got a list, gotta stick to my list

Cave:
Remove ottoman (replace coffee table in living room)
*Remove cd towers
*Remove dog bed
*Remove tv trays
Remove clutter (under flower box/table, top of desk, etc)
Control wires behind tv stand and desk

Closet off Cave:
*Remove boxes
*Remove filing cabinet
Organize coats
Organize home improvement items (paint, etc)
Organize space in general

Laundry closet:
*Remove wooden crates
Organize and clean wire shelving unit

Living room:
*Remove most of books on bookcase
*Remove coffee table (replace with ottoman from Cave)
Remove shoe pile by door
Remove much of the knick knacks on tables, etc.
*Remove kitchen table (replace with sewing desk)
*Remove white and chrome chair

Hall cabinet (small):
Reorganize medicines
Remove cookbooks

Bathroom:
Clean and paint wainscoting
Clean floor
Clean grout (re-grout if necessary)
Clean off back of toilet

Kitchen:
Remove items under microwave (in cabinet and on wine rack)
Clear many knick knacks off exposed shelves
Remove pictures off refrigerator
Clear off top of refrigerator
Clean refrigerator



Sewing room/dressing room:
Turn into dressing room?
*Remove small dresser from closet
Place carpet from “The Kochenour Boutique”
*Remove most of the items in the closet
Remove sewing desk (move to living room)
*Remove sewing machines, etc (store in Jill’s sewing space)

Hall closet (larger):
*Remove extra pillows
*Remove extraneous blankets, sheets and towels
Refold everything neatly

Bedroom:
Reposition chest of drawers
Reposition bed and night stand
Remove dresser (move to dressing room)
*Remove small table from closet
Organize closet (matching, white hangers)

Front yard:
Clean up driveway
Pick weeds
Seed
Plant pretty flowers in boxes and pots
Keep mown
Trim hedges

Back yard:
Clean up mine field (dog doo)
Pick weeds
Seed
*Remove fire pit
*Remove table and chairs (?)
Clean and organize shed
Trim hedges

General:
paint eaves
plant pretty flowers

*store at Jill and Mark’s

make mine a double

I've been starting to really think about exactly what all we are going to have to do to our house to get it ready to sell. I even have gone so far as to make a long, two page list of things. Mentally, room by room, I looked and made notes of what things were glaringly obvious and others that might not seem as "important."

I have already begun boxing a few things up from the kitchen, taking over half the books off the bookcase in the living room, and am contemplating a clearing off of many photos that we have on tables here and there. The fridge must be cleared off. It's a shrine to friends, family, animals, with pictures covering the whole thing. The top of the fridge needs to be cleared off as well. Every horizontal surface really needs to be swept clean. I now have images of myself sweeping my arms across the desk, wiping everything off and onto the floor. While that would be kind of fun to do, it is just really making more work for myself so I think I'll stick to the method of box for trash, box for packing, box for recycling.

I can't wait to meet with Alia, our realtor, on Wednesday. I think she will laugh at the list, as I am planning on sharing it with her. I will ask her if she's ever gotten a list of things her clients know they need to do, room by room.

I need to get another cup off coffee. How I wish there was milk in the house so I could have my double latte. Instead, black french press. It could be worse, I could be out of coffee.

doing well

-I have been good. I've not obsessively looked at/for houses all day long or even once again since that first foray into the world of rmls.com after we got back from our meeting with Debbie. I know, it's only been one day, but I still think that I've been good.

-I have a mini knit night tonight with my friend Jenn. Our pal Amy was hopefully going to join us but she's going on a blind date. Here's to hoping we don't hear from her saying it was horrible.

-The temp is supposed to get up to 70 today. Bring out the new green skirt and flip flops! Okay, maybe not the flips, but the skirt is a go!

-My boss is quite possibly the kindest person alive. I was at TJ Maxx getting some things for the new store (baskets for trash, a nice vase) and I found a great bag. Now those who know me know I'm somewhat of a bag whore. I am always on the lookout for "the perfect bag" for any occasion. This bag will be my Vegas bag! It is big enough to hold my laptop, a small dog, a sweater, my date book, etc. Yet it doesn't look the size. It's a Mary Poppins bag! Anyway, back to the boss thing...I get into the office and start telling him of my amazing find and how it's going to be great for Vegas and all those catalogs I will inevitably be picking up and he says, "How much was it?" I tell him $25. He pulls out cash, plops it on his desk and says, "Give me the receipt. Since you are using it for work and especially Vegas...you deserve to be treated every once in a while." HUH? I stuttered and thanked him and told him he really didn't have to do it...etc.

-My parents will be here in about two weeks. They're only here for a couple days before heading to Canada, then they are back in a couple weeks for a couple more days. My sister from Phoenix will also be here for a few days in a couple of weeks as well (their days somewhat overlap a bit). I'm jazzed!

-Kev's first two games of basketball were so much fun to watch! He did great, aside from the possibility he may lose a toenail (not the first time for that to ever happen). He had a blast though, but is a bit sore. Next Wednesday myself and another wife will be bringing bottles of water, orange slices... we're such good moms!

So there you have it, we're doing well.

houston, we have progress

Kev and I met with our mortgage broker this morning. She is such an amazing person!!! If anyone in Oregon (not sure if she can do things for people outside of Oregon) is looking for someone to work with, I suggest Debbie Patton!!! The broker, not the body builder. :)

Now on our list of things to do is find and meet with a financial adviser as well as make an appointment with our realtor to figure out how much we should list the house for. I've sent Alia (realtor) an email and am just waiting to hear back from her. (Update: before I even hit publish, Alia sent an email back and we're meeting with her next week, Wednesday!!!) As for the financial adviser, I'm still looking. We thought that we'd found a company to work with (long story of how) but they are in Bend, Oregon (a bit further away than we'd like).

So the internet is waiting for me to explore. We came up with a good plan for "if the house sells for X much then we can us Y amount and pay off all debt and have Z amount plus A as a 20% down payment." And it seems feasible! I'm a bit surprised by how much Debbie says we should be able to afford, assuming it sells for around what Kev (conservatively) guessed. He thinks it could/will sell for even more than the number we used. That could be a good thing.

Of course I've already started looking online at homes. Yeah, we say the next 3-6 months we'll be listing...any bets that it'll be sooner?

Here are four I've found that seem interesting... (I hope the link works)

Link didn't work for me so here are the four numbers: 7029241, 7036825, 7034139, 7037089. You can visit this site and plug them all in.

In other news, Kev has his first basketball game tonight. He is excited, but nervous. I'm going to go along to watch and cheer. I am hoping at least one of the other wives I know will be there too.

Okay, off to drink some java and start some laundry.

pull my finger

You Are a Pinky

You are fiercely independent, and possibly downright weird. A great communicator, you can get along with almost anyone. You are kind and sympathetic. You support all your friends - and love them for who they are. You get along well with: The Ring Finger Stay away from: The Thumb

What Finger Are You?

letting the eyes down?

You read posts at other blogs saying what terrible bloggers they are...haven't posted in a long time...promise not to do it again...or at least try.

Yeah, here's the thing. I try not to let guilt set in because then, I don't want to write. Writing when one feels guilty because x, y, and z doesn't seem to make for interesting writing (shush now, this is NOT a guilt written post it's about to become the most enthralling post ever...yeah, right).

We had two glorious days of sunshine in the Pac NW and it looks like we are heading back into a bit of rain this weekend. (heh? enthralling weather) I am only hoping it does not result in a slow day at the store. Saturdays are the only days I work directly with the customers. Thankfully it's at our new location and I like new.

Went out with Jill and Mark for drinks and BBQ last night. Man, Clay's is the best BBQ in town! Their ribs...the meat falls off the bones. I even had enough left to make lunch for today (yeah, food is always a great topic, too).

We're coming up on our 7th anniversary on May 6. Any ideas? The traditional gift is: well blow me away...WOOL (or copper, but who really cares about that?). The modern gift is a desk set but we don't care about desk sets when WOOL (!) is an option. Someone, please someone, tell Kevin that a great gift for me would be a gift certificate to Close Knit! I've linked to it so you can also tell him exactly where it is. Tell him the wool I buy will be for his anniversary gift (a new winter hat since I usurped his...he wasn't wearing it, it was "too thin."). If someone here loves me, and knows how to get ahold of Kev...

The clog blog has been lacking lately. It'd be easier to write about the store if I could post it while there. The energy there is great and creative and I come up with things, but then the brain shuts down when I am home. I suppose I could use Word to write it and then print it out to bring home and punch in. It'd be better if we had internet there though. Everything is better with internet.

(aside: not only does blogger not understand the word blogger in their spell check program, but also internet ain't there either)

And so there you have it, the non guilt written post. It had its ups and its downs. Its moments of boring and the excitement of WOOL! What more could you ask for?

our baby's baby

Three summers ago my parents, Kevin and myself planted "the littlest tree" in our front yard. We bought it under the guise it was a dogwood. I've been waiting since that first year for it to bloom (okay, I guess that makes me the most impatient person in the world because I knew it would not bloom that first summer-it was too late in the season). I'd hoped it would bloom in the second year, but figured when it didn't and its sisters all did, it needed time to become established. So this third year I felt positive it would bloom. It'd be all awash of white flowers.



Almost...

Two, there were two little white flowers on our beautiful little tree. I noticed when I got home from yoga last night and remembered this morning I wanted to take photographs of them. They are the most perfect and beautiful little flowers I've ever seen.

When I see them I get jolts of "this tree won't be mine when we end up selling this house in the next year..." and that makes me kind of sad. Our first little tree has its first little flowers. Our baby is growing up...

question

Say you are playing Scrabble with your loved one...

Say that loved one puts his tiles down and gives you the total of the word.

Then say that loved one says, "OH WAIT!" and insists that he had meant to put down all seven tiles, resulting in an extra 50 points.

Suppose you felt, in your gut, that he was not telling the truth about meaning to play that word AND you believed that once the score was given and tallied, it was your turn.

And then, when the game was officially over with that same loved one playing out all his tiles and winning he says, "I saw it at the last minute..." in regards to the seven tile word (which was played as his third word.)

I'd say the 50 points should be subtracted from that loved ones score and given to the other player. What you think? Oh, and a stringing up and a flogging with a wet noodle.


Kev is adding that his side of the story should read: that since I love him I should let him have the points.

gui-tarrrrs

So this afternoon I called our pal, let's call him Chuck, and left a voice mail about coming over for dinner. Chuck is getting ready to head back home to his parents house for an undetermined amount of time. From what I understand he feels the need to be home for a little while.

I will miss him, but Kevin will miss him more. And here is why:

This is the boys playing Guitar Hero on PlayStation 2. After they played, I got in on the act and hit the bass. It was a riot. I have already informed Kev that we would be playing this after Chuck took off as well.

He will be coming back here, hopefully, in a couple of years. We will always have dinner on the table for him, whenever he gets back our way.

I will miss Chuck.

is love enough?

I have a friend who has just announced that she and her husband of many years are getting a divorce. I will not use their names but it is nobody any of you have met (for my family who reads this) nor is it anyone I have 'met' online.

This friend sent out an email letting us know. She sent it to me a few days after April 1 so I wrote back saying "wasn't april fools day a couple of days ago?" She responded that it was not a joke. I felt a bit betrayed, to tell you the truth, because each time we'd hang out with the two of them everything was fun, light and there was ZERO sign of any turmoil.

We ran into her last night and while Kev was wandering around she and I spoke a little about it all. She said that love wasn't enough.

This confuses me a bit. I mean, I always though love was the basis for marriages and that sometimes the two parties might disagree about things, pick on each other, and what not...but love would still be there. I suppose communication is also key in a healthy relationship and the two people need to be able to communicate with one another, but if you truly love someone, aren't you supposed to want to work things out? Get the help you need to make it work?

Is love enough? Personally, I think it's a good start.

sweetness abound

Seriously, does it get any sweeter than this?

It's a cold and rainy Thursday in Portland. We both have off work. Kev's getting ready to go shoot some hoops with one of the guys who works for him. I'm steadily pressing on through the laundry. Josie is confused and is not sure what is going on and if she gets to go with him. She is hopeful. I hate to break it to her. Had it been not so cold out and not all that rainy I would have joined the guys, taking Josie with to jog around the large park. As it is, I am still sore from yoga on Tuesday night and the laundry was starting to take over the bedroom. If I want to have anything to wear tomorrow, must stay home and wash clothes.

Thankfully, the smell is gone in the laundry room/closet. Thank goddess!

The photo was taken the other night. They are just the funniest duo.

snood

On Easter Sunday I decided I would take knitting with me along to our friends home. I tend to do things like that, take knitting with me where ever I go. These friends are always intrigued by what I am working on. I didn't have a particular project so I decided to look in my notebook of patterns. Now, that notebook is big, but there are only a few patterns in it. One was for an "Urban Cowl" that the kids at Knit/Purl designed and were giving away for free (now they charge for any of their patterns). I figured it would look pretty with my leftover sweater yarn (yeah of the 9 balls I bought, I used 7 in the end) and grabbed needles close to the size the pattern called for, throwing a ball of yarn into my current knitting bag (still on the lookout for the 'perfect' knitting bag). I am making quite a bit of progress (sorry no pics) and it dawned on me, I'm making a snood. Mine won't be worn quite like that, but...it's still a snood.

I am really making it with the thought of wearing it around my neck, like a cowl/turtle with no sweater attached. You know, a scarf without the long ends to get caught in things. What kind of things? Well, zippers of coats, buttons, under your purse straps. I know you guys all understand how annoying the purse strap thing is.

addiction

Sometimes that word is bad. I mean, sometimes people get addicted to things that are harmful to them, their bodies, and all others around them. Fortunately google analytics isn't harmful for anyone. Thanks to Monika I was drawn in. She simply mentioned checking it out to see her stats(her blog just turned a year old). I instantly wanted to see what she was talking about. Now, I check in every morning, noon, and night to see where people are reading from. I also check clog blog's status. I'm pretty impressed that people are going there. Thanks!

Yesterday was a quiet day for me. I got up, mowed the lawn (and am thankful I did because it started raining yesterday afternoon and still hasn't stopped), went to our friends house for amazing food and great company. I even took some knitting! I was left so depleted after finishing the sweater I really didn't know what to do. So, I decided to use some of the left over sweater yarn to make a cowl. Not a sweater, just the neck. Kind of a scarf that doesn't hang down, if you will.

Today is a day full of a doctors appointment (nothing bad), figuring out what is on order for the kids store (and what to cancel), and sending in the new design for our business cards. I'm sure there will be more lumped on me, but I'm not going to think about that. So, that's it...for today.

nothing like the smell of death

...in the morning.

We occasionally have a mouse in our house (I know many now are saying "If you have one you have hundreds"). Anyway, a couple of times we've come home to our huntress (aka Chloe) playing with her catch (thankfully death has always overcome the mouse...and I always thank the mouse for giving its life while entertaining my cat). Twice we've found them simply dead of natural causes in our laundry closet. One we knew because of the stench (did I mention this post is not for the faint of heart?). The other we had no clue because it was winter and cold in there and without the heat of summer...you get the picture.

So this morning, it's back. Someone has died in our house. I'm pretty sure natural causes because Chloe would have brought us her prize had she had anything to do with it. I just don't want to be the one to find the corpse.

an idea

Over the years I've read various blogs about not writing anything about your work place. While I agree it's a good idea to not bitch and moan about ones place of employment, I can't agree that you shouldn't write about it at all.

Last week Wednesday was a rough day for my family (trust me, I bring this story back around to work). We lost Grandma to a long battle with dementia. We all flew/drove into Pennsylvania to say our goodbyes. Right as I received the IM from my dad that Wednesday morning I had had the idea of starting a new blog. But this one would be different. It wouldn't be my personal space about whatever, rather it would be about the store. I could write about new styles coming in, any sales going on, other events that will happen in the future...

Let me introduce you all to... Clog Blog. Be kind.

home

The trip home yesterday was uneventful. I enjoy flights that are uneventful. :) I did have an interesting conversation with one of the flight attendants...we are pretty sure I sold her her clogs. She looked familiar to me and I to her.

I slept like a rock again last night. I don't think I moved until this morning when Simon started walking on my head. It's rare for me to not toss and turn so a night of blissful sleep was great.

Upon getting home this evening from dinner I received a great voice mail surprise. My sister, Adrianne, is coming to see me!!! She got a free ticket on Southwest and since she's not been up here (and her sons both say it's okay for her to come see me instead of using it to see them in Cali) she's coming!

I think I am going to turn in soon. I am going to go into work tomorrow for a while so I should get some sleep.

sitting

My sister and I made it to California safely. I am now sitting next to Oscar (my favorite boy dog on the face of the planet) and am relaxing after a long flight. Her husband picked us up at the airport and drove us straight to sushi! Dinner was great.

I fly home tomorrow evening. Thankfully I got a call from one of the employees today saying she'd cover for me at the store downtown on Tuesday if I wanted. I am thinking of taking her up on the offer and will probably go into the new location to work on display things I want to install Thursday when I am working downtown with our new guy.

I can hardly think straight at this moment. Oscar is making me smile. I hope he sleeps with me tonight!! Please...please Ox.