The excitement is building here. Spring is in the air!
“Oh no she didn’t!”
Did you see that girl shake her booty?
Yes, they re not getting any younger!
Its funny…
we’ve come a long way….
My sister and I used to hate Easter and the Easter bunny!
Wanna know why…
Have a great, care-free weekend everybody!
In contrast to the past two weeks in my Shrek series, where I had to ‘Boo Hoo’ a little, we had a GREAT weekend this past week!
We had our house deep cleaned top to bottom. It looks great! We had a pressure washing crew come out and give our house, driveway, sidewalks, and curbs a bath on Sunday. Now, the driveway is white, the bricks look like new and our siding is back to its original color. I was giddy! Then my wife and I put some mulch over all the tree and shrubbery beds.
From the street, our house ‘Pops’ for all the potential new homebuyers that go driving by. We are finally ready to put our house on the market! The time has finally come!
That is what we are going to be doing as you read this. I set up Wednesday as the day we sign the papers. Thursday we take all the home photos for the listing. Then Friday the sign goes in the ground and we are holding on tight to our dream of a grand new house.
What a great feeling!
Adding to this new found euphoria was the warm temperatures. The flowers are beginning to undress and flash some of their colors. The pollen is in the air….and all over my car! Cats and dogs are getting along! Our dream of buying a great new house is coming to life!
Do you know the feeling I am talking about? ….when you are realizing one of your dreams coming to fruition?
Yes? No? Humor me with a click on the video and read on….
This song came on yesterday and reminded me back to our last trip to Jamaica.
I had just flopped down in a lounge chair in the sun facing the clear blue waters off the beach. Our precious girls were being entertained by a nanny at the resort. I had a tall Tanqueray and Tonic by my side. Relaxing, I shut my eyes and slipped in my Ipod earbuds and this song came on…..Hold on tight to your dreams. I made it!
After a tough year of changing jobs, being unemployed, learning new jobs, wondering how we were going to make it….we DID make it….made it back to the tropics. And that lounge chair in the sun, where the rest of the world didn’t exist, was my validation.
A view from my lounge chair in our hidden sanctuary
And so I wanted just to remind you…..
Hold On Tight…to your dreams!
Whether your dream is to build your new house or parent the best kids in the world…..hold on tight!
Or a dream of graduating…with honors or get that perfect job…
or simply to understand or be understood….hold on to your dreams!
If your goal is to run a 7 minute mile or deadlift 150lbs. or simply be in the best shape or your life….hold on!
If your dream is to marry John or get a Law degree….hold on!
If your dream is to write a book or sell a book…
If you want to finish first in your category, class, or age group…hold on tight to that dream!
Prizes for winning my age group
“ And when you feel so tired that you can’t stand up or you keep trying and trying but you’re all out of luck”…..Hold on tight!
Because nothing worthwhile is easy. Nothing valuable comes cheap. Nothing anybody has ever attained came without sacrifice.
“So when you feel down hearted and misunderstood..
Just keep telling yourself over and over and over and over to….Hold on Tight to Your Dreams”
If you want to travel and travel and travel…or take that dream vacation…
or cross off those very important items on your Bucket List….Hold On!
Or be the best leader you can be, whether at work or home or helping others…Hold on…
Hold on tight if your dream is to learn to fly or learn to sail the seas.
Or finding the perfect sunset….
Hold in tight to the dream of finding your perfect soul mate…..
or finding the perfect sunset with your perfect soul mate..
Or that perfect pair of shoes.
..that perfect look..
Or catching the perfect wave…
Or whatever else is most important for you to attain…Hold on Tight!
Hold on to those dreams of finding the perfect house….
or padding that home nest for days without an employer (anymore)
Dreams of putting four strangers together to become a family….
Or finally finding our most precious little girl….
And then one more…
Or having a family when the odds are against you.
Hold on very Tight to your dreams!
Dreams can come true.
So do you remember the story of the Queen and the Ogre that dreamed of a castle facing the sun, overlooking green fields and a calm pool of water?
Certain factions kept treating their dream like a toilet, many wanting more money to keep the (warm) water flowing.
Undaunted, they kept their dream alive and trudged through to the next week. The odds were in their favor now; the law of percentages. How many more instances of bad miserable luck could their be left?
Can I make you another list?
Sunday – Our new neighbors moved in next door. It had rained the whole prior week. Our neighbor, who just happens to be a contractor for Boeing, decided against backing his U-Haul up the drive way to the front door. Instead, this cowboy ran his loaded U-Haul across the bottom tip of my driveway. He decided to cut across my lawn and into his front yard in said moving truck. He made it about 10 yards into HIS yard when his back wheel sank.
He tried backward then forward, forward then backward, each time his wheels just dug a little deeper. He ended up having to get someone with a chain to pull his truck back across his yard and mine.
So now, this house I want to put on the market, has a pair of tire marks etched into my front yard, 8 inches deep.
Tuesday – Our contractor came back over to our house to evaluate his work. I gave him I need a better job to the portion of our ceiling he tried to fix the prior event-filled week. I told him a small handful of other touch ups. He thought he could get my ceiling right. He said he also said he saw 2 new cracks in the wall from more settling of the house (Errr!) I asked him to get me an estimate of how much to fix my ceiling the best way. He told me he would call me.
Wednesday – After not hearing back from my contractor I decided to text him in the afternoon. He never got back to me with an estimate. He instead decided to just do the work. He texted back, “Can I leave the plastic sheets surrounding the project up over night”?
Me… “You started already?” remember last week a layer of white dust covered our entire house although THIS TIME I didn’t get a chance to move all the furniture out of our living room. “(heavy sigh)”. I texted back, “As long as the kids can’t reach it and tear down your work.” I followed jokingly with, “And so I can see the TV at night”.
He replied, “Oh I unhooked the TV and took it down and put it on the other side of the room.”
I gasped.
If your TV is like mine it had about 18 wires of different colors going in to their own individual portals on the back side of the TV. Its tricky and complicated and not something I look forward to doing very often.
What shape is the TV in? Where did he unplug the wires at? Where are they? Are any missing? What did he do?
I came home and found the TV unplugged and sitting on the floor on the side of the room. Now there were big hand prints made by the dirty hands that unplugged the flat screen and set it on the floor…covered in dust.
I thought about setting the TV back up but reconsidered knowing they were not done yet. So I marched the TV upstairs, out of harm’s way; otherwise known as Skylar.
Thursday – It rained so no work done. TV still upstairs. A fine layer of white powder all over the house.
Friday – I called the contractor to see if he would finish today. He said he would. In fact he was finishing up as we spoke.
I rushed home to see the results of the ceiling and was pleasantly surprised. The whole thing looked perfect. Finally, a moving burden off my shoulders. (Sigh)
I went back to the dining room to greet my family. Dylan tugged on my shirt.
“Daddy, do want to know what went wrong today?’
Mom interrupted, “Dylan let daddy unwind and eat dinner first.”
Undaunted Dylan chimed in, “The dishwasher stopped working.”
Yes, the 3 year old dishwasher had no power to it and refused to acknowledge any attempt of mine to resuscitate it. ($400 to remedy it)
Saturday – It was pretty cold for here in March and so my lawnmower didn’t want to work either. Oh, and I am out of margarita mix! Will this ever end?
How was your week?
Actually the week wasn’t all doom & gloom. There were plenty of upside highlights as well. I have rambled on here as I wallowed in my own pity. So I’ll keep these short….
– Friday was Dr. Seuss’s birthday. So our girls went to a Dr Seuss birthday party at the local library. They like a party.
– It is the beginning of a birthday streak here. My Dad’s was last Sunday and Mom’s is this Sunday. Two weeks later is Dylan’s b-day and then Skylar’s is in another 2 week’s For all you family and friends, I have the two girls registered at Target and Toys R Us!
Pleae pardon for a brief commercial interruption… Dylan wanted me to tell you (i.e. everyone) here favorite TV shows are in order: Winks Club, Batman, Superman, and Sophia the First. I think there is something like “Cat Clawed” in there too.
– We looked at two more nice houses. While both are similar (swimming pools and Jacuzzi’s) they both fell short in certain areas. But I could settle into the Hornie Grebe one.
here is one… http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/7321-Horned-Grebe-Ct_Hanahan_SC_29410_M62711-68695
and http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1425-Coopers-Hawk-Dr_Hanahan_SC_29410_M57535-15253
Which do you like best?
– We had our house deep cleaned this past weekend, getting up all the layers of dust through out our casa. We only need the outside power washed yet before we put our money bit lovely home on the market.
– Our super-duper (one blogger says I can no longer use the word ‘awesome’) Realtor pointed out once we put our house on the market all appliances are under a certain warranty. This means our dishwasher can be REPLACED for the amount of a $60 service charge. Yea baby!
Our Realtor is soooo good! She has the reputation of selling a house in 7 days in the area we have been looking. ~ She may have met her match with our house!
– And, Friday my wife got her 2012 bonus check which could basically pay for ALL the disasters the past two weeks, pay for our forth coming vacation, our Federal taxes we still owe, everything on my AMX card, plus add a couple grand for our new home’s deposit.
Yes, I had a margarita dining out this past weekend; a big one!
.
Here is another list from the funny lady with kids, the Ironic Mom! ~ Can you add to the list of signs representing an overly optimistic view?
# 6. You think they are actually cleaning their room.
Once upon a time, there lived this queen and a troll. Their first home together had everything they needed at the time, a big backyard, nice wooden cabinets, a fireplace, running water, and a roof.
But over time that house began to sink into the murk of their surroundings. The walls began to buckle. The lovely wood started to age and then decay. Their running water only ran cold…in the middle of winter. And their neighborhood may not have been the best place to educate the fine young minds of their two Princesses.
Something had to change!
They dreamed of a castle facing the sun, overlooking green fields and a calm pool of water. But every step they took they found their foot landing in something else entirely!
Yes, that seems to be the craziness of our lives lately, made to feel like an ogre as society keeps dumping on me. (sniff, sniff) I think I told you about everyone needing more money from us last week. Undaunted, we are still moving forward.
We moved all the furniture and pictures out of our living room, bedroom and hallways last weekend. So I have no computer to do posts. Plus I have to sleep in our Inlaws room this week with that ol’ forgotten mattress. I’ve had a kink in my neck ever since! You know the one…the one that makes it hurt to turn your head, lift things up, or roll your eyes at your wife. Yea. Moving is just not a fun thing to do!
But my blues are not limited to the moving. Here are the other Top 5 things that have eaten at me the past two weeks:
Phew! That’s been life the past two weeks. But don’t get me wrong…..I don’t want to sound like a (big) whiner with these moving ‘lows’! There have actually been some bright ‘highs’ these past few weeks as well. Take a look:
See future posts on this at the new “Travel Blog” I am trying to create on my site…with YOUR help.
4. Our favorite house we were looking at, one of the one’s with the pool, was just reduced $14,000 last week.
5. I was trying to explain the flow of hot air and cold air to Dylan one particularly cold night. I told her how the hot air rises to the secong floor and the cold air from there comes down to our room below, making the heater have to run harder. Dylan explains, “Its OK Daddy. I love hot air and I love cold air. You see, when you mix them both together it feels great!”
6. Last week I had two region wide shouts , via email, based on some ideas I had and my performance. The emails were circulated all the way to our region VP’s. This week I was asked to join a corproate panel of 20 executives in our Logistics and Distribution departments focused on innovative ideas to save money for the company. The Director inviting me to join the panel tried to explain that it is an old panel set up 5-6 years ago. I reassured him that I would fit in quite nicely as I was kinda old myself!
7. Working for this snack food giant, I set Personal Bests in Christmas Cookies consumed, topping out at a full box last Monday(sigh). 
The second PB is I have been on the cookie wagon ever since. I have not had one single cookie, although there are still plenty around!
8. Its been warm enough on a few days where I can hop on my bike over lunch and ride a few miles down to our favorite development and shop for houses. That has been a lot of fun and kinda vital based on #7 above!
9. My post last week, Party Time, set a record high for ‘Likes’ in one day.
The party crew: Dylan, holding Ariel in her PJ’s, Eric, and King Triton
~ OK, the record was just for my blog, not all of WordPress.
10. And while my blog has not seen a lot of fresh or creative ideas run across these pages the past two weeks (see #’s 1-5 in the section above) I actually did 3 Guest Posts for some of my favorite blogs the past few weeks, as well as having a few reblogs to other sites. Kinda cool I thought!
11. Last week, our nanny wanted to take our two little cherubs to a Valentine’s party at the First Grade class her sister teaches. A big reason for doing this is that she wanted our 4 year old Dylan to READ to the rest of the First Grade class. She says Dylan already reads better than most of the first graders there. (Yeahhh!)
Speaking of Guest Posts, I am trying to create some Travel interest on this blog. We love to travel as a family, not doing it nearly as often as we would like. So I wanted to invite YOU to do a Guest Post on one of your favorite trips you would like to share.
Or, if you already did a post on a great trip, please let me know and I can reblog it here. I know some of you are real good at writing these travel stories. I think its one way for all of us to see parts of the world without leaving the comforts of our own computers. Think about it! Where would you like to share?
CHARLESTON HISTORIC TOURS AND TRANSPORTATION
Rates and bookings are just a poke away
OUR LIFE IN 3D 