"Do as I say, not as I do"

Oh my! Well, after reading my last post and then counting the weeks that we have been in school, I realized just how long it has been without a post here.  Okay...I guess I can claim many excuses, but I would like to think of them more as just staying busy with family rather then excuses. 

We have been really busy with soccer, soccer and more soccer.  It seems like I am always saying that .  But, hey, that's what we are all about right now. I just started playing indoor at a new place that is much closer to home.  My outdoor season starts this Friday.  I am the one coordinating everything for my team.  I can not believe how hard it is working with adults.  They are worse then kids. It is like a supernatural act to get them to even return an email.  Uhhggg. 

Kyle's season is officially underway, although it seems like it is never ending and therefore has never really even started.  That kid is always on the soccer field, it seems.  We started official games with an out of town tournament in California at Huntington Beach.  Yes, I enjoy soccer, but soccer in Huntington Beach...ah, now that is double the fun! It was a rough tournament, but by the last game they seemed to find their groove, with a 5-0 win!  Kyle's team also participates in local league play.  This year, to everyone's surprise, the team was placed in state level play.  It is an honor to play at that level, as it is by invitation only.  However, for the parents it is turning out to be driving, driving and more driving.   In the end it is a lot of fun and excitement.

Tyler is also playing soccer again this season.  We thought that he would be returning to hockey soon, but that has not been the case.  He is discovering that he really likes soccer.  He played on an indoor soccer team this summer (you have to do indoor in AZ, it is just too hot otherwise) and loved it.  I predict that once he finishes the outdoor season that he is playing right now he will return to indoor. Tyler has also discovered this past summer that he likes tennis.  So, who knows what he will be doing next.

So, I know what you are thinking now...so what about the hubby and his soccer...well...no, there is no soccer for him.  Our church has a triathlon team that trains and competes together.  He is thinking about join them sometime in the near future.

Shifting gears a little....We are in our 6th week of school and things are moving right along. We are learning some cool stuff.  I will do  my best to share our cool stuff and experiences here.  One of the assignments that I have for the boys is completing a blog post on their blog, at least once per week.  Yes, even the kids fall behind with their posts.  So, now that it is an assignment for them, I guess I should set the example and do the same myself.  It is starting to sound like that aweful saying, "do as I say, not as I do".  I don't like that saying, so I had better get to posting!

So, with good intentions, see you next week (if not before).

New Home

Well the BIG Day is finally feeling like it is in sight.   The "IT" that I am talking about is our move in date for our new home.  WooHoo.  We are all so excited for this BIG day! We are on a countdown now and the number right now is 18.  Yeah Yeah!!

New York in Arizona

Last summer (I think it was) my hubby and I totally remodeled one of our spare bedrooms and made it into a really nice functional office for both of us. We tore out the carpet and put in laminate wood flooring. We painted the walls. We added new lighting and purchased all new office furniture from Ikea. It has been one of the best things that we have done with the house since moving in almost 5 years ago.

If you have ever been to Ikea you know that most all of their furniture comes in a handful of colors (or finishes). The finish that we chose was black. With 10'+ high walls we needed something that would work with our black furniture and large off white walls. So where else to look for just the right thing then...you got it...Ikea.

This is what we found... a New York Times Square picture. It is mostly a black and white canvas print with a "pop" of yellow (the taxis). It is awesome. It fills the space and looks great!



BTW...if you have never been to an Ikea and have the opportunity to go...you must do it. They are awesome!

Winter...??

After waking up this morning, I looked out the window and to much of my surprise it is actually looking a little like winter here. No, it didn't snow but it was overcast, rainy, some wind and some of our trees are actually changing colors (...from green to yellow leaves...like... overnight) . I am not used to this. We, typically, do not get to see any trees change colors out here...much less the ones in my yard. I have not watched any weather news forecasts lately, so I don't know if anything is "officially" different than from years past but it sure feels like it to me.

due for an undate

After a month, or so, I thought that I had better give an update. So, as things look right now, we are not putting our house back up for sale, at least not right now. After really evaluating the cost and praying about it we are back on the fence again and really feel like we need to give it a little more time.

Basically we are trying to determine if we should stay where we are and build on or move into a place that is "turn key" ready with exactly what we are looking for. The biggest "catch" to moving is that we will lose the land (which is becoming a rare thing where we are now) and most likely have to move into a homeowners association (yuck!, we don't like them!).

Well, that is the long-and-short of it. So, there you have it!

Let the Stress Begin

Ok, with our adventure of looking at possibilities for a new home we are now to the point of putting our house back on the market. We have spent the past few weeks looking at what is out there and we have decided that it is time to see if we can sell our house to move on to another. So, for now, the "fun" is over and now begins the "stress".

We had our house on the market about 6 months ago. It was for sale for about 1 year. With the market being overpriced and saturated nothing happened. In the past 6 months we have been working on remodeling some major "dated" parts of our house. It all looks really good, so far, however we still have a few minor things to finish up. Our Realtor thinks that if we can get it on the market by Thanksgiving then our chances of selling sooner are greater. So hence the stress. (In case you are not aware, Thanksgiving is next week! Yea, that's right, 1 week!!) We have been doing most of the work ourselves so that we can save money. But now that we are pushing the clock, I have been busy on the phone trying to get on peoples calendars to give us a hand with finishing up. I am even hiring a friend of ours who owns her own interior decorating service to come over and give me some advice on rearranging and re-decorating. I am actually looking forward to that meeting. :)

Thinking of moving

Yes, we are exploring that option again. Making another move. It is exciting and stressful all at the same time. We really feel like we are so post to stay in AZ so here we go again. We had our house for sale about a year ago with the intentions of moving back to the wonderful state of TX, however that never happened. With all the different job offers that my hubby has been getting here in AZ it is pretty obvious that we are meant to stay here. That really is fine with us. We do like AZ and all that it has to offer here.

We have been looking at other homes the past few weeks, some resale and some new. It would be nice to own a new home and be the only owners. The past houses that we have had have been ones that we are constantly doing and redoing from others half-ways jobs. How frustrating for us. I guess being two engineers we are just way too picky. Oh well.

We went house "hunting" again yesterday. This time we looked at some new builds. And of course we found one that we liked. Bad part is that the builder will not accept any contingency offers for our house to sale first. So now we are on the move to try and finish up with the last bit of our remodel so that we can get our house back on the market and see if we can get it sold. This is where the stressful part comes in . Our market here in AZ for sellers is absolutely horrible right now.

This house that we found is really awesome. It is 3 stories (yes 3!!), a 2 story with a basement. We are specifically looking for a basement home so we can build another theater like our last house had. We are basically reducing the amount of outdoor land for indoor "play" space. We would be moving from 1 acre to a 1/4 acre. We figured if we are going to stay in AZ then we need to maximize the amount of indoor space being that it is way to hot to be outside most of the year.

Anyways...here we go again.

Our New Office!

Ok, we are finally making progress towards completing our kitchen and office remodel. I just put a lot of the finishing touches on the kitchen this evening (some decorations and stuff). I still have a few things to add to it. Tomorrow I will be on a search for a few more things to finish it off. The first place I will hit is one of the best stores for home decor, Kirkland's Home. It is a wonderful store and their prices are amazing!

The office is also just about finished. We finally have our new office furniture. Oh, it is so nice to have a desk again! Just about everything for the office came from Ikea, another great store! If you are lucky enough to have one around you or visit somewhere that has one then I recommend that you check it out. Just walking around their showroom is an experience and is actually fun. It can be a bit overwhelming too! You really have to know what you are looking for when you go. :)

I don't have pictures of the kitchen right now, but here is a quick snap of my desk in the office. We still have a lot of clutter and misc. stuff laying around but it is all slowly getting put away.

Upgrades and Remodels in House

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we decided to make the investment and take our outdated house to the next level. There are many things that we have planned in updating the house, but for now we are concentrating on two areas. The kitchen and a home office.

For the kitchen we are replacing old worn out appliances with new Stainless Steal ones, taking out old counter tops and replacing with granite, and repainting.

For our new home office, we are converting one of our bedrooms to resemble an actual "real office" rather than a "quest bedroom". We are taking out old carpet and putting in new hard wood flooring, we are repainting with office "like" colors on the walls (earthy tones), and purchasing all new real office furniture for that finished look.

I can't wait! I am so excited to finally be doing the things that we said we were going to do 3 1/2 years ago, when we moved in. Finally....

I don't have any real Before pictures but I am sure that I can find some shots with both rooms in the background that I can post. I will definitely be taking After shots to show all the hard work and results.

Oh yea...like you said Lisa, IKEA Baby! We are purchasing all our new office furniture from IKEA! It is awesome!