Officially a Soccer Mom (again

My daughter wanted to play soccer this year so I signed her up and hoped for the best.  She's a little dramatic...ok, that's an understatement; she's A LOT dramatic.  Last year we tried dance class but with it being her first year in preschool and it was later in the evening, she didn't last long. Which made me sad, but not as much as her hating to go.


Her and her poor team had ONE practice before their first game.  It was pretty entertaining and I'm not sure they learned too much but they had a great time.  We ended up being on the same team as one of my greatest friends son.  Nevaeh was super excited about that.  She saw some kids from her preschool class and would go up to them and give them a BIG hug.  She's so sweet! She loved going to the store and buying stuff for her sport.  She's always along when we buy her brother stuff for his sports so she thought she was pretty cool.

Her first game was pretty interesting also.  The coach couldn't be there and "left it up to the parents" to help guide these poor kids who have never played an actually soccer game.  We kinda had the other coach help us out.  So not only did these kids not know what was going on, there was only 4 that wanted to play and it was 80 degrees outside.  They were troopers though and drank lots of water.  Nevaeh didn't complain once and we were so proud of her.

We still have yet to have another practice.  I'm not sure if that's a normal thing for this age, but we are just going with the flow and making sure she has fun.  The last game we had this past weekend was also picture day.  So we had to arrive 45 minutes early.  What a cluster mess!  We were without a coach again and we were missing 2 players.  At one point I got so tired of standing around looking like a lost idiot that I was about to give up and get my money back.  But we finally figured out where the line was and waited to get their individual pictures taken and just got their team picture with the 4 of them and no coach.  It'll make for a good story later on I guess.


When we were finally done, we went to play the game (15 minutes late).  We had quite the crowd there for Ms. Nevaeh.  My brother and my nephew helped coach them thank goodness cause I didn't want to do it.  They did awesome with the kids, even had them stretch before the game.  My brother would give the kids a pep talk whenever they were out for a break and they were both encouraging. It was a lot of fun to watch.  My nephew has played soccer since he was Nevaeh's age and my brother has helped coach him all the way through.

The soccer games have sure been a good break from all this house stuff going on.  And seeing Nevaeh have so much fun is priceless.  I'm so glad she loves it.  She counts down the days until her next game between each one.

House Selling Prep

I have an amazing family...I mean AMAZING.  They are always there to help when I need it.  My mom told me that we wouldn't recognize our house once we had it staged for selling.  She's right, we feel like we are visiting a house and sleeping somewhere strange.  This has made a lot of sleepless nights for both Jason and I.  It's just weird.

When staging our house we needed to do some painting...desperately, we needed to replace the kitchen and laundry room floor and we needed to replace some of the ceiling fixtures.  Not to mention all the cleaning we needed to do.  It was a lot of work, I'll be honest.

Thank Goodness I have a father who is a painter...he was a lifesaver when it came to putting color in the house.  And thank goodness I have a tall son because he was great for spray painting ceilings. Once the painting was done the house looked SO MUCH better already.  We of course had to live without a stove and washer and dryer for a few days.  But we survived.  The Fridge was still working and so was the microwave so we could eat some things still.

This is Our dining room in shambles.  But I wanted to show you the ugly light fixture that was there.

And the new one! Looks MUCH better!!!!!!

We Cleaned the carpet also.  Boy was that an adventure.  The first machine we rented wouldn't work.  It just wouldn't spit out water no matter what we tried.  After taking it back to the store and getting the second one (the ONLY one they had left), we get it home and get it ready to start cleaning and it WORKS! So we clean about a quarter of the living room and all of a sudden water starts spraying out of the back.  We played with it for a while, even got tools out.  Once we put our heads together and realized it was out of water and maybe that was the issue, we filled her back up and wow, what would you know, it works!!!!!!

Sometimes the little details in places make a big difference.  I don't really care for bare counters and my bathrooms were bare and boring.  So I looked in my craft stuff and found some flowers and I went to Goodwill and scored this nice looking vase.  I love it!

If it wasn't for all my family that helped us get this house ready for selling, we wouldn't have had 3 showings in the first week of being listed.  Now we just cross our fingers that one of them will make and offer.  We will be moving next weekend so stay tuned because moving is always eventful! 

Staging The Outside

It's August people....AUGUST!!!! Mid August to be exact.  What does this mean? Back to school in just a few short weeks.  This summer has FLOWN by and we didn't do anything I wanted to do. Well, we got married...that's the one thing I wanted that we did do.  Instead of doing wonderful things with the kids we decided to move...at the same time as our parents.  They want their dream house on a lake, and they got it.  We will be purchasing their house which has about twice the room as the house we are currently in.

My mom is a house selling genius and knows what the buyers are going to want to see and what they don't want to see.  So what does this have to do with my current house? It needed A LOT of work.

Our House when we first bought it in 2009

The Front was WAY over landscaped and overgrown and because of our frost this Spring, a lot of the bushes that were once ok looking, were now very ugly.  One weekend we decided to just go to work on it. We bought red mulch...and more red mulch.  We bought so much mulch the store was probably getting sick of seeing us.  We pulled out enough weeds to fill our whole yard and make it at least green with weeds.  And we dug up a million and seven lily bulbs.

This wasn't ALL of the lilies

It was a lot of hard work but it looks amazing now and more clean.  Nevaeh was such a trooper through it.  It was hot out and she basically had to entertain herself between the small jobs we could give her.  Along the way I found a friend for her that kept her busy for a couple hours actually.

So cross your fingers the outside will draw some attention.  Now, I must go pick those nasty weeds that are trying to invade my pretty red mulch!

My inspiration to begin this fun journey

What inspires you? Maybe it's other people...maybe it's watching them interact and react to their peers and life events.  Or maybe it's a social media group. Maybe their idea's strike something in you to do or create something magical.  Everyone is different, and everyone thinks differently.  With me, it's a couple things.  My family being number one.  My son and his strong ambition, likeable personality and head strong attitude.  My daughter, who is so strong willed it's often trying on us.  My husband who is such a unique individual he teaches me something new about not only myself but what it's like to really love someone.  My parents, who have done nothing but been patient with me and understanding of my crazy way of doing things. 

The other thing that inspires me is the obvious.  Social media has helped me realize what my passion in life it.  What drives me to be creative and helps me set my goals.  I like to create and sometimes my brain just doesn't know where to begin. 

More lately than ever, I have found myself taking a step back and watching my life and how my family interacts, accepts and takes on life's challenges. From how my son helps keep other kids spirits up so much he received the Sportsmanship Award last year, being the only male in his whole class of over 200 kids.  To how my husband forgives me and loves me unconditionally when I don't even feel like I deserve it.  My daughter who freakishly is always in my head and knows my feelings and thoughts way too often and reacts to every emotion I have.


Then there's me...some praise me for being able to "handle" my husband they say.  "How do you deal with it?" they often ask.  I guess I don't look at it as "dealing" with it.  I love him which means I need to look at all aspects of him and know how he functions, know what makes him tick and what stops his ticking.  He does have a very strong will and has what others may see as pointless or different ways of reacting to life's events and obstacles.  He has a temper that didn't take me long to learn how to handle.  My husband is a gaming/techy lover.  It's his out, his way of taking himself from the outside world and allows him to think about things more clearly.  Some see his hobbies as pointless or expensive or even a waist of time.  I, however, see these as a part of his life that will never go away.  And I have also found that joining him in his hobby and taking interest in it has helped our relationship on many levels.  Over the years I have found gaming enjoyable and stress relieving.  Do you read?  It's like reading (which I also do) but you are a part of the story.  It takes you out of reality for a bit and refreshes your head so you can think more clearly when you're done.  Some men say he's lucky to have a wife that doesn't nag at him for getting so engrossed in a game or project it takes his attention for nearly the whole day.  I don't see it like this.  As long as the kids and I get attention, he's at the table for dinner and in bed at night, I want him to do what makes him happy.  He is  my #1 fan and inspiration...plus I have my own hobbies, so when I leave his alone, he leaves mine alone.

We are currently getting ready to move and start our lives over in a new home with more room for our fun little family to spread out but still enjoy each other.  My husband and I are very excited for this move and excited to be able to have more room to enjoy our hobbies. 

My family, to me, is unique and special.  I'm so glad you are going to take this new journey with me and learn about everyone and our love for life and creating.  I hope you enjoy!