Just in Case...

... you are wondering, it is OURS!  We have finally closed on our house!  

Here is what has happened in the last week; we raced to Louisiana to get the last of our loot, spent the night and raced back - that is 10.5 hours each way.  We have unpacked, worked on the house, added a few things we wanted to add and unpacked some more.  No family in their right mind should have as much stuff as we do.  Heck, no wonder we missed it!  And we are still unpacking!  But the good news is, it is now all in one place - our place!

Steve finally got all the insurance stuff done and we were able to close on the house at 4 pm on Tuesday.   We are so proud that it is ours now!  We are both super excited and amazed we have finally got what we have dreamed about for years and years- and it is beautiful!  We have had inspectors here and workers here milling about.  Some of the things they have said are; "You have an island oasis here - it is beautiful!", "This property has got to be a slice of heaven - it is gorgeous!", and "I wish I had found this first - I would be living here - not you!"  Lol... yes, it is indeed beautiful and relaxing - and yes, it is ours.  WHOOT!

We finish our (very hot) evenings sitting outside waiting on the critters to start moving.  We have seen nearly a dozen deer on the property.... it is amazing to watch them!  2 nights ago, I was looking out of our bedroom door and saw 5 distinct shadows going across our back yard.  I raced through the house, grabbed a flashlight and out the back door.  I flipped it on and startled a family of coons!  They ran to a nearby tree, mom climbed it but most of the teeny rascals were too little to climb so they were only a few feet up the tree.  Shining the flashlight towards it, I could see all kinds of little eyes peeking out from behind it - if I could have taken a picture it would have been adorable!  I didn't have my camera and it was at night so I don't think it would have done it justice - but suffice it to say it made me giggle.  Steve and I sat out on the patio in the dark and had a coon come up to eat Princess Cost a Lot's food.  It was just a few feet from us - it was all I could do to keep from laughing at it.  It kept looking up from the food an looking around for people - but we were sitting so still it had no idea we WERE people!  Steve had one come up to him a few nights ago and get on its haunches right by his knee and look him straight in the eye - then it realized Steve was a PEOPLE and nearly had a heart attack trying to get away!  Lol...

Steve has put my bird feeders up and I have oodles of gold finches, purple finches, hummingbirds and a kingbird or two.  There are bluebirds on the property, but I can't seem to get them to come to a feeder - however I haven't really tried that hard either.  They do fly all around and we see them daily, so soon, I shall work on getting them to the feeders.  It is so nice to watch outside the window while I work in the kitchen and see the little guys eating.  The gold finches are so colorful and chatty!

I will pull out my camera and take pictures soon.  I have been so busy trying to organize the house I haven't even taken time to play much.  The house is driving me insane (I know it is a short drive Steve) and as much as I work, I cannot seem to make it fall into place.  However, there has to be an end shortly, right?  

Anyway, I will be back and start posting regularly - it is just that so much is going on that I don't have the energy to lift a finger to type.  Heck, I gotta tell you, I seldom even come to the computer!  But don't worry - I will be back to my normal self very, very soon.  I know I keep saying it, but you just have to see what is going on to understand - too many things coming from too many directions. 

Until then, hang in there!

Oh, and take a gander at what has been going on... guess I forgot to mention I have taken a few pictures... lol...  I am not posting any explanations, but I think you can figure it all out - it is life in Podunkville! 

Justa Sayin'...

We are off to Louisiana for one last run for the last little bit of our loot.  We are coming back Friday, and Saturday a classmate invited me to go SCRAPPING with her!  Yippee!  So a few more days and everything will be right back on a regular schedule - I hope for life!

To entertain you, I am going to share these pictures I took a few nights ago of a cicada molting.  You know these little guys you find all over Oklahoma?  Well, if you live somewhere else, you might find them there too... but we see them everywhere here and listen to their humming during the hot summer days.  Kids love to find their shells and play with them:

Well, Steph and I went out to look at the caterpillars that were eating up our tree:

There were at least a million of them and they were everywhere on one branch.  The first night, I thought they were all cutesy and everything.  The second night, I found this:

They weren't so cute anymore!  Heck if I would have left them, our tree would have been gone in 3 days!  I tried to encourage the birds to eat them, but the birds are too busy at my 6 feeders to give a darn about the 'pillars devouring the oak tree.  They were even obvious about it:

So I took matters into my own hands and eradicated them - is the right word?  Oh, well...  They are gone.

While looking at them at night, we found this taking place:

 

It was a cicada molting!  Yes, that is that little shell of a critter left behind.  Thought this was a great way to pass time... so I kept taking pictures.  The others I took are not as interesting, but the final outcome was nice:

This creature is certainly God's creation.  It went from butt ugly to beautiful in just a few minutes!

Anyway, I am off to Louisiana.  It looks like rain to us - wish us luck.. after all - we have important cargo going that way:

Oh, and what was I just sayin'?  I am tired of all of this, but I do see an end in sight.  Just sayin' it is time to be DONE.  Don't you agree?

 

Where Do I Even Start?

Years ago, I used to write a newsletter for an online group to update everyone as to what had happened over the months time.  SO much has happened in the last 6 months, I have decided that maybe I should write a newsletter to update you as to how we have gotten to where we are today.

"Red's Place" Chapter 1

Starts in Singapore

After 2.5 years, we left Singapore to come back to the US.  We had no permanent destination as the company had not decided where to put Steve, so we went back to Louisiana, got our camper and parked it near where we used to live.  We visited with the girls, he worked from the camper and prepared for a job in Mississippi; one of the last what he needed to do to finish up his Singapore job.  The company was still depositing checks, so all was good.

One day we packed everything in the camper, attached it to our backsides and hauled it to Mississippi to a campground we would find out was not the best on the block.  Steve went to work to do the installation of the unit, everything that could go wrong did go wrong and his 3 week job turned into an 8 week job.  During the 8 weeks, he found out he was being transferred back to where we started 32 years ago - Oklahoma.  He was too tired to enjoy that thought and I was too excited not to.  He finally finished the job, and even though he was too tired to wiggle, we loaded up the camper and again attached it to our backside and moved back to Louisiana.  While in Louisiana, he tied up the loose ends of the job shipping pieces and parts to where they came from and doing paperwork.  I visited and dreamed of moving on.  The company was still depositing checks so all was good.

The media informed us about the flood coming to Morgan City - The Great 2011 Louisiana Flood they called it.  The National Guard came in and built a wall around the city for the flood that was on its way down from the north - you know all that snow and rain has to go somewhere, right?  South through the Mississippi River to the Atchafalaya (AT-chaf-a-LIE-ya)  River and then to Morgan City, Louisiana - and Morgan City was on the path of swimming.  As you know, every thing we owned was in storage in Morgan City - about a foot above sea level.  It didn't look good so Steve called the relocation specialist who hired a moving company to come in STAT and get our stuff our of harms way.  They came in, packed and loaded for 18 hours and got nearly every single thing we owned - nearly is the key word here.  And Steve finished his paperwork finishing up the job.  And I waited and dreamed of moving on.  The company was still depositing checks so all was good.  Oh, and the flood never came.

We finally did move on - loaded up the camper, attaching it again to our backsides and moved to a campground in Oklahoma.  We stayed there 2 weeks.  Since state campground has limits as to how long one can stay, so we found a private campground and moved the camper and us to it.  It was not a good campground - we only thought the one in Mississippi was not great.  This one was packing us in like sardines - and because of that, we got booted out of the same campground before we even got parked.  It had something to do with the comment "you should sell grease when you rent out the spots so your customers could lube it up so they can shove the campers in to these tiny spaces."  Not sure, but that is about the time it was sternly suggested to us to move on.  We did - and we laugh about that to this day.  No, we didn't say that, but we were not upset to set up house somewhere else.  We found a new place and immediately started looking for a house.  Thank God his checks are still being deposited - but he had still not visited with his new boss 6 months after a transfer.  Hopefully the checks would continue being deposited and all would be good.

Somewhere else was not great either.  We heard sirens 24/7 and feared for our nightly safety, but we made it.  We searched high and low for a house -  and north and south and east and west.  East won out - we found the perfect place on 18.75 acres east of Tulsa with a nice house, pond, barn and loafing shed.  Since we had been pre-approved and everything was going so well, we asked for early occupancy and waited for the verdict.  And waited.  With no more waiting time left, we worried.  We knew our moving van had already left Houston and was on its way to us.  Literally we waited until the last possible minute.  We had no where to put the furniture, so when we lost all hope of moving the furniture into the new place, we rented 2 storage units nearby, and paid a month's rent.  Not looking forward to moving 54' of furniture several times, we were disappointed the pre-occupancy had not panned out.  10 minutes after we returned from renting the storage units on Thursday evening at 4:30, and just after he had called the moving van with directions to where he would unload in said storage unit, we get a call that we can move in.  Steve frantically calls the moving company and redirects them to the new place.   We spend the next couple of hours racing around trying to get reorganized.  And thank God the checks were still coming in - we needed every penny we could get now!

Friday morning, our moving van was here with all of our furniture and most of our prized possessions - most being the key word here.  They unloaded all day.  No one with a sane mind has this much STUFF.  Enough said.  I raced around putting the water and electric into our name - which meant racing 25 miles one way and 15 another way - and getting so lost my GPS shrugs and says "Lady, I don't have a CLUE where you are!"  I am learning about rural challenges right from the git-go.  When they finished unloading, Steve and I took a deep breath - could it be possible?  Could we really have all of our loot in one place?  Do we have a home now?  No.  We still have that last little bit of loot in storage in south Louisiana that the moving company couldn't fit - and we still have the closing on the house.  It should be a breeze, right?

NOT.

It seems we are in a 100 year flood plain... no, no, not the house, but the creek.  Yeah, the creek on the far side of the property might flood once in a hundred years.  But our house is on the far end of the same property (high and dry I might add) so the insurance requires flood insurance on every.  single. structure. on the property.  Three.  Not one.  Not two.  But three structures.  Three THOUSAND extra dollars just for flood insurance.  But we have to have elevation certificates to even do that. 

SCREETCH!  

Closing halted. 

And so we wait.  (Keep those checks coming... the stuff's getting deep now)

We are now waiting on a surveyor to survey our barn and house so we get a little piece of paper that says we are not gonna flood - but we still have to pay what FEMA says we have to pay or we have to move from God's 18.75 acres that I have recently dubbed "Red's Place".  Now, since it is already Red's Place, we cannot leave, right?  We have found a little slice of heaven here and we will just have to do what has to be done to make it our own on paper.  And since he finally met his boss and has even started working in a real office, those checks will keep on coming' - and it's a good thing, cause we're sure gonna need them!

However our loot - our mounds and mounds, and boxes and boxes, and mounds of boxes - are here.  Steph hears we have loads of boxes here and slam dunks the kid in the van and races up here to help her mom in distress.  Thank God for her and punkin' - they are the only reasons I am sane.  Never mind, the only reason I am... not in a straight jacket - ok?  We unpacked boxes and boxes, and mounds and mounds, and mounds of boxes.  And Steph mowed.  I think I have caught you up on how hard we worked her.  She unpacked and mowed 24/7 - and I made her do it all.  Oh wait, her dad made her mow when he came home and I made her unpack all day.  She worked her butt of and so did we.  

And on our down time, we plotted.

What to have on a farm... 

(to be continued)

I Am So Tired!

Moving is not for old people!  Lol... I have decided this will be my forever house - I NEVER want to do this again!  Still trying to waggle through the boxes.  TOO much STUFF I tell ya!  I should be back to posting soon though.  Our girls leave Tuesday morning, and to say we have done a lot, is an understatement - we have done so much  more than a lot!  I am so thankful she could be here to help - seriously, I could not have done it without her.  Thank you so much Steph!  Punkin'?  You have been a huge help as well!  Thank you too!

I will try to post a decent post on Tuesday.  I am too tired to wiggle right now, and tomorrow is Independence Day!  We will enjoy our last day with Steph and Punkin' and with my family - they are all coming for the BBQ as well.  Be envious!  Steve made his BBQ sauce today - oh!  And Steph and I canned 12 jars of Salsa that tastes very much like TAMPICO'S!!  Thanks Sandy for the recipe and thanks Steph for showing me how!   YUM!

I have taken a ton of pictures - when I have enough energy to pick up the camera.  It should be interesting to see what I actually HAVE gotten.  

Anyway, just touching base with you, but I will be back soon!  For good I tell ya!  Regular posts coming soon.  No more splotchy posts, ok?

Closing... :-(

Closing is paused.  The government has decided that we have to have flood insurance on every building on our property.  Our house is not in a flood plain, but part of our land is - the part on the opposite side by the creek.  Go.  Figure.  And our barn is on the far side of our house - even further from the creek.  So we have to insure each building separately.  Steve did the house today for a mere GRAND.  You read that right - $1000 freaking dollars.  And apparently has to do the same for his dirt floor barn.  *sigh*  He went and talked to a neighbor that said he didn't have to do that a couple of years ago... let's see, what happened in the last couple of years that changed the rules... 

SO, while Steve is trying to whittle through that mess, we are on hold for the closing.  

Life is such an adventure.

I think I will go out and watch the THREE raccoons eat Princess Cost-A-Lot's food.  Yep, I finally found out who she shares with - right outside our bedroom door.  Nice.

I am still so tired I cannot think.  Be back when I have recovered.  Or when I can crawl to the keyboard.

Mounds and Mounds

... of boxes. Every where we look - boxes.  And what we have unpacked is strewn all over the house.  I am getting overwhelmed quickly.  This coming from the person who has to unpack suitcases after flying 24 hours... these boxes are driving me freaking NUTS!  Steve would say it is a short drive - and he is probably right. 

I couldn't do it without Raelee and Steph's help.  Yes, punkin' helps a lot - and she always does it without one complaint.  Isn't that amazing?  More about the kid later - but just suffice it to say, she is incredible.  If I ask her to do something, she does it until she is finished.  If you ask her to do something else, she asks if it is ok to finish the previous job first!  Great kid.

Steph is great at helping me get re-focused when I crash.  Thank God she is here.  I am so in over my head it is unreal.  SOooooo much stuff and soooo many boxes!

And in the evening, Steve and Steph mow.  They say they are working, but I know better - they are having a blast WHILE working if that is the case.  I was told tonight someone didn't want to go to Lowe's because I was cutting into her zero turn time... lol... and she still went out and mowed.  Thankfully, unlike her dad, she came in when it was dark.  Dad has a headlight - he kept right on moving until he got the section done he wanted done.  And he saw a HUGE bullfrog hop to get out of his way!  I am a happy camper... frogs and I are friends.

I think we finally have all the stuff done for the closing on Thursday.  I can't believe it is coming up!  Steve had to get an elevation certificate and finally figured that one out today.  He also hired a trash man to come pick up our garbage once a week.  Trash trucks don't run in the country... lol... you gotta find your own.  He did.  Sooo glad - it was a bit stinky!

I am bushed.  Off to bed now.  Will be back soon.  If moving doesn't make me croak.  

 Ribbitt!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We have been busy as bees! 

We found out Thursday night that we could take early possession of our new house.  Friday the moving van came in to bring our stuff - they were confused as to where to bring it, but finally figured out it was not at the campsite, and it was not at storage, but at the place we are in the process of buying.  

With the help of some gorgeous muscle riddled guys and gals we got our stuff moved into the house:

You BET they are gorgeous - they moved ALL of our stuff!  They were super!  Gotta love 'em!  Thanks to each and every one of you!  Oh, and we found the missing glasses that were lost right where she left them - hanging in a truck in the MIDDLE of all of our loot!  Unscathed to boot!

On Sunday we moved from the campground to the place we bought:

As soon as we took possession of the house, Steph made arrangements to get up here to help us unpack.  Thank God she did - I would be unpacking for the rest of my life!  Liz and Jacque helped me the first couple of days and beyond that - Steph, Steve, Raelee and I have done it.  Of course Steve has been working during the day and playing... errr... bush hogging the land at night.

We have unpacked boxes until we are sick of them - and we still have a ton left to unpack...

We have found stuff we forgot we had:

Put the kid to seriously exhausting work compacting trash:

We even lost the kid but thankfully we found her:

Steve bought a tractor:

And he bought a zero turn - but sadly has had little chance to use it:

She even follows Steve around the yard mowing after he does!

And he has had even less little chance to drive it.

And when he did, he lost (the race) big time:

And he just doesn't get it - he lost every time.  In fact, it never happened  :-( 

But Raelee has had a blast trying to make him earn a win!  You shoulda heard her GIGGLE!


She has had a blast riding in the fields:
 

And to think she asked mommy if papa and granny had enough room!  Nearly 19 acres, kid! Yep, I think so!

I know you are wondering, yes, I got a few toys too!  Check this out:

We got a new living room set!  It is butt ugly, but super comfy in only the way a Lazy Boy set can be - and yes, it is a Lazy Boy.  The smell of the leather is intoxicating.  We love the set!

Punkin' thinks the table is the neatest ever!  I cannot seem to keep the top down on it:

It is a beautiful table - you gotta agree.  Well, maybe you will when she leaves and I can take a picture of it with the top down...  for now, we will just say it is a 'unique' table... lol...

I went to the Salvation Army a few days ago looking for lamps - Steph and I have a vision for some lamps and they cannot be new ones so we went there looking.  While we were there I found this great dresser to use as a buffet.  I sent Steve by later to pick it up and he called me and said, "Babe, are you busy?  Can you come by here for a few?  I went over to SA and he had found a better china hutch and buffet - antiques!  He KNEW I would love it and indeed I did - we bought them:

Aren't they super?  He told me after we got home they had the matching table... I just may have to go look at it.  Well, it is a shame to break them up, isn't it?

Steve even bought me TWO tractors!  Check one of them out:
 

The other one matches this one exactly.  What more could a girl ask for?

And Steph is like the Energizer bunny;  she has gotten super fast at playing... errr... mowing the lot:

She keeps going and going... I know it is because she doesn't want her dad over worked.  Man, I cannot believe how dedicated she is!

Jacque gave me a beautiful flower bouquet as a housewarming gift:

And punkin' gave me a frog:

I love them both.  The frog is setting outside the front door, right by Steve's foo dogs:

Guess you can tell, those foo dogs made it fine!  Yippeee!

Well, I have caught you up a bit on what is going on.  I am going to pull poor Steph off of the mower and make her get some rest:

Life is tough on the farm - I guess you can tell.

Have I said I love country life?