Taking a quick break

Just a quick post and we're off to bed...

We got a few smaller tasks done after church and then we were off for our final 2008 trip to the Minnesota State Fair. Here are a couple of pictures from our day:

The Corn Dog Vs. Pronto Pup tasting challenge... Pronto pup made with flour, and corn dog made with cornmeal. The verdict was Corn Dogs - 3, Pronto pup - 2, and 1 undecided.Brian and Emily joined us for the day along with mom and dad Gafford. Brian and Emily joining in on the tasting challenge...

The fair in Minnesota takes pride that you can find almost anything on a stick to eat, and dad proved it today by finding thick cut bacon on a stick. I must admit the yummyness that we experienced.
And finally, in a nod to mom Liddick who convinced us that the Simpsons aren't completely terrible...A great time was had by all, and now it's time to rest up for the day ahead. Hopefully completion of the floor, priming of multiple rooms, and many other random projects around the house! More tomorrow. Good night and good luck.

Renovation update #1

Did we tell you that there was no floor in the master bedroom? The carpet had been ripped up, but they never got around to replacing the floor so it was left as just plywood. We've been working on remedying that problem today. (And when I say "we" I mean "they"). It's not completely finished, but I thought I'd post a couple of pics of the process and where we (they) ended up at the end of the day...

David and Bryan just getting started... Thanks, Jeff Habel for all your help teaching the guys how to do this right! And thanks Bryan for all of your help today! (Oops! I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that you now know how to lay wood floor. Sorry! )

Here's where they ended up at the end of the day. This is the doorway to the closet (It's BIG!).

And this is the bedroom. Pretty floors... :-)

Honey, I'm home!

We are officially home owners again! We closed late this afternoon and got right to work this evening prepping for the loads of painting that we have ahead of us. Tune back in to see before and after pics as we transform each room. Let's just say that the previous homeowners were not afraid of color. For example, the family room that we worked on this evening is orange-orange.

We met one of our neighbors this evening. They were very friendly and brought us some dessert and beverages as well as they're letting us borrow their sander. Other neighbors decided not to introduce themselves, but called the cops instead. David was on his way back from a run to the store, when I heard banging on the front door, followed by the doorbell. I was on the phone with David at the time, and when I rounded the corner to see who it was, I saw two police officers on the other side of the door. They'd had a report from some neighbors that the lights were on and people were coming and going from the house. This was unusual since the house was a foreclosure and had been empty for well over a year. I can see their concern, but honestly; all they had to do was come and knock on our door.... we were waiting for them... Can you tell I'm tired? It's time to go to bed. (My apologies if I got that song stuck in your head now. I know how annoying that can be.)

Allie's new boyfriend

Normally living in someone else's house is pretty tough for Allie. We're real strict with which rooms she can go in and are always really nervous about her sneaking through an open door and getting loose outside. But I think this stay at the Berg's might rank as one of her favorites now that she's met the neighbor's beagle, Bailey. Bailey has a nice big fenced back yard and they spent about 20 minutes tonight chasing each other up and down the whole length. Allie hasn't had a fenced-in yard to run free in for a couple of years now so she was in dog heaven. Bailey thought Allie was pretty hot stuff and was a little extra interrested in Allie, but she played hard-to-get quite well. She made him really work to keep up with her. I tried to take some pictures of them, but they didn't stay still for very long. There's only one picture that's not blurry, when they were walking away from getting a drink. Now every time we take her out to go to the bathroom, she looks over to Bailey's yard to see if her boyfriend is out. Puppy love is so adorable.

(By the way, if you can't tell who's who, Allie's the one with more black)

Host family gets to know our fiery personalities...

We've been living with the Bergs since Saturday night and thought it would be a nice gesture to make dinner for them tonight. So after some discussion, the menu we decided on was beer battered fish and chips. We've successfully made the fish two times prior and were trying the chips for the first time (homemade- not out of the bag). The problem is, you get used to your own kitchen tools and accessories; it can be a little challenging to cook in someone else's kitchen. Dinner was well on it's way. The first batch of fish and fries had come out of the pot and we were onto the next batch. The burner got a little too hot apparently, and the oil started boiling over. Fortunately it's an electric stove so it didn't start a fire. However, a few minutes later the smoke appeared. First it was just a harmless white, then it turned grey, followed by black, and suddenly flames were shooting out from under the pot. Tom put the lid to the pot over the burner and left it there for a while. Eventually the flame extinguished itself. We smoked up the kitchen something fierce. But nothing a box fan and an open window couldn't eventually remedy. Was it worth it? Was dinner so delicious that they forgave us for lighting their kitchen on fire? They claim it was.

Living in limbo...again

Two years ago, we shared our adventures of living in limbo as we transitioned from Michigan to Minnesota. For a quick review, David began his job here on the first of June, while I stayed behind to attempt to sell the house. Six weeks later, the dog and I joined him and we proceeded to live in temporary housing: one week on a mattress in a vacant house, a few days with a family from church, a week in a family from church's house while they were on vacation, another week in another family from church's house while they were on vacation, and eventually we reached our "final" destination in Woodbury. The family owning this house was being transferred to Poland for two years, so we moved in and cared for their home while they were away. But alas, two years has come and gone, and the Sampson Seven have returned from Poland (and for some strange reason they want their house back!). We've spent the summer shopping for a house; a chore much more difficult than we anticipated. We waited far too long with an offer on a short sale house, but with August quickly approaching, we could wait no longer. We would hunt for houses one more time, finding a record 3 in one night that we both liked. We wrote an offer on the least expensive of the three, and 36 hours later had an accepted purchase agreement. The inspection has been done (no surprises there- thank goodness), and the loan has been applied for. The only problem: we can't close on the house until September 3rd. Why is that a problem? We have to be out of our house by the end of this week to make room for the Sampson's to return home and settle their house before school begins. So we return to life in limbo. We've moved 98% of our belongings into an enormous storage unit (which embarrassingly can not hold the remaining 2% of our stuff...) and are currently residing in our house for a few more days with a few amenities: our mattress, a TV, his and her laptops, and four lawn chairs. At the end of the week we will bid our final adieu to the Sampson's house and move in with yet another family from the church. What do people without a church family do when they find themselves in our situation? Seriously... We'd be lost without the gracious and generous people that we've met here at Five Oaks.

I'd post pictures of our move-out last weekend, but something happened and all the pictures got corrupted on my camera... But you can imagine.... moving truck, two small trailers, a mini-van, several friends from our small group and church, David's parents, doughnuts for breakfast, Papa John's for lunch, etc. You get the picture...

Poor Allie

Poor little Allie gave us a scare this morning. I was in the bedroom packing and I heard her give a little half-cough. I looked over at her just in time to see her collapse on her back and seize up. I called for David to come up. After about 20 seconds she tried to get up but was having a difficult time walking. As soon as David rounded the corner, it startled her and she ran into the next room with her tail between her legs. He got a hold of her and she was shaking and acting very strange. So we loaded her into the car and took her to the Emergency animal clinic. She laid very still the whole drive to the clinic, which is highly unusual for her. We were there for a bit over an hour. By the time we left, her vitals were looking good, though she was still unusually calm and sleepy. The vet said that it sounds like she did have a seizure, but there's no way of knowing really what caused it. Apparently epilepsy is something that shows up in dogs around her age. Though it could be just some fluke thing. We'll just have to wait to see if and when it happens again. Oh goodie; something to look forward to. As soon as we left the vet, she proceeded to throw up twice in the parking lot, once in the car (on a rag), and once on the front steps of our house. Now she's just sleeping and resting. She does seem to have perked up a bit in the last hour or so. Now we'll be paranoid to leave her alone.

We really did not need more drama in our lives right now. We've currently got more than enough. I'm just relieved that she seems to be alright. She had us worried there for a while.