Big Changes Ahead

We listed our home of six years (longest we've ever lived anywhere!) in January and in March we sold it!!!  After alot of phone calls, bids, tears, and prayers, we finally have a contract on another house on Oxford Hill.  It's a gorgeous home (at least the bones are!).  It's a foreclosure and the last inhabitors didn't leave it in the best condition.  We will be putting a lot of "LOVE" (aka elbow grease and many trips to Home Depot) into this home, but feel sure that when we have it completed, it will serve nicely as our "forever home" - or at least our "forever home in Illinois".  I will be posting pictures soon of all the befores, durings, and afters.  We really have a huge job on our hands but one we are looking forward to.  This home will give us the space we need for two college age daughters, one will get the huge room she wanted, the other will get her own art studio.  It also gives us the space if Grampy wants to come live with us.  We will be packing up our current home on May 7-9 and closing on it May 11th.  We are currently scheduled to close on Oxford Hill on May 25 but are hopeful that we can move that date up.  Wish us luck - big adventures ahead!

Neat Blog for Scrapbookers...

I found a neat scrapbook store online last week and have already signed up for their monthly kit. For all my scrapbooking friends, you might want to check them out...

http://www.scrapbookgeneration.blogspot.com/

I'm hoping to make a trip to Springfield, MO this spring to check their store as well as Elsie Flannigan's out. Anyone up for a road trip???

Time for changes...

Well, I have managed to clean every room on the first and second floors as well as every closet on those two floors. We got all the Christmas decorations put away and have listed the house with a realtor. We are hoping and praying that this will help us sell this home faster and move onto a home that fits us now. We have worked so hard on this house, but when we bought it, it was our "just for 3 years" home and we had different priorities then. Now that Stephen has retired from the AF and the girls are grown and away at college, it would be nice to have a home with the master suite on the first floor and a more open layout. That is what we are working towards! This past year has been filled with sooooo many changes for our family, but here's hoping for one more~

Massive Organization Movement..starting with Hannah's room

We are looking at putting the house back on the market with a realtor. I spent the last 2 days working on Hannah's room. We added touches of her celadon pottery (from our time in Korea) and she finally let me have a series of paintings she made this year in class (the neat thing about the paintings are there are old pattern pieces layered under the paint - very cool). Linens from Target, the quilt was made by my Aunt Sherrell, vintage furniture, and Longaberger sidetable - not bad for a thrown together bedroom. Hope she likes it when she comes home. Oh, and I cleaned out her closet too - SURPRISE! Now onto the guest room and our organization project.

New Year - New Commitment

Okay - I am the first to admit that I have not done well with blogging, but it's a new year and time for a new commitment. We had a difficult year last year - Stephen's mom passed away the day after Christmas, his step-dad has been sick most of the year, Megan graduated in May, Stephen retired from the Air Force in June, the girls moved out in August - Hannah into an apartment with 2 other girls and Megan into a dorm, and Stephen found a new job with a contractor in September. We've had our house up for sale (and off, and on, and off) various times this year as well with no luck. It's just been a very busy year for our family and very stressful as well!

I am hoping (and praying - ALOT) that this year finds us more settled and that I feel better, get more accomplished, and yes, that I stick to my blogging. Wish me lucks folks!

Stationery card

Happy Bright Moments New Year's Card

Create custom Christmas cards this holiday at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

We Just Put Our House Up For Sale!

We just put our house in O'Fallon, IL up for sale! Hope it sells soon - but not too soon! We're hoping that we can have Meg's graduation party here before we move! So many possible changes are happening for our family this year - hope we enjoy the ride!