Settled

A month ago, I wouldn’t have believed how settled and content I would be by this time. Our home is looking like we have lived here forever. The pictures are hung and the closets, full. After Christmas, Jack built me some beautiful shelves in the guest bedroom for all my scrapbooking and jewelry making supplies and Jack’s drawing and carpentry books. We now have a comfy place to play and create! (When we don’t have guests.) We are slowly working on clearing out the third bedroom – all the boxes that didn’t have a home – ended up in there. This will be our prayer and mediation room, also home for all our rocks, crystals and the library.

This past weekend, Jack and I worked to clear the floor in our garage. We have storage up in the attic so we moved a lot of “stuff” up there. We kept all the boxes from our most recent move – in anticipation of the next move to our land – and they are nicely tucked away as well. Yesterday, I actually parked our car in the garage! If you were one of the lucky ones and saw our garage in Eden Prairie before we moved, you would understand my excitement!

For now, all my lawn ornaments, tools and new garden dreams are packed in tubs and boxes along one side of the garage. Because of weather and Jack being on call (no cell phone service) we have only been out to our land once since we arrived in Arkansas. (We haven’t been to the crystal mine at all!) Our goal is to clear the underbrush on our land by ourselves and keep as many of the trees as possible – safe – while we build our house. If the covenant for the land allows, we will put up a shed and move the garden treasures out there right away. I am also hoping to start a garden on our land right away this spring. But first, we will have to figure out where the house is going to go!

Our house here in Benton is flanked by vacant lots on both sides. I recently learned that the builder creating this development went out of business last fall, due to bankruptcy. Most of the vacant lots and three unfinished houses are tied up in the bankruptcy proceedings. Can you believe, for $125,000 you could own a brand new three bedroom home with a 2 car garage (1,800 square feet) down here! If we weren't thinking of building in the next year, we would certainly consider it!

This leads us to believe that the two lots on either side of us will not be built on anytime soon! What I see are two huge gardens with flowers on one side and vegetables on the other. And if I stick close to the property line, even if a house went in, I would most likely be able to harvest my crop by fall! One of the neighbors has done a nice job of dropping grass clippings (compost) on the lot so I will just need to bring in a little black dirt to amend the soil!

Settled. It feels good. It feels like home. And it’s just the beginning.

Happy New Year!

New Years Blessings to each and every one of you! It’s going to be a wonderful year! I hear some of you asking how that can be possible with the war and our financial crisis; look at the state of the world we live in! Well, I am an optimist! And, in this part of the world today, the sun is shining and gentle breeze is blowing from the south! It speaks to me of new and fresh beginnings. The light of the birth we just celebrated drapes over the earth offering a promise – of hope.

We are in a new home in a new state and that calls for new beginnings and traditions. One of our first new beginnings was how we celebrated Christmas. We found a new church in Little Rock and celebrated Christmas Eve with our new Unity family! Also celebrating there for the first time was our new pastor. She had just arrived from Champaign Illinois and her first official duty was to officiate the Christmas candle light service. As our candles burned, we were each invited to bring the light of Christ into our heart center and fill our entire being with Christ’s light. It was pretty cool! After the service, we had an opportunity to talk with the pastor and her husband and found out she spent the first half of her life – In Eden Prairie, MN our old home town! We have so much in common and we look forward to getting to know each other!

After church, Jack and I were hungry. We had a half hour drive home ahead of us and nothing in the oven waiting for us. So, we stopped at a Chinese Buffet! Wasn’t there a movie about this! It was great, except that we ate too much! Every time the staff came to our table to check on us, they would wish us a Merry Christmas! With no one expecting us out of bed early on Christmas morning, we slept in late. After breakfast, we jumped in the car and headed to Benton. We were going to go hiking, but with Jack on call for work, we didn’t want to get too far away from civilization and the phone towers. Instead, we checked out the historic buildings in the city and scanned their energy! Arkansas actually saw some Civil War action and there were several buildings that are still standing from that era! We did a meditation at one of the buildings and had fun sharing our insights with each other! We were pleased we both saw a similar event. After a movie at the local theater, we headed home – this time a ham dinner was waiting for us in the oven.

With all of our loved ones - friends and family, so far away we will not be having our traditional New Year’s Eve Party this year. Instead we have decided to create a new tradition. Today I turned off the furnace and opened the windows! I decided to clear the energy of my home from the drama of the move and what ever else was lurking in the corners! Tomorrow night Jack and I will burn sage and clear our home of 2008 energy and welcome in 2009! Who knows, we may even go to bed before midnight! We are also looking at taking a river cruise to bring in the New Year. The piano player at our church is a local entertainer and he will be providing the music on the cruise. He invited the entire congregation to come join him!

A new year awaits us all. I pray this year brings you your heart’s desire, for our highest good. Blessings and Peace to you all!

Blues and Blessings!

My computer is nearly dead. Our modem is fried but limping along. When using the laptop, I am unceremoniously dumped off the Internet on average every 10 minutes. A power surge is the implied culprit but I wonder... But Merry Christmas - there are always blessings in all events, right!

So what are the implications of an altered computer life? OK, we have the laptop that Jack and I share, but that's just darn right hard for maintaining a blog site. No software has been added to the laptop as we have to find the box with the software first. This means no new photos on the blog for awhile, until I can find the Adobe software. More importantly I need to find the little box that holds the chips, so that I can download the photos. And then there is the battle of cats for my lap - the laptop comes out and both cats fight for my attention. . . the challenge of balancing a laptop while keeping the cat from knocking it on the floor. Typing on a laptop keypad does not thrill me either as it is so small! I thought I could continue typing out my blog entries on my computer and transfer over to the laptop, but my computer will not even cooperate enough to do that! I am done complaining, I would much rather move on to the blessings.

I have already decided to rethink all the bedrooms. We have a small storage problem and my solution is bookcases that we can move to our new house. I am adding them to the currently under-utilized guest bedroom as this is the perfect place for me to work on my jewelry and scrapbooks. In this way I will use a space that is empty - except when guests come. It just seemed like such a waste of space not using the room at all!

Last Friday after a week of fog, frost and ice, the sun came out and we experienced a beautiful day in the upper 60's. I think I spent the entire morning outside. I even weeded part of my front flower bed. Have I mentioned that inpatients are still in bloom here? Most of the weeds are still bright green too! Then I took an hour long walk around my new neighborhood. I met a few people so that helped ground me better into this place. There are at least 5 houses that are for sale and about three where construction was started, but stopped because of the bad housing market. Mixed in on all three streets are a bunch of vacant lots. It creates some weird energy! Jack reminded me that this development is only a year old so most of the neighbors are new to the area as well! I think we are going to have to plan some type of a spring get to your neighbors event! We could all benefit from getting to know each other!

This weekend Jack was not on call so we went on several adventures. On Saturday we had to experience the diamond mind. No, we didn't find a diamond, nor did anyone else there find one while we were looking - oh except perhaps the guys on the tree line with the permanent wood and tin shelters. We are told they were professional minors. These guys dig big holes and then bring up bucket loads of sand that they run through a slough. We heard an occasional hoot and holler from them. From there Jack and I traveled to an ancient Indian burial mound site called Ka Ho Da. Here, archeologist's had actually dug up the mounds and replicas on the bones and pottery were left in the holes for all to see. Out of respect, the original bones were turned over to the local tribes and reburied. There was also a nice museum where we learned allot about the area and the ancient tribes that used this land first.

On Sunday we headed to the Unity Church in Little Rock. We met some really awesome people and liked the programs they have to offer. We will most likely make this our church home for now. After a nice lunch at the Cracker Barrel, we headed East to the Toltec State Park to view more ancient Indian burial mounds. This site was really fascinating and we have decided it deserves a return visit. The mounds were misidentified as Toltec in the late 1800's but the name was never changed. The site did belong to an ancient indigenous tribe that disappeared about 1000 years ago. The interesting thing about this place was the design. The site was built as an astrological calendar. The mounds were used to identify important dates like the solstices and equinoxes. It appears the area was used mainly by shamans, chiefs and the like and for celebrations and ceremonies. Of the original 18 mounds (last seen in the 1950's)only three mounds remain. The dirt from the other 15 mounds was used by farmers in the area to fill in low spots in their fields. So far only one of the remaining mounds was identifed as used for actual burials. If you want to know more, come visit and we will take you for a look of your own! We took some awesome photos, but posting those will have to wait until we can work out the details, or get my computer fixed.

Well, it's two days until the holiday and one of my love gifts to Jack is to have as much of this place organized as possible. I think I am even going to attempt a trip to Home Depot on my own!!! Don't tell anyone - It's a surprise!

Merry Christmas and Holiday Blessings to each and every one of you! We hold you all in our loving heart this holiday season and through out the year.

The Drivers License Experience

When we first got to town, we spent some time looking for the DMV office. You have to realize, Benton is only 27,000 people so it’s pretty small. The city itself is only several blocks long but we couldn’t find the DMV! Several days later, at Wal-Mart, we cornered a cop and got directions. We didn’t actually write down the directions, but we had a pretty good idea of where he was talking about (remember, the town is very small) and we figured we would find it easy enough.

After shopping, we went looking again. We found the building where we thought he told us to look, but it was locked up tighter than a drum – with no hours listed anywhere on the building and no signage. We went back on Saturday – still closed.

On the following Monday, Jack swung by the place to find out what we would need to bring in as proof of identification. The building was open this time, but it was the wrong place. Jack was directed to go down a block and around the corner to a very non-descript building - the county “Annex” building. There he was directed to the Revenue office (no DMV here). Once there, he was told that he needed his birth certificate or a pass port as well as his license. To transfer the car, he would need the title, proof of insurance and registration.

We went back with all the guns loaded – we had every piece of paper they requested – plus some. The clerk asked Jack for his birth certificate and then turned to me and said I would need my birth certificate and my marriage license. And, if I had been married multiple times, I would need copies of all the licenses so that I could prove I was the same person as on the birth certificate – they needed to see the name change progression… I didn’t have that piece of paper! I was pulling all the rest of the paperwork out of my purse and my passport fell out – she laughed and said never mind, a pass port was perfect! Whew!!! Saved by my pass port!! But, she didn’t want to do anything with us yet, we had to get our car accessed first. I want to point out that at no time were we asked to take a written test to change over our drivers licenses.

Ok, now it was getting fun. Everything in Arkansas has to be assessed for taxes before you can get the permits. We were told to go to the Assessors office. Fortunately that was right down at the other end of the hall. At the Assessors office we were told that we wouldn’t have to pay anything for this year and we would need to remember to file an assessment in January for 2009. They don’t send reminders; this is just something you have to remember to do! We will be assessed in 2009 but we don’t pay the assessment until 2010. The statement for the assessment will come in March; but we don’t pay anything until October. So, by the time we start paying our assessments on the car, we will have lived here for almost two years! By then, we will be living in a new county and it will start all over again!

Ok, we now had this slip of paper that said our assessment for 2008 was $0. But, before we could return to the Revenue office for the plate, we had to get our piece of paper stamped at the Collectors office so everyone knew we didn’t owe anything. Fortunately again, the Collectors office was in the same building; at the other end of the hall. We got our paper stamped and headed back to the Revenue Office.

We got a new clerk at the Revenue office, so we had to pull all the paperwork out again. Now, we had all the right papers for the car; the process went quickly. I had everything for my driver’s license, that went quickly too. Now it was Jack’s turn. Someone in Arkansas has the same initials and birthday as Jack. Another whole process took place to make sure it was not our Jack. We finally got to pay our $71.60 and moved over to the camera. In less than 2 minutes, we had Arkansas driver’s licenses in our hands and we were officially Arkansas ( pronounced Ark- kansions) residents. We were directed to go next to the Chamber of Commerce (a different building – around the corner and down the street) where we were loaded down with books and brochures on everything you would want to know about Benton and the surrounding area. Most importantly, we got a phone book! We’re set now!!!

Baby it's cold outside!

I know, we have it easy. I am just sympathizing with everyone in Minnesota! My first clue that the cold was on it's way came from my daughter, Brittany. She called to let me know she was tucked up nice and warm in her Moorhead house while outside, the worst blizzard in over 10 years was raging. She had at least 7 inches of snow at the time and the wind chill was -42.

Ok, it gets cold in Arkansas too! And just because we are so far south, doesn't mean that Jack can't wear his Minnesota warmest! While the rest of the north shivered under an artic cold front, we got the tail end of the storm with temps around freezing. It's still cold!!! Here is Jack coming home from a long day at work. His cats are there to greet him!

Arkansas Living

Jack and I joined a club the other night – Applebee’s of Benton. Membership was free but required if we wanted to stay to have dinner. We buried the hostess in questions and when we paused to breathe she informed us that Saline County was “dry” and Applebee’s had a bar. Seems it is illegal to bring alcohol across the county line and those choosing to do so and risk getting caught, face a very steep fine. And they do ticket! The only way to drink in Saline County is to go to a club. I am now a member of my first Arkansas club! I told Jack there is no reason for us to go back there – except that I really like their Oriental Chicken Salad! Another reason not to go back; I like Coke products and the Applebee’s here only serves Pepsi.

It seems unreal that we have been in Arkansas a week. My washer and dryer were delivered today so I am happy. Funny how having access to washing clothes makes everything rosy! I have unpacked what I want and stuffed the rest in corners, closets and along walls. Eventually we will need to move the boxes into the garage. I figure there is no point in unpacking all the photos, albums, books, and the plethora of garden accessories we own. These can stay in boxes until the next move. The guest bedroom is set up and the bed is made – we are ready for visitors!

I can’t believe I actually mentioned the next move – I haven’t recovered from this one yet! We have no idea when the next move will take place as it looks like no decisions have been made on the location of the Walgreen’s depot. If the depot is located in Little Rock we will stay here longer, if it’s located in Benton, we will start building our house next year. Currently the “depot” consists of a closet in a 24 hour store and a recently added storage space somewhere in Little Rock. Jack got his new phone on Monday but no computer yet and he has a vehicle, but no gas card. He is talking about building a work bench in our garage so he has a place to work on equipment. His boss has to approve that first!

I have been taking stock of what is available in Benton, Arkansas – population 27,000. There are no psychic groups or classes, no new age stores, no CJ Banks or Sprint stores. Our nearest US Bank is in Little Rock. We do have all the basic eating establishments like Arby’s, Mac Donald’s, Burger King and KFC. And, unless I want to commute (30 miles) to Little Rock; my employment opportunities consist of retail at Wal-Mart, Best Buy or Home Depot. I was very happy to find a Home Depot about 3 miles from our house! It’s my favorite store so Jack is leery of me working there. Something about never seeing a paycheck…We found a Course in Miracles evening class and a Unity church – both in Hot Springs – population 35,000. Hot Springs is about a half an hour drive from here and when we move again, will be what we consider our home town. Our land and favorite quartz mine are 45 minutes and an hour away, respectively.

I still can’t talk to the kids on the phone without crying and we were sad that we couldn’t be with Jack’s parents after their nasty car accident (they are fine) or with Jean (our dear friend) as she went through surgery. Saturday, Jack is taking me to the mine for some crystal digging. Yup, it’s supposed to hit 60 again by Sunday! And, by the end of next month, I am told spring comes to Arkansas.

It’s all coming together – with time.

Miracles, Blessings and Signs

Miracles, blessings, and signs; we looked for these to confirm we were on the right path with this move! Our trip was filled with these and we were thankful for the guidance.

We didn’t consider driving a 26’ truck with a 12’ trailer attached an easy task. Thankfully, Jack’s concerns about driving the huge truck never materialized. We never had any problems maneuvering in and out of gas stations – I was always able to park on the other side of the truck so that we could fuel up together. The roads were wide and we hit minimal road construction. Our hotels were easy to find and had parking spots for the huge truck! The clerks would wave off the pet deposits or give us computer cables – again with no deposits. Our rooms were clean and smelled very fresh. The cats ate and drank and used their litter box.

I realized the first night at our hotel in Iowa that I didn’t have my cable to charge my phone. After spending the day talking to the Realtor, family, friends and Jack; my phone was almost dead. We would have to drive the next two days without voice contact unless we could come up with a solution. I began manifesting. While driving, I decided I would ask Jack to stop at a truck stop so that we could buy a car charger for my phone. Or, if we saw a Sprint store, we could stop. At 1:00 I flashed my headlights and passed Jack. It was his turn to follow and I headed down an off ramp looking for lunch. I had seen a sign for Applebee’s and decided that we needed some together time. After ordering our salads, we asked the waitress if there was Sprint store nearby. To our amazement she pointed out the window and there was a Sprint store. Right next door! Instead of buying a charger for my two year old phone, I got a new phone instead – for free with their rebate program. And, because Jack and I had the same phone, we bought a car charger that would work for both of us.

On the second night of our journey, we had to leave the main highway and take the business loop to get to our hotel. I had made reservations at cat friendly hotels so that the cats could come inside with us. Jack wasn’t thrilled about driving the truck through the city, but it went ok, even though we had a small problem finding the hotel. The next morning, we realized the loop to our hotel delivered us across the street from the entrance to the highway we would take to Little Rock. And a gas station with high awnings was right across the street! What a blessing!

We did not have a key for our rental house. I started calling the rental office as soon as we hit Arkansas. The guy I needed to talk to was not in the office and he wasn’t returning my calls. I called the main office as we hit Little Rock and explained the problem to the receptionist. The solution? She had us pull off the freeway and she personally delivered the key to us. We stopped at a gas station to wait for her and filled up our tanks. Within minutes she was there – we had the key and were on our way.

As we circled around Little Rock and came through Benton, another problem was solved. Just before the exit that would take us to our house Jack spotted a U-Haul rental center. Until this point, we had no idea where we would be returning the truck and trailer. We were thrilled that the place was less than a couple miles from our house.

We arrived at our house and we had no power or water. I had previously arranged for the electricity to be turned on that day– but the person at the other end of the line neglected to tell me that it could take three days from the install date to actually get it turned on. She apologized and said she would make a call. We left right away to get the water turned on. You had to appear in person at the water place and show an id. We paid the fee and presented our drivers licenses. The receptionist said the water would be on within 24 hours – most likely the next day. I start reading a fax they had sent to me and the other receptionist asked “are you from MN?” I said yes, and she informed us that someone would be out immediately to turn on our water. They were expecting us and had allotted time for our water to be turned on as soon as we arrived! We took a slow route home – via the post office - and by the time we arrived, both the electricity and water were working. What a blessing!

We know we are home, we know we are where we are supposed to be. I thank God for the miracles, blessings and signs that confirmed our move, all the way here!

Cats and Cars

Cats and cars don’t mix. Cats definitely don’t like riding in anything that moves. Our cats were no exception!

I pulled the lucky straw and began the trip with both cats in my car. Stu had already let us know on the way to signing the house closing papers that he didn’t like this adventure at all. He voiced his opinion rather loudly. After dropping Jack off at the truck and moving the cats in their carriers to the front seat of the car, we started out on our journey south. Stu was not any happier in the front seat than he was in the back of the car. I let him out first.

For the first hour Stu crawled around my lap and behind my legs – voicing his opinion as loudly as possible. There was no way I could slip into my thoughts and feel sad about leaving – I had an unhappy cat on my lap and he wasn’t letting me forget! I finally pulled out my i pod and turned on Celtic Woman music. I played Celtic Woman music all the time at home so I knew the cats were used to it! Immediately, Stu quieted down. Still behind my ankles on the floor; he proceeded to go to sleep. I let Jool out next.

Jool wasn’t quite as upset as Stu, she voiced her opinion much less frequently. She came out, circled around in the car and settled on my lap to sleep. After a while she awoke and went to check on Stu – I wasn’t comfortable with two cats in my foot area so I moved her out and she settled on my lap again. About that time, Stu decided he didn’t like the floor anymore, and he wanted to be on my lap. Jool moved back into her carrier. This circulating movement from floor to lap to carrier continued for several hours. At no point did I have trouble driving, it was just awkward with the cats moving around.

I noticed the cats were oblivious of each other in their attempts to get my attention. At our second rest stop I asked Jack if he would like a traveling companion. I offered him Jool as she was the happier of the two. He accepted and from that point forward, the cats kept us each company. At the beginning of each day, Stu would let me know how unhappy he was about riding in the moving vehicle. Then, he would settle in behind my ankles and quiet down. Jool would crawl under Jack’s seat as there was a huge open space in the truck! We would hear from them occasionally when the mood struck them. And sporadically they would surface and climb on our laps for attention. Jack had a tough time on the last day. Jool didn’t like the mountains and was very vocal about her discomfort – and she wasn’t even driving!!! We believe the pressure change in the mountains was bothering her ears. Stu sort of shut down and played dead – he accepted his fate.

They were both very happy cats when we pulled up to the house and unloaded them inside. We quickly added possessions from the trailer to make them feel more at home. We were happier too!

The Move

Time. That is what I needed to put between this blog entry and our move. Time brings healing and I needed a lot of it – physical and emotional. I can write this entry now.

I knew that the physical act of moving would be painful. I knew I would feel immense emotion as well. And since that is what I manifested, that is what I got! The days blur in my memory now. But this I remember – our last week in Minnesota was full.

On the Wednesday before our move and Thanksgiving Day, we moved Chris’ possessions into a storage locker. On Friday we drove two cars to Moorhead. My Beetle Bug stayed behind, to live with Brittany. We delivered the trailer to Don and Gloria. Saturday was Matt’s moving day and it took the entire day. I didn’t realize the guy owned so much! Oh wait, he didn’t, it was all the stuff I unloaded on him… Sunday morning we moved more to Chris’ storage locker and then moved Chris to his new home. With each goodbye my heart ached, but I knew the kids were on their own adventure now too. I shed my tears and then moved on.

After months of not being able to see the garage, we were surprised by the amount of stuff we had in the garage that needed to be dealt with. We had no time to sort – everything would go in boxes to be gone through later in Arkansas. It was close to noon on Sunday and we had received several cancellation calls - I wondered if I ordered too much pizza and if we would be able to get everything done in time.

At noon, Gerry, Patty and kids were the first to show up to help load the U-Haul. I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of what we had to accomplish with so few and went into overdrive. By 1:00 more family and friends began to show up and I breathed a sigh of relief. Our closing was set for Monday at noon – we had less than 24 hours to pack up all our possessions and clean the house. And then there was the garage...

We ordered a 24’ truck; God delivered a 26’ truck. We were supposed to pick up the car carrier at the same time, but a last minute problem at U-Haul meant we would have to go to Prior Lake to pick it up. We decided to do that on Monday on our way out of town. As it turned out, we never picked up the car carrier. By 6:00 p.m.the truck was almost full – but we still had furniture in the house and boxes, tubs and garbage in the garage. Jack began giving away tools, ladders, furniture, toys, what ever he could, to get the quantity down. As darkness fell, our family and friends left carting off their new treasures, I shed more tears with each goodbye. At 10:00 Jack closed the door of the trailer and we still had a huge mess on our hands. I shed more tears, said a prayer and went to sleep – I knew we would find a solution on Monday morning.

What a blessing! The spare queen bed didn’t fit in the truck so we slept on it Sunday night. We woke bright and early on Monday morning – fully rested! By 7:00 a.m. we were on the phone with U-Haul and they had a 12’ x 6’ trailer in Bloomington waiting for us. We just had to get there – during rush hour – in a 26’ fully packed truck. You have guessed the implications of this decision, right? There would be no car carrier behind the truck. I would now be driving the car while Jack drove the U-Haul and trailer. Neither one of us was happy about this little twist but we knew it was our only solution.

Jack left to pick up the trailer. I stayed behind to vacuum, clean and finish in the kitchen. Our dear Colleen showed up at 9:00 a.m. and helped us with last minute packing and loading the trailer. We were so thankful for her help as we only had three hours to pack the trailer, clean the garage and get to our closing. At 11:50 a.m. the trailer was packed to capacity – nothing more would fit! We had 10 minutes to get to our closing.

After sending the trash and my wheel barrel home with Colleen, we loaded the cats into the car and headed to the closing. On the way we got a call from our Realtor – the holiday had delayed the closing papers for the buyers and our closing was moved to 2:30. We were anxious to get on the road as we had a long drive ahead of us. Our Realtor made a phone call and arranged for us to sign our portion of the papers, early. By 1:30 we were no longer home owners - it was done. After a quick lunch, we swung by the house to get the truck and trailer. As I climbed into the drivers seat, the cats were moved to the passenger seat. Jack climbed into the truck and started it up.

We simply drove away. No regrets. No tears.

Just terrorized cats. And that – is a story for another day.

We Have Arrived!

Ok, yes, I am behind on posting about the move! Let's just say it's over - more to come later on that! I promise, I will share the details of driving across country with two cats, a trailer and Jack and I in separate vehicles! Again, God was working with us and gave us signs that this is where we are supposed to be. More to come...

Jack and I are working hard to get settled into our new home and community. We finally got the computer hooked up last night - what a trial. Can't seem to get the wireless to work so I have a cable stretched across my kitchen for now. It's that or no one would hear from us!!! It's that Belkin. I think it's time to find a better wireless connection.

Even with all my pre-planning - we had to run around town to get the water and electric hooked up. Yes, it does get cold in Arkansas at night, and we have electric heat! There are 8 companies listed for picking up garbage in our neighborhood. I called one so far, for $20.00 a month - some guy's daughter will come by and pick up our trash weekly. Don't know what day that happens on, but we will figure it out!

Another priority was getting up the Christmas lights and tree. All our possessions are still in boxes, but our tree is up and the lights are blinking from the rooftop! That's not totally true, we have spent quite a bit of time unpacking. It seems everything is coming out of the boxes faster than it went in. We are blessed with lots of storage space, so everything is finding a home. This is definitely something I will remember when we build our home on the land!

The cats have settled in nicely. They love the deep window sills on all the windows! They miss the squirrels and birds though. We have no trees in our yard and the wildlife seems to stay in the woods on the other side of the street. We will have to see what we can do about that!

I want to take a moment to thank everyone that helped us move out of our house in Minnesota. Thank you to each and every one of you! We couldn't have done it without you. As it was, we pulled away from the house 10 minutes before closing on Monday morning. We had to pick up and load a 12' by 6' trailer, but we got it all in. And if you can believe this, we already had a charity business come by with a truck and pick up a load of things we shouldn't have moved. As we unpack, we are realizing there is more to give away! I have to move again in a year - I'd like to do it in one truck!

This is it for now, more later! I promise!

Farewell Minnesota!

Jack asked me this evening if he thought we made a mark in our neighborhood during the past 11+ years living in Eden Prairie. My first thought was no, our neighbors are pretty guarded. There were definitely other areas where we made a difference. He proceeded to share his memories of “our mark” at home and with those who lived around us.

We moved into our home in the height of our clowning profession. First the neighbors watched the clown wedding, then parade wagons come and go; and clowns, scarecrows, ghosts and lions filed in and out our front door every weekend. The little children walking past our house would turn to their parents and stay “That’s where the clowns live!” Jack reminisced about the two youg sisters that lived down the road from us. On our wedding day, they invaded their mother’s makeup and arrived at our clown wedding wearing great big red lipstick smiles. The girls are driving now and the makeup application is much improved.

It was my turn to reminisce. Over the years, I slowly turned patches of the front yard into gardens until the entire space was filled with flowers, fences and bird houses. When the front yard was full, I moved into the back and added more gardens and a pond. Eventually we sold the riding lawn mover as there was so little grass to mow. The neighbors across the street said they loved spring because every year I changed something in the front yard, and they couldn’t wait to see what I would do next. They grieved with me this year as I tore out the peace garden, plant by plant, and brought back the grass at the request of the Realtor. And, for a variety of reasons, fences went up on both sides of our lot.

But our mark was bigger than just our neighborhood. We joined clubs, churches and prayer groups, attended classes and expos and worked at our jobs. With every adventure we made friends and left our love. More important than the mark we left was the mark our friends and family left on our hearts. We thank you and we bless you! Now we will start all over again in a new neighboorhood. We will love and the love will come back to us. That’s just how it is when you set out to make your mark. Or when you want to make a difference - and that is what we want to do!

Tomorrow we close on our house and begin our drive to Arkansas. Every thing we own will be riding behind us but we are also leaving so much behind. And in front will be the wide open world and any adventure we care to create! We are ready.

Moving Days

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for! We feel truly blessed to have 3 of our 5 children home with us for our last Thanksgiving in Minnesota. You would think that after all these celebrations; I would learn to not take grown children grocery shopping for a single holiday meal. We are moving in 5 days and it took three trips to the grocery store to bring one simple meal together! My goal was no leftovers; I think the kids were looking at how much could they take “home” with them when we finally move. The bright side is that Brittany is cooking the turkey and stuffing with a plethora of herbs stuffed in every nook and cavity. Chris insisted on several of his own favorite dishes – and he will prepare these. I figure that leaves me with pealing potatoes and throwing buns in the oven. It’s a nice trade off! With that, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and blessings to you all on this special day!

Wow, 5 days until moving day! It's creeping up on us so fast and it feels like we will have no time off before our departure.

Our 2 sons are still living under our roof! It seems we have run out of time and between stuffing the bird and our tummies, we will be unloading the garage into our trailer and moving Chris’ possessions into a storage locker. He will be staying with extended family for several months and there is little room there for his Star Wars memorabilia collection or the many boxes of books and treasures he has accumulated over the last few years. Once his possessions are secure, we will then have to move him and his computer to his new home!

Although Jack has Friday off from Walgreen's, we don’t get to relax! Brittany came home for the holiday and we need to drive her and her new car (my beetle bug) to Moorhead. As long as we are heading north, we will bring our trailer to my brother as well. Brittany doesn’t drive yet so it means I get to drive the bug while Jack drives the Ford with trailer attached.

Saturday is Matt’s moving day. He was finally notified by his new landlord that he was accepted at the apartment complex in Hopkins. Only problem there is that they want to lay new carpet in his apartment on Friday. That means he can’t move in until Saturday. So, we will pick up the UHaul a day early and spend Saturday shuffling his possessions across the city. We thought we were so smart unloading half our furniture off on him for his new place. Well, it looks like we still get to move it all!

Sunday, we will finally be ready to load our own possessions into the truck. Fortunately, I packed most of our things back in September and was able to pack the rest last week. We would love any help in loading our UHaul Sunday afternoon! Feel free to stop by to heave a box or two into the truck – we start at noon. Or if you prefer, pizza arrives at 2:00 and we welcome you to come join us for a final meal together. There will be nothing left in the house but lots of love! We plan to party! And then after you all leave, we will clean up!

We close on the house at noon on Monday and head south as soon as the ink is dry and the check is in the bank! I really am looking forward to riding in a 24’ truck with Jack and two screaming cats – 876.32 miles! Just imagine the adventure spread out over three days! Jack will be doing all the driving, I will be keeping the cats out from under his feet! Yes, I really am looking forward to this adventure. I will keep you posted…

Children, goodbyes and new beginnings.

It seems every now and again these days; the magnitude of what Jack and I are doing hits me right between the eyes. Or, should I say – right in the eyes.

The absolute, hands down, hardest part of this whole move is saying goodbye and letting go of our children and the family and friends we love so dearly. (Leaving my gardens is another story). I remind myself it’s not really a goodbye so much as “see” you again in 4 months… or 8 months … or how ever long it will take before for Jack and I venture north again for the 14 hour drive. The reality is that the contacts, the hugs, the daily interactions with all the people we love will now be long distance.

I have moved 33 times in my life, the last 10 with my children. As a child, I didn’t know how to deal with the loss of my friends every time we picked up to move again. I was fortunate to have a large family so eventually; I quit making connections with people that didn’t move with us. I learned not to get close to protect myself. As an adult I had to learn that moving away didn’t mean losing the love.

I have lived in Eden Prairie now for 16 years – a third of my life! I found stability with Jack and we have spent the last 11 years of our life in the same home. There are also now, so many dear people in my life – I want to take them all with me! Fortunately, Jack and I are creating this new adventure together, but my children are staying in Minnesota.

Our two oldest sons currently live with us. It’s been difficult for me knowing that I am nudging them out of the safety of the home they know and forcing them to fly on their own. I know, they are grown adults and will do just fine. Matt, our youngest son, is moving into an apartment with a close friend. He is working for a temp agency and hopes to go full time soon with his current assignment. Chris is moving in with extended family for a short time while he regroups and works at finding a better job or more hours with his current employer. His biggest task will be to find a home of his own where he can be happy. Brittany is living up in Moorhead – fighting her own battles of managing school, work and health… I am learning that I no longer have a say in the outcome of their lives and have to trust that God is guiding them for their highest good. Talk about a letting go lesson!!!

As the last days of our life here in Minnesota quickly fly by, over and over again I experience the love of friends and letting go lessons. I am reminded with every encounter how much I am loved and how much I love in return. I am excited about our move, but being the emotional person that I am these last days are filled with lots of mixed emotions and tears. And I smile cuz I know our new house will have a beautiful guest bedroom and the freeway runs both directions!!!

Crystal Mining

I really was naive about crystal mining before my first experience in Arkansas. I thought we would take a pick ax into a big hole in the ground and chop crystals out of the rock. All the crystals mines are open pit mines and only back hoes, front end loaders, dump trucks and mine employees are allowed in the actual mines. The heavy equipment tears apart the rock foundation and after the best crystals and clusters are removed, the excess rock, dirt, mud and unwanted and damaged crystals are loaded into a dump truck and hauled to a dumping area. And that's were we came in.

Our favorite mine is the Coleman Mine just south of Jessieville Arkansas. For $20 (or $15 if you are Jack's age) you can dig in the dirt and mud for an entire day. Anything you find and value is yours to keep! We like this mine best because occasionally the miners let an awesome cluster or point slip through. And, the gift shop - complete with bathroom facilities - is located a short walk up the hill. Most of the other mines in the area do not have facilities...

Our first experience at the Coleman mine in May was pretty mild. The dump truck brought up rock and dirt and dumped it at our feel. We got down on our hands and knees and began digging with our little hand tools. We had to look carefully through the pile as the crystals were usually covered in orange clay, or at the very least - dirt. When the sun shined, we could see a sparkle - but when the clouds rolled in we had to go more by touch - feeling for the smooth surfaces of the crystal. We dug away and cleaned the orange clay off anything we found- we never knew when there might be a cluster hiding! By the end of the day we were exhausted but content. Our hands were covered in small and painful cuts from the edges of the sharp crystals. The rest of us was covered in red dirt. It's hard to tell what you have until you get the clay and mud rinsed from the crystals so we took our pile of treasures back to our campground and began washing off the mud. We found that a lot of what we thought were gorgeous crystals turned out to be what we called garden quality rock-not so perfect crystals but great for placing out in the garden.

On our second visit in October, we figured we knew how to play the game. We wore special gloves to protect our fingers and packed larger shovels and hand rakes. We had plastic for the car seats and bags to store everything in. We were not prepared for the load dumped at our feet that first Sunday. We knew we were in for a wild experience when the dump truck pulled to a stop beside us and water sloshed over the sides. We were told the backhoe hit a natural spring and everything coming out of the mine from that point forward would be mud. The more experienced miners pulled out full sized shovels and hoes. We crawled through the mud on our hands and knees, feeling our way. We didn't even make it to the end of the day. We were so dirty we had to be hosed off before even getting close the car. Fortunately we had a change of clothes so we headed to the campground to shower. Our first stop was the laundry mat where everything, including our shoes, went into the wash machine.

When we went back to the mine the following Saturday we were rewarded with a nice dry load of dirt and rock. We spent the entire day going through the pile and were rewarded with about 100 points - many of them crystal clear! We were flying home the next day didn't want to pay to fly our crystals home, so we stopped at our land and strategically dumped our load under the tallest pine tree we could find. We are hoping they will still be there when we return.

We think we have this crystal mining figured out now. When we return again, we will go with buckets of water for washing - that way we can leave the junk rock at the mine. We will take all our tools - from hand shovels to full size hoes. Crystals thrown into a bag get chipped and damaged so next time we will bring newspaper or paper towels to protect the really nice ones. (Can you believe some people actually bring Pampers for this!?) And, to haul it all around, we will get a big red wagon... It's a good thing we own a station wagon - my first project on our land will be to build a labyrinth out of the white quartz garden rock. I am so excided our land is only about 12 miles from the mine. Then again, I wonder if they have an organization called Miners Anonymous. I'm hooked!

Why Arkansas?

People keep asking us - Why Arkansas?

We are still asking ourselves the same question!

Back in February, we drove from Minnesota through Arkansas on our way to a warm and relaxing Florida vacation. Yes, it was a bit out of the way, but some friends had told us about the crystal mines and we thought we would check out mining for several days. What we didn't expect to happen was that we would fall in love with Arkansas - and spend the rest of our vacation fantasizing about moving there.

It was the end of February and in Arkansas the temperature was in the low 50's. We had spent the previous day driving through a blizzard - but here spring was coming - showing itself all around us. The grass was turning green, the trees were budding out, the crocus had finished blooming and the daffodils and tulips were pushing their way out of the ground. We walked around in Spring jackets marveling at the views and the temperature. We explored a crystal mine and filled the back of our car with quartz rock and crystals!

Once we got back to MN the conversations about moving continued. We talked about how neat it would be if Walgreen's opened a depot and Jack could transfer and finish out his remaining years of work there. We talked about retirement and the fact that is cost 35% less to live there vs Minnesota. Our conversation turned to the possibility of buying land covered with trees and building our dream home. We talked about what it would be like to live in the south - where the winters lasted 2+ months and the temperatures didn't dip below 20 - ever. And, because Arkansas was in zone 7 - the gardener in me was thrilled! We also talked about how hard it would be to leave so much behind - especially our friends and loved ones. We talked - a lot!

As time passed, our talk turned to action. We were feeling like we were being called to move and we began to explore the possibility. Jack found out a new depot was indeed going into Arkansas, and he inquired about transferring. We looked closely at our home and began thinking about the work it would take to sell.

It was May and our family was planning a big celebration for my mom in Oklahoma - she was turning 75 and we all wanted to surprise her with a party! Jack and I decided we would add a few days to our trip and go experience Arkansas in the early summer. We had spent weeks looking on the internet for land but couldn't find anything with the mountains, creek and view we wanted. We hoped we would have more luck looking in person. We headed south the last week of May with the intention of mining, looking for land, touring the area and finally celebrating my mom's birthday.

On our first day in Arkansas we headed to a crystal mine to try digging for crystals. After we paid our mining fees, we began talking to the lady behind the counter about buying land in the area. Standing behind her was this guy that said he had some land for sale, and one of his properties had a creek running through it. We said we would get back to him as we were going to spend our first day looking for crystals. We let him know we were meeting with a Realtor the following day to look at several properties. As he was getting ready to leave, the cashier told us how lucky we were. The guy we were talking to was Ron Coleman, the mine owner himself, and as it turned out, one of the largest property owners in Saline county. He handed us his business card and we headed to the mine.

On our second day, we hooked up with the internet Realtor we had located and began looking at land. By noon, she turned us over to another Realtor, one that specialized in land sales. It was now late afternoon and we had only visited one property that interested us. Jack and I mentioned Ron Coleman and our Realtor jumped on the phone! Within minutes we were off again, to look at Coleman Land. From there, everything seemed to click and by week's end we had found the most beautiful piece of property - in the valley of the mountains - covered with pine and oak trees. And at the back of the property was a rock bottom creek. We were equally thrilled that the land was located about 12 miles from the crystal mine and our new found friends.

Back in Minnesota, Jack's inquiry to moving with Walgreen's was met with a tentative yes. Walgreen's wanted to wait 6 months before taking action on moving anyone to Arkansas. We saw this as a sign and opportunity to work on our house and get it ready to go on the market. We made an offer on the land we had fallen in love with and after a little negotiating, the offer was accepted. We spent the summer working our buns off getting the house ready to be sold. We didn't even buy a fishing license for the summer! We just worked.

As October rolled around- we closed on our property in Arkansas, put our MN house on the market and Walgreen's offered to fly us south to check out the work environment. Within the span of a week, Jack was formally offered the Walgreen's position, someone made an offer on buying our house in Minnesota and we found a rental house to move into in Benton! It was official - no backing out - we were moving.

Today, as I sit at my computer and reminisce, it surprises me to think how quickly change can come about. A year ago, we were happy and content to be living in Minnesota and anticipating the survival of another Minnesota winter. So much has changed and now we will be gone before the snow really starts to fly. I hear it's still in the 70's down south; even if there was no other purpose, this is a very good reason for "why Arkansas."

Negotiating for the "SOLD" sign

I don't remember it being this difficult to sell a house. Of course, I have only sold one in all my life - but this one is a nail biter!

While in Arkansas looking for a rental home, word arrived that we had an interested buyer. Of course in this tight real estate market, buyers don't offer anywhere near asking price. They get to low ball the asking price and then add on deductions like closing costs and such. Through 3 days of intense nail biting negotiations, we came up with an offer that was acceptable to the buyer. In the process, we agreed to let go of a big chunk of equity even though we had already remodeled the kitchen, rebuilt the lower bathroom, painted the entire house, replaced all the carpeting and light fixures and had dug up two huge gardens to plant grass for a yard. We reminded ourselves, the goal was to sell the house!

Next came the inspection. We knew there was a problem with the cracked cement in the front walk and that all the closet doors needed to be trimmed - the result of getting new carpeting! We also knew the deck didn't have railings. We didn't know that appliances that were working for us would be determined broken by the inspector. The house is 30 years old - so it's not like we were trying to pass it off as a brand new home.

The inspection took 5 hours to complete. The final report was 51 pages long. There were things on this report that I didn't even know existed in our house.

Now realize, everything is negotiable on the inspection repair list. That means the buyers can ask for anything to be fixed or replaced - or the deal is off. For us, it's now about 2 weeks into negotiations and we weren't doing showings anymore. Did we make a mistake? This really had to be taking way too long and the "SOLD" flag was still not hanging on our sign in the front yard!

The buyers didn't want to negotiate on any of the items we were expecting. But, the inspector had red-lined our furnace and the buyers wanted a new one. We felt it was still in working condition but that meant another inspection. We waited a week for the buyer's inspector to show up - he never did. Their Realtor finally called though and said heck, the furnace is 30 years old - it didn't need an inspection. The buyers wanted a new furnace. I wasn't convinced we needed to replace it so I took the furnace by the horns and started making calls. Imagine my shock when the second inspector said one of the heat exchanger sources was putting out a huge number of carbon monoxide molecules into the furnace and up the chimney. (Not in the house at all.) Of course as long as the squirrels and raccoons stayed out of the vent, we were fine. One slip though with an errant animal sliding down the pipe and we would be plugged. Guess where all that carbon monoxide would go. The forecast was for lows in the 20's and the furnace guy announced we should shut it down - just in case. But, for $300 and another house call charge, he could come back out and clean up the heat exchanger and see if that helped... We didn't want to throw away good money after bad so we started looking at new furnace solutions. If we were quick, we could get a furnace company to drop off space heaters until the furnace could be replaced. Who ever heard of negotiations being quick.

On Monday, feeling somewhat recovered from my surgery and no longer under the influence of pain killers, I gathered furnace replacement quotes and made an offer to our Realtor for a furnace replacement. We would pay 25 % of an 80% efficient furnace - five years worth of heat! We figured if the buyer wanted to upgrade to a fancy model, they could do that at their own expense. The negotiations began and the fingernails I now call stubs, disintegrated between my teeth. Now, not only was the furnace off, we were back into negotiations.

Two days later, our Realtor called to say the buyers had delivered their counter offer. They wanted an energy efficient furnace and wanted us to pay 2/3 of the cost. Remembering that our goal was to get that "SOLD" flag on our sign, we willingly negotiated again. But at this point, I was beginning to feel taken advantage of.

We negotiated away more equity and another 24 hours later, our counter offer was accepted. But, the buyer wanted to pick out the furnace and hadn't made up their mind yet on which type. A week later, and we were still waiting...

I have a confession to make. . . I hate being cold - that is part of why I am moving south. I couldn't imagine a squirrel would be so stupid as to climb down our vent pipe in the next few days so I turned the furnace back on.

I hear you all gasping.

It's only on high enough to keep the pipes from freezing at night and me from grumbling excessively. During the day it stays off. Fortunately we are expecting high's in the sixty's for the next few days. Carbon monoxide detectors (with brand new batteries) are all over my house and I pray nightly that the squirrels will continue to stay in the trees and out of our vents. I'm willing to buy that new furnace now.

So, with that... As I shiver and wrap my finger stubs in bandages, I remind myself - we sold our house! And, we finally have a "SOLD" flag on the sign in the front yard.

My First Blog

Blogs - it's never too late for a lady pushing 50 to learn something new. As I walked around a new age expo today talking about our upcoming move to Arkansas, everyone said "you should be writing a blog!" All I remembered was go to Blogger.com. So here I am - and you have found me! Journey with Jack and I as we travel across country to our new home and learn the ins and outs of Arkansas living!