Yard Sailin'

We're having a Moving/Yard Sale thingy (what's the difference anyway) this weekend so stop on by if you live nearby and we'll give you some iced tea and stuff we don't want anymore. Free stuff for blog readers! :)
Had a good meeting with the realtor, we now have a temporary sign and it's supposedly on MLS. She's coming back Monday to take pics inside and get the real sign and flyers out.
Dinner at the bishop's house was nice, very honest and refreshingly laid back, thank god. The bishop himself tended bar and his wife Lynn made yummy curried chicken and lentils. There were 4 other seminarians there, one other is going to Sewanee. The rest are each at General, Virginia and Divinity school of the Pacific (or something like that). The bishop gave his priorities (study) and warnings about not getting involved in school politics. He reminded everyone the diocese supports their seminarians and will do so until they are gainfully employed. Good news.
Happy weekend!

Packin' up

Here's why we're so motivated...


Our new backyard and huge screened-in back porch.
This part of the yard is fenced in and there is a lot more that isn't, and a quick walk through the woods leads to a small lake!

So, we're planning on moving in 3 weeks or so. We've been packing boxes like crazy and I finally found the floor of the closet in the study/junk room. There were things in there we moved from Decatur and haven't touched in 3 1/2 years! Sad. Speaking of sad, I've been getting kind of nostalgic about this house the past few days, it is a really good house and we've loved being here. We are outgrowing it though so even if we weren't embarking on this adventure, it would be time to move on. I just hope someone who sees what we see in it can find it soon and buy it! We're meeting with a realtor tomorrow, she seems pretty cool. Most realtors we've encountered have been snooty bee-ot-ches so we're hoping the one isn't. We just want someone to market our house like crazy and give us a fair deal, we know we're not going to make any money off it and that's o.k., we just don't want a mortgage payment while in seminary.
We're going to a dinner tonight at the bishop's house. Kind of scary. It's for upcoming seminarians and their spouses/partners. We had to get a babysitter, we aren't sure how we're going to pay her, maybe she takes partially used Starbuck's gift cards? Anyway, it should be interesting. ^J^ knows two other seminarians from his discernment group and there are some people from the diocese and maybe a few more seminarians from DYVE coming. O.K., the kitchen floor is starting to crawl away so I'd better go sweep.

Me-time

This coconut cake is my signature (default) cake for all occasions. Made this one for ^J^ for father's day as a bundt. I usually just make it as a sheet cake but it was REALLY good this way and all the juicy coconut stuff soaked in really well. Finished it off yesterday, yummy.
We watched Juno last night, very good, I want to own it. ^J^ was on the phone with our friend JPL for an hour and 40 minutes and, although I was glad they were talking and doing their usual laughing/debating/reconnecting thing, I was growing tireder and tireder (not a word, I know) by the minute. Finally, he was done around 11:15 and I was about to go to bed when ^J^ suggested we watch it anyway...it is summer after all and what else do we have to worry about except losing some sleep. So we did and it was totally worth it! (H) was up early and cranky but no biggie.

We just got back from the park and a picnic lunch and now it's naptime and ^J^ is cleaning out the garage, I should go work on the Junk room, but I'm feeling the need for a few minutes to myself. My birthday is tomorrow and we are super-low on money right now so I asked for my present to be a half-day to myself, I know I can have it anytime I ask, but something always gets in the way or comes up so I think Saturday will be my day to go lounge at the bookstore for a few hours. It's just been hard lately with all this house packing/fixing-up stuff because one of us is working (^J^)while the other watches/entertains the kids (me). They can entertain themselves fairly well for a 1 and 3 year old, but they get needy and bored if we aren't giving them much attention, especially *A*, so I usually have to stop what I'm working on and redirect or play Cinderella or something. Her new game is "ding-dong", she takes her dolls and their stroller and walks around the side of the house and comes up to the front door and rings the doorbell. We open the door and she comes in saying that she's the babysitter and we can go out and she'll watch (H). Or, it's the other way around and she's in the house and we ring the doorbell and when she opens the door she always says in this grand voice "Oh, Hellloooo, Come iiiinnn". Everytime. She never gets sick of this game. Ever.

A house!

We've finally been assigned a house! We were actually given a choice between 3 houses, this one was the biggest (3B, 2b) and unfortunately the most expensive but we're hoping for financial aid to come through. We really have no idea right now how much money to expect and if I should be looking for a job or not. It's just a tad bit stressful on top of the stress of trying to sell our current house. *sigh*.
Anyway, this house is exciting and makes it all more real. We love the stone, mined from the mountain, and we are excited about the yard and the roll-out windows. We don't yet have a floor plan or an idea of what's inside although if you look at the back you can see a peek of a screened in porch. Fun!

And we're back...

O.k., so our "puter' died and it was ready surprisingly quickly, we were still under warranty thank goodness. But, they didn't get it to us before we left for Disney so now that we're back from our trip, I'm finally getting around to checking hundreds of e-mails and catching up on my favorite blogging mamas.

Our trip was great! Lots of family togetherness and some relaxing "just us" time too. *A* was really into the characters this year, (H) was at the scared age, but that's o.k. We saw lots of shows, rode some rides, ate a ton, sweated up a storm, and walked miles and miles.

*A* seems to have matured so much since we've been gone. (H) is talking so much more now too. Lots of new words, "wadoo" (water) being the favorite since we were in the pool everyday and he loved it. *A* did really well swimming too, by the last day, she was putting her face all the way in, holding her breath and swimming/walking 2 feet or so. She loved how brave she was and kept doing it.

So, today I'm off to find a pool for us to frequent as well as go to our organic co-op pick-up. I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and it has really inspired me to eat locally. Our co-op is some local but sometimes from exotic places like Bolivia or New Zealand so I'm having a crisis about keeping it up. I can't wait to move and be able to find a lot more locally grown and raised food up in TN. I've already found out about a few farms and markets that offer produce, eggs, and meat so I'm excited to at least partially be able to participate in staying local.

O.k., (H) is stinky and *A* is "serving" (spilling) her own water so more Disney fun and pics later...