Sweet Home Oklahoma

My dad's on his way with a U-Haul. I'm going to back to God's country. It's funny; that comment was mentioned (god's country) by a new acquaintance of mine in OK the other day and I realized that "God's country" for my boys will be here. I think God's country must be wherever your home and family really lives, or maybe it's the place where you've grown up, assuming you had a lovely childhood. I do thank God for the lovely childhood I experienced that does make going back like going to God's country.

I found a WONDERFUL place to live.
This is the front. It's completely renovated with all new flooring, central heat/air, brand new appliances, a walk-in laundry room, AND an 8X6 room full of shelves that could be a "craft" room for me! There are two bedrooms. It also has a separate, air-conditioned room that matches the house which would make a perfect little art studio. The yard is immaculate and the owner does all the yard maintenance. Is this just incredible???? AND....it's cheaper in rent than what I'm paying now. Here's the back.
I'll post more pictures later. Did I mention there are TONS of cabinets...and the owner takes care of the yard???? I am feeling so blessed and favored by God right now. I know....I do know, that I'm always blessed and favored and that circumstances don't really mean much, but this is incredible! I'm going to unplug the computer now. See you in God's country!

love and grace,
pam

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Packing and More Packing

The move is underway! At least the packing part. I'm taking a 4th grade potition in a very small town in Oklahoma where much of my extended family lives. When I say very small, and when I say much of my family; if you stood on Main Street and threw a rock, you'd likley strike someone to which I'm related or have been at one time by marriage. I'm assuming, of course, that you're a pretty decent rock thrower. Drew and I are going up this weekend to look for a place to live. I can't say Drew is happy about moving, but, at this point, he's not yelling and screaming and declaring how much he hates me. Anyone who's parented a 13-yr.-old knows that this constitutes a lovely day in their presence. While the town we're moving to is in Oklahoma, it's actually only about a 2.5 hour drive from Granbury. This will make it VERY doable to get the other two boys (#2 and #3) for weekend visits and week long stays during the holidays. I haven't spent any time at all with them this summer and I'm looking forward to having them with me for a visit after I get moved to the new spot.

Sparky and Emma have not yet weighed in with an opinion about the move but the packing has worn them out as you can see from the photos above.

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If Dogs Could Talk

I'm back in Oklahoma and very close to securing a job! Pray, please! It's really just a matter of paperwork at this point.

Here's a doggie conversation that will give you an indication of how lovely it's been to travel with my little darlins.

Come here sis, we've got to talk.
I tink I taw a tiny wittle bug on the fwoor ovah here.
GET over here!
Pweeze don't yell at me.
I know you don't want to talk about it, but we've got to talk about it.
I weally wuv dis pink spahkly collah momee bought me.
What were you THINKING in the car today??
I wuz tinking about how much I wuv momee.
Is that what you were thinking when you POOPED in the back seat?
I don't wanna talk about it. Besides, YOU did it. I taught it would be otay.
Listen, sis. I get CARSICK. Momee knows that. But when you did what you did, I thought she was going to run us off the road!
Momee is so pretty, but I tink she might be a wittle bit navigationwally chawwenged.
Why do you think I get so carsick? You're avoiding the issue.
Don't you tink Momee is pwetty?
Yes, aside from that stuff she puts on her face once a week, she's absolutely gorgeous. Now, back to my point. You do NOT under any circumstances whatsoever POOP in the back seat of momee's car when she's driving. And certainly not after she's stopped 4 times to clean up after me.
I tink I know why dey say "sick as a dog" now.
I can't help it. Momee knows I get carsick. But you have no excuse.
Momee wuvs me no matter what.
Again, not the point. We both want to live long happy dog lives with Momee. Momee is not getting any younger and cleaning up after me is enough. You've got to get control of yourself, Sis!
Otay. But will you pwomise me one ting?
What?
If she twies to put one of those doggie dwesses on me, will you chew it to shweds?
Sorry sis, you're on your own there. I'm the golden boy and I intend to keep it that way.

Dahn!

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Summertime Messin' Around

One of the very BEST things about summertime for teachers is all the time we have to just mess around and do the stuff we never have time or energy to do. For me, at least this summer, that's looked like putting a bunch of stuff on eBay and Craigslist to divert myself from thinking about whether or not I'm about to get a call offering me a job. Yesterday, I found yet ANOTHER internet diversion for myself.



So now....we can all sport willful grace merchandise! I've been getting emails from Cafe' Press for a while about setting up my own "store". The thing that's really cool about this place is that you can design your own stuff. So, let's say one of you (maybe Kurt) decides your Mr. Bubble t-shirt is worn to a frazzle and you need a new one. You can't find those anywhere and you don't even recall where you got the original. All you have to do is find your own Mr. Bubble graphic, build yourself a .JPG file in some program (even Microsoft Paint will do that), and viola' you've got a brand spankin' new Mr. Bubble t-shirt! You can even make a Mr. Bubble mousepad, coffeemug, or framed print! Or, you could decide to replace your Mr. Bubble shirt with a willful grace one! That's even better! All proceeds from the sale of willful grace STUFF will go to my own personal young men's college fund. (not kidding)

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Thanks Norm!

Had the garage sale yesterday. It was WAY different than having a garage/yard sale back when I lived in town. My duplex is out in a small community just outside of Granbury, so folks have to make a little drive to get out here from the bulk of the town where I used to live. Most of the people who showed up bought something, but none of the BIG stuff. It's the BIG stuff I need to unload.

Norm! suggested I try putting things on Ebay or Craigslist. I'd never really considered such a thing. Until last night, after only bringing in $67.55 from my wonderful lot of junk. I got busy and set up an Ebay account and listed the big stuff on Craigslist. The whole process took me about an hour and viola', I'm sellin' my junk, baby! I finished listing on Craigslist about midnight last night and I have two emails this morning on two really LARGE items. Yipee!! No bids yet on my Ebay stuff (if you want to see what I have up go to Ebay "find a member" and search for ms.pamferguson). I think the eBay stuff doesn't start moving along until later in the days of bidding. That's the trend I seem to be noticing on the other stuff. We'll see. I think I'm hooked on this. Don't stand still too long if you come over to visit me. I might just take your picture and try and sell you on eBay!

Here are some pics of my collection as we had it displayed yesterday.



And here are Sparky's thoughts on the matter.


I was going to "caption" Sparky but I'm hoping Kurt will stop by and do a better job in the comments than I ever could out here. ;)

love and grace,
pam

p.s. Norm!, is you have any more advice, please let me know!


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