Julie's 365 Day Journey

 Attitude is everything, so I choose to have a good one!

  I keep reading this quote over and over. My life right now is HARD. I’m not complaining one bit but it’s HARD. I’m selling my house. I’m moving. I’m packing. I’m searching for a house. It’s a lot and it’s HARD doing all this on my own. It’s not impossible but I’ve always had someone making the decisions and I was just the support partner. Now every decision I make is my own and that’s HARD. Today the inspector is coming to check over my house for the buyers. I sure hope he doesn’t find something that’s too HARD to fix!

 Catching up a little. Here are some pictures of Leah’s shower in March. 

 I am not that great with plants but I have had a few successes. The plant below is 8 years old. I got it as a gift at a baby shower for my friend Ginny’s first grandchild. Now she has 4 grand babies! I think I will try to keep this plant even when I move ! 

 The weather was beautiful while I was away for Easter. I got to play golf, shop a little in St Louis and have an excellent meal at my favorite restaurant on The Hill. 

Easter was lovely. I traveled to my parents’ house in Illinois. The drive there took me past this giant cross on Interstate 70 near Effingham. It’s appropriate for Easter Sunday! Mom made eggs and sausage for our late breakfast and I made Grandma’s coffee cake.  We all like ham but bbq ribs sounded so much better. Dad did a great job! It was a beautiful day!  

 I got a haircut today. I requested a short cut again which I haven’t had in years. I regret every bit of my decision. What was I thinking?

 I have a signed contract!  The first buyers backed out and my back up offer is the winner. Let the planning begin!

 Waiting… my house sold but to whom???

 My house was on sale exactly 12 hours. In that time I had four showings and one offer. The offer is for full price and cash! The other buyers now get the option to take the contingency off of their sale offer since they have right of first refusal. They have 72 hours to get back to me.

 As usual, life has ups and downs. The people buying my house have to sell theirs first so my sale is contingent. My contract says I can entertain back up offers. I am doing that now!

 What do you do with old paint?  Today is garbage day. Right now I need to capitalize on every garbage day and make sure I’ve thrown away anything possible that I don’t want to take with me on my move. As I do every garbage day, I searched the house for things that no one would ever want or need, I usually end up in the old tool room. That thing is filled with junk and today I filled up an entire garbage can with unusable stuff. Unfortunately, I didn’t even make a dent in the room. Next week I will make a point to toss the 31 cans of caulk the 120+ screwdrivers! 

 Botox Before I start this little rant, please know that I have nothing against Botox. In fact, under the right circumstances, I might actually entertain the idea of repairing that mad looking V in the middle of my eyebrows. But on Sunday I saw a woman who had clearly had lots of transformations on her face. I was sitting near her in the airport lounge. She wasn’t weird or wildly dressed but her face was definitely altered. There were other alterations below her chin, but I won’t go into all that! I don’t know much about fillers, but I’ll just say she had lots of Botox. Her real face was not discernible, and I just wondered what she really looked like. What did she look like before her lips were big, her cheeks were pronounced, her forehead was smooth and her chin was defined? If she and her grandmother were sitting down to lunch would her grandmother even recognize her.? And what about her parents? Do they remember what she really looked like? Do they regret not being able to see ...

 It looks so weird to see this in my yard.  I have no regrets!  

 Clean, clean, clean. That’s all I really did today I have a feeling this is my future for the next two months.

 Today I traveled home. I spent the entire day in the delta sky lounge. Here is why.  Right before we boarded the plane, the gate agent asked for volunteers to give up their seat. No one budged because most of the people taking my flight had been waiting for a flight since the day before because of bad weather. Then the gate agent offered $1000 to the first two people who would give up their seats and again no one got up. There was no good reason for me to let this pass by and I jumped up and took the opportunity. I received $1000 in the form of flight credits and $30 in food credits. My next flight would be seven hours away. Luckily I have access to the Delta sky lounge and I spent the entire day relaxing with food and drinks. It was great and the easiest way to make $1000 in one day! I used my food vouchers to buy snacks for the plane and boarded my new flight at 5 PM. Unfortunately, we sat on the plane for three hours, waiting for a repair to take place with no food or drin...

 Still no house. Am I too picky?  My realtor, Tom, says after Eater there will be more to choose from. Patience is a virtue. But we did have a great lunch!

 The negotiations on the sale of my house are buttoned up but now my search has gotten more aggressive. I really really like both of my realtors. The one selling my house is on top of her game. She is GOOD! The realtor helping me find my new house is just as GOOD! He and I get along well and he knows exactly what I want. Unfortunately we just can’t find it. I am not in a hurry so we will look again tomorrow.  I’m moving somewhere with palm trees and blue skies.

 Yesterday I traveled to my new state but today I actually looked at homes.  I saw lots. I liked none. 

 My new home search begins today…

 More entertaining! Leah and Eric are still here, but I also had friends drop in from Chicago. They’re on their way to the East Coast and stopped in Indiana for a pitstop before they made their way to the Carolinas. It’s always nice to have Bill & Pam at my house. They are lovely people. It was great to be able to talk through my move and the sale of my house. They always have good advice. I made a wonderful lasagna for dinner. It was an alternative to eating out because at home we can sit and relax and talk for hours. And that is exactly what we did!

 When you’re at your childhood home you get to eat like a child!!!

 Leah and I heard a bird crash into the window. He looked a little lame but still alive. Leah went outside to check it out. I’m not sure what she was planning to do because there’s no way that bird was coming in my house! As she got closer to the bird, he hopped away and then actually was flying. The funny thing about this is that I’ve told Leah to clean out whatever she has left in her room, she’s married. It’s time to clean it out! I’m moving, so none of those things are coming along with me. She found lots of crazy stuff in her closet, even though she hardly had anything left in my house. But she did fine with a sweatshirt from 2010.  even though she’s pregnant is still fit her. When do clothes become vintage? And how long are your kids allowed to leave their crap at your house? Now I just need to get the other two kids to take all their junk!

My visitors are starting to depart. Kirstian left late last night. Jenn and my parents left this morning. But I get to see Lea and Eric until Wednesday!