Trick or Treat!

We had our annual homeschool trunk or treat today and as usual we came home with alot more candy than what we needed. There are so many new members in the group so we didn't know most of the people there. We just ended up being party snobs and stuck with what's left of our "original group". There were games, pumpkin painting, and face painting this year. It turned out to be a beautiful day and I took only a few pics.



I also was doing a little bit of baby sitting this weekend.........Charlie's dog. Charlie had to go out of town for a couple of days and work so he asked if we could keep Trip at our house while he was gone. I wasn't really a fan of the idea because Trip is an inside dog and he is VERY attached to Charlie so he whines the whole time he is gone, plus the fact that he is big and hairy, which I hate even more. But since Charlie is family and he helps us out anytime we need it, I obliged.

Since we have decided to move I have had this big dilema with what to leave behind and what to take. I have never been a collector of stuff and if it wasn't for some of the "stuff" that I inherited from my mom, I wouldn't even be concerned.

When mom died my dad gave me a dining room suite with china cabinet and china that they had bought together when they were first married. He told me I could sell it if I wanted to and I did end up selling the dining table because of the lack of room we have in our house. I ended up keeping the china cabinet because it didn't take up much space and it also has drawers that I keep stuff stored in.

Anyway, after months of thought, I decided to try and sell it. I have never used the china out of it, and I'm not really a china kind of person. I kept imagining a disaster when we tried to move it 500 miles away. It is very heavy and has alot of glass and I don't want to drag anything but bare necessities.

I decided that I wanted somebody who could really enjoy it's beauty to have it so I advertised on craigslist. I had NO IDEA what kind of a price tag to put on it so I went with my gut instinct.....hopefully I'm not underpricing it. On the first day it was posted I got a response, so obviously I set it at a fair price...we'll see what happens next.

I guess it takes moving before some people get the energy to do minor home repairs. Toby nor I like home repair of any kind. That includes decorating and gardening too. Thank goodness Charlie came over to help out, or he would have been slinging orders at me and treating me like the gopher. It makes you wonder why we even want to live in a home. Apartment living sounds like the answer to me, but I don't think the rest of my family would agree to such compartment living. Toby, being the artist he is, is not used to "hard work" anymore and seeing him doing "mans work" was rather appealing to me so I snapped a couple of shots of this rare form.

Lucas has been on vacation this week too, so he has done some minor maintenance on my car for our 500 mile trip to Austin next week. He also got himself an apartment set up to move into in Dec. He seems to be excited about living on his own. He's a good boy with a good head on his shoulders. He's also got a substantial savings account too, so that leaves me with little too worry about as far as he goes. Everything so far seems to be falling into place.

Good news....I think

Summer and I had another play date at the park today. 2 in one week, we're on a roll! Well, it seems the guy that made an offer on our house must really want our house. He agreed to pay what we were asking for it so now all is left is the dirty work. Looks like if everything goes o.k on his end, we will be moving at the beginning of December. I am so excited, but another part of me is scared to death!
I've been doing alot of "getting rid" of uneeded/wanted stuff and have been doing some packing......matter of fact, I have already packed up things we don't use every day. Summer's room is going to be left for last because she uses EVERYTHING in her room.

Tuesday Play Day

Today we met some homeschool friends at the Exploreum. It was Human Grossology and it was GROSS. After the Exploreum we jumped the MODA, got some lunch, and spent some time in Bienville Square feeding the critters. The weather was perfect and so was the day. It's been a couple of weeks since I had female adult conversation and I was definitely overdue.

When I got home Toby informed me that we have somebody that wants to make an offer on the house. We'll see how that goes tommorrow after meeting with the realtor. The clock is ticking...tick tock tick tock

Sunday

Well, things are starting to get a little more interesting around here. We had somebody look at the house this past weekend. It was a man, by himself. The realtor showed him around and they had a few questions...the usual questions prospective buyers ask. As they were about to leave, I asked the realtor if she had showed him the "man cave". When we first bought our house, there was a partially enclosed garage that we enclosed and made into an extra room. It's on the side of the house, and although it is attached to the house the only way to get to it is on the outside. Anyway, because it's a little out of sight, I believe the realtors always "forget" to show this little extra addition. When I am here when the house is being shown, I always point out the "man cave" and the men's eyes light up. To me, that's what's going to sell my house. It's a perfect extra room for anyone to do anything they want with. Anyway, back to the story.

The next day after the house was shown to this one man, he showed up at my door with his "girlfriend" to show her the house.....mainly, the man cave. Although they both seemed very interested in the house, it's funny to me, neither one of them even wanted to look at the backyard. The "girlfriend" did seem very pleased that there was a over-the-range microwave oven. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I also have joined an "inclusive" homeschool group in Austin. I have been mainly lurking for right now. There are four or five support groups in Austin and the homeschool community there is very large and active.....one of our main reasons for choosing the city. I get very excited when I see all the posts about the activities that are going on....I can't wait to get back in the swing of things. Although our group here is pretty active, I don't get to really know about much that's going on anymore because I didn't pay the membership. I debated about this and figured that I would be to busy before our relocation to do much anyway. The group has changed so much since I first joined a couple of years ago that I sometimes feel a little out of place now.....being the "pagan" that I am and all. :-) I have a couple of good friends that I get together with occasionally anyway, so Summer and I do get some social time in.

Until next time!

Busy as a Bee

Mostly the past two weeks have been filled with relocation research, a little packing, and our usual errands. It's funny to me how I seemed to have so much more time on my hands when I "worked a paying job" than when I am being a stay at home/teaching mom.

Our washing machine decided to spring a leak on us last week too. We decided since it was a minor thing that we could just buy the part for, and have my mechanically inclined son to replace the part. Well, it seems that I don't live in a household with any appliance mechanics...between Lucas and Toby the job was just more trouble than what it was worth, hence washing machine shopping. Lesson learned. Anyway, what really sucked about the whole thing is that we couldn't get our money back for the part because it was special ordered. Another lesson learned. When my dishwasher went out a couple of months ago, I decided that that was a luxury I could live without....considering we need all the savings that we can get for the move.

Luckily, a friend of a friend of Toby's knew a guy who repairs and resales used appliances. So we ended up saving alot of money on a used washer. Hopefully, it will stay together atleast until we move. :-)

Fall Fun at the Beach

The weather has been so beautiful this week that we were in the mood for some outdoor fun. Our two options were camping and the beach. We decided on the beach because we know it won't be that much longer before you won't enjoy the beach anymore...and since we will be moving to a place that doesn't have nearby beach access, it may be our last beach trip for awhile. I could have kicked myself in the butt because I forgot my camera. My intention was to take some farewell photos of family time at the beach.

The water was absolutely beautiful and surprisingly warm. The jelly fish were scarce this time so swimming was great.....other than the rough current. It's a great thing to be able to live in a place where you can still go to the beach and swim in October!

Nights have started to cool down slightly so I guess we will make our camping trip next week.