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FINALLY, we have a negotiator assigned to our case! Larry, our realtor, said that Countrywide had told him that we should know if they will accept the short sale of our house in Milford within a week. Now, I am not sure, if that is the same week that we were told before, we could be waiting 2 more months. Hopefully not though and we will be able to stop thinking about the seemingly endless situation and the buyer can happily move into his new home and we can be done with all the headaches (not to mention avoid foreclosure as well)! Anyway, we will keep you posted and we all hope this saga will end soon.

Matt has his first bookfair tomorrow. It is a good distance away, but the day ends fairly early so he should be home early. I hope that we have good success up here in Maine, and I hope that I have enough strength and rest to take care of these two munchkins! They are great kids, I just want to be a good mom to them, and I need to have enough sleep at night to get me through the long days. Hannah is so entertaining and she is such a big helper around here... and Mason is down to one feeding at night, that is a very good thing! He has such a personality and it has begun to show this week!

Well, I need to get some things done around here before Hannah gets back from her trip to the bank with daddy! Until next time!

Why is it that just in time for my bookfair season to start, diesel prices have jumped up to almost $4 a gallon? I may be ignorant of exactly how the industry works, but I don't understand how the price can fluxuate by half a dollor in the course of a week! Or why it goes UP so quickly in the event of a world crisis, but takes forever to come back down, if it comes down at all!

Oh well, I guess I'm just another spoiled American looking for something to complain about!

Things are finally starting to fall into place around here...

Most everything is unpacked and as close to it's final place as is possible.  I have cleaned the floors in the Family Room, Dining Room and Hallway.  The washing of the floors is what we have been looking forward to since we have moved in - it means that everything in those rooms is settled and there will be no more moving of boxes in or out of those rooms!  Next on the list is the Living Room (a few more boxes of office stuff near the computer), and the Laundry Room and Kitchen are ready to clean.

The major construction projects that we had coming into the house are complete.  Just some minor aesthetic things to take care of: a valence to hide the wiring on the kitchen cabinets,  toe kicks and fillers for the cabinets, and a little bit of plaster patching where I had to snake wires through the wall.

I think I've figured out that about an hour of every day needs to be devoted to snow removal.  Tuesday, I spent several hours moving back snowbanks along the driveway to make room for more snow that was to come in overnight.  I moved the barbeque, lawn mowers and wheelbarrow away from the barn door and cleared the last ten feet of driveway (the car can now go all the way to the door!).  Yesterday, I used the snowblower to clear both driveways of about one foot of snow.  With no broken shear bolts, it wasalmost a pleasure to use the snowblower!  Yesterday, I spent the last half of the afternoon clearing the snow off of the shallow-pitched roofs of the house.  There was 3½-4 feet on most of those.  Then this morning, I spent about an hour cleaning up a "dusting" (about an inch) of snow that fell overnight.  If I don't clear that off of the driveway, it acts as an insulative layer that prevents the ice underneath from melting, while at the same time packing and becoming slippery itself - so it had to go while it was still powder!

Business seems to be falling into place as well.  Our first shipment was delivered to a friend's shop on the main street of Dexter with no problems.  I'm in the process of sorting out the garage and getting it set up with shelves so that bookfairs can go into full swing.  Bob will be helping me wire the garage for light (and probably a couple of outlets so I can have a place to plug in the electric heaters!) at some point in the next few days.  I'll be strapping shelves up so that we can unload books from the boxes to make pulling go as quickly as possible during the season.

Our first bookfair is a week from today.  Bob is going to come with me to set up an event at an insurance company in South Portland.  Everyone is pretty excited about starting up.  I'm excited to get back to work, the people that are having the bookfairs are excited to have a "real" bookfair again (it's been a few years), and Books Are Fun is excited to have a rep like me in the territory.

Thanks everyone for the prayers and support through our tranistion to Maine.  Please keep our New Hampshire house in prayer, as we are still waiting to hear back from our bank regarding the short sale.  We are waiting for an agent to be assigned to our case; meanwhile, we have not been paying the mortgage on that house, and we are now almost three months behind, so there's a good chance that the bank will be starting the foreclosure process at the same time that it's dragging it's feet to close the sale - it's all very frustrating!

Well, slowly but surely things are starting to fall into place around here. Matt has been working with the guys to make our kitchen and the laundry room much more functional as well as aesthetically pleasing! They are wrapping up the laundry room today, actually! The kitchen looks so different, it is almost unbelievable! I can't wait til all of the "construction" is done so we can get the last bit of stuff in order around here. Matt is still working on wiring the under cabinet lights in the kitchen, but it is mostly done in there! The other night, I was making some spinach dip, the spinach thawed just fine in the microwave, but when I went to put the rest of the dip in, the thing went haywire, making a terrible sound, and an awful smell and died. So we had to go out the next day and buy a new microwave (when it rains... it pours), but it was a good excuse to go ahead and get the over the range microwave and finish the kitchen! We will be putting up some pictures of the finished projects soon!

We are trying to get the last few boxes and tubs emptied so we can get the floors all nice and clean again, and call it home! Little by little it is coming together... it is taking a bit longer than expected because of our two little needy kiddos, and some projects along the way, but alas it is coming!

We were shipped our first order of books yesterday! 5 skids of new books, can't wait to see what's inside!! Anyway, we are renting some storage space from one of the guys that Bob knows, he owns a flooring store on the main drag through Dexter and we thought it would be a better idea than trying to have a semi get into our driveways... as they are both covered with about 6 inches of ice right now. This works out well because he has a fork lift that he can just lift the skids off the truck and we don't have to work too hard at getting them all unloaded while the truck driver waits around. Seems to have worked out well! Hopefully we will be getting our garage cleaned out soon, as soon as we empty the trailer of the last load from Milford, we can put the bookfair back in there, and that will help tremendously! Things are starting to fall into place!

As for the kids, they are doing great! Hannah continues to amaze us on a daily basis, and Mason is growing so much everyday... it is unbelievable! He is starting to stay awake more often during the day and has been going about 5 hours at night, then another 4 hour stint too! So that is good, however, I still feel very sleep deprived. I will be glad when we are done moving in entirely, and I can not worry about doing SO much during the course of a day. We need to find a Dr. around here very soon for Mason, as he is coming up on 2 months in a week, and needs to have a round of shots. I am excited to see what he is weighing in at these days, he is a BIG boy!! Oh, he is sure cute!! I hope you all enjoyed the new batch of pics we posted!! Hannah has been such a great big sister, she is a big helper and she is really learning how to be a good mommy to all her little babies! She makes us smile so much! And, Praise the Lord, she is back on a nap schedule!! I am so glad, it has been really hard the last couple of months of her nap strike... I really need that little bit of quiet, even though Mason is usually nursing for most of it...Anyway! Another praise, after 2 months of nursery strike, Hannah went into the nursery at church this week, and stayed! Without screaming the whole time! Matt and I were actually able to stay in the service without her sitting on our laps and fidgeting! That is a big relief, and she said she had fun and actually wants to go back again on Sunday! We shall see how that goes! Hopefully that little phase is over! I think she is really enjoying being up here, she asks everyday to "See Matthew"! And it is really neat just to have Bob and Kelly drop by on a whim... it is great to be neighbors!! (And thanks you guys, for all the meals, and for all the help with the many projects around here - we appreciate you so much!)

Well, I suppose there is something to be doing, actually it is Hannah's naptime... guess I will get her up there and maybe enjoy a little reading time while Mason is taking a nap too!! Have a great weekend, and make the most of the last bit of February!! Until next time! (Stay tuned for more pictures!)

Well, we finally have things settled enough so that I can get some new pictures uploaded.

The last two months of Hannah's size comparison pictures have been uploaded.

A new album has been created for Mason's size comparison pictures.

Two pictures that were taken on one of our trips to Maine a few weeks ago have been added to the travel album.

Rather than maintaining two seperate albums for the kids, I've decided that the best way to get pictures posted would be to go by dates rather than by age (since both kids are in many of the pictures). So, a new album has been created for January and February of this year.

Going forward, I should be able to keep up with the pictures as we take them again!

We are back on-line, but we are trying to get our life in order in our new place. We have several pictures to upload at some point, and a few size comparisons to get up there as well. But we wanted to let you all know we are alive and well, and trying to get unpacked and make this new place home!

We will be updating again very soon, so keep checking!!

We will be temporarily disconnected from phone and internet during our move.  Early on the morning of February 1st, our New Hampshire phone service will be shut down and our Maine phone service started.  However, we will not quite be in Maine by that time.  Our moving day is February 5th, so it may be the 6th or 7th before we get the computer hooked up and back online up there.

SO... if you need to get ahold of us over the weekend, please use our cell phones!  If you call our NH number, you'll get a pre-recorded message notifying you of the change in number; if you call our Maine number, you'll get no answer because we haven't even gotten up there to plug in an answering machine yet; if you send us an email, it may go unresponded-to for almost a week.  We'll be keeping our cell numbers through the move, and at least until the summer when our contract with Verizon Wireless expires.

I find myself stuck with a sleeping baby on my shoulder at the moment, and the girls are both resting. I guess I'll take a moment to update this website, since Heather has updated the Xanga site about our latest goings-on.

We've got our house in Milford mostly packed up. All that remains are the things that we've been using for daily living. All of the pictures are off of the walls, all of the bookshelves are empty. Kind of sad, but it's a chapter in our life that is coming to an end. We are very excited to see what the Lord has in store for us in the next chapter though!

February fifth is the big day. I'll be renting a big Penske truck, loading it up the evening before and driving north at the crack of dawn on the fifth. The electricity has already been turned on for us, the initial shipment of oil has been delivered, the realtor will be un-winterizing the house tomorrow, Bob has been keeping both driveways plowed, and there is a small crew of very excited friends in Maine that can't wait to start cleaning for us so the house will be ready when we get there!

All of the business stuff is already up there. I made a trip last Wednesday. I emptied the garage of inventory, loaded it in the trailer and the back of the truck. I took Hannah and gave mommy a quiet(er) day last Wednesday. I left my trailer up there and brought Bob's flatbed trailer back with me. So next Tuesday when we drive up, we'll have the Penske truck, my truck with a flatbed with the Jeep on it, and Heather's car. That should be enough room to empty everything out of the house here.

Well, Hannah is up and asking for attention, and Mason is starting to stir. I know that I still have to get pictures of the new house up here, I haven't forgotten! I'll do my best, but it may not be until after we unpack and get settled up north!

What a crazy week it's been!

I have called all of my bookfair accounts in the Boston area to let them know who their new Books Are Fun representatives will be, and I've yet to begin calling all of my new Maine accounts to introduce myself and confirm the scheduling!

I made a trip to Home Depot the other day to get new bathroom accessories and flush-mount ceiling light fixtures for the house in Milford.  Part of the offer on the house was that the buyer wanted the ceiling fans - in our counter-offer we pulled that out, and in his counter-counter offer, he requested that light fixtures be put in their place.  So I guess he really didn't want the fans, just the lights.  So all of those fixtures have been replaced, and those fixtures that we know and love are ready to go with us to the next house.

I've begun packing things up around the house.  It's hard to know what to pack in what order.  I've started attacking the things that I know we won't need again before we move, and I'm trying really hard not to pack anything that we won't need at all!  I rolled up the carpet in the dining room, and disassembled the futon.  That will be the staging area as we pack up the rest of the house.  I've emptied one bookshelf out of the office into boxes, and that already takes up one wall of the dining room.  I have a feeling that we're going to need the largest truck that Penske rents to get us up to Maine!

We're also trying to get together with everyone at least one more time before we have to move away.... our lease officially starts on 2/1 in Maine.  The buyer has requested a closing date of 2/13, so that gives us a two-week window.  I couldn't ask for better timing if I was planning it!  We've already got bookfairs scheduled in Maine starting the first week of March, so we'll just be jumping right into things up there!

Exciting times! 

Well, we did it!

Today, we signed the lease papers for a house in Maine! The lease officially starts on February first. It is a HUGE victorian house with an attached carriage shed that will give plenty of room for the businesses (current and future). I'll take some pictures in the morning and post some of them up here so everyone can get a sneak peek.

Also...

A few hours after we signed the papers about the house in Maine, our realtor called and let us know that we had an offer for our house in Milford! We'll be in touch with our bank to see what they will do with the offer as it would apply to the outstanding loan. Our home will also be featured on the front page of the Nashua Telegraph for the weekend - so we may have a few more showings and perhaps another offer or two come out of that (hopefully!). It'd be fun to see a bidding war for our house!

I'll keep the page updated as things unfold! Thanks for all of the prayers! We're excited to see what the Lord has in store for us here!