Two Weeks

So, the third time is a charm. The sellers agreed to our repair requests, and have already started getting them done (we've seen the invoices). It was touch and go there for awhile. Apparently they were thinking about letting the contract go because the repairs were going to go over the amount they agreed to pay. Their realtor told them not to be dumb. Thank God. I don't know if we could have handled having to go out and look again. So, we close on the 15th, and we're going to start moving as soon as possible afterward. We're so excited, but can't wait to be done with the move. There's still so much packing to be done and we're both downright sick of it. Like I said, can't wait to be done. Chris has pretty much given up on the packing, so it's mostly me doing. it right now. I think I use a lot more paper than he does! His friend Josh moved a couple of weeks ago and still had a ton of boxes in the garage, so he donated them to us. Thank goodness - we were starting to run out! So, I guess I'd better go pack some more!

I can't think of an interesting title

I haven't been blogging much. Duh...that's obvious. I've wanted to. I've felt like it, but then again, I haven't. Sure, we've been doing some stuff, but the ever-present subject is the house. And it seems like I'm saying the same thing over....and over.....and over. We're still waiting for some final info on the repairs. We had to extend the date for that 'till this Friday. It's a good thing they wanted to change the closing date to Sept. 15. We had asked for Aug. 29th. I don't think everything would be ready.

So, the most exciting thing for me lately is that I've been touching up/proofing photos. I usually hate doing this and have put off doing both our Europe pics and my Ukraine, and now I have thousands waiting for me. I'm not going to do them all, obviously, but there's so many good ones, how am I to choose. (and by good, I mean ones I like) It was taking me forever, and I wasn't happy with the results, and the other day I just happened upon this tutorial at 2Peas. I love Sande Kreiger's scrapbooking style and was checking out some of her layouts online when I found it, and let me just say, it was a total EUREKA!! moment. Now that I've used her method, I remember doing it before, but had lost it in the depths of my brain. It is making my life so much easier, and I can't wait to get them all done. Plus, it saved me $100 (for now, anyway). I was going to just buy some Itty Bitty Actions to help me, but I'm doing OK without it. It probably would make things easier, so I'll get them eventually. Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my results. The first one is the original, the second is one I touched up on my own, the third one I did with the new method.

 

I'm famous!!

Well, sorta! This weekend, Creating Keepsakes magazine is here in little 'ole Tulsa. So, we all know where I've been! Who ever would have guessed that just so many women would show up for something like that? It's unbelievable. Today, there was a fire drill and noone left. Rachel said there was no need....you couldn't smell any smoke. I was already outside. We were just coming back in from making our first trip to the car. That's trouble! Yesterday, we had a day long album class. It was fab! It was taught by super fab Stacy Julian (here's where the famousness comes in). I took her some OK shaped cookies as a thank you for being here. Pretty cheesy, I know , but these gals share a lot of themselves with us, and I wanted her to know I appreciate it. Her class was awesome - designed to help you have a different way of looking at scrapbooking. Loved it. But, I have to admit, I was a tad grumpy. Yes, it's true. We were supposed to bring 200-ish pictures with us to class (nope, that's not a typo). So I dutifully placed an order with Winkflash for about 100 pics. Figured I could round up some more from my humongoid log of pics. The order finally arrived.......at 5:00 yesterday afternoon. Another grrrrrrrr moment for me. I couldn't really do anything, didn't have enough pictures. But I totally enjoyed being there and soaking up SJ's way of thinking. I love her perspective on SBing!

Another day...

I wish I had another dollar. LOL! Not too much going on around here. We've been cleaning our house like crazy. Monday, my mom's cousin's son (what exactly does this make him to me, I wonder?), Bart, came over. We had a nice time while I helped hime with a special project.

Oh, almost forgot! We went to our house inspection on Monday afternoon. There were a couple of things that need to be fixed, but nothing major. The structural guy kept telling us what a great, solid, wonderful house we're getting. A far cry from our last inspection. I certainly didn't have the same stomach in my throat feeling this time. Funny, though I got a little nervous as I walked in. But this time, it's super excited nervous. Last time, it was "this just isn't good" nervous. I am so excited. We have just over a month. When we first started this process on this house, Sept. 15 felt like forever. Now it's already feeling close. How are we ever going to get everything packed? And we already have like 40 boxes packed. And we've taken several boxes to Goodwill. Oh my!

So I forgot to mention, we went to the Tusla Zoo on Saturday also. I was so hung up about the lines and the no gas. But to the zoo we went. I don't know if I mentioned, but it was HOT on Saturday. I mean really hot. Normally I wouldn't attend the zoo in this heat, but it was free, so we went. Chris was highly amused by the no guns signs all over the place. Especially when you go into the restaurants/gift shops. So, it's okay to have it outside, but not inside?I've been wanting to see the butterfly aviary, and we went early in the morning, so no worries, right? Ha! The heat totally zapped us, and we took a 2 hour nap between the zoo and the balloons. I got some really cool pics, though. I was a tad disappointed in the butterflies. There were way less than I expected. I think they may have lost a few. Still pretty cool, though. I'd never noticed butterflies fluttering their wings just so much. Sure, they fly, but many of the ones we saw looked more like hummingbirds, their wings were moving so fast. And, it was virtually a greenhouse, so we had the sweat rolling just from standing in there. Still, though. Pretty darn cool. I think lots of the animals were hot. I mean, it was over 100, so they were napping in the shade and not too active. Have to go back in the cooler fall or spring.

Saturday made me realize I really need a new lens for my camera. I have this fab camera and I'm using a not so fab lens. Sure, it works OK, and it was great when we first bought it, brand new, but I don't think it has image stabilization, and it's super slow moving. Chris wants to know what this is going to cost us. I told him between $100 and $2,000. He laughed at me.

still here

at the balloon festival. Or more precisely, the parking lot. Wait, no - even that doesn't properly describe it. It's more of a dirt/dust pile with a few scraggles of grass in it with a bunch of hay laid down on top to help alleviate the dust. Some might call it a field. Oh how I love Oklahoma! I'm so not a country girl. But I haven't even gotten to the good part yet. There's one single-lane exit with a line about 3/4 mile or so long. We waited in line for 30 minutes without moving a foot before we pulled over and parked it. Our gas light came on. Yep, we're almost out of gas with no end to this line in sight, and once we finally get out of here we have to not only find, but also get to a gas station. So we wait until we won't have to wait. Ironic, isn't it? I hate irony. Oh, and have I mentioned? It's hot. (Chris wants to be sure the whole world knows it's not a dry heat.)

*update*
Chris just went to ask a cop if he knew of a gas station. The cop said that there's one a mile away, but he wouldn't reccomend that one. He said Chris would be a whitey in a non-white neighborhood. Little does he know...Chris is brown!

it's 8:00 pm

and still 96 degees out. Man, do I hate OK in the summer. Oh yeah...and we're outside...and it's HOT! We're at the annual Tulsa Gatesway balloon festival, and I'm bored...and hot. We're waiting for the evening glow, which not-too-long ago was questionable. There was was a lovely breeze which made it feel slightly less than Hades-like, but it was actually 12 knots and the cut-off for flight is 10. So, the mass ascention was cancelled (no pics of the sky full of balloons) and the glow was in question. Looks like the baskets are going out now. Thank goodness, 'cuz the band doing sound checks is about to drive me insane. Maybe there will be something to take pics of soon. Although, a couple of the bands actually sounded about the same as the sound check. Did I mention the festival is at one of the local tribal casinos? Ironic, me thinks. Oh, and by the way....it's hot. Oh egads! The mike check didn't seem to make a difference for the band from Waleetka. Oh. my.

'spose I should mention

I no longer work at the pool. It's been about two weeks now, and it's a good thing. I don't know how we ever would have found our house with me working so much. It was wearing on us. We couldn't have a discussion about the house without it dissolving into a fight. Not so good. We're not fighters. Chris definitely isn't. It probably also stemmed from the fact that when I was honest with myself about my deep down feelings, it didn't feel right. And then there was the fact that I just wasn't involved enough.

I enjoyed the pool and I miss the kids I worked with, but I'm not so sad I'm not at the pool right now. My last two days, it started really heating up in these parts, and I'm not sure we've had a day under 100 since then. Those last couple of days, it was so hot (How hot was it?) that the pool was no longer cool. It was worth it to jump in, though because hopefully upon exiting, there would be even a puff of a breeze across the wetness to cool you for just a moment. Blech. It was like swimming in a bath tub. I like a nice cool pool. I think that comes from being a swimmer when I was young. Competitive swimming pools are supposed to be kept in the low seventies. That and the fact that we were always in the super-freezing Pacific, I got accustomed to the cold water.

It was really hard for me to quit. I knew I needed to. I really needed to. I was frazzled. But, I felt like a quitter. Why couldn't I make it work? I'm sure some people could, but the combination of everything just made it not right for me. The house-hunting, trying to manage my own business stuff, the working situation, the heat, the hours. It just wasn't working for me. I felt really bad leaving the kids that worked for me, like I was abandoning them. But, I had to get over myself and remember that they didn't really need me. Everything would go on the same way without me. Sometimes that's a hard pill to swallow. I also had to remind myself that we'd all be going our separate ways in about 3 weeks anyway. I quit on a Friday and Sunday was my last day. It was weird being there for those two days because they'd already replaced me and that person was trying to take charge while I was still there. Again, I just had to let it go. She wasn't doing anything personal to me, and very soon, it wouldn't matter one iota. So I just enjoyed hanging with the friends I'd made over the two months I spent at the pool. Sometimes I miss it, but mostly (like almost all the time) not so much.