House Hunters

View of lower level coming down the stairs.  Laundry room on the right.



The Spike Suite

View from family room.

Well the big day came and went.  We had an appraiser come and evaluate our house.  It did not turn out as well as we had hoped, but in the end we will still be able refinance our loan, drop the private mortgage insurance, and we have accrued a lot of equity in the house since we bought it three years ago.  We also finished the basement which is nice because without the appraisal sitting over our heads we would not have pushed so hard to finish it.  As for the other house, we have rented it as of last week to a family who is building a house.  They are paying top dollar to have a short lease, through May.  So for the first time in over three years the rent is covering the mortgage.  Let's just hope that they, like everyone else on the planet, fall behind schedule and have to stay a few more months.  So things are back to normal again at our house.  It has taken me more then a week to get used to not having projects to work on during naptime.  I was so go, go, go that I find it hard to have nothing on my plate.  I am still training for the Bentonville Half Marathon on April 6th.  I feel ready for it but have had some problems with my knee the last two runs.  It is frustrating to feel up for the run endurance wise but held up by my knee.  I think after this half, I will stick to 10ks from now on.  I like the idea of doing more fun, creative running events.  I wish I could upload video on this thing cause Mae has been singing the most adorable versions of Itsy Bitsy Spider. 

Checking In

Max fell asleep in his closet.

Howdy to Caitlin in MA.  Didn't mean to startle you, I honestly thought it was a stranger reading my blog.  I always get a kick out of the fact that anyone chooses to read it at all.  My father now refuses to read it due to my extreme liberal leanings which are apparently splashed over every post of this blog.  I guess I dress the kids in blue too often.  Anyway... things are good here in Arkansas.  We finally finished the basement, or as the appraiser called it, "Our Lower Level!"  It would seem that because it has over 10% of the wall space as windows it is technically a lower level.  Snap for us.  We are still waiting around to find out how the house rated, but Jeff is optimistic.  Although Jeff is always optimistic about everything, which is one of the reasons I married him.  Jeff and I were called to teach the 15 year old Sunday School class at church.  Two weeks into it and we are having a great time.  I hope the kids feel the same way.  It is fun to teach these kids because I also taught them as 11 year olds in primary.  We start each class by taking away all their phones.  I am chugging along with my running.  I ran 9 miles by myself last Saturday.  It was hard but a relief.  I was really starting to question whether or not I was ready for the half marathon in April.  Now that I have that under my belt I feel I can easily pound out another 4 miles.  I debated squeezing out another mile to make it a braggable 10, but I decided the exhaustion I would have felt for the rest of the day wasn't worth it.  I am very excited for the race.  I started taking some pills for my acne which has gotten worse since I had children.  It's a little scary how awesome they are.  They are like little energy pills but without the anxiety.  I was joking to Jeff that this must be what normal people feel like, not being tired all the time.  Ironically I don't think they are helping with my skin much, but I'll take the energy over the skin.  The kids are good.  Max has been off all week and one week break is just the right amount of time.  Mae is potty trained!  I was shocked by how it happened all of the sudden.  Max took forever.  Spike is a grouchy guy, but I think he is just in that stage where he wants to communicate and doesn't know how.  So, I'll probably like him a year from now.