100 Ducks

 Logan has been with us the entire month of July.   Jake, Jennifer and Emily were here for a long weekend.  Lots of laughs, food and games.  Everyone is gone and the house is extremely quiet.  I miss them already.  You always think that the each stage of your child's life is the hardest, but so far, them being grown, out of your safety net and not living close is the worst. You are proud of them for being independent, responsible adults but dang it's lonely.  But enough about that.....

Let's talk about the ducks....Sunday, Jim and I had to take Emily to her truck (parked at Jim's office) so she could go home.  While we are gone, Jennifer and Logan hide 100 mini-ducks all over my house 😲  So far, only 16 have been found .  This could take a while...they assured me that some may not be found until I start packing the house for our move....ducks, ducks everywhere !!!!

Lord help me 😂😂  100 of these little things !!!!

Our Last Day Alone

 Today was my last day alone with Logan.  Jim will be home tomorrow night and Jenny and Emily will be here tomorrow afternoon.  Logan is excited to see his Mama, but is making it clear that he's only interested in a visit and does not want to go home....lol.  

We had breakfast this morning and decided we needed to get out of the house.  We went to TJMaxx, Marshall's, Five Below and Best Buy for Logan to look until his heart was satisfied (which was almost 2 hours).  Logan had mentioned wanting Asian food for several days, so I decided we would check out a new restaurant in the area.  Konnichiwa.  The food was wonderful!!!  Logan got sushi and cleaned his plate, then began to eat what was left of my steak bowl....lol 

It has been wonderful being able to spend the month with Logan.  I will be lost and lonely for a while after he goes home!!!

God's Hand at Work

 For the past year or so, Jim and I have been looking for our own house.  We have looked in the neighborhood we live in now, we have looked in the community, we have looked in the next town over and every time there has been a stumbling block in our way.....everything from being multiple offers to overpriced housing.  We have given up , re-started, gone through two realtors and decided to start again. Prayers, prayers and more prayers.....for God's will and God's timing.  

Our realtor emailed us several houses every day but none ever felt right.  We looked at a few and we were even putting an offer in on one only to be told it was already taken by the person who looked at it before us.  As I was looking thru Trulia and Realtor.com one day, some new builds came up as "something you might be interested in".  I looked and thought ... nah... I think that is too far out... This listing just kept coming up over and over again...   I told Jim about it and we decided to go look.  We drove thru this new unfinished neighborhood, had nothing else to do, so we decided to stop at the model house/sales office where we proceeded to look at several floor plans and we agreed on one we both liked.  The next week I had our realtor go out with me to check things out and talk to the salesperson on our behalf.  She was very impressed and it would be a good deal since the area is the next to build up with over 1,000 building permits outstanding for future housing.  We would be getting in on the "ground floor" before the pricing went higher.  Still, something wasn't settled with me.  I was convinced it was too far out for my spoiled self to make quick grocery runs and casual shopping, so here we go out there again to map out the area.  We were absolutely shocked to find out we were less than 2 miles from the main township and new shopping area containing grocery stores, Walmart, restaurants, etc.  This lifted a load off my mind but something still wasn't right.  The floor plan that we had agreed on was not working in my mind.  We discussed this and decided to return to the sales office and look at a smaller house with a better layout.  The one we looked at was perfect for us.  Backing up to a wooded lot between the house and the highway, no one would ever build behind us.  The outside color of the house was perfect, the lot was level and our cars would fit in the driveway ( these are big concerns in the Carolinas).  We called our realtor and told her we were ready to put in an offer on this new build (the salesman said they would entertain offers because the house was finished).  After a few back and forths we came to an agreement and along with their incentives we came out below our budget for a house!!!  Barring any hiccups getting all the paper work and inspections, (all financing has been approved), we should close sometime next month!!!    I would have never looked in this area if this house had not just "magically" appeared in my internet search.   We are moving to a "small town" but still less than 45 minutes from all Charlotte has to offer.  God's will and God's timing.

Just Hanging in There

Life is just chugging along.  We still have Logan and will for another few weeks.  This is his time and he looks forward to it every year.  We try to make it a fun time for him and make memories that will a lifetime.  Friday we took him to a Charlotte Knights baseball game (minor league) and of course Grandpa got tickets for the Diamond Direct Luxury Lounge which includes air-conditioning, full buffet and separate outside seating for the game.  A little excitement when a foul ball bounced off the railing right in front of Logan and grandpa.  Thank goodness it hit the railing or it would have been a different story.  That was enough for Logan, so we spent the rest of the game inside watching on the wall-to-wall televisions and hitting the buffet until it was time for fireworks.

Through a series of internet searches and coincidences, we may have found a house this last weekend.  It would move us out of NC to SC which is no big heartbreak.  Things have changed so much in just the 3 years we have been here and the housing costs are almost astronomical.  Anyway - I found some new builds in York, SC so we decided Saturday to do a drive by to see what this new subdivision was like.  All new houses, and still under construction...we decided to stop and talk to the sales dept.  They showed us a few houses and we agreed on one, which if you know us, you should know that doesn't happen often. Our only problem is the distance to Jim's office, but as he reminded me, when we lived in FL he was driving 30+ minutes to work everyday he was in the office.  Then he reminded me that he isn't in the office that much these days, that he is back to traveling.  We are so spoiled living here with all our shopping no more than 3-4 miles away, that I was questioning whether I wanted to move or not.  We decided to go back Sunday and look around the town and found almost all the conveniences that we have here were only 2-3 miles away from where our house would be located.  So....I'm meeting our realtor at the neighborhood Wed for her to grill the sales department and ask the questions we never thought to ask....guess that's why she gets paid !!!  We are not pushing anything but are leaving it in God's hands as to whether this is the right move or not. If it is God's will, things will work out...if not, then we take another route. 

As for my sister-in -law,  the Dr's finally found the source of her infection - small intestinal leak - did emergency surgery and now they are trying to clear up the infections and get her on the mend.  She is off the ventilator and from what I have heard is getting quite testy...lol  It's been a long journey and more to go but we are praying she makes a complete recovery.

What a week !!!!

 Let's do a simple recap of my last week shall we?  Jim left last Sunday for a week of business trips that would take him through Thursday...Tues I get a call from my brother...his wife is in hospital on ventilator and they are not expecting her to pull through.  My brother (the only Free family that I have left) is in full distress mode and I tell him that I will make the trip to Ozark tomorrow (Tues).  I get everything fixed and I fill Jim in on the situation, load my car and take off for Alabama.  I have my route set and when I get to Augusta, GA, Matilda (my GPS) decides that my route is not good enough and will take too long with too much traffic.  I am re-routed to travel SouthWest thru the state of GA.  At one point I called Jim just to let him know where I was because if something had happened, I wouldn't be found for days 😨 It wasn't really that bad but definitely not interstate.  To show how "hidden" some of the roads were, I traveled for a couple of hours on the "Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway" - that should let you know that it is not traveled much or some "woke" person would be having a conniption to have the name changed.  Let's hope they never find it.   Long story short, I made it to Ozark and straight to the hospital...thank goodness she was on the upswing. Still on sedative and ventilator, I stayed until Friday morning to make sure things were looking up before I left  for Gainesville.  As of this blog, her condition has not changed, but we are still praying for full recovery.  

Now on to Gainesville where I go to Jennifer's - spend the night - up the next morning, Saturday,  with Logan in tow to Charlotte.  What usually takes 6.5 hours took almost another 2 hours because of the holiday weekend traffic and we were the lucky ones...the south bound lanes to GA and FL were almost a parking lot.  

We make it home Saturday evening and give a sigh of relief just to be back in my own bed.  Jim had a long weekend so we got to spend some time together after being apart and Logan was thrilled that Grandpa didn't have to go to work right away.  That changes tomorrow though.  Back to work.  Guess Logan and I will just have to spend our time shopping and making cookies, or that's what he tells me we are doing.  I won't argue.  We will be making memories 💓