Realtor-Ready

This past Thursday morning, a Realtor / Property Manager came to our house and met with Henry.  (I was at homeschool co-op with the boys).  We're listing our house with him.  We are NOT selling our house.  We are renting it out.  The Realtor will list our house on several online sites, and he will be the one to actually show our house to possible tenants.  He will conduct background checks and credit checks on them.  He will collect the rent payments, and he will also be the guy the tenants call if/when they need something fixed.  So when we are down in Florida (or wherever we are), we won't have to deal with 2:00 am phone calls that they are locked out of our house...or that the toilet is clogged for the 16th time in the week...or the furnace filter needs changed.
We knew that we had quite a bit of stuff left to do before we can turn our keys over to someone else, but when the Realtor left our to-do list grew...with more painting to do!  Our plan is to list our house on May 1st.  Wonder how long it will take to find tenants?

Friday night, Henry and I sat down to go over all the paperwork for our new RV.  Have you ever bought a house?  You remember all that paperwork that you had to sign?  You felt like you were signing your life away?  Yeah, well...when you buy an RV, you have just as much paperwork.  Our heads were spinning.  Needless to say, we had tons of questions for 'our finance guy' at the RV dealership.  So that's what we did...

Saturday morning, we called up 'our finance guy' and asked all our questions...which lead us heading to the bank to get 2 documents notarized.  (SO...basically our RV is ready for us...almost!  They just have to install the generator).  Then, we made a stop at Lowe's to buy a new water heater, salt for our water softener, and filters for our furnace (we stocked up on the salt and filters for our tenants).  We then loaded up our truck and went and got a storage unit.  We made 2 trips to the storage unit, then headed to City Barbeque for dinner.

Climate-controlled storage facility.

Dolly fun!

This is only a 5 X 10 unit.  

Is it all going to fit?!

For all you praying folks, I wanted to ask for prayers for my sweet Nanny and for my mom.  My mom has been taking care of my grandma for 7 years now.  My Nanny is not doing well.  She's been diagnosed with dementia, and she says has trouble swallowing.  She gets in a panic state too often which in-turn scares my mom.  I pray for comfort, peace, and no pain for my Nanny.  I pray for comfort, patience, and strength for my mom.  I wish we could be there to help my mom.  We're trying to figure out how we can go straight to Milwaukee (where my mom lives) once we pick up our RV.

My Nanny and Mom, March 2013

My Vision of the Perfect Day - RV style

So last night, I had trouble falling asleep.  Actually, I didn't, but my night went something like this.  I lay down to go to sleep.  I fall asleep in 1.2 minutes.  Sage wakes me up saying he is scared.  (This is a nightly occurrence).  I just say, "You are fine.  You are safe.  Go to sleep."  I fall asleep within 1.2 minutes again.  Once again I hear, "Mommy, I'm scared."  I say again, "You are fine.  You are safe.  Go to sleep."  Well, he did.  He fell asleep 1.2 minutes later.  I, however, am wide awake now.  So I planned my vision of a perfect day RV style.  ('Cause I really do wonder what we are getting ourselves into!)

My daydream went like this:
We all wake up when we feel like it...'cause that's what we are used to doing.  Henry jumps in the shower while I start breakfast.  Pancakes and bacon 'cause that's their favorite.  The boys get their technology fix during this time while I make breakfast.  We all eat together around our little booth table.  I do the dishes.  Henry heads to work...which is just 3 steps away in our master bedroom.  The boys and I head outside to do a yoga video...OUTSIDE...'cause we have an outdoor flat screen TV.  We then go get our swim suits on and head to the pool for 1-2 hours.  We all get a good dose of vitamin D.  We then go back home (to our RV!) and eat a healthy lunch (all 4 of us together) outside (if it's not too hot).  Next, the boys and I head out the door to go to the local library and refresh our stash of books and movies.  As we drive home, we notice a farmer's market and stop to get some fresh goodies for dinner.  When we are back home, we have quiet time of reading aloud, then alone.  Then, it's time for me to make dinner.  During this time, the boys get to play their video games.  When dinner is ready, Henry is done with work for the day.  We all eat together (outside if it's not too hot).  We all take a bike ride together.  Then, we all take turns taking showers.  Then, we all snuggle together to watch a movie and fall asleep from exhaustion.

(And this obviously is a weekday vision.  If it was the weekend, Henry would not be working.  AND my next daydream will have to involve our family in Florida.  Not used to having family around!).

Garage Sale

Last Friday and Saturday, we had a garage sale.  Fun, fun, fun.  

We learned that Friday is a super busy day for garage sales.  Our sale didn't start until 9:00 am, but there were cars lined up and down our street by 8:30 am.  As soon as we opened our garage door, people got out of their cars and rushed our garage like it was a Black Friday sale at Walmart.  It was crazy!  We had so much stuff in our garage...the tables had to be brought out of the garage so that people could actually get inside the garage, but they didn't care.  They were trying to push their way in like their lives depending on getting a shirt for $1.00.    And the super crazy thing was that we didn't even put signs up on the roads directing people to our house.  I just advertised on about 5 Facebook pages I'm on as well as on craigslist.  We made about $350 this day!!

On Saturday, it wasn't as busy, but we had a nice constant flow of people come.  Henry did put signs up this day because it was a slower day.  We made about $150 this day!!

The plan was to have 1-2 more sales because we still have TONS of stuff left.  I, however, just don't want to do it.  All the big stuff and all the 'good' stuff is gone now.  It just wouldn't really be worth the time and effort to do it again.  I donated 8 bags of clothes to a few people.  8 bags of clothes!!  Trash bags!  And our closets are still full of clothes...and Henry hasn't even gone through his clothes yet to weed them out.  I'm hoping less clothes equals less laundry.

I will be selling the rest of our educational items at a curriculum sale the first week of May so hopefully that pile of stuff (which is about 5 boxes of stuff!) will dwindle down.  I have even added to it since the garage sale.

Totally off topic, but today I was driving behind a woman who was driving a truck, and the decal said, "Not All Bad As# Toys Belong to Boys'.   I liked that.  That is all.

Last Day

My last day of work at church was this past Sunday which was Easter Sunday.  I've been employed by our church for about 3.5 years as a childcare provider.  I would work Sunday mornings, occasional weekday evenings, and special events providing care to the littlest ones, infants up to age 3.  Pretty sure it was the best job ever (besides my stay-at-home mom position).  Being around such young ones always brings out the best in me.  They are so sweet, innocent, and silly.  Oh, so silly.  Sure, there were a few rough days when I would be alone with 12 toddlers, 4 of whom would be screaming their heads off...all at the same time.  Overall, though, I always looked forward to going into work.  I couldn't believe that I got paid to do what I did.

I didn't announce to anyone that it was my last day.  I didn't want it to feel so 'official' and 'final'.  It was put in the bulletin, though, that it was my last day.  I had parents come up to me and say such sweet, sweet things to me.  I'm afraid they might now think I'm rude because I would try to get out of the conversation quickly.  Their words were so incredibly kind that they made me want to cry.  I was sad for leaving.  Sad that I wouldn't get to see their children grow and thrive in the next year.  Sad that I wouldn't get to play with them on Sunday mornings anymore.  Sad that I wouldn't be apart of the 'Stonybrook Family'...at least in person.

It was an extreme pleasure to care for God's children.

Current Happenings

Our van is gone.  And guess what?  I'm fine!  I love our truck so much that I don't miss the van.  (Whew...I was worried about it!)  Henry is working from home now so I haven't felt stranded.  AND with him working from home, the price of diesel hasn't bothered us much.  :-)

I've been busy getting prepared for our garage sale that we are having this weekend.  Just to let you know...I do not like having garage sales.  Actually, I don't mind the preparation so much and the actually sitting outside for hours.  What I can't stand is people expecting to get a $100 item for .50 cents.  Or trying to get a $30 pair of shoes that I have marked at $1 down to .50 cents.  Really?  Really? If you don't want to pay $1 for a pair of shoes, then you don't really want the pair of shoes!

We officially signed the 'Buyer's Agreement' today to order our RV.   Henry also spoke with the guy who will be installing the hitch in our truck to pull it.

Yes.  We are REALLY doing this.  

We picked our RV!

Friday night, we took our first road trip in our new truck.  We headed west to Elkhart, Indiana to Great Lakes RV Center to see a specific RV in person.  The trip took about 5 hours.

I follow a blog called Newschool Nomads.  They are a family much like ours....a married mom and dad with 2 sons.  (They, however, just welcomed baby #3 into their family last night....we did not). They recently bought a Heartland Gateway 3650 BH (BH stands for BunkHouse).  I watched their video tour of their new RV and loved it.  I knew it would also suit all of our needs and wants as well. You can see their video tour of their new RV here. 

I called the dealership last Monday to ask a few questions about the Gateway that they had on their lot.  Mr. Salesman was really nice and knowledgeable.  I let him know that we were planning to make a trip there to IN to see it in person that coming weekend.

Well, what do you know?  The very next day, someone put a down payment on it.  We decided to go ahead and make the drive to see it, though, before it left the lot to make sure it was the one we wanted.  This dealership is located 3 miles from the Heartland factory where they make the RV that we want.  We would like to actually go tour the factory so we can see firsthand how it is made. All of Elkhart, IN is the RV Capital.  There were RV dealerships and service shops everywhere. There was even an RV and Motorhome Museum. 

We didn't get into Elkhart until 10:30 pm Friday night.  Then we were at the dealership by 10:00 am Saturday morning.  We were there from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm.  Our boys spent their time doing things like this:

Playing games on the DS and i-phone in 'their' bedroom.  

(Their actual bedroom will look like this). 

Pretending they were on a safari and shooting bad animals.  

Watching cartoons on CABLE television!

(We don't have cable at home). 

So we put put a little down payment down so that we can get our very own RV ordered.  They could have us one in 2 days, but we requested it take about 6 weeks to be finished.  (Our house is still not even listed to be rented yet!)  

We are having them install a generator for us.  We like the idea of being self-sufficient.  We can have electric anywhere we are...say...boondocking in a Wal-mart parking lot or in a rest area.  OR if we are in Florida and have to evacuate due to a hurricane, we can rest assured that we will have electricity with us at all times.  (We can fill up our water tanks and have water for a few days too without being hooked up to a line).  

(Boondocking is when you are camping without being hooked up to any commercial campgrounds hook-ups (electric, water, sewer).

We are also having them install the 5th wheel hitch in our truck so we can actually pull the RV!  

We tried out the table to make sure 

we could all eat at the same time.  

We can.  

Henry even got on the roof to check it out.

He's curious to see if there is a way to add extra storage up there.  

Busy Week

First of all, I'm so happy that I learned to type in high school.   I'm one of those typers who can look away and not watch my fingers while I type.   I can close my eyes and still type.  So excuse me while I take a little kitty cat nap while I type this blog.  I'm exhausted!

This week was a busy week.  Each and every day is filled with getting something checked off our to-do list.  We started off the week, like you saw here, by buying our truck.  We also sold our bedroom set, like you saw here.   I contacted the Realtor that we are going to list the house with (we are renting our house out, not selling it).  We have a goal of listing it in 1-2 weeks.  Our house is in NO way ready to be shown to a potential tenant, so I dread this week of getting things checked off the to-do list.  

If we are friends on Facebook, you read my status about us selling our van.  Within 5 days of posting our van on various sites, a married couple came to see it.  They decided they wanted it after they test drove it.  The deal isn't official just yet because we couldn't find our title which resulted in a 4-hour DMV / credit union trip on Saturday morning.  Finally, we have the title in hand, and our van should be leaving our family for good in the next couple of days.  It's so incredibly hard for me to let it go, but it's going to a wonderful family....Army dad, 6-month pregnant momma with twins (1 boy, 1 girl), and a soon-to-be 3-year-old little girl.  We hope it blesses them with many good times and memories as much as it has us.  

Some other big things left our house this week too.  

GONE

GONE

GONE

GONE

GONE

GONE

On Saturday, I finally drove our new truck with Henry's supervision.  (I actually did drive it before we bought it, but not very far).  We went to a birthday party at an ice skating rink, and I parked way far away from the front door, but I did it!

Sage's first time ice skating.  He liked it! 

Scott's first time ice skating too!  

Then I drove to someone's house and picked up some moving boxes she was giving me.  AND I backed out of her driveway...which was not a straight shot.  Today, I drove it to work/church, and I backed up into a parking spot...and got it perfectly between the lines in the first try!  I may have parked it in the back of the church where no one else was parked, but hey...I did it!  Then, I drove it to Kroger...and yep, gotta park it as far away as possible.  It takes up 2 spots.  Seriously...I'm surprised that people don't need a special license to drive this thing.  I will say it really isn't that bad, though.  You just have to really be aware and think ahead of where you are going to park it.  I do love it.  

Today we went to Lowe's and stocked up on mulch, seed for our yard, paint (yep, more paint), and new rake handle because ours breaks every.single.year.  We trimmed hedges and a tree, raked yucky old leaves, laid mulch, and spread seed.

I finally tackled the mountain of dirty dishes and folded clothes that really should be washed and dried again because they are so incredibly wrinkly from sitting in a basket for so long.  

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

So many times we are quick to give bad reviews, make complaints, whine, etc.  Sometimes, though, we feel called to take the time to let the world know when someone deserves credit, when someone deserves a pat on the back, when someone deserves a gold star.  Today is a day I'm taking time to do just that.

Henry and I had a great experience buying our new truck from Jack Maxton Chevrolet  in Worthington, OH.

Our salesman was Dan Funk.  We felt comfortable, not rushed (although we were in a hurry, he did not rush us at all).  He was professional and knowledge.  He actually had experience towing campers so he knew his stuff.  Need a new car or truck?  Go see Dan.

The salesman manager that we worked with was Bob Teal.  We let him know what we wanted to pay (okay, not what we wanted, but what we could...there is a difference), and he made it work.  He, too, was a breeze to deal with.

Out of 5 Gold Stars...we give them 5 Gold Stars.

Bedroom Set is GONE

Henry and I got married 10.5 years ago.  The day after we got home from our honeymoon, we went and bought our bedroom set.  I remember that day.  How much fun it was to shop for furniture with my new husband.  It was everything I wanted.  Loved it.  You would think it would be hard to let it go.  That I would be all sentimental about it being our first big purchase together.  Nope.  I'm good.  It didn't phase me to watch the new owner take it piece-by-piece out of our house.

Now guess what I get to do?  Yep.  Paint this room!