And In Closing...

We have a closing date, folks!!!!!!

Whoohoo! Ladeedah! Skittledy-Skatt!!!

This Tuesday will be the day we sign on the dotted line and turn over our house to the new owners. This could all change but give me my Pollyanna moment!

Hey, I didn't know our cousin Amber was a child actress!

If you read my last post you know how I feel about closing on this house. If you haven't read it, well do so now...I'll wait...I need to file my nails anyway...go ahead.

Okay, where were we?

Oh, I had planned on doing my next post about "Befores"...pictures of some of the painting projects I want to take on and was planning on braving the cold to tackle this weekend.

Instead I feel like I should probably start packing, otherwise known as moving stuff from drawers and closets to the middle of the room and letting it sit there until moving day.

But for fun, let me show you some of my inspirations and ideas for The Rental...

All of the interior is actually a very warm khaki so it isn't that bad but to be honest I'm kind of over the "safe" khaki walls...I'm not saying I'm gonna paint any turquoise or chartreuse, I just think its time for some "new" neutrals.

So with no walls to paint, I want to paint some furniture in a pale, dingy (?) gray-turquoise, like this:

Image from Life in the Fun Lane

So I picked a color similar to the one above and have two pieces I want to start with.

One is a farm table of sorts that has been in our family for years.

I think Mama got it in Canton and it was behind our forest green & red Christmas sofa at our old house on O'Keefe Road...Does anyone remember Mama's love of all things Christmas no matter what time of year? (Love you, Mean it, Lana!!!)

aforementioned farm table and not the forest green and red Christmas couch

The second piece is a desk that Mama and Daddy gave me as a birthday gift in the fifth grade. Do all fifth graders get antiques as birthday gifts? Mama was grooming us early.

She bought it in Canton and spent many nights sanding and staining it out in Daddy's garage/workshop.

My sister, Misty, who would've been 5 or 6 at the time came to me and said, "I know what your birthday present is...and it's not in the ga-raa-aage!"

That little punk never could keep a gift a secret...more on her later.

Its not in the garage, its in our master bedroom serving as M's nightstand

I picked the table and desk because I wanted to start with some easy pieces but things that wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't like how they turned out. Paint is like bangs. If you don't like them, they will grow...or you can paint over it, same concept.

I want to put the farm table back behind our sofa so Gus has a place to jump off of on to the couch and use the desk in our new office as the printer stand.

There is another piece that I want to paint but there is much controversy over the subject. It was a wedding gift from my dear, dear friend Lisa and her husband, Dan. I have actually asked her permission to paint it and she gave me her blessing.

Michael, though, says he needs more convincing:

Thanks, Lisa and Dan!

Where it sits now in our behemoth of a house, it looks great because the room is huge and light and airy. But The Rental has very small rooms and not a lot of natural light.

I know, we won't be there forever but since we found this piece I've always pictured it in a lighter color to take away from some of its heaviness.

I want to paint it a soft, creamy white with a little bit of distressing to bring out some of the beautiful woodwork. Then I want to use it as an entertainment center in The Rental. It would be awesome, trust me. (I've already measured and the TV and all its components will fit...Just go with it)

And here are some inspiration pics for some of the plans I have for The Rental, just for fun:

Pottery Barn awesome wall

I can't paint but I can "wallfake-per"...I just made that up...somebody call Webster's...

From what I can tell the maps in the picture are just tacked to the wall. I already have two huge vintage maps that we've never used and some old empty frames so I've got me some Pottery Barn Wallfake-per!

I also really want a gallery wall like this one:

Gallery wall from The Nester.  Random kid not included.

I already have lots of artwork so its just a matter of arranging it and not making 6,723 nail holes in the wall in the process.

I have lots of other ideas that I'll share with you along the way. Mostly things that will cost little to no money but can really turn The Rental into The Dream Home. Who knows how many projects I'll actually get to...I do have a nine month old and a domestic empire to run.

9 month old

Portal to The Domestic Empire

I'll let you know how the closing goes and I'll be waiting Wednesday morning for all of you to show up (8 am sharp) to help move...crickets...crickets...

Love,
Brandy

From House To Home

We still haven't moved. Still. The closing got pushed back to January 31st.

Yep.

"We are gonna close this thing by December 15th" (that's the lender talking) didn't happen.

I have harassed my realtor. I have harassed the title company. I have even harassed the loan officer in St. Louis (hi Nick!) and I am the seller, not the buyer.

I have dubbed myself The Squeaky Wheel. I just feel like if he (Nick the Lender) gets annoyed enough then he will want to get rid of me quicker, no?

So I haven't bothered to pack anything because I am afraid I will jinx the sale (what am I, a sixth grader?) but that hasn't stopped me from spending every waking moment decorating our dream home in my mind.

No, we aren't buying another house when this one sells.

We are renting...gasp...and we couldn't be more excited.

I know, it won't be ours in the sense that we make a mortgage payment every month (doesn't that kinda make it the bank's house anyway?)...but it will be our dream home because of a few other reasons:

For one thing, it is our dream home because when the roof leaks - we call the landlord...when a faucet drips - we call the landlord...when the A/C goes out...you get the picture.

Also, it is our dream home because at about 1700 square feet it's roughly 2,800 square feet less than our current house.

The Rental is at once Less and More.

Less to clean. Less to heat and cool. Less trouble when you leave something back in the bedroom and you have to decide if you have the time or energy to walk aaaaalll the way back to get it (or is it just easier to buy a new coat when you are out?)

I jest.

More cozy. More money to pay off debt at the end of the month. More togetherness because there aren't 72 rooms to choose from to hang out in. More of a chance for our furniture to all get together again in the same room because its within 50 yards of each other, not spread out across a football-field-sized house.

Is it weird I am less embarrassed to tell people that we are moving to a cozy 3-bedroom rental than I've always been to tell them I live in a sprawling 4,500+ square foot 1958 Ranch?

I always felt a little ahamed, like I was living a lie. We have this big ol' house with no money to spare and we haven't been in to the dining room since Bush was in office.

House Poor + Too Much House = Not My Cup o' Tea

Its true we had no business buying this house three years ago.  Just the two of us. Newly married.

The things we said we would "do in 6 months" just never got done. New flooring to replace the carpet that literally crunches when you walk? Never got done. I could go on...

But now...Now it is finally going to become a home. The couple that are buying it have 6 kiddos and they are so very excited.

I just know they are going to fill this beautiful, "they-don't-build-em-like-this-anymore" house with laughter and memories...they will make it Their Home.


We have learned so much through this process. Mostly about patience and God's timing but also that we will now appreciate a lack of closet space and instead focus on what we do have...which leads me to the biggest reason The Rental deserves the honor of being called Our Home...

Because these fellas will be there with me...

All I want for Christmas...I think

I admit it. I am the hardest person I know to shop for at holiday time. Well, any time, actually.

I know this because even I have a hard time shopping for me. When I first met my husband, he called my condition "retail bulimia". I would purchase things, let's say a $400 pair of Frye boots, change my mind or have a strong case of buyer's remorse and return them the next day.

I prefer to call it a shopping "catch and release" program.

One year- let's say it was the day before Christmas to add drama to the story- I told Mama, "Next year I want diamond earrings." And since I am her (secret) favorite daughter and she wanted to shout it to the world, she high-tailed it to the mall and found me a pair to stuff in my stocking for the next morning.

I opened them Christmas morning with much delight only to discover that I am extremely allergic to white gold. With puffy red earlobes, I returned them to the jewelry store and I can't even tell you what I got to replace the earrings I just knew would become a family heirloom.

Fickle, Flaky, Flighty...do any of these words ring a bell?

My Tall-Cool-Drink-of-Water husband, Michael-bless his heart-has learned to wait five minutes when I give him hints. Or to understand when I return that coat/pair of boots/necklace that I had to have.

I think he is catching on since I haven't owned a winter coat since he has known me because they are always too tight across my linebacker shoulders and my calves are usually too big for most knee boots and although I love the idea of jewelry, I never even wear my wedding ring because it makes my finger feel claustrophobic.

Yes, its exhausting being married to me. Imagine how exhausting it is being me.

This year, though, is different. I found THE gift to top all gifts. They are so me, so quintessentially Brandy, and I feel sure they are going to change my life.

They are turquoise Pale Aqua Cowboy Boots!!!!!!

I know! Are you jumping up and down, too??!!??

I am known for my love of all things turquoise. Wait. Scratch that...Pale Aqua. I looooovvvve Pale Aqua. There is something so soothing, yet happy about that color. Imagine walking around with Pale Aqua on your feet all day long!

Well, after subtly hinting to Mama and Daddy both with an email four whole days before Christmas, I thought I might just get the Pale Aqua Cowboy Boots that were going to be my signature wardrobe piece.

This morning, my sister Jenny and I packed up all the boys for some Tyler-Christmas-Traffic fun and we went to Cavender's (I am officially a hillbilly) and I went to try the Pale Aqua life-changers on for her.

I even wore my skinny jeans to prove just how versatile they would be since I could wear them under boot-cut jeans and over skinny jeans. I know, I know, I am a fashion genius.

They were gone. They. Weren't. There...I looked everywhere. I looked through all the size tens. I looked in the size nines, just to be sure. I even opened boxes that were marked Black, Cognac and Red. No Turquoise boots. (that's what they call them but really they are just a scoach turquoise and really should be called Happy, Vibrant, Pale Aqua. That is a color. Because I said it is.)

So I stood lamenting over the fact that Christmas is officially ruined when Jenny says, "Hi Mama!"

Here comes Mama...that little black-haired angel...to buy the perfect Christmas present. To finally say to the world I really am her favorite. And they were gone. Surely she and Jenny staged this whole thing and Mama had already purchased them and they were safely hidden in the back of her car. Somehow though, by the look on her face when she saw me, I doubted it.

Just to be sure I ask the salesgirl if there were any in the back.

"No, Darlin', we sold the last size ten last night at 9 o'clock" Ugh. Everyone I know was either watching "Elf" at our house or home asleep at 9 o'clock.

Unless.

Unless Michael had his mom go pick them up for me and when she told me she was exhausted and not going to come watch "Elf" at our house she was lying because really she was in Tyler picking up the boots for him to give to me because he is the best husband in all of Cherokee County...hell, I'll say it...in all the world!

That has to be it! And Christmas morning, I will prance around in my Happy, Vibrant, Pale Aqua Cowboy Boots that will make me just that much sassier...and nicer...and thinner...and Christmas will have been saved!!!!

Unless they pinch my toes. Then I will just have to take them back.

I can't wait on perfection

Here it is...finally...I've been thinking for a while now that I should have a blog, write a blog, be a blogger ...and I have been waiting until the perfect moment...when I had something to say...when I had a cute-looking blog...when I had the perfect name...but after spending weeks trying to think of the perfect name and several hours this morning trying to create a template that was so "me"...I decided I would never write anything or do anything for that matter if I waited for perfect...

So here is my first post...yay me!

I'm Brandy...I live in my hometown in East Texas after living in Dallas for 12 years...I moved back to to my hometown after meeting my husband at a wedding (more on the Tall, Cool Drink of Water later)...after a whirlwind romance that involved long-distance weeks and make-out-filled weekends, we were married in July of 2008 and now here we are...in the middle of life...sometimes its hard but I wouldn't take this journey with anyone else...

In May, I gave birth to our precious baby Gus who is now almost eight months old...You will get to know him really well, I am sure...he is my every day, my little funny guy...I am beyond blessed that God gave him to me...

I am a stay-at-home mama with something to say and no one to listen that can answer me in intelligible words...

This blog will be about lots of things...I would love to say it will fit into a niche...but it won't because, frankly, I don't fit in to a niche.

I might talk about decorating ideas one day and our impending homelessness situation the next...I may amuse you with my latest trip to Wal-mart and then turn around and ask you why I insist on wearing black when I know good and well that it shows spit up, snot and God knows what else comes out of Gus' orifices...

I want to share with you my family's attempt at learning to live below our means and downsizing...I truly want to simplify but I have to be honest, I love me some cute Target clothes...and don't even get me started on Marshalls!

I am known for having really good ideas but no follow-through...so if this is the last post you ever see from me, it won't be a surprise but I am really gonna try to stick with it for my own sanity...I am also gonna try to quit using ellipses so much but I'm not making any promises...

And as for the name The Imaginary Mouse?

Her name is Tressa. She is light gray, with the sweetest pink ears. She wears a pale aqua-colored shift dress and I've known her for as long as I can remember. I'll tell you more about the adventures we had when I was a little girl later. But for now, I have to go celebrate my very first post with a Diet Coke and a Ranger Cookie. What's a Ranger Cookie? Maybe I'll post the recipe someday...because now I have a blog.