http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell recent pleonast.com entries by user matidwell en-us http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell?l=5&entryID=581160 I realized after uploading these that I didn't have one of the front of the house! I'll get one and post that later. Have a great week! 2008-09-29 http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell?l=5&entryID=579672 and I'll post them once I upload them onto the computer. :) Beth's entry gives a lot of details, but things are going well. We're getting settled and it's feeling more and more like home. Even when you get excited about a move and find a house you really like, it's interesting how it still takes time to adjust when you leave a house you've lived in for 8 years and move into a new house. It takes time to feel like "home", but it's starting to. I've got a number of projects: Need to clean the siding around the front porch and back deck, but there's some kind of water restriction so I can't pressure wash in this town. Need to rip the carpet out of the garage (yes, I said carpet). Apparently the people that owned the house prior to the people we bought it from homeschooled their children and used that room for the classroom. Beth found out today from another neighbor that the garage was actually enclosed and used as a rec room and the people we bought it from turned it ... 2008-09-25 http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell?l=5&entryID=575405 Why is it we here all of this about America's dependence on foreign oil, but whenever a major hurricane rolls through the gulf and affects AMERICAN production, our gas prices skyrocket? Does this make sense to anyone else? And, when's the last time a hurricane ripped through Alaska? Just a couple of things to think about - have a great week! 2008-09-14 http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell?l=5&entryID=572529 Well, we've finally moved in and are well into the process of unpacking and setting up the house (thanks in large part to Beth's parents who've been a big help for us). It's been an interesting week, though. First, on Wednesday morning about 3 hours before we were to close, our lender called and said the company our loan was through was just bought out, eff. Sept. 1, and the new company required an appraisal which wasn't required by the original lender and there was no way around it. It looked as though we might not close that day. But, our lender worked hard to find someone to come out and do the appraisal that afternoon and got the report in so that we were able to close Wednesday after all, though about 3 hours later than expected. On Thursday morning we were to have the carpets cleaned, but when the carpet cleaners showed up that morning, we had no power! It was supposed to be turned on Wednesday afternoon and the utility company stated it was, but it wasn't. We finally go... 2008-09-07 http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell?l=5&entryID=570630 Sept. 3 is going to be a big day in our household. Of course, it'll be big day every year b/c it's Drew's birthday. This year he'll be 3 years old. But, this year is an ever bigger and busier day...first, I'm taking the day off work so I can go with Beth to take Emily to her first day of preschool. We packed up her backpack tonight and everyone's excited about the big day. Then, we head down to the house for a final walk through. We'll head to the bank to get the cashier's check for the closing then it'll probably be about time to pick up Emily from preschool. After lunch we'll head over to the attorney's office to officially close on the house we're buying! After that we'll come home, eat dinner and celebrate Drew's birthday with my parents before heading to services tomorrow night. I've got the invitation tomorrow night and I have an easy topic to work with - I'm going to talk a bit about changes in life. :) Tonight while we were sitting at the dinner table and we were ... 2008-09-03 http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell?l=5&entryID=566416 Today Beth and I held a yard sale along with our next door neighbors. It was a nice chance for us to rid ourselves of things we no longer need (some of which we never needed) and make a little extra money. We ended up taking in about $140 and the rest of the items we donated to a person that works with the homeless and Goodwill. This was our first time holding a yard sale, but I thought it went well. We have a lot of Hispanics in this area and I think everyone of them showed up at our yard sale. A couple of them were pregnant or had very small children so it was a nice opportunity for us to sell off a few of the baby items we no longer needed. We were able to give a lot of the clothes to one of our church members that's having her 1st girl soon. Assuming all goes as planned, we'll close on our house next Friday and we've been given the opportunity to stay in the home for a few days after. We'll close on the new house the following Wednesday and move in at the end of the week.... 2008-08-23 http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell?l=5&entryID=563965 Tonight was the draft for the Fantasy League I'm in. While I enjoy football, I do find that I pay much more attention to the NFL when I'm in a fantasy league. One of my friends says if you enjoy the NFL b/c of fantasy football, then you're really not a fan - maybe so, but who cares - it's fun! I play with a few of the members from church and we got together at one of their homes tonight to hold the draft and spend time with each other and eat! It was nice. My marquee player this year will be Payton Manning. After that, my team is okay, but I wasn't as satisfied with my draft as I was hoping to be. I think Braylon Edwards will be a nice receiver, but I botched my running back selections by not picking as early as I should've and ended up with Reggie Bush / Lendale White. Now, I'm ready for the season to start. Who else out there plays? 2008-08-18 http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell?l=5&entryID=560642 All documents have been signed and initialled, what were agreements in principle are now official contracts. We should be in our new home, barring unforeseen events, by Sept. 5. Thanks for all your prayers and well-wishes. Please pray the transition goes smoothly, this might be the most difficult part! But, we're excited! Oh, and we ended up with a home we'd looked at awhile back - 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 1/4 acre lot (on the corner), 1 car garage and fenced in back yard. We'll have about 1850 sq ft which is about 625 more than we do now! 2008-08-08 http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell?l=5&entryID=558059 Well, we've signed the contract with our buyers, so our house will be under contract as soon as we get it back to them. The only detail we're going to work out is rental buy-back (if that's the right term). So that we can avoid having to move twice, we're going to request staying in the house about a week or so after closing so we can use the funds to close on the new house and move out. These buyers seem pretty flexible on move-in / closing dates, so we don't think it'll be a problem. Our problem now, finding out where we're going! I thought we had it figured out, but then I started thinking about some things after a discussion with Beth yesterday. We have a new construction home that we've seen and probably like the best, but not sure about the location b/c it's further out. We have a couple of other homes that are about 10 years old we like as well, but after something Beth read in the paper yesterday, I've been rethinking new construction again. They say it's a great time t... 2008-08-02 http://www.pleonast.com/user/matidwell?l=5&entryID=556631 After we countered the offer from last week we didn't hear anything back. Their realtor told our realtor that they were thinking about it and would let us know when she had information - not very definitive. Then, last night as I was on my way home, our realtor called. Another family that saw the house on Friday, who originally wanted 2 full baths and a larger downstairs, made an offer! And, they wanted our response last night b/c they're from out of town and leaving the area today. It was rather low as well (not as bad as the first), but we've let them know what we're willing to accept so we'll see what we here today and we withdrew our counter to the other family. We'll see how it goes. We're in the midst of our Family Bible Study (essentially a VBS) this week. It's gone pretty well - the kids have really enjoyed their classes. Since Beth's been assisting with classes, I'm taking care of Katelyn so not able to hear as much of the adult lessons. Finally, an important note,... 2008-07-30