Tag: update

Dear…

~ Amanda ~ 2 Comments

Back when I was a regular Knottie/Nestie/Bumpie (before life got in the way and when I used to actually post on this blog several times a week), we did (and they probably still do) Dear… posts that we either thanks or rants or just little things we needed to get off our chests. In reminiscence of that, I’m doing mine own here. Feel free to chime in.

Dear precious sleeping baby boy,
When I check on you during the night, I can’t help but think, “Lord, how did I ever deserve something so precious and wonderful?” Thank you for being the best accident we ever made. We love you  so, so much and wouldn’t change anything about you. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I’m glad I have a temporary pause that allows me to cherish you all to myself every Tuesday and Thursday. I can hear that you just turned on your seahorse to help you go back to sleep since I so rudely had to put my hand on your belly to make sure you’re still breathing, and I’m sorry for making you stir, but you are just so darn cute that I couldn’t help myself.

Dear Cooper,
I think about you a lot. I miss teaching, but you’re like an old boyfriend – the good times are great memories and I’ll never forget you, but there is a reason that we weren’t meant to be together. I hope we never lose touch, especially since you brought me close to so many amazing people. I think I can finally understand what happened on both sides and I feel comfortable with my decision. Maybe one day we’ll work together again when we’ve both matured a bit and had time to reflect.

Dear Lord,
Thank you for bringing us Clark, even if we thought we weren’t ready for him yet. He has brought so much joy to our lives. Thank you also for showing me my path in life, and for nudging me with gentle reminders that it will pay off in the long run.

Dear Ginger,
Even though I already said this once in a comment, your post on envy really put my latest feelings into perspective. Seriously, I think I might print it out and post it somewhere as a little reminder that we are doing SO much better than so many other people and that our situation is actually quite amazing. Yes, we live with my parents, but we have a great relationship and after nine months, we haven’t killed each other. We’ve also paid off a ton of debt, been able to give my parents so much joy in an amazing relationship with Clark and help them finance some of the things they need for their home, dealt very well with the reduction of my teaching job, allowed Jason to concentrate on school and speed up his degree by a year, and given me the opportunity to find my dream job! I don’t have the best clothes, or even a home to call my own at this point, but I have my amazing family, my health, my own business, the ability to stay at home two days a week with my son, $12,000 less debt than we had on our own, and most importantly, a light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you. You are an amazing actress, and if you keep pushing yourself, you will hit it big someday. You have a lot of people that love and support you, even from afar. Get it, girl.

Dear real estate,
Thank you for finding me, somewhat serendipitously and haphazardly, and combining my passions into one fluid motion. I feel like I haven’t really been working for the last few months, even though I’ve been putting in lots of hard work. It’s funny how that happens. I know it’s a down economy and sometimes I get discouraged, but with my first closing coming up in the next week or so (and enough cash to almost match what I netted as a teacher!), I can’t complain because my goal for this year was to replace my teaching income, which I’ve almost done. Thanks for bringing me to Active Rain, which helps me to keep focused, and to an amazing brokerage where I feel fully supported. I’m sorry that I feel compelled to start temping a bit now so when things dry up for the winter, we’ll be ahead of the game, but the beautiful thing is that you like to meet me most outside of office hours! As the economy gains its strength back over the next several years, I know we’ll grow old together.

Dear friends,
I miss having you all compacted within a quarter mile radius so that no matter how busy life got, you were always 100 steps away. Traveling to a million places all over the country doesn’t fit my lifestyle right now (see: Dear real estate) even though I would love to. We are slowly and methodically planning trips to see as many of you as possible, starting with Twinnie and Husband in September, and hopefully adding My Tamela and The Best Marine Archaeologist Ever to our list very soon, followed by N’Orleans shortly after, but limited budget is, well…. limiting. Know that I sincerely love you all and wish I could stretch out the hours of the day and the dollars in my pocket. Let’s Skype soon, okay?

Dear blog,
I’m sorry that I haven’t loved you like I should have in the last year. I know it’s just another excuse, but things have been hectic and busy. I will never give up on you, though. You are a huge part of me. I promise that I’ll start my craftiness and home-loving-ness again soon because I realize, while you love any post I give you, Clark is not the only thing in the world and he’s not my only hobby. And I’ve been cheating on you a bit with my real estate blog which I’ve been trying to get off the ground, but I promise you that it doesn’t even get to have the same kind of content that you get. You are my baby and I do eventually want to build you up to the shiny blog you deserve to be. Keep trucking with me – it will all work out in the end.

Dear Ashley (aka N’Orleans),
You are my one true bloglove. You always read my posts and comment. I don’t deserve you. Thanks for always being there.

Alright, I think over 1100 words is enough for one night.

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July Goals

~ Amanda ~ 1 Comment

Before I delve into my goals for July, let’s take a look at how I did for June:

  • Finish the nursery – DONE! We’re just waiting until the shower on August 1st to put a few final finishing touches on it. After all, if I have to hear my grandmother say, “Leave stuff for us to buy!” one more time, I might scream lol. So I am waiting four weeks before I worry about this again. We do have a little bit of stuff currently living in the closet, but my mother in law is taking it home with her after her late July/early August visit, so I don’t count that as not being finished.
  • Finish giving the house a deep cleaning – we are most of the way done with this! Tomorrow is the monthly dump day in our county (where you can take items that you can’t normally throw in the trash to the dump for free), so a lot of this goal is dependent on our trips tomorrow. Pretty much everything else is done except the carpet cleaning, which will happen during the next two weeks room by room as we have time.
  • Reorganize the kitchen cabinets – this one is also halfway done. Currently, all my pots and pans are sitting in recyclable Kroger bags on the floor in the kitchen waiting for me. This is actually my goal for today and tomorrow. In fact, I was planning on doing this right after I finish this blog post and make lunch 🙂
  • Go through the house and do a room-by-room – Well, the page is up, and as soon as we take our stuff to the dump tomorrow and clean the carpets, we’ll get pictures up! I realize, however, that I am absolutely DREADFUL at taking pictures indoors and never seem to be able to capture more than 1/4 of a room in a picture, so hopefully these won’t be a total disaster.
  • Add in a couple more Q&A’s – we haven’t really had many questions, so I haven’t been able to do this. Get your questions in, people!

Also, I did want to say a huge thank you to my readers – I’ve been getting picked up on some Google searches (mostly because of our use of Glidden’s Warm Caramel in our nursery!) and I had over 650 views last month! This made my heart smile 🙂

Now, onto July goals! I’m not making too many goals for July because I know that my schedule is already full as can be (a bridal shower and bachelorette to host, an out-of-town visitor, and only 6 weeks to be prepared for the beginning of a new school year and new classes, with only 10 weeks until our little one gets here!).

  • Get together clothing donations and take to donation center.
  • Locate (and maybe purchase) some cabinets for the dining room to make a “pantry” and “coat closet” – we’ve already been looking and know some good sizes, but I’m talking about going to the reuse center and seeing what they have because the cabinets we like at Lowe’s are $200 each (and therefore not doable for a few months).
  • Find a good weekly post topic that doesn’t depend on a project each week – with my schedule about to be amped up to the max, this is important if I want to keep posting regularly.

Again, not too much, but I imagine things will be a little slower for the next few months as our lives get pretty crazy!

Update: Header Heaven

~ Amanda ~ 4 Comments

So, what do you guys think?

April Goals: How’d I do?

~ Amanda ~ 1 Comment

Way back when (I can’t believe the month is over already!), I posted this to help me keep track of my goals and have you guys hold me accountable 🙂 So how did I do?

  • Make sure every bit of painting is done in the nursery and get all the extra stuff cleaned out of it. This includes starting to go through the closet (the only part we really haven’t tackled!) and donating anything we don’t need.
    • Well, yes and no. We finished the painting and got a lot of the extra stuff out. But we haven’t touched the closet at all. I can’t wait to get it cleaned out so we can hang up some of the clothes we have so far 🙂
  • Get the curtains done for the nursery. I think you guys are really going to like this project, especially because it’s pretty layered and involved.
    • Again, only half way there. I have the under curtains up, but I haven’t gotten the other curtains yet. All in good time.
  • Shampoo all the carpets.
    • Where DID my Spring Break go? I didn’t even attempt this. Of course, it should probably wait until Jason is done with classes so he can move the furniture around. I’m not exactly allowed to do that.
  • Finish the mailbox. Yes, I still haven’t done this. That is my goal for tomorrow!
  • Go through all my stuff in the office and donate anything I don’t need. Try to cut down the clutter!
    • I kind of did this, but it needs to get better. Still working on decluttering.
  • Purchase and paint letters for Baby H’s name to hang on the nursery wall. Only 10 more days (hopefully) until we find out what to call our newest family member!
  • Finish my grandmother’s picture quilt. I’ve had it half done for months (thank you, morning sickness) and I think she might want her Christmas present soon :-)This is one of my spring break projects.
    • Good thing my grandmother doesn’t read my blog. And good thing grad school is over this week and teaching is over in 4 weeks.
  • Start priming all the trim in the main room. This is going to take AWHILE as there is a lot of it! I don’t expect the trim painting project to be finished until June-ish.
    • Well, we haven’t started this one yet. We’re trying to decide if it’s worth it to paint all of it, or if we should just replace the trim.
  • Hang up our collage of wedding pictures. I don’t want them hiding in a box forever!
    • Didn’t start this one yet because we are working on rearranging our dining room. Once we decide where they will hang, then I’ll put up the collage.
  • Price out materials and draw up plans for the deck we’re planning to build this summer.
    • We’ve got most of the materials! I’ll post our plans up soon and we’ll start working on all the prep stuff in the next few weeks.

Well, not as much done as I’d have hoped, but there is always May!

Nursery Progress Part 3: Update

~ Amanda ~ 6 Comments

Just stopping in to give some update pictures from the projects I mentioned in the last post. Enjoy!

And here is a highly requested belly shot, from exactly 19 weeks. Needless to say, I’ve more than popped. Oh, and this is with -2 pounds gained!