Packing Boxes, Sunscreen and Last Times

One week from today, we'll be in our new house. We'll have had five days of moving and unpacking, and by this time, we should be somewhat settled in. Violet will be asleep in her new bed, on her new mattress, in her new princess room. We'll be telling Bo to go to his new dinosaur room with his new bed and mattress. And Mazy will be sitting in our new living room, trying to talk us into "just 10 more minutes" until he goes to his new travel/alien bedroom, also with a new bed and mattress.

The next seven days are going to be crazy!!

We spent this weekend packing. Believe it or not, we're nearly finished... I know, it's strange to think we are ahead of schedule on this. Fortunately, we did most of our packing months and months ago, when we first got the house ready to sell last spring.

These kids are in for such a surprise -- not only are they getting all new bedroom furniture, and for the first time in their lives, their own bedrooms -- they have so many toys and books they haven't seen in over a year! It will be like Christmas morning each time they open a box!

In preparation for the crazy week ahead, we bought a bunch of lunch meat, cheese, fresh fruit and small bags of chips -- no more cooking in this house! We've packed up a lot of the kitchen, and we'll finish it up tomorrow night.

I think everyone in the family is a little nervous and stressed out with the move. Tempers are running hot and children are acting up (more than usual). Especially little Miss Violet. I feel bad for her -- she has the most change coming next week. She is the only one who is truly "moving" to Nevada next Friday. The rest of us are continuing with our normal jobs and the boys will continue to go to Des Moines to school for another month, but Violet will have her last day at her daycare on Thursday. It's the only daycare she's ever known -- they've had her since she was 3 months old and they've been amazing with her. She has lots of friends she's grown up with, and she is definitely going to miss them.

But, all in all, we are very excited to move and I think we are looking forward to spending time together to design and decorate our new home. And once we get everything moved inside, Bo and Violet are going to help me plant a small vegetable garden and some flowers so we can begin to enjoy our new yard.

One Month Countdown Is On!

One month from today, we will be in our new house! Well, Shawn and the kids will be in the new house. I will be in a hotel in Fargo, ND.... But more on that later.

We've been crazy working on projects to get our current house ready for the market. Last weekend, Shawn and his sister painted our garage trim. Violet and Bo helped me plant a few pots of flowers. We put several bags of mulch down where the playhouse used to be, and moved our picnic table there. The yard is beginning to look pretty good!

Since we packed up so much stuff several months ago, we don't really have a lot to do until closer to the move date. Which is a good thing. We're busy! Birthday parties. Flag football on Sunday afternoons. Shopping. Planning. Scheduling. Ordering. Signing up. And then all the school and daycare prep... Man, it's a lot of paperwork and time to get kids ready for new schools. Tomorrow night we have preschool preview for Violet. Wednesday the boys and Shawn are touring their new schools. We're still trying to find a daycare for Violet -- there aren't a lot of choices in Nevada and the one I called said they didn't think they had openings... And then there's figuring out what to do with the boys all summer -- they don't want to go to the after-school program, and I don't blame them, but they can't stay home alone either. So we've got to figure out a lot of stuff. But it's all great!

We're all so excited about the move! I tried to take a week off work so I could enjoy the new house and getting it all set up. But unfortunately there's another trip to Fargo that they really want me to go on so I won't get quite as much time off as I'd have liked, but it will be OK. It will be fun to take time off later in the summer, too.

Before I go find paperwork for Violet's school registration, I wanted to talk about Mother's Day and what a great day it was! Shawn and the kids surprised me with breakfast in bed -- the first time I've ever gotten breakfast in bed! It was delicious, and Violet was so cute helping carry it up. All the kids made me awesome cards with the sweetest messages. Then we spent the afternoon in Ankeny watching the boys football games. The sun was shining when we left, but it soon grew cloudy and really cold! We were bundled up in all the blankets we could find in the van. My mom came to the games so I packed a special picnic for us -- fancy cheese, little pickles, olives, bread, fresh fruit and a rice pudding dessert for her. The only thing missing was the wine! Between games, we were so cold that we ran out for a coffee. Bo threw a touchdown and his team won 28-0. And Mazy ran a touchdown and the extra points, but they lost.... Too bad. Mazy gets so into the games and he always seems to play on teams that have a lot of heart but just can't quite pull off a win. And Bo always seems to get placed on the all-star teams who dominate over everyone! Oh well, that's how it goes.

Well, Shawn just turned on Game of Thrones and I don't want to miss it! Have a great week, everyone!

Inspection Day at the New Home

This afternoon I picked the kids up after school and took them to see the new house. Violet was very excited to see her room, and the boys were very excited to test out the yard by playing football in it. We hired a home inspector to take a look around and give us some idea of what will need fixed immediately, and what we need to plan for in the future.

The good news is there were no "oh crap" discoveries. The front porch needs new shingles, the "leaning tower of pisa" chimney needs taken down, there are a few spots on the roof that need shingles, a couple windows may need replaced, and the biggest problem area is in the basement where we need a general contractor to install a steel beam to replace some crappy wooden beams to help level the house out again. Other than that, it's in great shape! Actually, it really is in good shape for a 116-year-old house. The inspector said a lot of good things were done to update the house, and that with each new addition (he thinks there have been four!) they did things the right way.

We discovered there's a big concrete room under the driveway where he thinks they used to store the heating oil -- perfect storm shelter!

I took a bunch of new photos but I'm having trouble getting them to download, so I'll share those later.

Other than that, we're just busy getting things ready for moving day! I reserved a U-Haul truck today. Shawn reserved a big dumpster for Saturday, when we're going to do a ton of major yard work projects to get ready to sell this place. I am going to be really optimistic and assume we will sell this house this summer. We'll get it all ready and fixed up for a new family and someone will fall in love with it. And then once we sell this house, we'll have some extra money to fix the things in the new house.

I'm so excited!!! Hope you all have a great week. We're looking forward to watching Mazy run in the Drake Relays on Saturday. He runs at 5 p.m. in the elementary school relay. He is one of only four students chosen from the Downtown School to be on the team. We're very proud of him -- fast and a good citizen!

My New Hometown

Today was a great day.

The sun was shining against a blue sky and it was 75 degrees. Every flowering tree was in blossom and so beautiful after a week of rain. And I spent the day with three of my favorite people, showing off my soon-to-be new hometown.

My mom, aunt Sherie and niece Theron joined me for a fun-filled shopping day that took us to Valley Junction in West Des Moines, the East Village in downtown Des Moines, downtown Ames and then to Nevada to show them our new house and to go shopping in downtown Nevada.

It was so much fun! We ate sushi and got coffee in the East Village, had Stam's Chocolates in Ames and ended the day with iced tea and ice cream cones at Starbucks in Nevada. (FYI, Starbucks in Nevada is NOT the mega coffee shop chain; it's a local ice cream/burger joint.)

Everyone was so excited to see our new house and drive-by it and talk about all the things we're going to do to it. I can't wait for them all to help me decorate it and get moved in! I have been buying things for the kids rooms for the past year and storing it until we moved. They all have a new bed coming -- Violet's is a castle.... And then, I have basically spent the last three years designing their future bedrooms and dreaming about the day they would each get their own room.

The Travel/Collector Room -- Mazy's room is going to show off his love of maps, globes, travel and collecting information. He's getting a new dresser, a new desk and chair, new navy blue striped bedspread, new galvanized tin hanging cubby shelf, a light-up Star Wars light saber, two globes, and several new maps.

The Archaeologist/Artist Room -- Bo is my dinosaur hunter who loves doing origami and drawing and organizing his stuff. Besides the new bed, he'll get a new bookshelf, really cool orange shelves that hang on the wall, a light-up Star Wars light saber, a striped bedspread, new art supplies, and this amazing collection of dinosaurs both old and new. Bo and I also are going to do some dino-themed artwork for his walls.

The Princess/Fancy Pants Room -- Violet, well, Violet is getting every little girl's dream bedroom -- a castle bed, a 6-foot cloth teepee we'll turn into a reading area, a Frozen table and two chairs, a tiara mirror, and a five-foot dollhouse.

And the most exciting thing about all of this is the kids have never seen any of this stuff! I ordered it and put it into storage so we could surprise them with brand-new rooms! I want it to be like Extreme Home Makeover -- they walk in to these amazing rooms that have been decorated for them while they are away at school. I can't wait!!!

Back to Nevada
I have never been shopping in downtown Nevada before, just to the Ben Franklin. It has one of those classic small town main streets. Here are some pictures I found online:

Well, today happened to be Shoppe Nevada day, which was so cool!! I had no idea there were so many awesome little vintage and junk shops and local stores in town. Today they were showcasing all the stores with this neat event where you bought a ticket, received a goodie bag with coupons and discounts, had a bus to take you around to different stores and each store had a craft or demonstration, and free treats! It was the perfect day to show of my new hometown! As we drove back to Des Moines, I was just so excited about what's ahead for me, Shawn and the kids. Nevada is a community where we could start a business some day. I found a store where I could start selling some craft items I might make! How fun is that!! 

This is the bed and breakfast that is right across the street from us! See the little porch on the right side? If you kept walking right, you'd cross the street and run into my front porch! What a great view for us.

I also found this photo online tonight and it made me happy. 

Oh, I also bought a few new things for the kids rooms. There is this AWESOME store in Nevada that sells plants and things for fairy gardens! The owner seemed so nice and has such a great eye for home decor. He also has a landscaping business so I can't wait to get moved and maybe use him to help get the new yard in shape! At this shop, I bought Violet three cute little wooden signs for her future room. At the store that features all Iowa-made products I bought a beautiful green vase for me and Violet's future flower gardens. And at The Pumpkin Patch toy store in Ames, I bought some great art supplies for Bo's future room. I didn't buy anything for Mazy, but I did talk to my aunt about getting some of my uncle's photos from the Southwest for Mazy's room. Mazy is studying the Southwest at school and is very interested in it, so I want to surprise him with some framed photos. I think he'll love it. And it goes very well with my theme. :) 

All right, bath time for the kids. Tomorrow is the start of soccer for Violet and flag football for Mazy and Bo. All three take place at the same place, fortunately, but it's still going to be crazy on Sunday afternoons for the next 10 weeks!

Pinch Me, This Is Really Happening!

For six years, you've been following this blog and know that the one thing I have wanted to accomplish above all others is to sell my house and move into a new one.

Well, I haven't sold my house yet. It's not even on the market at the moment.

But guess what? We bought a new house!!! I'm going to be very optimistic and say that once we are out of this house, someone will want to buy it! That's the plan at least. And I'm not going to worry about it until I am forced to. :) 

So, the moment we have all been waiting so very very very very very long for -- let me introduce you to our new house!!!

The year was 1900. The world was talking about the opening of the Paris World Exhibition and the Second Modern Olympic Games in Paris. L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. And the first zeppelin flight took place in Germany.

And in Nevada, Iowa, a house was built. And 116 years later, that house with the crooked chimney would become our new home. 

The back deck off the kitchen was one of my favorite parts of the house. We'll eat supper out there, host parties there and Violet and I will plant all kinds of flowers in the yard!

I have big plans for the kitchen and dining room, which are one big room. Eventually I want to do a little remodeling to extend the counter space and increase storage, but for now, this will work great! The only thing I really really want to do now is change from an electric oven to a gas one. I can't go back to electric after all these years!

You may have seen on Facebook that we have already bought our new dining room table and chairs! Aren't they awesome!!!! The table comes with an extra leaf to make it a bit bigger, and the people who sold it to me threw in three coordinating gray chairs for free! The kitchen is totally going to be 1950s era in red, turquoise and green. Bright, vibrant and so much fun!

Isn't this staircase the best! I fell in love with it. It's one of the few places in the house with original woodwork. Or who knows, maybe they added it later. In any event, I like it! There's a great little closet under the stairs. I'll probably need the space for coats/bags/shoes, but wouldn't it be awesome to take the door off and turn it into a reading nook for the kids!

And here's the living room and the area at the foot of the stairs. I'm not sure what to do with that space yet... Maybe turn it into a little study with our bookcase and a couple of chairs? We also have to figure out where to put Shawn's computer. 

Also downstairs, are two decent-sized bedrooms, which will become the boys' rooms. I'm so excited for them to have their own bedrooms!!

On the main level, there's this little half bath. But my sister-in-law has already offered to help us renovate it into a three-quarters bath by adding a corner shower to it. The boys bedrooms will be downstairs so they'll be able to use it. And there's a scary shower in the basement.... I suppose Shawn can use that if he's feeling adventurous. :) 

Now come on upstairs (notice the awesome little window) and see what's up there.

There are three bedrooms and the bathroom. There's also a whole-house fan up there, which I've been told is a good thing to have in an old house.

Here's the only full bath in the house -- it's in good shape.

This is the smallest room upstairs. We'd really like to make it Violet's bedroom, but I'm not sure if it's big enough for the princess bed Shawn bought her several months ago... If not her bedroom, then it will be an amazing hobby room for me and Shawn to share. The fifth bedroom is the reason we were so excited about this house -- a HOBBY ROOM!!! Shawn and I both have tons of hobbies that have tons of supplies so having a place to keep all of them, where we can shut the door and keep the kids out of it, is pretty amazing. Sorry future guests, we have different plans for your room. :)

This is the master bedroom. Two walk-in closets! Holy cow, what the heck am I going to do with all that space!!! It's already painted a really pretty light blue, which will go awesome with my new color scheme for the master bedroom -- blues, oranges and white. And did you see the window in the closet!! I'm tempted to turn that into a little sewing room... So many possibilities!!

And this is the third bedroom upstairs -- it's big. It's an awesome room for morning sunlight. I'm a little jealous of that, but I think I'll trade that for the walk-in closet. :)

Well, do you love it as much as us? Isn't it awesome! You are all invited over to see it whenever you want. We'll move in in early June, and have an amazing summer ahead to join our new community!! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Thanks for hanging in there with me all these years!