New job...still homeless

Over the past week, I have been up in KC with Todd. I went on one final interview with the principal of Christman High School in Independence, and while I thought I did okay, I wasn't sure. I was one of three finalists for the English position, but I guess I nailed it! I am now an official new staff member of CHS (effective August 2008)! This job has put somewhat of a wrinkle in our house hunt though. Because Overland Park and Independence are literally at opposite ends of KC, Todd and I are looking to live in the Lee's Summit area. We found a house we really liked, and we even put an offer on it, but the owner is not willing to budge a cent. He did come down from the original listing, but not enough to even warrant a counter-offer. I took pictures of the house, too, but I have no way of getting them to the blog down here in Springfield. I'd have to do that from the in-laws' house. Our realtor has been great through all of this! She knows we have tough criteria--location, money, floor plan, etc. Needless to say, I am going back up this weekend to see if we can find an even better house!!

More snow days!

How many more snow days can we get? We were out of school yesterday, and I believe that makes 6 days we have to make up somewhere. At this point, I am hoping the district will extend the school day or let us come for half days on Saturdays. I DO NOT want to come to school in June!! I want to have moved by then! Oh well. The Superintendent said no decisions would be made until we were out of winter weather. While I did enjoy my time yesterday, enough is enough!!

Somehow yesterday I motivated myself to drag out all of my scrapbooking stuff into the living room and set up shop. (When Mom walked in last night, she thought the scrapbook store had permentantly moved to her house!) I only managed to get two pages completed, but the majority of my time (it seemed) was getting organized! That's why I don't like getting it all out and putting it back again! My goal for scrapping is to get caught up to current in our family album--I am on September 2007 right now. I have to get some pics developed of Thanksgiving and Christmas, though, before I can scrap those. I also want to do our Disney album from last summer, but that may have to wait until we get moved and settled in. We'll see--maybe I'll get motivated enough to do it all!!! Yeah right!

Moving back home...

Soze and I are all moved in now. We have been back in my mom's house for 6 days, but it feels much longer. Not because of my mom but because of the dog!!! Since mom doesn't have a fenced-in yard, I have to let Soze out on the leash everytime we go outside. First of all, it took her until Tuesday to poop!!! She just isn't used to going on the leash, but I was hoping she would get the hang of it. I think she has now. She still doesn't go on a regular basis, but at least she will go every once and a while. It's just really COLD in the mornings and at night when I have to stand outside for 30 minutes trying to get the dog to go!!

On a different note, Todd and I moved out of our old house with the help of his parents. It took us about all day last Thursday through the snow and wind. We started out to KC around 5:30 pm and didn't get there until 11:30 pm!! It was snowing so hard and fast at one point, we couldn't tell if we were even driving on the highway or not. I'd hit the rumble bars every once and a while just to make sure I was still on the road. We were all in separate cars (4 of us), and I had Soze in the back seat of my car. We would all pull over to unfreeze our windshield wipers because we couldn't see out! Even on the clearer parts of the road up around Clinton, I was still driving slow because I could feel my car moving back and forth. Everyone else was loaded down with weight from furniture, boxes, miscellaneous stuff, etc. Not me!! Todd's mom passed me--I was going that slow!! I didn't care--I just wanted to get up to KC and get out of the weather!

Todd's coming home tonight and staying until Tuesday for his Dr.'s appointment. At least we can spend some time together this weekend. I guess we'll use this weekend as our Valentine's Day celebration. We usually don't do anything special other than go out to dinner, but that will be special for us since we don't see each other very often now.

Talk to you all soon!

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!

A time for change

Well, Christmas has come and gone now. I always hate this time of year. Christmas is my all time favorite holiday, and I look forward to it for so long, but then...it's over in a blink. I have enjoyed my break from school, but Todd and I have been working our butts off getting our house ready to sell. I guess I should mention that part--Todd and I are moving to Kansas City!! Todd has accepted a job up there with his cousin at Sign-a-Rama. He will be working M-F, no nights, no weekends unless something comes up as an install or something like that. He officially begins on January 14th, and he leaves me here to sell the house. That being said, we have been feverishly painting and fixing up the place since last Friday. We have painted the kitchen, laundry room, and master bath. We are painting the office tomorrow, and Todd's parents are coming back down this weekend to paint the spare bedroom, living room, and hallway. The place will look brand new!! I am nervous about selling the house, though, the way the housing market is right now. I would love to have it sold by March!! That's my goal. If you know anyone who needs a house (3 BR, 2 BA) in Nixa, give me a call!!

I will try to blog some more about Christmas maybe later on in the week. I will try to include some pictures as well.
Have a good rest of 2007!!