It's Official

The builder emailed yesterday with great news.

Our walk through will be the last day of spring break...March 17th...and we will close on March 23rd!

On Thursday night, March 23rd, we will be sleeping in our new house!!!

Happy Happy Happy Day!!!

Begin the countdown!

Sometime in the next 30 days we will be moving into our home!

The builder told me a couple of weeks ago that we could put in our 30 day notice on Friday, February 24...and today is Friday, February 24!

We have purchased new bedroom furniture...picked out the new entertainment unit...and kind of decided on a refrigerator...but have we started packing???

NO! I don't know why...I think it is a mixture of just being lazy and knowing that once we start Nathan won't stop until we finish and then we would be living in boxes. :) But...now...at the 30 day mark I think we should make a concerted effort to begin packing this weekend.

I am hoping that we will be closing and moving in closer to 15-20 days instead of the full 30 days....

We received our weekly update phone call last night. They have started working on the "touch-up" list (which we did notice when we went by yesterday afternoon). And they will be turning on the power next week and doing the landscaping! We are getting closer and closer!!!!

House update

It has been awhile since I have posted pictures of the house. In less than a week we will be able to put in our 30-day notice at the apartment...so we are getting very very close to moving in! :)

Here are some pictures showing some of the newer things.













Here...in the top picture you see an early picture that shows all of the "junk" in what will be our backyard. In the bottom picture you see our backyard as it is now. They cleaned out everything except the large tree...which is what we wanted. As you can see...we still have a VERY small backyard. But it will be big enough for a few things!

This is the kitchen. You can see many things here. The cabinets (a little dirty), the tiled backsplash, the counters which are still covered in paper to keep them from getting damaged, and our faux brick floor. :)

They have added the glass door and all of the plumbing fixtures.

Here is the master bathroom...tub fixtures, sinks, and the mirror!

That is all for now. Have a wonderful COLD weekend! (It is only 28 here...we have had a 57 degree change in less than 48 hours. Whew!)

Bugs...

Let me begin by saying that I don't like bugs....and that is putting it very mildly. Any kind of creepy, crawly, slimey, leggy insect. There are many different kinds and not all are insects...so I lump them together into the category of bugs.

Bugs creep me out. I don't want them near me...and I especially don't want them on me. And I don't particularly like looking at them...far away or up close.

But that is what my task was today. This afternoon I left school early for a mandatory Science Cluster meeting. We were going to be trained on new digital microscopes. Our training involved an up close and personal experience with bugs.

The lessons we looked at today were covering ecosystems...our next unit of study. Ecosystems is a fun unit...bugs are not fun. So first we had to dig through leaf litter and get a lovely Petri dish of dirt and leaves. Then we had to dig through and try to find something that might have some little bug lurking inside. Lovely.

So after about 10 unsuccessful minutes of digging and looking under the microscope I found something promising. I had pulled apart a rotting nut...perfect place for bugs to hide. And I saw something white...could be some kind of egg sack or some kind of grub I thought.

So picture me...trying to pry this thing apart without accidentally touching that white thing that I was pretty sure was a bug. My skin was crawling...I finally employed my pen to help me out. I was rewarded with a little white grub...who turned out to be quite a fast crawler once he was pried from his warm little home.

So then came the looking part. Bugs are gross using normal vision...but put them under a microscope where we can magnify them and it gets worse. This thing had all kinds of hairs sticking off him...or her...or it...and once I finally got it to sit still you could see some major vein or artery pumping through its little white body. Gross...

And yet...it was all strangely fascinating. I kept fooling with the thing to try and see it's face. It was even more gross and creepy but I just had to see it. I guess I am truly meant for science after all. I mean...I hate bugs and here I am diligently working to see this strange little thing up close.

While I can't say my opinion about bugs has changed in the least...I love rediscovering my love for exploration and science. It reminds me of why I teach it and why I work so hard to get my students interested. Science is fascinating...even if I do find parts of it gross.

Happy Birthday....and...."The Light at the End of the Tunnel"

I have to blog-worthy pieces of news today...although I admit it doesn't take much to be blog-worthy here at my blog. :)

Today is my Great-grandmothers 97th birthday. Can you believe it? 97-years-old! She was born in 1909. There are many times I marvel at how much my great-grandmother has seen in her lifetime. And while technology continues to grow, I wonder if I live to be the same age will I see the huge developments and changes she has seen. Cars, airplanes, and computers...and so so much more. She has been through 2 world wars, two military conflicts, Pearl Harbor and 911...it is simply beyond my comprehension.

And at 97 she still drives and lives on her own. She goes to work 4-5 times a week...and at work she doesn't she do menial jobs. She IS the accounts payable and receivable department...meaning she keeps all the books, pays the bills, and has learned to all of this using a computer. How many 97-year-old's do you know who do that?

Now for "The Light at the End of the Tunnel"....

Last night I got an email from our builder. I had asked him when we could place our 30 day notice at the apartment. He responded late yesterday with a date...

Let me preface this by saying that I am not exactly THRILLED with his answer...but...the I can see the light at the end of this tunnel...however SMALL it may still be.

So...from today....we have 43 days left. :) We have been instructed that we can give notice on the 24th of February. This puts us leaving here around the 25th of March. Having never built a house before...or even bought one for that matter...I am not sure what this REALLY means. But I plan to find out in the very near future.

Change of plans...

This morning I was going to lament not taking my camera to our house last night. So much has happened this week...our floors are down in the kitchen and the tile is in the entry. They have tiled the kitchen back-splash. They have added a second coat of paint. And probably the biggest change is our backyard where they have removed all the yucky stuff and left only our one HUGE tree. It is an amazing transformation!

This is what I WAS going to talk about. Then I clicked through my regular daily blogs starting with Carole's. Carole has three blogs. Her personal one, the one she started for her family, and the one she keeps for her daughter. So I click through all three each day to see if she has added anything. There are many times I can click for days and nothing new will be posted. She is busy with a 2-year-old and blogging comes way down on the list of priorities. Then I click to the blog of my friend from childhood and see beautiful picutres of her son. And then for some strange reason I click on the link to my own blog. :)

This is my daily ritual. Once in the morning before work and then usually some time when I get home from work. It is a wonderful way to keep up with friends.

But this morning my clicking was interrupted. When I clicked on Carole's blog link I noticed it was new! Happy! I love reading her blogs. I think they are so much better than mine. :) anyway...I digress...

She has posted this amazing blog about US! A tribute to our friendship. We send cards that wax poetic about friendship. We have a little "friendship ball" which is silver and is a pain to polish when it tarnishes....that we pass back and forth (when we can actually find something that fits in it). :) I think this ball was meant to be more sentimental than it actually is. Pretty much we just laugh about it most of the time and it has become our own little joke mixed with sentiment "girl" feelings. We send long emails and have the ocassional phone call. We could talk on the phone more since we both have cell phones and weekends are free. But we both hesitate because unless we have 2-3 hours to spare we know we should not call. The most recent example of this was when my wedding dress arrived. There was no option...the minute the answering maching clicked off I picked up the phone and called Carole first. What good is a best girlfriend if you can't share the arrival of your wedding dress! The plan was to just call and tell her really quick since we were both in the middle of our dinner preparations. As I recall she was wrist deep in cleaning chicken for dinner...at least I think it was chicken. Britt answered and told me the situation and I said..."well..maybe you can relate my news because I just have to tell it!" Carole was quickly washing her hands because as she said later, "if are calling in the middle of the week at dinner time...it must be important". I told her I was only calling for 2 minutes to tell her that my dress had arrived...and those 2 minutes became at least an hour. It was then that the idea that they live with us in our new house this summer first came up.

So...even well intentioned phone calls end up lasting much longer than the time we have. :)

So we have all the regular things that friends have...but her blog post this morning...it is a true tribute. It is better than a Hallmark card. It chronicals our life together. Of course...as I read it I get so much more out of it because I have the mental images that flash through my mind as I read it.

Carole is an amazing friend. We have had our angry moments....moments when we are frustrated beyond words...but there is one thing that I have never questioned. I know Carole will be there. I know I can tell her anything...even when I think she is upset with me...I can say it and we can talk it out. I have friends....but Carole is more than a friend...she is a chosen sister. She is someone who has been there through 10 years and will be there for the duration. I am lucky I think. I am lucky to have found such a friend.

So...here is my imaginary toast to Carole...to my best friend...to my matron of honor...to the woman I choose to have by my side for the rest of time! I love you dearly and I can't wait to spend this summer with you!

P.S. If you want to read her awesome blog about me :) LOL and all the other great posts she writes just click the link. :) Mixed Veggies

A few minutes...A few pictures

We have inservice today and I came home for lunch. So I have time to post a few more house pictures.















Painted Arch in Entry. Notice the crown molding...it hasn't been painted white yet.












Finished porch...we were lucky...they made a mistake and we got a bricked porch!
















My first view of our cabinets...I was so excited I could hardly stand still enough to take the picture!












Our Fireplace :)

That is all for now. I have a few of the cabinets up close and some others to put up. I have so many pictures of our house through all the steps I am considering putting together a scrapbook of it all...in all my free time of course. :)

Wecome Home

Yesterday was so busy that I never posted any new pictures of the house...and there are plenty to show all the progress...

However...here is one that makes me happy and very excited.

Welcome Home :)

Going Alternative

After yet another crippling headache I have decided to go alternative.

Yesterday morning I woke up with a headache. I do what I always do when I wake up with one that isn't too bad yet...I take some Excedrin Migraine and pray it works. While the commercials promise that it will relieve symptoms in 30 minutes...that is my prayer...that it will work. Because for every time it works there are at least 2 or 3 times that it doesn't work. I used to take Advil Migraine...but it stopped working all together.

And I have tried many prescription medicine options. Some out of date gigantic red pill that worked about 3 times....then there was Imitrex, an overly-expensive waste of time...then I just stuck with Hydrocodone which knocked me out if I took enough and I would hopefully wake up headache free. The Hydrocodone option worked for awhile...but towards the end I was waking up with my headache and having to take another dose...and then possible a third. That was miserable. That latest round of medicines included 25 MG of Atenolol as a beta blocker and25 MG of Topomax...each taken once a day at opposite times. That worked for about a month but it always felt like I was just blocking the migraine and they were just building up in my system. I quit those pills at the first of January when I had such a horrible headache that it felt like the entire right side of my body went numb.

So that brings me to yesterday...I took the Excedrin Migraine and prayed for the best. I still had a headache when I went to school but I thought it would get better. It didn't. 4th period I sent a student to the nurse to get me some ice...ice sometimes helps if I apply it on the back of my head...but that didn't really help anything except to give me a chill I couldn't shake. By 6th period I could barely stand...but my students have a test on Friday and I pushed on. We were writing a paragraph on the path of air into and out of the body. It was important so I kept going. All the while I was fighting tears of pain. Finally I just leaned against the board and prayed I wasn't about to pass out. I did tell my class what to do if that should happen. They were very concerned...I don't think they are used to seeing their teachers in such pain on the verge of tears. They wanted me to go to the nurse and go home early. When 6th period ended I found someone to cover for me and I stumbled to the nurse's office where I laid down and waited for Nathan to come pick me up...as I couldn't drive.

By 7:00pm last night I was better. That was an unusually quick recovery...but that is fine with me. After I ate some dinner I was even better.

So...going alternative....

I have decided to try acupuncture. Medicine is not working. And one day when we want to get pregnant I won't be able to take all these medicines anyway. There has to be an answer out there. My dad's mom did acupuncture to get rid of headaches and it worked for her. So now...I am going to try it.

This morning I woke with another headache that has seeming been cured with some regular extra-strength Excedrin...I can't live with these crippling headaches. So...in my journey to freedom...Acupuncture here I come!