Christmas letter?

We struggled long and hard with the Christmas letter we usually add to the current year's picture of Kelsey and Joanne, until Karen suggested that we just not send one. Thus endeth the discussion. Rich had read some commentary online that suggested the letter should handle various situations appropriately, and not go too far in describing events, and while the last few such letters probably came close enough to those guidelines, this year's events didn't lend themselves to such presentation. Heck, most of this year doesn't even lend itself to a decent blog entry...

So for those that missed the Wimberley letter this year (maybe there's one or two of you...), work was too painful to really discuss, the family health was problematic at best, we lost a dog to cancer, and the new kitten we adopted has made our cat's life miserable. It was hard to craft a decent letter with those focal points. Kelsey's first home run, the Little League version, and the kids' continual progress in school and other activities, while significant and memorable to us as parents, are not easily crafted into something for the rest of the world. So if you're still reading the blog, you care enough to at least hear that much.

Merry Christmas

Don't ask about the paint job, but the colors in the master bath look good, we think (and no more wallpaper, anyway).

 

The master bedroom (pay particular attention to the ceiling; since it is textured, the color required a good bit of work).

 

Kelsey's mostly finished room (the trundle for this bed is all that's missing)

 

The upstairs family room (you can see who uses it)

 

First, some personality for the front yard. Shutters will be redone next.

 

The front hallway and the game cabinet in the game room

 

The downstairs sitting room

 

The new granite countertop, with an eating area, and newly finished stools...

 

Here's the new kitchen...

 

Guess I should have checked the commercial on the TV before snapping this picture of the finished family room...

 

This is the new game room!

 

Ever seen a black widow spider before? While we've read about them, of course, Rich was still surprised to discover this in the back yard...

 

nice to have good places for riding toys

 

Yes, Jasmine is happy to be in a house...

 

Kelsey and Joanne posing in their respective doorways

 

One week and change in...

Well, what has happened in the last week?

1. We closed on our house on Friday, June 30.

2. We bought some furniture: a game table, four chairs, a
wicker love seat, an easy chair, an end table, a toy shelf, a
bookshelf, two TV stands, a deluxe air mattress (for the
kids as we await things) and a Panasonic 50 inch plasma
TV.

3. We took delivery of a king size mattress, washer and
dryer, a DSL modem, and DirecTV systems for a number
of rooms in the house.

4. We painted Kelsey's room a bright purple (her request),
Joanne's room a number of different colors (one per wall),
the master bedroom ceiling (blue to match the bedspread)
and the master bedroom walls.

5. We took delivery of our air shipment on Friday, July 7,
after many phone calls between the Taiwan shipper, the
intermediate company in Seattle, and the delivery company
in Augusta (oh, by the way, as Rich was told countless times
this past week, this is the busy season for movers).

6. Rich received a primer on the operation and maintenance
of the pool; it's a bit different than the Taiwan one.

7. We slept in the house for the first time on Friday, July 7.

We hope next week will be a bit more relaxed.

Today is the day...

Well, if all goes as planned, we will own a house today. So the
blog might have more pictures soon... We got a check yesterday
for the settlement amount, or at least what we know to be the
settlement amount; these numbers seem to change until the last
minute, but personal checks are accepted, or given, if the amount
varies at the end. It's only the second largest check Rich has
carried around in the last week or so...

We received some good news last night about our air shipment;
it's in Georgia already. It makes its way to Augusta today, and it
seems reasonable to believe we will see it soon.

Kelsey and Joanne have signed up for day camp next week, and
seem very excited about the prospect of meeting and playing with
other kids. Of course, it beats driving around and handling house
stuff, which is what they have been doing the last couple of weeks.

Karen and Rich both visited their new employer this week. Both
Karen's and Rich's jobs have changed since our last contacts, in
strange ways. Karen's job seems far less defined than it was when
she was interviewing, which is strange because she had applied
for an established position. Rich's job was completely undefined at
the time he was offered a position (as a working spouse, after
Karen had landed her job), but now has evolved into a supervisory
position, for a new mission. Rich has never come close to being a
supervisor before, so this will be a very new experience for him.