LaBellaMaison

Things Going On Here

I'm so happy................yes, I am.  I have something wonderful happening right now.  Yup, I have a cleaning crew here cleaning my house.  Oh, it feels so nice.......not to have to do it myself.  I hate cleaning!  Especially when your house  is constantly dusty and never stays clean. 

And can you believe it, I am a "homemaker."  Yikes!!! That's what my high school alumni directory has me listed as!  That certainly was a reality check.  I don't think anyone who really knows me thinks of me as a housewife.  But,  yesterday afternoon on my doorstep this book arrived listing me as a "homemaker" (lol).

   

To make matters worse my 30th high school class reunion is next month.   I  really don't think I am going.  I would love to see all the friends from high school; but, I can't get psyched for the "evaluation thing."  You know........are you fat, skinny, successful, what have you made of your life, family info., & on and on and on.  And to make matter worse going to East Lansing, Mi from Seattle isn't a car drive away.  I haven't been back to Michigan in over three years.  On the up side , the same weekend is my college Homecoming at Michigan State University which would be lots of fun.

We had a tough loss on Saturday against BYU.  At one moment we were happy, cheering, and enjoying the game.

     

And the next minute we lost the game  when it appeared that we would tie.  I was very proud of how our team played  & they put up a good fight to the very end.  Hopefully, a win will be our this Saturday when we play Oklahoma the 3rd nationally ranked team in the country.  Please, please cheer for our team.

Some other things happening around here is that my brother-in-law left on Saturday for North Carolina.  He has been living with us for the last 6 months and now has returned home.  One ritual that Lenny and I had was that he would go to the Starbucks  each day for our daily coffee.  Well, since he has been gone I have resolved that I will only drink Starbucks a couple of times a week.  So, no more latte's for Lisa which will save me $$$$ and I am sure several pounds.  This definitely will be a good thing and make Starbucks an extra treat!  It also is a lot quieter here with Lenny gone & I am learning to enjoy it.

My dad has a herniated disc in his back.  We have no idea how this happened but he is in a lot of pain.  He was going to physical therapy for something else and from the treatment he began to feel worse.  Next thing we know he now has this additional problem.  From talking to several people this has happened to it is very painful and takes quite a while to heal.

On another note, my house will be going on the market this weekend.  I am in the final stretch of purging and getting it ready.   Today, is house cleaning, Thursday is window cleaning and pictures, Friday is carpet cleaning and the "For Sale Sign" going up in the yard. 

Reading the market analysis of houses in our area it is taking several months(4-6) for houses to sell. We are praying for a quick sale but realize this isn't a good possibility.  So, that means I will have to keep my house looking perfect 7 days a week/24 hours a day.  I also have to worry about taking my 4 doggies out of the house and driving them around for open houses and showings. 

This is what I hate about selling houses (we have sold 4 so far)!  The last two sold in a week; but, with these economic times we will be praying for the "right buyer" to come through our door.  There is a nice house up the street in the same price range as ours that had only one showing in a month.  So, prayers for us are greatly appreciated!

And finally, I want to share these pictures  from my Country Living Day Planner.  There are great photos in here and you might want to purchase one for 2009.  I think you can purchase one from Barnes and Nobles.

 

wouldn't you like to sit here.......

 

and take nap here............

 

read, drink a nice cup of tea, and hang out here.

Life Is A Verb

Tommorrow at 12 noon we will be playing the BYU Cougars at Husky Stadium.  We are hoping for a victory against this 15th nationally ranked football team.  What a tough schedule we face this season; but, we are excited for our first home game.  I don't know that much about BYU except that the university is sponsored by the Church of Latter Day Saints.  The school is located in Provo Utah about 45 miles outside of Salt Lake City.  The student enrollment is about 24,000 students.  The school colors are blue/white and their mascot is the cougars.  I decided that it might be fun to learn a little bit about the teams we will be competing against this season. 

Today I found this great book at Barnes and Nobles:

 

This book is based on Patti Digh Blog  37 DAYS.   The book features 37 life stories that encompass 6 principles for living fully and intentionally.  Remember my word for 2008 "Intention." well this book is perfect for me.  The 6 core principles in this book highlight living your life fully without regret.  The six principles are:

1. Say Yes
2. Be Generous
3. Speak Up
4. Love More
5. Trust Yourself
6. Slow Down

This book has three important opportunities for the reader to  become authentic with  37 Do It Now Challenges.  This is a book that  will assist you in searching your soul and finding the person you were meant to be by living life  fully with intention. 

Before, I saw this book in Barnes and Nobles today, I think that I had previously stumbled acorss references to the 37 Days Blog.  I am excited to say that Patti will be visting the Seattle University Village Barnes and Noble next Wednesday night.

One of the Do It Now Challenges in the books says:

"On this flight we call life, choose your seatmates wisely.  Sit with people you would embrace while going down, who won't hog the armrest or steal your peanuts or take your inflight magazine.  Sit with people  who will comfort you when you're scared, whom you would take off your sharp jewerly and glasses for, who you would forego your time at the pool for."

Then Patti asks the reader to do a focused free write:

Write for five minutes a list of the people who are your fundamental human survival units.  People who you would call at 3:00 a.m. when you need help and those who will walk towards you when you are dying.

Read your list.  Notice who is on the list and who isn't.

For five minutes answer the question- Whose list are you on?  Whose list do you want to be on?

As you review your list ask yourself-Are these people really your human survival units, are they the people you spend quality time with, have nurturing relationships with, & have as priorities in your life?  If not, why not.  How can your reprioritize them to make them first on you list and in your life.

Wow, now that's deep!  Really rocks my world.  Patti suggests further courses of action to reprioritize what is important in your life.  I highly suggest that you read this book asap if you want to live your life with "intention."

Creativity Please Knock On My Door

The first thing I saw this morning when I step out of my bed was a boat speeding across the lake.  For some reason the beauty and serenity of the lake put a smile on my face!  I thought to myself how important it is to just enjoy the small things.............. 

I have been in a rut here lately on the creative end!  I haven't had the chance to be creative because I am preparing my house for sale.  That mean de-personalizing everything, putting away all my treasures that make the house my home, and the not being able to make a mess while stirring up my creative juices.  I had to tidy up my craft room and put alot of my "stuff" out of view.  I still haven't found a place for it all........and did I mention that I had another craft room downstairs in my basement that I had to pack up.  That alone almost put me over the edge.  Alot of creative chaos down there.  Luckly, I was able to part with quite a few things and give them to a friend.  Still much of my supplies went in boxes into the storage shed and garage.

So luckly, last night was my card club and I got to go to someone's else house to be crafty.  My card club is actually a Stampin Up Club where we meet once a month at Jessica's, our demostrator's home.  Typically we make 4-5 cards each time, and usually one is a Christmas card.  I got  involved  with Stampin UP  when I saw some stamping products featured on Keisha Campbell's blog A Bit East.   I love her clean/fresh style.  She is a native of Detroit, Michigan ( somewhat  of a homegirl) and a Seebee wife living in Beijing, China.  Anyway, I looked up Stampin Up on the internet to find a demostrator to purchase some products  from.  After talking to Jessica I thought it would be fun to join her stamp club. 

Stampin Up has a huge catalog of stamps

My favorite one's that I have purchase so far are:

Define Your Life Stamp Set:

and the Always Stamp Set

There are so many things that you can do with each of these sets that they will definitely be used a lot.  Take a look at the cards we made last night:

This card could be a thank-you card or for any general purpose.

I made a mistake on this card-the top of the flower is suppose to be brown.  I have some cone flowers growing in my yard right now.

A girly birthday card.

And finally a Christmas card.  We make Christmas cards each month so that at the end of the year we will have 12 holiday cards completed.

MIA

Okay I have been missing in action here..............a blog slacker and I am not entirely sure why!  Let's see what's been going on around here:

Recieved these beautiful flowers to kick-off the football season from our head coach

 

Went to Happy Hours with the girls on Friday evening at Daniels Broiler at the Leshi Marina.  Spectular views of Lake Washington, great appretizers, and intimate surroundings.  We had so fun just getting out of the house and kicking back a bit.  The appretizers were half price during happy hour.  We feasted on........

• Fried Calamari
• Seared Ahi Tuna
• Filet Mignon Strips
• Bacon Wrapped Scallops
• Dungeness Crab Legs
• Lobster Club Salad

The  food was so yummy and the service exceptional.  A trip to Daniels is a must!

Watched our season opening football game Saturday evening which was a tough loss.  But, we will have to focus on our game this week against BYU.  Charlie returned home from Saturday's game at 3:30 a.m. and went straight to work.  I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and realized that he hadn't even come home. That's the life of a football coach.......on to the next opponent with no time to spare.

Venutred to the Outlet Mall in Marysville,WA to visit the Coach Store.  I returned home with this:

and this

I needed a new basic black purse so this one was perfect.  And things worked out perfectly with this new wallet.  The zipper on my other wallet was broken so they exchange it.  I was so happy.........I love coach!!

Yesterday, I ventured over to University Village Seattle. for a little shopping.  I bought nothing exciting but I was able to snap these pictures:

 

It is so fun to walk around here.  All the shops are outside.

These pictures are from Ravenna Gardens, one of my favorite places to go for inspiration..

I think it trully is beginning to look like fall around here. 

Not much creative going on in my house.  Unfortunately, I have been busy cleaning and purging.   Yesterday, we cleaned out all of the summer flower pots-sorry its time for fall.  And I have been lisitng some of my vintage items of Craigslist trying to lighten my load.   I really miss being creative.....hopefully, I can find time this evening......  Have a great Tuesday!