Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Long Lost Blogger

Hi, it's been about two months since I posted anything and that's probably because there's not a lot to post. Well, maybe that's not true:

We've been running amok this summer. Went on a family trip to Sawyer, MI, where we picked blueberries, swam in Lake Michigan, climbed the Dunes at Warren State Park, and spent time with family. I took the kids to the county fair, we spent a day at the State Fair (planned intentionally so that I could be sure and see the dairy cattle), took the kids fishing (once), went swimming and hiking at Shakamak State Park, spent a week with the in-laws during the 4th of July celebration, which was also the sesquicentennial of Sheridan, IN. We've been running about. My Niece is getting married this weekend, and my youngest will be the ring bearer.

With all of that, I managed to do some reading and math with the kids once in awhile. We started our school year here yesterday. I'm doing two curricula at a time now, and I was pretty worried about how I'd juggle it, but maybe it's not going to be as bad as I'd imagined. I could be worse! Lol.

On the home front.... we had a contingency offer at one point, but he wanted immediate possession and we weren't willing to give that, so it didn't go through. If the other guy sells his house and ours is still for sale, he may well come back with another offer. We had a showing about the middle of June, then didn't have another until July 29th. We've had a few more since then. The housing market, like everywhere, is just the pits right now. But it's picking up around here. We had a showing and found out that ours is in the top two of this couple that looked at it. She likes our house, he likes another. BUT one of their parents live on the next street over from us, so that may be a selling point. Hope to hear something soon.

Melora's job as a flight nurse is going well, but it's taking her away from home a lot, as it's easier for her to go to her parent's house between shifts than coming two hours home, just to turn around and go back. This is kind of a bummer for us, but it's only temporary. If we sell our house, and can't find what we're looking for in Sheridan or nearby, my sister-in-law has offered us her place. She lives in an upstairs apartment above her art studio. She's remodelling a front room as a master bedroom and all five of us could sleep in it! Her husband is stationed in Vermont for three years with the military and she said she'd just go be with him while we were there. Her mortgage is half what ours is now. That way we would have a place to go and not be so pressured to buy someplace that wasn't exactly what we wanted. We'd just have to put all our stuff in storage for a while. Not the optimal situation, but it's an option.

There was a place we had our eye on that met our criteria very well. Newer house, close to her parents, barn/pasture, land to spread out..... It got an offer and out from under us it went. Bummer.

So that's what's going on. Otherwise, I've been reading the works of James Herriot (Yorkshire Vet) and watching the series, "All Creatures Great and Small." Great stuff.

Monday, June 14, 2010

No News is... well, no news.

Hi, I'm blogging on my wife's laptop, so no pics today. Sorry.

Our house is still for sale. Wanna buy it? Two weekends ago, we went up to my in-laws for a visit and met our realtor and looked at four different homes. Nope, not a one of 'em was 'right'.

Do you remember a couple of years ago when I blogged that I'd written a letter to the owner of a farmhouse and property, asking if it was for sale? It's here in my list somewhere.... check around October, 2008. Anyway, as we're looking at houses, I drive by this place again, as I've done numerous times. It's now for sale! Great, right?! No. I looked it up online. 89.3 acres for only (snark) 2.67 MILLION! That's 30K an acre. They're crazy. Land is expensive where we're looking, but not that high! I'm so disappointed. I feel like God pressed the 'smite' button on me or something. We looked in the windows... wow. Beautiful woodwork, but that's about all it's got going for it, besides good bones and seemingly newer electricity. Still, if it could be purchased cheaply, then the money could be spent on the house to make it livable. Sigh. I've been debating whether or not to write another letter to the man to see if he'd split the land or consider a deal or something. But I looked online yesterday on Realtor.com and it says it's no longer available. It hasn't been on the market much more than a few weeks, I'm sure. I'm thinking something has happened and they aren't going to sell it. Who knows. So, the hunt continues. Meanwhile, we've had one showing in the past three weeks.

In other news, I've been dying wool. Oh, just two skeins so far. I buy the wool yarn in cream at the store, then come home and have fun with Kool Aid! Yes, that magical drink from your childhood contains enough citric acid to work with the protein in the wool fibers to cause it to absorb and hold the food coloring in the drink! You start out with a pot of colored, fruity smelling water and when you're done, the water is clear! It's all been absorbed and bound to the yarn! Fun stuff. I'll try to post some pics of the process later on.

I also won four free tickets to and Indianapolis Indians game because I called in with the correct answer to a trivia question on a Saturday morning talk show from the University of Indianapolis. The host and guests were talking about a book of collected stories written by a woman from Baker's Corner, Indiana (she's now deceased) on the subject of growing up on a farm in the early 1900's. Yes, I might have to read this one. We happened to be in Sheridan at my in-law's at the time (5 miles down the road from Baker's Corner) and it was my FIL that suggested I might want to listen to the program. It was mildly interesting, but then the host asked the trivia question. He starts talking about a cabin in Sheridan's (Indiana) Veteran's Park that was the home of a man running from bounty hunters because, as an abolitionist, he'd helped several slaves escape. He wanted to know what this man's name was. I picked up the phone and called in. Of course, I don't know how many people were actually listening to the program, and of those, how many knew the answer.... probably me and one or two others (and that may be being generous). But I did, in fact know that it was George Boxley, the first settler of Adams Township, Hamilton County, Indiana. WHY do I know this bit of frivolous trivia? Because my Father-in-law was the president of the Sheridan Historical Society up until this year and was heavily involved in the restoration of the cabin! So now, I get to go to a Minor League baseball game for free! I don't really care for sports much, but a trip to an Indian's game is usually a lot of fun. The seats are closer to the field, play is faster than the Major's, there's always some kind of giveaway or sideline activity going on... it's just a good time.

Not having a garden this year is kind of a bummer. Not knowing when we'd be moving, I didn't plant anything. I'm either going to have to go to the local Amish Auction or a farmer's market and get some things to can, etc. We're running low. It's kinda sad really.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

On the Home front

We've had 8 showings on our house now. I'm counting the open house this past weekend as one of em. Turn out was good, but our realtor says open houses rarely sell a house. What kills me is the 'joy lookers'. You know, the people that aren't serious about buying, they're just nosey. So we go to all the effort to clean and straighten and stage the house for someone to just come in and look around without any real hope of them buying.

I've realized that when we have a showing, my anxiety and stress level go up a lot. I get antsy, frustrated and really not nice. Then, once we leave the house, I crash and burn. I get really tired and need a nap. That's what emotional energy use will do for ya.

I'm trying like crazy to be patient and not get uptight. Not an easy thing for a man who's dreamt of moving to the country for the past two-plus years. But I've waited this long... what's another couple few months?

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Odds and ends

Hey ho.

Not much going on. We've had two showings on the house, but no takers. I'm not really surprised. My mother-in-law is on a serious quest now that we've decided to move back closer to my wife's hometown. My inlaws have called numerous times (and I mean NUMEROUS) with listings and homes they find when they're out driving. Problem is, they don't understand what we want. Yeah sure, the house is nice, but it's only on two acres! Oh sure, there's 39 acres for 400K.... can't afford it and don't need that much land. Sheesh. Added to this is the fact that they rarely give me enough information about the house to actually find it online and give it a look. But I continue to take down the information and be polite. I understand that they're excited and want to be helpful.

I should be doing some homeschooling right now, or making lunch, but I'm not (obviously). Spring comes and I lose all sense of drive to do school. The kids want to be outside playing and it gives me a reason to put off school for a few hours. I'll buckle down here soon and get it done.

I finished my mother-in-law's Wool Peddler's shawl. Gave it to her last weekend when we went for a visit. She loved it and wore it to church. Good thing, it was cold in there.

I sincerely hope we can sell our place soon and find our next home so I can manage to put out at least a small garden and get my chickens ordered and started.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Wool Peddler's Shawl:

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Selling the house

Well, we listed our house yesterday. It's kinda wierd and it produces a fairly generous amount of anxiety for me because now I have to keep the house 'hotel room' clean for goodness knows how long with three kids running around! It'll take awhile I imagine, unless God's just gonna be really good to us and send someone along right quick.

My wife has a new job with Lifeline as a flight nurse and she's going to be stationed in Lafayette, IN. She wants to move closer to her parents so she can be around to help out as they get older. So, we've been looking a lot online. The place near Anderson we looked at won't work for two reasons. 1)It's in Anderson and not nearer to Lafayette (it'd be about an hour and a half drive!), and 2) the appraisal of that house came back a lot higher than anyone thought it would.

So there's a little place in Sheridan we found that sits on 10 acres, has fruit trees already and could be really great. Problem is, the house has two small bedrooms and only 1.5 baths. We'd have to build on at some point, and it would require quite a change in lifestyle until then. But 10 acres! Wow. So we're gonna look at it next weekend.

I had originally thought about posting several longer posts about what I did last summer and all, but that's just crazy at this point. Needless to say, I did a lot of canning!

I've checked, and good for me, I will be able to order chicks way into the summer, so if we get moved by June or July (I hope), I'll still be able to have chickens this year! Call me crazy, but I can't wait!

I'm still knitting. I'm currently working on a shawl for my Mother-in-law. The pattern is called "The Wool Peddler's Shawl" from the book, Folk Shawls, by Cheryl Oberle.

Sheesh, I gotta get off of here and get started on school with the kids... More later.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

OY VAY!

It's been a LOOOOOOOONNNGGG time! What's happened? Well, Melora Graduated with her MA in Nursing Ed. from Indiana Wesleyan University in December (good to see ya Doug). She got a job as a flight nurse with Lifeline and is loving it. It's a major step up in her career.

The kids are growing, I nearly made it through the winter (it was a tough one for me), and now we're looking to move!!!

Melora is tentatively going to be stationed in Indianapolis at Methodist Hospital, but Lifeline is opening two more bases in Indiana, one in Muncie, so she could get transferred there.

Yes, I'm looking for my farm! We found one NW of Anderson out in the country, but I'm not gonna say too much at this point. The people are really great Christian people and have a very nice home/property. We're going to do an appraisal to see what it's worth, since the owners don't even know. We're hoping and praying still.

Our house will go on the market sometime in the next couple of weeks if I can get my butt in gear and get some things done.

I've done a lot of knitting this winter and actually finished six or seven projects. Still haven't finished the throw I started three years ago, and at this point, I'm not going to. I'm gonna frog it and use the yarn for something else. Perhaps I'll post some pics of some of my projects. Anyone on Ravelry? Hit me up!

I'll try not to wait too long to let you all know more of what's happening in our lives.

Thanks for being patient!