Thursday

I'm up hanging out really late this evening. I just can't get to sleep - nerves maybe? maybe not. I guess that it is the push that is now on to get things done and make sure everything stays just so. Hopefully the house will go quickly and we find something quickly also. Then it won't be as nerve racking.

No jury duty this morning so instead, I'm off to an IEP meeting this morning for Sean. I am anxious to see what they have to say, since they have been working on this since before Thanksgiving.

The Child Study/IEP Meeting went extremely well. They have come up with some creative ways to assist Sean in getting the education that he needs in a way that will be beneficial to him. Basically he will be going to school for two classes per day followed by homebound instruction two or three times per week. Not a bad deal if you ask me. He'll be home for lunch every day.

Now that the meeting is behind me for the day, it is time to get started on the checklist of little things to do around the house to put it into a better showing condition. Nothing major, mainly paint and powder. I did get this shot of the house with the For Sale sign in front, just to record the event for posterity.

I've been busily getting my checklist done. I can even mark a couple of items off the list. The best thing that I've done so far is play with the steamer - it takes dirty marks off the wall in a flash (no repainting necessary). In the long haul it is going to make a great deal of difference.

Alice made a really neat brochure about the house and neighborhood to pass out to prospective buyers. Just as soon as I get it figured out on how to put it on the blog I'll post it to share with everyone. She just did such a super job, I could see her doing all sorts of things like this in her own marketing company some day. This brochure gave her some practice in a real world scenario. Thanks Sis!! Everyone here thinks it is a terrific job!

These are the inside images from the brochure, as you can see they have been carefully thought out as to placement and actual flow of our house. I love the way that the eating area/kitchen photos all overlap to give you a really good overview of the area.

If you click on various areas you can see larger images. Each of the labled tabs Community, Shopping, and Schools when clicked will allow those pages to be completely visible also if you click on the image of the front of the house on the same page that will reveal the images behind the smaller sheets. You can also click on the first inside page for a larger view and here to see the back cover.

She used various photos from the blog and a few that I had email our realtor to put together the designs. She can really do a bang up job on whatever she sets her mind to.

Now the sales pitch....should anyone viewing this be interested in any graphic design work like this please do not hesitate to contact Alice Pettey.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thoughts for the Day:

• Trusting and obeying the Lord brings true happiness.
• “Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome.” —Samuel Johnson
  

I found this reading in Our Daily Bread as part of todays reading:

Ten Rules for Happier Living

1. Give something away.
2. Do a kindness.
3. Give thanks always.
4. Work with vim and vigor.
5. Visit the elderly and learn from their experience.
6. Look intently into the face of a baby and marvel.
7. Laught often - it's life's lubricant.
8. Pray to know God's way.
9. Plan as though you will live forever - you will.
10. Live as though today is your last day on earth.
    

CLAY BALLS

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.

They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw The clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!

Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him.

He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.

We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy but we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.

I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with each of you. Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.

Few Things to Think About

• Can you cry under water?
• How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
• Why do you have to "put your two cents in".. but it's only a "penny for your thoughts?" Where's that extra penny going to?
• Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
• How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
• Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?
• If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
• Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?
• Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
• Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.
• Why is "bra" singular and "panties" plural?
• Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?
• If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?
• Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?
• If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
• Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!
• If Wiley E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?
• If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
• If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons
• Do you sweat when you swim?
• Where does the white go when the snow melts?
• Does the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?