First completed Project!

I completed my first project of the year.  Jack has been asking for a minion hat.    The hat part has been finished for a few weeks, but I needed to figure out how to do the eye and mouth.  The whole project was completed using loom knitting.  Jack loves it!  

New Years Resolutions

So like a lot of people I make New Year's Resolutions and I tend to do a pretty poor job at keeping them.  I'm going to share my goals for the year and try to keep myself going by updating my progress weekly. 

1.  Lose 15 pounds.  This should be something I can achieve since it is only a little over a pound a month.  I'm going to achieve this by drinking more water and less diet coke.  I'd love to give up the diet coke completely, but I'm just not there yet.  I also will try to limit myself to healthy snacks.

2.  Save for a February 2015 Disney trip. 

3.  Finish atleast 12 craft projects  (stretch goal of 24). 

4.  Clean and declutter all closets in the house. 

Has it really been a year?

I thought life would settle down a little bit after our move last December, but it hasn't seemed to.  Carter started all day kindergarten in September.   He's loving it so far.  He's attending the same elementary school I went to.  Almost daily he will ask me if something he did was the same as something I did in kindergarten.  I'm just amazed how fast he's learning.
Jack is in preschool two days a week.  He also gets to ride the bus to speech class two mornings a week.  Every other Wednesday we have parent days at preschool.  It's really fun to see Jack interact with all his little buddies.  He loves all of the songs they sing and he sings them all the time at home.
Not too much new with me.  I'm still working very part time.  I've been looking for something more, but I haven't really found something that's a good fit.
I don't really have a craft space set up, so I haven't been doing to many projects.  I'm hoping the holiday will inspire me to get back to crafting.

Dinosaur cookies

Carter found a box of dinosaur cookie cutters when we were unpacking boxes a few weeks ago.  He's been  begging to make cookies since then.  There was no preschool today because of Presidents' Day, so I decide it was the perfect day to make cookies.  

 I pre-made the dough last night after the boys went to bed using this recipe.  I knew they wouldn't be patient enough to wait for it to chill.  I would highly recommend this recipe because it wasn't a sticky mess like some sugar cookie recipes tend to be.  The boys took turns helping me roll out the dough and cutting out the cookies.  While the cookies baked, the boys took a break to go play.
After lunch we decorated the cookies.  I adapted my frosting from this recipe, using butter instead of corn oil and doubling the milk to make the frosting easier to spread.  The only thing I would do differently next time is to give Jack his own small frosting bowls because the knives kept ending up in his mouth.  The boys loved it!

By this time tomorrow. . . .

we should be starting in to some of our projects at the new house.  I am so excited  (and a little nervous!) about this exciting change.  

New House Excitement

One of the main reasons Tim and I were so interested in the house we are buying is the almost half acre yard (which is not very common any more in the suburbs around us.)















Half of the backyard is fenced in, perfect for the dog we plan on getting next spring and for my small children that like to wandering off.  We plan building a huge sandbox


I'm excited to have all of this wonderful outdoor entertain space.  I really hope we have the money (and find a really good deal on)  some outdoor furniture, since we only have patio table and chairs.  I'm not really sure what I would pick out, even without a budget.  It looks like I'll have to scope out some ideas on pinterest. Any recommendations on where to find some fun pieces?  

The built-in fire pit is another exciting feature.   I can't wait to have our first party next spring.  

4 more days. . . .

Until we close on our new house!  I can't wait!  And then 13 more days until we move in completely.   It will go by fast.
One of our first projects once we move in is to take down the horrible wallpaper in the two upstairs bedrooms.  I wish I had pictures of the horrible 1980s floral loveliness.  I'll post some after we close.
The boys have decided that they would like to continue to share a room for now.  (Carter was concerned that Jack might get scared at night without him.)  I plan on painting the walls of their room blue, but I'm not exactly sure what shade yet.  I'm toying with the idea of a pirate- themed room, but I'm not 100% sure on how to make it cute, but not cheesy.
Choosing a master bedroom color is a much more difficult choice.  Our current bedding from when we got married 6 years ago.  The pattern is Calvin Klein Bamboo Flowers.

Tim and I both still like the design, but after six years the bedding is starting to show some wear.  I'd love to paint our bedroom something that works with our current bedding, but would be fine with what we might choose for new bedding.  Tim is extremely fussy about colors and patterns, so it's going to be challenge to find something we both like.  

12 Projects of Christmas: Wood Ornaments

One of my goals for myself is to complete 12 projects before Christmas and blog about them.  I'm going to try to involve my kids whenever possible.  They love to help.  By involving them in creating gifts for our friends and family, they can learn how much fun it can be to give (especially something you worked hard to make!).

On pinterest, I saw a cute project Mod Podge, scrapbook paper, wood ornaments likes these.

My local Joann's and Michael's didn't have anything similar and I didn't want to wait to get them from some place online.  So instead I found some wooden stars in the regular wood cut-outs sections.  After attempting the original project by myself, I decided it would be too frustrating for the kiddos.  So I replaced it with washable markers.  I also had picked up a couple packs of assorted ornament shapes to color.  (My 4

          

It was easy enough that Jack, my two year old, was able to participate.  Carter, my four year old, was busy working on his ornaments for over an hour.  

I plan on using them as gift tags for our presents this year.  

Appraisal

The new house is getting appraised today.  I'm extremely nervous about it.  We're 99% sure it won't appraise for the price we've agreed to because of the comps in the area.  We're hoping to be able to negotiate to whatever it actually appraises for.  The seller so far has proven to be very stubborn, so the whole deal could fall apart.  I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but Tim and I both can imagine our future in this house.  

Waiting

We playing the waiting game again.  We place another offer on the same house we were trying to get before.    Two weeks after we had originally walk away from negotiations the sellers had lowered their price.  Tim and I hadn't been able to get this house out of our head.  Even though Any house that was in our price range and in one of the school districts I would be okay with the boys attending we had already seen.  So we started negotiating again.
Our biggest issue has been the difference between what the seller thinks the house is worth and what the house will probably appraise from.  We finally worked out a deal that we would split the cost of the appraisal,so if the seller can't agree to sell the house for the price it's actually worth, we wouldn't have wasted as much money.
The appraisal was ordered Monday, so now we're just waiting to get it scheduled.  

Recap

We moved out of our townhouse a week and a half ago.  Tim and I were a lot more emotional about it than we expected to be.  It was the first place we lived in together.  The place where we brought our babies home from the hospital.  The place where we remodel together.  Even though we had outgrown the space, it was still hard to say goodbye.
We are currently living in my parents until we can close on a house.  (Which has it's own set of challenges that I'll write about another day.)  The house we put an offer on over a month ago is back to negotiations.  It's any one's guess whether this will ever end up as our home because we still have many hurdles to jump in the negotiations.  If all goes well, we could be moving in December.  The market is really slowing down for the holidays, so if this deal doesn't work out, we may have to come up with a different short term plan.
The boys are handling it about as well as a 2 and 4 year old can.  Carter is very moody these days.  Pretty much anything can cause a meltdown.  (A bad cold is also contributing to this, too.)  Jack has almost completely stopped napping and is up 3-4 times a night screaming.  They're trying to be so good, but living at my parents' house screwed up pretty much all routines in their lives.  I am thankful Carter has school three mornings and week and Jack has ECFE one morning, so we have at least one thing that has stayed constant for them both.  

Moving

I thought life might slow down here a little bit after we sold our townhouse, but it seems to have only gotten crazier.  As of right now, we are set to move out of our home next weekend and move in with my parents.  We had hoped it would only be for a few weeks, but it may end up being quite a bit longer.

We made an offer on a house last week.  It wasn't  perfect, but had most of our "must have" requirements.  The yard was huge.  There would have been plenty of room for a swim set, sand box, and for a large garden for time.  The house needed updates, but it was clean and well-cared for.  Unfortunately we couldn't get the owners to negotiate down to a price that the house would actually appraise for.  The lowest price we could get them to was probably 10K over the highest comparable sale and that house was in much better shape.  

So it's back to looking at houses for us.  The closer it gets to the elections and the holiday season, the less houses that seem to be added to the market.  

Guilty Pleasures

For Valentine's Day this year, Tim and I got ourselves a  Sodastream Fountain Jet Soda Maker Starter Kit.  We used it constantly for the first couple months,  but started to use it less frequently thus summer.

One of my favorite coffee shop treats (when I get somewhere besides Caribou and Starbucks) is an Italian soda.  I discovered I could make them inexpensively at home with  Torani Flavored Syrup.  I'm hooked on using my Sodastream daily again.  Torani makes sugar-free syrups too.  It also tastes great in coffee and hot chocolate.  (My treat last night after the kids went to bed was hot chocolate with sugar-free coconut syrup in it.  It was delicious! )

So if you've been thinking about getting a Sodastream, I highly recommend them.  (Another random tangent, their customer service is amazing!  I thought we were having issues with one of our bottles sealing when we first got our machine.  One of their reps patiently troubleshooted the issue over the phone with me, and overnight shipped a  package of two bottles to replace the one.  Good customer service is such a rare thing these day.)  

Work books

In general, I'm not a huge fan of work books.  I think in most cases there are better ways for children to learn and practice their skills. 

Carter is a smart barely four year old that has pretty much given up napping in the afternoon.  So afternoon time has become quiet time and I've tried to find activities that he can do that need very little parental involvement, but challenge him mentally.  I'd love to set up fun, creative activities for him every day, but frankly, I don't have the time for the energy to do that.  The SCHOLASTIC SUCCESS W/ KINDERGARTEN book has been a lifesaver for me.   It has a variety of different activities, including numbers, letters, opposites, and more.  Some of it is a little too advanced for Carter at this point since his reading skills are still limited, but I bet he'll be ready for them soon.  And Carter must be enjoying them because he keeps asking to do more. 

Sold?

Looks like 17 may be our lucky number!  Friday afternoon, our realtor had called to talked to us about potentially doing a price cut in the next week or so.  Because we are going to need to pay the rather sizable difference between what we owe and what we can sell it at, we were not excited to discuss this.  She also mentioned that she thought it would be a quiet weekend for us since there are typically not that many showings on Labor Day weekend.  It turned out not to be so true for us.  We had showings both Saturday and Sunday.
After the showing Sunday morning we decided to leave for the rest of the weekend. We really needed a break from it all and some time to clear our heads.  So we headed down to the farm (with a quick detour to drive by some houses).  The boys had a great time playing with their cousins.  Tim and I were happy to not have to be constantly cleaning.  After we put the kids to bed, Tim decided to check his email.  Our agent had    emailed an offer from that morning's showing, a good offer, not a low ball like some of the agents had been mentioning the possibility of.
We've negotiated back and forth on some of the little things and as long as we pass the appraisal and inspection we should be moving sometime in the end of October.

2.5 weeks

2.5 weeks is the amount of time our townhouse has been on the market.  Today will be showing #12 (not including the 2 no-shows).  No offers yet.   Most of the feedback has been very positive.  The negatives are things we have no influence over/no ability to change.
One of the funniest so far was that they thought the deck was not private enough.  Our deck faces a not very busy residential street, but has a huge tree in front, so from the street you can't see much of anything on the deck.  Most of the townhouse  have itty bitty decks that fitting two lawn chairs on are a challenge and still face the street.  Most of the houses we've looked at around this area haven't had decks that are completely private either.  And what are you doing on your deck that needs to be completely private?
Tim was out of town last week in Baltimore for work training.  During that time we had 4 daytime showings, all during nap time.  It made for a very long week for me.  

For Sale

Our townhouse was listed on MLS this morning at 10:30am. (with no pictures until this afternoon).  We had asked last night if we should be prepared for showings today.  The realtor had said it was unlikely, but to expect them for Saturday and Sunday.  So I was a little shocked to get a phone call at 10:40am requesting a showing for 11:30am.  They had requested to see it 11:30am, but since the kids and I were out running errands and did not leave the house showing quality clean, we had to push it back to noon. We rushed home, straightening and staging things as quick as possible.   Luckily Jack fell asleep in the car (and it was cool enough to keep him there for a few minutes with the windows down), so I only had one little munchkin to "help" me straighten up.  I didn't get to clean up quite as much as I would have liked, but it still looked pretty good considering the short notice.   I'll be curious to see if we get any feedback from the showing. 
I have a feeling the next couple weeks could be very stressful for us (me especially)!  Keeping the house perfectly clean with the kids is going to be challenging. 

House Hunters: MN edition

It doesn't surprise me much that House Hunters is not real.  If we had to choose one of the houses we visited last night, I think I would have cried.  We ended up seeing 4 properties (2 we requested were sold, pending inspection). 
The first, which online we had loved, was a disappointment at best.  The main floor was okay.  The three bedrooms were on the small side.  The downstairs, which was billed as a family room, was disgusting.  It was pretty much an unfinished basement with potentially asbestos flooring.  The one bright side of this property was the very large fenced in backyard. 
The 2nd place we saw was much better.  The upstairs was lovely.  The fixes/updates they had done were nice and it was very clean.  And then we went downstairs.  The 3rd bedroom was tiny.  Like I'm not even sure a twin bed would fit in it comfortably.  On the positives, it had a decent backyard, nice landscaping in the front, and a hot tub.  Another negative besides the tiny third bedroom was it location near a semi busy road. 
The third place we saw made us laugh.  It was like stepping into a time warp.  It was built in 1962 and nothing had been changed since then (including the furnace, air conditioner, and all major appliances).  It's one positive was it had a good layout.  If it wouldn't have needed to be completely gutted, it might have been a good pick.
The final place we saw was okay.  The house was built around the same time as the third house.  It was a little dated, but clean and well taken care of.  The yard was very over grown and would need a lot of work before the boys could play in it.  There was a lot of traffic noise from the extremely busy street nearby. 
So we're going out on Friday to see some more places.  Hopefully we'll have better luck then. 

Realtor

We've got ourselves a realtor and a to-do list a mile long.  Not sure if we'll make my self-imposed first of August date to have the place for sale, but I think it'll be close.  I just sent the realtor the list of the properties we want to look at this morning.  We're not in a super big rush to see houses since we probably can't make an offer until we have our place on the market officially, but there are a few places we've been watching for awhile that we've been watching for a couple months.  If we don't get to see them, I feel like it'll always be the one that got away instead of a house we may not even have liked. 
Our to-do list right now:
Declutter kitchen
Finish decluttering bathroom
Paint Master bedroom (Tim is doing this as we speak)
Declutter Master bedroom and closet
Clean Master bedroom closet
Touch up paint in the boys room
Clean boys room carpet
Declutter boys room
Declutter living room/dinning room
Clean wood floors
Clean carpet downstairs
Declutter downstairs
Get storage unit (we've decide on where, we just have to go sign-up)

Completed List:
Paint kitchen
Pack DVDs
Pack Books

My stress level is in the red zone right now.  We've decided we want to move in the next couple months, which is a good thing.  We found out today that we will need to sell our town house before we are able buy a new house.  I'm actually okay with that because I don't want to be worry about our town house anymore.  It'll be a big financial hit for us, but in the end, probably not much worse than what we have paid if we had been renting the place for the last 6 years instead of owning it. 
There are quite a few houses in our price bracket that would be a good fit for us, so we don't really want to wait very long to get our town house on the market. 
Overall, we've done quite a few improvements in our time living here.  So to get sale ready we need to get a storage unit so we can declutter and do a little bit of painting to clean things up.  It's going to be very challenging with two very active boys to keep things clean and organized around here all the time.