J Cooper Photography

1.   The movers come in TWO days.  Which means this will be my last post this side of the corn fields.  We’ll have packers here (a blessing beyond words) on Thursday and Friday.  Saturday they’ll load up the truck and we’ll all drive up I-29 to our new home state.  Sunday and Monday we’ll hang with Mimi and Baboo and then close on our new house Monday afternoon.  Tuesday morning the truck will show up at our new abode and the REAL fun will begin!  The girls have appointments on Tuesday to see their new school and meet their teachers.  We are busy adopting out fish, organizing, and dealing with sick kiddos.  But life is good…and it will all work out in the end…even though it feels like complete chaos right now!

2.  {Just a disclaimer that some of these are Facebook repeats if we are friends there!}

3.  Speaking of Facebook…here’s my status from last Thursday:  ”You should have seen the look on our social worker’s face during our last post adoption visit when Sam asked to play the “KNIFE game”. OH MY! {We did narrowly escape the call to CPS when he pulled the LIFE game out of the cabinet}”

We have been playing A LOT of Life for some reason here lately.

{BEWARE of the scary weird two-headed board game monster}

Not sure it is in the rules.  But I had so many babies I had to tow an extra car.  HAPPY GAME.  I had 2 girls, 2 boys, and then I had TWINS (hmmm……)

4.  We are saying a lot of goodbyes this week.  This was a hard one.  We tried to get a good snap on my phone of these two crazy love birds but they couldn’t sit still.  LOVE THEM.  Gonna miss Miss Z and her mama like crazy!

5.  Getting really excited about our new house.  I have lovingly already nicknamed it “Land of Oak”.  And just to be clear…I actually hate oak.  But I love the house and the oak is going to eventually be covered in gallons (and gallons) of white paint.  I stressed myself out for a few days trying to figure out the perfect shade of white so we could take advantage of a big sale at Sherwin Williams.  I had a little helper which made it bearable.

6.  Speaking of helpers.  This one is almost as excited as I was about the red cup.

7.  You absolutely CAN NOT beat my awesome deal.  Approximately 5 years ago I set up a rewards card at DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) then promptly lost the card.  I have apparently been wracking up bonus rewards points there for years and they have been sending those certificates to our old home address.   The store associate and I realized this on a recent trip there.  She called the customer service line and they issued me a $20 rewards certifciate right there on the phone.  I thought that was just a great deal!  Then they mailed me $40 worth of certificates in the mail.  There isn’t a DSW in Lincoln so I decided to try to use them up this week before we leave.  Walking through the MANY aisles of shoes I spotted them.  MUSTARD YELLOW CHUCKS.  TRUE LOVE.  They were $44.99 originally and 40% off.  They rang up at $29.  The store allowed me to use three $10 rewards coupons.  The computer wouldn’t give them to me for free so the sales clerk charged me a PENNY.  I got brand new Converse for ONE CENT.  And then I turned around to the teenage gal behind me and handed her my fourth rewards coupon {she almost hugged me} and skipped gleefully out the store.

They may not be a yellow front door.  But they are a little piece of happy.

8.  A few of the spots I’m looking forward to renovating in the new house!  THE KITCHEN.  It is big and happy.  OK.  Right now it is red plaid and dated oak.  But it WANTS to be happy.  And with some white paint, new tile, and a little elbow grease…it is going to be my favorite room I think!

I’m going to bore you with every minute detail of the renovation too.  Sound fun?

9.  The family room is also going to rank up there in the top new house spaces.  Add in some hardwood floors (someday I hope!) and some white paint to the trim and fireplace….stoke a fire in that fire place…COZY!!

9.  And the adorable little CRAFT ROOM that is tucked back behind the laundry room.  This is going to be MY space.  Can’t wait to make a mess in there and just close the door.  It’s like my own little dirty secret.  No one has to know  Just me and my crafts together in one happy little place!

10.  There’s still A LOT to do so I better unplug.  We are still looking for paper work ready families who would like to adopt TWO FISH!  We took the babies back to the pet store today so they narrowly escaped the big flush!

SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE!!!