Today was a project day at Club Amaro...we have so many to do, so we're starting with the ones that don't cost any money :)

First on the list, remove the God forsaken monstrosity that is the satellite dish...that was Mike's responsibility:




My job was putting together the "craft" room so Abby and I could fire up our creative juices once again. My project was way more fun, but it took alot longer. I wish I had taken a "before" picture so you could see what a nightmare this room was. But, you'll just have to imagine it in your mind. We broke down and got 2 $17 shelves at big lots to complete the craft room look...so here is the "after"


Most of the area is mine, but Abby does have a little real estate there. Here is Abby showing off her area, complete with easel:



And then, in addition to her little craft area, she has a small table that we might put her laptop on, but for now she's rockin' the Phonic's play-top.



So...we had a productive day. And now, creativity can begin!

Just a quick update for ya on the haps at Club Amaro.

As of yesterday our apartment is FINALLY empty...and CLEAN! I never thought I would see it empty. Good grief. I spent 4 hours cleaning that place - spic and span it was when I was done. The fella came in to do the walk through and said, "Awesome" and "Ah man, I sure pray-shate this" about 7 times each and then signed off on it! They are real relaxed here about deposits - we were not required to pay a one - not to mention our first month was free. The guy doing the walk through was so grateful for me having cleaned it the way I did that I got the sense that it wasn't something that was required. Oh well...it made me feel good to do it.

Boxes are slowly but surely disappearing, thanks to B & M who are going to be moving in a few weeks (I think). They are still working on their house, which is going to be incredible once it's finished! We are looking forward to being down the street from each other (and we're also looking forward to being settled!). Rooms are starting to become functional (I cooked my first official meal on my new stove tonight). There's always the reorganizing that will take place for the next few months, but it feels good to have rooms in working order.

"Painter Rob" just finished the guest bathroom - it looks fabulous. The color is "Swiss Almond" and it's a major improvement over the wallpaper. The prior owners must have gotten a deal on this hunter green and maroon stripped wall paper because it's everywhere. The cool news is that Painter Rob needs an updated website....and, I just so happen to know someone who does websites and also needs her living room painted. The sunny-yellow is a little too perky for us and it's not quite right with the merlot couch and chairs.


Abby is having a blast in Kindergarten...the above shot is a pic of their Teddy Bear picnic they had today. This was "bear" week at school...they were asked to bring a stuffed animal bear to school to hang out for the week. They learned all about bears, hibernation, types of bears and all that kind of stuff. Abby had her first trip to the school nurse on Thursday after she tripped, fell and bled. She told me every last detail on the way home from school that day and at the very end she said this about the school nurse: "She sure knows about being a nurse".

Last but not least, we had a fun spur of the moment outing tonight - all the way to our next door neighbors house. The husband is part of a garage band (and I mean that literally...they play in their garage!). They had a huge table of food, a whole bunch of guys playin' stuff and a nice big couch for the wives. They played country oldies, and they were REALLY GOOD! There was a stand up bass, steel guitar, piano, guitars and a full drum set. They were just jammin' the night away. The male singer had a great Johnny Cash sounding voice and there was a gal there who sang a few and she sounded like Loretta Lynn. We hung out there for quite a while just listening and laughing at the 'back and fourth' banter between the musicians. Even Abby got into it. We are excited about having such cool neighbors!

Well, I hope that everyone has a great weekend in store...I can pretty much sum up the weekend ahead for us in one word: BOXES. We are excited for our first official visitation, which is coming up in less than a month...but, before that happens, there's a little matter of someone turning into a new decade. HMmmmmmmmm....

love and 30 somethings,
k

Greetings from the other side of town...

Yes, we just spent the first night in our new-to-us house. Yesterday we got help from our small group guys...they loaded up all the furniture and bulky stuff and unloaded in less than 2 hours! What a blessing... However, I would say that we are FAR from being "moved in" though. Our house is in a slight state of chaos right now.

Hindsight being 20/20, we probably would have done our move a little differently, but hey - it is what it is. The good news is, Abby's room is all setup. In an attempt to make relatively little impact on her Kindergarten sized world, I thought it would be the best use of my time to get her room livable. Her room is actually much bigger than the one at the apartment (and the one on Charlotte Ave for that matter). She has a cute little reading area right by her window. Super cute.

Here are some observations from our first 24 hours here:

1. We have frogs. Yes, the pool in the backyard (which is supposed to be disappearing any day now) has turned into a swamp of some sort that has invited some interesting critters including dragonflies, mosquitoes and frogs. The frogs are loud and they only come out at night apparently...it's cute for about 45 seconds, then it's just annoying.

2. This house is big. If I am in laundry room and Abby is in her room, I can yell for her to "come here" and she will not hear me. This is a problem for people who like to beckon for others by yelling from the opposite side of the house (i.e. me). I'm actually going to have to get up and look for someone. Not to mention, it's a long walk from one end of the house to the other!

3. Have I mentioned lately that I hate moving boxes and packing paper?

4. I'm thrilled to have once again moved crap that I don't need. Maybe by next move I'll get it right. People, I've said this before and I'll say it again - get rid of stuff you don't use, de-clutter your life...throw away the 4 year old jar of 1/2 used lemon pepper. C'mon.

More to follow.

lovey-dovey,
k

Abby had a "show and tell" activity on Friday...teacher asked her to bring 3 things that showed something about herself. She choose: Her road trip scrapbook, her play microphone and her camera. Of course, I knew that she'd come home with a few new flicks in her camera! Her teacher was nice enough to snap a pic of the class...then offered to snap one of the two of them. So here's a pic of Abby with her teacher:



The first week of school is in the books. A routine is starting to be established and I'm figuring out the whole "pick up" thing. It's quite a nice time of solitude, I must say...sitting in the "line" with nothing but the hum of my engine choking away gas at $3.75 a gallon. My new goal in life is to try to be first in the pick up line. Each day this week I would go a minute or two earlier but could never get that first spot! The closest I've gotten is probably 10th. I notice that the higher grade pick up line (they get out 30 minutes AFTER the kinders) is starting to queue up before I even get to the kinder line! So you have people sitting there for an hour...I don't get that. Of course in order to be first in line, I may have to get there an hour early. Oh the sacrifices...we'll see just how bad I want it.


The new Club Amaro is slowly but surely being established. Mike went and got the contents of our storage unit and placed everything in the garage. Today, I took advantage of our state's "no sales tax" day and purchased 3 major appliances and a guest bed. On top of no tax, the appliances were 10% off...yay! We still haven't started the process of boxing stuff - it's still a little too painful to think about. I may go over to the house and put some batteries in the smoke detectors. Yeah, that will definitely push the progress meter forward. We are praying that somehow a little man would come and paint our office before we move in. I know how Mike and I are - once that office furniture gets in there, forget it...it's hunter green and harvest gold crackle forever! Complete with "books" wallpaper strip) see this picture for a refresher.

There are all those little things that you need to find out when you take over a house...here are some of my current questions:
1. How in the world do you use a riding mower?
2. What in the world is a water softener, why do I have one and do I need to touch it?
3. How do I light the water heater pilot light (NO the gas company will NOT come out and do that here....TITO, WHERE ARE YOU??)
4. Where is the filter on that monster air conditioning unit outside?
5. Which of these 8 light switches turns on the light?

I remember when we sold Charlotte Ave...I made this awesome document for our new owners...I put EVERYTHING in there, right down to the name of our mailman. I had a tidy little folder with all appliance documentation and other information of note. And, I even left a nice gift basket as a housewarming gift! All we got from our sellers were cobwebs and a riding mower (sans instructions). I think there was a pamphlet about the stove and dishwasher - but that's it! Oh well...

That's it for now...I'll try to come up with a post that's not related somehow to school or house stuff. It's sort of our life right now, I'm sure you understand.

tax free love,
k

A quick update to let you know that we OFFICIALLY own a part of Tennessee. Well, to be completely technical we owe money to a bank who owns a part of Tennessee - but that doesn't sound quite as exciting. We closed escrow today and got the nod from our Realtor that it's Ok to use our keys. What's next? MOVING. More on that to come.

Secondly, Abby has completed her 2nd day of Kindergarten. She is loving it. The afternoon "pretend school" time is in full swing already! (This is where she sets up all her babies and stuffed animals and pretends to teach them).

One cute item of note...yesterday after her first day, she was telling me about eating lunch in the cafeteria. I will mostly be making her lunch this year, but her school also has a full service cafeteria there as well. Abby had eyes the size of saucers as she told me about the "other side" of the cafeteria where the kids go up with a tray and select food from a table. She said, "And you know what?" (There was a long pause where I think she was waiting for me to guess or something)....she puts her hand up to her cheek like she's going to tell me a secret and then whispers, "then they PAY for it".

I think the cafeteria concept is very exciting to her...I guess she's led a sheltered life. I guess there are worse things to not know about, eh?

Anyway - we are very excited about the things going on around here...we also acknowledge that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17).

Love,
k

Just a quick Adventure update: Grandaddy is here! For those of you that know, for every year of Abby's life, Grandaddy visited pretty much every 3 weeks. Working for the airlines allows such priveledges as flying for free. So Gdaddy would fly up first thing in the morning on his 1st day off, then leave in the afternoon on his 2nd day off. You would be surprised how much fun those two could pack into a thrity hour period of time! Well, we've missed about 7 or 8 of those 3 week visits since we left our road-trip pit stop in San Diego.

Gdaddy arrived on Monday evening after flying ALL OVER the US ALL DAY long!! Ok, well he never made it over to the east coast, but he did see more than a few airports. He went from San Diego to Denver - missed a few flights there so took a detour to Chicago where he caught another flight to Nashville. When Abby saw him come down the elevator in the airport, she ran across the room and jumped into his arms. I'm guessing at that point, Gdaddy forgot that he had been flying all day long and was happy to see us.

Much fun ahead on the horizon! Abby starts school TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow, people. Although it's a "phase in" day, which means that she only goes half day...she will have Friday off and then start her full schedule on Monday. She will be in school 6 1/2 hours a day! I am in shock-e-arlo.

Lastly, we close in 6 days...the whole process has gone so incredibly smooth that it's hard to believe it's actually happening. We already have another visitor scheduled for September (my gal-pal Kathryn...YAY!!!) - she'll get to break in the new deluxe visitor accomodations at Club Amaro (unless anyone else wants to come before that - the reservation book is wide open).

Although the house is completly move-in ready, there are plenty of projects to do around the house that will keep us busy for awhile. We look forward to posting pictures and keeping y'all updated.

Another little tid-bit of information that I didn't disclose before - we will be living right down the street (literally - we share the same street name!) from B, M and the kids!! They bought a foreclosure (of the worst kind!)...and have been working on it now for a week or so. It's been an incredible sight to see the transformation happening. This picture to the left is of a SNAKE SKIN....snake skin, people. That is just a small taste of the animal population that called this home their own. Anyway - while B & M are getting their house in order, we will be moving in to ours. A school carpool situation straight from God himself :)


love & down payments, prepaids and closing costs,
k

I was at the ATM today depositing a check - how cool are those new BofA ATM's?? You know, the ones where you just stick the check in the scanner and it prints a copy of it on your receipt? I love that. Anyway - I needed some didge for date night with my hubby. I was dreading having to remove $20 from my checking account when I knew I really only needed $10. My Mom gave us 2 passes to the local cinema and I printed 2 coupons online for free popcorn when you bought a drink. Of course, these days, you probably need $20 to buy a drink at the movies! I was hoping that would not be the case. So I'm thinking I have to pull out $20...what do I do with that extra $10?? It just sits there in my wallet, calling out to be spent on something that it shouldn't! Well, much to my delight, this particular ATM disperses 10 dollar bills! The $10 spot is a great bill...so functional, not too much, not too little. I don't know why other ATM's neglect them...what's up with that.

Speaking of ten dollars...oh come on...please let me share once more the details of my plunder! How can I not share about getting PAID for 3 6oz tubes of Crest Total Advanced toothpaste that normally retails for $3.49 a tube? Don't hate me for that, please. You can't really expect me to resist spilling about how I got $12 worth of Shick Quatro's for Free (actually, I made a cent off of the purchase, but who is counting, really?). I won't bore you with the details (after all, you may already be there)...but this picture represents $59.95 worth of drug store merchandise. I walked out of the store with all of it and I paid $9.01 out of pocket (I had $9.90 worth of rebates from last month loaded on a gift card, so I used that to pay for some of it). I still stand to get $4.00 worth of rebates loaded back onto my Walgreens gift card too - so technically it's more like $5.01. I brought Mike with me to the store today and he was very quiet at the cash register...I think he felt wrong somehow. But hey - it's legit.

When we aren't stealing things from the drugstore, we are enjoying time with my Mom and stepdad, Randy who flew out Saturday for a week long visit. Next week, we are hosting my Daddy-o. We love having visitors!!

Update on the house...things are going a little too smoothly, praise God! Home inspection is Wednesday and I think we're on track for closing on the 29th (2 weeks and a day!). We are very excited!

All for now...much love to you all - thanks for hanging in there with us!

love & ten spot,
k

In keeping with my goal of not letting too much time go buy between posts...here I am again with a hot-off-the-presses update for ya. I promise, there is nothing here about coupons!

After a few back and forths with the sellers, they finally "accepted" our offer! Our initial offer unfortunately wreaked of "we are from California where people make a 30k price adjustment every 2 weeks". Yeah...this ain't that kind of market. The sellers were not too happy with it and countered with a "you ain't gonna get far in this town with that kind of attitude" offer. Well, I won't bore you with the details - but, looks like we came to a good compromise.

As with any home sale, there are many more hurdles to get over before you can start picking colors...so, we'll keep you posted.

love & loan docs,
k

Yep...it's a done deal. Charlotte Ave just shed 7500 pounds of Amaro belongings. Those mover guys zipped in and whisked all the boxes and various household items away....in the rain no less. What was left was a house that doesn't even look familiar to me anymore. Weird, I must say. Reality is setting in.

So tonight we had dinner - our LAST DINNER - at Claim Jumper w/ Nancy and Leslie. It was great visiting with them - of course, there's the goodbye part....those are getting a little old. After dinner, we headed back to Charlotte Ave to do a little "clean up" before tomorrow's activities (cleaners, final electrician and plumbing work). Abby jumped right in and was a huge help, as usual. The movers were kind enough to leave all kinds of random things behind! We found a slipper for one of Abby's dolls, a plastic kangaroo, a pair of socks (which incidentally were right in the middle of the room - hello? what's up with that? throw them in a box and put them on the moving truck - what are we paying you for anyway?), lots of dust bunnies and about $3.29 worth of coins.

One item that really threw me for a loop was a big, huge, massive box of used toiletries. Let me stop right there - I have a confession to make...I am a toiletry junkie. There. I said it. I was faced head on with my addition as I sat and looked at this 4 cubic foot box of various toiletries - all used. See, the movers can't take anything in the toiletry realm that's been opened. Just my luck.....all my cool lotions, body washes, body sprays, mouth washes, astringents, bubble baths and the like....I had to say goodbye to it. Of course, I'm getting good at goodbyes now!

So - that's it for now....empty house. Lots and lots of errands on tap tomorrow including a trip to the doctor for Abby, whose cough is just not going away. It will be a good opportunity to also say goodbye to Dr. Chua-Lim...Abby's pediatrician of 5 years now.

Today I'm especially thankful for: Ann and Tyson K. - they took Abby today so she could play and have fun while Mom sat and watched movers all day. Also, Shelley and Natalie O. for taking Abby on Tuesday. They will probably never know how much that meant to me to have Abby cared for while all this boring stuff was going on at home. I'm also thankful for my long, long time friends Nancy and Leslie....who I've known longer than anyone else in the Bay Area! Saying goodbye tonight was harder than it looked (I've run out of tears at this point). Lastly, I'm thankful for Harv - who, even though is the most un-sentimental person I know (don't call me mean for saying that - he would tell you the same!), managed a hug and a "it's been nice" for me as we took off this evening from the house. It has been nice, Harv! You've been one of our best friends here in town and I would eat a fish eye to prove it to ya.

Prayer requests: please pray for health (esp. for Abby) and safety as we take off tomorrow for Patterson.

love and dust bunnies,
k

This picture represents alot more than 1000 words…it represents:

• almost 6 months of “for sale”
  
• 182 days of making the bed (with all the “foo foo” pillows and what not)
  
• 1000 answers to the question, “So, what’s going on with the house?”
  
• the beginning of an adventure where details are not always available
  

Stay tuned as Club Amaro packs it up and hits the road for the REAL 2300 miles!!