Good night 2014

2014 is quickly packing its bags to go to the place years past disintegrate to once their 365 (or 366) are up.

I must say, I am very happy to see the 14th year of this century leave.

A few weeks ago while Christmas slash home shopping with a friend, we agreed 2014 had not been that gentle with us. She herself had separated from her husband and was in the  midst of learning to live again. My year had had many bumps and holes with the house being the largest.

We agreed we were happy to see the year go.

But in all bad things there are glimmers of spectacular light.

I was never guaranteed to see 2014. To be honest, neither were you. The fact we lived to see it start and end is a real gift. Think of how many we lost in 2013 and during the course of 2014.

I may have lost some things in 2014 but not one was irreplaceable. My family, health, faith are all strong. Actually, they may be stronger than ever before.

When the paychecks disappear, the house falls apart, and you're covered in mud you have two options 1) Bury yourself then and there or 2) Get up and keep moving.... keep your eye on the goal. Let your faith hold you. Believe.

2015 is coming quickly.  I am appreciative of a new year. More so because its predecessor taught me how strong, blessed, and little i truly am.

See ya soon.

The BIG Move: Week 16 Ending

Week 16 is ending.  

We have water, power, heat, floors, painted walls.

Tatertots & Jello

Tomorrow all the flooring will be complete (moulding and baseboards and trim).  The light fixtures will be put in place.

Yes....we are moving in this weekend. Rest assured, I will be the happiest mover in the rain, snow, sleet, whatever the weather you have ever seen!!!

I am filled up with all these awesome emotions that I just cannot explain.  I'm delighted, thrilled, humbled, blessed, in awe, tired, and amazed.

I have so many thank you's....my mom, my dad, my brother, every hand that has worked diligently, every voice that has given me hope when I was the lowest of low, every prayer that was sent for us, every call, text, email, card, cheerleader, and neighbor.  We did it.

It will feel very strange being back in our home - we've been out for so long - but we will be home and we will be ecstatic!!!!

For the first time this season I feel Christmas.  I feel the effects of not letting my faith waiver.

God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

Thank you so much.

Christmas Quiz: Because I am procrastinating!

My child ended up staying in from school due to an upset stomach.  That zapped my desire to take charge and get some stuff done (for a tiny while).  I saw this quiz over on Kimberly's Blog - Life As I Know It  and thought alrighty lets do it.



1.  Favorite Christmas Movie?  Ok I have 2 - The Muppets A Christmas Carol & Four Christmases.

2.  Colored or White Lights?  I always thought colored lights were trashy.  Yes, totally admitting that.  As I have became older I can deal with colored lights much better but still prefer the good ole white lights.  But I will have you know that we bought colored lights to put out on our home when its ready.  See...I'm coming around.

3.  Favorite Christmas Food?  Hmmm.  Well my babysitter always made Amish bread at Christmas and I love it.  She doesn't make it anymore.  I love coconut cake but since my grandma is kinda dead I don't get her good stuff anymore.  My Dad-o loved pineapple cake but he's dead so yeah that's not showing up much anymore.  Gah depressing....next question!



4.  Live Tree or Artificial?  I am not for the manufacturing of fake trees.  Only real - suck up your allergy issue folks....its going down and going in my living room.

5.  Santa or No Santa?  Really?  This is a freakin' question?  I'm so offended.  Heck yes, SANTA.

6.  Favorite Holiday Tradition?  Going to get our tree on Thanksgiving - spending the day together in the mountains, coming home and decorating the tree.  I missed it this year.  Really badly.  This is also our second year going to the Nutcracker and I really enjoy that even thought it isn't the whole little party of four.

7.  When do you decorate for Christmas?  Typically the day after Thanksgiving.  This year um maybe not ever.

8.  Favorite Christmas Cookie?  Texas Ranger Cookies.  Fabulous!  I only make them at Christmas.



 9.  Favorite Christmas Song?  I have too many.  O Come O Come Emmanuel....The First Noel....Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)....That Auld Lang Syne song by Fogleberg or whatever the heck his name is.....No Room.....Light of the World....The Angels Cried....It Wasn't His Child.....Where Are You Christmas....A Baby Changes Everything

10.  Least Favorite Christmas Tradition?  I won't answer this.  LOL  No really just kidding.  I don't have one.

I Think Thursday

Cutest Thinking Cap Ever!

Haven't done this in a while...

I think....I had really thought I'd be living in my house by today.  I was wrong.  Praying for the weekend.

I think....now is the time to buy stock in Dunkin Donuts.  We don't have a Starbucks in my town so yeah...I'm getting my caffeine slash energy fix there quite a bit.



I think....that new Elf remake, the cartoon version on NBC Tuesday Night, was pretty good.

I think....my children are wearing my patience thin.

I think....this weekend is going to be semi rough.  We have a lot planned.

I think....I miss Gloria Jean's Coffee at Christmas time.

I think....I need to wrap up some presents.



I think....I need to have presents to wrap.

I think.....I'm thrilled my friend A is living in her new home now!  That is awesome.



I think....Television shopping is the pits.  Or maybe its just television shopping with my husband is rough.  I go by price and and a few other numbers....he goes by bigger is better.

I think....Cook Out let me down ya'll.  I wanted a BLT and it came out on a bun and nasty.

I think.....At least the sweet tea is good.

I think......I forgot to get vinegar to clean with so I'll have to go to the store today.

I think.....I'm over going to the store.

I think.....I should try a new croissant donut at DD.  Is this the second time I have mentioned DD in this post?



I think.....I need a Krispy Kreme in my little town which is like 25 minutes from the Krispy Kreme HQ.

I think....its time to STOP talking about food.

I think....if you need to Christmas shop you should go after 8:00 PM.  There was hardly anyone out.

I think....its time to start my day.

I think.....you're awesome and you should know that.

Merry Christmas

Today is a busy and fun day for many of us.

Tonight will be a special time of family, food, friends, and making memories.  Its also a time of faking how good some of the questionable casseroles are.

I wish you ease at getting your little ones to sleep in their anticipation of a man who breaks into houses and leaves lovely treasures.

I wish you peace as you put together insane small pieces while reading directions printed only in the one language you have never heard of.

I hope your Christmas morning is filled with nothing but warmth and happiness and delicious bacon or facon if you're into that.

I wish you a Christmas of no headache or worries and if they should fall upon you I hope you have a bottle of pinot stashed.

I hope your holiday fills you up with peace, goodwill, and thankfulness.  If you find that dealing with Aunt Gertie is too much, I pray your doctor slipped a happy pill in your stocking.

As the night falls on your Christmas evening I hope you will be filled with the light reminiscent of the first Christmas and your happiness and love show through with no words necessary.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

From our finished and fresh home to your very own.

Until 2015....

I need your help!

This is lame but its true.

We won't have any television service for a while.

So what DVD's should I - a) Redbox  and b) find at the library?

Seriously, I want some input.  I need Christmas stuff to get me in the mood.  Obviously!  Leave it in comments, on the FB page, or Tweet me #moviesforbrownie !

I think its crazy how you have to buy some ridiculous antennae to even pick up regular free channels these days.  Also, if you live where I do those things don't work too well.

Perhaps this is the perfect time to catch up on Delilah and bake...oh yeah I have to do that.

Hey while we're at it....share a good cookie, cake, pie, or Christmas dessert recipe with me too.  I'll give you mad props and put it up on my blog with you getting all the glory.

For real guys, lets do this.

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GO!

12 Tuesday Notes

So yes it is true the blog is on the back burner this week.  There are some way bigger fish to fry right now.  I look forward to bringing you lots of pretty pretty pictures of the house next week.  Check my Instagram for sneak peeks!

Until then I wanted you to feel better about yourself so I thought I'd share my flaws and imperfections....



1.  I haven't started or finished any Christmas shopping.  Unless you count picking up a layaway at Wally World yesterday.

2.  I hate painting trim.  But I did it.  It is done.

3.  I say I hate painting but let's be honest....its kinda nice.....with a roller.

4.  I let my 7 year old push her own full size buggy in Target last Friday.  It wouldn't be a big deal but its the midst of shopping season....in a popular store....on a Friday afternoon.  Hehehehe.

5.  My current diet consists of trans fats, saturated fats, sugar, and caffeine.



6.  I am slightly addicted to Taco Bell ummm....what are quesaritos?!?!?!  Heaven.

7.  Totally and fully in debt, yep living the American dream, what can I say!

8.  Warning I have left myself three outfits to wear during the day:  capri yoga pants and t shirts and a couple sweatshirts.  I look semi homeless but honestly, I just don't care.  Oh and I kept one outfit of kinda nice clothes out for church and school functions.

9.  I can sleep without showering but not without brushing my teeth.



10.  That whole Where Are You Christmas song from The Grinch has officially became my Christmas Song of 2014.  Christmas just has lost its typical fun for me.  I'm grateful for the birth of Jesus but I'm sad because I need Christmas to be January 25th and not December 25th.  Yesterday, in stores I saw that Christmas was coming down and prep for Valentine's was underway.  That kinda makes me sick.

11.  I cannot hang.  I remember going out at 11 and coming in at six in the morning (sing it) and sleeping til 2.  Last weekend I was coming in from painting at 2 in the morning and found myself awake at 6:45 in the morning and stiff and sore and feeling like I had taken too many shots of clear stuff.  Only I hadn't done anything close to it.  Man I'm old.

12.  This week I have two houses to clean other than my own....boxes to move....boxes to unpack....organizing and family coming in.  Tell me this makes you feel a little lighter and happier, please tell me that.

Hiccups

On Friday night while I was primering the walls of the house. I found it a little funny that a job that involved 3.25 rooms and a spot in the hallway was morphing into a big beast.

Our hallway is a nightmare.  On one side you have the stairs leading you up (fifteen of them, I'm jealous of split levels now!) and the other side is straight wall.  About 12 feet, if not more, of wall.  I didn't want to paint that.  I paid to have it all painted last year.

But that was last year.

While surveying the expanse of what I had to repaint, I got a text from my very close friend A.  She has been living with her in-laws for a year now while her house was being built.  The house is all but finished and they were looking forward to possibly spending their first night in there last night.  She was excited and ready!  Who wouldn't be?

Her text said that her floors were basically ruined and that there had a been a leak.  There would be no moving in on Saturday.  There would be carpenters and plumbers working.

Standing in my primer glory all I could think was....just a hiccup.  I remembered how another friend had told me just this week her floors were ruined in her new house and they were facing moving out to fix them all.

Moving out when everything is placed and comfortable.

I stood there looking at the additional paint costs I was going to have and thought....just a hiccup.  I'm not living in my house yet and neither is A.  We can get all the problems fixed and hopefully have some smooth sailing in our near futures.  (Of course being terminally indebted to Lowes all the while...)

Life is full of hiccups and we have to decide whether they will break us or just annoy us for a while.  Every one of us is destined to get a case in this life and some of us more times than others.  What I have learned though?  The hiccups are temporary, we adjust as necessary, then they go away.  They will return again, sometime, when you least expect it.  Since you've had them before you know better how to handle them and to be strong because they will cease again.

Whatever hiccup you have in your life right now - I hope you'll understand it is only temporary.  Pain will not last forever, uneasiness will subside, fear cannot consume you.

You were made to withstand life's little punches and you'll get through it.  Never see the cup as half empty - its always half full and if you'll be strong and keep moving on it will eventually start overflowing.

Reveal Week!!!

Next week I guess I get to start revealing the house!  I'm totally excited and just praying that it all goes smoothly and we can indeed be back home by December 18th.

Daily posts may cease for a little while as we get down to the nitty gritty.  The Facebook page and Twitter should be a bit busy though!  Don't forget to check out Instagram for sneak peaks.

Wishing you all a magical weekend - enjoy yourselves and family and friends!  Be safe as you venture about.

Not mine.  But wish it was!

Friday FOUR

WOW - it was exactly 15.6 weeks ago that we were out of our home due to the flood damage.  My daughter had just turned 7 and started 1st grade.  My son was a brand new 2 and life seemed pretty great.

Then the rains came, literally.

Now....after September, October, November and the brunt of December....we're getting ready to move back!!!!!!

Instead of five things this week I'm only doing four.  The four things that will be completed this week so we can move in before Christmas and before *hopefully* our daughter's Christmas Break from school.

Here goes it folks....the FOUR things that will happen in the next five days to get us #homeforchristmas




1.  Primer & Paint

We had an issue with our sheetrockers getting their work done in a timely manner.  It is part of the beast though.  Today is their final day.  After the pack up and move out I will begin the primer-ing of the walls and then tomorrow will be paint.  We have to have the walls painted by Monday a.m......like 7 AM  Monday.



2.  Floors

Our new flooring will go down on Monday.  I am so excited.  This isn't a long process, I was assured.  Of course the disclaimer is you tell me it isn't a long process and it becomes a very long one.  (I.e.  power, sheetrock, you get my drift).



3.  Backfill

Sunday is the day for the backfill of dirt around the house.  Goodbye all that foundation you see!  This will also lead to some major red mud but that's ok...it is winter, it is temporary.  The gravel for our drive will also come in after this is completed.



4.  Water

Our meter is ready but um.... not as in hooked up ready!  We need to have some water to ya know....brush our teeth, flush, live kinda.

In the back of my mind I'm so jealous of those who are getting to enjoy the holiday season by going out and shopping and spending time with friends; going to see light shows and all the fun stuff only this year has to offer.  I really wish we could do that this year.  But life has hiccups and reasons for allowing the not so fun to creep in sometimes.  

Amazon's 12 Days Of Deals: Day 1!

Day 1 DISNEY!


Yesssss!  The 12 days to score great prices on great gifts is on at Amazon!  Today is Disney Day!!!

Bambi Bed Set

My Little Man and Diva LOVE Disney as do many of the adults in my life!  What a great day and a great deal on so many awesome things from plush toys to pajamas to watches and bedding and so much more.

Mickey's Mousekadoer Tool Set

 I know many kids are all about Frozen....well YES that is part of this awesome Disney Day sale.

Click the link and you'll go straight to the phenomenal sale today.

Raglan Plaid Mickey Shirt

Enjoy!!!
Shop Day 1 Now! Click here!