The joy of Selling a House & Moving

So at the end of October we put our house on the market. This was not something that we really had planned on doing this last year but we had an opportunity arise that we couldn't pass up. We currently are living in a story and a half farmhouse on a six acres hobby farm. The opportunity that we were presented with was to move to a two story farmhouse on 20 acres out of a 75 acre farm. Since the owner of the other 55 acres when our 20 is taken out, is a friend of ours that my husband farms for, it will feel like we own the whole 75. It is a beautiful property that contains a woods and has river frontage on the north side of the property.

So because of all this we are currently on the market. Then shortly after we put our house on the market we received an offer that we accepted.  So we have an accepted offer but I am not necessarily excited about it. The hitch is... the offer is contingent on the sale of their house.  Their house has been on the market since March. Because of this we have continued to have our house on the market. We went for two months with not a single person coming through the house and then we took off. In the last month and a half we have had a showing about once a week. So that is good that we have had interest but no offer so far.

So here we sit in a holding pattern and let me tell you with two kids under the age of 5, keeping the house clean and ready to show at anytime can be a challenge. Also being in this holding pattern brings up another problem in my life. This problem is called to pack our not to pack! When we first put the house on the market I packed up a bunch of stuff and we took it over to the new house to store. But since then I don't know whether I should be packing our not.  Part of me feels like I should be packing some but what do I do with it? Do I just push it up against the wall and still show the house with boxes all over, or do we move it to the new house? The problem with moving it to the new house is 1. what about if we can't move to the new house, then we would have to move it all back, 2. once we are in the new house we are planning to do a bunch of remodeling and 3. why is it when I do pack stuff up and move it to the new house that is when I seem to need it. How crazy is that?

So here we sit with people coming through our house off and on and me trying to keep up with everything and keep the house presentable.

Christmas Stocking for Momma

Some where in reading on the web I came across an interesting article or blog post...it was all about how Mom's take the time to make sure that everyone has stuff under the tree and in their stocking for Christmas and how moms tend to end up with nothing in there stocking.  The article told about how two moms who were friends decided that it was unfair and decided that they would switch stocking so that they would not go empty.

Well this year my best friend and I decided to do the same.  So we set a dollar limit and got things together to send to each other.  It was pretty fun finding things that I thought she would like for Christmas.  She is a very sparkly girly girly as I like to call her.  So it was fun to see what creative things I could find for her.  I know her since I was in college so I found some stuff that totally was fitting for her.

As for me below you can see a picture of the gift I received from her.  It included a stocking (handmade  I think), a package of homemade Hot Cocoa, a notebook with a sparkly high heeled shoe on it, a 365 Crock Pot calendar, berry body-spray  a light-up snowman ornament, a travel pack of tissues, and hand & face mini wet wipes, a set of gel pens, a miniature champagne glass with mini beads in it, a party cracker and a snugly pair of socks.   I tried the cocoa the night I received the package and it was delicious    I look forward to using the rest including the snugly socks and the crock pot recipes.

It was a wonderful gift and I look forward to making this a new tradition between us.  I hope she agrees!

Loss of a loved one!

It's hard to explain the loss that I'm feeling right now.  On December 22nd we lost a member of our family.  He was going to be 13 years old in March, and had been a member of our family for the last 10 years.  It was our beloved Golden Retriever/Yellow Lab mix named Norman.  

Norman was a special dog.  We got him when we moved into his house in 2001.  We bought the house that he lived in. Since the family who we bought the house from couldn't take him with them, they had found a home for him but seemed unsure about having him stay with them.  He had taken to us when toured the house, so we offered to taken him.  They accepted and Norman became a member of our family.  So we jokingly like to say that we bought a dog and got a hobby farm for free!

When we moved to our home I was working second shift while my husband was working first shift.  So Norman and I got to spend a lot of time together making our house a home.  He was my first kid.  We spent a lot of time together while I worked second shift for 6 years.  I think I probably spent more time with him than I did with my husband.  He was my constant companion and he was mama's boy.

After 6 years life changed and Norman took a small step down in priority when my 1st daughter was born.  He held an important place in my heart and he gained another person to love him and play with him.  He is one of the reason my daughter can throw a ball so well.  He was a double bred retriever as I liked to call him, so he was all about playing fetch or blue ball (fetch with his racquetballs) .  

A few years later he would once again have another girl to love him.  Unfortunately, my youngest daughter only got to enjoy him for a little over the first year of her life.  I doubt she will remember much about him but I notice her once in a while looking around for him.

Having to put Norman down was pretty sudden.  I knew that he was getting older and we could tell that the arthritis in his hips was getting worse but we never expected to have to put him down when we did.  We headed to my parents for Christmas and took him along since they were going to watch him while we went to visit some other family for Christmas.  When we got to my parents he couldn't get out of the car.  We thought that maybe his legs had fallen asleep so we lifted him out of the car.  But once we got him out he couldn't walk and my husband felt his legs and discovered that the muscles in his legs were atrophied and the nerves weren't working correctly.  He couldn't walk more than a few steps and those steps you could tell were very painful for him, so it was best that we put him down.  We called my parents old vet and schedule an appointment that day to put him down.  

It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do so far in my life.  I loved him so much but I know he is in a better place and no longer in pain.  He was a wonderful dog and I have wonderful memories of him.  This week has been hard for me...my husband had a work trip and so I was home alone with my girls and without my wonderful Norman to keep me company and snuggle with me.  This week I also received the clay paw print that the vet made when they put him down.  I plan to make a shadow box to display some of the fond memories of my beloved boy. 

My Beloved Norman on his last day with us.

So I'll leave you tonight with this quote from Will Rogers:

"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they went."

Welcome to my blog.  I'm a full time working mom with two beautiful girls. My oldest is in 4K and my youngest is just over a year old. They keep me on my toes everyday and wear me out.  My question of the day... why do kids have so much energy and why don't moms have the same energy level as they do?

Apart from the kids I live on a Hobby farm.  We have 2 horses, 2 pygmy goats, 2 male geese, a bunch of barn cats and a half dozen chickens.  I enjoy having the animals around and interacting with them.  I am not a farm girl or a show horseman.  I'm a simple country girls that enjoys living in the country and having animals.  

I also enjoy gardening (well not the weed pulling so much) and have made several flowerbeds and enjoy the beautiful flowers and produce .  I also enjoy photography, scrapbooking,  and crafting with the kids.  I  am a person that enjoys cooking when I don't have to.  When it comes to cooking everyday while the kids are whining that they are starving, I would rather have someone else do it for me.  But alas I still am the main cook, maid, doctor, disciplinarian and entertainment in my house.  The life of a Mom!

I hope to use this blog as a place to share advice, be creative, share ideas, and just have fun.  I will share a little piece of my world.  So come on in and  Enjoy!