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Thursday, July 10, 2008

where has it all gone?

Where has the time gone? It is now 16 days into July, and I haven't posted since MAY??? What has kept me away? BEWARE, this post is REALLY long!

June was busy...

One weekend, Joe and I took Aaron to the indy car races at Texas Motor Speedway. That was pretty cool. Jeff and Michelle (and their kids) Owen (and a chick) my dad, Cher, Scott and Luke came too. It was pretty neat. We were right in the front. It was so loud and amazing... One of those wow nights for me. Seriously, everyone needs to go to a race at least once in their lifetime. Yes, we are Texas WT... but who cares!

I finished the website: http://www.delphitrade.com/ ALSO, i did delphianalytics.com but that one looks VERY similar to delphitrade. ;)
they aren't super awesome yet (i havent added logins and the super secret stuff yet) EVERYTHING from "hey, build me a website" (like the graphics and all the programming and setting up the hosting) was done by yours truly ;) I am just going to say, it doesnt look like much, but my dad (the person who commissioned this) is not the type to sit down and give lots of instruction. He said "build me a website" so i went to work, although I have no clue what he does, or what his business does, or the purpose of the webiste, or anything... PS - i also haven't made a website since college 8 yrs ago. I had to learn/relearn SO many things! To complicate things, i had a client who said (essentially) build me a house - and didnt give me very much input as to where, what size, what style, how many rooms... (you get the point)... anyways, at least now, we are at a point where it is close to something?

Anyways, here's a big exciting piece of news: Joe was ready for a change... so, he took a job at Dr. Pepper (finance dept). We think it is pretty cool cause now he works for a company we are ADDICTED to! ;) The only problem is that it is super far away - in the plano/frisco area... SOOOOO... we decided to put our house on the market.

Putting your house on the market is kindof stressful... This market out here is not so great. So, I had a stager out here (provided by my AWESOME realtors) on June 16th. That gave me a week before the wedding to clean out and make my house look great. So, that week of the 15th - the 22nd, I didnt sleep. I painted my bedroom and bathroom. I cleaned out and staged (w/my mom's help) all my closets. I reorganized. I CLEANED. I got myself a storage unit and moved all the junk and extra furniture into it. Ok, here's something funny - i had a futon. however, due to time constraints, the only help available to move it to the storage unit was 7yr old aaron. So we got it in my yukon and i also had to pile all my kids in there too as i unloaded it there. Seriously, that is how my whole week looked. I was trying to balance finishing the website, staging my house, and finishing my sister's wedding video (oh ya, being a mom w/kids in gymnastics, and baseball and basketball...). SERIOUSLY, delphi and steph really need to appreciate my efforts. ;)

We signed off and officially put our house on the market Sunday the 22nd.

After a week of no sleep, I couldn't think of a better way to relax then by renting a tiny PRIUS, squishing me the 3 kids, and driving to MESA! My mom was with me on the way there. She was helpful. UNFORTUNATELY, due to some miscommunication between me and the fuel gauge, we ran out of gas about 60 miles before el paso - in the middle of the day in the middle of NOWHERE! What a fun experience! ;) We called AAA, but they would take forever... my mom sent me to talk to the first cop who stopped - he said, "ya, your best bet is to wait for AAA" then drove off. I obviously have absolutely NO CHARMING ABILITIES!!! so, i sent my mom to talk to the second cop who stopped to ask us what the prob was. She was obviously more charming cause he told my mom to wait there for AAA but he would take me and the 3 kids up to the next town for some gas. Did i mention that it was HOT? i was SO glad to get out of the sun! anyways, he moved a bunch of confiscated rifles to his trunk and we piled in and got gas, and got going again. I guess a road trip is just not real until there is a fun incident like that!

yes, this is a pic of my mom and my 3 kids standing on the side of the road in 100 degree heat in the middle of nowhere...

Ok, so we made it to AZ. I stayed at Dawn's house and the kids were in heaven playing w/their cousins. It was a crazy wedding week, so that didnt really leave me much time (and i really didnt have much energy) to see many people. The wedding was fabulous. it of course made me jealous. nobody roasted steph, the reception was SOOO beautiful, they had a wonderful photographer, i would say things went pretty well. we stayed in a hotel while joe was in town (he conveniently got to fly 1st class both ways - he had to fly out after his last day w/deloitte, and fly back before his first day w/DP - meanwhile i got the privlage of driving a tiny yet fuel efficient car 17 hrs with kids both ways...) anyways, congrats to steph and nate. i had fun in mesa. it was a good trip.

So, I came home from my trip July 1st, (owen drove back w/me) and my realtor called telling me maybe we priced it too high, but we should wait till after the weekend of the 4th to re-evaluate... Joe and I weren't too worried. We weren't in a hurry to sell - so who cares if it takes a long time...

We wanted to stay out of the house and keep it clean... so we headed down to houston for the 4th of July weekend. We stayed at Jeff's house. The kids swam all day, the brothers rode jeff's motorcycles and played basketball... I vegged out. ;) I love those kinds of vacations. Jeff has enough motorcycles for all the brothers... all of the wifes would just ride on the back... still fun. ANYWAYS, We went on a motorcycle ride on the evening of the 4th. Joe and I rode one of jeff's crotch rockets to reminisce about the old days when he had his honda CBR (ya, charity is named after his motorcycle)... Anyways, the next morning, I woke up SOOO sick - i was puking and dizy and wanted to die - i think i even cried and thought i would. by the evening i was recovering. then sunday i felt better, so we went on a ride to some national park before we got in the car and drove back up to dallas. monday, i woke up wanting to die again. Apparantly, I can't ride motorcycles anymore. I got crazy veritgo!!! went to the dr and got a shot of something and felt a little better. Seriously, i must be getting old - i cant seem to do anything fun anymore!!! :(

ANYWAYS, that next day, we had 2 offers on our house!!! We of course accepted the best one, and will be hopefully closing here on aug 7th!!! (30 days from the offer)

ok, so if you are still with me, you will look and see that i have not said we found a place to move yet. We haven't. I have gone out house shopping and been online ever since trying to find a house - ya we didnt expect to sell it as quick as we did. Now, we have decided to just move into an apt until we find the perfect place to live - cause we dont even know WHERE!!! we are thinking CARROLLTON, FRISCO, or THE COLONY. anyone want to weigh in on that?

So, now, I am frantically looking for a house, trying to prepare for a move... etc...

Things my kids have been up to:

1. Soccer camp for charity - she is SOOO cute!

2. Baseball camp (at TCU) - thanks Joe... maybe that will be tomorrow's post.

3. Gymnastics camp - just the little half day things when Aaron & Charity are wanting somewhere to go

4. Aaron is still in baseball and basketball... w/various game times and practices...

ANYWAYS....i feel really busy and feel like i am barely keeping my head above water... maybe i'll check in later

13 comments:

Leslie said...

whatever! totally move right when we get here. just kidding, that sounds great. i'm so glad joe found a great job, will he have to travel as much? it seems nice over near plano. i went to ikea a couple of times last month, it's in frisco, drove by the colony. seems nice!

if you need help, you know who to call. i owe you big time, girl! seriously, call me. i'll take your kids.

Beth said...

wow-you have been one crazy woman! that is great your house sold so quickly-you must be meant to move!

and i really don't know how you handled a 17 hour drive 2 times! i can barley make the 6 hours to california and then i am exhausted!

good luck with everything and glad we had an update form you! at first when you said you were sick i thought you might be making an announcement:)

i left a comment on my blog to you answering your questions.

Kiera said...

Wow, I can't believe your moving! Good luck with everything!! I have your book. I will drop it off sometime. We will miss having you in our ward!

Bob said...

We were thinking about the Colony when we came here but the only way out of there is 121 and to go South was the Dallas North Tollway. All of those roads stink and are clogged big time during peak and many times none peak times. Joe could probably commute from your home now quicker than from their! My sister lives in Frisco and could help you out a lot. She is one of those people that is always looking to move and knows all the areas and how the schools are and just about anything else. If you want to talk with her call Valerie or myself and we'll get you her number. We're sad to see you go and Parker was really sad when we told him Charity was going to move.

Amy said...

Whew!!! Totally long post, but a good read & I am so glad to hear from you again!

Can I have your kids over to play so you can get some down time? Just call me...

About the move:

Look at the Lovejoy school district area...it is one of only about 20 or so districts in Texas that actually still have an exemplary rating (mush better than KISD). Cities of Lucas, Fairview...Lovejoy ISD is your best option if you want the best schools. Also, this area has a lot of building restricitons...only larger lots (I think nothing less than 1/2 acre) keeps property desirable.

Also, I was at Centennial Park in Allen last week using their awesome splash park...it is fabulous...huge park! Anyways, a lot of great neighborhoods surrounding it with great trail systems. So, take a look at those 2 areas.

Frisco is very nice, but very congested...mucho traffic & that can be annoying.

Murphy is a good option too...like Keller 10 years ago...a lot of home for the money, Plano schools, City of Plano benefits (ex: Plano Parks & Rec Centers run you $65/year as opposed to Keller's $354/year) Like I said, a lot of value in Murphy & easy access to I-75 & the Bush Tollway. My sister lives in Daniel's Crossing & that is very nice.

Sorry so long! I have learned a lot about this area talking to my sister & visting her. I love real estate.

P.S. I beleive it was only last year that Frisco led the country in number of foreclosures nationwide...look for value if you move there...check property records online & you'll see what these people originally paid...look for "short sales"...they have them in adundance.

Amy said...

Also, www.realtor.com is a great website.

Emmalee said...

I can't believe that you are moving!!!!! I just quit my job and I was so looking forward to getting to know you better. I guess we are just going to have to catch up at the allen outlet malls!!! I used to work out in that area, and with everyone else's comments, the traffic is a nightmare out there, but it probably would be the same time frame as driving from here to out there, but the mileage is what is going to kill ya these days with gas. I'm excited that you will have your husband back during the week, and know you can come to girls night out!!!!

tara said...

talk to Leisha... i know they lived in the colony and didn't like their area, but it was a lower market than you're looking in I'm sure. last time I remember joe was working for FedEx/Kinkos? maybe i'm smokin something and am way out there....
we're in corpus for the month other wise it would have been fun to see you on July 4th!... oh and we made salsa with the tomatoes... it was good!

Amy Pennington said...

Congrats on the house selling. How fun to house shop:) Traffic does suck but you will manage.

Vertigo sucks worse and you are getting older. I got it so bad 3 yrs ago in the middle of summer. NO fun at all. I feel ya.

Thanks for the update I was wondering where you had disappeared to.

monkie mama said...

Holy Cow Emily! I can't believe you guys are moving! Congrats on the new job, but you guys will be sorely missed in the ward (I'd be willing to bet that Sis. Ritchie will cry to have her choir cohort leave!).

I have a friend in Frisco and she loves it there! It's beautiful.

Sarra said...

i don't know much about the dallas area. i am clearly not qualified to give my 2 cents on where you should live. you seem like you're super busy all the time, and you sound like you're having fun, but maybe you ought to think about a family time out. just have some down time - it's important!

Karla said...

Congrats on selling your house so quickly and good luck finding a new one! Your kids are gorgeous, as are you... and STOP riding bullet bikes - they're dangerous (I tried to tell you that years and years ago...)

XOXO
-Karla

Karla said...

P.S. The website looks so great - it's so much harder to do than anyone knows! I'm glad you're putting your awesome programming skills to good use again - don't stop now that you're all refreshed!