New Home

As promised, here are photos of our new rental house -- our home for the next year:

We'll have to see how yellow this is in person.

Basement

Plenty of room for visitors!

Moving Prep - Phase II - Housing Hopes

Well, our weekend in Ohio rental-house-hunting was not nearly as successful as we'd hoped it would be. After spending 3 full 8-hour days in the car and, no joke, 500 miles (yes, five-huuuuundred) driving all around Cincinnati, we came away underwhelmed by our housing options. For the record, there are a lot of icky places for rent out there! Of the 15+ houses we saw and the many others we drove by or searched online, there was only 1 that seemed nice enough for our needs. Yes, ONE. Unfortunately, that one house -- a 3 bedroom, 2-car garage, beautiful fenced back yard -- was not available when we needed it.

After living in a condo for the past 7 years, we were really wanting our own house. We had a wish list of things we'd prefer to have in our new home, but most importantly we wanted a clean, safe, comfortable and updated space for Adam. Most of the houses we toured were outdated and cramped and a fair share were just icky. We saw boxy houses with huge basements (but the actual living space/rooms were tiny), tri-level homes (where we'd be 2 floors away from Adam's room), a few townhouses/duplexes in sketchy neighborhoods, and several bi-level houses (who knew there were so many bi-level houses in the area? And a better question is: why?). And while we could make any of these work for us and beautify them, we just weren't comfortable calling them home for one reason or another.

Our back up plan always was to go with an apartment, as we knew those would be clean and updated, would require no maintenance from us, and would offer a park-like setting and other amenities for us and Adam. After flying home on that Monday, we resigned ourselves to getting an apartment. It would be easy living -- and temporary.

We filled out all the paperwork and I was ready to scan it in, all the while realizing a deep feeling of disappointment and defeat on having to settle for the apartment. I wanted to at least get the application in, though, because I didn't want to run the risk of losing this place and being back at square one. But I forgot my checkbook. I would have to wait until the morning until I could write a check, scan a copy, and mail it in.

But.... God's timing is perfect. Before I had a chance to do all that (coincindence? I think not.) Michael emails me a craigslist listing for a single-family home in the area we wanted within our price range. Immediately we contacted our sister-in-law who agreed to go tour the property for us but we had to wait until Wednesday for an appointment.

Ok, long story short -- she approved of the house, we reviewed pictures and details, and made the no-brainer decision to take it! We called the owners and said we'd love to rent their home, sight unseen. It is in the township of West Chester, Ohio, not far from my new office in Springdale and where my office will be moving to in six months.

It's a 3-bedroom, 1.5 bath home, 2 stories with a partially finished basement and plenty of basement storage. The living area is a nice, open floor plan and the backyard is big and fenced, and our new neighbors have young children, too. And even more evidence of God taking care of us -- the home comes with a washer, dryer, lawnmower, lawn equipment, snow shovel, and patio equipment -- all things we were lacking! God is good.

We signed the lease and mailed the security check, but part of me won't truly believe it's ours until we move in on July 2nd. Pictures and address to follow. We have a home!

My Nana

I had Nana to love for 33 years....

We had the benefit of knowing and loving Nana as children, where our memories were of our summer camping trips.  She and Wally always had the luxury tent with the cots, but she was never afraid to get her hands dirty and helped shuck corn and roast marshmallows. She loved coming to watch our ball games and dance recitals, preferring the ballet routines over the tap or jazz. Our cousin Tommy nicknamed her and Wally Banana and Walnut -- and it stuck.  It was things like this that made our relationship fun-loving and easy. 

We had the benefit of knowing her as young adults, when we started spending more quality time over scrabble and rummy. We’d help her with her crossword puzzles and cryptoquips and watch her paint her nails. We’d laugh at the way she’d say “bottle” and “drawer”.  Even though our army life always kept us living far away, she was always there for important events like graduations and weddings.

It wasn’t until we were adults that we truly realized how much we appreciated the woman that she was.  As we observed her ways later in life a great amount of respect and appreciation bloomed.  Our Nana truly exemplified dignity, integrity, class and grace. She was always concerned about putting on her best face (or hairdo) because she grew up in a time when you wore white gloves to the grocery store.  This was truly displayed when she created her Wii character and chose the eyes with the blue eyeshadow and the mouth with the lipstick -- appearances are important. We loved her candor and her blunt way of saying things. Because of her classy demeanor, she could get away with really telling it like it is.  During each of our pregnancies, she was not shy about telling each of us that she really, really wanted a great-granddaughter. After 4 great-grandsons, she passed away knowing that Kim was carrying her first great-granddaughter, and was disappointed that she wouldn’t get a chance to meet and hold her.

Above all, however, we had such admiration for her strength and resolve. At the age of 72 Nana was diagnosed with breast cancer. Living out of state, we did not see her go through the treatments and radiation. She successfully overcame the disease and years later she would overcome loss -- the tragic and unexpected loss of a grandson, the loss of her husband of 25 years, and the loss of her daughter to cancer. She was a survivor, resilient.  When we were around, we never heard her complain or ponder why these things happened.  Instead she would put her best foot forward and face each of these trials with a renewed strength.  Even in these past few months, every phone conversation would be about how we were doing, how our kids were doing, and then she’d make sure to get off the phone so she wouldn’t run up our phone bills.

As my sisters and I sat around and tried to put the essence of Nana into words, it was just about impossible.  At the end of the day, she was just our grandmother, a constant rock full of support and love through every facet of our life.  Near or far we always felt loved, always felt like she was proud of us, and always felt like no time passed between visits.  It’s a sad day as the reality sinks in that we are now the second generation of women in this family as the last of our grandmothers has left us.  But the things we take away from looking up with this great lady will be passed on for our generations to come.  She was truly a gem- a beautiful representative of times past and quiet strength.  She will be missed, but certainly not forgotten.  

Nana, we love you and miss you and we will make sure to always put our best foot forward, march on, and triumph through everything that comes our way, just as you taught us to.  Thank you for leaving a legacy that we’re proud to pass on to generations to come.

Nana's Eulogy, written with Kim and Angie

Needs a Good Home

This weekend found us in Cincinnati, Ohio searching for our next home. While we are Michael is very familar with the south side of Cincy (ie Kentucky), we are brand new to the northern side, which is where my new job is located. We drove one of our cars up, bunked in with family, and started our introduction to Ohio.

The property search is a long process, and we have put in two 8-hour days so far. Fun is not the word I would use to describe it. We have searched the internet, sent emails and made phone calls and then we sit and wait for a response back from the contact person, which is the most frustrating part since our search window is only 3 days.

 On our drive from Florida I was able to set up 4 appointments for showings and printed out the listings at my sister's house. I was quite proud of how prepared and organized we were for day 1. So Day 1 began and our first listing was... icky. Loved the neighborhood and location but the house was cramped and needed work. Fortunately our second listing was more of an option and we spent a lot of time there with the owners. The neighborhood is wonderful and quiet, and while there is ample space in the basement the living space and bedrooms were a bit tight but clean. It's on our short list. We headed to our third listing and when we turned down the street I asked, "is this the road our next property is on?" When Michael replied "yes", I told him in that case, we're not stopping. Then when he said we'd already passed the property, I said, "Ok, we're definitely not stopping. Just go, GO!" Yikes!! So we dashed off to our last appointment and since we were early we walked around the house and determined that the location would definitely not work for us. We headed home. In rush hour and a thunderstorm we got a phone call from a realtor for a listing we had passed in beautiful Glendale. This house was built in 1865 and sits right beside the quaint town square. It's on the list of historic homes (the Bartlett house) and somewhere along the line it was transformed into 3 apartments. I would have loved to have seen it in its glory days. The 2-bdrm apartment was on the right side of the house with a spectacular living room with 12-ft beamed ceilings, floor-to-ceiling built-in bookcases, a fireplace and huge windows. The dining area was small and the kitchen smaller and upstairs there were 2 bedrooms. There was also a 1-bdrm apt on the second floor, and if we opted to rent them both, they'd punch through the hallway wall and join the units, giving us 3-bdrms, 2 kitchens, and 2 living rooms. While there were features I loved, overall it felt stuffy and dark and it didn't seem accessible and convenient for us with Adam. End of day 1.

Day 2 -- new hope! We had 3 appointments scheduled for day 2. The day before we had concentrated on properties inside the I-275 loop around Cincy for a closer proximity to our family in Kentucky, and we quickly discovered that we'd be better off going farther north. We started in West Chester, where my office will be moving to by the end of the year. This was a split-level home, and would be a wonderful fit for us with ample living space (but smaller bedrooms) and a large fenced back yard. The only sticking point was the move-in date -- July 15th. Since my job starts on the 11th, this isn't feasible for us. We later called the realtor and questioned whether the date is negotiable. We may not find out about that until Monday at the earliest. This property is on our short list as well -- at the top. We then saw another split-level (all brand new interior but sketchy neighborhood) and then headed to a Cape Cod home in Greenhills. We had high hopes for Greenhills, as it is completely surrounded by Winton Woods park. Unfortunately the neighborhoods were old and bit run-down, and the house needed Much work. Defeated, we slunked off to Frisch's Big Boy and sat in relative silence wondering where we go from here. We'd exhausted our appointments and were having trouble finding additional options to look at. We left a few more messages for potential showings and then headed out to see what the apartment-complexes in the area offered. We drove all over the place. We got a call back from one of the realtor and toured a townhouse (again, clean and new inside but not as nice exterior). We called several of the apartment complexes and many did not offer a 3-bdrm option. One offered a 2-bdrm + study/den option but availability was tricky. There was one left that was on a verbal hold and we toured the model. The complexes were our back-up plan, and even that was falling through. End of day 2.

So where does that leave us? Still hopeful for Day 3. Ideally day 3 would have found us following-up with a property we had our hearts set on. Instead, we'll be calling additional listings and pleading for a showing. We'll also be scouring the Sunday paper for the most recent listings with the hopes of new opportunities there. Overall, I have been surprised at how few properties are available for rent in this economy... or maybe they just get picked up so quickly because of a larger need. Either way, our options are slim and I just have to remind myself that we may not get everything we want -- but it's only for a year. God has been good to us with this job opportunity so far, and we are praying that He will see us through to a wonderful, clean and safe home. Feel free to pray along. :)

Haircut #5

Last week we finally had Adam's hair cut. This time I told her to go short again since his hair is so thick and grows so fast. 

Here is the before:

And the after:

We have been amazed that in these last few weeks he really has transformed into a little boy! He's definitely taller and fuller and I keep remarking at how long his legs are getting. He used to have these cute little legs and now his shorts actually look like shorts and not capri pants. He continues to be so independent and figures out all sorts of things on his own. He is still signing and has doubled the number of signs he knows and added some new verbal words, too. I'll have to post separately on that.

I am so in love with him and this age. You should see him for yourself!

Moving Prep - Phase I - For Rent

There are many phases to moving, I'm discovering. Or rediscovering. It's been 10 years (!!!) since I moved to Florida from Kentucky, but this is the first time we are also preparing our home for rentors. Finding a tenant for our condo has been our first priority ahead of The Big Move.

I took pictures, made flyers and posted the unit on craigslist, and while we waited for phone calls from interested prospective rentors, we set about repairing and beautifying our home.

You know those little issues around your home that you've been living with for years and that have been on your to-do list for years that you've almost forgotten they are even broken? Well, while we can and have lived without their proper functioning for some time (or know to stick a board under the open window to keep it up), our tenants would likely expect to be able to open the window and have it stay open on its own. What a concept. So while we've been feeling pretty good about ourselves for finally repairing said issues, it's a little humbling to realize that to the naked eye, nothing looks different. Since you can't see what we've done so far just from visiting, let me take a moment to point out our recent improvements and pat ourselves on the back for one second.

- Replaced the ceiling fan in the master bedroom. (Motor was busted and it would no longer rotate.)
- Replaced the microwave. (Turntable wouldn't spin... hmm, sounds like a theme)
- Repainted baseboards
- Repainted the front door, front and back
- Replaced the cover on the doorbell that has never worked. (Prettier to just cover over it than have a Please Knock scotch-taped to the broken button.)
- Replacing the carpet in the master bedroom with laminate flooring (work in progress)

I am happy (and sad) to report that our condo has never looked better. Nothing like finally fixing up your place for strangers to live in! We've had 2 prospective rentors come take a look, and I am expecting one of them to sign the contract on it today. Pending the credit and background check and approval by the homeowners' association, we'll have tenants. Relief! Then I can really start packing without worrying about how nice our house looks.

Then it's on to Phase II - Finding a rental for us in Ohio.

This weekend we'll be back in Ohio to familiarize ourselves with the area and find our rental home. We will be renting in Cincinnati for a year while we discover which area, school districts, etc. we want to be in prior to purchasing a home.

Michael looked at me yesterday and said, "We are moving in a couple of weeks." Crazy! We've been so busy with all the packing and planning it really hasn't sunk in yet... but I know it will be here before we know it.