Thursday, March 29, 2012

Surprise, surprise.

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I came home Tuesday after a long day of work to find my brother had dropped off a box full of papers, pictures and other things from my dad's.

He hadn't really gone through it yet and I was curious to see what kind of surprises I might find in there. I wouldn't call Dad a hoarder. Okay that's a lie. I would and did call him one. To which he laughed. I guess it seemed perfectly normal to him to have a former office full of old magazines and books, not to mention our old rooms stacked with egg cartons and more boxes, toys of Clayton's and other odds and ends.

I know he thought that he might find a use for all that stuff some day. Or he might want to read that old magazine at some point. But not if he threw it away! (like his daughter might wish for him to do)

So I shouldn't have been surprised that the box contained envelopes full of photos that he no doubt looked at but never ever put in an album or framed. I was more than a bit surprised to find old love letters though.


Imagine that. The old guy kept all those letters. Some are from 1969 when my parents were only dating. Some were as late as 1972. Mom says after that she was able to join him when he was away at work and they didn't need to write letters anymore. They kept me fascinated for a good couple of hours.  I tucked them away in a keep box.

Also in the box was the cowboy hat Ryan and I gave him for Christmas one year. Pristinely clean cowboy hat that is. Turns out he never wore it. New hat for Ryan it is!


There was my wedding invitation (which is in better shape than the one I have left!). Family history books. Lots of pictures I hadn't seen before. Old ones. New ones. Negatives. You name it, it was in there.

Okay Dad, you win. Sometimes you shouldn't purge out all the stuff you own.

After all, when you're gone, your daughter will probably have this uncontrollable urge to save everything with your face on it.

Thanks for thinking of me, old man.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

So Strange

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My new view from the dining room.  Holy cow, we may actually be doing this!


It will be even weirder if that little white sign ever sports a big SOLD sticker.....

Cue panicking. Cue freak out. Cue the next adventure of our life!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Spring is ... Plastic?

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It won't stop snowing.  The realtor is coming tomorrow. Didn't Mother Nature get the memo that Spring started a couple of days ago and Karrie really really needs to get out and perk up the outside??!

So I did what will seem like an awesome epic idea come those hot months when I totally forget I even own plants, let alone remember to water them.


I bought more plastic flowers.

Okay, okay. I know plastic flowers are tacky. You won't catch them inside my house but for outside they're perfect for a forgetful lazy ass like me. After all, we all seen what happened last year....


I originally just bought enough flowers for the mailbox planter and the hanging plant out back (the one that held the ever hopeful surviving plant). I had tossed an old silk ivy into this planter on the front step. I tried to make that greenery work with just a few added trailing plastic flowers, but I decided I hated the ivy. So I ditched it and came up with this arrangement instead. They'll be sitting on the front step.


A quick extra trip to the dollar store for some replacement plants and I have the backyard hanging planter ready to go.

I grabbed some pretty sunflowers for the mailbox planter.


Why yes, that IS snow coming down. It just won't quit.

The neighbor was laughing at me taking a picture of my fake plants. She said it surely was a Kodak moment. I refrained making any childish remarks back at her. Or any teenagerish remarks either.

Little did she know, I had a whole post cooking in my head over this picture. So there.


Monday, March 19, 2012

For Staging Purposes, Of course.

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Whew. Saturday Mom and I cleaned spots of this house I hope to never clean again. I'm talking to you kitchen blinds and light fixtures. Not to mention behind the fridge and stove and on top of the cupboards.

We crossed quite a few items off the to do list. There's still a page left to go, but the end is in sight!

A not so nice Sunday meant the outside stuff didn't get done, but it did free us up to go shopping.

Seems all my nagging drooling over a new vacuum finally wore Ryan down. Yes, yes I know. We're moving. We're clearing out. We're not supposed to be buying any new items.

But look how tiny that box is. Practically smaller than my smallest child.

Plus, we need it for staging purposes. You haven't seen the hair that wonderful little vacuum pulled out of my sitting room area rug!


You can't make me take it back.  I'll find room for it. I'll ship it to myself.  Strap it to the top of the van. Buy it a train ticket. Something. It's coming.

Speaking of stuff Ryan insists we don't need but Karrie buys anyways, I got myself a new rug for the laundry room.


For those who have actually been in my laundry room and seen that disaster of a rug I had before (hi mom!), you'll agree this one looks so much better.  The rest of you can just be in awe that my laundry room floor is devoid of folded laundry.

Well, Mom is probably in awe of that as well. C'est la vie!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Inked - Part One.

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Or is it Part Five? Six?

Six I guess, technically.

Yes, Ryan has been back to the ink. This time, to get his chest and side tattooed. Now, before you send the sister posse out after me, it was his idea. In fact, knowing that it was probably going to be fairly painful, I asked him more than a few times if he wanted to go through with it. He decided to get it outlined first and then go back to get it filled. Spread the love.. er pain.. around.

But every good tattoo starts off with the initial drawing out. That's where I come in. I'm the supervisor in regards to how it looks. The purple smears are from re-draws, getting it just right all over.

Here he is, all purple inked up and ready to go.

Oh yea, that spot there, under his arm... it's gonna hurt.


The pattern carries on around his back just slightly.


Ashley, his tattoo artist, says the ribs and around his nipple aren't going to feel so awesome either.  Makes you want to rush out and drag an ink filled needle under your skin doesn't it??!


The fun starts .. now! On a side note though, doesn't Ashley's hair rock? I love it.

A couple of hours later, he was looking like this:


Ouch. See that bruising up by his collar bone? Luckily, when it comes time to color, it's really only a small tip up there to fill in.


Ryan says under the arm hurt like hell. Surprisingly, the ribs didn't but the spot over his kidneys wasn't a Sunday picnic either.


The color is going to happen in a couple of sessions. That's a lot of ink to fill. Another four hours or so.

But doesn't it look awesome so far? I can't wait for the end result.

I'm fairly sure he's not done yet. I hear rumblings of having the other arm triballed.

Yea, that's totally a word. Made up by me. Right now. Perhaps I should trademark it. Quick.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Looming "L" Day

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Aaaahhhh. 

"L" Day is looming. And right after it, "M" day.  Hopefully with a great big SOLD sign in between there. If I don't have a nervous breakdown before then. So much to do.

What? You don't live in my head? You have no clue what I'm nattering on about??

LIST Day. The day that fills my little head with thoughts of obsessive cleaning, purging, and results in me scribbling out a four page to-do list.

Things like: frames emptied, garage sale stuff out to the shed, video games sorted and sold, same for dvds and books. Stairs repainted. Deck washed. Fridge and stove pulled out and washed. Door repainted from Rodeo. Yes, we did that once. Lovely dog insists we do it again. Closets cleaned out. And it goes on and on and on. Sort of like me.

Oh and it's potato shipping season. Soon to be followed by aspargus season. Followed by Karrie in the corner, rocking and sobbing.

Oh alright, perhaps if I didn't delay so much. Or sit on this computer writing this blog post.

Sunday, despite Ryan being sick, we did manage to purge out the DVDs.


My desk and shelves have never looked so clean! I figured if I was going to clean out the DVDs, it would be a good time to toss all that other stuff up there. I'm talking to you useless cords and extra mouse.


I even put the DVDs up for sale on  Sweet Moving Sale

Well go on, go buy them. Didn't you hear? List day is in 10 days.

Oh god, T E N days.