December News

Life is good. We're settling into our new home in Sumner (see photo), only two houses from my sister Linda and family. My dad moved in with us too, which is working out great. We all have our own offices and a huge beautiful kitchen to cook in. The main downfall of the house is there is not a 3rd stall in the garage and the yard is awfully small, though that means there is less yard work. We are desperately trying to figure out how to merge two households into one house and have lots of extra furnishings, books, kitchen stuff, and the like. We still have a lot of organizing to do.

I'm looking forward to the Boeing Christmas break as I'm hoping to do some faux paint treatments on some of my walls. It is imperative that I do something in the way of color on the walls as the entire house is beige. It is driving me nuts. I spent years in off-white rooms in many of the homes we've lived in; however, in the last decade or so, have gotten enamored of striking colors and paint techniques that liven up a place. I'm not afraid of color anymore.

Shhh, don't tell my sister Linda, but she actually started my decorating bent back about 6 or 7 years ago when she painted one wall of her dining room burgundy. It looked so good I decided to give it a try. It didn't work out so well though; the living room ended up being a pinkish-maroon, but I kept at it and am now pretty good at color selection and decorating in general.


We have heard there is a family very interested in purchasing our house in Kent. Everyone who reads this: PRAY! We really need our home to sell. We moved to our new Sumner home one month ago and really can't do two house payments for long. We've lowered the price so that it is the lowest in the area for the price, quality, size, etc., so we've been getting showings, even in December which is notorious for being the worst month of the year for house sales.

We also have a great house for sale in Centralia. It is on Diamond Street. James bought it when it was truly a "diamond in the rough." It was probably the worst house we've purchased and renovated to date. He got it for under 60K range, and had to put over 60K into it. It pretty much is a brand new house, but with about 1900 sq ft, it is a lot of house for under 200K. It looks great now. We had hoped to rent it out, but getting financing for investments is tight right now and we are going to sell it instead. So pray that one sells too.

Move Update

Well the move to Sumner is nearly over. There are still some things to move from storage though. My father is moving in with us this weekend as well. So we still have a few weeks of organizing ahead of us. We'll probably be "craigslisting" some stuff that won't fit in with our new space. Anybody want a boom mic stand?

Even though the house is only two years old, it had some pretty heavy wear and tear from the previous owners. They had four dogs and a couple of cats. We've replaced the carpet on the main floor and up the stairs due to stains and smells. Thankfully the rest of the carpet seems to be ok. James also put another coat of varathane on the hardwood floors to bring back the shine that was long gone. Dad hired a housekeeper to come in and wipe down all the wood finishes (and there are a LOT) so everything was clean. Mandy, Daniel, and my sister Linda painted some walls that were awful and Rod mowed the grass. Everyone helped us so much! I want to give a huge "THANK YOU" to everyone who helped us out.

Now comes the task of finding out where the best dry cleaner, nearest drug stores, and best restaurants are in our new little town of Sumner. I tried out a local Mexican restaurant, El Charro, and it was awful. I should've suspected it when I noticed only 3 of about 20 tables were occupied. The food was dry and didn't have much flavor.

I love my new house. I love my new neighborhood.

Moving Day

Today is starting out early and looks to be a miserably rainy day for me to be expected to not get everything soaked with mud the day I get the rest of my house packed up and moved. It's only 9:00 a.m. and I've already been up and at it since 6:00 a.m. because it sounded like I was sleeping next to a chainsaw I awoke in a grumpy mood full of energy. I did ran and grabbed a latte, have loaded a few more boxes, cleared out most of the rooms and am thinking of bailing out here taking a short break before I tackle the last hold out room upstairs. All-in-all, I've done more than a human should do in one morning a good bit of work so far.

We're supposed to get up about a foot of rain today, which has me screaming in frustration is fairly typical for this time of year. Sunday, I'll be joining my family in wishing my sister a big "Happy Birthday" as well as my daughter, Mandy later that evening at dinner. I also have the cable guy coming to hook up the TV's. Sunday sounds like it will be a a brutal a fairly full day of work, fun and parties.

OMG! I just scared myself spitless looked in the mirror and saw what I looked like. Since all my toiletries are packed, my hair is sticking out all over since after getting caught in the rain. I look stupid like a free-spirit! However, I'll wait until I get to the new house and then go abandon James & let him keep working on this mess clean up and then probably take a much-needed rest. I deserve it since he woke me up so early with his nasal chorus!

Happy Fall!

Pack, Pack, Pack

I found myself singing the little children's ditty from Dora the Explorer called "Backpack! Backpack!" yesterday as I packed for THREE events. I leave today (Sunday) for a four day work session in the Long Beach area, and laid out the clothes for next weekends jaunt to Oklahoma City and Dallas for a wedding and NASCAR race. We return on Monday evening and then finish packing up for our move to Sumner slated for Friday the 7th.

Our house deal is supposed to close on Monday, then hopefully the "team" will be painting some of the more hideous walls, getting the new house cleaned up, and carpets shampooed next week while I'm gone. The "team" consists of James, my Dad (who is moving with us), and my sister and hopefully Mandy and Daniel. They've all proffered their assistance to help. I have no expectations (I don't think).

The month of November promises to be a full month. Of course, the holidays are just around the corner too. I hope I survive.