Photos of the New House
I went by our new house today and took some pictures outside.
Listed below are the specs on the ol' homestead taken straight from the sell sheet. You can see all the rest of the pics on Flickr. And no, the boat doesn't come with the house, but I'm trying convince the seller to leave his pool table...
- 4 Bedroom, 3 Bath , 2400 total finished square feet
- Built in 1993 and remodled in 02-04 with lots of extras!
- 1400 sqft finished on the main level w/3 bedrooms +2 baths
- 1000 sqft finished on the lower level w/1 bedroom + 1 full bath
Main Level Living Spaces
- Large master bedroom w/bath and bay window
- 2 bedrooms adjacent to master bedroom
- Bath w/whirlpool tub
- Mudroom + washer and dryer
- Formal living room w/cathedral ceiling
Kitchen and Dining Room
- New counter tops, crown molding oak cabinetry
- Built in plate and wine rack (ooooo, ahhhhh)
- Built in half round breakfast table
- hardwood parquet flooring
- Dining room is 12x15 w/cathedral ceiling and hardwood flooring
- Built in oak and glass china cabinet
- Window seats and architectural windows
Lower Level
- Family room w/built in oak book case
- Built in oak corner entertainment center
- Office w/built in desk and oak cabinets
- Bedroom w/ full bathroom + walk-in closet
- Game room/kids play room
- Storage room/possible 5th bedroom
Outside
- 3+1/2 stall garage, insulated, w/heated shop
- Garden shed, garden arbor w/swing
- Kids play-fort w/sandbox, swing, and slides
We're pretty excited.
Panoramas from Israel
On our trip to Israel I took around 2000 photos. Most all of them are available to view and download from Flickr. I also took different series of photos that I would later stich into panoramic pictures. I have been working on this project for the past couple of days and you can see 10 different panoramic shots from the Holy Land.
You can click on the pictures below to see larger versions or follow this link to the whole set on Flickr with the original sized images.
See the rest of the panoramas here.
The Adventure Continues...
In our ongoing quest for new realestate we had to take care of one minor detail - sell our own house. We actually sold it a couple weeks ago but I was wainting for the realtor to put a "sold" sign on it so I could take a picture and include it with this article.So our house is sold and thankfully we have already found a new house to move into. If everything goes well we will be out and in around the end of July.
I'ts kind of sad to leave here since we had so many firsts in the house. It was our first house, Mia was born and all of our first memories of her will be here. But it is very exciting to be moving to an actual "house" that isn't connected to anything but itself. Even though we owned our townhouse there is still something that makes you feel like it isn't completely yours.
Hopefully I'll get some pictures of the new place soon and let you all know where we are going.
Whoops...
Okay I thought of another lesson I have learned in the whole house selling process. If somebody wants to look at your house let them.
On Saturday an agent wanted to bring somebody through the house but it didn't work with our schedule. I just found out that person bought a townhouse down the street from us that is almost the same (ours has a finished basement).
Doh!!!
I Am the Master Stasher
For those of you who don't know, we put our house on the market a couple weeks ago and it has been an adventure.
If you have problems with keeping your house picked up (and I'm not saying we do...well, I do) sell your house. I don't think I have picked up more stuff more times in my life. I have also become a "master stasher." That is the art of finding little nooks and crannies you hope people won't pry into to store all of the junk you should really throw away.
I guess the key would be to not acquire so much junk. (again the focus is on me and not Mickie...just wanted to make that clear.)
So here are 5 things I have learned so far from this experience.
- I am not the world's neatest person, if fact I think I probably rank somewhere behind China.
- Don't give your cell number to a real estate agent - your minutes will get devoured like a pie at fat camp.
- It's really weird to leave your house so others can come look at it.
- It's really weird to look at a house when the owners are still there.
- I can't think of a fifth, so I guess I'm a slow learner...more to come as the excitement builds
In case you are interested in buying our house, you can find more info here.
Happy Birthday Mia
Dear Mia,
Today you turn two. I can't believe how fast it has come. I always hear other parents older than me talk about where the time has gone, and even though I roll my eyes at the tired cliche, it is very true. I still can't believe God would allow me to be responsible for someone so precious. I pray every day that I will be a better dad than yesterday.
You have taught me so many things already. I have learned how to have more patience, I have learned to be gentle, I have learned to keep an eye on you at all possible times...and I have learned to love more.
I can't imagine life without you. Just a couple weeks ago you and your mom were gone for several days. I thought at first it would be nice to have some time to myself to get things done, but there was an incredible emptiness in the house. It was then I realized how much I love you and how much I love being a father.
Your sense of humor is amazing. When you fall down particularly hard you look up and say, "bonk" and then keep on doing whatever you were doing. And the cool thing is, you know when you are being funny. You know that every time you put that bucket on your head and run into things your mom and I will laugh our heads off.
My heart wells up with pride every time I see you accomplish something new and you never cease to amaze me. Just the other day you climbed all the way up the ladder at the park with no help, you can change a DVD in and out of the player and then proceed to naviagate the menus to get it to play...(what???). You will always amaze me and I will never stop being proud of you.
My favorite thing however is when you say "Daddy lay down?" which translated means: "I'm not quite ready to go to bed yet so will you lay down with me for awhile?" And we do. You tell me stories about your day and I sing your song. You just recently have been handing me a pillow saying, "here you go buddy." That cracks me up too. And after we have laid there awhile you stand up and give me a big kiss, normally on my chin and say "own bed?" which I hope means: "Thanks for hanging out with me daddy. I feel safe and loved now and I am ready to go to sleep." Maybe.
I love you so much and I can't wait to see what you will do and become in the years ahead.
Happy brithday princess.
love,
Daddy.
MySpace Part Deux
I recently wrote about my gut-wrenching entry into the MySpace swamp. Once I got in I didn't realize that I was going to be sinking faster and deeper into a quagmire of horrible design and layout. I started to customize my page and then gave up and pondered even telling anyone about it, lest my skills as a graphic designer come into question...okay so you already question them, shut it.
I felt nauseous every time I visted my page to see my new friends or to see what pithy comment had been written-until today. Mike Davidson (one of the blogs I read regularly and the host of the famous Steve Jobs Movie Poster Contest) wrote about his experience customizing MySpace. After looking at what he had done I injected some sanity into MySpace.
You can see all the tomfoolery here.
I'm Sorry...
This is quite possibly one of the hardest posts I've ever had to write. I'm very emotional as I write it so if that comes out in a wrong way forgive me.
I need to make a confession to everyone that reads my blog. I did something last night that I swore I would never do. I've heard stories of others that had done it and I always said to myself "that won't be me." I saw youth pastors and youth leaders do it, but I was still in denial that I could ever stoop so low. My guilt and shame have gotten the best of me today and I can't bear it anymore. I need to confess.
I signed up for a myspace account...
Don't judge me all at once. I fought this with everything I had, and in one moment last night all of my willpower came crashing down. I sat in front of the computer with glazed eyes and couldn't help myself. Throughout the late hours of the night I was in deep in a myspace frenzy editing my profile, feverishly searching for old high school friends, wondering when I would quit being a "myspace loser" and actually get some friends, trying to figure out how in the world to get a song on my profile, and finally figuring out that clicking "home" at the top of the page lets you edit stuff.
So there you have it. My confession. I deeply regret my actions. One piece of advice: never say it won't happen to you-because before you know it you'll be in up to y'ur neck! For those of you who want to see the incarnate evil that is my myspace page, click here.
Feed Me!
Every morning I have my routine. I get up (or I'm forced up by my wife), I shower, I buy some carmel and mocha cappucino from Kum and Go (mmmmm), I drive to work, and I read my rss news feeds. (I also get dressed and brush my teeth in case you had a really weird picture of me walking into work...)
But it's the last item on my list that is important. I get so many ideas and random bits of knowledge from this time it makes it invaluable to me. So I thought I would share the links to my absolute favs. Maybe you've heard of them, maybe you haven't but here we go. Note that the links are to the rss feeds not the actual sites themselves. If you're not sure what rss is check out this article. I use the Sage Reader - a free extension for the Firefox browser.
By the way, we did have more than 10 people show up at our garage sale and we were able to get rid of some stuff - though nobody wanted my cute Taco Bell dog that says "Heeeere lizzard lizzard lizzard." Strange...
Sports
- ESPN
- Bill Simmons - quite possibly the funniest sports writer ever...
Technology
- Make Magazine - This is a colection of DIY projects that range from insanely cool to insanely inane.
- Lifehacker - one of the best sites for useful everyday info
Random
- Woot - They sell one thing a day, normally for a crazy price.
Stuff for Ministry
- Church Beauty - a collection of the best church web site designs
- Church Marketing Sucks - great tips and articles on the failure of the church in communicating relevantly today.
Web and Graphic Design
- Netdiver - where I go for inspiration
- Cameron Moll's Authentic Boredom - an "A List" designer with great insights and articles
- Netcocktail - A collection of cool color palletes and the sites they appear on
Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite RSS Feeds are.
Acting Like a Chicken with Wet Hands
I am a big proponent of common sense (though some would say I fail to practice it at times). On a daily basis I come across stuff that was clearly not thought enough about. Case in point: in one of the men's restrooms at work the paper towel dispensers are about as high up on the wall as humanly possible. Vince Carter would have a hard time getting his hands dry in the proper fashion.
The height is not really the thing that is frustrating - it is the fact that every time I reach up with wet hands, all the water ends up running down my arm, over my elbow and into my shirt. I've tried various manuvers to ward off the annoying trickle. My favorite is the chicken wing. I put my elbow as high up in the air as I can without breaking my arm and then proceed to jab down on the dispensor in a sort of short pecking motion. I've also tried the "pull the torn edge from the previous paper towel and hope the next comes with it" manuver. Though that rarely works.
So next time you have a relatively simple task to accomplish, take a minute and think about the long term consequences of your actions. You may have to endure walking into a mens room and being exposed to my foolishness.