Almost Ready!

The house is almost ready!  Basically it just needs a good head to toe cleaning, and then it will be ready to list! We are more than ready! The last few weeks have been tiring, stressful, exhausting.... Safety Town in the middle of it all did not help OUR timeline, but that's okay because we're going by God's timeline.

Now that its just about done, we're getting really excited. I have a good feeling that we're going to sell quick.  Except now i'll be totally disappointed if we don't.

Last weekend we looked at several houses again, without the kids. A few that we'd already looked at (WITH the kids) that we wanted to revisit and look at better without them, and a new one that was just listed.  The ones we'd already looked at were scratched off our list of potentials.  The new listing was an older house.  It was in good shape for being older, had good bones.  But the kitchen and bathrooms needed immediate work.  And it did smell a bit like cigarette smoke. Other than those things, it was well cared for on the inside. Just needed updating.  Outside it had power lines from the house and the surrounding houses meet up in the backyard, which was an eyesore, and one was quite low and almost touchable from the back deck.  I was not comfortable with that.

Really, there is not much at all out there that meets our criteria.  And even if we were being a bit picky, we are wanting this to be the last house we buy, so we have a right to be picky.

So, now we are looking into building a house!!  And this is most likely the route we will go.  This way we will be able to customize a house plan how we want it to fit our needs/wants, and find a lot that is more what we are looking for. We are QUITE excited! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)
More to come on that soon!


Next time I post, mostly likely will be when the house is on the market! Wahoo!

Safety Town

Jadon finished Safety Town this week, phew!  While i'm really glad he got to do it and experience it, i'm also really glad its over!  It was a very hectic 2 weeks, between trying to get the house ready, and since Safety Town was right in the middle of the day in Corvallis, most of my day was spent focused on it.... either driving to/from it, or blowing time in Corvallis while waiting for Jadon to be done.  It was tough on Avery too.  I think she was sick of riding in the car, sick of sitting in shopping carts, all this time focused on Jadon or the house.  We did go to the park a couple times, and one day I let her get a little toy at TJ Maxx. 

Yesterday was his graduation ceremony.  Jadon said friday morning "Today i'm congraduating!"

Let me just say, i'm going to have a tough time at kindergarten graduation because I was having a hard time keeping it together for this!  I'm pathetic!

So things he learned about at Safety Town: Fire safety, water safety, traffic safety, park safety, pedestrian safety, officer friendly, stranger danger, poison safety, train safety, seatbelt safety, etc.  He got to do crafts, watch videos, drive pedal cars, take a school bus ride to the firestation, go to the park to learn about park safety, talk to the police men and firemen.  He got to meet new kids and make new friends.  He had to learn his full name, his address, and his phone number.  He learned how to dial 911.  Each group of 6-7 kids had 2 teen volunteers helping.  

Even though Jadon is already Mr. Safety Conscious, this was really good for him.  

Below i've included some pictures and a couple videos.

Jadon standing with part of his group. He is next to the girl in red.

Each group had a color, Jadon's group was yellow, and each group had a building in the little "town".  Jadon's building was the school.

Accepting his certificate ;)

Showing us how the pedal cars work. Avery has been dying to ride one since day 1. 

A partial shot of "Safety Town"

 The kids all sharing a song they learned about seatbelts... i cant tell at all what they are saying.  Jadon said it goes like this:  "click your seat belt, click your seatbelt, put it on, put it on. Please dont ride without it, please dont ride without it. Sing this song, sing this song."

Phew!!!

I do realize its been over 2 weeks since my last post, and I actually have very good excuses this time!

Well last week Jadon started Safety Town at the Boys and Girls Club.  He's loving that, and it continues through this week.  I'll be glad when its done because its right in the middle of the day, and its in Corvallis, so its a lot of driving, and a lot of killing time while he's doing that.

But the biggest reason i've been away, most of you already know already. We're putting our house on the market! We've been trying to quickly get everything squared away with the house that needs to be done, so we can get it on the market ASAP. We've set a deadline for ourselves: the end of this week. We rented a storage unit, are moving out half of our stuff.  We're getting a few minor repairs done. Our agent is paying to have a new entryway light installed to match the rest of our lighting, we just had to buy the light, which I bought last week, and it will be installed on Thursday!

To say we've been busy the last 2 weeks is an understatement.

We've looked at several homes.  We're planning on staying in the area, but we're looking for a bit bigger, and a bit bigger yard.  Here's our wish list:

- around 1800-2000 sq feet (we are currently just under 1400)
- Bigger kitchen
- A 4th bedroom, or den, spare room... anything that can be used as an office/craft room.
- .25+ acres... but nothing bigger than probably an acre at the very most.

Other than that, things that would be nice to have, but aren't a deal breaker are:
- single story
- laundry room
- pantry
- additional room for playing (playroom)
- 1 LESS toilet (currently, 3 toilets is a lot to clean, i wouldn't mind having just 2)

Derek and I have very different views of how this will all go.  He seems to feel like the house will sell really quickly, and we'll find another place very quickly.  He's also the optimist.  I'm the pessimist, and I have horrible thoughts of the house being on the market for years, never selling, or we get an offer and the inspection comes through with major hidden problems that we had no idea about, or we sell the house, but then end up having to rent another house for years because we cant find another house we like........... yes, i've been doing a lot of fretting.
One way Derek and I are so different- he's a glass half full kind of guy, and i'm unfortunately a glass half empty kind of gal. Sometimes I think he's got his head in the clouds too much, and I think sometimes he thinks i've got my head stuck in a garbage can like Oscar the Grouch. He's always telling me to stop worrying and thinking so negatively and i'm always telling him to be realistic.. we never listen to each other. ;)
I hope and pray that it turns out the way Derek thinks it will, but I'm preparing for it to turn out the way I think it will.

So anyways, if you know of anyone who's looking for a house with an easy to manage yard, an open floor plan, nearly 1400 sq feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, well maintained, dearly loved, a great first home or even a rental property, in North Albany, send them this way! Tell your friends friends friends! Not sure yet on a price, but we'll know by next week!