the adventure is on...

Caden and I were supposed to be catching an airplane tomorrow. Instead we are driving to California. It seems out wonderful credit card flagged our ticket purchase as possible fraud (because we rarely use the card) but neglected to notify us until Sunday night. Now the flight are outrageously expensive...so...our option? Drive! Woo hoo, Caden shed a few tears because he really loves flying and we just drove from Michigan to South Carolina like three times in the last few months. But all is well now, the contract Paul is working on is in its initial stages so he has two weeks he can work from phone/computer etc, so it seemed that it was go now or never.
We are planning on possibly camping or just driving mostly straight through. We will see.

We gave Caden a digital camera so he can document the drive and we will print pics and put it in a scrapbook when we get home, that idea dried up his tears.

So posting may be sketchy for the next two weeks, depending on connection and time. Hope you have a great two weeks! See you soon!

A busy week!

This has been a very busy week for us....lets start from the top.....


Introducing Poppy, the third (and hopefully final!) in the succession of replacement gold fish since the unfortunate demise of Bob. Apparently the chlorine in the water was killing them. We did not have city water in Michigan, so that must have prolonged Bob's life. These weeks of dying fish has made us leery of the water but, in a strange bit of coincidence the "Today Show" had a city water contest where critics judged various water from cities around the United States and Columbia was in the top 3! I was shocked.

Tuesday was Paul's 31st birthday!



Caden and I decorated the house. Paul was really touched, he doesn't like people making a big deal for his birthday. We usually do something low-key, but we changed things up this year and I think we all had a good time.



The cake matched the wrapping paper, it was a little feminine for Paul but, hey, it was summery and cheerful!


Caden helped his dad blow out the candles!

all and all it was a good day.

Ok...lets see....every day this week Caden has been attending VBS at the church that we have been trying out for the last two weeks. He has had a lot of fun and has made some friends. He even has a "girlfriend" named Marissa. She turns six today. They are really cute together. I had to go over some "rules" with Caden...like no kissing! They would hold each other's hands and sneak away from the group. When I asked Caden what he likes about her he said she has a beautiful name and that she likes what he likes. Hey, what more in life do you need? The following day after they announced that they were boyfriend and girlfriend Caden wanted to bring her a dollar so she could "get something for herself that she likes". Thankfully he forgot about his plans before we went to VBS. We will be ending this grand adventure by going to a small water park with the church tonight for the VBS finally.

Last but not least, yesterday was our tenth anniversary! Ten years...wow. We have been through so much. He is still my best friend and all that I could ever ask for. God has blessed our lives. We found each other young, and we have grown so much, gone through cancer twice, eight back surgeries, 4 cross country moves, and one Caden! I am thankful for each and every day we have had together and I look forward to many many many more years, and hopefully decades together.





Paul sent me the most beautiful flower arrangement. Sunflowers + aubergine lilies = one happy girl. In addition he purchased the last band for my wedding ring. I got him a digital picture frame to record our memories past, present and future. We went out for a really nice dinner while Caden was at VBS. (It was the best week for Caden to go to VBS, we really lucked out!...being new to the area and all, we do not have a baby sitter yet!) After Caden went to bed we took a dip in the pool.

So that is our week thus far...we also have made arrangements to go out to California to visit family in August. My dad paid for Caden and my plane tickets (for my birthday gift) which enabled Paul to come out for one of the weeks. Things are tight here with owning two houses right now. Caden and I will spend a week with my dad and when Paul flies out, we will be going on his family's annual camping trip for five days up in Trinity National Forest. It will be the first time in three years for Paul to see his family. Caden hasn't seen Paul's family for two years, and the last time we saw them it was only for a couple of hours.

The real estate sales in Michigan are scary right now. My uncle has had a beautiful new house for sale for over three years and they had an open house last weekend and no one attended. Our house has had a lot of action on the website, lots of people viewing it online and at the open houses, which is good, but no offers yet. We do have one very good possibility but it depends on things working out right on their end too, so, if you can, please pray for things to work out and the house to sell very soon. We had a two hundred dollar electricity bill for our Michigan house and no one is living there (the pool and maybe ac for the open houses)....I have no idea what is up with that...hopefully that will be taken care of for next month-it is ridiculous...I think someone left the pool running or something. It is hard not to have any control over you own house. So, once again, if you can, any prayers for a fast sale on the house would be so appreciated, we need this stress to be taken out of our lives!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a lovely weekend!

proof!

Remember months and months ago I posted about making a quilt? And then a few months later I said I finished it? Well, now I finally uploaded some proof!



I sewed yards and yards of patchwork, and then more and more yards of linen strips. Then sewed and sewed some more. Once it was all pieced together I quilted it all together. I made it into a duvet cover, and it was ready right in time to move to South Carolina, whew! You know how much we needed a hot quilt right in the middle of summer in the south! We still use it, just turn the air conditioner down and pretend! Caden has decided that he doesn't get enough use of it, so he wants one of his own!
indulge me with viewing some more pics!






The back and quilted front are attached together with printed twill tape that I had collected.



This pic is of the back, sear sucker fabric with rivets on top and natural linen separated by a strip of patchwork!

hooray!!!








...ok the fireworks weren't for me....but we didn't even have to leave our house for the 4th of July, our neighbors had dueling firework displays, I guess there are no illegal fireworks in South

Carolina! It was beautiful!

We have been getting spoiled by going to the movies a lot. We have seen more movies this week than we have seen all of last year. We went to Evan Almighty, Ratatouille and Transformers. It is nice and cool inside there! It is nice that Caden is getting to an age that he can enjoy a movie and sit still long enough that others can enjoy as well.

This is a big week for our family. Tomorrow is Paul's birthday and Thursday will be our tenth anniversary. Caden will be attending VBS this week at a church that we have been trying out. He is excited!

Ok, I better go, Caden is waiting for me to finish so we can go swimming in the pool.

The move is over!

the hammock is hung, we are home....

Well, we are mostly settled into our new home in Northeast Columbia, South Carolina. It was a long move, one thousand miles on the dot, but not our first long move, just the first in a long while. Many of you know our moving history, but for the rest, let's recap...we moved from California to Oregon 1998, then Oregon to Michigan 2001, Michigan to Oregon 2002, Oregon to Michigan 2003, and now this move. The Michigan to Oregon move in the middle was us running back to be with family after Paul's first battle with cancer. He got cancer again in Oregon and we decided that cancer sucks anywhere, so we might as well live where we feel at home. We loved living on the shores of Lake Michigan, but the economy was tough on us. South Carolina brings us new prospects and hopefully more stability. If anyone wants to experience the beauty of Michigan we still have our three bedroom, two bath ranch with 2200 square feet, in ground pool set on a half acre lot backed by the wooded section of a golf course :) It is for sale... (hint, hint)we decided not to lease it out. We just have too much on our plates to keep up with two properties. Our realtor and some good friends are helping to take care of the property until it sells.


It is beautiful here in South Carolina. Sometimes the weather reminds me of the feeling when you stick your head into a warm, moist dryer full of damp clothes, but I have heard that the rest of the year is quite seasonable. We sold our snow shovel and plow, now we have the pleasure of visiting the snow, or once in a while have an inch or two visit us oh so briefly.

Paul and I had pretty much decided on a house when Caden and I came down for our three week visit in May. But at the very last minute...literally Paul decided to visit a house that had just come onto the market. It has a pool and an overgrown, but beautifully landscaped yard. It is a three bedroom, 2 1/2 bath with a large bonus room and cathedral ceilings. It has windows everywhere and great light. It just spoke to him, and I trusted his judgement, so we decided to switch to this house. It is in a great, safe and quiet neighborhood, and in the best school district in the county. The pool looked like Shrek's swamp, but we were told it would be taken care of...more on that later.


the pool before---well midway, we had to drain it, it was full to the brim with green muck and leaves...no vermin though!

So the actual move was great, the gas prices had just gone down a bit, Caden was so well behaved and didn't complain at all. Even our cat, Suki-whose previous car rides were full of meowing and complaints, settled in and quietly enjoyed the long ride. Our beloved boogie eyed goldfish Bob even made it down here, but once we introduced him to fresh Columbia water, he passed on to the big fishbowl in the sky. He had a small, prayer filled service led by Caden and now is buried under the bird bath in the back yard. The little replacement "bob" we got even passed away (err..got a cold and had to be traded in, so Caden thinks, it was too much death too soon). Little "speck" is the newest replacement fish and is thriving. Fingers crossed, we will have this little fish for a long time. We have been drinking bottled water ever since just in case the water had anything to do with these fishy deaths....;)

We took the move slow...about three days to get down here as to try to not flare up my back anymore because I had to drive our SUV behind Paul who was driving the 26 foot rental moving truck. We sold half of our stuff in our yard sale, which was a good thing, because even at that we didn't have enough room for everything. We left behind our futon frame, all of the houseplants, the fridge, my slab roller ( :( ), and some other stuff, about a small trailer full. We will pick it up later in a month or so, or when the house sells.

Please pray for the house to sell soon, it would free up so much room of our minds that are currently full of stress.

Once we got here, well things stopped going so smoothly...The electricity wasn't on, which meant the pool hadn't been serviced and the house was like 140 degrees. (well it seemed like it anyway) It was unlivable.....when they turn things off down here, they turn everything off, the water, sewer, gas, electricity....everything. The house was filthy, the carpets were nasty. They hadn't done what was promised whatsoever. We ended up having to stay in a hotel three additional nights due to everything, which then messed up our help that was scheduled to help us move things in. Eventually, the house cleaned up beautifully. And we called the realtor to help us find professional movers, they cost us extra, but it was so hot and humid, I think Paul would have killed himself getting everything in.

So we are all moved in. We put the studio upstairs in a spare bedroom. We will need to go to ikea to get a couple of storage lockers and a large work table. But that will be later when we have a little more time and spare funds, for now, I am thankful for the folding tables. We have quite a few things to hang up on the studio walls, but after that is done, the studio will be ready to roll. Caden's room needs to be repainted as well as the master. His room is painted an awful teal sponge paint and ours is an ok green but also sponge painted. The rest of the house is a neutral light sand color, the dining room is a nice grey shade. I was excited about that because I have always wanted a grey room. I am thinking about a blue-grey for Caden's room (he has a red,white and blue quilt, denim suspender curtains, and a sorta retro camping theme). I really wanted to paint it navy blue, but I am worried it will be too dark. Target has the cutest red lanterns for $19.99 each, with a couple of those, his room would be so cute. Also at target, in the came Woolrich camping collection they have a tent bed topper for $29.99 that would really spruce it up. He doesn't have a bunk bed anymore because the ladder broke. Who knows, maybe on that trip to ikea in Atlanta, we will find some more bedding for him. I was looking at a number fabric collection in their catalog that looked cute. He has requested his own hand-made quilt now that I finished our quilt. That is -why I am thinking a blue-grey would be a lot more neutral for me to mix and match, because I like to change things up so much. I want to do a grass cloth affect in our room. We have vaulted ceilings in the master, and our bedding is red, so the light beige grass cloth paint job would be a great effect. Having a new house is exciting, it gives us so much opportunity for new dreams and projects. Like in the kitchen, it is fine now, but eventually I would love to paint the cabinets white with a little burnt umber rub to antique them a bit, install slate flooring and a dark granite counter top with a rich red wall. We have a small half bath on the main floor and I would love to paint it a shocking rich color like orange, or maybe a bright limey green. We also want to replace most of the lighting in time. We have so many ideas, we definitely won't be bored!

So now that things have settled down for us, I will be blogging at least once a week....please come back and check in often! I have missed you all, thank you for your emails and checking in on us! It sure made us feel loved!


the pool after four hard days of work.


caden jumpin' in and a tiny glimpse of me scrubbin'


our new home from the front. The lawn needs revitalizing and we have since done a lot of trimming of all of the overgrown shrubbery. I love the driveway-it provides a perfect place for a basketball hoop, eventually.


the living room fireplace


the living room looking from upstairs.


living room/dining area


the front door