House Update

There is a new post below this one, but I wanted to pass on some breaking news.

Yesterday, two people looked at our house. The first family loved the house, loved the price; however, they wanted a downstairs master bedroom.

The second family loved the house and then proceeded to offer $15,000 less than our already slashed-to-the-bone price. No can do.

But the exciting news? Today a woman is coming back to look at the house again, after having looked at it six weeks ago. She has narrowed her selection down to two homes: ours and another one a few miles away. She already has her financing arranged and doesn't have another house to sell before buying another one.

Maybe it will help her decision making process that our house has been marked down even more since the last time she saw it.

These pictures were emailed to us yesterday by our real estate agent so that we could see what she's been doing to try to move the house.

I took one look at the pictures and burst into tears. (I'm a bit weepy in general.) I just loved that house so much and feel like we're putting a "friend" up for sale. Sigh. As hard as it is, I just hope the friend sells soon. I'll keep you posted . . .

By the way, my new blog design should be put up today . . . or tomorrow at the latest. Finally!

Last Night

Last night the four of us grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner and then we watched a DVD together.

Last night. When I write those words, I really mean them in a whole different way. What I really mean is last night. As in final night.

When our DVD got over at about 9 pm, I looked around the room--at Steve, at Nathan, at Sarah, at Snowy and I thought, "This is the last night the four of us will ever sit in this room."

And before I knew it, I was crying. From "funny movie laughter" to "moving trauma tears," it was a dramatic emotional dive.

And it's not just that our whole family is moving to another house. That's traumatic enough. It's the fact that this is the last house we will ever live in as a family of four. From here on out, Nathan will be away more than he's home and then, in the not-so-distant future, he will be gone from us altogether.

I sat in that living room last night and was so emotional about all the memories. And then Sarah, bless her female little heart, started crying too.

With Steve and Nathan being empathetic, and Sarah and I both sniffling and Kleenex-ing, we all sat for about thirty minutes, and shared memories--both good and bad.

The well used Kleenex box.


Sarah remembered that she had sat in that very room when Steve and I told her she had relapsed. We all remembered our tears (even sobs) when the unspeakable news was spoken.

We reminisced about the times Nathan had gotten all dressed up to go to his school's formals. We talked about the phone call I got in February of 2008 saying that there was a 90- 95% chance I had breast cancer. We talked about birthday parties and sleep overs and how I used to come downstairs on a summer morning and look at all the flip flops and tennis shoes piled at the bottom of the stairs; that was the only way I had of knowing how many of Nathan's friends had camped out in his room overnight.

We talked about the parties and dinners we've had over the years and reminisced about Sarah dressing up for two Daddy/Daughter Dances and her Honor Star Crowning ceremony. We mentioned that Sarah was eight and Nathan was fourteen when they moved into this house and talked how much they have changed and grown up since then. We looked back at Nathan's 15th summer when he had mono and slept 12-14 hours a day for a couple months.

Nate and I also recalled a big talk we had in the living room a couple years ago as he grappled with whether he should go to the local community college or to Southeastern. After three hours of conversation I remember him saying, "I feel like I should go to Southeastern." And what a life altering decision that has been for him.

After we had all been talked out and cried out I said, "Okay. The first person to get up and leave the room will close this chapter of life (all of us living full time under the same room) and will usher in the new chapter."

No one moved. No one wanted it to end. No one wanted to acknowledge that five years of life in our house in Smithfield was morphing into something different, something new, something unknown.

We sat in the silence and looked around at the room, looked around at each other, looked behind us, looked ahead of us. We reluctantly came to the realization that we couldn't keep on reading a chapter that had already ended; we could only turn the page and find new memories on the new pages.

Steve slowly stood up. And then Nathan. And they walked out of the living room, leaving Sarah and I behind. With the memories. And the tears. And the joy. And the promise of new chapters and new last nights yet to be written.

Home Is Not A House, But A Feeling (A Video!)

Today.

Today is the day that starts the beginning of the end of our chapter here in Smithfield.

Today, I will cook our last Thanksgiving dinner in this house. (We're having it a few days early because family is in town.) I will unpack from yet another trip to Manteo. Today I will do home school with Sarah. I will start (seriously) packing boxes. Today, I will start to dismantle and unravel the pieces of our life in this house.

I will pack up memories and box up five years of yesterdays. I will spend way too much time wandering in circles, wondering what I should do next, wondering what I should be doing that I'm not and wondering what I should be remembering that I'm forgetting.

Today, I will laugh a lot (having family in town tends to do that) and may even shed a nostalgic (or overwhelmed) tear or two.

I will eat too much Thanksgiving dinner and I will be thankful for Thanksgiving dinner to eat too much of.

Today I will count my blessings and divide my sorrows and try to figure out how to fit five oven dishes in a "four oven dish" oven. I will hug my son and be happy he's home. I will step on my underfoot dog a few thousand times while cooking. (But I still won't ban him from the kitchen.)

Today, I will be glad for home. Because as the video says, "Home is not a house, but a feeling."


Enjoy watching five years of memories.

Rabbit Trailed

It's so funny that a couple of you mentioned that Manteo seemed to be deserted in the pictures I posted. I had never even thought about how those pictures looked. I do want to go ahead and assure you that there actually are real people who live there. The combination of it being the "off season" in addition to the big storms throughout last week made the population a bit more sparse.

Also, in several of the shots, I tried my best to point the camera in a direction where there weren't a lot of people since some folks might not like having their picture taken by a strange, camera-wielding woman.

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend.

For some reason, I just loved the way this laundry looked when framed by the porch. You so seldom see clothes on a line anymore; I thought that I should commemorate the occasion!








I posted this photo on Sarah's site but wanted to put it here, too. All the teens who went to the youth convention on Friday and Saturday got up in the service on Sunday morning to talk a little bit about their experience. Steve and I were so proud of Sarah for being so poised and articulate in her remarks.

We haven't heard her do anything like that in public in a long time and we were both amazed at how far she's come. (And yes, we're allowed to brag a little bit; parents get a "Right to Brag Certificate" on the day their babies are born.)





Here is an inspiring view of my "Packing Of The Smith Food Pantry" on Friday. Just think. Only two more weeks of doing that sort of thing and then we will LIVE in Manteo. We will be Manteo-ers. Can't wait!



This Sunday is going to be extra special because an installation ceremony will be held for Steve as the new pastor. There will be Scripture read, the board will pray with him and he'll be presented with a specially made satin stole with his name, the date he was voted in and the name of the church embroidered on it.

What will make it extra special is that Steve's parents will be there, as well and Nathan and Meagan. Nathan will be playing drums with the worship team so Steve and I are excited about getting to make music with our son again. Meagan will be doing her interpretive signing in the service which is always such a privilege and joy to get to witness.

Okay. Where was I? Oh yes. I was showing pictures of LAST weekend and then I got rabbit trailed into talking about NEXT weekend. (For your information, rabbit trailed is not a word. I just made it up. But I sort of like it.)

Steve with one of our new members; they're wearing hats stolen from the guy's two (darling) daughters.



Sarah snapped a couple pictures of me after church

This is the expression I get on my face when I think about chocolate.



Here's Steve teaching Sarah how to do a bit of breaking and entry. (Nothing like having a law abiding pastor for a dad.) Actually we forgot our key and had permission from the owner to "break in." Unfortunately, the breaking in didn't work exactly like we hoped, so we had to go to Plan B. (If I told you what Plan B was, I'd have to kill you.)


Our charming canine.



The End.

Home

Home.

What a lovely word.

Once we arrived from Manteo about an hour ago, I carried a few things upstairs and then unexpectedly just collapsed into tears. Weariness, lots of change, living out of a suitcase, newness and oldness all melding and mixing--sometimes the things that Life piles on us can get a wee bit heavy.

I've also been dealing with some physical issues this week end, mainly muscle pain and weakness and extreme stiffness. When I barely made it up the stairs tonight with the small load I was carrying, it was sort of the end of the end of my tired and frazzled rope.

My original plan was to get home and toss my things hither and yon, fall into bed, and stay there as long as possible. However, when we walked in the door at 9 pm tonight, there was a message on the machine saying we have a house showing tomorrow morning at nine.

Now don't get me wrong; I am not complaining. House showings are a very good thing! (We're not sure if it's a second showing for the people from last week or new people altogether.) However, a house showing means everything needs to be completely unpacked tonight, everything has to be perfectly straight and I need to have myself somewhat presentable to the world by 9 am.

I wonder if the realtor would mind showing the house with me still in the bed? I could open one eye, wave, and snuggle back under the covers. That way, I could demonstrate to the potential buyers in a very realistic way how "well" the bedroom works for snoozing purposes.

It's a thought!

Not a very good one, but a thought, none-the-less.

Okay, I am now headed to bed. Much more later . . .

Favorite House Of The Bunch!

Steve just got an e-mail from the realtor who showed our home yesterday. The peoples' comments were, "Beautifully laid out, well maintained and our favorite house of the bunch!"

Yahoo!

They have asked for a copy of the neighborhood covenant and some other papers and have "casually mentioned" a closing date of January 1.

HOWEVER. No offers have been made and nothing is definite. It's just encouraging, after almost a year, to finally have some positive news in this regard.


What's not to love?

To the people who have already responded to the y'all/ya'll/you-all debate:

Norma--Congratulations for finally being an official Smithellaneous poster. You win the washer and dryer combo selected especially for you!

I do have to say, though, that your entry concerning this discussion made me just a teensy bit sad because, while it is very proper and dictionary-esque and correct to say, "you-all," it's just not very much fun!

I mean, "You-all?" Really? Please write to the publishers of that dictionary immediately and tell them that Becky said they are so very, incredibly wrong. (smile)

And to Stephanie who says it's "yall" and Angie who says it's "y'all," I'll just have to let the two of you work out your differences on your own! Maybe you can take each other out for coffee and get it figured out and report back. Sound good?

Anyone else want to weigh in?

My opinion is that I refuse to say "you-all" because its really hard to slur "you-all" in good Southern speakin' style. And if you can't slur a word and leave out a letter or two, a word is just not worth saying! (I mean, "sayin.'")
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I just found this "Southern dictionary" on the web. Be sure to read down to the very last line! Hmmm . . . the debate continues.

AIM TO- plan to do
AIRISH- cold
BIGGITY- vain and overbearing
BITTY BIT- a small amount
CARRY ON- to carry on foolishness
CLODHOPPER- heavy work shoes or large shoes
CHUNK- throw, toss
'COON- Raccoon.
COW LICK- hair standing out on one's head.
DIRECTLY- in a little while, or a couple of weeks
DIXIE- Southern States of the U.S.ADO-HICKY- substitute name. Like the terms whata-ma-call-it or thinga-ma-jig
FALLING OUT- disagreement
FEISTY- being frisky
FIXING TO- about to
HEY- hello
HOLD YOUR HORSES- (be patient)
HONEY- affectionate term
LAID UP- ill, hurt, unable to work
MESS-one who carries on, "He's a mess."
MUCH OBLIGED- thank you; hope to return the favor
PIDDLE- waste time, doing nothing
PLAYING POSSUM- playing dead
RECKON- think or supose so.
SHINDIG- dance or celebration
SMOKEHOUSE- Shed with a dirt floor where pork and other meats is cured, and then smoked.
SORRY- inferior quality, worthless, and lazy
SOUTHERN BELLE- Southern lady
SPRING CHICKEN- young thing
SWEET TALKING THING- has a good line
TIGHT- stingy with money
WAIT ON- serve or assist
WART-TAKER-one who removes warts by charms or incantations
WHITE LIGHTNING- moonshine whiskey
WORRY-WART- one who is annoying

YA'LL or Y'ALL (can be spelled both ways)-you all, two or more people

The Train Of Change Is Coming

To paraphrase an old Johnny Cash song, "The train of change is coming, coming round the bend. . . "

I sat alone in Nathan's room yesterday and could almost hear the train picking up steam, getting closer and closer, getting ready to explode into our lives.

Sarah and I were talking last night about how excited we were that Nathan would be home for three weeks over Christmas. I sat there for a moment in Happy Mommy Bliss, picturing our family gathered in the living room, having eggnog and cookies, listening to Amy Grant's Christmas CD and decorating the tree.

Then all of a sudden, my lovely vision went POOF as I realized that I had been "visioning" the whole thing happening here. In this house. In this living room.

I looked at Sarah and said, "Just think. We'll never, ever have another Christmas here."





We gazed at each other with newly stricken faces as we pondered that alarming sentiment.

No more birthday parties, no more summers, no more family games of UNO in the kitchen, no more snowfalls on the backyard, no more Smithfield House memories to be made.






The train of change is coming.

I know that this is good change, positive change, exciting change. But it's still change. It still means that in the space of about two weeks, this haven of our home will be ripped to shreds and there will be no quiet place to sit, no lovely arrangements of furniture, no gracious meals to be served in the dining room that has served us so well over the years.

Because who can even find the forks and the garlic salt and the twist ties when they're moving?

Not me, that's who.

I'm not an overly organized person but as a rule, I do take a lot of delight in being able to find things when I need them and having my life in order. The thought of chaos and confusion and the challenge of discerning which of the 43 boxes stacked in the bedroom contains clean socks is just overwhelming.

The train of change is coming.

Life itself is a train of change. You can get on it and ride it or you can get run over by it.

I'm going to ride.

I may not have clean socks on, but I'm going to ride.

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And yet a few more pictures from last week's trip to Manteo

(For newcomers to Smithellaneous: Manteo is a village on the coast of North Carolina that we will be moving to in about two weeks. In the meantime, we're driving back and forth every weekend so that Steve--the newly elected pastor at a church there--can preach the Sunday services.)

A lovely lass and her cutest canine.







The last of summer's glory





And now a picture NOT from Manteo. A picture that pains me to look at. A picture that reveals the fact that this bargain bag of candy from the grocery store is no longer full. Who ate the candy that is now missing? We'll just let that be our little secret.




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Miscellaneous Tidbits:

To Rachael from Angola, Africa. Thanks for signing the blog! You mentioned you would enjoy hearing from me but I don't have your contact info. You could email it to smithellaneous@yahoo.com if you'd like. Great to hear from someone who lives so far away!


Also, someone sent a request to friend me on Facebook and I accidentally hit "ignore" instead of "accept." If you asked to friend me and you're not seeing my posts in your feed, please try again and I will attempt to hit the right button this time!

Unkinked Mondays

We rolled in from Manteo last night about 9 pm.

I got out of the car doing my best and creakiest imitation of a 112-year old woman trying to walk. These middle-aged bones of mine don't seem to love riding in a car as much as they used to; it always takes about ten minutes just to unkink everything.

Happily, I am now unkinked (de-kinked?), fairly well rested from last night's sleep and am ready to get a new start on a new week.

My plans for the week?

I'm so glad you asked.

My main plan is to continue to ignore the empty boxes and full cupboards that are fixing me with their stern gazes and just hope against hope that my packing responsibilities will vamoose, vanish or otherwise go away. Or else the boxes will pack themselves. Or something.

And speaking of packing, here I am five years ago at the other end of that delightsome process.



What our kitchen looks like now. (A teensy bit of an improvement.)




I seem to be at a point in my life right now where the House Mourning Process is kicking in. Big time.

I walk around and look at stuff--the serene backyard, the kitchen nook, a sunny corner of the living room, Nathan's bedroom--and I think, "Only three more weeks until this is all gone. Forever. Sniff."

I have lived in this house longer than any house in my entire life. (Yes, I was born a rambling man woman.) In addition to that emotionally laden fact, when we moved here five years ago, Sarah and Nathan were just eight and fourteen years old.

Can you believe how young they look?




Now? They are fourteen and twenty.

"Fourteen and Twenty Years ago . . . " Isn't that line from some famous historical speech? Oh wait. That was "Four SCORE and Twenty Years ago." Good thing Sarah has such an astute teacher for her home school!

Anyway, here is a more recent photo of my almost grown-up offspring. And their Dad. And dog.

Are there memories in them thar walls? You bet there are! And as far as I can tell, U-Haul doesn't box up memories. (In the South we call it, "Ya'll Haul.")

And so I continue to ignore the boxes and concentrate on the memories.

Denial? Yup.

Will the boxes pack themselves?

Um. Probably not.

But if memories could pack boxes? We'd be good to go.

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Coming later today. Pictures from the weekend like these . . .





. . . and a way to promote YOUR blog here!


Hurray for unkinked Mondays!

Smith Male Ladder Meanderings and the Non Interfering Mother

It's sunny outside. About 65 degrees. Low humidity. Slight breeze. Crystal blue sky.

Anyone feel like moving to North Carolina? We just happen to have a great house to sell you!

And no, we've had absolutely no nibbles on our "great house," even since dropping the price to below rock bottom a week ago. I don't know. Do you think if we reduce it to $39.99 we might have some takers?

In the "getting ready to sell the house," process, Steve has been busy painting and fixing the wood in some of our window sills. I wrote a couple weeks ago that he's not overly thrilled with being on a ladder but this week he has turned into a veritable Mister Ladder Guy.

He's been scampering up and down and scampering down and up with nary a quiver or quaver in sight. (Although a ladder will never be his favorite place to hang out.)

I thought I should take a few additional pictures to document phase two of The Smith Male Ladder Meanderings. (Let me just say that I'm glad it's him up there and not me!)












I'm thankful that my calling in life includes working in a ladder-less kitchen. Ladder leaping is most certainly not my cup of tea. Or bowl of soup. Or plate of cookies. Or whatever.

When I finished taking the pictures of Steve, I turned my attention (and my camera) to the calm, autumn evening around our home.


So glad God made autumn . . .


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I've gotten quite a few comments on the Barbecue Cup recipe with ideas for some variations. I'll re-post them all here to make it easier for you to find them.


1. Rushed home from work tonight and tried the crescent roll variation. It was great (though a bit awkward to line the muffin tin with the triangular piece of dough).

I also tried a second variation in that I used homemade Italian meat sauce. Now I am imagining all sorts of variations on this theme: eggs and ham; chicken with cream sauce; tuna and vegetables with cream sauce; baked beans and sausage; chili; fruit served with ice cream. YOWZA! ---GS in Canada

2. Regarding using crescent rolls: I read on a blog (I don't think this one but maybe) a recipe called chicken bundles. I wonder if you could use the crescent rolls, and the meat filling to make these. I think you would use the equivalent of two rolls (so you have a square of dough), plop some meat mixture in the middle, and bring the four corners up to the top and tie them together. That would make them somewhat like a piroshki. ---Elaine


3. I have a great idea for your bbq cups. Line the pan with paper liners that you use for cupcakes, then add the biscuit and all the other ingredients. I think that may work, and cut down on it sticking to the pan and the messy clean-up? --Haley

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I also wanted to share a few insightful comments that came in on the difference between a priest, pastor and chaplain.

1. Episcopal ministers can also be called Priests (and Rectors). ---Mrs. Pam

2. Just a quick note to tell you that there are also Catholic Pastors. They are the "head" priest in the parish who is in charge of everything. Although we still refer to him as Fr. So-and-So, you will occasionally hear Pastor So-and-So. ---Jenn

I learn something every day from you all!

_________________

And lastly, the question was asked if Nathan has seen a doctor about his heart issue yet. Although I have asked him twice about making an appointment, I haven't heard anything back from him. So I'm trying to do my best imitation of a non-interfering Mother and let it rest for a while.

Hmmmm. Exactly how long do non-interfering Moms let things rest, anyway? A week? Two?

Don't worry. My "interfering Mother" self will take back over before long! This handsome fella will never be too far away to be out of my reach, out of my care, or out of my heart.

Wending, Winding, Wandering

I packed two boxes last night! Hurray! Now if I can just pack two boxes a day I'll be completely packed by . . . um . . . May of 2014. Sounds like a plan.

Just wanted you to know how much I've enjoyed all the comments that came in yesterday on 1) worry 2) giving The Look 3) what to do about extremely dry skin. Boy, you never know what kinds of things you're going to learn around here; those of you who comment are half of the appeal of this blog!

And may I also just say how much I appreciate it when you take the time to comment. Thank you for making this a two-way conversation instead of a one-way monologue; I get tired of the sound of my own voice sometimes and love to hear what you all have to say about the Stuff of Life. You guys are funny, witty and profound and I so enjoy getting to know you better!

By the way, if you have any more of your favorite holiday recipes to share, then share away! I've started a file for them which you'll see if you scroll down the right column to the blog topic index.

Since this is a sort of "jumping around post" today, my next subject concerns a few websites I've come across that are great (and fun) money savers for you and your family. If you all have any helpful websites that you love, leave them in the comments area.

www.swapstyle.com (An online swap party for clothes, accessories, pocketbooks, shoes, etc.)

www.paperbackswap.com (Swap site for paperback, hardcover and books on tape)

www.bookswap.com (Swap site for textbooks.)

www.swapaDVD.com (You guessed it! A site for swapping DVD's!)

www.titletrader.com (Deals in trading books, CD's, DVD's, video games)


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And to jump to yet another subject, sometimes I like to journey back twelve months in my picture file and see what we were doing a year ago. It seems that October 2008 brought us the exciting event of Steve trimming his facial hair with Sarah's help. Are we The Scintillating Smiths, or what?


























And finally, to bring this Wending, Winding, Wandering Blog Post to a close, I'll answer a few questions that came in yesterday.


Q. Does Sarah like her huge room with the slanty ceilings? --Lyndsay

A. Yes, Sarah is quite entranced by it. She's been happily pondering where to put her stuff and how to arrange everything in all that space. (I think her room is about 400 square feet.) One good thing about it is that she'll have room for books, books, and more books. I can picture bookcases cropping up everywhere! We'll have to dub it, "The Bookcase Room."


Q. 1) Will you do any painting in the house or leave as is? 2) Have you and Sarah got the H1N1 vaccine? With this in the news so much, I got to thinking about you two. ---Jill

A. 1) Yes, we will eventually repaint the dining room/living room area since yellow doesn't go quite as well with our furnishings. However, I've always loved yellow kitchens so I may leave that that way it is.

The second floor has blue carpet and we don't have a bit of blue in ANY of our decorations so replacing that carpet will be our first priority once we actually buy the house. Of course, while we're still just renting we'll leave everything "as is."


2) Funny you should ask about the flu shots because I was just working on that very thing yesterday. Yes, Sarah's oncologist definitely wants Sarah to get both flu shots as soon as possible; we're hoping to get that taken care of this week. And with my COPD, I need to get vaccinated every year, as well.



Q. How old is the house? ---Bearie

A. Somewhere between 10 and 15 years; I'm not real sure. (And Bearie, I hope your finger gets to feeling better soon!)

Q. Is Sarah going to stick with the blue in her new room or does she still prefer pink?

A. As soon as possible, Sarah will definitely repaint her whole room. She hasn't decided which color yet but it will definitely be teen-esque and groovy!


And one last thing before I close: tomorrow's post will be a little different as we commemorate a certain, special landmark event in our family.

I'll see you soon!

The Look

Do you remember last week when I was stressing out over cooking a Thanksgiving meal for our family? I was pondering what simple, little dishes I could throw together and still legally dub it a Thanksgiving meal.

Well, this weekend, my dear sweet husband came up with a grand idea. An idea which just goes to show you that husbands tend not to be tuned into The Various and Very Real Cooking Stresses That Attach Themselves To The Female of The Species.

He burst into the room and said, "Honey! I have an idea! Since Meagan's family is going to be nearby during Thanksgiving week (Meagan's Dad's parents live near Smithfield) wouldn't it be great if we had Thanksgiving a couple days early so that they could join us? We could have the four of us, and Meagan, and Meagan's family and my parents! They could all come for a meal! Wouldn't that be so wonderful?"

As he stood there before me, radiating great bonhomie, bliss and peace and good will toward all men I thought, "He is so very definitely male. Only a man would find it exciting to have that many people over for a large meal the week before a large move."

I couldn't help myself. I sighed. And then I gave him The Look.

The Look is something that wives dole out to their husbands whenever their husbands say or do something that is beyond the comprehension of the female brain. (There is also a "Reverse Look" that husbands dole out.)

This was one of those times.

But then later on, after I had packed The Look back into mothballs, I got to thinking about what he had said and realized that it would be a lot of fun. We could have a Thanksgiving feast featuring boxes stacked everywhere, a dearth of gravy ladles, store bought pies, and chaos reigning supreme.

Hey, chaos can be fun! At least that's what I'm trying to tell myself as the next few weeks of chaos get ready to hit. Who knows WHAT we'll do for Thanksgiving? The important thing is that we will do something, and we will have fun with however it turns out. I'll keep you posted!

Here's a Thanksgiving photo from earlier years. It's nice to have such good memories surrounding that wonderful holiday.



I mentioned recently that Snowy's hair (after removing his cone) was sticking up everywhere. Here are a few pictures to confirm that statement.





Good thing we love him for his little doggy heart and not his looks!

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Here are a few pictures of our "new" house, which we will move into on December 1st.

Steve is full of ideas for dressing it up, working on the lawn and the shrubs and putting some railing up on the porch between the columns. But that will all come down the road; right now, we just need to get moved in and have a place in Manteo to permanently hang our toothbrushes!







Looking from the dining room into the living room. We were both thrilled that the dining room is big enough to hold our huge dining room table, even with all the leaves put in. We're looking forward to filling the table with people and filling the room with conversation and laughter.




The breakfast nook


Kitchen


The back deck is big enough to fit a LOT of people!


Sarah's very large room on the third floor. (That's Steve and our real estate agent poking around.)


We feel very blessed to have found this 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house since it wasn't even officially on the market when we started looking. There really wasn't one other house in Manteo that worked for us that was anywhere near our (limited) price range except this one, which our real estate agent had to really dig to find.

And to find a house where the owner was willing to allow us to rent it before buying was an extra blessing! We are very thankful for God's provision for us in a very challenging housing market.

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I'll close with a couple of questions:

Q. My daughter will be starting on Accutane tomorrow for acne. She'll be on a 6 month treatment program and we're hoping that this will work as other treatment programs have not worked. Sarah's skin always looks so beautiful in the pictures you post and i just remembered that she had to take accutane. I know the side effects can be tough - esp. the dryness. Do you have any recommendations of products for her skin or lips to help with the dryness. --Judi

A. Judi, it could be that your daughter's skin won't get as dry as Sarah's did during treatment since Sarah's skin didn't "need" the treatment for acne. However, Accutane is definitely a "dryer-outer!" Sarah's dermatologist recommended Cerave lotion for Sarah which worked well for her. As far as dry lips, we were never able to find anything much better than plain ol' Vaseline.

However, some of the Smithellaneous readers out there may have some additional advice for really dry skin/lips. Judi and I would love to hear from you!


Q. Any tips on how NOT to worry that work for you? ---Guerrina
(This question is in reference to me writing that I was very "good" at worrying.)

A. Once again, I am going to throw open this question as a "group discussion." Do any of you have any tips that work for you that keep you from worrying as much?

For me, I like to think of the phrase in the Bible that says (in various permutations) "Fear not." What I especially like about it is that it occurs in the Bible 366 times; once for each day of the year, plus a little.

Why would we be told not to fear so many times? Because God knew how many reasons we would have to fear. In fact, the Bible says that as time goes on, "men's hearts would be failing for fear." We've sure seen lots of that!

And so today, and during this crazy upcoming month, I will remember that 366 times I have been lovingly instructed to "fear not."

What helps YOU when you tend to worry?


And the last question is a question from me to YOU!

Q. Does anyone have any good stories to share about giving The Look to your spouse? Maybe you remember a specific time or incident when nothing would do but The Look.

Your stories will be well appreciated here in Smithellaneous Land!