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Gratitude Saturday

I have a lot to be grateful for this Saturday.  It’s been a busy two weeks with painting and moving stuff to the new house.  Everything is working out good so far. Let’s hope it continues….

Here’s is what I am grateful for today.

  1.  For my family and my in laws.  They have been really helpful and we are grateful   for their help.
  2.  For the new house.  It was well worth the wait.  I feel we are meant to be there.   This is where the next chapter of our lives start.
  3.  For my job.  I am grateful that we have two different starting times when we are   on overtime.  We are on nine hours so I can either start at 1 p.m. or 2 p.m.  I’ve   strolled into work at 2 almost all week.  I am grateful for that extra hour.
  4.  For my friends at work.  They are an encouraging bunch and I am grateful for that.
  5.  For my husband who is on this wonderful journey with me.  i wouldn’t have it any  other way.
  6.  For Home Depot for having exactly the yellow paint I wanted.  The name of the  exact color is at the new house.  I wish I had it here to share in this post.  It is exactly the yellow I envisioned the house to be.  I am extremely happy.
  7.   For my cousin who we rent from.  I thought he would be totally pissed that we bought a house and are moving, but he’s been really cool about it.
  8.   For my dad and my mother and father in law and other family and friends up above who are looking down on us and smiling.  I know they are part of the reason our house dream is coming true.
  9.  For all that I have learned in the last couple of weeks.  Especially about paint and painting.  I think my sister in law has turned me into a paint snob.  When I was looking for my color yellow in home depot I grabbed all of the yellow paint samples and took them to a sunny spot so I could them clearly.  One was too green.  The other a little more brown than I wanted.  I have learned a lot about colors and sheen and painting.  I’m really proud of myself.
  10.  For my readers.  I know I haven’t been posting regularly and that bums me out because I miss being a part of my blog and commenting on other blogs like I used to.  Hopefully after we are completely moved and my internet is hooked up I can blog on a regular basis.  I’m praying the internet at the new house is as good as the internet at this house. Thank you for your understanding!!

I’m going to bed with a grateful heart tonight!

 

Embrace Your Weirdness

Last month or so The G Sandwhich (thegsandwhich.wordpress.com) wrote on her blog that she likes to watch the Maury show.  A couple of days later my coworker, L, shared with me the details of a fascinating documentary about elephants her and her husband watched over the weekend.

Isn’t it neat that we all have these little pieces of ourselves?  Little pieces that we don’t always share with others because they may think we are weird and/or laugh at us.  We may not think these little pieces are neat.  We may think they are weird, but they may not be to the people we share them with.

I  love it when someone shares little pieces of themselves with me.  It helps me get to know them better and on a deeper level.  I love to learn new things.   For example: I never realized that an elephant has such a huge penis and that a female elephant is pregnant for a year and a half.  (Did you know that?) I like it when people share these weird things with me.  I love it when people make me think about new things, different experiences and what my weird things are.

I think we need to embrace these parts of ourselves and own them because those little parts make us who we are.  Complex and interesting human beings.  I think the more knowledge we have, the more well rounded people we are.  We have more to bring to a conversation (not that I would discuss an elephant’s penis size with people I don’t know) and a different perspective to share with others.

Embrace your weirdness today and share it with others.  Who knows what will happen or what you will learn.

 

 

Wallpaper

I’m trying to find wallpaper for my office because my sister in laws think that would be easier than painting it and they don’t mind doing it.  I’d rather just paint it yellow with a 4 x 4 foot area of chalk board paint on one wall.

I am a newbie when it comes to wallpaper.  I never knew there were so many colors, prints and designs.

I saw wallpaper I loved in Vegas, but do you think I can find it on any wallpaper website I look at?  No.  It’s probably five years old and no one carries it anymore.  I thought the wallpaper in the hotel was yellow.  My husband said it was tan.  Maybe he was right because I didn’t have my bifocals on.  Usually I only wear them to work and to drive at night.

Note to self:  wear glasses along when looking at wallpaper.

If my sister in laws are willing to put up the wallpaper, I’m willing to go that route.  We originally wanted to paint three rooms, but that changed to almost all the rooms once we looked closer after moving in.   I am on 10 hours of overtime and 5 five on Saturday  (Doesn’t that suck?) so time is an issue.

I wish I could just find some wallpaper that is me, but nothing has popped out yet.  I’m not afraid to take a risk with a print wallpaper on one wall, but to find that one wallpaper in a sea of 100’s of wallpapers seems impossible.

I’m off to the new house to work in my office.  My husband finished scraping the glue from the paneling off the walls on Saturday before we left for Vegas, now my mom and I will vacuum and wash the walls so he can Kiltz (probably spelled wrong) them tonight.

Tonight, on my lunch hour, I will be looking for wallpaper with my bifocals on.

 

Too Much To Do

We signed on our house a week ago so we are officially home owners.  Yeah!!!

This week has been a blur.  Last Saturday we painted one room and the hall linen closet and we tore down the paneling in my office.  I’ve made two trips to the new house before work this week to drop stuff off and to do misc. stuff.  I can’t wait to be fully moved in and live there.  The house is amazing.

I wanted to post something this past week, but I’m beat.  I’m going to try to blog during the week, but I’m not promising anything.  I will continue to read and comment on your blogs.

I can’t wait to start this new chapter in my life and see where it leads.

 

Remembering The People Who Help You Along Your Journey

We close on our house tomorrow at 11 a.m.  Yeah!!!  It has been a long journey from deciding to buy a house to closing.  It hasn’t been fun most of the time.  There’s been mostly bad times.  There were three houses that we put offers on, but for some reason they didn’t work out.  There has been one house (for sale by owner) that we almost bought, but the owner pulled out two weeks before closing.  I can’t tell you how many houses we have looked at over the course of a year and a half that didn’t fit what we were looking for.

I was thinking last night about how many people helped us in journey.  Helped us not lose hope.  With financing.  With looking for houses and telling us when they found one that we might be interested in.  Giving their opinion of the house we were looking at after looking at pictures on Realtor.com.  (My husband comes from a family of 11 kids — everyone has their opinion).

I’d like to list the people that helped us.

Tara, our realtor.  She is absolutely wonderful.  She has shown us so many houses and been absolutely amazing through it all.  She has helped us make offers (we should have used her on the for sale by owner house) and worked around my husband’s (the two days he is home) schedule.   There have many times I have been ready to give up.  She’s always encouraging me with the phrase “Chris, the right house is out there.  We just have to find it.”  There are many times I didn’t believe her, but she was right.  I knew the house we are buying was the house.  (I also “knew” I was going to marry my husband on the first day I met him.  That’s another blog post).

Rebecca, our banker.   She’s been there for us from day one.  (Although she knows I won’t hesitate to go somewhere else for a loan.  When I was looking for my last vehicle she said I’d have to wait a week for the loan to go through.  I thanked her for her help and told her I was going to a different bank.  I was signing papers two days later.)   When the seller killed the for sale by owner deal I was devastated.  I had worked my butt off to make that deal work.  She shrugged her shoulders and told us that maybe it wasn’t the house for us and that we would probably find one that fit our needs better.  I was shocked.  I didn’t understand how it couldn’t be the house for us.   Now I understand.  She has been there to answer any questions we may have.  She has time for us any time we have went to the bank to see her.  She answers my emails from home before she goes to work.

My mom.  She’s the best mom in the world and I am so lucky to have her.  She’s always there for me with kind words, a hug, a ear and occasionally a lecture, if I need it (and sometimes I do).  I can call her and she’s at my house in five minutes.  (Another reason I didn’t want the house.  It’s 20 minutes away.  She told me not to worry.  The new house is a hop, skip and a jump away….when it’s not snowing).  She’s my rock and I’m going to be lost without her when she passes.

The girls at work.  I work with encouraging women who have been with me every step of the way.  Consoling me after the house deal fell through, encouraging me to keep looking when I lost hope and celebrating with me when things are good.  I love all their advice and tidbits of info. They always make me laugh.

My family and my in laws.  I am extremely lucky to have this bunch.  My husband’s family is a lot like mine.  We are always there for one another.  My family is quiet.  They give their opinions when needed.  My husband’s family is loud and very opinionated.  You always know where you stand and what their opinion is.  Whether you want to know or not.  Our families mesh.  We invite my husband’s family to our family functions and they invite my family to their functions.  Both families have been extremely supportive with our house hunt and have even gone to look at houses with us.  They are going to help us move, paint and all of that good stuff.  Fun.  Fun.

I think sometimes we are so caught up in the process of whatever we are doing that we forget about the people who help us along the way and who are always there for us.  Day in and day out.  We might not always get along or have the same opinion, but at the end of the day that doesn’t matter.  What matters is that they are always there for us and willing to help.

We are going to give our realtor a $50 gift card to Kohl’s and my husband is going to offer to do a project that our banker needs done at her house for all of their help.  We are going to have a house warming party for our families and friends.

One of the best things about the journey are the people that help you along the way.

 

 

 

I Am One Of Those People

“I don’t want to be one of those people,” I told my husband one day before my class to become a member of his church.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“One of those people who are go to church every Sunday because they are getting married and then once they are married they stop going to church.

Guess what?  I am one of those people.  The last time I was in church was two and a half years ago when my mother in law died.

I love my UCC church.  I feel at peace there.  My husband’s family is there.  Everyone treats me nice and makes me feel like I belong.  I feel closer to God there than I do anywhere else.

The thing is that I feel like a hypocrite when I am there.  I don’t believe in the same things that they believe.  I don’t believe after you die and go to Heaven that is all there is.  I see a bigger picture.  I believe in reincarnation, past lives and that we are here to fulfill a purpose in the greater scheme of things and when that purpose is filled we die.  We die, do whatever we need to do to prepare for our next life and go to our next life, if that is what we need to do.

When I was growing up, religion wasn’t forced down our throats.  My mom is Catholic, but stopped going to church when she married my dad.  I don’t remember my dad’s family talking about church when I was little.   I loved the fact that I didn’t have to get up and go to church on Sunday mornings.  I didn’t have to go to Sunday school and confirmation classes.  I watched cartoons or slept in on Sunday mornings.  Kids at school and in my neighborhood talked about church, but I really didn’t know what they were talking about.  My mom feels bad that she didn’t take us to church and help us develop that part of ourselves.  I’m glad she didn’t because then I could decide for myself what kind of religion, if any, I wanted in my life.

I’ve always been more spiritual, than religious.  I like to be open to different things.  I don’t want someone to tell me that I need to obey certain rules because I am a certain religion.  I don’t think anyone should be able to tell me that I have to be in church this many Sundays a month or that I have to give this amount of money.   To me, this is between God and I and no one else.  If I see something in another church of a different religion that interests me I should be able to go and experience that on a Sunday.  If I want to give money to a cause that touches me in some way I should give money to that instead of giving it to the church that week.  I am more of a free spirit that way.

I was in church this morning for my husband’s niece’s confirmation.   I always wonder if Rev. Roger can sense my beliefs when I shake his hand after the service.  Does he know I don’t believe everything that he believes?  Does he feel that something is off?  Sometimes I think that reverends are closer to God and have a different perspective of things than we do because they have studied religion for so long and are in church almost every day.  It’s almost like they know God better than we do because of the church.

There is a UCC church two blocks away from the new house.  I think I’m going to start going there if Steve leaves out on Sunday morning.  I can walk.   Since it’s in a farm community maybe I won’t have to dress up.  I can go to church when I want.

I learned this morning that this an area of my life that I would like to learn more about myself in.  Maybe explore different religions and go to different services in the area.  I don’t feel rounded in this area in my life.  I feel that maybe something is missing.  Something was definitely speaking to me this morning.  Nudging at me.  Maybe it was more of a feeling.  I would love to take some time and find out what that something  is.

Maybe it’s the next leg of my journey.

 

 

 

Gratitude Saturday

Today I’m going to follow LA (waking up on the wrong side of 50) and list the ten things I am grateful for.

1.    My husband’s “angels”.  The awesome men and women who help him while he’s out on the road.  I really appreciate the people who help truckers even when they don’t have to.  From the small things like people stopping traffic with their vehicle so the trucker can make a turn to the big stuff like the mechanics who take a later lunch so they can work on a truck so the drive can get back on the road.  Thank you all.  You are appreciated

2.    Tara, my real estate agent and Rebecca, my banker, who are working hard to make sure this house deal happens.  5 more days til we close.  So excited.

3.    That my niece wasn’t hurt in the car accident she was in.

4.    My husband and how hard he works.  He left this morning so he can be back in time for the final walk through of the new house on Thursday.  He’s missing his niece’s confirmation tomorrow and seeing people from out of state who have come to town for the confirmation.  I am very lucky to have him.

5.    My job.  Even though I’m not happy with the crap that goes on, I am very grateful that I have a great paying job and great coworkers.

6.    My blogging community.  I learn so much from all of you and from the new blogs I stumble across.  I appreciate all of you.

7.    The spring is finally on it’s way.  It was cold and windy as crap today, but I least there is light at the end of the tunnel.

8.    That the campground opens in a month.  I can’t wait to sit on the deck and write and/or lay on my floatie and relax.  This is what has kept me going this weekend.

9.    I learned how to upload pictures from my phone to my computer today.  Hopefully I will be able to post pics soon and I will post a picture of my floatie.  I love it!!!

10.   My husband, my family and my in laws.  They are an awesome group of people who definitely have their own quirks and love me and my quirks unconditionally.  I am loved and spoiled and well taken care of and for that I am extremely grateful.