Going back to work so I can REST!

Well it is my second day back in the office after my week long absence last week. I took another one of my vacation weeks in order to work on the house to do the last minute preparations to get it "on the market". HOLY COW! I worked harder, sweated more, definitely had more STRESS during that week that I usually have at work. It seemed there was always an impending deadline that had to be met. First it was Monday, July 19th and we had to have the house ready for the professional Stager to come in and "stage" our house for showing. That's real estate "speak" for putting all your furniture the way she wants it placed, putting her pictures on the walls, adding her professional touch here and a little there. Accent pillow here, a shower curtain there, a bowl of fruit over there, etc., etc. Well she arrived about 10:30am and we showed her around the house so she could see all the changes we'd made since she'd last been there in about early April. She was very pleased with our work. Then she promptly kicked us out of our own house (kidding of course) so she could work her 'magic'. We had to be gone for 4.5 hours. So we went and had lunch, then stopped by two different apartment complexes and looked at two bedroom apartments. They didn't have any 3 bedrooms available. Then we just hung out awhile. When we got back - WOW, she had really done quite a bit of work. It is absolutely amazing what little "color" can do for a place!

Thursday of last week, our next deadline was for the photographer to come by and take pics of our home both outside and inside. When he called to confirm I asked him to make it as late as he could because we were still doing last minute things in the house. I started mowing the yards that morning about 7 or 7:30am and didn't stop until 11am! I was trimming bushes, moving logs, raking parts, washing porches, etc. etc. Well, he came and took the pics and left. I kept working until I melted into bed about 10pm. Honestly, I don't' think I could have put another foot in front of the other. I was absolutely and utterly exhausted.

Oh yeah, we had guests from Des Moines, IA come and stay with us on Friday. We pretty much had the guest room ready for them. We took them to Cinzetti's Italian Restaurant where they have a buffet of the most INCREDIBLE food you can imagine! and the desserts! OH MY GOODNESS! I just about hurt myself - sampling this, eating that, had a little of this - OH, did you get some of that stuff?

Saturday morning we have a strategy session with our guests from Des Moines and Judi Jones. Sam and Jessica Luwandaga are our emissaries to Uganda, Africa. We have been talking for a while now of taking a trip to Africa to meet the children and families out non-profit organization has been helping out just over the last year.

It is official - we ARE going to Africa! November 2011 is the date we've all agreed to calendar the trip. We've so many things to put together in preparation for the trip. I'll be blogging more about that in the near future!

Well, this morning I get a call from the "home scheduling service" asking if it would be okay for one of their agents to show our home from 11:30am to 12:30pm. I said "of course". So, I took an early lunch about 10:15am and made a quick dash home because I thought I had left my tool box out in the floor of the office; and I knew I still hadn't re-installed the air register vents back into the walls because I was painting them just last night. I get home and sure enough, I had left the tool box out so I put it away; scrambled to get the air register vents back into the wall..."Oh no, where are the screws?" No screws! so I started grabbing little pieces of paper and folding them up the "wedge" them in between the wall and the vent! "Necessity is the mother of invention". I got that done, ran downstairs into the basement and began arranging what few things remain down there then - ran back upstairs and quickly squirted the front entry storm door with window cleaner, grabbed the Fabreeze air freshener and ran upstairs and began misting everything in sight - came down into the living room and into the dining room. I've covered in sweat at this point (and I'm in my office clothes)....ooops....out of time - put the air freshener away and dash out the door! Get into my truck and turn the A/C over to "artic" and blaze a trail back to the office. (I think I met myself coming while I was going back to the office, I'm not sure - everything is a blur).

So I get a call about 4:20 this afternoon asking if it would be okay if an agent showed our house from 5 to 6pm this evening! I said "sure it would!" So...I immediately called Tamala and told her not to go home just yet (they don't want home owners on site when prospective buyers are looking at your property). So we've been kind of, sort of, kicked out a second time all within a week! That's okay, it WILL pay off in the end - I know it will.

I've got a wood pile out back that I have to get completely burned before Sunday because they're going to have an open house from 1pm to 4pm that afternoon. Guess what? We'll be kicked out again during that whole time as well.

Well....that's about it. As soon as we can get back into the house this evening I'll begin "securing" the air registers to the wall, burning more wood out back, more painting touch-ups to be done.

Gotta run-
Blessings!

“Y’all come, now, ya heeuh”

In this whole process of getting ready to sell the house and then move out of the house, the time has come for the dubious “yard sale.” UGH! It always amazed me that folks would stick out these little 8.5 x 11 inch “garage sale” signs on the street corner – expecting you to read their quaint little sign with address, etc. It is a rare moment that I’ve found that I could actually read their sign.

So ours is tomorrow and Tamala had been asking me for a couple of days if I could make the signs for her. I said “Sure!” Well here you go…..a few ‘custom’ signs that will adorn the neighbor for all to see. Too bad they won’t be taking satellite shots of our neighborhood! I hope they can see these.




The big ones are 4 x 8 foot plyboards split in half if that lets you know the size of them. I have to admit, I started feeling a little like ‘white trash’ about half way through this project. I think maybe I’ve experiencing a psychological conundrum from too many visits to “Hillbilly Hollar” down near Branson, MO. I mean…isn’t the whole idea of putting out a sign is for the passersby to actually see them and to READ them? Well, that was my whole approach. Give me a chance and I just might make a sign they could see from the Space shuttle!

I’m sure we’ll be up well before sun up tomorrow – arranging, pushing, shoving, pulling things into just the right spot for the new owner to “spy” their little find and whisk off with it to only God knows where. I told Tamala she probably wouldn’t want me around too much during the sale because if someone doesn’t like my price I might tell them give a dollar for it and “git outta heeuh”. That’s right, I want it gone…all of it! “Git ‘er dun” as Mator would say in Pixar’s movie “CARS”.

I’m sure after it’s all over there will some kind of stupid story to tell. I like to add some accelerant and simply strike a match, then “WOOSHHHH” it’d all be over in a flash!

Pray for me that I don’t try and slap some horse sense into some of the ‘folk’ that will be visiting the former Palmerosa of KC.

Blessings!

Updates, Updates and updates -

50 by 50 - update:

Well I went to the doctor last week for a check up and asked him to fill out a form that was required for my insurance company. I was anticipating the visit because I knew I had lost some weight since my last visit but didn't know how much. How, did I know? Well, let's put it this way, if I didn't wear a belt would likely see a full moon rising! All of my pants have become extremely too big and when I cinch up the belt they have a tendency to pucker up around my waist. So I guess you might be wondering how much I've lost? The nurse's aid said the last time I was in their office I was tipping the scale at 303 lbs. Last week I weighed in at 278lbs so that's a 25 lb. loss! I'll take it. Thing of it is, I haven't really been trying. I've cut down on the amount of food I eat, plus, I've stay extemely active when I come home at night. Instead of sitting and watching TV like we used to do, I'm scraping, sanding, painting, spackling, etc, etc. until it's time to go to bed. Another 25 lb weigh loss would put me at 253. I'd really like to get to 250. Suffice it to say, I haven't been in the 270's for quite awhile. Incidentally, Tamala has dropped 20 lbs as well! People at church have been commenting to her that they've noticed her weight loss. Her jeans are getting pretty "baggy" too. Maybe I should begin calling her the "bag lady".

Palmerosa of KC is up for sale!

This weekend proved to be very, very productive! I've hired two teenage boys who live across the street a couple of weekends. Well, they came over Saturday morning and I had them start down in the basement. We have a fairly large basement. Between the stuff we've been storing for Kansas Academy of Theatrical Arts (a non profit organization I serve on their Board of Directors) and our stuff - let's just say there was a "trail" from one end of the basement to the other. It was FULL! After about 2.5 hours - our basement is 99% empty! It looks so HUGE now! Our realtor visited us just last week and said the main thing is for the stuff in a basement to appear to be organized. I'm thinking she'll settle for its condition now. I think she'll be really pleased.

We're getting down to some final details before it officially hits the market. Our target date for it to be entered on the Multilist service and published on the market is July 21st. Tamala and I will be taking that entire week off to get the house ready. I think we'll be ready early, but I'll remain flexible. If you've got $127,500.00 and need a 4 bedroom, tri-level, two bathrooms on almost 3/4 of an acre - we've got just the place for you.

Also, with a few quick calculations and a great deal of HOPE - I believe that if we sell the PalmerosaKC for over $123,500 we will walk away from the closing table completely DEBT FREE! I've thought about this more and more lately. I keep telling myself every night while working on the house that "pay day is coming....pay day is coming!"

Well, that's all for now. It's beginning to get a little late. Blessings!

the 1, 2 punch -

Dear reader, brace yourself this could be a long one! This post may be more of a cathartic process for me than anything else. Be that as it may, here it is......

Today, it hit me. It hit me right between the eyes, then it went straight to the inner core - my soul. The adoption process was OVER. There wasn't any children in our home, sleeping in their beds, or eating at their places around our dinner table. There would be no toys littering the living room, no doll clothes strung from here to there, no dump trucks to hurl across our floors. But the thing that was the loudest was there wasn't laughter filling our household. It was DEAFENING! The absence of giggling or squeals of delight, no maple syrup kisses or quick hugs around the legs and then dashing out the door to explore the next great adventure. It's GONE!

I've know for awhile now that there was something building within myself. It was a type of pressure. There was three contributing factors that can be indentified very quickly.

The house itself - it has been over three months now. This house has been in a state of chaos, out-of-sorts, mis-placed things. I can't set down because there is a window that needs painting, that cabinet door needs to be re-hung, have I sanded that drawer facing yet? Where is my hammer? Oh yes, I have to go buy more hardware for the cabintry, and another gallono of paint - don't forget caulking. Where is that confounded hammer? Oh there is the screwdriver I needed an hour ago to remove that piece of hardware. "Please God, will you please help me find my hammer?" When will the contractor show up again - it's been three & a half weeks. What part of "we want to get this house ready to put on the market as quickly as possible wasn't clear enough?" Did I mumble when I told him we really were in a hurry to get this house listed on the market before the special tax money was gone? That was eight or ten weeks ago now.

ORDER - yes, order. I like order in my home. Everything has a place and everything should be in it's place. "Have you seen my hammer?"

Preparing this house had become a second job a long time ago. I HATE my second job. I love my primary job - it brings me a great deal of satisfaction. I can't quit my second job - it HAS to be finished.

The 2nd contributing factor has been one that began just about the time we started remodeling the house for market. We had a yound man in our church that appeared to be in difficult time in his young life. So we reached out to him; we jumped in both feet first. We had no idea that it would end as poorly as it has. For all of acts of kindness, all the love and attention we gave to him,etc., etc. we were not prepared for the way we would be treated in return. The deceit, lies,cold-heartedness and utter contempt (criminal acts and all) that has been displayed to us left us completely bewildered. He all but asked us to become surrogate parents. He called us Mom & Dad. He could have had us the rest of our lives but that all vaporized in less than three short months. All we can do at this point is pray for the young man, that God will have grace with him and protect him from himself. My greatest concern is that he will "mess over" the wrong person and they won't be as forgiving as we have been.

Finally, of course there is the failed adoption. Nearly three years of our lives invested into something that will not yield a thing. The "system" is so horribly broken it is tragic to think just how many children are not getting their forever family because the system has "paralysis by analysis".

It was about 10:30 this morning when the pressure blew the lid off. I had had enough, I was done. I realized after speaking with my spiritual mother that I was very sick in many different ways. She was absolutely right - I was grieving the loss of children. I went back to my desk after having spoken with her and could NOT focus whatsoever. I felt the crack, debris was about to begin falling - I had to get out of there with whatever dignity I had at the moment. I told my boss I had to go home, that I was sick. How I wish I were physically sick. I wish I could just spew it all into the toilet and it would all be over with - a 24 hour bug; that would have been more desirable than this. Now I have to deal with the anger, unmeasurable disappointment, sadness, more anger,etc.

I have to share this little story and get it off my chest as well. I went to the Verizon Wireless store a couple weeks ago. My bosses upgraded my cell phone to the very coolest and latest thing on the market. I had to wait two weeks for them to even ship it to me! So it finally arrived and I wanted to make sure it was turned on correctly and all my information was transferred over from my old phone and that is why I was in the Verizon store. I wanted one of the techs to help me with that. Well wouldn't you know there was some kind of small issue. The store tech couldn't get the phone to "boot up" just right so she call an IT person at Verizon corporate. This guy is working with me and eventually tells me to take the phone and go outside. "You mean outside the store?" I ask. "Yeah, take it outside on the sidewalk" he says. I'm thinking you've got to be kidding - I'm inside a freaking Verizon store. So, I had to put the handset to the landline down and walk outside onto the sidewalk and voila! it booted up. So walk back in the store and pick up the phone with the IT guy. Meanwhile, there are several people inside the store and I've been there practically 45 minutes already with someplace else I needed to be heading to. Well, it seems there was this little Hispanic girl, approximately two, who wasn't having a very good day. She was getting louder and louder and her parents just paid not attention. I am still on the phone trying to get help with the IT guy, when she REALLY gets loud! I said out load to the techs across the counter " I can help that child!"with a little bite of satire in my voice. They and the IT guy on the phone just busted out laughing. I gave the Tech across the counter from me one of those "give me five minutes with her and she'll have a new outlook on life" looks; when all of the sudden she throws herself on the floor and begins shrieking and wailing! I spun around with the phone up to my ear and look straight at the mother and said "DO YOU......MIND?" She was incredulous! How dare I. Finally the dad, who must have finally grown a pair right there, began to scoop her up off the floor and attempt to subdue her in some small manner. Let me tell you what I wanted to say out loud was "this is a place of business, not an audition for Nanny 911!" I mean really, here was this 30 pound baby having complete control over her mother and father who was probably 250. I thought if it comes to having to resort to public humiliation to get the parents to parent that child, then so be it.

Okay, I'm done. I'm going to find that blasted hammer if it's the last thing I do today!

Adoption update -

Well after nearly three years in this adoption process here is the latest and greatest update.

We notified out adoption worker several weeks ago that we were interested in a sibling set of four. She finally emailed us this past Thursday or so and said that their organization was going to examine whether the biological grandparents were going to able to be the best resource for adopting the kids; which means yet another.........................DELAY.

I had told Tamala a week or so ago that if we weren't chosen on this set of kids, that I, personally, was done!

So Friday, I sent and email to our adoption worker something to the effect of: "please remove us from your list, the message from KVC has been received loud and clear".

So instead of calling us, our adoption worker just emails us and says she understands our frustration with the long process....blah., blah, blah...blah. However she would respect our wishes if we wanted them to close the file.

So I fire back an email "we're done.....close the file".

Honestly, this whole deal of them having a major objection with us because we would not openly endorse homosexuality as an okay alternative lifestyle; just reminds me of the Scriptures saying something about - " in the last days, wrong will seem right and right will be made out to be wrong". Also it says in the last days that Christians will be persecuted. My spiritual mentor told us several months ago "it has already started - you are being persecuted for standing up for what is right and morally correct.

Plan B - don't know if there is a Plan B at this point.

Blessings!

2nd job and 3 months later

it is hard to believe that months have practically "vaporized" since my last post. Honestly, does the pace ever slow down? When we first stared this whole remodeling project we hoped it would take less than a month. Boy was that "pie in the sky"! Family members have been asking when are you going to blog again. Well, I really couldn't quite seem to find the time. We usually wake up before 6am, roll out and begin the day, stay at work for the next ten hours or longer before heading back to my "2nd job". That would be the whole house project. So we have been making progress but very, very slowly. The main contractor finally showed up after four weeks of not showing up. We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I will not venture a guess as to what date we'll be able to put the house on the market. But we're a heck of a lot closer now than we were 3 months ago. I told Tamala a couple weeks ago that we've been trying to fix 20 years (or longer) of neglect in a matter of a few weeks. It just wasn't happening. The inside of the house is really beginning to look completely different. New paint on the walls and ceilings. Gotta run....some disaster just happened in the lower bathroom that the contractor worked on today.

To sell or not to sell......

Unload that baby!

Well Mama T and I have decided to test the waters in the real estate market by listing our home with a realtor. So the Palmerosa of KC is now officially in a state of "limbo".

Our home is no longer ours but is now a "product" we have to sell on the open market. You have to "de-personalize" the space to make it more attractive to a wider base of buyers.

So, I've taken the next week off, using vacation time, to begin the process of not only doing some light re-modeling but also begin the packing process for our move.

The drywall guy is coming Monday at 9am to fix things like this:


This was a clock installed into the kitchen wall no telling how many years, or even decades ago. It is coming out and will be patched up and painted over.

I was really proud of Mama T last night because began digging into her closet to "pare down" the amount of cloths in her closet. One of the tricks of the trade is that we have to create the "illusion" that their is an abundance of closet space. The real estate folks told us to cut it down to 1/3 of the amount in the closet.

here is a pic of part of her closet after her hard work. (take note that all the clothes are hung on the same color hangers and collars are to be turned the same direction!)


Anyway, we gotta run...there's work to be done: paint fling, boards to cut, windows to scrape and wash, dishes to pack.....I'm tired already and it's not even 9am.

I may just have to stop by the toy store a little later today to buy a toy or two. For those who aren't "in the know" that's Kevin-speak for Lowes or Home Depot (toy store) and a miter saw or ladder would be the "toys"!

You can agree with Mama T and I that we will find favor with buyers and they will pay full market value or above! God is able....I trust Him.

Buy "oops"..... bye for now.