Thursday, September 29, 2011

Emotional Day of "lasts"

Today has been the most emotional one (thus far!) for me.  It is Thursday.  We move on Saturday.  Where did all the time go?

I had to contact the Williamson County Animal Shelter just now.  We haven't been able to find any other options for Brady.  He has driven me crazy lately, but still the thought of him not being around and even worse, being in a shelter with tons of other dogs waiting to be adopted... That awful ASPCA or whatever commercial with Sarah McLauclan is playing over and over in my head.  The lady I spoke with was very positive that being younger, and a small dog, with a specific bread, will find a new home easily.  Plus, they will make sure he gets all his needed shots and whatnot updated.  I think this could be a good thing.... Its just hard to actually do.  I don't want to take him and drop him off tomorrow.  Not one bit.

Charlotte and I went to our last story time at the library today.  Oh, I'm sure we'll find another one at the Huntsville library or Barnes and Noble, but still, this one is familiar and C loves going to Her library.

I have a friend coming over today to pack the last 2 rooms - the kitchen and playroom.  Once those are done, we'll literally have most everything packed.  I'm not ready for it to be done.  That means we have to move to unpack these things in a whole new house. I think the excitement of a new house, a new challenge, etc had taken over the last few weeks but it's a little more daunting now.

Charlotte spend her last night in this house tonight. Ever.  That make me extremely sad.  She has slept in her room since the night we brought her home.  2 years and 9 months of that being HER room and now it won't be.  C is very excited about her new house and her new room, etc.  She doesn't grasp the concept of what that means and what will change, I'm afraid for the time when it does sink in to her that we won't live in the house she remembers anymore.  We won't go to the Home Depot where her Nan works, won't go to the Bridge anymore, won't go to her favorite Target store, won't have her Daddy home every day.... won't, won't, won't.

We had our weekly play date with Allison, Hazen, and Laney Combs yesterday.  Had a great time at their house, and then at the park for lunch and time on the playground.  It wasn't until we were leaving that I realized that's the last time we'll see them as Tennesseans.  We have already talked about plans for them to visit us in Hville or us to make SH trips, but still... it won't be the same as living less than 5 minutes from each other and just getting together to play during the mornings.  Because I didn't realize that this was the last time I'll see Allison for a while (she is leaving to ATL tomorrow and won't be back til after we move) I didn't get to actually saw bye like I wanted.  Maybe that's a good thing...

Our last Sunday at the Bridge was Sunday.  Eesh.  The Bridge is what brought my family and Jeff down to Tennessee/Spring Hill in 2003.  (Jeff and I weren't part of the Bridge for a few years as we leaved in North and East Nashville, we came back in 2008)  Josh recognized all the website, video, and tech work that Jeff has given to the Bridge over the years... it seemed so final.  There were so many people I wanted to say goodbye too, but then it just felt like a normal Sunday and I know we'll be back to visit so in some ways it didn't seem necessary.   And then we were done.

The night before, we had our last "hoo-rah" with a bunch of people from church to hang out and watch the UFC PPV.  We love hosting these events.  I had a moment during the night where I just stood and looked at the full room as we pulled chairs in from all the different rooms so everyone had a seat and I wondered... when will this happen again?  How long will it take us to find a new group of friends, a new church, a new UFC bunch ;0), to fill up our living room?   As my mom pointed out, I love playing hostess, and the thought that I may not do that again for a while was a little depressing.

My dearest and oldest (old like we've been friends forever, not that she is old!) friend Sarah also came down Saturday afternoon and stayed the night and went to church Sunday.  Sarah lives in Bowling Green KY, which is only an hour and a half or so away.  It's totally close enough that every 1-2 months she'll come down for a weekend, especially if it is a birthday or special get together.  And she is friends with Josh and Jana Howerton and loves the Bridge, so that's an added bonus for Spring Hill visits!  Now with us being in Huntsville, it is going to double the drive from BG and not have the Bridge and the Howertons to share a visit with.  We've already talked about how she can still come to Huntsville, but I know it won't happen near as frequent.  I'll miss our times together!

Jeff's parents came down Sunday afternoon for lunch and to watch the Titans game.  They live in BG as well, but sadly we don't see them near as often as we should!  I'm hoping that we'll be able to get a full or queen size bed for a guest bed instead of just a twin, and then they can actually come down and stay a weekend! We will be much more intentional about visits with them.

We had a last dinner with my parents too.  They took us to Pancho's mexican restaurant to celebrate Jeff's birthday.  I'm so used to my parent's being 10 minutes away.  We can just decide, hey, lets do dinner. We see them at church, they stop by the house just to say hi, we go out to the Ridge to use their hot tub.  It's easy and comfortable.  Plus, we have built in free and reliable babysitters that charlotte loves!  I know I'll still talk to them all the time, and we'll make many visits. But it won't be the same.  It won't be the same for my Nana either.  We would make pretty regular trips on Wednesday to play at her house and eat dinner (she lives in Nashville, about 30 minutes away from us)  We are all going to miss our time together.  She has already talked to my parents about making plans for her first trip to Huntsville, so that makes me happy :)  I love my sweet family.  Hannah has already moved to Cincinnati so I know I won't see her til Thanksgiving probably, but still, it feels different now.

Wow... this post went long.  I was just gonna write about Brady and our last story time... oops!  I guess is this probably more of a journal entry than a blog post that people will actually want to read!  So don't worry if you aren't reading this, or if you are and you skipped right over a bunch of stuff!

Oh and no, I didn't read over it and do any type of proof reading so no judgement!!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Brady Boy needs a new home :(



I hate writing this blog post.

We got Brady 5 years ago and he has been a great family member ever since!  He has been with us through 3 moves but won't be able to make this next one to Huntsville with us. ;(

We would love to find a friend or friend of a friend to be able to give him a new home.  We are not asking any money or "adoption fee" for him.  We just want to find someone who will love him!!  If you would love a little pup to add to your family, please read below and see if he would be a good fit for you.  We are leaving Oct 1 and hope to have him in a new home by then.

Some info on Brady:

He is a Puggle  - one of those designer breeds of Pug and Beagle.  He is a good sized dog - 25-30 pounds.  Not too small and not too big :)

He was born May 2006.

He gets along great with kids and other animals.

He can be an outside dog, but prefers to stay inside.  He currently uses a lead system in our backyard as it isn't fenced, while it isn't his favorite, it would be an option for your home too if needed.

He loves being loved  - will take all the petting and belly scratching you can take!!

He always wants to lay on something soft - like a pillow or blanket.

He is kennel trained for when you leave the house or overnight - he really loves his kennel and prefers to sleep in there and will go hang out in his kennel on his own.

He is a very good and sweet and kind dog.

He loves his chew toys, but will only play a round or two of fetch.  He loves chasing a laser or light, or just being chased!

He is not "fixed" but we have never had any issues with marking or over aggressiveness, or "acting out" because of it.

He isn't really a guard dog, as he isn't aggressive, but he will make a lot of noise when someone is at the door, so that can be nice!

He will need all of his vaccinations etc. updated.  This is an area where we are not responsible pet-parents :(

If you have any questions about Brady or want to meet him or take him home, please let me know!  I really don't want to go the craigslist route.

Here are some pictures of Brady over the years

[gallery order="DESC" columns="4"]

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Our Last "Hoo-rah!" Saturday @7

Hello friends!

In case you missed the news, we are moving to Huntsville October 1st - that's just over a week away, crazy!!  There are so many people that we want to get together with one last time, but there just aren't enough days or nights until we go - especially considering Jeff is commuting down to Hville 3 days a week this week and next.

Sooooo... Come on over Saturday night!  There is a Ultimate Fighter Championship fight that night on PPV that starts at 8 - we have had many a get together to watch these PPVs and would love to host one more.

I do know that many of you are probably not big fans of UFC, and 8pm may be a bit late for those of you with kiddos to put to bed like me, so come over starting 7 instead!!  I'll make some desserts - even apple dumplings to tempt those of you that know and love them!  We'll just hang out and visit and say our goodbyes. :(  Sorry for the late notice, even if you can just drop in and grab a cookie and a hug anytime between 7 and approx 11, we'd love to see you.

To recap:

7:00-11  desserts at our house

8:00-11  stick around for the UFC fight

125 Crestwood Lane in Lexington Farms

PS - we will be putting out a call soon for help to load the UHaul on the 1st... ;) ;)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Our Crazy Car Carousel!

If you have been following along the last month+, you will have noticed a few changes in our automobiles!  The last 2-3 years we have been driving a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix and 2008 Dodge Magnum. These were really great cars, fit our family very well, and were in great condition.





This really should have been a blog post on it's own about a month ago but I'm too lazy, so here we go: The past 2 years, Jeff has been fully self employed and working at home, so having 2 cars was really unnecessary on most days.  So we decided to sell my Grand Prix and just be a 1 car family!  It's a much longer story than I'm sure you want to hear, but it ended up being more financially beneficial to us to sell both of the cars and get a new 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited!


Taking a ride on the open road!



Jeff had a fun yellow Jeep before Charlotte was born but we traded it in for the Magnum, had to have a more responsible "family card" right? Well, Jeep runs in his blood so he has always wanted to get one back.  With the 4 door Jeep option, it really worked out for us to get one at this season of life!  Charlotte LOVES her Jeep - she says that exact thing just about every day.  And she will correct you, it is not a car, it is a JEEP!  Charlotte loves having the top down, and enjoys off roading more than I even do!  Even better, we haven't really run into any major issues with having just 1 car. Yay - it works!


Enjoying the breeze!



Charlotte loves wearing her "jeep hat" and sunglasses!




Then comes Huntsville!  Not only will Jeff be working outside of the home now, he will be commuting starting Wednesday for the first 3 weeks or so of the job, so we are back to needing 2 cars!  I'm sad that our great experiment only lasted about a month and a half :(   We decided to get a nice, reliable car that can hold some miles, and have better gas milage too.  Jeff can use it for his work commute, and we can use it for our trips back to TN and KY (which will probably happen monthly!)  In comes the Toyota Camry!  We found a couple options, crazy enough 2 of them sold either right before or right after we looked at them, so when we saw the 3rd one that we liked, we felt like we needed to jump on it!  We picked it up last night, and so far have really enjoyed it.  It is an 06, has only had one owner that took great care of it so it is just about spotless. It reminds me so much of my old 93 Camry, it's almost like coming home.

It's so shiny! When we picked it up, they put it in a rooms with a disco ball and lasers - ha! Quite fun :)




So it's a long story, but I thought you might need a little help wondering why you have seen us driving 4 cars in the past 45 days or so!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

We found a house!

We found a house in Huntsville!  We spent many hours, looked at tons of houses, and had to decide between renting, buying, or building.  We finally decided that while it's more fun to buy, especially a brand new house like the ones we were looking at, it would be best to rent for a bit.  We'll get to know the area better, make sure the job is gonna stick ;), and save up some more money for a better downpayment.  We would also have the flexibility to then build the house that we really want in the subdivision we really want and have plenty of time to get that going.

All that said, we are looking forward to the house that we are going to call home for the next year!  It isn't perfect, I think we'll have some creative space planning things to decide, and it's a little further drive from things than I'd prefer, but it's a really nice place.  It is by far the cleanest we have seen (and boy did we see some icky ones!) it is cute as a button from the outside, its got a great yard, deck, and long driveway for Charlotte to play on, and has some great features like a fireplace, hardwood floors, tray ceilings, big bedrooms, and a lot of storage.  It's a little smaller than our house now - 2100 sq ft vs our current 2600, but it's 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, and has a nice sunroom. OH, and one FANTASTIC thing I'm finding in Alabama - most homes are 1 STORY!  I am so looking forward to being on one level and not having tons of stuff piled on the stairs to go up or downstairs. :)

Here are a couple pictures - of course it will look different with our stuff in it :)

Isn't it cute!  109 Tanglefoot Huntsville AL 35811



It's 1.23 acres... Jeff's gonna love mowing this one!



Kitchen is a bit smaller and not open to the living room, but it's nice and clean and laid out well.



Nice LR with hardwoods, tray ceilings, and fireplace. Our biggest challenge is gonna be figure out furniture placement :)




Stay turned for our next blog post: we'll take a trip on our Car Carousel!

Monday, September 5, 2011

We're Moving to...

Huntsville Alabama!



Now some Q&A!

What's in Huntsville Alabama you ask?  Jeff's new job!  Jeff has been fully self employed with his video work for the past 2 years and while we have thoroughly enjoyed this season of life with him home every day, it's time for a change and a little more stability :)  After looking around at multiple jobs around the country, we feel pretty lucky finding a job that is just an hour and a half away from where we currently live in Spring Hill, TN!  We are still going to be close to our family and friends and dear city of Nashville and that is a big advantage to Huntsville.Now for some Q & A!

So what's this job?  Jeff will be working for Baron Services, a Huntsville based company. I'm gonna steal this tag-line from their website because they explain it best: Weather monitoring technologies and applications for broadcast, public safety, aviation, marine, ground, and government.  All that said, you've probably seen their technology and don't even know it!  They have a great video team within their marketing department, and Jeff is excited to be part of a creative team instead of going it alone like the past few years!  Baron is a family company that will only continue to grow as long as there is technology and weather, we look forward to becoming a part of this great company.

Jeff has had a great saying while we have been making this decision over the past few weeks: We are excited to go but sad to leave. I think that nails it to a T!  If you know me, you know I HAD to make a Pro/Con list and we had so very many things make this list.  We are looking forward to the change and excitement of learning a new city and moving to a new home, the financial stability, no more child-care work for me, the benefits (like health insurance!), the fact that it isn't too far away from friends and family, and Jeff's excitement to join a creative team like this.  Huntsville also seems like a great city - it's the 2nd smartest city in the US with tons of bioengineering, aerospace, NASA, and on and on.  It's also made several top 10 lists of best place to live, work, retire, raise a family, and on and on.   It's big but not too big!  The Cons list was of course longer: leaving family, friends, missing our church, having to do the actual move (so much work!), moving a 2 year old from all she knows and loves, potentially being unhappy with our new place, and on and on!  But even with the cons list being longer than the pro, we felt like there were enough major pros to accept this position and move on with our next season of life.

So when do we leave? What comes next?  Well, we are not sure exactly.  Jeff and Baron have talked about the option of starting sooner rather than later and doing some work at home and commuting 1-3 days a week.  We have to look at the ins and outs of that actually working out.  We also have to find a place to live!  We have lots of options open to us right now between renting and buying - and yet more pro/con lists of course.  Jeff and I hope we can get down there 1-2 more times in the next week to two and really make that decision so we can move onto other decisions - like what to sell, what to pack, what about our dog Brady, and on and on and on!  The decisions are a little overwhelming right now but we hope that we can take it step by step.  In general, we are thinking that we'd move in about a month.

So what can you do?  Pray for us!  For these decisions we have to make, for our stress levels, for what this my do to our 2 year old, and for our family and friends that are sad about this transition.  Also, if you have any advice about moving with a toddler, or any knowledge about the Huntsville area, I'd love to hear it!!  We also need more boxes and packing paper if you have any laying around your garage or if you see a neighbor moving in let me know and I can take the boxes off their hands!  We haven't decided what to do about the actual moving - like hiring movers, do it ourselves, etc.  So we may be calling on our church family to help us move... thanks in advance?!?  And finally, we may or may not be able to take our dear Puggle, Brady. So if you would love a sweet 5 year old pug/beagle mix, we may have one for you.  If you are interested in our house... my parents will be looking to either sell it or rent it, so let me know!  I hate leaving them in a possible lurch like this.

Thank you all for being such wonderful friends and loved ones and thanks in advance for supporting us through this new phase!

*photo Credit http://www.Huntsville-Homes.com all rights reserved.