Any takers?

Remember the deal I said fell thru? Well, here is one part of the deal...I've got this ENORMOUS Queen Anne Victorian home (built in 1870) for sale, 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, Formal Dining Room fit for royalty, Living Room, Study, Eat-in Kitchen, Mud Room, Laundry Room, over 5,000 square feet for the "Bargain Basement" price of $274,900! I had a contract on it from a couple in another part of the state that currently run a B & B, and they were going to turn this house into a B & B...but they've decided to go in a different direction due to the husband's job. The good part is that I still have a contract on their B & B from a couple I'm working with out in California...just gotta get their home sold first and it seems that will be happening in the not-so-distant future.

So, what is it about this house that it's been on the market over a year and I've had 3 contracts fall thru?! Hmmmm....could it be the color scheme?! Well, not the reason they've fallen thru, or I wouldn't have contracts in the first place. But, yeah, I've had plenty of comments on the paint scheme...when I'm out and about, people in town will see my name tag and say, "hey, you've got the Barbie house listed!" or something equally as clever as, "you've got that Easter egg house for sale!" And I nod with an ever so humble, "yep, that would be me" (knowing what's coming next). And then they proceed to go on a 10-minute rant about what in the world ever made them paint the house that color...yadda, yadda, yadda...of which I feel compelled to explain that it was not MY sellers that painted it that color, etc. before I realize that I don't have to explain or "defend" it for any reason, especially to a complete stranger! I mean, different strokes for different folks, right people? Could you please just hand me my Diet Dr. Pepper and Sour Patch Kids and let me be on my merry way??? Ahhhh, yes, everyone's an expert!

I wonder if I said it was haunted...would that make it sell faster? I mean, I have had some pretty freaky things happen to me there. Maybe you don't believe in that kind of stuff, but humor me for just a moment. I check on the house every other week or so because it's vacant and I don't want to show up one day and find the house flooded from pipes that have burst. Anyway, back to the freaky-ness...one day I went into the study to find a pile of what appeared to be plaster that had been sanded. I ran my hand across the wall above where the pile of "dust" was on the hardwood floor and my hand was white...just as if someone had sanded the wall. And it was alot of "dust" on the floor too and I had not had any workers there. Hmmm... strange.

Okay, so maybe you're not convinced yet. Freaky story number two--I went one afternoon to take some updated photographs of the house and from the moment I walked in the door, my strand of pearls that I was wearing fell off 5 times...yes, you heard right, 5 times! Let me add that I had been wearing this necklace all day with no problems. After the 5th time of putting it back on and it falling off, I said (out loud) "okay, I won't put it back on again!" I finished what I was doing, left and put my necklace back on and it was fine the rest of the day. Co-ink-y-dink? I think not! I still have some Realtor friends in my office that absolutely refuse to go in that house alone and they are surprised that I still do!

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, check out the house...these pictures were taken in the winter. In the Spring it's an explosion of color with the dogwoods, crepe myrtles, azaleas, etc.

Any takers?

Needed Some Lightheartedness!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Countess Tracey the Educated of Hope End Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

So today has been one of those days that the rocks started to crumble and before I knew it the whole world was coming apart! I've really been trying to be conscious (sp?) of daily yielding my will for God's will and learning to let go and allow God to work...I mean, He is God! He certainly does not need my help for anything---He's got it all under control. Today, a 3-way deal that I've been working on for many, many months fell apart. I know God has a plan in it all, but I sure would like to know what it is. It's frustrating at best. I'm beyond tears, sometimes I think just when things are starting to fall into place, Satan says..."watch this!" Then I'm reminded (so eloquently, I might add) by my husband, of God's servant, Job. Lord, help me when I'm tested, to remain faithful and steadfast in You.

So, thank you, beachkat, for my aristocratic title I earned today! I so deserve it!!! Not so sure about the educated part and I would LOVE to find Hope's End...but at least it made me laugh!

Yipee Kai Yea

The first time I heard this ad on the radio, I thought to myself, "WHAT? You've got to be kidding me!" I didn't know whether to laugh out loud or shake my head in disbelief--I think I did both. Then, Gary found the actual commercial here at YouTube. I just had to share it.

You know, it's easy to point fingers and think, "those stupid smokers, how could they continue to do that knowing they will most likely get lung cancer and die". But it's no different than the addiction of food that I struggle with on a daily basis. I'm not better than them, I'm doing the same harm to my body, but with a different method.

Enjoy the video...

Wound Up

What a week this has been! I've been wound up tighter than a drum (is that the correct saying? )---anyway...in December I changed Real Estate companies and have been in the process of transferring my listings and terminating contracts and re-working them under my new company.... ARRGGHH! I'm drowning in paperwork! Plus, I'm temporarily helping out at Zack's school in the Guidance Office three days a week and before I know it...the week is coming to an end and I feel like I've started 20 things and not finished any of them! Please tell me I'm not the only one that experiences this week-after-week! I consider myself to be a very organized person and very much into the details, but I find that I'm over-extended. Oh yeah, did I mention that Gary and I are the Band Booster Presidents too? That is a full-time job in itself! Lots going on in that area...some good and some not so good, but I'll save that for another day.

Anyway, we're doing better about what we're eating...BUT neither one of us has done a lick of exercise! I'm inspired when I read beachkat's posts about being on the treadmill and laughed out loud when she described her "outfit" that morning (at least you're working out!)...but then the motivation quickly leaves me and I get busy doing something else. I keep thinking..."one of these days..." Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm hearing the verse in my head about putting things off. I'm also hearing that saying about what the "road to (spelling) h-e-l-l" is paved with?!?! Maybe I need to go back and re-read my No Excuses post!

Yielding...a daily struggle

Sundays have been hard for me since my Dad passed away just a short 12 weeks ago. During the week, I can stay busy at my job and with the usual "household" things and not think about it too much. Sundays I'm a wreck. Every Sunday morning there is a battle waging within. I keep trying to talk myself out of going to church. I can come up with a million reasons not to go...but I go. Most Sundays, tears stream down my face through the whole praise and worship time, and during the special music and sometimes about halfway thru the preaching too. Today was no different. One of the songs during congregational singing was "It Is Well". That song has always been an emotional song for me anyway, but it was the song that Gary was playing on the Cello when they closed my Dad's casket. The floodgates opened and my eyes overflowed with tears. You would think by now that I would learn to keep a packet of tissue in my purse. When church was over, once again I left thinking...this was just too hard.

This morning while I was getting ready for church, I turned on the tv expecting Dr. Charles Stanley (First Baptist Atlanta), but found his son, Andy, preaching. Nice surprise! I think he's just as good, if not a better preacher than his Dad. He was preaching on "The Cost of Following Christ". The one comment he made that has stuck with me all day was this... "God will take FULL responsibility for a life that is COMPLETELY yielded to Him." Think about that. God will take FULL responsibility for a life that is COMPLETELY yielded to Him. Sometimes we hold on so tight, especially those of us that are control freaks (and I am at the TOP of that list) that we want to control everything that happens. I know that I am guilty of thinking..."if I can just work a little harder to make this deal work out" or "if I can get that house listed, I know I can get it sold by..." I'm like a hamster on a wheel, working so hard to get somewhere, but going nowhere.

I've got to unclench my fists. I've got to let go. So here I am Lord, open hands, palms facing upward, yielding my will and control over to You. And I will be here again, maybe several times throughout the day, learning to yield and learning to let go. Take control and take the responsibility. And when I start to close my fists, remind me by loosening my grip that YOUR way is the only way.

It's the little things...

It doesn't take much to make me happy. A little over a year ago, I had a friend that was going thru a divorce (no, that's not the part that makes me happy!). One day she asked me to come over and look thru a bunch of "junk" that she was going to either throw away or take to Good Will. Among her things was a silver tea/coffee service set. It was terribly tarnished and she didn't want to deal with it. Plus, she said she had absolutely no use for it and it had come from her soon-to-be "ex". So I took it and just put it away in a box in our storage room thinking "one day" I would get around to cleaning it.

Today, for some reason, that was on my list of "must do's" and so me and hubby headed off to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and look for some silver cleaner. We found some stuff called Tarn-X and it worked great! Of course, it made the whole house smell like I had given someone an Ogilve Perm (remember those things?!). It really stunk like rotten eggs, but it sure was worth it! Check out the pics below... (the first one is a "before" and "after")

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

and man, does she have an "eye" for it! My mom's cousin, Myrna (not sure what that makes her to me...second cousin? first cousin?) Anyway, she really has an "eye" for photography and takes some of the most beautiful pictures. She has a blog site and I wanted to share it with all my blogger friends...click here to view... I'm also adding her as a link on the side...

Also, update on Gary---he has 60% blockage in one artery and the doctor said they only do angioplasty if it's 70% blocked or more. I guess that's the good news...bad news is that he said those two words we HATE to hear..."diet" and "exercise" and "you must get that bad cholesterol down!" *big sigh* yeah, yeah, we know! Thanks to my friends for your prayers!

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe it's already the middle of January! I haven't posted since "last year". Lots of new things happening this year already...I changed real estate companies and I am THRILLED! I've decided my motto for the year is going to be "not this year". For example, another month has gone by and I'm stuck in a company that I'm miserable in...."not this year!" Or...I've just had another birthday and I continue to be overweight..."not this year!" I'm tired of allowing myself to put things off, like getting healthy and losing weight. I'm tired of thinking, "well, maybe by my next birthday I will have lost weight." Just 6 years ago I was in a size 6 and each year I continue to put on weight and it's going to get harder and harder to lose. I will be turning 41 this summer and I want to be in better shape then, than I am now. I'm tired of the excuses. I'm also going to stop putting off my annual mammogram. My doctor in Atlanta wrote me a referral to get a mammogram here last Summer (June 2006) and I have put it off. Honestly, I just hate it and yeah, sometimes I'm afraid of what they might find. But not this year---no more putting it off...no more excuses.

So, how's this for a wake-up call? Gary had a stress test last week and they called and said they wanted to do a heart cath...ASAP! So, tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m., I'm taking my hubby for a heart cath. Please keep him (and me!) in your prayers. Off to bed...got an early morning!