soooooooo good!

A few months ago a friend introduced to me to a little old production by the name of Wicked and since then I've been hooked!

So hooked that I called my mom and told her I was getting us tickets as soon as it came remotely close to NE. Well, Des Moines came close enough!

So worth the drive! It was Fan-FREAKING-tastic!

We had lunch at a side walk cafe in downtown... seriously yummy veggie quesadillas! Definitely recommend those!


After purchasing a much desired soundtrack, we found our seats and settled in for fun filled entertaining 3 hours!
And a special kudos to mom and I for NOT getting lost in downtown DSM during rush hour! That's some serious progress for us!

It was a fun day!

Catching up

This week has been full and busy...showings, parent teacher conferences for the twins, showings, meetings, showings, appointments...you get the picture!


First of all, we are thrilled with the amount of interest in our house! We've been told we are on three families' short lists and we're having another open house this weekend. The cleaning is becoming less obsessive, I think. Either that or I've become accustomed to scrubbing the toilet, showers and tile floors every other day...hmmmm... hard to say.

Secondly, my dear sweet little brother and girlfriend broke up. That's a bummer for two reasons...one, I really liked her! And two, so much for that cute 'hearty' picture I made of them in the last post. owell

And lastly- mom and I are off to see Wicked today! YAY! I am sooooooo excited! Plus when you add mom and I together with a road trip, it always equals interesting! On one road trip we ended up sleeping at crack hotel in some small po-dunk town in Wyoming. Our bathroom door had bullet holes in it and the tv was chained to the wall...seriously! Oh and another time, I was pulled over by the state patrol for failing to use my blinker at an intersection (a country intersection and I didn't know which way I was turning until I was out in the middle- what was I to do!) and it gets worse! I was practically given a sobriety test because my mom and I couldn't quit laughing.

Good times!

Our trip to KANSAS

ooober CLEAN

Or is it 'uber' clean? Either way, my house is sparkling clean these days. The house officially went on the market Wednesday afternoon. We've already had two private showings and another one scheduled for tomorrow- plus an open house on Sunday. So yes, my house is minty fresh and sparkling.

I've actually become obsessed with keeping the house clean. Kitchen sink scrubbed out with Comet every night, counters sprayed down with a bleach cleaner, floors swept and swiffered, carpets vacuumed, windows washed, beds made and don't even get me started on the bathrooms.

I realized my obsession had hit a freaky high yesterday when we getting ready to leave for a showing, I was walking down the hall and ran into Pucca as she was leaving the bathroom.

"Did you poo?" I asked her, scrutinizing her with my eyes.

"What!?" she asks starring at me with a bewildered look.

"Did you go 1 or 2?" I asked- she hesitated still looking at me like I was crazy as she tried to slip between me and door frame.

"Just forget it." I said as I grabbed the toilet bowl cleaner, magic wand and lysol.


I even felt a twinge of stabbing pain when John asked me if I could clean up our shower a bit today for the showing and open house this weekend. But I just scrubbing bubbled it a few days ago, I thought to myself. How could that soap scum have made it passed me? A covert night attack? Oh- its on now!

"ATTACK! ATTACK!" I sound the alarm.

"I'll grab the scrubbing bubbles!" Kwynn offers.

"Don't bother- its time for the big guns! Kynna, grab the Kaboom! Kwynn, grab the scrubber and latex gloves! Pucca, cover me- I'm going in!"

It was a battle well fought, but Kaboom gets them everytime!

Do you think maybe the fumes have gotten to me? :)

staging

Our house was just photographed for the mls internet listing. And let me just say that the hours and hours I've invested in watching Designed to Sell, Design on a Dime, Design Remix, Curb Appeal, Get it Sold, House Hunters etc... came in real handy!

Staging is an interesting task. Hide the tissue boxes, remove the dog dishes and pillow, tuck the trash can in the garage...holy smokes!

Hopefully it all paid off and the house will show well! Its officially on the market and entered into the mls...it hit the 'hot' sheet today. The pictures will be uploaded and entered today, and by tonight our house will be out there for the world to see. Kind of crazy!

First open house is this weekend...crazy fast! But that's good!

Cross your fingers, toes, ears and eyes that it sells quick!

Huskers!

The family headed out to watch the BIG RED rock Arkansas State. NO RAIN!!!!! Wooo-hoo! We were sure we were going to get soaked...for some reason we always go to the rainy games, but not this time!

First we hit Husker Nation to get all dolled up in the RED, WHITE and BLACK.

We also watched the band make their way into the stadium.

The twins took a friend and we also invited Jess and Justin...good times!

EXCITING

I think the word for the weekend is EXCITED and all other variations of the word!

First off, our realtor walked through our house yesterday and said our house was PERFECT! 100% ready for showings! Woooo hooooooooo!

She even commented on how clean and lovely everything was....she asked if I had taken a staging class! Silly lady! John told her I just watch too much HGTV. Time well spent, I must add! (although she never mentioned the blinds- eh, probably for the better!)

I'm so excited! She's excited! We are all EXCITED!

EVEN MORE EXCITING...John and I found our dream home. I hope and pray it all works out. I love it sooooo much- I told John I was going to pitch a tent and camp out in the yard until it was ours. That way I could scare off any other potential buyers! And yes, I'm just that crazy! :)


TOTAL AND COMPLETE EXCITEMENT...the fam is headed to the husker game tomorrow.... Go BIG RED!

blinds

I just spent the better part of 3 hours (John had spent an additional 2 hours) trying to adjust the length of these beautiful 2 inch wood slat blinds John hung in the kitchen window.

I HATE blinds! Oh how I HATE these stinkin blinds. I hate strings, and adjusters and stupid little buttons that your supposed to just push into place. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!



Dear Engineer People who made these instructions,

You should be sent to the outer limits of hell and sentenced to spend eternity splayed on a metal stake over a burning inferno.

much love,
aek


Dear potential homebuyer,

I apologize for the stupid blinds in the kitchen window. If you think you could do better, I'd love to see it!

much love,
aek

LONG weekend

Anniversary, labor day, 1st NE game, tailgating, family, packing, boxes....WOWZERS! All this made for a very LONG weekend!

Tension levels have been running high in Kelly household...lots going on in our lives right now. John and I deal...it just usually involves louder than usual communication, eye rolling (me) and sarcasm (me again). But we've been through tougher times than this and so we've learned to just keep on truckin and moving on. There is a good side to our bickering- we get it out in the open- we say it and then its done. We move on. Nothing gets pent up, building over time. It works for us.


The family tailgate was fun and the game was awesome!!!! As a family gift for John's parents last Christmas, we gifted them a 'tailgating goody bag'- if you will. A tote complete with every thing you need to tailgate e.g. red and white beads, NE temp. tattoos, plates, forks, table cloth, koozies, trashbags, frisbee...you get the picture, We also got this NE pop-up canopy tent thing...thinking that it would be nice for shade. Well, I should have known it was going to be a pain- when I bought the thing. It weighed like 50 hundred pounds (as pucca would say) and its awkward to handle.

But Jeff being the stellar man that he is...brought it along on our tailgating adventure. Which was an ADVENTURE. Who knew packing coolers and cars could be so complicated!?

Once we got to the tailgating spot...I was determined to see the silly pop-up up! Our tailgating neighbors had one up and it was up in minutes...so how hard could it be?

No one wanted to put up the pop up, but I wouldn't let it go. I think Jeff finally gave in just to shut me up.

Now if packing the coolers and cars was complicated for us...you can only imagine how raising the pop up went. Personally, I don't think it was too bad...I mean you have to learn sometime. And it took us let than 10 minutes- that's pretty good!

In all it was a good time!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!?

Yippeee! Husker season is about to take off! I am so excited!



This weekend were are having a family get together out at Davey - FUN! Its been awhile since we've had one of these.












AND we're having a family tailgating party at the stadium before the game! SOOOO STINKIN FUN!








AND to even make Saturday more super special....it John's and my 11th wedding anniversary! Woohooooo! Love ya, babe!

Oh where Oh where?

Oh where Oh where did my little phone go
Oh where Oh where can it be?

We are packing up and selling the house.
Its time.

We've wanted to move for a few years now...so we are finally just going to jump right in and do it!

(Incase your wondering where we are moving to- we don't know. Somewhere here in Lincoln, but first things first.)

I've been packing boxes for a week and half now...little boxes (no heavy lifting! I swear!)

I've been using the 'Clean Sweep' sorting system of keep- charity- throw away.

Well, yesterday I was packing up the play room. I was sorting, organizing, cleaning and packing all at the same time. Finally around 1:30- the room was done. pfhew!!!!! I start up the stairs and decide I should call John and tell him how awesome I am...that was alot of work!

Hmmmm? Where's my phone? Its not in my pocket....maybe its in the playroom.

So I grab the house phone and call my cell phone so that I can hear it ring. Nothing.

I shut off the radio so that I can get a better bearing on where my little phone might be...

Then I hear it! I follow the sound like a super sleuth hot on the trail- the ringing is getting louder.... OH CRAP! Its coming from a huge pile of boxes!

"Please let it be on the floor next to them! Please let it be on the floor next to them!" I begin to chant as I slowly approach the leaning tower of boxed toys.

Nope. I packed my phone in one of twelve boxes.

Figures.

The day before I lost my super awesome black mega sharpie....Wanna know where I found it!? It the backyard flower garden! Interesting...

sad.

Last week, I darn near had a heart attack and died! SERIOUSLY!

John got the call at work..."John, iphoto lost all my pictures. " I say rather calmly.

"What?" John replies.

"This stupid mac (which I really do love!) LOST all my photos! It says I don't have any!!!!"

"They are there...the application must have hiccupped."

"HICCUPP!? This was more like a full blown seizure!"


After alot of cussing, yelling (at no one because I was home alone) and a little hyperventilation....I found most of them and start moving files. I wasn't too worried about older photos because each year I back up all the photos of that year to disk...and as extra security John has our apple tv set up to back iphoto monthly. But I seriously thought for a minute that my heart stopped and I couldn't breathe.


I have spent the better half of last week moving photos and reorganizing my events and photo folders. I knew I had a lot of photos...but 18,851! CRAZINESS! Then again - that's 7 years worth and I easily take 100 photos on vacations...not to mention alaska- 752!

Still working on it...but this little incident has taught me a lesson in backing up files! Its important people!