So we're up and running. House on the market this very day. Click here for the online tour.
I know only 11 people read this blog, but if any of you want to live here, it's for sale! Tell your friends!
And, yeah, I forgot to move the ironing board from behind the armoire in the bedroom. And the green walls look even greener, esp in Wyatt's room and the bathroom. But overall I think the tour looks really nice (thanks Merilee and the Obeo lady who came and took pictures!). At least there's not a vaguely stunned looking 4 year old Middle Eastern child laying in the middle of the room with his legs in the air, as I just saw in a picture from a house in MN I was looking at online.
Seriously. No children in the photos, oh ye who want to sell a house. Or cereal bowls with milk in them. Or turned over chairs in the middle of the kitchen. (Saw all those things.) So I suppose a glimpse of an ironing board isn't gonna kill me.
But I might have to repaint the bathroom and Wyatt's bedroom. Or not.
1. I cleaned by hind end off. Literally. Lost it somewhere in the bags of junk I hauled out of the basement.
2. Stayed home while Forrest ran Ragnar with his awesome team. His group consisted of a bunch of Iron Men, a former BYU Quarterback, my favorite almost-not-a-Western-Region-Sales-Manager-anymore, and a half dozen women who DO NOT THREATEN ME. :-) See for yourself:
They came in 16th out of 659 coed teams. Pretty darn impressive! And then Forrest came home and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned right along w/ me. Who knew so much messiness lurks inside these four walls? Seriously, though, once you start looking at your light switches, they're ALL SMUDGED. All of them.
Entropy!
3. Got the house all tricked out for our photo tour. Once it's up I'll have to post a link to the listing so you can see my house more gloriously cleansed than it has ever been in, lo, its 4 years of existence.
And why don't I have a link to my photo tour, you ask? Because we STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN THE APPRAISALS BACK. We were told we'd get them back by Friday (definitely!), but of course, no dice. So I got an email this morning saying that they'd received them, but needed to "review them" before they could call us and give us the number. So, you know, I'm blogging while I wait. It is now 12:29, so 1:29 in Relo Company Land. How long does it take to review an appraisal? How should I interpret this? For those of you not in the know: the relo company will buy our house if it doesn't sell in the next two months, but they will buy it for the averaged price of two appraisals, and in this market, all the distressed properties are really bringing me down! Also, we can only list our house for a certain percentage above the appraised price. Once we get the number we know what we can list our house for. And once we know the number, we know if I need to have terrible-housing-market-induced panic attacks for the next two months if our house doesn't sell and we need to take the relo offer. So, c'mon appraisal! I have enough to worry about.
Seriously. Call me.**
4. Finished and submitted my final grades for the final creative writing class I'll teach at the BYU SL Center. Man, I'm going to miss that job. It was a privilege. Perfect job for me. Ah, well.
5. Attended the Segullah staff retreat and writers' conference. Had a blast. Talked and talked and talked and cried and laughed my head off and learned and grew and felt really, really grateful that I get to be a part of such a fabulous community. So, yes, we did stay up WAAAAYYY to late on Friday night, which I knew was going to happen, because with so many interesting people to talk to, who wants to go to sleep? I got about 4 hours, but some folks (you know who you are) got NONE. Then we put on our first ever community writing conference on Saturday. Over sixty attendees, awesome sessions, great food, good times. Puts the AML conferences to shame. Our posters alone--pure gorgeousness! Little gourmet cupcakes with lunch. Handouts with information from each session given to each attendee in a lovely folder with a colorful Segullah sticker on the front, complete with notebook and pen. Not to mention the intelligence and passion of the presenters and all the great learning that occurred. That's what happens when you have a few dozen committed, creative, take charge women. (At our staff retreat we asked how many of us were oldest kids, and I swear 70% of the hands went up. Hilarious.) Anyway, I loved it. Only drawback was the A/C being on the fritz (thought I might pass out while I taught my session), but everything else went super-smooth. So thanks, my friends!
5. Came home late Saturday night. Dragged my sorry, tired behind out of bed and went to church. Came home and crashed, sleeping like a rock for 3 1/2 hours before heading to my mom's for dinner (thanks mom!). Then (sigh) could NOT fall asleep. Tossed and turned. That's what happens when one takes a 3 1/2 hour nap, even if one only got 4 hours of sleep the night before.
6. Looked at houses online. Prepped for our house hunting trip. Both stressed and excited, about all of it. Let's see what July brings us!
**Appraisals in. We're going to be okay. Not the best best BEST appraisal we could have received, but good good GOOD enough that we're not faced with the prospect of coming up with $20,000 to cover our behinds. So I'm truly grateful and relieved. Now I just have to get in house-showing mode, which means get the house clean by 10 a.m. then LEAVE for the day!
Mainly because it's been a whirwindy couple of weeks: Forrest received a job offer, we thought and prayed and talked and cried and worried and finally found a measure of peace and assurance, and then decided to accept it. This means that Fuller is going to be moving us back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes sometime in mid-August, and that we've all been spending the last few days frantically readying our house to put on the market and dealing with all the conflicting emotions that such a life change brings about.
So, in a nutshell: yes, we feel strongly this is the right thing to do, but it's still going to be challenging for lots of reasons, and we're going to miss so many things about Utah that it makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it, so I try not to. And yes, there's a lot to look forward to in MN--we did really love it there--and this move will allow Forrest some new opportunities for growth, and we have faith that it will allow the rest of us new opportunities for growth as well. The kids are doing quite well with the news, all things considered.
And me? I alternate between panicked and peaceful, at least a dozen times a day. Stay tuned.
First: The picture above and the picture below are a couple of shots I took in our back yard on May 24th. Yes--MAY 24th! I wanted to post them for posterity, just in case we forget that it can snow like gangbusters in Utah a few days before Memorial Day.
Today it's officially beautiful outside, blue sky and seventies. Isn't weather weird?
And speaking of Memorial Day, I figured I'd give a general update of the members of the fam, illustrated by photos taken during a Memorial Day baseball game at the park by Grandma and Grandpa's house. (And a few other pictures thrown in for good measure, too. I know you all like my pictures. Yes?)
So here we go. Kids first. How about Jonas first? He never gets to go first!
Jonas:
First big piece of Jonas news: He got glasses! They just arrived today, and he's been excited. Who'd have thought that a child of mine--me, the girl who hid in the equipment closet in 6th grade rather than get her eyes tested in order to avoid the dreaded "studious look"--would be so thrilled about nearsightedness! He looks handsome, though, don't you think? A few weeks back, he mentioned that he couldn't read some captions on television, and I thought, "Uh oh!" And, yep, his vision was 20/100. But now he can see the leaves on the trees! So exciting. And maybe he'll get even awesomer (yes, I'm saying that's a word) at baseball.
(Jonas going for the catch at our family baseball game on Memorial Day).
And speaking of baseball, his team has had a rough season. Only one win, and that was when we were in St. George. But Jonas has been able to play some fun positions--shortstop and second base--and, as his father is wont to say, he "has learned a lot from the experience." His soccer team, alas, has only won one game, too . . . so, yes, this has been the season of learning a lot. Jonas almost always has a good attitude about it, though. And he's a kickin' goalie.
Elise
(Now that's the face of a girl who's dead serious about getting a hit.)
Elise has had a fun couple of weeks. She got to go to SPACE CAMP, a really cool activity for 6th graders. She applied to be the ambassador and was so excited to get that job. (I'm not really sure what an ambassador does--it had something to do with negotiating with aliens--but it was one of the "important" jobs, I've been told, so she was pretty psyched.) I hear she did a great job and avoided most alien-related catastrophes.
The other cool event in Elise's life is her new calling as first counselor in the Beehive presidency. Elise has really loved Young Womens, and I know she'll do a great job in her new calling. Oh, and she got tickets to the Justin Bieber concert that's coming to SLC (screeeeeeeeeeaaaaammm!) Her first real concert. I know I say this a lot, but it IS hard to believe how fast she's growing, both inside and out.
Wyatt
The Wy-man had a big milestone event last week, too. First trip to the dentist!
(Isn't it nice to have a handy cell-phone camera for shots such as this?)
He was pretty happy about the whole thing until the nice lady started cleaning his teeth and using the sucky thing to get all the spit, and I felt bad as the poor guy looked up at me with panic in his eyes and mumbled (cause who can talk with a sucky thing in your mouth), "Mom! What IS this?" The dentist gave him a clean bill of dental health, and he was pretty eager to hop out of that chair and go pick a prize from the prize basket for his trouble.
He also plays a pretty mean game of baseball, too:
Ethan
(He was batting left-handed against the girls, for fairness' sake. So hard to be so manly.)
Ethan had a really big day today. Last day of 8th grade! (Okay, well, tomorrow is officially the last day, but apparently "no one" is going.) I'm happy to say that Ethan's finishing up his 8th grade year with a 4.0--which is all the more impressive considering he's done homework like, I don't know, four times? Either South Jordan Middle School is way too easy, or Ethan is a super speed demon student. Eh, it's probably a combination of the two. But he's had a great year and I'm proud of him. He's also getting his Life Scout on Sunday (the last step before his Eagle). Good kid? Yes, good kid.
He also just wrapped up his flag football season and had a great time. I love how laid back and fun flag football is--none of the crazy competitive stuff that gives me a stomach ache. Ethan got to play quarterback a few times, and he had a number of killer interceptions. Fun all around.
Forrest
(Forrest & Wyatt, ready to run to second base.)
Over the last few weeks, Forrest has been blessedly home. The fact that he had a few weeks without traveling was a lifesaver for me while I was in the throes of my ridiculous pneumonia, and his help around the house was invaluable. He's back on the road again this week, though, and has been super busy w/ work, even when he HAS been home. It's a hard job, keeping all of us clothed and fed and adorned with glasses and braces and whatnot. He works his tushie off, and I'm grateful. (Figuratively. If he literally worked his tushie off, that would be cause for great distress, obviously.)
In the midst of work-work-working and helping me take care of the house and kids while my immune system limped along, he also did a 20 mile trail race up in the mountains at Camp Williams last weekend. No pictures of this one since he did it all on his own (there's not really a good place to see him on the trail, and the dang thing started at 6 a.m.) For the first time in a long time, he was wicked sore the day after. Usually he's like Megatron (or as I would assume Megatron would be) and runs miles and miles with nary a physical complaint. But he felt this one. He's all set to to Ragnar (a 170-mile team relay race from Logan to Park City) in a couple of weeks, and his team, which includes a former BYU quarterback (who I forget his name) is going to be awesome. Forrest is one of the weaker runners on the team--and he won't mind me saying that, readily admits it himself--so I'm sure it will be fun to run with so many great athletes.
Moi
I'm finally, FINALLY, feeling better, but I'm still not 100%. Still have the occasional coughing fit, especially when I laugh, and still can't sing. I've been surprised how much I've missed singing. I do most of my singing in the car, of course, but come to find out that I sing in the car A LOT, and when I can't, well, it bums me out. I suppose I have been able to better approach the gravelly sultriness of Adele, whose song "Hometown Glory" never fails to make my heart jump with happiness every time it comes up on my CD mix. (Heck, here's a video, just so you can listen to it and agree with me. And since there aren't any pictures of me playing baseball, nor will there ever be.)
Along with mom-stuff, I've been busy teaching my Tues/Thurs class. Only four students, but they're all great. Really, it's such a privilege to teach creative writing, especially in a smaller classroom setting like this. You do get to know each other in a really meaningful way--something that I doubt can happen in a biology or statistics class. And teaching creative writing has also made it starkly clear how hard life is for so many people. For all of us, really. People start telling their stories, and time and time again I'm reminded of the power and sadness and triumph and goodness of individual lives.
I've also been having fun with my Webelos boys. They're a good group and I truly do like our activities (surprise surprise?), and while doing Webelos doesn't exactly remind me of the power and sadness and triumph and goodness of individual lives, it IS a lot better than I thought it would be. Mostly cause the kids are so goofy and cute. What I don't like is all the paperwork and headache-inducing tracking in order to make sure the boys get their rank advancements. Five boys got their Arrows of Light in May, though, and while I'll miss them, it is a relief to have all that work done and to have the den down to a more manageable size.
I've also been doing a lot of reading. I read Brady Udall's The Lonely Polygamist so I could interview him for the upcoming issue of Irreantum. It's quite a novel--not for everybody, though, content-wise, so don't say I didn't tell you. I interviewed him via email and I think it went well. It will be published in my co-editor, Jack Harrell's, upcoming issue, which is cool. I also finished an advance copy of my friend Ally Condie's new YA novel, Matched, which is going to be HUGE, and loved that as well. (I'm interviewing Ally for my Fall/Winter issue of Irreantum, and reading Matched during the St. George vacation gave me much solace as I coughed my guts out.) I also read Jack Harrell's (my aforementioned co-editor) new collection of short stories, soon to be published by Signature, and it knocked my socks clean off. They asked me to give a back of the cover blurb . . . and why is it that writing a back of the cover blurb can be harder than writing a full on review? But I finally got one finished, and look forward to seeing Jack's book blow the collective socks off of the dozens and dozens of people who read Mormon literary fiction. (Really, I hope it gets as wide a readership as is humanly possible for a literary short story collection for a Mormon audience, because it's excellent.) Add to that a few books for fun--both audiobooks and regularbooks--and I've enjoyed some really great reads lately.
And, finally, the Irreantum fiction and essay contests' submission windows have just closed, and we've had our biggest response yet. Over 90 fiction pieces, over 40 essays. Although I know that means a ton of reading ahead of me, there's a strange little literary demon inside me that gets truly excited when all the submissions come pouring in. I guess it makes me feel like I'm doing all this work for something; that there are people out there who are writing the kind of stuff Irreantum publishes, and these people really really really want to get published, and Irreantum is one of the only places where it can happen. So it makes me glad.
Oh! And the Segullah Writers Conference is coming up too! I've been helping out w/ publicity on the conference and it's been stressing me out some. I'm not sure we're publicizing it like we should be, but I suppose there's only so much we can do. I hope people come. Come! If you live here and you want to come, COME! It's going to be awesome.
And Oh again! An essay of mine was published in Segullah's most recent anthology, Dance With Them. It's a companion anthology to The Mother in Me and focuses on parenting school age and teenage children. I haven't seen it yet, but the book is on its way and I'm looking forward to reading all the other essays in the collection.
And that's about it from here. Quite enough from me, I'm sure. Now I gotta go clean up the corn dogs I've left moldering on the counter after our highly nutritious dinner. Corn dogs and bananas. Mmmm . . . makes your mouth water, doesn't it?
