Fixer upper

I guess I thought our home in Missouri would have sold by now, but alas, we are doomed blessed to have this little rental house to live in until it does.   I have not been overly fond of this house thus far.  Let's be real, I have experienced real feelings of true hatred towards it.  And it all started in this kitchen.  At first it was a dream compared to the condo we were living in because it had counters.  You read that right.  Counters!

 I soon didn't care about those counters when I realized that every inch of that kitchen was full of grease and dirt, even the inside of the cupboards.  The range hood was black. I thought it was burnt.  NOPE!  Grease and dirt.  My dear Mr. Finn bought me a big bottle of industrial degreaser/cleaner and I went to work.  For four days.  It was miserable and I felt gross afterwards.  But... I won.  Still didn't love that kitchen.

 This window was begging for something to make me happy.  It had tons of old hardware from various other tenants and well, it was ugly.  So I found the local Goodwill store in search of vintage pillow cases.  I went up and down those aisles three times and just when I was feeling completed defeated, these popped out at me.  Like a sign from heaven.  The fact that I found two in very different spots made me oh, so happy.  A quick trip over to Walmart (sadly, this is the only place to shop here besides Goodwill) to find some cafe hooks and a tension rod and we were in business.  No cutting or sewing.  They were perfect and they make me smile every time I look at them.

My next thing was to cover the awful floors here.  So stained and yucky.  Anyone that knows me well, knows that I can't walk on something I can't identify.  So I wanted to cover it.  You can see the carpet in the left top corner.  It is supposed to be gray.

 I found this interesting antique store while I was yard saling one day.  It is in three houses.  Craziest thing I ever saw.  I had seen it while driving around and wondered if they had a metal bed frame for the queen mattress we were going to be picking up that week.  I found out quickly that the old woman that owns the store is interesting to say the least.  If I offered her a lesser price for anything, she would say no, but if I asked her what the price was or told her what I wanted to spend on something,  She would offere me something for that.

I had seen the price tag on some of her rugs and they were all over $100 for 3 x 5's.  I knew it was a long shot, but I asked her if she had large ones.  She sent me over to the second house to look at some that she had.  I found this one but it didn't have a price tag on it.  I knew it would be too much because everything else was marked higher for much smaller.  She asked me if I found anything and I said I had found a big one that didn't have a price on it.  Before I knew it we were dragging it out to the lawn and unrolling it. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was perfect, no snags, fades or anything.  I knew I couldn't even hope for a good price.  I got up the courage to ask her what she wanted for it and she looked at me real close and said, "$75.00.  Yup, you read that right.  I was in shock. I asked her if she was sure.  She said she was and I paid her without any further ado.

Love, love the rug.  From this store I also got a $125.00 antique dresser for $30.00 and a bed frame for $30 less than I could find one anywhere.  It was a blessing to find this store and her.  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father knew the things I would need to warm up to this house.  We have had so many things happen like this that I know it is tender mercies.

Not that it has stopped or even slowed down the struggles.  I will talk about them in the next post.

Musings from Mississippi

 We found this little place called Sno Biz.  It is chock full of frozen confectionary delights and this amazing swing.  The kids spent 30 minutes swinging, eating and laughing.  They first time since we got here that they have really laughed.

 Can you read the words at the top.  "Another day in Paradise".  Not sure if I feel it is paradise here... yet.  But for thirty minutes I sure got a taste of it.  Thank you Sno Biz.

We attended the Water Valley Watermelon Festival, which was so hot and humid we felt we were going to melt.  I joke not!  I have never had pit stains so wide and deep before.  Disgusting and enlightening.  I get those "southern belles" now.  They never moved very fast and stayed in the shade sipping lemonade.  Totally understand that.

 At least moving to the south has given the children the opportunity to ride a mechanical bull.  Oh my heavens was it fun to watch.

 Miss Boo is fearless.  The minute she saw it, we weren't leaving until she had her turn.  She never got thrown off until it stopped and then she keeled over.  Ha!

And where else can you shop at the Piggly Wiggly.  Hee hee.  I am still laughing over this one.  It has always been a joke between Mr. Finn and I that we wanted to shop the piggy wiggly.  Now we have our chance.  NOT!

 It's a bird... or a watermelon.  Down here in the south they have the Watermelon Festival in August.  And for fun, they toss watermelons, lot of them to see who can throw them the farthest.  Way fun to watch them splatter.

Splat!  Love it!

Still trying to fall in love with this place.  Have found a few fun things.  Will share soon.

Have something you will love Shannon!

Friends

 I am blessed to have good friends in my life.  It seems that no matter where I go Heavenly Father makes sure I have friends that meet my needs.  I was lucky to have these two.  Very different, but perfect for me.

It's funny that I can't remember when I became friends with them, it just was one day I realized we had been friends for a while.

Cherra is pragmatic, my shopping friend.  We seem to have a rhythm in our friendship that works.  She is dependable and we get a lot accomplished together.  Our kids are great friends which made it all complete.  I love that she can talk when I don't have much to say.  You are going to be missed.

Right before we moved, they drug me out of the house to the temple.  What fun that was.  So glad they took me to the one place that I could feel total peace, if even for a small moment.

Apparently I don't have any other dresses...ha!

 Laurie took me a couple of weeks earlier before Mr. Finn got the job here in Ole Miss.  I was disappointed that it took so long to get through due to technical difficulties that we couldn't spend any time in the Celestial Room.  I offered a quick sob under my breath that Mr. Finn would get a job soon and we were off.

I love this picture the most.

It most correctly describes the kind of friendship Laurie and I have.  It is crazy most of the time, doesn't fit in a nice little box and seems off key most of the time.  But, it brings me a great amount of joy to spend time with her.  I laugh more with her than anyone else.  She also thinks I am very funny!  So "boo", Mr. Finn.  She accepts me completely as I am.  Is always complimenting me on what I do and tells me I do so much for her.  Total lie!  I hardly ever get time to do things for her as she is running all the time.  Busiest person I have met in my entire life.  She exhausts me and I don't even do the running around with her.  She is the kindest person I know.  Always trying to better herself with the Lord.  I admire that.  I am too afraid to ask the Lord what I need to do to be better.  I don't like challenges.  She seems to seek them out and gets better by doing so.  I could learn so much from her if I had more energy.  Ha ha.

Thank you Laurie for being my friend.  I believe in life that you are given friends for may reasons, some are forever.  I don't like letting go of friends.  It's not something I know how or want to do.  You are my friend forever!  I miss you so much.

I understand that the phone is hard to communicate on.  I miss seeing your face when I talk.  There is so much that you don't convey in words, but if that's all we have, well then, that's what we will use.  See you in November.  I love you.

Yes... this was a sappy and long post.  You should love it Laurie.

Realization = another answer

As I was driving across the river into Memphis, TN on our way to our new life, I broke down.  I realized I wouldn't be going home again.  There are no words to describe it, just the feeling of a broken heart.  That may be a little melodramatic, but it really hurts when I think of Missouri as not being my home anymore.

I loved it there.  Had good friends, church, school for the kids, home, etc.  We had been there seven years and I didn't realize how rooted we were in the community until I was ripped from it.

I don't blame anyone, I just wasn't ready emotionally for the move.  I kept my feelings in check and didn't allow myself to really cry or feel it.

But, I sure did coming across that bridge.  The sobbing was pathetic.  So bad that I called my Dad and sobbed in his ear.  I'm sure it made his day.  Thanks for Dad for listening.  I just needed someone to hear me out and let me cry.

We were all pretty crabby that night and the next morning.  Mr. Finn's air conditioner (that he just had fixed for the fancy price tag of $1064.00) stopped working.  Not something you can live without if you aren't Southern.  I see plenty of vehicles with the windows down, but I have to tell you, it would kill me.

I know... how dramatic!

We had an appointment to meet with the Real Estate Agent that the relocation company assigned us.  We weren't having a great morning and didn't want to talk about buying a house when we haven't sold ours.  Seemed pointless, but I convinced Mr. Finn we should go if only to let her know what our parameters would be if we were ready to buy.  He gave it a one hour limit.  I agreed.

Best and worst hour of my life.

She started out talking with a very thick southern accent and lots and lots of stories.  Some pertinent to our situation and most not.  Just lots of back history on what she would be talking about at that particular moment.  We digressed so much off the subject sometimes that I blocked her out.  Mr. Finn got more out of it than I did and then... we told her we were trying to find a rental with a shorter lease than what we were finding.

She stopped.  Yes, she stopped talking for a second and looked me in the eye.  "I have a little house not far out of town that Mister Dwight is leasing for two years, but he just called me and is going to leave on August 1st."  I told him, Mr. Dwight, you can't do this to me, I can't afford that mortgage payment and you have to work with me...".  The rest I don't remember because it kept going and going.

The point is that she has this house to rent and would be willing to lease it to us until the end of April versus end of July like everyone else.

When we went to see the property, she couldn't get in, but she said we could go to her home and see the pictures online.  It is cute and will work for us.  Whew!  Huge blessing.  We were so worried we wouldn't be able to find anything to live in.

When I brought the check back for the deposit, she looked at me kind of strange and asks, "Do you believe in God?"  I said "Yes, I do".  She then told me that last Saturday she had been praying really hard that a nice family would be brought to her that could lease this property and she wouldn't be out any money.  "And then he brings you right to my doorstep!", she says.

There was other conversation about how she is looking for a church and lo and behold, out her front door you can see the steeple to our church.  I invited her to come at 10 a.m. any Sunday she wanted.  That we would always be there.

Once again the Lord has taken care of us.  I am ashamed that I spend so much time worrying about things.  So grateful for this blessing and huge weight lifted off our shoulders.