Debbie

Reasons we love our realtor:

1. She's not like other realtors. Ok, I confess, I have a negative stereotype of realtors. They rank with used car salesmen in my book. But just like there is one honest, wonderful used car salesman in the world (Mr. G), there is also one good realtor. Here is a link to her website in case you need her services: debbie

2. She is sweet and cute. Really, she is so sweet. Honestly, I can't think of anyone sweeter than her. And I always love to see what she's wearing. I told her today that she should be in a magazine.

3. She's honest. She has always been truthful and honest with us in the ten years we've known her.

4. She works hard. She is a go-getter. She's on it. Open houses, fliers, website, showings, phone calls, talking to the lady at the city ... you name it, she's on it.

5. She's available. No matter when we need her, she's always got time for us. Its almost like she doesn't have anything else going on in her life. Just us!

6. She is a good communicator. We never walk away confused or unclear. She's great at explaining all the details and if she doesn't know an answer, she goes and finds it.

7. She goes to bat for us. Like the time she called multiple inspectors looking for one who would give us a discount because the house we're buying is new ... and how hard can it be to inspect a new house?

8. She is genuinely excited with us. Sometimes I've thought maybe she is more excited about the house we're getting than we are! When we all met the inspector last week you should have seen her smile! The house is incredible and she knows that under normal circumstances (why have we never bought a house under normal circumstances?) we would never be able to get this house. Way too fancy and expensive. She is thrilled to be a part of getting us this new house.

9. She is determined! She is so going to sell our house. I'm sure of it and so is she.

And while I'm here ... a quick update on buying and selling. About two weeks until closing on the new house. We'll be moving anytime after the 30th. Unless we close early. The inspector loved the new house. He said the builder didn't cut any corners; that it's well built. He was excited to show us some extra features that the house has and show us how to work them. We did a little investigating to make sure the extra pieces of property don't create a problem for us. (It comes with 2.4 acres in three separate pieces along the trail ... all under one parcel number.) Everything is looking good.

On the selling front. We've had five showings and two open houses. The first open house had 20 groups come through. She thought that about 1/2 were serious buyers and 1/2 just looking. Today's open house had just two couples, but one is very interested. We've had great feedback about the house and property and the price/value from everyone, including the realtors that came through on the walk through. And we have a showing, maybe two, already lined up this week, with one couple possibly coming for their second look.

Worth Five Bucks

Collin & cousin Amanda

It's a perfect symbiotic relationship. Collin needs money and I need help. Not that he doesn't do a ton of work for free (or should I say for the utter joy of living in my house). But asking him to get up at 5AM and drive his sister to her swim practiced seemed ... well, cruel. (Considering how teenage boys are practically in vegetative states before 7AM.) But, offer him $5 to do it and now you're actually doing him a favor!

Random other stuff:

Our house is so clean. I don't think its ever been this clean for this long. And we've only just begun selling it. We have a showing today and the open house on Sunday and the realtor walk through was yesterday. We're getting great feedback. They say it's priced right and in great showing condition.

In the meantime, we're getting more and more excited about the new house. Still working on the financing and inspection, etc. Did I mention it's big?

Ania's latest thing ... she is starting to "read" books! Pretending to read. Rambling on and on and on. And telling stories. She gets on a role and babbles non-stop. It's great for her speech development. In the past, she's had to think hard about her words and work hard to put them together. So, to see her babbling on and on without thinking ... it's great. We can't understand all that she's saying ... but we can't always understand the teenagers either.

A New Record

The two man-cousins. Eleven years apart in age, but more similar than different. Guys just need to hang together, especially in the presence of almost too many girls. Thomas plays a mean MarioKart ... doesn't he, Collin?

Two Thomas/Arend weekends in a row is a new record. One that we all had fun breaking. There's talk brewing of a vacation in 2010 together! Where do we sign up?

The Arend kids are officially confirmed and declared ... totally sweet.

Highlights of our 24 hours together: adults dinner out for gourmet pizza, Annie escaping out the front door in the dark of night, Mia and Thomas jamming out to The Lads in his bedroom, Uncle Jack taking Kaisha to look at the vanishing Ford Ranger, the perfect breakfast waffles, six cousins riding in the back-back of Uncle Jack's truck, a cruise through the Cabela store including cool fish tanks, kettle corn, and a shooting range. Then there was Uncle Jack and Collin going head to head on the Wii, Brenda taking me for a late night run to Safeway in pursuit of fiber (the identity of said individual will remain anonymous ... but it wasn't for either of us!), kick-the-can interrupted by mysterious shouts coming from a neighbor's house, and last but not least ... a little emesis to finish off the weekend.
A few dozen hugs later, we were out the door, tackling I-5,  in the back seat a makeshift vomit receptacle ready for anything, and me thinking about school starting in a week. I'm feeling up for it. As Collin would say, "It's all good."

Eighteen Reasons

Eighteen reasons the weekend was good ... not in order of importance. (No offense Granteepoo!)

1. Grant let me make him a mocha and Collin got to hang out with him since he finished his classes.
2. Had a picnic in the park after church and we actually had something yummy to eat.

3.Went on a painful four mile run on N. Lake Whatcom trail.
4. The sun shined.
5. Kaisha organized the black shelf and Mia's school box. Ahhh ...
6. Papa cooked up some mean bbq ribs for a family dinner.
7. The cousins came, stayed, ate, played, laughed, bounced and hung out overnight both nights.

9. I vacuumed at least 100 fruit flies and have reduced their population to a meager remnant.
10. Abbie-girl came over and I got a hug.
11. The second service at Grace Church Bellingham was wonderful; loved Dale's teaching on communion.
12. We had a coffee date, the girls and I. With Kat who was visiting from Maui. We love this girl!

13. Thomas spent his first night at our house and was a perfect guest.
14. Dax's introduction to the Ephesians study was fantastic; a summary of all that I've been learning the past couple years.
15. I was given free motorcycle gear! A helmet, gloves, and some rockin' boots!
16. Grace was little-miss-cuteness and let me take her picture at the park.

17. I watched a great historical fiction movie on the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.
18. We got to visit and hang out with Jack and Brenda ... only to look forward to doing it again next weekend!!

Cousin Time: Four Minutes and Five Seconds

Lined up by Age (19, 16, 14, 13, 12, 7, 7, 4)

Lined up by height.
(Only 2 maintained their positions.)

Goofing Off

But the important thing that we covered tonight, so that the world might be a better place, was answering the question that has eaten away at every one of our minds in the deeper moments of sleepless nights ...

How long does it take the cousins to eat a tray of Rice Crispy Treats, start to finish?

Emily ... so ready for anything that even hints of competition! You go, girl!

Four Minutes and Five Seconds! The cousins ROCK!

Cousin Time is the Best!

Operation Cousin Swap Complete and Half Birthday Party Girl

Kaisha, age 19 & Amanda, still age 14

A grand success! They finished season four of 24, ate popcorn, Italian sodas, jumped on the trampoline, shopped at Aero, drove all over the place, explored Kaisha's favorite coffee shops and parks, and well, watched a lot of 24! We managed to thoroughly convince Amanda that their family NEEDS to get text messaging on their cell phones. And we celebrated Kaisha's half birthday. (No, we don't celebrate all of our half birthdays ... just Kaisha's because we hardly give her the time of day on her real birthday, Christmas Eve. Well, that's slightly overstated, but we've always done the real hurrah in June.) In the end, the verdict is unanimous ... Cousin Swapping is the best and Amanda is ... well, perfect.




Kaisha's birthday dinner ... French toast made with Texas toast, fresh strawberries and peaches, and lots of whip cream. Mmmmm.

Minna

Ania has taken to calling her sweet, older cousin "Minna". There have been a handful of times the past few days when both Kaisha and Collin are otherwise occupied with work or chores and Amanda has hung out with Ania. They've jumped on the trampoline, walked in the woods, read books, and talked about ... well, life according to Ania. Amanda is so patient and sweet.

Operation Cousin Swap phase 2: success!

Cousin to the Power of Two

Collin, age 16 & Amanda, age 14

The table just barely fit two laptops back to back. A tiny table, two computers, two cousins, and two tall mochas. Never a real word passed between them. But Google chat, they did! Honest. They sat there at Kaisha's coffee shop for 2 hours, just a couple feet apart, not talking at all, but chatting with each other online. It's either a really cool thing for cousins to do or technology seriously gone awry. I'm still not sure which.

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Then they came home and rode the dirt bike together.

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Kaisha brought home mocha milkshakes for them and now they are off to an all night "24" watching extravaganza. Season five.

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Operation Cousin Swap Phase 1 is off to a screaming success!