Hellos and Good-Byes

This week we say Good- Bye to our city home Hello to our new home in the country
(Can you tell we like red brick?)

This week has been bitter sweet. It was the kids first week of school in our new district. Since we were still having work done to the house we drove the kids into school. On Tuesday I put 115 miles on my car!

The first day was filled with tears and wondering.... what have we done.

On Tuesday a bombshell was dropped. The sell of our home fell through the buyers had financing issues. Only 6 days before closing.....

We lowered the price of our house hoping for a quick sale. We've also listed it with a leasing company to have the option to just lease it out. Our realtor says we have a great rental market so we think that's what will happen. The positive is we get to keep the house.

Back to the kids..... day 2 was much better. Our oldest who's in 9th grade LOVES the new school. She's made friends quickly and likes it better. She's already joined several clubs and has made plans for her first sleepover and football game.

Our son is enjoying it. He started his new baseball team this week and has made fast friends.

Today, we say good bye to our old home and city. First thing in the morning the movers come to move us to the country.

I said bye to our wonderful next door neighbors. We've been pregnant together and both have 3 girls. Our evenings have consisted of riding bikes in the cul de sac and chatting as the sun goes down. They are also moving. I had my share of tears today.

We've really done it. We're moving.

Tonight is our last night in the house. That makes me very sad. It's been a wonderful home with so many memories.

I'll see you in a couple weeks after we've settled and I have my new Internet set up.

So long city living!

Moving Sale

If you live in the DFW area and want to hit a summer garage sale this Friday we're having one. It's a big moving sale! Email me and I'll send you the info.

So I guess you can tell we are moving.... long story but a very exciting one!

Last spring we decided to move to the country. We found some houses we loved but they went under contract and a deal on our house fell through.

Wow, things have changed. One of the houses we loved came back on the market their deal feel through and we got it!!! We're working on something on our home now just after 2 weeks on the market.

Lot's of big changes. My blog is going to change.

I see things a bit more like the pioneer women but more green acres! I'll be living on a small ranch. We're going to raise animals and garden. My husband will still be wearing a suit to the city each day. When he gets home he will put on his boots and hop on his new John Deere tractor. Seriously... he is!

The first posts will be at the beginning of September once we've moved and I have computer access.

In the meantime, the city girl is exiting the concrete jungle...... to a new life in the country.

Summer Fun

My husband and I made it out for a date night... at the Texas Rangers game. We were not frugal we enjoyed it from an air conditioning suite. I think this was the only time I went outside.

We've had many adventures this summer. With a family of 4 I'm all about bargains. We took a bike ride to the park and grilled hot dogs. It's was a ton of fun!

Every evening we ride bikes in the cul-de-sac with our neighbor kids. Sadly we are both moving. We'll miss them!




Sweet little girl loves playing in the water in the back yard. I call it old school fun with a slip and slide and a water hose.

Vacation Bible School has been the highlight of the summer. There is nothing like hearing my children sing praises with friends. I got teary eyed each time I head "How Great Thou Are"

It's always an adventure with us!

We're making up for lost time. Remember last summer I was on bedrest.

House Update

Yes you read that right.... our house is not for sale.

Was it sold, no.

We just decided the timing was bad and everything pointed to no.

Let me tell you about it.

We put our house up for sale, weeks later our neighbor across the street went up, then our next door neighbor. We live on a small cul de sac. It looked like something was seriously wrong.

Our other neighbors even commented "Do you know something we don't"

Our oldest daughter made the high school drill team in our current town.

The 2 houses we had our heart set on went under contract.... not to us. There was nothing available that fit our acreage and house minimum. We would be homeless if we sold.

We got an offer while we were negotiating I realized we would have to live in an apartment with 4 kids for at least 6 months (most likely on the 3rd floor).

The kids would move mid school year to a new house and school.

Nothing about this scenario made me happy.... only stressed very stressed.

Are you getting the picture?

The buyers backed out and bought the house across the street. Whew....

It was a close call that made us realize the timing is off.

So our new plan... start looking again next spring and sell our house after we move.

I feel a strong sense of peace. In the meantime I'm enjoying our home, our neighbors and friends.

My House Highlights

This is the house we've called home for the last 4 years.

We put it up for sale 2 weeks ago.

(sniff, sniff)

We've decided to move out a bit further and purchase a house with more land and a country feel.

(Note on naked tree: Here in the South we have crape myrtle tree's that we trim in the winter and they bloom beautifully in the spring and summer)

Our master is finally done and we decide to move. That's how we seem to roll. Always moving when the house is looking good.

We had the custom plantation shutter installed over the bed. I like it dark when I sleep. This king size bed is heavenly.

This is Madeline's room. Originally this was our playroom/guest bedroom. As you can see she has lots of toys and tutu's. Just realized I made her bed pretty badly for the photo. At least it's not on the listing.

This is my teenage daughters room. I surprised her 2 years ago with a room redo. She loved it! In the new house she says she's getting a more grown up room. No more flowers. Sweet Caroline's Room. Remember we thought she was going to be a boy so I had to make it a bit more girly.

This room has a 2nd door off the master. Perfect for a nursery. The "dude's" room. He loves his display shelf with model cars and lego creations.

This is where my husband and I spent a lot of time talking. We installed these french doors and closed off a room to make a home office. We sit in the leather chairs and drink wine on Wednesdays.

Each Sunday night we eat in the formal dining room. Many memories in this room. I had plans to put bead board below the chair rail.

Our living room is my favorite part of the house. Our custom built in cabinets are fabulous. Too bad I can't take them with me!

This is the eat in part of our kitchen and my desk area. I spent way too much time blog hopping.

We re-did our kitchen a couple years ago. We debated and put in high def laminate counters. Hindsight I would have put in granite. I love the slate back splash!!

These 2 buildings are my husbands pride and joy. His new Tuff Shed (really we put it in before we thought to move 2 months ago). It's all tricked out.

The big building we finished out inside and installed new french doors. It even has air and heat. It's his man cave. Here's the inside of the bonus building. We finished it out and put paint, carpet, built in cabinets. My husband originally wanted Texas orange walls. Glad we didn't do that!

I think it would be perfect for a homeschool building.

We've got a great backyard with ton's of grass. Love the 8 ft fence we had put in last year.

I won't lie I will be very sad to see this house go. I have mixed feelings about moving. I know with the school situation long term it's what's best.

I will miss our neighbors, friends and the lovely house we made our home.

Well I can't say good-bye yet we don't have any buyers. If your looking in the area and want to check it out email me at jenrudd@sbcglobal.net

Smells like cake!

Nothing smells better than baking at home. However, my waist doesn't allow cake each week.

I was blog browsing last week and came across this.

For a while I've been wanting a scentsy warmer, but just never got around to getting one.

Well leave it to Wally World to make a knock off. Here's my faux scentsy warmer. It was $15 and the bricks are $2 each. It makes my house smells as if I I made this..... (cake for my dear friends baby shower) and this..... (cake for my oldest daughters birthday)

YUM!!! If you know me in real life I'm a bakery girl.

Why doesn't the cake smell stop my cake cravings????

Spray Painting Knobs Update

This post has been one of my most popular. I get emails each week asking how they held up. Well let me show you.... Not so well.... because I eliminated one little step. Spraying the backside of the handle. It led way to chips and scratches.

Since our house is on the market it was time to refresh.

I pulled out my trust ORB spray paint. It's been a while I missed you.

Much better! Nice and fresh.


Remember it's 1990's glory gold?
I also refreshed the kitchen and bath door pulls. After daily wear and tear a quick refresher coat was necessary.

Big News

I've been MIA a bit. We've got a ton going on. The big news is....

We're moving! That is if we can sell our house.

This might be a surprise to some people but we've been talking about it for a while, really more like daydreaming.

We love our current home but it's not the one we picture growing old in. It does make me sad after we finally got the built-in's installed.

When we bought the house 4 years ago we figured we'd stay about 5 years. Well time crept up really fast.

So where are we going?

Big changes! We're moving to a smaller town and planning to buy some land (acres). This is the home we plan to grow old and have the grand kids visit(a long time from now). I guess you could say our dream home. This time it's not so much about the house it's the property. You can always change the house. You can't change the land it's on. So land is #1.

So my blog will change at bit in the near future.

I plan to take you along on the journey and the process of moving.