Stream of Consciousness

I have a million unrelated things going through my mind right now that I am completely unable to form into anything resembling a coherent post....so here goes:

I got gas yesterday at Kroger for $2.149. I think I was in my 30's the last time that happened (or it seems like it anyway).

"Wicked" was really good. Why didn't I know anything about this play? Where have I been for the last five years? I think I remember hearing things about it on the periphery of my life and I know I've picked up the book a hundred times in Barnes and Noble and never bought it. I know people have talked about it, gone to New York 'specially to see it, we talked about seeing it in London....and I was just passively interested. Really liked it, but not likely to become obsessed. At least not to the extent of the three chicks we saw when we were walking in who were wearing witch hats....(crossing my fingers and hoping they weren't in front of me!) Actually that may have been preferable to the guy with the biggest head in the world who plopped right in front of us. Luckily, one of the couples had to leave at intermission so DOTR and I moved to their seats. Much better. We were actually right in the center in the 5th row, but the Fox's sight lines have much to be desired. However, I'm NOT complaining about free tickets, in the fifth row, in the center. Not at all. Good times.

Why don't people dress up anymore? We were specifically told that the dress code was "nice casual" and NOT to wear a tie. What's up with that? The crowd at the Fabulous Fox looked like they were going to a basketball game. And church? I guess the reason I like our church is that people do dress up. You rarely see women in pants or men without a tie. People don't like to dress up for weddings or funerals or parties. If you're not going to dress up then, well just exactly when would you dress up? And if you do dress nicely, everybody seems to go on and on about how you didn't need to get all dressed up. I remember when my mom used to get a new outfit for the Alumni Banquet every year, get her hair done and everything. When I went back for my 25th reunion, my great aunt and uncle stopped in to see us before the banquet (he graduated in the 1940's) and she was wearing a velour sweatsuit! To the Alumni Banquet! I just don't get it.

J4 got contacts yesterday. All the other kids got them by the time they were in the 5th or 6th grade, but he's not nearsighted, he just has an astimatism so it wasn't a big deal. After an hour, he finally got them in and out and back in. In the meantime, I decided to get some, too. I know I haven't work contacts for at least 15 years when I finally gave up and just resorted to glasses for about 5 years, but since I had lasik the correction is much simpler. I can't believe how much thinner and hard to handle they are now. No wonder he couldn't get them in his eyes! It was a pleasure to drive this morning WITH sunglasses and to see everything clearly. I have lifetime "tweaking" of my lasik for $200, but it's such a hassle that this seems a lot easier. For now anyway.

Halloween. Never my favorite holiday, except that it meant that my birthday was coming up (my birthday is next Wednesday). Now I'm reminded by the never ending election coverage as to how many days it is until my birthday. Gee, thanks. As if the total inability to get in and out of the McDonald's near our house wasn't enough of a reminder, thanks to all you early voters clogging up my intersection, pulling out in front of me so I miss the light and all that fun stuff. It's only been a month now (the county elections office is on my route to the high school, bank, drugstore, etc.).

Football game tonight, so I don't have to do the candy thing. I bought a bag at Costco in case we have some early trick or treaters, before the game, but the lights are going out. We don't get that many anyway, our houses are far apart, far back from the street and it takes a really long time just to going down the main street. A lot of the neighbors are older and they just leave. My kids usually went with friends who live in more compact subdivisions. Now that the boys are in HS, we're done with it. They will go to the church for "Fusion after Dark" after the game. Works for me.

Somebody looked at our house yesterday with our agent. She "loved it" but of course.....they have a house and don't think they can sell it. Such is life. I can't bring myself to disassociate from this house until I think there's really a chance everything will fall into place. Hopefully she brings the husband this weekend (guess I need to make the garage and boat parking area a little more welcoming! ha!)

I have a buy one, get one free coupon for Sweet Tomatoes. As soon as DOTR gets back from his class at the election office (so he can work at the polls on Tuesday), I'm outta here for lunch. Guess I'd better do some work.

Here ends my stream of consciousness.

Program Note

Thanks to Toad's reminder, early tomorrow morning (on my coast, anyway) I'll be watching an episode on Gardener's Diary about Oakton.

7:00 am EDT on HGTV .

One More

One more meme. I've seen this on a bunch of different blogs, so I'll claim the tags of "whoever wants to play". My creative juices are nil this week because I'm pretty busy at the office and going out of my mind trying to keep crap picked up in the house (a showing tomorrow....woohoo!)

Favorites:

1. Clothes Shop - Since I'm basically casual, I get a lot of stuff at Eddie Bauer.

2. Furniture Shop - I look other places, but I always go back to Ethan Allen (since they closed Furniture Craftsmen, anyway....hard to describe it, basically fabulous furniture stuffed into a maze of buildings with no rhyme nor reason, locally owned and operated for over 50 years until they retired and closed...sniff)

3. City - International--Paris, in the US--Boston

4. Sweets - Pear tart from Douceur de France

5. Drink - Iced tea, unsweet

6. Music - Classic rock, Boston in particular (I guess it makes me feel young) or Classical (NPR)

7. TV - Mad Men, CSI, HGTV and Food Network

8. Film - Pride and Prejudice, lately...not a movie buff

9. Workout - rotflmao

10. Pastries - I like a yummy caramel cinnamon roll with nuts better than anything

11. Coffee - Regular old Cafe Americano....with cream

I may have something interesting to talk about tomorrow. We're going to see Wicked tonight.

4 More

I'll claim the "you over there" on Jillian Inc. and do this 4 thing, too. Four is my lucky number, since I have 4 kids. Or maybe it's my unlucky number. I guess it just depends on what day you ask.

A) Four places I go over and over
The office
Kroger
Target
Viva Mexico

B) Four people who e-mail me regularly
Favorite Sister-in-law
BFF
DOTR (all day long...."print this, please")
Church

C) Four of my favorite places to eat
Viva Mexico
Gabriel's
Chik fil a
My house

D) Four places you'd rather be
Bermuda
Paris
Napa
Hawaii

E) Four TV shows I could watch over and over
West Wing
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Mad Men
Once and Again

F) Four people I'm tagging
You,
You,
You over there
Oh! and you. (thanks, Jill, great idea!)

4th of 4th

Quintessenial Procrastinator has tagged me with the "Fourth of Fourth"... I pick the 4th picture in my 4th picture folder, write about it, and then tag 4 people.

4th folder - √

4th picture - √

Write about it - √

Tag 4 people - √

This is a picture of J2 and her best friend on Homecoming. I think you can see for yourself what happened. We were all so happy--her parents are some of our closest friends, along with the girls being almost like sisters. I passed out kleenex in the stands. It was just as exciting as if it had been my own daughter.

I'm tagging my homegirls:

Clemsongirl

Hair Girl

Tahoe Girl

Green Magsterpie

Have Fun!

Slacker Saturday

I am loving this day.

We are not going to the Tech game, even though it's Homecoming. Oh well.

I do not have to clean my house thanks to the person who wanted to look at it Thursday morning. It's still clean.

I do not have to cook lunch or dinner because I made a roasted chicken last night and nobody was home to eat it. I then made chicken stock and threw together some chicken noodle soup and also made plum upside down cake (using up the plums that were about to go mush). Help yourself.

I've watched College Gameday and I might go shopping. Or not.

I think this is what Saturday used to be like, but it's been so long I barely remember.

'Tis the Season

You can tell it's getting to be crunch time in the old benefits industry. In the past two days we've received the following invitations from reps from insurance companies. All for next week.

Monday night: Dinner with our rep from my favorite company (the one with the really, really good trips and great customer service) and an underwriter from the home office. Restaurant TBD, but we are friends with these people so probably nothing too fancy.

Wednesday night: Dinner at a Midtown Italian restaurant and tickets to see Wicked with a health insurance rep, his boss and a small group of brokers.

Saturday: Big tailgate hosted by an insurance company and their marketing partner (the partner bought DOTR's brother's business) before and after the SC-Tennessee game in Columbia, SC.

So...what shall I wear? Suggestions?

I feel a shopping trip coming on.

ETA: DOTR and I decided we aren't going to Columbia. We'd have to spend the night and then the boys could have a wildass party here. Not.

Public Service Announcement

Attention!!!!

I would like to take this moment to thank Target for classifying all my purchases on my receipt:

CLOTHING:

Two long sleeved t-shirts and an argyle cardigan I don't need.

ENERTAINMENT-ELECTRONICS:

A sleazy romance novel and yet another magazine.

GROCERY:

Diet Coke and a bag of fun size Baby Ruths.

I am so grateful that they've made it even easier to see where I'm blowing all my money. Where were they 20 years ago when I really needed to know?

You may now return to your normal activities.

Looky Looky

Right this minute, somebody is looking at my house.

I'm not sure I'm ready to move. Do I want them to want it?

I can see for piles and piles and piles

I haven't been working much at the office since I realized that when I go over there, DOTR doesn't do much work. So, in order to keep him in the moneymaking mode, I decided not to be his enabler. And besides that, I have stuff to do at home that I don't see the housekeeping fairy getting done while I'm away--you know, like stashing all my clutter, a.k.a. books. And that laundry isn't washing itself and I don't see those dishes flying around the kitchen and into the dishwasher. The dust bunnies are planning a revolt.

You get the picture.

Well, yesterday he called me in a panic because his printer (which is a sucky cheap printer to begin with) went down and he had stuff to print for 4 different meetings scheduled for today. I have a really fast printer, and somehow he can't figure out the intricacies of finding documents in this computer once they are saved, so I went over at 11:00 and I got home at 8:30. That's PM. He went back this morning at 6:30. That's AM. Ouch. He called me frantically at 7:18. That's AM. Because he couldn't find a communication piece. So I went to the office and printed it for him and got his notebooks all organized. Then he told me he lost a 40 page proposal and he wasn't going to print it again (I opened two new packages of paper yesterday....who says we're going to a paperless society? They don't work in insurance.)

Anyway, it looks like a freaking bomb blew up in this office. There are piles of papers everywhere. I abandoned my hopeless house (now nobody better even think of dropping by to look at it today....as if) and I'm here for the duration. Until I get this office whipped back into shape. This is the busiest time of the year for a benefits business and we need to be able to find things.

Like that 40 page proposal.

It was in the trash, by the way. You really don't want to know what was on top of it.

Ewwww. Reprint.

Back to the Ballet

Sunday J1 and I went to see Giselle with her BFF during her school years and her mom. The girls were in ballet together since J2 was 4 and her friend was 5. She was a year ahead of J1 in school (at a different high school) and went to MIT, but she's back home at med school at Emory. I'm so happy they've been able to spend time together again.


Backing up, since some of you are new, J1 was a ballet dancer in the preprofessional company of our town's regional ballet company from ages 8-15. She quit cold turkey at the end of her freshman year of high school and she hasn't danced since then. Since that was her "identity"--in our family, at least-- and that was really my entire social group, it was much more devastating for me than it was for her. She said goodbye and I said "wait, what about me? Now I have no friends." We (about 5 of us) worked together, raised money together, commiserated about pathetic attempts to pull off Christmas in midst of Nutcracker, and basically just watched our girls grow from little girls into real dancers together. She stayed close to the girls and spent time with them throughout high school, but at that age they don't need mom around, especially after they can drive.

I've been to a few performances here and there (unlike the old days when I would've worked my hiney off backstage at every performance and made a bunch of the costumes, too) but basically my other kids' activities took my attention and I had to move on.

The only one left dancing is now with the professional company and she was Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis. She did a fabulous job and I'm thrilled we got to see it. This is at least the third time in my memory that the company has done Giselle, and we were talking with her mother afterwards about taking the girls to see it when they were 4 & 5 years old (it's not really a ballet for little kids--at all!). We were all laughing when she (Myrtha's mother) said she remembers her girls putting kleenex on their Barbies and making them Wilis after they saw it back then. Serious ballerina girls are into it from the beginning, evidently!

Right after the performance with Myrtha

The day was really fun. It started with everything at church and ended with seeing tons of old friends....ballet moms, old teachers, former company dancers now bringing their little ones to see the ballet.

Now that I can pick and choose what I'm going to get involved with, I think I'll go back to volunteering for the ballet. I was doing it as my duty then.

Now I'll just do it because I like it.

Homecoming, Part 2

Yesterday was Homecoming at our church. We celebrated our 175th anniversary by dedicating a pavilion, 6 acre park and replica log cabin of the first church which was located somewhere on that property.

A member of our church photographs life in our town, and I have to say I get a little choked up when I look at his website. He takes photos of football games, the 4th of July, the Homecoming parade, and other things happening, large and small, that make up the life of our town and reinforces our decision to live here rather than in outer suburbia. He captured the spirit of the day beautifully (although I'm sad he missed the one shot I wanted--J3 and J4 bringing the cross and Bible down the aisle from the log cabin, leading the choirs and clergy--he got the end of the processional....oh well).

He always posts his photos backwards, so you have to look from back to front to get the gist of how things unfolded (I tried to do a link, but it didn't work...on the website, just click on View an Event and you'll find it). And no, I'm not in any of these photos, thank goodness. We were all busy--the boys were grabbing fried chicken and casseroles from the drop off point all morning until it was time to get dressed to acolyte, DOTR was driving the golf cart and dropping people off all over the place for two hours before and for an hour afterwards, and I was figuring out the logistics for the processional.

Here's the article.

It was a great day. To God be the Glory.

Homecoming

Here's what they looked like once we got them cleaned up.

Freshmen
Always Enthusiastic about that first high school dance
Pictures at The Square

J4's "crowd"...it's a real crowd!

Juniors and Seniors are "over it" by now
But they play along to make the parents happy

Baseball and Wrestling Boys

A good time was had by all....as far as we know. Not that they'd tell us anything.

Vintage Nebraska

Images from Asgard Press

I saw a link for these vintage calendars on a GT message board, but in honor of this weekend's game I had to post this. For too many years lately, we've had to watch the Huskers like the little guy in the brown jacket (my BIL always does this--it's hilarious...and DOTR somehow ends up behind the couch, covering his eyes).

See if they have your team!

A Shopping Miracle

J4 and I headed toward the Lamest Mall in the World yesterday straight from school. Our number one priority...shoes.

We argued all the way to the mall about what kind of shoes. I told him he needed penny loafers for church and he said that nobody wears penny loafers (don't tell his brother, we just bought some for him yesterday) and that he wanted some "nicer" Sperrys.

You may remember my lament about J4 and shoes. He has been hovering in that no man's land of sizes between children's shoes (up to 5 1/2) and men's shoes (starting at size 8) for a couple of years now. Every shopping trip is painful because along with being very picky about what he wears, his size does not exist in reality. Feel my pain.

Anyway, we parked in our usual spot near JC Penney (right by the door in the shade) and entered at our usual door (right through the women's underwear) and I listened to J4 complain for the 64,287th time that he hates that door because he is embarrassed to walk through the women's underwear section. I often wonder why they pile barrels of panties right by one of the three doors from the outside myself, but that's a decision above my pay grade, so I just move on.

Right outside JCPenney is Rack Room Shoes. The boys always swear they don't have any shoes, but nine times out of ten we find something there--except sneakers. So we walked in, I walked over to the huge display of Sperrys and...........I caught a glimpse of the number seven. As in 7 1/2. As in the only pair of 7 1/2 shoes in the entire Lamest Mall in the World. And they were, miraculously, the particular pair of Sperrys that J4 has had his eye on. Medium brown old style boat shoes.

He put them on.

They fit.

It was a miracle.

Sick Feeling

Today when I was leaving to pick J4 up from school, 4 fire trucks, one police car and one fire dept. pick up squealed around the corner in front of my house on two wheels with sirens blaring. I had to get to school (and since it's probably not really smart to chase fire trucks anyway), so I didn't know what was going on....but it was apparent something was on fire.

We just got back and drove down the street.

Someone's house burned down--or most of it anyway. Looks like it started in the garage because that's gone.

I don't know the people who live there, they just bought the house recently and had done a lot of work on it (it was an ugly duckling on its way to being a swan).

I am so sad for them.

I feel sick.

Mothers Morning Out

I'm out for the day (after making beds, putting away stuff and spiffing up around here). Meeting a friend to go to Mistletoe Market and out to lunch. Then I'm picking J4 up from school for his shopping trip. I can only stand them one at a time, so J3 got his stuff yesterday. He is not into clothes at all, so it was relatively painless. I picked stuff out, he tried it on, we bought it. Done.

J4 will not be so easy. The reason we need to buy new pants is because the ones he has have a flap pocket and that will just not do (I think your jacket will cover that up, right?) Not good enough. And the shoes.....lord, help me. He wears that size between kids and mens that doesn't exist. I see a battle ahead.

So I will go this morning and look at trinkets and sparkly junk I don't need, have lunch with my friend who's moving to France (she's still waiting on their visas, her husband has been working in Europe for a month already) and fortify myself for later this afternoon.

Hope your day is just swell, too.

What's Goin' On

In the midst of all this cleaning frenzy, life does go on.

This week is Homecoming (it was not, thankfully, the week I was in Minnesota). The boys both have dates. J4 was on the ball and has had one for about a month. The freshmen are always into it. J3 got one a couple weeks ago with little prodding ( a girl who moved away in elementary school and just moved back who's in all his classes). Tonight I have promised to take them shopping because J3 has outgrown his blue blazer and J4 has outgrown his khaki pants. I've ordered corsages and dinner reservations are made.

Unlike when the girls were in high school, I've no clue what the theme or the dress up days are. Yesterday was college day, I think. J4 wore a GT jersey and his yellow wig. I don't think J3 dressed up, or not that I noticed. J4 stayed late on Monday to help decorate the Freshman Hall. J3 is not into that. Slacker is his middle name.

Usually there is some kind of spend the night opportunity after these dances, but the boys have already been told they have to come home early. Because Sunday is Homecoming. Again.

Our church is 175 years old this year and Sunday is our Homecoming Celebration. The boys have to be there at 8:45 to help with a myriad of tasks to get the day rolling. The youth will tote the covered dishes from the drop off site, move chairs, and who knows what else. DOTR will be either driving people from the satellite parking lot in the van or taking old people in the golf cart or directing traffic. He'll get his assignment when he gets there. I have acolytes (the boys are also acolytes that day). We're having one big service outside in our new park where we've also built a replica of the original log cabin church. Then a dinner on the grounds, with a bluegrass concert. It will definitely be a big day.

Later that day, J1 and I are going to see Giselle at her old ballet company with her childhood best friend and her mother. The girls grew apart while in college (her friend is a year older and went to MIT) but she's back at med school at Emory, so they've spent a lot of time together this fall. They became friends in Ballet I when they were preschoolers and despite going to different high schools and being in different grades, were best friends throughout. I'm so happy to see them close again.

Usually Wednesday is the day when you feel like you're getting over the hump. Right now, we're just getting started. Definitely not downhill from here.

Lots goin' on.

Define Clutter

Just let me start by saying I watch plenty of HGTV. Designed to Sell, Get it Sold, Sell This House and so on. Neutralize and depersonalize. Got it. If I lived in a house that looked like every other house on my street, I'd get right on that.

Yesterday, the caravan from our agent's office went through our house. She sent me the feedback sheets and the number one comment was "get rid of wallpaper in foyer and hallway and paint". Thanks, duh, I knew they would all say that. But tough, I'm not doing it. If you're looking at this house, the wallpaper is not going to be the deal breaker. And besides, there's no way to get rid of wallpaper in this house short of pulling down the walls and putting up new sheet rock because there are layers of wallpaper pasted right on drywall. This house is from the era before strippable wallpaper people. 1960's. Double duh. (and seriously, the two most critical people were two old biddies who should remember the 1960's with clarity--I'm sure they were adults back then). And if somebody should happen to come in with an offer and buy that other house before we can sell this one...well, I like my wallpaper and I will still want it in my foyer and hallway. So there.

The second comment I saw was "pack up books/clutter". Well, I've never had much stuff sitting out except books. And believe me, I have packed up half of my books already. So since when are books clutter? I thought they were books. Evidently I was wrong.

I have a few pictures of the kids on the wall, mainly in the hallway. Not many, compared to a lot of houses I've seen. I'm not taking them down. See, there would be holes in the wallpaper (that you think I should take down) from the nails that would look a lot worse than my smiling and downright A-dorable children. Get. over. it.

The house got 9's and 10's from everybody but the aforementioned two old biddies who also thought I needed to remodel my bathrooms. I'll get right on that. I really hadn't noticed they were from the 1960's at all. Appreciate you pointing that out.

So I had a little fun and looked at the listings associated with all the agents who commented negatively and...no surprise.... they only have low to mid priced subdivision houses listed....or as I like to call it "spin yourself around you could be anywhere" houses. The people who gave us high rankings with very little comment were all agents who specialize in selling in "OM". The one who gave us a 10 and said "Great listing, wouldn't change a thing" sells more real estate in this town than anybody else. If we'd not decided to use the same agent who has the other house listed, he definitely would've been my first choice.

I'm thinking my clutter and my wallpaper are here to stay. Because I know who my customer is--we're not appealing to the masses. People who want the depersonalized house (I like to call them "subdivision people" and they would not be happy here) won't even be looking at this one.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Wiped Out

Wow, I am sooooo tired. J2 came home Sunday and J1 came home yesterday to help me get even more crap cleaned up and put away around here.

At 10:30 this morning J2 and I were still taking out trash and swiffering, and ducked out in the nick of time. About 20 agents dropped by while we were gone (lunch at Gabriel's and a little shopping trip to the Avenue for the two of us). I got home about 1:30 and at 1:45 another agent actually brought by somebody to see the house. DOTR has seen this person driving through our neighborhood picking up flyers while he was out walking, so she is stalking for a house on this street. We also think it's the same person who was looking at the house we are buying, but decided against it (the sellers wanted too much $$$--yeah, we know!)

I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but that's how houses sell in my neighborhood. Word of mouth. You're more likely to sell it to somebody in your Sunday School class than a stranger.

We took the kids to see the other house last night. There's not one room that doesn't need work. Lots of work (if that woman was interested that house, she should be turning cartwheels up and down the driveway to get mine....and MY STOVE!!!). Kinda made me tired thinking about it. Excited too. But definitely tired. And broke.

They loved it. J3 summed it up when he said, "well, our house now has almost reached it's potential, but this one has a long way to go and when it gets there it will be really cool." That's one thing we must've done right, if they could all see past a lot of 60's decor, old bathrooms, lots of vinyl and paneling and know it was going to be good someday.

So bring it on. We're ready for the hordes to start looking at this house.

Who knows. Maybe this is really the house that lady has been waiting for while she's been cruising the neighborhood. I know that I drove through here about once a week for a few years before we bought our house.

And then one day, there it was.

Fingers Crossed

I've walked and driven by this house a million times in the past 11 years. I have always said, "if that house ever goes up for sale, I want it."

We are always so conservative and cautious with our lives and our money, it's quite ironic that we are in the midst of buying a house and selling a house in the worst economic conditions of our adult lives.

So if this all falls into place, it was definitely meant to be our house. I hope so.

Walking up the driveway.

From the sidewalk at street level.

Getting the paper in morning will be a pain.

So there it is.

Now keep your fingers and toes crossed, light a candle, don't step on any cracks and say your prayers.

We need all the luck, good karma and divine intervention we can get.

A Sneak Peek

Agents caravan next Tuesday. I'll be cleaning like a madwoman all weekend.

Thankfully, the girls are on Fall Break and they're going to help.

They just don't know it yet.

Touring the Great North

I had to be a tourist (for a minute) when I went to Minnesota. No, I did not make it to the Mall of America. Only because I didn't have time. I did drive right by it on my way to and from the airport. Don't think I wasn't tempted.

On my trip to Target in Bemidji, I stopped by this famous statue of Paul Bunyon and his big blue ox. I figured it was the least I could do, since I spent at least three hours (each way) on the Paul Bunyon Parkway. Sadly, you can't really appreciate the scale of this thing unless there's a person standing next to it. It's HUGE.

Put it on your list of things you must see before you die.

Check.

Oh, if I had a daughter, sir,

I'd dress her in white and gold, And put her on the campus

To cheer the brave and bold.

J1 and DOTR -- her last Family Weekend

J2 was much too busy riding around in a golf cart, dropping off recycling bags to all the tailgates, so she missed our delicious "brunch"--bbq at 10 am-- from the Rib Ranch (yeah, we drove down to Tech to eat food from a restaurant about 5 miles from our house!) and photo ops.

This shot is from my seat, second row 50 yard line.

I did not use zoom to take this. Nice seats.

Just take a look at those luxurious seats. I want them for my very own (we bought them for this game from The Hive). I am not complaining about the cupholder, the legroom and the waitress to take your food and drink order. Or the air conditioned lounge.

This was just before the start of the second half, they did have people in them and we were not crowded. At all. Football heaven.

And Tech won, too. 27-0.

Football Weekend

Tonight is our big rivalry game with the "other MHS". This school is not as old as ours (pretty hard since our system is almost 110 years old), but this is one of the old schools in the county located on a beautiful campus that used to be a small college. The principal lives on campus and they have a private endowment from the family who gave the land to the county school system. They are the Indians, so of course our kids dress up like Cowboys (even though we're Blue Devils) and there is a special t-shirt for the game every year. There are usually fights, too.....so fun. With the population explosion around here and the siphoning off of kids to new high schools, the game has lost some of its luster, but it's still a big game for everybody involved, if not the county at large as in the past. Away this year, so I think I'll be skipping it, but the boys will definitely be on their way early to get a parking place. Snooze too long and you're parking at the church a mile away and walking along a busy highway to get to the school.

J1 on the cheerleading squad at the "other MHS"

J2 and friends under the Friday Night Lights

Tomorrow morning we're up bright and early for the Tech game. It's Family Weekend, so we have something at the sorority house. Unfortunately, when you're not highly ranked, all your games are at noon....leaving little tailgating time. So I guess it's brunch at 10:00 and see what we can squeeze in after that. There's a free for all M-town tailgate hosted by one of our good friends. He has a great parking place, so he brings everything and we all pitch in $$. Easy, just show up and drink. We did not get our season tickets this year because Tech's home schedule is awful (the ultimate was having to put Gardner-Webb on the schedule in place of a trip to West Point when Army paid to get out of the game). It's Duke tomorrow, for the brain bowl (although I guess you could say that about a lot of the ACC--it's not easy to get in most of those schools and worse once you get there!) Since we don't have our regular season tickets, DOTR splurged and got us two tickets in the fancy gold seats. Seats with backs, cup holders, free programs and drinks. The only thing better is one of the skyboxes. We did that J1's freshman year after our friend got it at a silent auction for one game. DOTR was in heaven because he could watch the Tech game and all the other games on the tv. We were forever spoiled. Last year our seats were right above the gold section and I whined all year that I wanted to sit down there. I'm all about comfort. Beside, the guy behind me ALWAYS smelled like whiskey and ALWAYS finished the ramblin' wreck song with"Go, Fight, Win, Get Naked". Almost as annoying as the "GOOOOOOOO BIIIIIIIIIG REEEEEEEEEED--gobigred" cheer that was invented after I left school. OK, maybe not. That is the ultimate in annoying and I think they just need to stop it right now. But I digress.

So the early start causes a dressing dilemma. It's cold in the morning. J2 said she hasn't been able to wear a single one of her 15 yellow sundresses because all the games have been too early, too late (Thursday night) and too cold.

Last year there were plenty of good games for sundresses

The M-town tailgate before the UGA game
(when we were still in a good mood!)

Our host and his brother.
He's the youngest, his brother is the oldest....with six sisters in between!

Go Devils. Go Jackets. (Oh yeah, and Huskers. Against #4 Missouri at 9 pm EST. Pray.)

It's a football weekend.

DEAL!!!!!!

Now I just need somebody who is dying for a 1964 L-shaped "traditional" ranch, with a pool and about 80% there on the updating scale to drop by and offer lots of money.

I have a 48 in. Wolf stove that's staying (sniff).

Tell all your friends.

Deal? Or No Deal?

No clue.

I'm going to Costco.

Deadlines

DOTR just called to tell me that the executor is meeting with the six siblings today and we'll know later today or early tomorrow if they accepted our offer.

Guess I'd better start cleaning up just in case.

The contract says we'll put our house on the market in 48 hrs. if they take it. And we still don't really even have a selling price for our house. There's another ranch similar in size for sale in our neighborhood, but it's decorated in old lady colors and doesn't have a pool. And it's not on the "name" street of the neighborhood and ours is.......so I'm thinking we'll come up with something close to that price.

Of course, it's been sitting there awhile, so who knows. The owner has been a real estate agent here for 40 years, so I hope she's not too far off.

Fingers crossed.

ETA: Here's my comment to the question of "why am I being so mysterious about it?" from the post below:

Well, because this is a small town and we really don't want a lot of people to know about it unless it happens....or is well into the process, at least. We don't want somebody coming in and buying it out from under us, since we'll have to do a contingency contract.

It's not a lot bigger than this house but it is different. No matter what I do to this house, it will always be a 60's ranch and that's never been my dream home. We are here purely for the location. This house is not far from ours, but it is in the historic district proper although it's not THAT old (it was built in the 20th century) but it is classic and you can't really tell how old it is.

That's why we want it. I've always wanted a house that is "tour worthy" (our annual Christmas Pilgrimage) and we thought we'd probably do it after the kids were grown if the right house came up for sale at the right time.

Maybe this is the right time, maybe not. We'll see.

So Long, Farewell....

Friday I'm going to lunch with a friend who is going to live in Rouen, France for the next three years. Her husband's company has wanted him to take an assignment in Europe for quite awhile, but now the time is right for them to go. They have two daughters, the youngest is a good friend of J2, in college at Alabama and the oldest just graduated from College of Charleston and will live in the house while they are gone, now that she has a job in the Atlanta area.

They could live anywhere since he has to travel all over Europe for his job, so she chose Rouen because she figured that she would get a lot of company in Normandy. Her daughter's spring break at Alabama coincides with Tech's, so she's asked J2 to go with her. She said I can come, too, if I want.

I want.