Going, going

We sold the house on Friday. It is bittersweet. I've never loved this house the way I loved others. When we moved here it was the height of the real estate craze and this was the one single family house that was at the tippy top of our price range. So we bought it.

It was vintage 1955. I wish I still had more photos, but the computer crashed and I have just a few to show. Boo! Picture pink and green carpet. Pine paneling and pine kitchen cabinets that had aged and turned orange over the years. Pink and blue tile in the bathroom and apink sink and toilet to match. I love pink green orange and blue, but it was too much in this little house.

We were fortunate to get to know the man selling the house. Mr. Gardner had lived here for 30 something years and knew every inch of the house. He was such a neat man. We also have grown fond of our neighbors. The Senior Citizens of Dogwood Drive have been so good to us. They seem to love to watch our comings and goings and never complain about the sidewalk chalk and shrieks coming from our yard. Hopefully the new owner will continue to look after these wonderful women and treasure them as the wonderful neighbors they are.

We painted every inch of this house. Some parts 2 or 3 times! We refinished the floors, reglazed the pink and blue bathroom tile, finished the basement and then last summer renovated the kitchen. Some of these projects were done by us (and Allen's super handy dad, Joe), but we also branched out and hired some professionals to do some work for us. That was a big deal!
During that time we grew from a couple to a family of four. We brought both our babies home to this house, and because of that, I will love this house in a way that I'll never love another house. A little bit of my heart will always be here on Dogwood Drive.   


The Kitchen before

The kitchen after

The bathroom before

The bathroom after

The Living Room before

The Living Room after

Front of the house before

Front of the house after

OK not really, but the boys needed some representation here

Basement before

Now it is time for our family to move and grow in other ways.  We will be doing things we never imagined and are just not possible living here.  So long little brick house, we will miss you!

This week

This week I...
made hotel reservations
went to Walmart with 2 boys (who were good as gold!)
swept the house
went to the dump
went to Goodwill
went to Target
went to JoAnne's
had a good-bye dinner with my mom friends
went to our last playgroup
got a U.S. phone number
emptied flower pots
washed, dried and stored flower pots
did 4 loads of laundry
ordered change of address cards-twice!
baked a pan of brownies
looked at pictures of our new house over and over
got a set of herb markers from a blogging friend
washed the dog
painted a table

It is Tuesday at 1:06 p.m.
I CAN do this!

Something Different

Usually I try to keep it all about the Bug and the Butterbean here, but today I wanted to do something different.

As our move approaches faster and faster I feel like there are a few things here I want to record.  One of the most whimsical things that we have done in this house is install these chalkboards in the kitchen. 

I made them and Allen hung them.  He wasn't sure he wanted the boys to think it was OK to draw on the walls.  Generally it has been fine, but there have been a few little instances of someone  (Miller) drawing on something he wasn't supposed to!

Lately the sign has read, "Share your things!" 

It's not working

p.s. the movers come in 10 days.  GULP!

County Fair

Last year we went to the county fair.  You never saw any of the pictures because i lost my camera at the fair!  BOO!  This year I made sure to take better care of the camera and manged to hold onto the camera, until I lost it immediately after the fair!  The camera has now been located and I have some pictures to share!

 We love the Montgomery County fair because it is a good old fashioned agricultural fair, which means that there are animals, animals and more animals.

Can you tell Jackson loves the pig races?

Then we got to go through a bunch of animal exhibits.  This was great, but you can't really get the feeling for it until you think really hard about how animals smell on a 100 degree day in August.  For that reason we skipped to goats and sheep!

Then it was on to the Farris Wheel!

As we walked in we had seen all the rides and had told Jackson that he could ride the Ferris Wheel  after we had done all the other stuff because they weren't open yet.  He asked approximately 489 times if it was time to go on the Ferris wheel yet.  Finally he had his ticket

It was a really high Ferris Wheel

The view from the top!

The view of the Monster truck that was hanging from a crane

Sadly it would have cost our family of 4 over $70 to go to the Monster Truck Rally so we just admired from afar!  Maybe we can see a monster truck show in the Bahamas!

The view from the top

This next one make my tummy feel a little woozy!

These folks were waving to us the whole time!  Love the tent that is behind them!  So glad that they are charging $1 per person to see a LIVE giant horse. 

I wonder what kind of adventures we will be having this time next year?

Dance Party

 

I can't believe that I've never shared this video before.  Miller takes his Wiggles guitar and hosts his afternoon dance party.  Only in the afternoon when the light is bright and he can see his reflection in the glass fireplace doors.  This is something that I never want to forget!  Also notice how he claps for himself at the beginning of the video!