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!!

A time to give thanks

I have to stop apologizing when I don't blog as often as I should, but with so much going on, I can't help it! I feel like I should be shouting to world how thankful and blessed I truly am! I do want to say thank you to everyone who kept my family and me in their thoughts and prayers during the last few weeks. It honestly feels like it has been much longer than just 3 1/2 weeks since my dad died. After the initial shock wore off, I tried to do some soul-searching. After all, he was my dad and I discovered that he loved me very much and was loved by many. His funeral service was beautiful--definitely the most moving I have ever attended. The CEO of St. Jude spoke highly of my dad, and a cousin on my stepmom's side of the family told funny stories that each of us children had written down. I had written the story about Dad trying to kill my mom and me as he about drove off the edge of the road leading up to and back down from Pike's Peak. Cliff told the story about damaging the garage door when he was 16, only to cover it up from Dad and until the day of the funeral, Dad never knew about it. During the service, we all laughed and cried, then laughed and cried some more. This is one of those moments that I can't wait to scrapbook, but I do have other priorities first--a particular Christmas present for someone special (I can't say who b/c he or she might read this!).

Because Todd and I had already planned to go back to Dad and Pat's for Thanksgiving, we did just that. Even though Dad was no longer around the house, we knew he was a part of our celebration. It was during this time that I got to know my step brothers and sisters and that side of the family a little better. I knew we were "family" in the sense that Dad had married Pat and she had grown children of her own and those children had children, and so on...but the Thanksgiving after Dad's death made us connect more than we ever had. I loved being called the "little sister" and my brother was able to be "little brother" as well. We are all still a family and will continue to be one without Dad. This is the part that surprised me the most, but I love knowing I have more family than ever!

Below are some pictures from the funeral and family photos after the graveside service:

Everyone always said that I look like my mom (I don't see it), but I had Dad's hands--big knuckles and all.

Dad loved his job at St. Jude/ALSAC more than any other job he had ever held. Anytime we saw him he was wearing something that advertised for St. Jude. It was only fitting that he was buried with his latest pin and all the men of the family wore one of his ties to the funeral.

Pat made sure, in everything that was done for Dad, that Cliff and I came first before her own children.

All of us "kids"--we felt like the Brady Bunch in the picture--3 boys and 3 girls!

This is a picture of all the kids with each spouse or significant other. Don't we all look perty??

A sad night

I know this is not the post you requested Kodi, but it' s a post I have to do. I'm not sure how or why I am posting this just yet, but I wanted to get all of this down before this moment left. I found out tonight that my dad passed away last night in his sleep. Although we had our ups and downs, I still loved my dad with all my heart. I think I am still in shock, considering my sister-in-law just talked to him yesterday, and Todd and I saw him a couple of weeks ago here in town. Looking back, I thought it was strange that both my stepmom, Pat, and my sister-in-law, Terri, called me tonight. Neither one of them told me about Dad because they couldn't or didn't want to tell me over the phone, especially knowing that I was home alone while Todd was working. Todd came home around 8 pm, came straight into the living room, turned off the TV, then broke the news that my dad died last night. I think I broke down right then and there because I just couldn't believe it. Todd told me that Terri had called him at work and told him to get home to me because my Dad had died in his sleep last night and he had to be the one to tell me. Apparently, Dad was up in KC to visit some donors of St. Jude. He went to bed last night, as usual, but when Pat called him this morning, he didn't answer his cell. She called the hotel and they said he never checked out. A manager went to his hotel room to check on him and found him still in bed, head on his pillow, covered up with the blanket. No foul play...just died in his sleep. I guess that's the best way to go. I am thankful he didn't have to suffer after everything he's been through this past year. My brother, Cliff, is going over to Memphis tomorrow and is supposed to call me with news of funeral arrangements. I am playing it by ear until then. I am not going into school, even though that would definitely get my mind off of this news for a while. I know I probably wouldn't be any good tomorrow or Thursday. Luckily, we are out of school on Friday, but I was supposed to be at a speech tournament this weekend. Now those plans have changed as well. I know there is never a good time for someone to die. I guess I thought I'd just be much older when I had to deal with all of this. Are you supposed to bury your parents when you are this young? I guess only God knows His plan for each of us. I do wish Dad would have lived long enough to hold a grandchild from Todd and me, but now any future children will have to look at pictures and hear stories of their Papaw. I may have to think some more about this situation before I post again, but I would like to post a tribute blog to my dad. If nothing else, at least to get the words down so I can use them later when I include this story in my scrapbook. Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts in the past. I know they will be just as important now. God bless!