It's my oldest baby's 8th birthday today.
This one is from very shortly after we got her, so she was just over 1 1/2 years old. Notice how her fur is still dark? She's getting so white these days!
Happy girl! :-D
Pete & MJ
Friday, April 22, 2011
Happy 8th Birthday!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
SOLD!
That's right, it's finally official! We got through negotiations, inspection, more negotiations (the buyers want our electrical updated), and the appraisal. Moving day is only two weeks away!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Perfect GIVEAWAY for someone changing address!
All Things Thrifty is giving away a custom stamp, inks, and more! This is a giveaway I just had to enter! I'll be throwing away all of our return address labels, since our address is changing in a few weeks. What an awesome replacement! Go ahead, enter, but I'm gonna win! :-D
Monday, April 11, 2011
Pillow Cover GIVEAWAY!
I know I haven't posted in For.Ev.Er. Life has been up and down and all around! But I just wanted to drop in and tell you about a giveaway over at one of my favorite blogs, Hi Sugarplum! The giveaway is for TWO 16 x 16 pillow covers from DIYPillows. Head on over and enter to win! I did! :-D
Sunday, March 20, 2011
More cleaning...
The last three weeks has included four more showings and an open house! It's been good to have activity on the house, but frustrating to not have anything come of it. We keep hearing that people like the house and have some interest in it, but so far no one has liked it enough.. or something. Really, I know there is a reason why it hasn't sold yet, and it will sell to just the right person at just the right time, but that doesn't make the waiting any easier!
I have so many ideas in my head for the next house... I just can't wait to see some of them materialize!
I have so many ideas in my head for the next house... I just can't wait to see some of them materialize!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Responsibilities & Positive Reinforcement: UPDATE!
Well, we've been charting Eli's responsibilities for four weeks now. We stuck with the first simple chart for three weeks, and it went really well! His four responsibilities were: Get dressed, Brush teeth - AM, Brush teeth - PM, and Stay dry all day. We had a lot of success with getting dressed and brushing teeth (although he needs reminding), but NO success with staying dry. UGH! SO frustrating....
SO, I came up with a new chart!
I really need to work on my photography skills... But that's not important. Let's talk about our chart changes. First of all, I added "Make bed" to his list of responsibilities. This is something that I know he is capable of and makes life easier for me! I'll be honest, my main motivation with this is that he used to constantly drag his blankets and pillows off his bed and all over the house, which drove me crazy! Now that it's his responsibility to make his bed, he takes pride in it, and leaves it made all day! He still charts getting dressed, because most days it still takes me telling him to do it 5 times before it actually gets done. Rather than keeping brushing teeth split into AM & PM, I made it one task, so he only gets one reward even if he does get it done twice. And in hopes of finally having some success with staying dry, we split that into morning and afternoon. I am VERY happy to say, in his first week, he earned two stickers! I know it doesn't seem like much, but trust me, this is a BIG DEAL.
At the end of each week, Eli received his nickels! This was so exciting, for both of us! I was never able to find any containers to buy for his three money categories, so for now we are using plastic sandwich meat containers.
Fancy, huh?! The masking tape and blue Sharpie really make them look nice! :-D Okay, okay, they may not be pretty, but he loves them, especially because Daddy cut slots in the lids, so he can put the coins in like you would in a piggy bank.
He caught on right away to the idea of giving 1/10th to God, saving 1/10th till he's a grownup, and spending the rest! I only had to explain it to him once, and each week he enjoys counting and dividing it up. The first three weeks he chose to stick to the minimum for God and saving, but this last week he wanted to put 1/3rd of his money in each container, giving and saving more than we require of him. I was quite proud. :-) We actually hadn't been to church for a few weeks for various reasons, so Eli brought his giving money with him to church yesterday, and he could NOT wait to give it to God! It was so sweet!
So far, I think we are both really liking the chart and it's results!
SO, I came up with a new chart!
I really need to work on my photography skills... But that's not important. Let's talk about our chart changes. First of all, I added "Make bed" to his list of responsibilities. This is something that I know he is capable of and makes life easier for me! I'll be honest, my main motivation with this is that he used to constantly drag his blankets and pillows off his bed and all over the house, which drove me crazy! Now that it's his responsibility to make his bed, he takes pride in it, and leaves it made all day! He still charts getting dressed, because most days it still takes me telling him to do it 5 times before it actually gets done. Rather than keeping brushing teeth split into AM & PM, I made it one task, so he only gets one reward even if he does get it done twice. And in hopes of finally having some success with staying dry, we split that into morning and afternoon. I am VERY happy to say, in his first week, he earned two stickers! I know it doesn't seem like much, but trust me, this is a BIG DEAL.
At the end of each week, Eli received his nickels! This was so exciting, for both of us! I was never able to find any containers to buy for his three money categories, so for now we are using plastic sandwich meat containers.
Fancy, huh?! The masking tape and blue Sharpie really make them look nice! :-D Okay, okay, they may not be pretty, but he loves them, especially because Daddy cut slots in the lids, so he can put the coins in like you would in a piggy bank.
He caught on right away to the idea of giving 1/10th to God, saving 1/10th till he's a grownup, and spending the rest! I only had to explain it to him once, and each week he enjoys counting and dividing it up. The first three weeks he chose to stick to the minimum for God and saving, but this last week he wanted to put 1/3rd of his money in each container, giving and saving more than we require of him. I was quite proud. :-) We actually hadn't been to church for a few weeks for various reasons, so Eli brought his giving money with him to church yesterday, and he could NOT wait to give it to God! It was so sweet!
So far, I think we are both really liking the chart and it's results!
WOW!
It's been a full four weeks since my last post... OOOOOPS! In my defense, the month of February was a bit CRAZY!
Here is a little time-line of house related events:
January 31: Mid-morning - called a possible new Realtor
January 31: 4 pm - Possible new Realtor was at our house, FULL of ideas and excitement
February 3: Consultant with painting lady about kitchen cupboards (we ended up NOT doing it!), and some furniture rearrangement with the help our new Realtor
February 4: Menards run!
February 5: Painting, hanging art, painting, fixing basement window trim, painting, moving furniture, cleaning
February 6: 11 am - Showing #1
February 7: Signed contract with Realtor
February 9: 8 pm - Showing #2
February 13: 10:30 am - Showing #3
February 16: 4 pm - Showing #4
February 21: 11:30 am - Showing #5
February 25: 10 am - Showing #6 (a 2nd with the people from #5)
February 25: Just after noon - An OFFER comes in. It was very low, so we countered back that afternoon.
February 28: Heard back that they have decided to keep looking...
So yeah, a showing every 3-5 days... that's a LOT of cleaning. I'm ready for March and a decent offer or two!
Hopefully I will be back sooner than a month from now with more details on our meeting with our new Realtor and everything we did to get the house ready. I also have a couple other random decorating posts in the works....
Here is a little time-line of house related events:
January 31: Mid-morning - called a possible new Realtor
January 31: 4 pm - Possible new Realtor was at our house, FULL of ideas and excitement
February 3: Consultant with painting lady about kitchen cupboards (we ended up NOT doing it!), and some furniture rearrangement with the help our new Realtor
February 4: Menards run!
February 5: Painting, hanging art, painting, fixing basement window trim, painting, moving furniture, cleaning
February 6: 11 am - Showing #1
February 7: Signed contract with Realtor
February 9: 8 pm - Showing #2
February 13: 10:30 am - Showing #3
February 16: 4 pm - Showing #4
February 21: 11:30 am - Showing #5
February 25: 10 am - Showing #6 (a 2nd with the people from #5)
February 25: Just after noon - An OFFER comes in. It was very low, so we countered back that afternoon.
February 28: Heard back that they have decided to keep looking...
So yeah, a showing every 3-5 days... that's a LOT of cleaning. I'm ready for March and a decent offer or two!
Hopefully I will be back sooner than a month from now with more details on our meeting with our new Realtor and everything we did to get the house ready. I also have a couple other random decorating posts in the works....
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