Inspection Results

I'm extremely pleased to say that the inspection came back completely clear except that we have to add a railing down the three steps from the deck to the yard, in order for the new owners to get their FHA loan. Silly, but that's gov't for you.
Yesterday, I had a meeting with one of the builders I wanted to talk to... none of the structural changes I wanted to make to the plans are at all difficult, or expensive.  He suggested 9' finished ceilings in the basement, and said it would save us some money to use roof trusses in part of the third floor bonus room,  and Dan's office doesn't really need to be 20+' by 30+'.  Dan was good with half that size.  That puts my sewing space in the basement... which means Dan won't have to listen to my machines buzzing along.  Now the question is whether converting the screened porch to a conservatory, and finishing the basement will break the bank.  We'll see.  I need to talk to the other three builders next week... Must call them tomorrow - that was one of many things that didn't get done today while I packed another load into the van.  Dan is having far more fun taking his motorcycle class so he can get his license... I'd be jealous, but I've got some Appleseeds coming up...
We still need a place to live by the end of the month - I've got a couple leads on homes in Williamston, which would be the best location for us in terms of saving gas $$.  If anyone knows of anything on the rental market that will do a 6 month lease, FB or email me, please!

Packing (toys, not heat)

Yes, I know the verb packing around here usually refers to firearms, but lately it has been used in reference to the tremendous amount of STUFF I have to shove in boxes, toss into storage, toss into the trash, take to Goodwill or generally get out of this house prior to the end of the month.

May I just say that I am depressed and disheartened at the amount of junk we've accumulated in ten years here?  That I long for the days when everything I owned fit in the back of my pickup truck?  That my children have WAY TOO MANY TOYS! (Note to the friends and relatives who buy toys for my kids!  Please STOP!  We will love you anyway!  I promise!  In fact, we will love you MORE!)

And due to the short time frame, and the roofers coming next week, I cannot get a garage sale organized to get rid of any of this.  There just isn't time, since we still need to find a place to move TO.  So I'm thinking I'll just haul as much as I can to Goodwill after trying the "FREE" sign on the stuff at the end of the driveway for a few days.  

If anyone wants a Singer school model sewing machine ($50), or a giant beanbag (the loveseat-sized LoveSac in brown - $40), or a Roman chair/pullup exercise tower ($25), just come and get them.  And/or a metal (looks like cast iron but isn't) queen sized headboard ($10)...

Also, I need good packing tips are welcome.  I'm way out of practice...

So we finally got an offer on the house...

Thank God (and all the people praying for us about this)!  Now we just have to figure out if we can afford it... it is contingent upon my spreading the rest of the mulch, LOL.  I'm going up to the mulch place to ask (beg) if they can refund my last undelivered truckload (20 cu yds) just as soon as I finish the pile still on the apron in the drive today.  If they won't, then I'll ask them to hold it 'til the new house is built and we need it there.  Ha.  And we have to get a new roof on this place.  We have bids ranging from $5,800-18,000.   I'd love the steel roof (that's the $18,000) if we were staying, but since we aren't, we'll put on another shingle roof.  Unless the buyers want to pay the difference.

This is going to mess with the school year.  Not that I care that much, since we homeschool.  It just means that the month we get ahead by starting the beginning of August will immediately disappear into the confusion of moving.  I can deal with that.  I like having that month done before everyone else starts because all the books are in the library and I have no time monkey until December.  The tradeoff is worth getting out of this house and onto the property.  I hope that will happen fast - we still have time to build and be in by the end of the year, but the financing would have to be a bit creative since we're going to lose money on this sale, and the equity was used to buy the property for cash.

We could save some money if I GC'd this house myself.  But it would slow us down some, since I've never done it before.  Anyone out there ever GC their own home?   

Stupid attempt at home invasion?

I'm sitting here online minding my own business near midnight last night and some fool comes POUNDING on my door and repeatedly MASHING my doorbell. Dog goes utterly berserk in his crate.  So I pick up my gun, go look out the window, and it's some strange dude (NOT a neighbor) who starts yelling about needing to be let in to make a phone call to some family members to pick him up because he's broken down and  walked all this way in the rain and he's soaking wet and he needs help blah, blah blah... (It's not raining, doufus! It's been dry here all day!)  El Jefe wakes up from the racket (he was sick and sleeping under the influence of NyQuil) and grabs his gun and meets me at the (closed) door and informs stranger (through closed door) he isn't letting ANYONE in this late at night.  After a bit of repetition from both parties, and cursing by the one on the porch, the stranger leaves. El Jefe calls the local PD, but it's after hours so he gets the "Call 911" message. We hate using 911 for something that obviously isn't life threatening, but we'd really like to get the officer on nights (it's a small town, there is only one) to blow through the neighborhood, so he calls, and they tell him that someone else down the next street has already called for the same reason. So at some point the neighborhood will get a drive through (yea!).

At this point El Jefe informs me of an article in the local rag about the same thing happening near here last week... and we go clear the garage, and the cars in the driveway, and turn on EVERY freaking yard light (so glad I got them all replaced on Thursday - everything works now) all around the house.



Did this creep think I'd just open my door for him 'cause he sounded upset and bossy?  That I'd be likely to help some rude jerk pounding on my door and mashing my bell at midnight?  Why didn't he have a cell?  Everyone else does!  And claiming he was soaking wet when it hasn't rained all day?  S'up with that?  If he's so moronic as to fall in the lake, did he think I was going to let him come in and drip on my white carpet?  I think I'm offended that he thought I'd be dumb enough to fall for any of that! 

This house is going on the market in two weeks. I SO hope we can blow this joint quickly - and move to where we are miles off the highway instead of spitting distance from it.. and if we weren't trying to sell it, I'd be drawing chalk outlines on the front porch with a big ol' sign sayin' ANYONE BANGING ON THE DOOR AFTER 10PM WILL BE ADDED TO THE ARTWORK IN THE MORNING!!!

Xa Lynn

God's judgment on your musical taste...

I've been stuffing this in the dark cave of unthinkable thoughts and unfeelable feelings for over a month now.  Well, that's not solving the problem.  So here goes.

I looked around church on Sunday and realized that of the 120 or so people present, only 8 of them were under 40 years old.  .  Do you know what that is?  That is the sign of a dying church.  Do you know why that is?  In our case, it is largely because certain people in our church have elevated their personal taste in music to the level of core doctrine worth effectively de-fellowshipping the associate pastor over.  Considering that, I expect I will eventually be de-fellowshipped myself, either for my foolishness in expressing my views on this, or because I will soon have to bow to my conscience and sing the special with my tambourine and a drum track, in one last ditch effort to prevent any visitors from being aurally bored and tuning out before the sermon starts, rather than being energized to focus their attention on its lesson(s).

Young people visit our church, find the music far too traditional (may I say dirge-like?) for their tastes, and move on, never to return.  The associate pastor attempted to remedy this by bringing some slightly more contemporary music into the service.  I'm not talking about drums or guitars or tambourines.  I'm talking about recently written praise hymns, arranged in the most traditional fashion possible... that is to say, with only piano and clavinova as accompaniment, and slowed tempi.  This was enough to provoke the folks who think that drums are demonic, guitars are going to cause members to begin fornicating in the aisles, and tambourines are an offense against the Holy Spirit, despite the fact that every week included at least as much traditional music as contemporary.  

May I say that I am appalled by the arrogance and ignorance demonstrated by the weekly complaints?  Horrified by the results?  Completely at a loss as to what I could or should have done to prevent this?  At even more of a loss as to whether a remedy is even possible at this point? 

Do I need to insert all the relevant verses in the Bible about how we are to worship enthusiastically with song, AND musical instruments, and DANCE (oh, that horrifies some of you doesn't it, that a worshipper might actually be moved by the combination of music and lyrics to sway to the beat, or clap... in syncopation?).

Before you tell me that all the attention should be on the words and none on the music, let me ask you, if you heard Peter's sermon (Acts 2:14-39) in a completely expressionless monotone, would you even be paying attention by the 25th verse?  Would you be cut to the heart as the original hearers were in verse 37?  Or would you be bored, distracted, disinterested, annoyed?

Those are precisely the feelings of all those young visitors who find the staid, funereal, traditionally arranged hymns to be a pseudo-musical monotone.  Not exactly spreading the Gospel, is it?  Instead, it is constraining the Word into a narrow little definition that doesn't challenge you.  You are comfortable with your self-righteous definitions, and the young are being lost because of it.  I am horrified and ashamed.


Xa Lynn

In my quest to learn Polish in three months...

I figure when I can sing those consonants out loud that fast, I'll be fluent... click this link for macarena po polsku

Xa Lynn

Christmas Card Pics, "Take nine!"

Every year, I take the girls to Portrait Innovations for pictures at Christmas time, for several reasons.  First, the photographers are great and willing to put up the with Princess and Pirate's antics.  Second, it means I've gotten "official" photos of the girls at least once that year (just don't ask if I've ever gotten the photos scrapbooked, okay?).  And third, it is an easy way to get some Christmas cards made, and the relatives we don't see often enough can see how much the kids have grown since last year, blah, blah, blah.  I find most portraits rather boring, to be honest, so I try to come up with something to make the pictures a little more entertaining...

One year, the Princess was "reading" to the Pirate, and their expressions were what made it so cute.  One year they wore angel wings, another year they spelled out JOY with huge 3-D cardboard letters, a year later I had the Princess standing with a star on her head and the Pirate in a gift bag on the ground next to her.   This year, I stuck ribbon bows all over the Pirate, tied the Princess up with more ribbon, and handed the loose end to the Pirate, who was FAR too pleased with this captured sister... so the Princess decided to put her foot down...