55 and still goin' strong (not me!)

Happy Birthday Dad!!! Love you. :D

P.S. Can I mention as an amendment, that a 16-year old kid just got run over and beat to death about 4 blocks from the first house we were looking at in Thornton? I guess we made a good decision there. [see previous post]

Here's the story.

A HOUSE is a house for me.

House Hunting: Woes and WOAHS!

So.... we're buying a HOUSE!!!! AHHHH!!!!!!!

Here's a link to a bunch of photos of it; once you're in the link, go to "featured tour" down near the pictures and then hit the photo gallery tab at the top of the next page:

[The link no longer works will post pics soon!!!]

!!!! So here's the scoop on what's happened and what's next:

First we found a house in Thornton, just a town away from here, that we really liked! It was newly remodeled, nice yard, finished basement... but I couldn't help but noticing that there was a lot of graffiti, etc. in the neighborhood. So, we drove it at night and actually stopped by a local school to check out an event there. Ross actually got to chatting with a cop, and asked him about crime in the area... and in the most PC way possible, this cop told us pretty much that he would never live in the neighborhood. So we were like, OK! and moved on.

Day 1 on market

So we looked again. Found our house, its very first day on the market. Fell in love. Snuck into the yard and peeked in all the windows before even the showing (vacant). Couldn't stop staring at the shiny wood floors, the fireplace, and spacious kitchen with all new appliances. Felt comfy in the neighborhood- just a few block away from where we're renting now.

Day 2 on market

Second day on the market, official showing with amazing realtor, Mark. I make weird noises of awe and wanting throughout the showing. We know immediately that we want to make an offer. The neighborhood is solid. The updates are outstanding. The yard is huge. This beauty won't last long.

Day 3 on market

Third day on the market, we meet with Mark at his office at 7:30AM. I'm hungover. We sign paperwork for 2 hours and submit our official offer. By 12:45PM we have a counteroffer from the seller. By 1:00 we have our own final counteroffer submitted. Then I sit by the phone and wait. And wait. And wait. Waiting... Aarika, thankfully, keeps me occupied for 2 1/2 of those, but suddenly it's 5:30 and I've heard nothing. Finally, 8:30PM, I get a call from Mark. His voice is heavy and sad. I already know. There's been two other offers. Highest bid, one shot, gets it, due by 12:00 tomorrow. I cry and fret and am sad. I wonder what we should offer. We want the house but also to make a smart financial decision. So much more complicated now.

Day 4 (TODAY) on market

I wake up at 6:30AM, unable to sleep. I fret some more about the offer. This much? That much? Closing costs? ERggggggggg Ross and I talk it over. I call Mark for advice. I call mom for advice. Ross and I talk again. We make a decision. At 9:45AM I'm in Kinko's faxing out our last and final offer; to go to the highest bidder of three- one chance. It takes 15 minutes and $15 to send a 15-page fax! Dang. But by 11:45 we have our answer. This time Mark's voice is quiet, a little tired, but confident. Our bid wins. I find out from our lender that it was a close race; the seller actually called him to check on our credit and qualifications- apparently an unusual move. I go shopping to celebrate and bought a Little Black Dress. (Why??? I don't know.)

Days to come...

Inspections, appraisals, meetings, closing... nothing's official yet and we're not out of the forest yet, but we've won the first battle. :D If all does go well, we're supposed to close by March 15. I'll keep you posted!!!

Gallery of Writing - Fort Lupton

Gallery of Writing - Fort Lupton

Just wanted to share a link to a bunch of writing from students and people around the Community of Fort Lupton, where I teach. It's kinda cool, check it out! I threw a poem I wrote on the gallery, too. It's basically an online spot where we can be published through NCTE- the National Council for Teachers of English. the gallery is just getting off the ground. :D

One Resolution Destined to Fail: A Pledge to Blog Again

A Photo Review of 2009...

as I jumpstart my resolution to make time for blogging and exercise during the school year. How long this will last... one can never tell.

January 1, 2009 (says my camera date... it might be lying): Penny and Ross on our bed back at Elm Street, a year ago. Am I really the only one who thinks Penny is getting fat?

January 25, 2009: Grandpa's birthday! That was a good party. A bunch of Townsend's and some alcohol... that's always a good time. Gotta love these posed family pictures... right Jay?

March 14th, 2009: St. Patty's Day in Naperville, IL, a 2nd-year venture to Ben's roosting grounds. Roosting? I don't know. Anyway, this video says most of what I don't have to.

April 6, 2009: Spring Break... and The Week I fell in love with Colorado. All of you who miss us can blame Erick, pictured in plaid below- our Coloradoan Informant.

April 10, 2009: Me, about to eat Ben at MoJo's in downtown Grand Rapids.

May 10th, 2009: Jay's graduation!!! Love this.

May 31st, 2009: ERHS Graduation. I watched my some of my best ever students walk. I'll never forget English 12B at Eaton Rapids High- an unforgettable experience- they left a mark! Also the close of my first full year of utter insanity. *Cough* I mean teaching.

June 7th, 2009: Sabira's wedding. And yes, that's us, the only white faces among the over 1,000 that attended, in a family picture. That's what I love about our Indian friends! We're family when we're there. :)

July 25th, 2009: Hiked to 11,000 feet and took some of the best pictures I've ever taken.

August 21, 2009: New job. New partner, new classroom, new age group... I was ready. Well, I thought I was at least, it had been awhile since I had tackled teaching 7th graders... (while = a 1 year gap. How much one does forget!)

September ?, 2009: Ross is mid-academy. And mid-being searched. Apparently.

September 27th, 2009: Sheri & Gary visit their kids in Colorado!!!!

October 5, 2009: Boredom procures: a Naked Fruit Photo Op.

October 25th, 2009: Carved Pumpkins.

October 28th, 2009: Biggest October Blizzard in Colorado History.

October 29th, 2009: Gotta hit the hills on the snow day (Actually we got 3!). First time ever snowboarding... epic FAIL.

November 27, 2009: Best Thanksgiving Ever. Six of our very best friends in Colorado, hanging out on the mountains. Could not ask for more.

December*, 2009: Jeana didn't take a single photo in this month somehow. Or rather if she did, they're all on her camera which is somewhere between Michigan and Colorado, in the traditional "All the Shit You Forgot!!!" care-package. Thanks Mom!!! You're the best.

*Will be back to post December photos of Ross' graduation. But probably not Xmas because I really don't think I took any pictures for that.

I'm going to write very soon. So that you can see lots of fun stuff we've done lately. :D Stay tuned.

Ahhh... the weekend

Well, you should all know that Penny has seemed to make a full recovery. Now that's she's been home and on a chicken-and-rice diet only for two weeks, we are starting to wean her back over to normal dog food.

Of course, I came home from work today to find she had raided the garbage. I almost killed her. Not really, but really. I was so mad I did start talking to her though. And I think I said something like this: "REALLY?!?! We just spend almost $1000 and a week of constant worry on you, most likely due to a poor choice of eatery, and you go after the GARBAGE on your still tender digestive tract???? Do you LIKE being sick??? You must be retarded."

Then, I calmed down and remembered she's still a dog, who lately, seems to think she's being starved to death even though she's back to 4c of a food a day. Hm!

Other than that, just looking forward to doing some planning with my awesome partner this weekend... and a little nervous about going over to Rachael's house to watch the MSU-UofM game this weekend [at 10:00 tomorrow AM!!!]. C'mon MSU... you can do it!!! hopefully. Even if you can't I'll love you anyway.

PS Here's a fun fact: I'm holed up in the den right now on a Friday night because Ross' criminal background investigator is interviewing him at the kitchen table, and has been for over the last hour and a half. Hope that's going well!!! :)

Penny Update

So yeah, it's kinda been awhile!!! Almost a month! Bad blogger.

Penny Feeling Better

Well, I wanted to update folks on what we have been through with poor Penny in the last week. So, Monday morning we woke up to find that Penny had vomited in about 4 locations throughout our house. Yes... my favorite way to start out the week... Ross and I team-cleaning up dog vomit in a fruitless attempt to try to still leave on time for work.

I hoped/figured that would be a one-time deal- but it was not. Penny stopped eating and drinking, and was vomiting throughout the day for two full days. On the third morning, I headed to work- fortunately just a professional development day- and the whole way there felt that I was making a bad decision leaving Penny alone another day. It didn't take too much convincing on the part of two dog-loving co-workers that I should really go home and take Penny into the vet. I then called around and found that the two vet techs I talked with agreed: Penny should come in now.

I hurried home to find a very droopy and dejected Penny, and two more puddles of stomach fluid. I almost had to carry her up the basement stairs to get her to come up! At the vet I found out that Penny was devastatingly dehydrated; they gave her sub-cutaneous fluid injections and took X-rays to check for blockages in her intestines. Nothing was found- so she got a few injections to help with her symptoms, and I took her home with some very bland food, on the assumption that she had probably just eaten something in the yard that upset her.

Well, I wish that were the end of the story, but when I got Penny home from the vet, I put her right out in the yard. That's when I got my real heart attack: Penny went to go #2- you know what I mean- and nothing but blood came out. In tears, I called the vet back, and they said to bring her right back. They put her on IV fluids & antibiotics and kept her in doggy-ICU to monitor her, and Penny wound up being in the vet for three days and two nights. And of course, everyone at our new animal hospital fell in love with Penny :).

Side story: Here's what made my week in the middle of all of this stress. Wednesday I was pretty miserable, and had spent about half of the day in tears worrying over my puppy, on top of having to leave her at the vet overnight for the first time ever. That evening around 5, three of my amazing co-workers showed up at my doorstep with a case of one of my favorite beers. Two of them live over an hour from me, and had come the complete opposite direction after work just to come give me a pick-me-up :). They stayed and kept me company for over an hour while we shared a few cold ones. On top of that, I can't tell you how many people at work this week have checked in with me to see how my puppy is doing. Have I mentioned that I LOVE the people I work with???

So, back the storyline. On Friday, after Penny finally started to eat and drink again on her own again, they released her with a symptomatic diagnosis: Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis. Basically an inflamed colon/digestive track combined with internal bleeding; cause unknown. We have some ideas about what she may have eaten to cause it- trash in the yard (unfortunately we get a lot blowing into our yard somehow), grill rocks, something out of the trash, maybe a beer bottle top... we'll probably never know!

Either way, Penny is now lying in a sunny patch on the floor about 4 ft from me, snoozing- this on top of the 14 hours that she didn't leave her bed last night- and has so far kept down the rice & peanut butter she had a few spoonfuls of this morning. She's got some recovery ahead of her still, but it's great to have her back!

One last cool thing

I wanted to show everyone the amazing moth that I found on the door handle of my school on Wednesday this past week. I almost had a heart attack because I didn't notice it until I had my key in the lock. It shouldn't have been THAT well camouflaged on a door- but somehow it still seemed to blend in. It's one of the biggest I've ever seen!