Letter to our home buyers (if the sale ever goes through)

Put our house on the market in April, got a contract in early May, planned to close end of June....still sitting here (all my things in boxes) waiting for the buyers to get their loan together. So, I thought I would put together the letter I'd like to leave them if this thing ever goes through.


Dear buyers,

Welcome to your new home! I hope that you will love as much as we have. Let me tell you a few things about the house and the people around here. 

The three trees in the backyard are very special. My in-laws always gave a tree to their kids when a grandchild was born. We waited to plant our trees until we moved in to what was going to be our lifelong house. I'll get to that later. The Crepe Myrtle on the left belongs to my oldest daughter. The one on the right is my younger daughter's. Each season they eagerly await the blooms. Right now they are full of blooms! Enjoy them as they cycle through their seasons of life! The third tree in the middle is the tree that belongs to my husband and I. What's funny is right after we got the tree, I found out I'm allergic to Live Oak! My husband loves the tree though so we'll just call it his tree...and a funny little tidbit. The tree in the front (also a Live Oak) was planted about a year before the one in the back....builder grade tree!

In the front yard are several rose bushes. My sweet mother-in-law gave me mini roses for Mother's day one year after my oldest was born. Those are no longer with us, but it started a love of roses for me. She has passed away, but the roses remind me of her when I see them. And the smell of the bright pink roses in the middle remind me of a Barbie my grandma bought me when I was about 6.

We brought our second born home to this house. Found out about my oldest girl's food allergies here. We learned how to manage our money here. We have loved and laughed and cried in this house. We have shared joy and sorrow with friends. I hope your time here is filled with that and more. 

This house is surrounded by the BEST neighbors around. To the left is C. She is quiet, but would do anything to help you out. She won't hear much from her, but knowing she's there is comforting. On the right is D and L. They are awesome! L is a great lady and D cooks the best smelling food every weekend. They have great kids whom we have come to love. They will be missed more than they will ever know! 

Across the street to the left is G. He is a yard guy so grab some tips from him! Directly across is A. She has 3 beautiful girls and I've loved getting to know her. She will sometimes leave her garage door open. You just have to let her know you closed it! :) On the other side of A is the M family. They are tops in my book as well! With 4 beautiful girls and generous spirits, they are amazing! M (the wife) is my oil friend! She can give you the 411 on all the oil info you will ever need. M (the husband) is super awesome and full of knowledge. Also would do anything for you! The M family has the exact same house as this one (with the exception of the front porch - they built first and we weren't allowed to have a porch - stupid developer rules). We watch out for each other around here....kinda the Mrs. Kravitzes of Chadwick Farms! Ask L or M to add you to the facebook page. There you will find out all kinds of info about the 'hood.

Your kids will go to Cox Elementary School up the hill. It's a great school with very caring teachers. My girls have thrived there and hopefully your kids will too.

And finally, why are we moving from this house that we love so much? Well, we moved in thinking this would be our forever house. We also thought we'd have more kids and that my parents might come live with us. Neither of those is gonna happen now. But that's okay. Also, I left my job earlier this year so I can stay home with our girls. Staying in this house doesn't allow for that to happen long term.

So, I hope that you are able to fill this house with love and joy. I hope you settle in with the neighbors and make some good friends! I hope that you will find your time here filled with a plethora of memories. 


And now let me go find some Kleenex to dry my eyes. I will miss you house on Landing Creek Lane.

2014 Books I read

For the last few years, I have been tracking the number and title of books I read via a hardbound journal. It's simple and easy, but I think I'd like to move to something a little more detailed. I'd like to add things about if I liked the book or thoughts about the book. I hear GoodReads is great, but not sure I want all that info public. Another thing is that I often want to read a sequel or another book by the author and don't have a good way to track that. What methods do you use to track your books?

2014 - 60 books

2 favorite books of the year:
The Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow
Bridge To Haven - Francine Rivers

Day 7 & 8: Crafter

I love all things crafty! It was sometime in college that it really hit me....I mean I used to pour through Highlights Magazine and made some of the fun stuff in there, but when the crafty bug truly hit me, I was much older. I couldn't stay away from craft stores and wanted/needed more!

I saw someone make embossed tags for Christmas gifts and I wanted to do that! It began my 20+ year long love of being crafty/creative. I made embossed cards for everyone. There is a thrill that comes when someone says, with awe in their voice, "You made this?" (there's even a bit of "For me?" in there oftentimes. It brings a sense of pride and accomplishment to do something like that for someone else.

I've dabbled in many different mediums of craftiness and so far I really seem to enjoy most all of them! My top favorite things to do are sew and make cards or other things using my Silhouette. I've recently made stencils for tshirts and a vinyl cutout for my front door. I even made some stencil letters for a game we put out at work!

Hooded towels

Over the years, I've found that doing something crafty, even something small, brings me great joy! I hope to be able to be crafty for many years to come! What's your favorite thing to craft or medium to craft in?

Candy Bar Wrappers

Puppet hat

Puppet Tent (drafted the pattern for this myself)

Day 6: Daughter of the Most High God

When I was 6 years old, I was sitting at my school during a devotional time we did each morning. As we were wrapping up in prayer, I had this sudden and fervent understanding that I had a need for Christ in my life. I had been in church all of my short life, but this was the moment that I truly felt a pull towards Christ. I asked my teacher to pray with me and I asked Christ to be in charge of my life. I've been a Christ Follower for a little over 3 decades and while I can't say that I proclaim it loudly from the rooftops on a daily basis, I do my best to live live that way God asks me to and I try to share my faith with others as I can. I don't really know how to put into words all that this "role" means to me, but it's vastly important to me. One of the most important decisions I've made throughout my whole life. I hope that you readers have found your peace with God and if not, you can email me with any questions you might have and I'll do what I can to find answers for you. Until tomorrow...

Day 5: Cereal Consumer

It's Sunday...the day I'm most likely to consume cereal for dinner. I work at a church therefore my weekends are full and aren't like our regular schedule during the week. We come home ready to crash on Sunday (we call it a holy hangover). Oftentimes we stop and get something to eat on the way home for a very late lunch and then by the time our regular dinner hour rolls around, I'm not really hungry. In order to stave off the "hungries" right before I crawl into bed, I grab a bowl of cereal. It's usually enough to keep my sated till the next morning!

My top 8 favorite cereals:

1. Oh's
2. Apple Jacks
3. Fruity Cheerios
4. Honey Nut Cheerios (but I don't eat them anymore because of a nut allergy in the house)
5. Chocolate Rice Crispy (or something like that...it was not a regular brand I buy, but soooo good)
6. Halfsies (anyone remember those?)
7. Chocolate Mini Wheats
8. Chocolate Cheerios

What is your favorite cereal?

Day 4: Vacuumer

Okay, I'm gonna skip around on my original list and take the easy one today. I work weekends and so most weekends will be short and sweet (hopefully)....unless I get ahead....

So I'm a vacuumer...if you will. I really do love to vacuum and even when nothing else is put together or cleaned up in my house, I can vacuum and find peace settling over my soul. Those vacuum lines.....ahhhhh!

How do you feel about vacuuming?

Day 3: Wife

I am wife to my amazing husband, Ed. We met later in our lives, but knew we were meant to be together from the beginning. He was everything I was looking for and what I didn't know I was looking for. I love being a wife! We've been married 11 years and through all of it, we have learned and grown together.

We've had highs and lows (what marriage doesn't), but through it all I know that Ed has my back and that he is looking out for our family! He's a hard worker and has great integrity! Since this is becoming more about my hubby the me being a wife, I'll list the top five things I love about him!

1. He's a puppet! (we joke around about this - he actually is a puppeteer, but sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between the puppet and the puppeteer.) I always said I'd marry a man with an accent....he has (at least) TWELVE!
2. Not much keeps Ed from laughing. I fall down, he'll laugh but help me up. He does something stupid and he laughs at it. He has helped me be less serious about EVERYTHING and I hope I've helped him be a little more serious! :)
3. He's a great daddy to our girls. He reads to them EVERY. NIGHT. He prays with them. He plays with them. He teaches them. He takes them places with him to give me a break. They adore him!!
4. He has a great sense of loyalty to his family and mine. No matter what's going on with anyone, he's loyal.
5. He loves Jesus "first most of all." It was made very clear that Jesus is Ed's first love (not me). And I'm okay with that! It makes it okay for me to love Jesus first, too! And sets the example for our girls to love Jesus first.

I love my husband and love being a wife to him! I desire to be the best wife possible to him all the days of my life!

Crazy windy day for taking pictures! 

At Ed's favorite place - the beach!

Day 2 - Mom

One of my greatest joys in life is my girls. I adore them without reservation and while there are days that they drive me nuts, I am crazy about them. They both bring me so much joy.

K is 8 and seems to be just like me. In spite of that, she and I get along quite well (we'll see how that goes in the teen years). She is a good companion on trips to run errands. She also has lots of insights...and questions! But I love the way she thinks because it makes me think of new ideas. One of the things we like to do together is be crafty. Whether sewing, painting, or random craft making, I enjoy spending time with my beloved firstborn.

L is 5 and we call her "The Barbarian." For good reason, of course! A good eater and sleeper as a baby, she turned into The Barbarian around the time she started moving around. There was nothing she would not crawl on or slide off. She's full of questions and silliness. And like her father, we think she may possess some mad puppet skillz! She helps me remember that I need to lighten up and not be too serious all the time.

I'm blessed to be able to take them to school some days before work and pick them up every day after school. Our afternoons are full of homework, chores, playtime, coloring, and some video time. But through it all, I love the day in and day out stuff that goes with being a mom!

#write31days

Last night (right before I went to bed) I discovered this lovely challenge to write all 31 days in October. http://write31days.com/
I'm gonna do it! Since I was in bed on my phone, I didn't have access to this blog so I posted on my instagram account. Specifically here: Hollydays12 Instagram

So this morning, I got my button ready...

And I'm ready to write...here...on this blog....scary! Vulnerable! My post for today will actually come later today...this one isn't it. But I will keep the links to all 31 days here. I look forward to sharing more about me and my musings throughout the month! See you then!

Links to other posts (added each day)

Day 1: Instagram - Who Am I?

Day 2: Mom

Day 3: Wife

Day 4: Vacuumer

Day 5: Cereal Consumer

Day 6: Daughter of the most high God

Day 7 & 8: Crafter

Dave Ramsey Does It Again

About 5 years ago, Ed and I started listening to the FPU cds from Dave Ramsey. They changed everything we did with our finances and changed our family and marriage in ways I never expected. Now, Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruze are about to release a new book called Smart Money, Smart Kids.



I got an email a few weeks about signing up to be part of the book launch team. Amazingly, I got chosen to be part of the team! I have been given an advance ebook and have been reading it! The book reads like a conversation....as if Dave and Rachel are sitting with you in your living room. That's my kind of book! From what I've read, this book is going to help my family develop some great tactics to train up the kiddos to be smart with money. I've already got a few ideas brewing as I read more!

So, if you want to get your family started (or even continue) on their way to financial freedom, check out this book! It's coming soon and there are lots of fun goodies if you preorder now! You can check out some more details for that offer here and I'll post more about my thoughts on the book later!

Mommy Instincts

You know that feeling you get when something is going to happen or maybe you need to rethink things before something happens....my friend calls it "Mommy Gut." I call it a God-given mommy instinct that helps me protect those I love. I recently had a mommy instinct moment...

We were on vacation and being on vacation means I have to search through online menus before going to a restaurant and ask a lot of questions at the restaurants because my daughter has some food allergies. Normally we deal with nuts and milk, but nothing else (she's a picky eater). We went to a place while we were out one day and I didn't have time to check out the menu beforehand. We asked a lot of questions and decided she would split fish and chips with my husband.

The food arrived and as I was getting ketchup for her, I had an image float through my mind of the sheet of allergens from the allergist. At the top left was cod...it just so happens that the fish we ordered was cod. I questioned myself several time, but ultimately decided to go with my mommy gut. I told my husband not to let her eat it.

Fast forward a few days later, we got home and dug up the allergy sheet. At the top left of the page was listed cod. I'm grateful #1 to have Mommy gut or Mommy instinct and #2 that I listened to it. I can only imagine what kinds of things we might have dealt with if I had talked myself out of it. So, if you get those "feelings" sometimes, go with it.