We have a problem.

As many of you know, we've just moved into a new (ok, new to us) house.

The main pre-requisite from our children about new house when we were out looking was that it absolutely, positively had to have stairs.

That was their only requirement.

Stairs. (With lots of rooms up top, not just a bonus.)
That last request was the girl's.

So, being the intelligent parents that we are, we looked at all of our options and realized the advantages of having the children upstairs (Especially as they head toward their teen years with rapid speed.) and purchased a house that did indeed have stairs.

Now to get to the problem.....G is scared to sleep upstairs.
Huh? But you're the one who petitioned for these stairs.

She did well at first, but for some reason this last week she has been coming downstairs to our room every night.
She has trouble going to bed and gets up & down about 10 times before falling asleep.

She's not up there alone. Her brother is in the next room down.

I've tried letting her fall asleep to music.
Not working.

Last night, I even tried to let her camp out in her brother's room just to get used to being up there.
Didn't work.

This morning, she didn't even want to go up alone to brush her teeth! Ugh.
After some fussing encouraging on my part, she did get this task accomplished alone.

Any tips or hints for us to try?

I'm really tired of getting pushed off my own bed.

Have you checked out IKEA lately?

I must admit that I've never really been an IKEA fan. The furniture was just a little too modern and contemporary for me. However, now I must ammend that opinion and say that I'm in love with this particular line from IKEA called EKTORP.

I love it. It's cozy and comfy and very liveable without being cold & sterile.

What caught my eye was this chair:

I heart this chair!

Black & white checks are my favorite and up until now I've never been able to work them into my space.

I may have to with this chair.

The photos online don't do it justice but there is a print ad in the current issue of

Better Homes & Gardens that is just wonderful.

(I'd show you a picture of it but my scanner hasn't been hooked up yet - sorry.)

I have just one concern....I've never seen any upholstered IKEA furniture in person and I'm afraid it might feel.....cheap.

Does anyone have any personal experiences with this company to give me for reference?

I really want to like it.

Just in case anyone with any IKEA connections wants me to do a product test for this furniture line in a real home ....e-mail me, we'll talk.

The Unhappy Telemarketer

I have to admit that it's been a while since I've had any telemarketing calls, but since we have a new number that's not on the Do Not Call Registry....that's all we've been getting.

I've been qualified to win hundreds of thousands of dollars, I've been offered magazines out the wazoo, and I've received a new satellite dish system. I've politely declined them all and until the other day all of the callers were okay with that. "Goodbye and have a good day, Ma'am." they would all say.

Until.....Friday afternoon I answered a call that had the id of a marketing company.

It went a little something like this:

Me: "Hello"

Crazy Telemarketer: "Hi, may I speak to the person in charge of making your internet decisions?"

Me: "You are, but we've just been set up and we're not interested in changing."

Crazy Telemarketer: "I'm not even trying to talk to you about your internet. I'm was going to talk to you about your telephone and try to save you some money."

Me: Pause......thinking...."No she didn't!"

Me: "Well, we've just gotten set up with that as well...and don't you get snippy with me."

Crazy Telemarketer: "I'm not getting snippy with you, Ma'am. I'm just trying.....blah, blah, blah."

Me: CLICK

I sat there for a minute to let this scenario sink in, then I went to find my husband to tell him all about this insane woman who had called ME in the first place. I do believe the goal of her call was to somehow get ME to spend MY money with THEIR company.

Not the way to handle it.

I think she needs a new career path and I need to register our new number.

Little snipets of sanity.

Slowly but surely things around here are starting to come together.

We've gotten our first week of school behind us (now the homework will begin - ugh).

Football is in full swing & gymnastics has been delayed beacause of recent injury (she doesn't think she can do a good handspring with a bum elbow).

We actually hosted (sort of) our first guests last night. A couple that Daddy deals with at work offered to bring us dinner so we wouldn't have to cook in all this mess and after two hours of talking on the back porch we actually got to eat it. Southern hospitality - there's nothing like it. Thanks so much to them for the thoughtfulness. It was very appreciated!

With all of that said, I thought I'd show you small areas around the house that are gettin' there.

I just love this little guy hiding back there.

Here is a dry-run of the mantle. Nothing is nailed down yet so I can still tweak it a little and speaking of that..... I remembered a couple of purchases that I had made & rearranged it a little. I still have plans to put an ironwork scroll thing above the pictures but let me know your thoughts so far.

I just love this door with the light pouring through. This rug probably won't stay here but for now.....it's here.

Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I'll have more to show you soon.

Have a great weekend!

Last few days....in pictures.

I thought I'd wait until tomorrow to post these, but my "To Do" list is way too long so I'll just do it now.

Here is our last week in pictures.

Enjoy and I'll accept your pity. Thanks.

(Old house)

(New house)

Time out from moving for a bike riding boo-boo.

First day of school. (G smiles as always. B always hates to smile.)

5th & 2nd graders.

Let's hope next week is a little less exciting.

We're In!!

We're finally officially in the new house.

We absolutely love our new neighborhood. The first night here 3 boys came over & asked B. to play. He's in heaven. G. hasn't met any of the little girls yet but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

School is going well. They've been in for two days now & no homework yet. Yay.
I'll post back to school pictures tomorrow along with a few moving pics.
I'm so glad that part's over - now if I could just find all of my shoes....

Well, that's all for tonight. For some reason, I've been really tired & sleepy lately. Wonder why?

Another quickie update.....

The hubby brought up the laptop (boy, have I missed you...oh, and hubby too) for the weekend so I thought I'd post while I could.

As of around 5:30pm today, they drove away with all of our worldly possessions. The last two days have been a frinzy of wrapping papers & cardboard boxes. The moving team (only 3 people) were wonderful and somehow managed to get everything packed & loaded in two days flat. I cannot sing their praises enough.

As they were about to leave the team leader asked me what time I'd like them to be at the destination to unload. I was thinking they'd say.....10 - 10:30am -ish. What I got from them was a wonderful.....8 - 8:30 ish and they even have a four hour drive to get there.
I'm telling you, they are wonderful!!

I'd better rap it up and get some sleep, there is still lots to do at the old homestead tomorrow. You never realize how dirty your house is until they take everything out of it. I'd been wondering where those missing boxers & socks had gone......behind the dryer (somehow).

Not long now.

Just a quick update:

As far as I know, everything is right on schedule. The packers will be here tomorrow, (I still have more stuff to do for them but I'll finish that later) and the movers will be here on Friday.

I've signed my share of the papers so I don't have to go back on Friday, only Daddy will have to be at the closing and then he will come here to participate in the fun.

Since they're packing up everything tomorrow, I'll be incommunicado for a while. Don't have too much fun while I'm gone and I'll catch up ASAP.

Another busy week.

Well, here we go. What this whole summer has been leading up to......MOVING WEEK.

We'll start out with a quick trip down to SC so #1 son can participate in football practice on Monday & Tuesday nights. (I'm such a good mom - or do they all drive 3 hrs. to practice??)
While there, we'll check out the gymnastics facilities so that #1 daughter can get a feel for things and sign up for fall classes.
I still have to give some paperwork to their new school and get all the utilities in our name at the new house. (I'd hate to move in on Monday & not have any AC.)

Then we head back home on Wednesday to finish up last minute details, such as clothes washing & fridge cleaning so that our lovely packers can come in on Thursday.

The moving company will show up bright & early Friday morning to pack our whole life into a nice big eighteen wheeler and take it away for the weekend. While all of this is going on I may have to make a super fast trip to our new city and put my John Hancock on our closing papers only to return back home the same day to make sure the loading went ok.

Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? I'm hoping it won't be so bad. I've had lots of helpers with the things we've done so far and only a few minor injuries. (What's a little cut here & a smashed finger there?)

I'll keep you posted on how things are going and maybe I'll have a picture or two of the mess to throw in. Have a great week!

100th Post!

Yay! Today I'm celebrating my 100th post.

Because I couldn't think of anything to celebrate the very special #100 (that hasn't already been done) I thought I might somehow tie it into my favorite pastime.....shopping.

So, I was thinking....if I had $1 for every post that I'd ever done, obviously, I'd have $100. What could I possibly buy for $100?? Ummm.

Maybe I could get some shoes.

Maybe a really great haircut or a day at the spa.

(Nah - I really hate spas - didn't know that about me did you?)

Maybe I'd buy $100 worth of books.

I'd probably go to some antique stores & get lots of good stuff to go in the new house.

Let's play a game. If I could give you $100 - what would you buy?

I can't wait to read everyone's answers - be sure to leave one.

(Sorry I can't really give you $100 - I'm no Pioneer Woman.)

Thanks for playing & for coming back for more. Who would've guessed......100 posts??

The Long Awaited House Choice Post

Ok ladies (and gentlemen)......I finally found the cable so I could download the house pictures. So, without any further delay, here is our house choice:

(If you chose house #5 earlier you were right!)

Just waiting for some rockin' chairs.

Dining Room - I need to do some work in here.

Kitchen

Family Room

Master bedroom.

I'm so excited to be getting a screened porch and.....grass!

Well, there you have pictures of downstairs. There are more bedrooms upstairs (which for now are boring). The movers will be here next week & if everything goes as planned then we will be moving in the day before school starts.

I'll keep you posted as we get settled (and make changes). Thanks for all of your well-wishes, they have really lifted my spirits through this whole process.

Panthers Training Camp

We did more than just look at houses and sign papers while we were gone. We were lucky enough to get to go to the Carolina Panthers Training Camp at Wofford College one day last week. We all had a great time (ok, except Gracie). My camera & I had a wonderful time so I thought I'd share a few of my shots with you. Enjoy......

There's Jake Delhomme - QB.

I just love this shot.

Not sure if you've heard about the fight that Steve Smith had where he broke his teammates nose - I caught a little of it. He's been suspended for a couple of games & fined.

Not only did we come away with a great day of watching professional football players doing their thing, but Bray actually was able to get three more autographs to add to his football.

Thanks, Panthers for being nice to the kids.

Ok - that's all I'll bore you with for today, although there are lots more to share.

Whew! We're Back!

We have finally made it back home (for the 2nd time) since heading down to SC to find us a house and, boy have I missed everyone. It will take me forever to catch up.

So much has happened in the last week that I don't know where to begin but I think I will start with the BIG news.......we have a house!!! YAY! YIPPEE!!

We are under contract with a house (which I will show you later). It is a wonderful four bedroom + bonus, 2 1/2 bath home on a large lot in a family friendly neighborhood and I can't wait to get down there.

We did get the kids signed up for school and football and can you believe that B has already had one football practice?? I know. We're just glad we happened to be down there and could make it. I'll have to take him back next week more practices and get back home because the movers are coming to pack & load our house on the 14th & 15th. I know!

It took all summer to make happen but it looks like it pays to be pushy (and have God on your side). I said I wanted the kids to start school on time and by golly it seems like He's going to make that happen.

That's about all of the big news (for now). I'll do a house post some other time - I need to download all of the pictures first.

Hope everyone has been well & I'll stop by to visit as I can.