Notice to All Orlando-Bound Travelers

Keep two things in mind when you pack for Orlando:
1)There are a washer and dryer in our house, so you will be able to wash and re-wear items of clothing.
2) There is a heated swimming pool attached to the house, so bring your suit.

To those flying: Dad and I will be driving down, leaving either Friday night or early Saturday morning, so let us know if there is anything you want us to take down for you. Keep in mind, though, that we will be bringing Mike & Margaret and kiddles back with us, so space will be an issue on the return trip.

Dad and I received a Trip-Tik from AAA with several maps and tourist-type books. You are welcome to borrow them (briefly) or come over and look at them.

Mom's Christmas list

My wish list is very simple---anything you can get at fleamarkets or yard sales for the cabin:
dishes
silverware
cooking utensils
pots & pans (we will eventually get a stove)
games, toys
old books
jigsaw puzzles
old-fashioned hinges and doorknobs
blankets, quilts

ADDED 11/3/06: photo studio portraits of all of you (individually or together).

Carrie's Christmas list 2007

Carrie Christmas List 2007

-Calligraphy family tree back to great-great grandparents on both Smith and Miller sides, on parchment paper

- Countertop composter and replacement filters (in cobalt blue) http://www.nextag.com/norob/PtitleSeller.jsp?nxtg=9d880a240503-C4D5B7A8AC3B9BCC&chnl=main&tag=537010697&ctx=D3pmQjpiUjWJeXDiusIAeVcpLm7FaLTOY9JPtUZnGPqU2fLxG5PvfkqHYPfrg3%2Ft6e%2BwphqQR2v%2F%0A%2BJXkQNI8WNahGfa0tf9jj2irxnj7PG4AJJ3Ikbj50W7zi7h3HdS9&ptitle=526352780

- German bearded re-blooming irises (Blue, white,purple, and/or yellow)

- LOST Seasons 1,3 on DVD

-"America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right On the Money," by Steve and Annette Economides (this is a book)

- Betsy-Tacy books (by Maud Hart Lovelace); I have the first four; I still need: Heaven to Betsy; Betsy in Spite of Herself; Betsy Was a Junior; Betsy and Joe; Betsy and the Great World; Betsy's Wedding

- DVDs: Little Mermaid; The Chronicles of Narnia; Spider-Man 3; Shrek 3

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Okay... it's midway through October. Time to pull out those Christmas lists and post them here.

There are two ways you can create your Christmas list. Both are fairly easy.

1) Just make the list as you would any other post here.
2) If you have an account with Amazon or Froogle, create a Wish List (I'll let you visit those sites to figure out how they work). Once you've created a list, either send me the link or post it directly to the blog. (If you have items that cannot be purchased or are generic, it would be better to create your list seperately and post it here).

Once you've posted the list or I've received the link, I'll put it in the Wish List section in the sidebar to the right. Right now there are question marks by everyone's name. Once somebody submits a list or link to me, I'll replace the question mark with "(UPDATED)".

If you need to make any additions or changes, just make the changes to your original post or off-site list, and those changes will be made automatically to the link on this page.

And that's it. When your secret Santa (or whomever) wants to find out what you're hoping for, they can simply click on the link and see what you have on your list. For example, when you click on my name over there, you'll be taken to a small list I created in Froogle.com, including an iPod, a TiVo (which I don't really need, but it's cool) and a set of Superman action figures (ditto). Please keep in mind the list is over a year and a half old, and these items will be removed or changed soon. I just want to be certain that the link works for everyone.

Pretty simple, huh? E-mail directly with any questions.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

New E-bay seller!

Well, we finally bit the bullet and put our precious but unused musical instruments up for sale---two saxes and a flute. It makes us very sad, but they were just worth too much money to hang on to for sentiment's sake (sort of like Carrie's & Wes's decision to let the barn go). Not only that, but it was sad to see them sitting unused. They were created to make beautiful music, and I hope whoever buys them will do that.

View them here, here and here.

Good-bye, Barn

On Thursday we got the final estimate on what it would take to get our barn into usable condition. The answer: $80,000.

Believe it or not, this was actually an answer to prayer, because this made it patently clear that we couldn't afford it and shouldn't go ahead with the project (this put it $30,000 over budget). If it had been just a little bit over budget that would have been a tough decision.

The same afternoon, I talked to Moose and she had the number of the guy who de-constructed Mike's grandpa's barn. He's from North Carolina (the barn guy, not Mike's grandpa), but when I called him it so happened that he was still in Ohio.

The next day he and one of his partners came to look at our barn. He poked around for a while, then came in to the house and told us, "Well, it's an awfully big job, and we couldn't get to it for a while."

So we were sad for a few minutes, until the guy said, "Could you possibly wait 3-4 weeks for us to get to it?"

Umm, yeah. We've waited 4 years. I think we can wait 3-4 weeks.

This guy works for salvage, so it's free to do the de-construction. He also asked us if we could do open burning, and we said yes, there's a big burn area 50 feet from the barn.

He said, "Great, we'll just burn any unsalvageable scrap for you as we go, so then you don't have a huge pile at the end."

So -- they work for free, and they clean up after themselves. Yeah, we're pretty happy about that.

Also, now we have our home equity loan to play with on the house!!!! We are accepting ideas at this point. ;-)

We're sad to lose this piece of history from the property, but happy that it will it get a new home as another barn or recycled into other useful things, and very happy that we can get some larger projects done on the house now.

First in line: a garage (that's gair-ahhj to anyone who's been in Australia or NA this year).

"...Frageelay."

I never even knew A Christmas Story was filmed in Cleveland, but evidently we can make a pilgrimage to the house starting in November.

What's the difference between the Yankees and a Haunted House?

Answer: A haunted house has bats.

(I have to credit Wes with that one.)

Claire scored a goal

I forgot to post last week that Claire scored a goal in her game. She almost scored one today but it got blocked. She really seems to be enjoying it - a lot more than softball. I think she just needs something where she's up moving the whole time.