Mixed Feelings

My title caught your attention, didn't it? Well, I'm having mixed feelings today because I was officially released from the Primary Presidency because we are moving and my dear friend Stephanie took pity on me and let me be released so I could focus on the craziness that will become my life in the weeks to come.

Even though I knew it was going to happen soon, I was still surprised by how emotional I felt when I found out they were going to do it today. I was so happy that I did the sharing time today, because it felt like a special way of saying goodbye without saying it. Especially because I put a lot of work into the sharing time that I did. That's a good feeling.

Anyway, with the releasing, it is forcing me to realize that we will be leaving our awesome ward behind and moving onto another (hopefully) awesome ward. I sometimes sit in sacrament meeting and think how I've never felt so at home and welcomed and included in a ward before (well except for the ward I grew up in back home in Maryland perhaps. But they had to love us, they knew us for years). :) But this ward we have only been here for two years and yet I feel like I have so many friends and people that I admire and love. We're only moving a few blocks away, but I keep making people promise me (under pain of stalking) that they will stay my friends. I don't want just a few blocks to make me an outcast. :)

So those are my mixed feelings. It just made me come out of my denial that we are moving, and made me realize that packing is the next step. Nooooo! I hate packing. Sigh. Can I just close my eyes, wave a magic wand, and wake up in my new, freshly cleaned house. With fresh cookies in the oven? And a napping toddler?? Is that so much to ask?

Well that's about it. No house news yet, but we'll keep you posted. Oh, and Lindy, if you're reading this, I went to Lowes, bought some sample paint colors for myself (such a great deal at 1.99 for a tiny bucket of whatever colors you want) and I picked up some possibilities for your kitchen, unless you already painted? Even still, aren't I such a great friend for remembering?? :) And Missy, I'm sorry I missed your call, but guess what, I bought a new outfit in preparation for our family photoshoot that will happen some day. I'm excited! Oh, and Lori, if you're reading this, your talk was awesome (as was Bryan's). Seriously, well done. Loved it. Ok, I think I'm done with the personal messages for now.

He said Vampire, but I think he meant Super Model

To whom it may interest. I felt an urge of girliness overcome me while I was at the Walmart picking up needed supplies such as bandaids and white cheddar popcorn. It overcame me so much that I decided to be crazy and buy myself some new lipstick AND some new nail polish. I know, crazy! So what did I get? Cover Girl Lip Stain. Have you tried lip stain? It blew my mind. It is like coloring your lips with a marker. And the color is intense and long lasting. I think I might be in love. Even if John said I looked like a vampire. I think he meant a sexy vampire. Ahem.
I went crazy with the nail polish color too. Fuschia Fever is it's name. I know, what has come over me? I felt like going with a rambunctious summer color. Something extremely pink and flirty. And what made me smile most while putting it on? Knowing that tomorrow Maddy will wake up and in two minutes start exclaiming, "Mama, Pity! Pity!" (Translation, Mommy, pretty!) That girl loves her some nail polish. Maybe I'll get her to hold still long enough to paint her toes. She would really love that.

With all of this foolish girliness going around my house, who knows, I might start brushing my hair next. I wouldn't wait on that one.... :)

Are White Walls Boring? Discuss.

Just thought I'd pop on to say that we don't have any concrete word on our house, but we have heard some "rumors" of good news. So I'll leave it at that and won't jinx our chances. :) :) :)

But since I am daydreaming about our future house, that includes paint colors. I've been busily going through websites and magazines, trying to get color inspiration. What I have noticed about myself is the following: 1. I am drawn to light spaces 2. Most of the spaces actually seem to have white walls with dramatic accent colors 3. But I think white walls are so boring.

So I am stuck in a design conundrum. How do you have white walls and make it look on purpose? I am going to post some pictures of the types of rooms I mean so you can see what I'm talking about. Give me your opinions? Do you like white? Do you think dramatic colors make a room too dark? How do you feel about light yellow?

Discuss amongst yourselves and leave feedback. :)


First up, this blog has a fabulous makeover of a dated fireplace/wood paneling. But I love the open airy feel.

This one is her kitchen. Again, lots of white.

This next picture comes from another favorite blog of mine. She refinished her own cabinets, including simple taking off the doors of several of them to make open shelving. Isn't the color divine? The top cabinets are white....I bet you didn't even notice because you were in awe of her audacious color choice for the bottom cabinets. I love it.
Want to see some more? Me too. Another fabulous blog I just found. She has a front room that is gorgeous and I asked her the color and she responded that it was called Cracker Crumb from Valspar (Lowe's brand). I think I need to check out Lowe's. But this is her laundry room and I'm in love with it.

Here you go, I found that picture of her front room. Isn't it cozy? (The color looks cozy to me without being overwhelming). It's yellow, and I'm kinda loving it.

I think I love all of these particular blogs so much because they all do the designing themselves--they are just your average stay at home moms who are trying to make their homes lovely. Also, the majority of them are like me and like to repaint and repurpose furniture from thrift stores and the like. So I get their excitement over ugly furniture that has potential.

Anyway, here are a few more pictures of things I like.

This picture comes from a blog where the single girl decided to gut and rebuild a really old house. She also started her own bakery. Talk about brave. Anyway, I love the old charm of this picture. I love the mantel and almost colonial feel to this one. Classic without being too stuffy (in my opinion). Her blog is here, although she doesn't update it anymore. It's still fun to read the archives. And she has some stupendous looking recipes.

This picture I just found online. There are various things I don't like about it, but I do like the general feel of openness and light.

Same goes for this kitchen. See what I mean about mostly white with incredible pops of color?

This one is again not my favorite. Don't like the furniture...a little too traditional for my tastes, but I like the wall color--understated. I also LOVE the mantel and molding going on in this room. I told John that if it weren't so expensive, I would ask for wainscoting (not beadboard, but something more like the picture below) for our next house. I am in love with it. Obsessed really.

Dreamy huh? I think I even asked Lori if her Dad could do something like this. I can't remember Lori, could he? For cheap? :) No but seriously, I want to learn how to do this sort of thing myself. Then I would do it all over my own house any time I fancied without costing thousands of dollars. I wonder if one can go to a class to learn such a thing?

Anyway, that brings us to the end of our tour. I didn't even show you anything I love from my magazines because I'm too lazy to scan pictures. But maybe someday I will. I just wanted to show the sort of look I like and see if you can figure out how I can recreate it myself. And whether I should go for a light color on the walls or do white with strong accent colored pieces.

Wishing and Hoping

Are you bored of my talking about moving and houses and stuff yet? Hope not, I think I might just be getting started. Just had to say that we found out that two other people made offers on the house on Friday. The thing about short sales is you don't know if they are lower or higher offers than the offer you made, so now we are evaluating our offer and going to put in our very best offer for the house and hope it carries. If not, well...well we will have to buy a different house. In fact, our realtor is taking us to see some other homes on Tuesday in hopes that we will find something else. My heart is still on the house in question, but I'm trying to stay open. Send all of your good karma our way will ya?

Well just thought I'd keep everyone updated. If we get that house, you can expect a very jubilant post here and when I get all moved in and the house is all cute-ified, I will invite every single one of you to the best house-warming party with the best house-warming food ever. It will be awesome. So like I said, send some good karma our way, and you'll find yourself at the new house party of the year. It's a win-win. :)

Oh, and want to know something cute? Maddy has started trying to sing a long to all sorts of songs, and it just makes me smother her with kisses. She has this tiny little girl voice and she doesn't say very many words very clearly, so the entire effect is adorableness. When we find our camera we will take a little video to show her off. I love that little toddler.

(here she is in her Easter dress finery. Courtesy of my wonderful Mom).

My Own Personal Want Ad and other Musings of the Medicated

I know I shouldn't get my hopes on our short sale house that we made an official offer on. I know I shouldn't be daydreaming about it every moment. But I so am. I'm looking through my past issues of "100 Decorating Ideas for under $100" magazines, thinking of which paint colors I want to use, what ways I want to revamp things I have or find new vintage finds that will fit this house perfectly. And I'm dreaming about owning a pantry. And a coat closet.

Mostly I'm doing this sort of dreaming so as to not face too many facts about the following daydream interrupters of reality: 1. still feeling under the weather (but with my doctor visit yesterday and some new pills, hopefully I'll be turning the healthy corner soon), 2. freaked out about moving and not knowing exactly when we'll hear back about the house we want to move into 3. freaked out that they might not take our first offer so we'll have to wait longer 4. trying not to think about how we will move and be able to majorly deep clean/fix up a house at the same time. Okay, this is the MAJOR stresser for me. The house is so worth it. It's just the timing, ya know? (But we at least finally found a good plumber and fixed the little drip in our bathtub for the future owners of our house. It was the last thing that I knew needed to be done to get the house in tip top shape for the next owners of this lovely home. I like to know we're leaving it in better shape than we found it. Especially since the people buying the home are friends of friends of our's I found out.)

So here are the things that I re-distract myself with: 1. someday I will feel better. 2. I saw a rainbow on the day that we sent in our offer, and I took that as a sign 3. the market isn't that great, so maybe they'll be desperate and put our offer right through 4. I'm thinking maybe somebody that I know might want to earn a little extra money and be willing to do some deep cleaning for me? Seriously, I am very much looking into hiring a maid service to help me out (with the time crunch and health crunch), but I would prefer to work with and pay someone that I know and trust. Is anyone interested? (If we even get the house lol). I'm completely serious.

If you are interested, email me with what you would charge me to possibly do the following (these are the things that I can think of off the top of my head that I know the house will need if we get it): 1. deep kitchen clean, including cabinets, floors, the whole tamale. 2. deep bathroom cleans. not anything gross or anything, but there is some hard water staining. 3. carpet steaming. of a lot of rooms. 4. painting. 5. cleaning out the garage because when we went there last, it smelled. I'm not going to lie. It smelled something fierce. Not sure why. I would pay extra for this one. 6. Someone with a lawn mower to mow the overgrown backyard, possibly weed. 7. help carry our left over garbage/debris left from previous owners. We would rent a dumpster for this. 8. Help change out broken door hardware. 9. Powerwash front of house and back deck. Okay, well some of this we could obviously do ourselves or a little later, but once I started my list, I thought I would list everything. Maybe one of you owns a powerwasher and would let us rent it from you. Or maybe you just love to clean out smelly garages. Either way, if you really do want to earn some extra summer money, please let me know. jthesavage (at) gmail.com and tell me how much you might charge so we can see if my budget can allow for some help. It would help put my overwrought little mind at ease if I knew that there might be some people out there that wouldn't mind helping. I'm shameless, I know.

Well I guess that's about it. Do you feel sorry for me?? Me too! lol, Just Kidding! I know everything will be fine. These are just the things going through my heavily medicated brain right now. I'm an over-analyzer and planner. As my Mom is always reminding me, I freak out about things and then I just buckle down and get them done. I think that will happen this time too, but it's just the healthiness thing that is making it more frustrating for me. Note to self: no more surgeries anytime that I am considering selling my house. It will guarantee that your house will sell in two weeks during the most sluggish housing market in twenty years. Big Smile. :)

Oh, and by request of grandma, let's end with a cute pic of Maddy. And also, I hope this post didn't make you feel obligated to help (or if you're my family/close friend, that I won't take free help too. But since I got us into this tricky situation, I just thought it would be better to pay for the really intense cleaning. Okay, that's my schpeal. I'm going to go back to perusing my magazines and daydreaming again.)

Lovebirds

Wanna see a couple of lovebirds? Check out my photoblog. My dearest friend is getting married, and it still chokes me up. I'm so happy for you Anne.

All that stuff you were probably wondering about

Hi, just thought I'd drop on my neglected blog and say that I'm alive. And breathing. I'm surprised by the last one particularly because I thought they ruined my nose, mouth, ex-place where my tonsils used to live, and my life. But turns out that I might be okay. I'm working on it. :)

So a quick update. We got an offer, we accepted the offer. They were kind enough to give us a couple of extra weeks to leave since we were beyond shocked by how fast it sold and I was having surgery. So if all goes well our signing date is June 25th. Yikes and Yay! So I have been making myself not stress out this week over house stuff so I could focus instead on stressing out about pain management. My Mom was an angel this past week. I don't know what I would have done without her. She took care of Maddy, helped John with things around the house, kept the milk and fruit snacks stocked, and was just a wonderful loving nurse to me. It makes me teary eyed to write it. I know I've said it a million times Mom, but I love you the most. John was also incredible and continues to be incredible and my superhero as he takes care of mundane tasks that wear me out, such as life in general. Maddy is just adorable, thank goodness. (She grew so much in a week, who knew!) And millions of thanks to the wonderful people who brought us dinners and snacks and well wishes. It really made me feel so loved.

Anyway, since you might be curious, we have looked at a few houses. We were kinda all over the place about where we might move at the beginning, but John and I had a heart to heart and  decided that really we love Tooele. We love the people and the area, and the drive in movie theater and my book club and life is good, simple, and nice for us. We don't want to change that. So we have decided that we want to stay here if possible. Like I said, we've looked at a few places,  but I'm currently in love with one that is in pretty rough shape (a short sale) but I see it's potential shining through like a gem with a bit of dirt on the edges. So we are going to probably try our hand at making an offer on a short sale, despite the long wait that is possible and all of the trickinesses that can occur. It is a fabulous deal for the size and location, so we're really hoping we're lucky and can get it (before we are homeless, but that's okay). Because you guys all know, I LOVE a project. And this house would be the project of my dreams. Nothing major, just cosmetic. (and a deep clean. deep deep. Anyone wanna help?!?) 

What else? Hmm, I hope nothing. I feel like I have too much on my plate already this week. So I am now going to sign off and watch a show while slurping down my medicinal popsicle. See you on the healthy side someday soon yo.

Recovery and Request

Jenn's surgery went just fine, and she's recovering nicely. We appreciate all your help and prayers.

Does anyone know a good plumber in Tooele? We have a leaky faucet that requires professional help (namely a blowtorch).

Pretty Much a Miracle

It's official friends, our house is under contract (and for the full asking price). :) Hopefully everything will go smoothly with the whole process. I honestly can't believe it still. We signed this morning and it just seemed so crazy. We had our house on the market for about two and a half weeks. We truly feel it was a miracle and that Heavenly Father helped it to happen. Especially considering the fact that both of our neighbors are also selling, have been on the market longer, and are cheaper. We are exceptionally grateful. (And yes I will be offering my services as a stager for money soon! j/k)

So like I said, hopefully it ends up working out. I don't want to jinx ourselves. But if all goes smoothly, we will be moving June 25th. Don't ask me where, because I honestly have not the faintest idea. We are open to just about anywhere that offers affordable mansions with adorable backyards, wonderful schools, and fabulous D.I.'s. Which means we may end up in Tooele still, but we'll just have to see. Suggestions are welcome. :)

Okay, just wanted to keep you on the up and up. Oh, and I got to spend the day with one of my very best friends Anne while she went wedding dress shopping and I took her and her fiancee's engagement pictures. It was lots of fun and I'll have to post a picture or two sometime soon. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

And now I'm exhausted (I have sharing time tomorrow and I also spent a long time cutting out paper flowers with John) so now I will say goodnight and continue watching Ace of Cakes with my Johnny cake.

oh and p.s. probably won't be hearing from me for a while. Surgery is on Monday and by all counts I'll be down for the count for a week. I'm really quite nervous about it, so a prayer or two and some luck would be great. :)

Could it be?!? Breaking News...

Breaking News....We just got an offer on our house this afternoon....Details to follow....Wish us luck!...

This Sardine Can Always Has Room for Treasures

You know what's great and sad about trying to sell your house? No room for clutter. And if you know me, I love clutter. Well....actually I don't, but after getting my house ready to sell, I realized that I sure had a lot of clutter in my "home decorating design" that I wasn't even aware of while I was putting it all together. It comes from a serious addiction to thrift store finds. It's hard to walk away from awesome things even though your house is packed like a sardine can already. Mind you, a very stylish sardine can. :)

So for now, my D.I. trips have pretty much come to a stand-still because I don't want to add more junk to the junk that is currently junking up my garage. But even so, when my Mom and Step-Dad came out, they insisted on seeing this alleged one-man's-junk-is-another-woman's-treasure-land. Because of them, I came home with two chairs (one of which was broken in transit. A sad tale, but the chair is in the process of being fixed). The tag on the chair said six dollars. There were two chairs, but I asked the nice D.I. lady if it didn't mean six dollars for the pair. Because my motto is that it never hurts to ask. Turns out I'm a genius. The little D.I. floor manager came out, scoffed at my little chairs (I'm sure wondering who would pay six dollars for the pair of them) and I had to keep myself from clapping with glee.

Maybe you will understand my glee when you see the picture. Or perhaps you will agree with Mr. D.I. Manager. But they make me happy. I'm not sure whether I will keep the pair, or make an outrageous fortune by re-selling them, but for now, I thought I'd share. Because honestly people, it's been far too long since I've shared some of my D.I. finds. Wouldn't you agree?

Yes, all of that build up was for this chair. But I have a pair of them! Look at the lovely walnut legs, tufted faux leather, wide seat. Sweet Danishy modern furniture I love you (and you're not even my real style!)

Have you found a treasure lately? Share your finds, it makes everyone's day happier. (oh and P.S. thanks for the cow book recommendations! We have been moo-ing with great gusto these past days).

Guaranteed To Make You Sigh Happily

This is from the blog too. Sigh worthy and day-dream inspiring. Read below to see what I'm talking about.

It's late at night again. That's probably when I shouldn't write but do. John already headed up to bed and I am still here, caught up in a blog that is making me wish we could buy an old beat up house and make it beautiful.

Like this picture. The woodwork makes me swoon.

But it also makes me even more grateful for my little daughter and sweet husband. Both things this blog author wishes for desperately. She writes so wonderfully that reading her posts make me want to live life a little more abundantly and write profoundly. Neither of which can be done this late at night. I'm not that good.

The cows do not make me swoon.

Anyway, tomorrow I am going to try and squeeze the joy out of life a bit more. Madeline and I are going to start a journey of simple "preschooling" that I found online. This week's themes are: cows, the number 1, the letter A, and Hey Diddle Diddle. Many fun activities will ensue. Heaven knows if she'll get any of it, but I think we'll have a fun time doing it. And we'll have some quality time together instead of just quantity. Both of which are important, but quality is often more fun. p.s. read any good cow themed books lately? We're hoping to read a good one everyday. So far, I have Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type on the list because that is the most awesome book ever. If you haven't read it, just do yourself a favor and buy it sight unseen. You'll thank me later.

Is this a boring post? I'm highly suspicious that it is. So I'll force myself to bed now. Heaven knows I'll be regretting staying up tomorrow. But before you go, what is something inspiringly quality that you do with your kids? Do share.

learning to breathe deeply (hopefully it will go even better after my nose job*)

Got back from Women's Conference at BYU yesterday night. Had a wonderful time. It was great to be with my Mom, two Aunts, and cousin (for one of the days). Also, our little family apparently cannot avoid fame and fortune and paparazzi no matter where we are--my picture was in the Deseret News in an article about Women's Conference. Not a particularly flattering one. But still made me laugh. (I don't have a copy of the picture and couldn't find it online otherwise I would let you laugh as well and see it).

Highlights of the event for me (in no particular order): Elder L. Tom Perry's talk, Sis. Julie B. Beck's talk, Humanitarian Service class, eating at the MOA Cafe, seeing my old writing center boss Penny, buying an over-priced caramel apple, buying Madeline her first (and hopefully not her last) BYU shirt, laughing with my Mom, remembering all of my incredible memories from my time spent there (including getting proposed to in the BYU library, perfect place for a bookworm, don't you think?), and TWO whole days of thinking, pondering, and using my brain again--amazingly it still appears to function. :)

I wandered around the campus breathing deeply, thinking about the past, considering the future, and just enjoying the fact that there was nowhere else I had to be except right there, breathing deeply and thinking. It was seriously heaven for me, made wonderful by perfect skirt-wearing weather on the first day. All made possible by my adorable husband who is far too good to me. Trust me, I know it's true!

In other news, we have shown our house three times in the past week and a half or so. Which has been great and stressful. Today was one of the showings. So please if you have a little prayer time to spare, we would appreciate a little help in getting our house sold. We're anxious to get moving. Once you decide to sell your house the hardest part is waiting. It's not that I don't love it here, but we would love to get all moved and into a new house with a yard before the summer months hit too hard. Probably wishful thinking, but that's okay! I am an optimist this week. I have pretty flowers and a Welcome Home balloon that put a smile on my face everytime I see them. I have a fresh perspective of my purpose and my little family and that feels pretty good.

So how are you doing these days? Long time no hear. We need a book club meeting. In fact, I'm thinking that we might need just a few more members since we have had a few drop out. If you're a lurker on this blog and a dedicated reader who would love to join, drop me a comment or an email. I need to limit the spacing to probably just 2 or 3 additional people, so write soon. My email is jthesavage (at) gmail.com

*note: the term nose job is used loosely for those of you who might not have read my previous post. :)