They’ve framed up the future foundation for the house next door.

Today

This day snuck up on me. There are no decorations in my planner to indicate that this day is special, but it turned out to feel very important. Today I attended my last class for my Bachelor’s degree. I still have to intern in middle school this fall, but I’m all done with coursework.

This morning I ran into my very first UNF professor who just happened to walk by. When I first started I was still a bit uncertain about choosing to become a teacher. She listened to me rant about all my concerns (No Child Left Behind, low pay, disrespect for teachers in society, etc…), and then she assured me that every teacher has frustrations, but that doesn’t keep them from loving their jobs. She was right! After that I relaxed and enjoyed my classes, and now I can’t wait to be a teacher. I’m even thinking about teaching middle school- on purpose!

And since I know that you are all avid readers, I’ll give you a tip: www.bookcloseouts.com. You can get books for less than two dollars. Some are even as low as fifty cents. Now you have no excuse. Read!

I know you must be curious about our new bedroom furniture. Here's a picture, but ours actually looks a few shades darker than this. We've had it for a bit more than a week now, but I am still surprised when I wake up in a room filled with grown-up matching furniture. Just wait until you see it with the duvet cover that I am making...

Next week my goal is to read a book for pleasure (not school), watch 50 home decorating shows and clean, organize, straighten and pack some more. Wait, no, that's my dream. Actually I'll probably spend a lot of time with my very patient children who have been waiting for me to finally finish with school. Have you played Cranium Cadoo? It's a fun game for all ages. If you need a fix, let us know because we'll be playing all week.

Tomorrow: The Itchatucknee.

model home

We had the chance to see a model home that has basically the same downstairs layout as the house that we are building. This model has a loft ceiling in the formal living and dining room combo, but ours will only have ten foot ceiling because the upstairs is different. In our house, the master bedroom is above the living/dining room.

The front door opens up to reveal the stairs. Our stairs will be part banister and part wall to avoid the Poltergeist hallway effect.

the front door 

The formal living and dining room are the only rooms visible from the front door. This means that we have a decent chance of having at least some space that is neat all the time. This is my big dream.

living room 

The formal living and dining room are one big room, and for a long time it will be one big empty room because we have no furniture to put in it.

toward dining room 

This dining room design reminds me of the movie Beetlejuice. If you know the movie, look at the shrimp. Notice the cool nook, cut out area behind the table. We hope to have some nice art in that spot someday. We even ordered a light to highlight the wall that will hold the future art. Nobody can say that we are not optimistic.

beetlejuice dining room 

Now you are looking toward the family room. The darker area on the wall is the afore mentioned cut out/nook/future art spot. When you walk through that doorway, the kitchen is on the left and the family room is on the right. In our house all of this will be reversed, so don’t get used to it.

looking toward family room 

The family room looks out the large, sliding glass doors onto the patio. I’m worried about our leather sectional sofa fitting into the room, but Brad assures me that it will fit just fine. He could be right.

family room 

The dining nook has a bay window overlooking the back patio. It is filled with fancy furniture in this picture, but we’ll probably have an oval table with six chairs.

dining nook 

This is the kitchen. It is not as big as we would have liked, but it does have a generous pantry in the corner. The door on the right is the door to the garage, and the other one is the pantry. The island will have a raised back that will block the view of the sink from the family room.

kitchen 

If you continue to the left through the kitchen you’ll find, on the right, the pool door that leads outside to the patio; on the left, Mitchell’s future room; and straight ahead, the downstairs bathroom.

downstairs bathroom 


You are standing between the kitchen and the dining nook looking out over the family room in this view. Brad is walking toward the formal living/dining room.

from kitchen to family room 

Our back of the house will have a full porch that runs from end to end. After listening to the neighbors describe the yellow flies that populate the woods behind the house, we are seriously thinking about some screen.

back of house