CHANGE...my word for the year

After much thought, I decided my new word for the year is...CHANGE. With so much change going on in our lives, I thought this word to be the most appropriate.
CHANGES coming in 2008:
1) Todd began a new job in KC two weeks ago.
2) We put our house on the market and it sold within two weeks. We are currently under contract and will be closing on February 1st. Yes, that's right! We have two weeks to get out! (Am I sensing a pattern here??)
3) Todd has moved in with his parents in KC so we don't have to pay for an apartment (Bless them!!).
4) Soze and I are moving in with my mom so we don't have to pay for an apartment (Double bless her!!).
5) I am leaving a job that I absolutely love and heading out into the great unknown. I have applied with four districts and interviewed with two. In fact, the Park Hill interview went fabulously!! I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed for that one.
6) We have to buy a new house somewhere in KC--we don't know exactly where yet, and we probably won't start "seriously" looking to buy until late April or so. We want to save as much money before the move as we can!
7) Due to Mom's limited space, I won't have access to a computer (besides school) for the next 5-6 months--my blogging days may be VERY limited this spring. I am going to try to borrow a laptop from school and take it to places that have free Wi-Fi (Saturdays at Panera anyone??). Also because of Mom's space, I am only taking what I absolutely need scrapbooking wise. I have to take some stuff--I don't know that I could go 6 months without scrapbooking. I mean, I haven't even started LAST summer's Disney album (okay, I have 1 page done!), much less any pages that go in our family or Christmas albums. I would like to get caught up in both of those at least! Plus, I want to make the scrapbook about Dad. That one may wait because I have all the pictures on the computer and don't know about printing them all before we move...yikes! Maybe I should JUST in case anything happens to the computer! One thought better--I may put ALL of our pictures on CDs JUST in case. Good one April!

I do plan on scrapbooking my word for the year--CHANGE. I may wait until we have officially moved and bought a house, but it will make the album for sure!!

Well, since today is an "Ice" day off from school, I am using this time to pack. Wish me luck!

April

all alone...plus the dog

With Todd gone, the house does seem more empty, but Soze and I will get used to it! He has only been gone really for one day and I have already made one nice change to the bedroom. I did not care for our worn out solid black comforter on our bed, so I bought a new set--full of our "African Safari" colors--red, yellow, olive, black, etc. It is so pretty!! (I don't have any pictures of it, but I do plan on taking pictures of our house before we move.) The colors just make our red walls stand out that much more. It still feels a little stiff, but with Soze laying on it every night, it will wear down too! Speaking of Soze, we are keeping her outside now JUST in case the realtor brings some potential buyers over to the house and she is WORN OUT at night! Last night, she slept a good 2 hours, then went to bed with me and slept the whole night! We have the whole bed to ourselves and what does she do??? Soze takes up the whole thing so I still have to sleep right on the edge of the bed--not tonight! I think I am going to get in the middle of the bed and make Soze sleep on the edge.

What this house-selling business is forcing me to do:
1. make the bed every morning
2. sweep every night
3. vacuum every 2 nights
4. keep all "stuff" picked up off the floor
5. keep all dishes in the dishwasher or cabinets
6. clean up all of my scrapbook supplies after using (that's a tough one!!)
7. make sure everything looks "dusted" (I'm not dusting every day!!)

I am hoping by forcing me to do this on a daily basis that I will be in the habit of cleaning when we move up to KC. I go up there on Thursday for 2 interviews--one with Liberty and the other with Park Hill. Wish me luck!!

This one is for KODI...

Okay, I just got in trouble from a very close friend named KODI because I don't blog enough. I realize that she is right, but I do try when I can! I usually just have other stuff I am doing instead (watching TV, sleeping, etc.). Lately I've been working on getting our house ready to sell. It's now official! We put it on the market today, the realtor will get the listing tomorrow, take pictures on Saturday, and hopefully have people looking next week! Yikes!! I do have to say that our house looks better now than when we moved in (minus the carpet--bad dog!!). We painted every room except the hall bath and our bedroom, which was already painted a nice color. I just hope it sells now!

On a related front, I have sent in my resume and required paperwork to four school districts up in KC, and I have already heard back from Park Hill, my number one choice!! I have an interview on the 17th, so I'll let you know who it goes. My only reservation about this district is that they want me for Special Ed. I know that's what I got my degree in, but after being out and teaching Reading and English, I don't know that I want to go back to Special Ed. I do miss my kids, but I do not miss the paperwork ONE bit! If I do go back to Special Ed., it would have to be in the high school. There is not enough money in the world to make me want to do elementary!

Tomorrow I am going to Michael's to spend a gift card I got for Christmas. Are there any new "must-haves" for scrapbooking that I am missing out on? I know that I am getting a paper piercer and some eyelets to go with my new Cropadile (another Christmas gift!). Anything else? I may pick up some Chipboard as well, but I still don't really know what to do with it.

Well, the house is calling. Tonight I am planning on "cleaning" out our bottom kitchen cupboards so that when people open them up, they don't look so crappy. I am also going to do that to our bathroom cabinets as well. Tomorrow night is reserved for taking down the rest of the stuff in our garage (movie posters) and giving the house a good onceover before the realtor comes in on Saturday to take pictures.

I don't have any pictures to include in this post. I meant to take pictures of the scrapbook I made for my brother about our Dad, but never did before giving it to him for Christmas. He LOVED it! My nephew loved it too! I am planning on making one for myself maybe this spring. I have too many scrapbook plans this spring--start/finish our Disney album from last summer (I have 2 pages finished!), update our family and Christmas albums, and make the album dedicated to my dad. Whew!!! We'll see how much I get done!