Fasting and Praying

Pserendipity is doing a facebook fast and fasting from some foods while she prays for a job in Memphis. I was sitting around lolligagging on twitter tonight and said "self, you need to unplug and take a break too." So I will. I'm going to fast from Twitter, Facebook, and Blogging for 7 days. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to even read blogs during this time. I think not though. I'll be coming back refreshed, renewed and ready. I think I'll start on Sunday.

As usual, feel free to leave any prayer requests in the comments or email me. I will be emailing during my fast. 

Rejoice ALWAYS, pray without ceasing, in EVERYTHING give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Evening and morning, and at noon, I will pray and cry aloud; and He shall hear my voice. Psalm 55:17

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Psalm 145:18

Family time

We had our nieces this weekend. We went for a morning walk, ran errands, carved pumpkins and watched movies. I forgot to get a picture of MrC's pumpkin, but I turned mine into a flower pot!

Anniversary Date

I have a lot of pictures from our double date to the farm. Wanna see them? Here they go!

This is the couple we went on our double date with. He's pointing out the perfect pumpkin for his wife to get. What was I doing?

Struggling to carry my dang pumpkin! It doesn't look big in the picture, but that's just because I have a big head. Nobody would help me even though I had the biggest pumpkin and I had the smallest arms. I was singing songs about abuse and neglect as I carried my pumpkin to the register.

I am a big kid. MrC thinks it's hilarious how excited I can get. Here I am running through the pumpkin patch. Yeahhhhh, nothing could go wrong there.

I was determined to climb a ladder to get some apples. They were so scared I was going to fall off and kill myself. Nobody was harmed in the taking of this picture.

This is MrC's definition of a clear picture of me on the ladder. This is also where he called me a jun.gle mon,key. A lot of love we share.

Let me tell you something about my friend. Apparently, we are the same person. Our husbands tell us that all the time, but during this trip we finally realized it. We love the same things. This is us examining all the fresh herbs we hadn't heard of. Our husbands had to grab our hands and lead us away from this case because we were that into the herbs.

We were picking spinach. The pickings were slim since it was the end of their spinach season. See that pipe and rope? We weren't supposed to cross it. See where I am? Yep, I'm pretty gangster. I reached right on the other side to get her some spinach. Of course MrC had to document my illegal activity.

The newlyweds after we finished picking broccoli.

Strike a pose with fresh broccoli. I loveeeeee broccoli.

I think we were going back and forth about cutting off excess stalk so we wouldn't have to pay for it. I don't know what we were talking about. If MrC knew I was posting this picture, he would request that I point out his crisp shape up. Notice it, and love it.

House Hunting: What a surprise!

The last house we went to see was "cute." It seemed like it would be a cozy home. It is a corner lot. There's a pathway from the street to the front door, and from the driveway to the front door. There's no garage, but since I'm allergic to grass, I certainly appreciate the paved walkways. It's a very simple looking home. Very unassuming, which is a good thing. This house is located in the same neighborhood as the last two houses. It's in walking distance of a small shopping center. If you know me, you know that makes me giddy!

This is the side view of the front yard. Yeahhh, give me about a month to kill these pretty plants. I would definitely have to befriend an old lady and get her to help me out with this. Actually, I want to do that anyway, this just gives me an excuse. I want a nice old lady in the neighborhood that will bake us treats and make us soup when we're sick. And we'll help her get things from the store, and MrC will bring her groceries in and cut her grass. And I'll call her Gramma FirstName. And when we have kids she will come over and share parenting tips with me. (Wow, I actually cried writing this. I never had a nice grandma, I feel like I'm missing out.) Moving on!

This is the shed on the opposite end of the property, it's at the end of the garage. If we wanted, we could put a garage here. I think there was enough space. Want to know something strange about me? I love when people have seasonal flags outside of their homes. MrC thinks I'm an old white woman trapped in this sexy black woman's body, lol. I would totally hang flags to go with the seasons/holidays.

I messed up the picture order. This is the kitchen. There is an 8 foot pantry. I know it's 8 feet because the homeowner had cute pink cards accenting the features of her home. I thought that was nifty. The bright light on the right is from the sliding door that leads to the deck in the backyard. There is a doggy door already installed too. She had a round kitchen table and a china cabinet in the kitchen and there was still space. We'd have to paint the kitchen, that border is not my style!

I like that there is a double sink. I really miss that living in the apartment. Then I won't have to fuss when I'm ready to fix dinner and *somebody* hasn't done the dishes. Can you see the wood piece hanging from the cabinet to the left of the stove? It's a knife rack! How cute. We'd never seen anything like that before. Eventually we would upgrade the appliances and counter top, but that would be an "as I find awesome deals" project.

This is the living room. It's what you see as soon as you walk in the front door. Two huge windows that have shades that I was going to try to describe, but I don't know how. You know how if you raise your blinds, they're all bunched together at the top? Well you can do that up or down. She had them all bunched down at the bottom. I don't know if that makes sense, but they were cool.

This is the hall bathroom. It's a full bath with a tub. There's also a heat lamp. I'm sure during the winter MrC will find me sitting in there under the heat lamp

Master closet. I was so excited by this I screamed. A 12 foot walk in closet. My God in heaven, I did not expect this. When I screamed, the realtor came running, and then she screamed too. MrC just shook his head at the two crazy women. The master is a pretty good size and it has an attached bathroom. I don't know if we'd be able to have a king sized bed in there, I'd have to sit and plan it out.

Second upstairs bedroom. She has a queen size bed in there, we have no need of that large of a bed in that room. It would certainly be a wonderful nursery. I like that the bedrooms aren't right next to each other. The walk in and the large hall closet separate the rooms. Speaking of the large hall closet- bulk shopping! Now I don't have to be afraid of the 36 pack of tissue. The thought of having enough space to do everything I want to do makes me smile.

Basement full bathroom. It's quite large. There is a bedroom downstairs that we would set up as the guest bedroom/my craft room. I forgot to take a picture of that room.

Laundry room. It's really big, probably the size of our dining room now (the lady that owns the house sews, she has a ton of clothes). She had a separate storage room in the basement, so this room would be the laundry room/ play room for the kids. We'd put up drywall and stuff eventually.

The family room. She had a wall of cabinets that are staying. We'd move those cabinets into the laundry room, we don't have that much stuff.

The other side of the basement family room. You know how some people have mini bars or carts with whisky and scotch and cute little bar cups? Well I want a tea bar. A cart on wheels with my porcelain tea set on a pretty tray for when we have quests. When we have somebody staying in the guest room we'll have it outside their door with breakfast on it when they wake up. When we're entertaining we'll wind down the night with a cup of tea. Y'all had no idea I was this strange, did you?

The left side of the backyard. It's super private. Not only is it fenced in, there is ivy growing along the fence which is actually quite pretty. I have a fear of ivy growing on houses, so I hope it doesn't creep me out in the backyard. See that wooden glider chair? It's staying! Is that not the cutest thing ever? Look down, that white stuff is a beautiful stone patio. I picture us sitting out there many a night eating dinner from the grill.

There's a deck in the middle of the backyard, and this is the right side. The homeowner has this side gated off for her dog to roam free, so he doesn't mess up the pretty side. Great thinking. We'd put our grill over there too, it's a good location.

This is her garden. It's outside of the fence, behind the shed. Maybe my new Gramma FirstName can help me with my garden too!

This house isn't a forever house, but it may be a great starter house.

What do y'all think. Of the 5 houses I've posted, which one do you think we're going to put an offer on? Do you think we're going to walk away from all of them? Is this enough suspense for you Jameil?

House Hunting: Almost Perfection

We almost didn't go inside this house. There is no backyard. There is a deck and then woods. If we had a barbecue, it would be a deck barbecue. No place for a swing set for the kids, and no place for dogs to run. The inside would have to be super awesome to make up for that. There was a driveway where we could park side by side. That's a lovely convenience, but no garage.

Do you see this kitchen? It's huge! Why that have that baby island still in there is beyond me. I would promptly replace it with a large island. It would be the first thing I do.

This is the living room. What a pretty fireplace! There is also a half bath on this floor. I love the hardwood floors. The paint is fresh and a nice neutral color.

Upstairs were 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. There was bamboo floors up there. LOVE IT! I loathe carpet. Especially because I live with somebody that doesn't believe in using napkins. He also overfills his cereal bowl and walks across the carpet dripping milk. Resolve and I are great friends, it's a friendship I hope to sever one day. Sweeping and swiffering are much easier. MrC looks like he's running away in this picture. It made me laugh.

Master bathroom. Doesn't need any work, and it's a pretty nice size. The closet in this room is slightly bigger than what we have now.

The basement was just as impressive as the rest of the house. There was a room with surround sound built in, and a room with built in shelving, and a laundry room with a work space.

These are the built in shelves. This would be my library/craft room. MrC would have free reign over the other side of the basement. We'd probably put in some sort of doors so we could dwell together, yet separate.

We LOVED this house. We liked every thing- except the back yard, or lack thereof. Absolutely nothing needed to be done. The only thing I would even like to do is change the kitchen island. What an easy move.

The inside of this house is awesome. Is the awesomeness of the inside enough to overlook the lack of a backyard?

House Hunting: Too many guests (human and otherwise)

This house has a lovely front porch. I can see myself sitting on the front porch in my rocking chair being nosey. Approximately 7 adults and 1 child live here. They are doing too much. They also allow the little girl to write on the walls all willy nilly, so we would have to paint immediately.

The kitchen was lovely! It was a very nice size.

I would take out that teeny island and table and put in a much larger island with seating. I would be rocking and rolling then! I don't think this kitchen had a pantry, which I really want.

This is the formal dining room. I wanted to take more pictures but 5 adults staring at me, I got a little uncomfortable.

This is supposed to be the family room in the basement, but they're using it as a bedroom. They had 2 bedrooms and a laundry room set up in the basement. Upstairs there were 3 bedrooms. One door was locked so we couldn't even look in it. They also had roaches. The master closet was the same size as what we have now. Deal breaker.

House Hunting: Brown Carpets and Smoke

MrC likes this neighborhood better than yesterday's house. This house has a garage too, which is always good. The front yard is huge, but the backyard is awkwardly shaped, but still a nice size.

Walking in the living room had this cool fireplace. A really cool wallpaper and this would be a lovely focal point for the room. There is hideous but very plush dark brown carpet. The house smelled like smoke to the point where I had a headache when we left. That means the carpet would have to go immediately and the walls would have to be painted.

The kitchen was kind of small, and I don't like the back splash. Actually, now that I look at this picture, I don't like this kitchen. It's ugly and dark and dated.

Yeahhhhhh, about this pink bathroom. It's nauseatingly ugly. My momma told me about this man that does a treatment over ugly tiles and makes them a pretty color. The tub is also pink, so that would need to be fixed too.

This is the basement. The laundry room is down here. This would be the man cave because I have no intention of hanging out down there. It's dark and dreary. And MrC found a dead mouse in the closet.

The location on this house was the best of all that we looked at Friday. They say location, location, location in terms of real estate. But I don't know about this one.

House Hunting: Please Clean Up

This is the first house we went to see on Friday. It also has a garage, but I couldn't get it in the picture. It's 2 streets over from where we live now, so I know the school district is good. We frequently walk on that street and I see the kids riding bikes and all playing together. The yard is a very good size.

Right when you walk in, there is a step down into the "basement." It consists of this room, a bedroom, and a full bath.

This is the kitchen (duh). I love the cabinets! They were dirty, but with a coat of paint, I'd have an amazing kitchen! There's also a table and a small pantry. The kitchen is a good size, but it wouldn't work for an island seating/prep station.

This is the rest of the main floor. The formal dining room and the living room. The hardwood floors are original and looked really good.

There were 3 bedrooms upstairs and 2 bathrooms. Each bedroom looked like this. Aint that filthy? Anyway, the master had 2 closets, one walk in and one regular- which I loved! There was mold in all the bathrooms though.