At a loss for a title

Hi, It's been 3 days since we've returned, and I'm just now feeling like I have energy to get things done. That won't last long though. B leaves on Sunday to return to NJ, and I'm back on to 24 hr Mommy days. Oh, and did I mention that the house officially goes on the market Oct. 1, so we're running around like headless chickens trying to finish it all and clean up. No fun. The nice thing is that pictures are finally going on the walls around here, and it looks nice. I'm making a declaration now that in our next house, pictures will be on the wall within 6 months, no 3 months from the move in date....hold me to that!

I do have a pic or two to share with you. The first is from the adventures of driving around the streets of NJ. Here's a hint, if the 2 yr old in the back seat is too quiet and isn't asleep, she must be up to something. Here's the something.



Apparently, Lise' found a pen in the diaper bag and took it upon herself to enhance her perfectly white shoes. I was so mad when I noticed it that I allowed B to deal with it. What I didn't know was that the only part I had seen was the toe, and it was only 1 or 2 marks. It was only later that I saw this side of the shoe.

And, here's a pic from today. Dad and B were busy painting closet doors, so I was the chosen place for naps. Not a bad deal.


Oh, and I know I've told you that Abri loves to pull up on everything. Her number one choice these days is Lise's bike. Lise's a little threatened too.

Still recovering.

We made it back safe and sound but weary. By the time we got home it was around 2pm. We had been up since 5am EST, so all we wanted to do was crash. We had other plans though. Lise' little friend Ira had his 3yr birthday party at Chuck E Cheese, so that's where we went. Lise' had a ball. I know we're cruel, but she had never been there before, and she couldn't stop smiling. She loved winning tickets. As for the mouse character in a suit, she hated it, but at least she didn't run screaming. She just required I stay nearby.




We thought you might enjoy a few pics from New Jersey. Sorry, but other than lots of different homes and a few parks, we didn't have much time for sight seeing. That will have to come later.

Lise' on the first plane ride she remembers

Lise' and Abri taking a little lunch break in Cranbury


Abri LOVES to swing!

Abri eating cheerios. Did I mention she's now 7 months old now and is pulling up on everything. She's trying really hard to stand up on her own, but after just a second, she's back on her bottom. She also has 2 teeth working their way out.

The million dollar view from one of the houses we looked at. If only the rest of the house had looked this great.

Last but not least, this one should speak for itself.
Welcome to New Jersey! Click on the photo to enlarge and read the slogan.

Still homeless

It's now 10pm (Eastern-by the way, we don't like this time zone) and B and I are here ready to call it a night. We have to be at the airport for and early flight, and thankfully, both girls are down.

They've had it. I don't think they'd make it another day. Since last Tuesday, we've been on the go. Wed-Fri was spent in and out of numerous houses that were in no less than 6 or 7 (I too have lost count) different villages/towns/cities/townships/boroughs. The terms alone are enough to confuse you. And, just when you think you have it all together, you find out the house is in one township, but may have a different mailing address. My brain is still spinning. Abri now screams at the very site of the car seat, and if it weren't for a portable DVD player and the discovery of the automatic window control, Lise' would be doing much the same.

We did have the opportunity to take a small break. It wasn't a planned one, but a great one nonetheless. As I mentioned before, we had seen enough houses to make your head spin, so on Friday night at 5:30, B had the great idea to check in with friends in Pennsylvania to see if we could drive over for a day of watching football and good ole' lounging around. Thankfully, they welcomed us with open arms, so to PA we went. What a beautiful place. It was such a nice break. It was also disgusting to see what your dollar can buy in PA after real estate shopping in NJ. Oh well, maybe we'll have the opportunity to go there one day.

So after a fabulous 24 hr break, we headed back to the world of house hunting to look at "cottages" (read COZY-REAL COZY) in the Red Bank area. They were cute, but not sure it was what we want, so today we headed back west.

To make a long story short, I think we've ruled out the coast. As much fun as it would be to live out there, I think we'll wait until we can afford what we really want and not just the postage size house with one bathroom. That leaves the other area that is just a hop and a skip away from Princeton and one other area just west of where B will work. We didn't have time to see the houses in the second area. B will have to check that out without me next week.

On a bright note, we do have a house or two ear marked for the Princeton area. One of them has a garage/workshop that B could disappear into for days. But, until we get our appraisals back in AL, we can't make any type of offers on a house here. All that should be wrapped up by the end of the week.

Hopefully that wasn't too much info for you. We'll be on a plane home tomorrow. That's when we hope to kick it into high gear and get our house on the market.

Still looking...

I know everyone is anxious to hear how the house hunting is going. It's hard to describe how it's going. We knew it was going to be hard, but I think it's more of a chore than we could have imagined. This is our first trip up here, and our main focus is to figure out what area we want to concentrate on. It's only then that we can find the house. For now, we're leaning on 2 different communities. The first is West Windsor. That's a suburb of Princeton. The other is around Red Bank/Middletown/Atlantic Highlands. Those communities are on the eastern coast. If we had to make a call as to which we would choose tonight, it's Middletown.

Now, finding a house in our price range is a whole different ballgame. What we pay in mortgage in AL is less than what we will pay in taxes here-remember, that doesn't include the actual mortgage. YIKES is about all I can say about that. If we moved our exact house in AL to NJ and put it on a lot that was 1/4 of the size, it would be worth $500K. Taxes would be somewhere around $9-12k, and we think that's conservative.

So, we've seen plenty that we can downsize into, but the reality is that it's going to be hard to swallow.

On the upside, all those high taxes go toward excellent parks and school systems. I'm not sure we'll be here long enough to start Lise' in school, but we'll sure use the parks. I'm just hoping we'll be w/in walking distance.

Well, it's been a hard 2 days, and we have several more to go. We're definitely putting the girls through the ringer by keeping them in the cars all day, but they're holding up well.

Maybe tomorrow we'll come across that bargain :-) NJ really is a beautiful place. When we do find our home, please come help us celebrate.

GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!

Well, well, well. We were there, and it was AWESOME! For all of you who couldn't make it to the game, there's nothing more to say than, we're sorry. It made the saying, "There's nothing like Saturday night in Tiger Stadium" ring true.

Who needs Saban? We seem to be doing just fine without him.

G-E-A-U-X Tigers! Had to throw one more in there.

Something to make you smile.

With all the dashing about and work being done, I've almost forgotten to tell you about the little milestones occurring each and everyday around here.

I can't begin to tell you how much Lise' changes each and everyday. She no longer takes what you say as the absolute truth, she searches it out herself. For example, she often asks for ice cream. I tell her no, we're out. That used to be good enough. Now, she goes to the freezer, which she just figured out how to open, and tells me, "No, Mommy, here it is." One of my favorite lines she used at the beach. We were out looking for seashells, and once we were back in the condo, I told her to go find her seashells. She then informed me that they weren't seashells, she found them in the sand. She just doesn't' skip a beat.

She also has grown tall enough to see atop the counters and reach. There doesn't seem to be any area she can't reach yet. If she's not tall enough, she just finds a chair. I'm guessing we're doomed.

On the sisterhood front, she's usually a great help. Both the girls enjoy one another, so I often send Lise' in to entertain Abri while I'm attending to something else.

Here's how some of the entertaining goes. Lise' will ask for goldfish crackers to share with Abri. Sure, no problem, I say. What you see is (a)Lise' in control of the bowl. (b) Abri figuring out what is in the bowl. (c) Abri making her move b/c her sister is obviously not sharing.






Oh, and when Lise' gets bored, this is how I find Abri wandering the halls.





Abri is now almost 7 months old. I completely forgot to take a 6 month pic, so this is the "6 month one" I took on Aug 30. Her bday falls on the 9th.


She's a speed demon with the crawling, and just last week, she started pulling up onto everything. If there's a will, there's a way, and she has the grin to go with it!


She' also LOVES to blow bubbles. She'll talk to you in bubbles. People in stores just love her.

We're headed to Baton Rouge this weekend for the LSU home opener against Virginia Tech. Wish me luck, I'm driving alone with the girls. On that note, I'll sign off.

Time's Up

I know all you are anxious to see our progress with your own eyes, but I hate to tell you that I'm having technical difficulties. Maybe it's that I'm completely exhausted or maybe I'm just technologically challenged. Both are true. The fact is that I won't be posting pics tonight. Sorry.

Wait a minute, I may have a break through. So, here it is.



PJ & B painting away.



Ta Da

I don't have pics, but B also completed (for the most part) the master bathroom. That included PJ doing the concrete shower, painting, new vanity, lights and mirror.

I also personally painted the playroom and the kitchen walls. Go me. Oh, and I can't forget that Mom helped put contact paper in all the kitchen cabinets to help hide the old stuff, and when she wasn't doing that, she was keeping the girls occupied so we could work.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to the point where we could list the house. There's still a lot of general cleaning, straightening and touch up. We'll list the house on Oct. 1, so we do have a deadline.

For now, B has officially started residing in NJ. He'll be back and forth, as will I. Our goal next week is to determine where we want to live in NJ. Then, we can start looking for the overpriced and over taxed house. Oh well. Looking forward to it.

End in Site

Where has the time gone? With one day left, the end is within reach. Even with all the major things done, there's a handful of things we won't finish in time to list the house before B leaves for NJ. Here's what we've been working hard on since the last post.

Thanks to B and PJ, the kitchen cabinets are done. There's a little touch up, but we're holding off on that tonight. It was all oil based, so that was a chore and a half. (I couldn't quite figure out why I was having so much dizziness during step aerobics, but now I know the source.) After the paint, all the doors had to have new "hidden" hinges put on and hung. Then all the new knobs were attached. It all looks great.

The next step was to paint. We thought we were all set, but even after weeks-no months-of having test strips painted on the walls, the wall color just didn't look right with the completed cabinets. So, back to Lowe's it was. We settled on a lighter version of the cabinets for better "mass appeal." It's now on the walls in the playroom. Unfortunately, I tested the old gold paint color on the walls prior to B completing sanding the compound (with his blessing, so it wasn't totally my fault), and that caused him to have to go back and repeat a step. Oops-learn from our mistake.

Right now (10pm), B's still painting. I should go help. Tomorrow we'll complete painting the master bath. I'll have to hit the other Lowe's to see if they have the correct size sink. If so, the bathroom may be complete by tomorrow afternoon. YEAH!