Things I'll Miss ... And Things I Won't

I have really wanted to do this post since we found out we were moving. I have been trying to come up with things, but always came up with them when I wasn't at the computer or where I could write them down and then when I could I couldn't remember them. Anyway, here is my list:

Things I'll Miss About This House...

The birds singing every morning, and hopping around in our grass. We have tons of trees, therefore tons of birds.
My gigantic garden.
Great Neighbors and Friends.
My backyard neighbor/farmer who tells me to make sure I plant the seeds right side up so they can see where they are growing. He is sure a funny guy. And when his corn is ripe he throws it over the fence into our back yard. I often go out to find ears of corn lying in our grass. The first year we were here he told me what things were vegetables, and what things were weeds, boy was that helpful! HAHAHAHAHA
Our sharing shed.
People who donate the fruit off their fruit trees to us. Last year I got plums, apricots, apples, peaches, and cherries.
Great Neighbors and Friends.
The sounds of the farm animals in our area. We hear horses, peacocks, cows, and other animal sounds daily.
Jessica's patterners/therapy helpers.
So many people have tractors that we have never had to shovel our driveway. People come in the winter and plow it for us before we ever wake up. So nice!
The farm fresh eggs I buy from my neighbor across the street.
Our barn swallow's nest that they build the first summer we lived here. They have been back every year since.
Did I mention great neighbors and friends?


Things I Won't Miss ...

The many snakes that sun themselves in our grass.
The clothesline poles right in the middle of the lawn - my husband will miss them even less as he sometimes hits his head on them while he's mowing. He's just too tall.
The hornets that are so stubborn they keep building nests after we spray and knock down the old ones. They have even built homes in the supports of our grill.
The 8 zillion weeds that grown in our garden because we use irrigation water. (Check out this picture of just dirt I dug up when planting this year. The weeds even grew in the bucket - Crazy huh?)



This street doesn't have side walks, just rocks so it's hard to take the kids on walks in strollers or wagons because it's not a smooth ride.
The fact that the swamp cooler only cools the front room, so the back of the house is still 85 degrees. Sure makes it hard to sleep during the summer.
The heater that breaks down 2-3 times every winter, forcing us to use the fireplace for heat.
The bright red, and puky green deep shag carpeting.
The equally puky green sink, oven and refrigerator. Still the same 70's models that were put in the house when it was built.
Not having to walk to the end of the block to pick up my mail. Won't it be nice to have a mailbox on the house and just open the door and pick it up?



Well, for some reason blogger won't let me load pictures, but you get the idea. I will keep trying. What things do you love/not love about your house?

It's A Mystery...

Look at these beautiful flowers. My husband came into the computer room tonight about 9:30 p.m. and said, "here, some girl asked me to give these to you." I was shocked, but could tell he was serious because he can't lie to save his life. I asked who she was and he said some blonde girl with curly hair. Well, that narrows it down doesn't it? Anyway, he didn't know her. So now I am racking my brain trying to figure out who gave me these amazing flowers.


This is a close up view of them. I love the yellow stripes in the red. It is so pretty. And the little green berries, how cute.


The young women from our ward also came tonight with this plate of cookies (about half are missing from this picture). They knocked and said, "we were just thinking of you and wanted to bring you these." How nice. Well, I must say these two things made my day.
And now I get to try to figure out who is nice enough to think of me. Whoever you are THANK YOU!!!

It's Final

Well, we decided that the house from the last post was just too small. We are going to rent for a few more years and try to save up a good down payment. Hopefully we will be disciplined enough to do it and not waste the money somewhere else. We have found a house to rent in the same neighborhood, just around the block. It is bigger which is nice and will be about $300 less each month than the mortgage would have been. It is a nice split level that has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 living rooms, a giant laundry room, a garage, and a great yard - garden space included. How can I ask for more?
Yet, I am still feeling the stress and not wanting to move. I have never been attached to a ward/neighborhood like I have this one. I am just in a funk about having to leave everyone and being far enough away that I don't get to see them often. I will try to keep in touch with people, but that is not my strong suit. I do get to come back once or twice a week through the gardening season to pick my vegetables and take care of the garden. The landlord said I could do that, so at least my garden won't go to waste.
Matthew is worried about leaving things at this house. The other day he said, "Mom we have to take my star blanket with us, because It's mine." I tried to explain to him that we are taking everything in the house with us, except the things we are getting rid of because we don't use or don't want. But he can't wrap his head around this concept. It's really cute. He also says, "this better be the last time we move mom, I'm not a fan of moving." What a funny kid he is.
Sunday I was in the halls and passed the Primary President for our ward. She said, "you will have to let Mattie come back and sing in the primary program, he is our best singer." So funny, and he probably is too. He knows all the songs before they teach them. They are all impressed by his singing abilities.
I think this is as hard on the ward as it is on us. When we first "announced" we were moving so many people said "no your not." Like I would kid about something like this. But they have been so involved in our lives since we moved in that we have become as close as family to many of them. They help with Jessica's therapy every day. I said the other day that there will probably be a big sigh of relief when we leave because there will be so much less service that has to be done in the ward. I feel like there hasn't been a day go by since we moved here that we haven't had someone from the ward in our home helping us. This has just been a fantastic place for us. Also, Marshall is the financial clerk in the ward, and I have been the cub committe chair - two jobs that are really hard to find people who want to do them. So the bishopric is in a panic trying to replace us. One lady said, "you can live in my grainary, my brothers both did." So funny, but nice to know we are loved.
Isn't it true that you love those that you serve? And vice versa, you love those who serve you.

Possibilities

Well we looked at this house for the second time this morning. This is the back of the house and the yard is big and deep. It is probably my favorite thing about this house. In the event we wanted to later, there is enough room to add onto the house. Look at me getting ahead of myself, we haven't even bought it yet. HA!

Isn't this fireplace beautiful? It is in the living room right as you enter the house. The living room, kitchen, bathroom, and one bedroom are all tile. The back two bedrooms have carpet. I really like carpet and really don't like tile, but we will see.

This kitchen is large, if you notice they have room for two full size tables, but the counter space leaves a lot to be desired. There are not a lot of cabinets either, but there is a pantry with shelving at the end of this kitchen. It is a pretty good size pantry, but not large by any stretch.

This is the biggest drawback of this house for me. The washer and dryer hookups are in the bathroom. The wall you see in this picture is the washer/dryer and sink. The other side you can't see is the tub/shower and toilet. This is the only bathroom in the house. YUCK!
Well, as you can see we are thinking long and hard about this one. To me it seems small with a lot of possibilities, but then you have to have the money to make the possibilities happen. What do you all think?

House Hunting

Well, we went to see homes this morning with our realtor. It was kind of fun, but at the same time a little depressing. The very first house we went to had weeds to your ears in the front and back yard and essentially no grass. When the realtor got the key out of the key box she discovered it wouldn't open the door so we didn't get to go in and look. The inside was new (we could see through the windows), but the outside siding was cracking and falling off. I couldn't believe they could ask what they were for it. I am amazed that anyone can afford to buy a house these days. As much as prices have skyrocketed, the amount you earn from your job hasn't increased at the same rate. My husband and I decided the american dream is dead! Oh, for the days of staking a claim on 100 acres (for free!). Can you tell I'm a little frustrated?
On a brighter note, we did see one that was in the same price range that was actually a nice looking house with three bedrooms and a huge back yard. It is the most promising so far, but is in Provo.

We have now been looking 1 week. How long did it take you to find the house of your dreams?

Share The Bounty

This little shack sits on the side of the road across the street from our house. It is the neatest idea. We live in a large farming community and so when people have excess, mostly during the summer, they put it in this shack and others driving by can stop and have their choice of fruits and vegetables for free.



When we first moved into this area it was really run down, but the Elder's Quorum in our ward rebuilt it and put the siding on. It is now much nicer. Everything from live chickens, to vegetables, to buckets of fruit off the trees is available, and it never stays long. If you drive by and there is something there, you'd better stop because it won't be there when you come back. Often there are notes left by people who give thanks to those who share, because they can't afford to buy the food, or are in hard times, etc.
I just think this is a great service and think there should be more things like this in the world. What do you all think about it?

Changes

Well it has been a while since I posted, but this week has been very stressful. Jessica had seizures every morning. I think it is because she is coming off some of the drugs she has been on, a little bit of withdrawal. Usually she has a bunch in one day and then a few days without any. So she hasn't been feeling great this week and has been real moody. Our neighbors went on vacation to California, but our kids usually spend all day together so mine have been home this week. Kind of nice, only to have 2 not 4, but they have been lonely.
Friday morning there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find the mailman standing there with a certified letter. I knew what it was as soon as I saw it, but it was still surprising to open it and read that our landlord wants us to move out in 6 weeks so a member of his family can move in here. We have been here 4 1/2 years and knew that this could happen at any time, but still...We have been on good terms with the landlord and he has been great, I just was disappointed in getting a letter and not much notice. He could have at least told us in person. What do you think?
So yesterday I was weepy all day. Every time I talked about it I started crying. This is so unusual for me because I am not that type, in fact when I called my husband at work and started crying he said, I'd better come home. I think he has seen me cry twice (not including the hormones after birth), in the 7 years we have been married. So anyway, he took work off and came home.
Now we are in the process of getting things packed and finding a place to stay. If any of you Utah County people hear of places that are renting or selling (at a reasonable cost), please let me know as I can use as much help as I can get. We looked in PG yesterday and were surprised to find it as expensive as Lindon. We will probably have to move out of the school district we are in, which will be bad for my daughter. She has the best help she can get at the school she was supposed to be starting in the fall.
So needless to say this week has not been fun for me, sorry this is so depressing but I have to vent somewhere.

Anybody have any suggestions or know anything please let me know.