A Day In My Life

 So it has been a while since a posting and let's face it, it may be a while until another one.  Things have been a little crazy around here to say the least.  I have 15 days until we offically move out of this house and hit the road to the new one.  Am I ready, not quite.  This is odd for me.  Usually I am beyond ready at this point.  Not quite sure why I am not.  Maybe because the kids are older and more involved with activites and school.  Maybe it is just because I don't want to be.  Either way I am not ready and it is causing stress.  So much that I went for a massage today, a much needed one.  Did it help, not sure.  Got a burst of energy but let's see if it last. 

So softball season started a while ago and I have taken pictures, bought all the papers cut out all the articles but posted no pictures.  So here are a few from a game from Monday when we played our rival Oxford where Alex has two of her good friends from her travel/select team who play for them.  It was a great game.  They ended up playing 10 innings because in the bottom of 7th the game was tied up and it took the international tie breaker rule to end it in our favor-yeah!! 

 

 

Waiting to go!

 

What is she smiling at?

 

 

Why is the ump always hanging out by the 2nd baseman?

 

 

Kirsten, Jordan, Alex, Emily and Judy

Kirsten, Jordan, Alex, Tanya Kirsten's mom, Emily and Judy

Have one game tomorrow and four next week then she is done.  Alex decided to take off the last week we are here.  I told her she did not have to be she wants to.  Having the whole team over after her last game on Friday next week for dinner and sleepover.

Tomorrow night Taylor is having a party-around 20 kids or so. Should be fun. I am having a few friends over to keep my stress level down so if it isn't too bad I will post some pics from the night!! 

We also have prom on Saturday so wish us luck and that all goes well.  Hope to post some pics as well from that.  Have a great weekend everyone.

HOUSE SOLD!!!

 

Yeah!  Another house sold over the weekend!!  This one did break our selling streak by taking 35 days but in the economy we are so lucky for it to go so quickly.  I am now a firm believer in burying St. Joseph in the yard-never had to do that before but believe me if we have to sell yet again, I will be burying him in the front yard; head and all!!  It was only 12 days from the day I dug the hole and placed him in there until we got an offer-you gotta believe!

So I will be off to Salt Lake City at the end of next week to officially start looking for a house.  Pretty much have it narrowed down to a couple of areas but need to check them out before getting too serious. 

 Have to make sure a Target is near by of course!

 

So What Does This Mean??

 

So exactly what does this mean??  I borrowed a statue of St. Joseph from my neighbor to bury in the front yard for help in selling our house.  I have been good about saying the novena every morning even though this feels odd being as though I am not Catholic.  She told me to be sure to follow the directions to a tee and good luck would come our way.  I thought well it couldn't hurt at this point-we have never been in this position before of not selling our house within the first week so what the heck.

So I put it in a baggie and went outside to the front yard to bury it upside down with his body facing our house just as I was instructed.  I made sure it was all covered up and it looked as nothing had even touched the layer of ground in which I put it.  So two days go by and I'm saying the prayer deep down hoping that from all that I have heard about this it will work.

Well today on the way to the bus stop with Carter I looked over at Tanner who was in front yard and he had something in his mouth that was making a clanky sound.  I immediately said "DROP" and this little tiny cream colored object came out of his mouth and he slowly walked away with a certain look on his face like 'oh no'.  I walked over to pick it up and my first response was "oh my God" and then a few other words while in the background Carter is  saying "is that St. Joseph??".  All I could do is look at him and say "now what?".  I thought this was odd that Tanner would dig it up let alone even find the thing.  He is not a digger and never has been-this to me was odd.  I continued on to the bus stop with the little Saint in my hand all the while thinking this is a bad sign.

Once I get to the bus stop at the end of the street I hold it up and my neighbor says what in the world happened and I proceeded to tell the story to the few that were still there.  They all came to the conclusion that I should bury it back in the same spot the same way without the head and continue with the prayer every morning for the remainder of my days.  Christine my friend, said this just may mean you may not get your asking price or something along that line which I thought that is fine as long as it sells.  So as I walk back I am thinking immediately when I walk in the door I am saying the prayer and a few others! 

So needless to say, I am going to put it back in the same spot the same way and direction and hope for a miracle.  Anyone who wants to say a little extra for me-please do because right now I'm not so sure on how St. Joseph feels about having his head bit off.

Thought I would switch up my header with the Philadelphia banner being as though we won't be here too much longer.  Love the city of Phillie because there is so much history there, so many cool things to see and do and some great resturants.  Will miss going to the airport to either drop someone off or pick them up then heading 5 minutes down the road into the city to shop or eat lunch or dinner. 

 

 

 

 

I hope to head back downtown alot more before we move, but then on to a new city with a whole new list of things to see and do!

Another Sign Says It All

 

Yes, another sign that says it all! 

Not true in my case but I am sure it may be to others out there!

The Sign Says It All

 

I do believe the sign says it all! 

 This is outside one of our florist shops down the street from us and everytime I pass it, I laugh. 

The other side of the sign says "We hate groundhogs day!"

I couldn't have said it better.

Quick Post

Just a quick post to give an update.  The house officially was assigned an MLS# yesterday afternoon so we are on the market!  Yeah.  What a process it is.  I never really realized all that goes into it-much more out here in PA than in past states.  It is slowly hitting the internet but by law the websites have up to 72 hours to have all information and pictures, tours uploaded so it will all be out there very soon.  They still have to do the feature tour but they want to wait until the snow/ice goes away so that they can film the front and back of the house.  We got about an inch of snow the other day but sleet ontop of it then rain so now we are just waiting for all that to melt-should be by the weekend. 

It needs to be soon though because I am going nuts with keeping the house spotless.  As I was told by a family member-"Just chill"  well it is not that easy for me.  I am really needing for someone to come an look at the house and write an offer (and soon) before I go insane and drive my kids nuts.  Then maybe I could relax.

So today I have already sent the kids off to school, my mom and Ed are on their way home and I have gone through every room making sure it is spotless-just in case I get a call.

I am off to lunch with a friend then home to relax a bit until the kids all get home.

Thank you to all that wished me a Happy Birthday!

House for Sale!

 

 

Yes, we are moving again!  In case you are keeping track; this will be our 8th house!  Another new experience for our family. 

So the reason for our move is back in September Tim was approached by Pep Boys a nationwide auto/parts/service company that is headquartered here in Philadelphia about a job.  At first we were not sure what to do being as though he had been with Sears for 20 plus years but with the economy the way it is and Sears not doing very well we thought it would be a good move.  Plus he really wanted to get back into the automotive side of things which is where he started out.  Another plus to moving to Pep Boys was that the majority of the upper management have worked with Tim at Sears at one point or another.  The  VP was Tim's boss at one time so the work relationships were already there.  This really seemed to be a good move for him career wise and family wise.

  So going into this new job we knew there was a good chance we would have to move-just because that is part of the position that he has always held and it goes with the job-we just were not sure where.  They are nationwide so we knew it could be anywhere.  I was okay with this because I know it goes with the job and I have always told him my job is to go where he goes-he provides for the family financially while I provide for the home and kids.  My only concern was the kids (again).  I have stressed over this since September when they started to talk to him thinking I don't know how I am going to get through this.  I worried constantly about them and how they would take the news but at least this time they knew there was a chance of moving again.  When we first told them (Alex and Taylor) about Tim taking a new job and what could happen they took it pretty hard which in return tore me apart.  It took a few days for things to settle down and for me to realize they would eventually come around to the idea.

So over the last few months Tim has been traveling quite a bit to different areas to work in different markets until a market came open where they need him.  It was good training time for him and a good way to see how different markets run and different areas of the country.  So fast forward a few months and this is where we are.  Putting our house up for sale and moving to a new area.  This being because a market opened up where Tim is needed.  It happened very quickly-we found out on a Tuesday afternoon and he flew out the next morning at 6 a.m..  While he was very excited and I myself, I was more petrified about the girls reaction to the news.  So we did not tell them.  We decided to tell them when he comes back two weeks later.  This also gave me sometime to actually wrap my head around things and realize-wow, here we go again!  As the days went on I became just as excited as Tim and started looking at houses/schools/shopping areas (we all know that is important!)/climate/cost of living-the usual that I do each time this happens.  I was very careful to clear my history every time I was on the computer just in case the girls used my computer instead of their own laptops.  Well, the PI that Alex is figured it out!  She knew Tim was gone for 9 days, she knew where and she happened to be on my computer and went to a site where I had searched something and that site did not clear my search-unlike google/yahoo etc do.  So she came upstairs and I asked her what she was doing and she said looking at houses.  And I asked her why??  and she said 'I know mom and I'm okay with it'.  At first I was caught off guard and did not know what to say until she continued to talk about it and I cannot tell you what a weight was lifted off my shoulders hearing she was okay with it.  Although I did not confirm or denie it-wasn't sure how to react-deep down I knew I felt better know she was okay with it.  Next was telling Taylor and my thoughts were-if Alex is okay with it-she will be too.  Well wrong!!  It did not go as smoothly as I has hoped but it has gotten better.  Once we started looking at houses and talking about it I think she was a little bit more at ease with it.  She did make me sign a piece of paper stating I would let her pick out her room first before anyone else- this I see as a step in the right direction :)

So are you wondering where we are going??  Here are a few hints:

We have never lived in this state.

I have been there when I was in high school-traveling to another destination.

You experience all four seasons-not extremely cold in the winter-high mid 90's for summer.

Taylor will be able to continue with the sport she recently took up-if she chooses to.

They have major universities there and Tim said one is ranked very high football wise.

The cost of living index is 87-below the national average  (yeah!)

I will not be retail deprived by no means.

I could give you more but I will wait and see if anyone guesses it first.  Until then I am off to start organizing some more and praying that our house sells within a decent time.  There goes our streak of selling a house in 0-9 days! 

 

 

Alex Working Is A Good Thing

Since Alex started working at the candy shop a month or two ago there have been many good things that have come out of this.  First, she gets a paycheck every other week which she really likes, they work around her schedule of school and softball, she works with friends from softball (and her high school coach), she gets to sample whatever she wants while working and the best part for me is this:

   

She brings me home goodies like this! 

A carmel apple drizzled in chocolate then dipped in pecans!  It taste just like a turtle on an apple.  She weighed this one last night after she made it and it weighs 2.3lbs!!  I have to say they do have the best apples ever and their chocolate is to die for.  They make everything there on site and it is always a hard decision on what to get.  They also have water ice and ice cream too.  They also carry every kind of candy out there going back to the candy we use to eat when we were kids.  Remember the candy cigarettes that when you blew in them smoke would come out?  They have them along with the golden nugget gum-remember that?  I love just walking around looking at all of the candy-it so reminds me of my childhood.

So for lunch today I will have a slice of the apple and try not to go back and have another slice.  But oh it is so good.  But we all know that the 2.3 lbs of apple, caramel, chocolate and pecans equals about 10 lbs on me.  So I better pace myself.  She doesn't work again until Saturday so I have until then :)

Busy Weekend.....

Boy what a busy weekend!  Starting off with Halloween-getting the costume ready for school, parties at school then coming home from school in a party overload mood that right there just poops me out thinking about it.  Once home from school it was time to get ready to head down to the next cul-de-sac over for a pre-halloween white trash party to get the festivities rolling.  This was a good time but somewhere in the  1 1/2 hours that we were there, Carter ate entirely too much and wanted to come home because he was tired and not feeling well.  I think that all of the party food at school then at the white trash party caught up with him  So we headed home and he took a short little rest before heading out to our cul-de-sac for our white trash party festivites.  He was so pooped out that I wasn't even sure he was going to want to go out and trick or treat.

 

But he did.  First it was picture time with all the kids.  Our group was a little small at the beginning because some of the kids were still at the Phillies parade but by the end they all showed up.

 

Then the dads headed out to take the kids while the moms stayed back and handed out candy, ate, drank and stayed by the fire.

 

When done, they all headed back to the cul-de-sac to check out their goodies.  Being that it was such a warm night it ended up being a pretty big gathering-fun times but I headed in around 10:30 knowing that I had to get up the next morning. 

Which brings me to Saturday.  Alex and I did the Heather Saler Walk for Lungevity over in Cherry Hill, NJ in honor of our next door neighbor Scott's sister.  She started the walk 5 years ago in hopes to raise money and awareness for Lung Cancer which she had.  She passed away in May of 2008 without every smoking a day in her life.  It makes you wonder why this effects those who it does.

  

We walked with a group of neighbors which made it that much more fun.

    

 

Not to mention the serenading to Sponge Bob!  Thanks Ying for that-definitely a depends moment!

Sunday brought us to Alex playing a few games down in Symrna, DE.   They played well, won all games and Alex had some good hits.  Ripped a small hole in her man tights sliding into 3rd - wanted to know if I could sew it up-I just laughed.  Here goes another $50 torward man tights! 

Finally got home around 4:00 and was ready to sit and relax.  Wasn't long after that that I was in bed and sound asleep.  Didn't even get through Extreme Makeover! 

Love to stay busy but a somepoint I finally give out. 

Here is to a new week, meetings at school, practices, club meetings and homework.  So with Monday it begins again.