Postcard Friendship Friday #58

I'm busy packing and getting ready to move (see last post) but I wanted to post this wonderful card I got via postcrossing. Its actually the only card I've gotten via postcrossing. I keep saying I'm going to join a postcrossing group or something, but I never seem to have the time. Anyway, steviewren sent me this because it matches the theme of my blog. I just love it!

(I'm having trouble with links in my blog again so if something didn't come across as a link, I apologize.)

Postcard Friendship Friday is hosted by Beth at http://www.thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/

Big News!!!

Well, after 3 years of trying, we are moving! Yea! For those of you who don't know here is a "brief" summary of our last 3 years...

Husband took job with a 1+ hour commute.
Told him I would move to the north part of town to cut about 30 min. off commute.
We put our house on the market.
I started to pack.
We found many houses we wanted to buy.
We never sold ours and no one would accept a contingency.
Decided we had a bad realtor. (We did!)
Put house for sale by owner for a few months...had 3 whole showings!
Found better realtor.
Put house on market.
Market took a really big nose dive!
No one could get a loan.
Foreclosures were everywhere. Our house would not sell.
Someone made an offer, but wasn't really serious and never contacted us back.
I got really fed up with all the showings, told my husband house has to come off of market while we are in school.
Husband reluctantly agreed to take house off market.
I unpacked. :(
We left our house off the market for the remainder of this last school year.
We started looking at houses again in the spring.
Found one we wanted. It was a short sale.
We made an offer. The sellers agreed. Then, it went to their bank.
Their bank decided they wanted to foreclose on them. :(
We couldn't buy the house.
We waited.
House finally came back on the market as a foreclosure...for $30,000 more!
We made same offer.
Bank came down $1000.
We said ok, this isn't going to work so we started looking again.
Found another house.
Made offer. Didn't tell anyone because we didn't want to jinx it! My husband wouldn't even let me start packing!
Contract was executed.
Hubby finally let me start packing!
Spent this last weekend cleaning and putting stuff in storage.
Will put our house back on the market this week. And Pray. Pray that it sells fast!
So, we will be moving in a couple of weeks.

So that's what I've been up to! Can't wait to move.

Aren't you glad I posted the "brief" version?

Postcard Friendship Friday #57

Sunrise on the Gulf of Mexico...

This postcard shows a beautiful South Texas sunrise.

My mom gave me this card. They live in South Texas. That's where I grew up.

Postcard Friendship Friday is hosted by Beth at http://www.thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/

Wordful Wednesday

Claire met Bearamy from Build a Bear at a Build a Bear storytime at Barnes and Noble today. She was a little old for the story time, but she liked meeting Bearamy!

On a side note, I was half crazy from all the toddlers running around unattended! What is wrong with parents these days? You can just leave a toddler somewhere and expect them to behave. Kids kept running up on the stage area and digging through the craft box. The poor storytime lady kept telling them to sit down, but only one mom actually came forward and took her child out of that area. We were all so ready to leave that Claire just took her craft with her to complete at home!

To join in Wordful Wednesday visit: www.sevenclowncircus.com

You have to be what???

We are hoping to buy a new house and move soon. I was asking Claire about how she'd like her room in the new house. She wants either Dinosaurs or outer space! That's just lovely...how am I suppose to find girly dinosaurs or planets? Anyway...

She has a garden room now so I was trying to talk her into keeping it. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Why don't you just keep your garden room?

Claire: Well, its not great.

Me: Sure it is.

Claire: No, no one has told me they like it.

Me: People have told me how cute it is.

Claire: Well, no one has told me. It has to be great. I want people to like it.

Me: Why?

Claire: So I can be popular!

Me: What??????????

She is only 7 and she's homeschooled. Where in the world did she get the idea that she needs to be popular???? I explained that she just needs to be herself and people will like her for her, but I think she still thinks she needs to be "popular".

Is this what I have to look forward to with a girl? I think I should be afraid...very afraid!

Any moms of older girls out there? I'd love to hear your advice.

By the way, here is a link to a post about her garden room when I first did it way back in 2008. I still think its cute and want her to keep it, but we'll see. :)

http://aimeesland.blogspot.com/2008/11/garden-room.html

Postcard Friendship Friday #56

I hope you've enjoyed the postcard journey of our vacation! Our last stop was the Grand Canyon. We took the train up to the canyon. It was a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed it.


No matter how beautiful the postcard, nothing compares to seeing the Grand Canyon in person!



The train is located on Route 66 in Williams, AZ. When we got off the train we ate dinner at a little Route 66 diner called Twisters.

Thanks for joining me on my vacation! :) I actually have more postcards than I've posted, but I'll save them for another time.

Postcard Friendship Friday is hosted by Beth at http://www.thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/

Cow Appreciation Day!

Friday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a. If you dressed like a cow you got a free meal! My 12 year old son LOVES chick-fil-a so it wasn't hard to talk him into this. I couldn't believe he actually did it. He's so concerned about his appearance these days.




Chick-fil-a is having a photo contest. The photo with the most votes wins free Chick-fil-a for a year! So if you'd like to vote for our photo you can go here. You vote by clicking the like button.

http://apps.facebook.com/chickfila-photo/photos/detail/375

Claire didn't want to do it. She doesn't eat their chicken (crazy, right?) so I bribed her with a fruit cup to do it and get a meal for me! That morning she raised the stakes and I had to get her ice cream too! I love this picture because it shows her tail!

Some friends joined us for lunch. Aren't these some cute cows??

L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge

The L.E.N.S. Photo challenge is hosted by http://www.homeiswhereyoustartfrom.com/ . This week's theme is Red, White, and Blue.

This picture was taken after my daughter's 2nd gymnastics meet this year. She was proud of all the ribbons, but she put the blue on top for the picture!!

Postcard Friendship Friday #55

To continue on with our vacation in the Flagstaff area...

These postcards are from the Lowell Observatory. This is where Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930. We went here because Claire is really into outer space. She loved it! We took a tour during the day and went back that night for planet viewing. We saw Venus and Saturn. Saturn was really cool. You could see the rings around it very well.

This postcard shows Lowell viewing through the Alvan Clark Refracting Telescope. They actually had his old wooden chair he always sat in still there to see.

This is actually a painting that is in the Lowell Observatory Rotunda Library.

This card shows the Clark Telescope Dome which houses the Alvan Clark Telescope. We didn't get to view out of this telescope while we were there because it was too windy.

To find out more about Lowell Observatory: www.lowell.edu

Postcard Friendship Friday is hosted by Beth at www.thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com

wordful wednesday

This is a picture that Claire took last time we were at the Dallas Zoo. The Gorilla was lounging by the glass just letting us snap away!

To join in with Wordful Wednesday visit: www.sevenclowncircus.com

Independence Day

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."
-Elmer Davis

Let's not forget the brave ones fighting for our freedom. If you'd like to drop a line or send a care package to a soldier click on the link below or on the button in my sidebar.

http://www.anysoldier.com/


Happy 4th of July to all!

L.E.N.S photo challenge

Home is where you start from hosts the L.E.N.S photo challenge each week. This week's theme is numbers. Stop by if you'd like to join in: http://www.homeiswhereyoustartfrom.com/

This is a picture I took of Tim Lincecum when we went to see the Giants play the Diamondbacks on vacation. The only thing I edited on this photo was that I cropped out some people that were standing in front of me. He was warming up in the outfield very close to where we were sitting so I was able to snap a good picture of the back of his jersey that showed his name (and number).

Postcard Friendship Friday #54

To continue our travels in Arizona...

We rented a cabin in Flagstaff so we did a lot of things around there. Flagstaff is a wonderful town with lots of great stuff to do! Here are 2 of our favorites.

Sunset Crater National Monument...

We actually hiked up the lenox crater trail to the top of a cinder cone and had the most spectacular view! If you'd like to read that story or see more pictures go here: www.aimeesland.blogspot.com/2010/05/arizona-vacation-part-2.html

Right near Sunset Crater is Wupatki National Monument...

These pueblos were build hundreds of years ago. They have been preserved very well. The kids really enjoyed exploring them. If you are ever in the Flagstaff area I highly recommend both of these National Monuments!

Postcard Friendship Friday is hosted by: www.thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com