Time for a Southwest Update

I have discovered the most amazing thing! I have had issues with doing any close handwork for the past year. Cross stitch became nearly impossible to do with over 40 eyeballs. Too cheap to pay for a nice pair of reader lenses, and not knowing if they would work, I found a pair in the Target cheap bin one day. I CAN SEE!! May spring for a sportier pair of better quality sometime soon. This is the LAST Christmas stocking I need to complete for my kiddos ... and am actually getting it done now that I can see.

Becky posted such nice family Easter photos. My "day before Easter" photos are of kids with water in the backyard. The pool is long gone ... we are down to plastic. They had a whopping good time ... it was rather warm outside. Dad & Mom sat around and practiced with Brock's blow dart gun ... could get quite time consuming when your nature is to get the middle of the target and you won't stop until you do!
This past week all of our kids had state mandated AIMS testing. You can no longer graduate high school in this state unless you can pass this test. Because Brock is schooled at home using a public online school, we traveled to a hotel conference room every day for testing. It got Mom a week of vacation from work ... got to bring the kiddo. Before and after AIMS, we worked on science all week ... made good progress if I say so myself! This evening we were working on an acid/base experiment. Difficult to get started doing these things, but quite a hoot when you get going. Really wish Auntie Liz lived a little closer. : (

Our house has been up for Sale By Owner for about 4 weeks.
Long. Enough.
Tuesday evening we signed a contract with a realtor who has sold several houses for "almost" family members. She is one go-getter! She has been here about 4 times since then, added things to the bottom of this sign, dropped off info, etc. Sunday she is holding an Open House, Tuesday they come in with video equipment and do a virtual tour for the internet. There are a lot of houses on the market in our neighborhood. Apparently things are not moving by owner ... I see some more signs by realtor going up. If it can be done, we have great confidence that she will do an awesome job.

Along with moving a house out of our hands & into someone elses ... there are all the little things we are working on to get our move moving along. I have been working with a recruiter for a travel nursing job that will be in Anchorage. The benefits of that kind of position outweigh by far being hired on as regular staff at a hospital. I have a 2-day ACLS class that I am scheduled to take the beginning of May. Other than that, am now waiting for an interview call in the next several weeks. Should this house go into escrow, Jari will leave again to go find us something to live in up there ... and open that p.o. box! This past week I also got new tires/wheels on my rig. We should be good for the trip up there now. Topper is ordered for the truck to keep Duke enclosed and bad weather free for the trip. May also keep him somewhere safe while we stop for nights on the road.

Last night was an absolute hoot!! Frans & Jenny will post much better photos I am sure, but for a taste ... here are a few. Frans has always wanted to ride the city bus down to our house ... so Jenny & I came up with a plan. They hop on the bus with the girls up around their house. Then we invite all kids of hoodlums to join along the bus route. The bus was a bit early and we ended up in only 2 groups at 2 bus stops, but it was a hoot. Quite a first bus ride for the birthday boy. We did have a few moments where we were really wondering what to do. A gentleman rider asked if he could join the party. He was invited by a few folks. Being a bit naive in the way of "public parties" we assumed he was kidding. He wasn't. He was all set to join us. After much discussion and whispering among folks who were too nervous to tell him otherwise, the Brave Birthday Boy kindly suggested he not join us. Whew!! I believe that we had about 22 adults here, 8 teenage boys ... and heaven only knows how many little kids. (Jenny can probably figure that one out!) Cracks me up. Was listening to a realtor the other day saying that she has a house that has been on the market for over a year. Beautiful home in a gated community. Just kind of small. It would work for 1 child, but you couldn't really have more than that in the house. The house was about the same size as ours!!! I was nice ... I didn't say a word ... we still manage to have a hoot of a good time over here with our tiny house!

That is about enough from me for the day. Should probably get dressed. This house has to be ready to show at a 30 minute notice. Yeah. Right!!!