Caravan Tuesday and God

So today was the big Realtor Caravan. Jenny (our agent) said there was a great turn out and everyone (the Realtors, that is) loved our place. Now it just a matter of the right time and the right buyer. Out of fear of revisiting my not so helpful therapist, I have been working on "letting go." Or as my bible thumping co-workers constantly say "Let Go and Let God!"

So funny story about God... Apparently, he was recently arrested for selling crack near a church! Seriously, here is the link to the ABC news story...http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5230723 So my first question is: Who names their child God? And not just God but God Lucky Howard???? I love the tag line on the video "God goes Gangsta." I realize that laughing at this is likely going to send me straight to hell... but at the moment I simply can not help myself.

My second question... why, oh why, does this man have to be from my beloved home town? Who knew God was sellin' drugs in Ybor City? And doin' time in the big house! All the years I worked in the projects and neighborhoods he was arrested in, maybe I passed God on the street without even knowing it! Just in case anyone was wondering... this is not God's first scuffle with the law. Apparently, he was arrested 2 times in 2004 and served 18 months for a possession of cocaine with intent to deliver charge. So apparently, God does not learn from his mistakes.

Well, if this sad tale of God's downward spiral into the drug dealing world evokes in you a desire to do good... God Lucky Howard can be bailed out of the Hillsborogh County Jail for a mere... $86,500.00. And on the eight day, God was bailed out of jail!

My last comment regarding God... when God was younger, do you think his friends would knock on his door and ask "Can God come out and play?"

Until next time... and yes, I am still giggling without abandon about this whole God thing!

OK so I decided to come back and add this final small detail... a picture of God... I mean doesn't everyone want to know what God looks like?

Whatever Works!

So Michelle told us that when the Hancock's were trying to sell their house a few years back they buried a statue of a "Saint" in the yard and the house sold shortly there after... Michelle was unsure of which Saint brought this good fortune. However, with the power of the World Wide Web we found out!

So we have purchased a 3.5 inch PVC St Joseph statue and house selling kit. Seriously, they have multiple websites dedicate to this... http://www.stjosephstatue.com Apparently, St Joseph is the Patron Saint of Family and Household Needs. Right now my house hold needs to sell this house! As soon as it arrives we will bury it in the front yard, next to the sign, face down, point towards our home like an arrow. I plan to document the whole endeavor in writing and with photos. So stay tuned.

Good News...

there is no bug in my ear! Just the standard fluid build up due my left sinus being "enlarged" (whatever that means!) Nothing a good old fashion nasal steroid spray can't handle!

The Ear Issue

So no word yet from the house showing on Sunday... the old saying "No news is good news" does not apply here. Hopefully we will have some traffic this weekend and next as I don't think house shopping is a popular event for the 4th of July weekend!

Chris is in Nashville for the week... and from what I can tell he is having a splendid time! We sent the paperwork to the UK yesterday afternoon! So now we wait on the Visas' and the house! We are going to make an appointment with a "Letting Agent" during our trip next month to start looking at places to live. I will take pictures so everyone can laugh at out future shoebox flat. You know, Barbie shoebox palaces were my speciality in childhood so I may be able to turn our little flat into quite the luxury space... nothing some magazine cut outs, a glue stick and plastic mardi gras beads can't fix (just ask Barbie, Skipper or Ken!)

Chris signed up to run a 10k this coming weekend to prepare for his 10k on the 4th. That makes very little since to me but hey, whatever works for him is fine by me. I have been given "permission" to sleep in and skip the race. This is especially great since I was on call all last week and need a few late mornings to catch up on my beauty sleep!

Sleep has been difficult at best lately and not just because of on-call. I have this odd ear thing going on. I constantly feel like my left ear has water in it. My hearing is muffled. And my "inner" ear area is hurting. I have had something like this in the past due to sinus problems and fluid build up in my e-tube. However, normally I take some allergy meds and it goes away in a few days. I am going on over 2 weeks now and I am starting to worry. I have an appointment tomorrow to get it checked out. In the mean time, I have created all kinds of weird potential causes of the ear issue. I googled the symptoms (which is NEVER a good idea for me) and the first site I find is all about insects crawling into ears at night while you sleep. SERIOUSLY! Why do I Google things like this when I should just make the Doctor's appointment? So last night I convinced myself that I could feel a bug crawling around in my ear. RIDICULOUS! I know. So hopefully the Dr. will get down to the bottom of it tomorrow and provided me with an instantly working remedy. (A girl can hope, right?) A funny thing about not being able to hear out of my left ear... today at work someone was standing in my door talking to me (my buggy ear was facing them) and I could hear someone talking but I was certain they were a few doors down so I continued to focus on the computer screen in front of me. Eventually, the person had to come tap my shoulder! I jumped because I couldn't hear them coming! I need one of those old ear horns to hold up until the bug is removed ; ) Wish me luck and think positive, "non-buggy" thoughts about me tomorrow morning! Until next time...

Hugs and Kisses!

Long awaited photo...

of the head board that we made 2 weeks ago. Check out this handy work!

Yard Sale Day 2

We had 2 people stop today. So mostly I spent the morning working on my farmer's tan. We worked on the house from 1 pm to 3 pm because we had a showing. And the goods news is... they came in the house! So we had our first official showing today! We should have feedback on the showing tomorrow. Fingers crossed for an offer.

So for those of you in Atlanta (or coming to visit on the 4th), Chris will be running the Peachtree Road Race. He is preparing for a half marathon which he hopes will lead to a full marathon. If you want to come out and watch I will be at Tap on Peachtree and 14th at 8 am. Look for me in a shirt that reads "My husbands running while I'm drinking beer."

Until next time... hugs and kisses!

Yard Sale Day 1

We got up at 7 am, it was hot, we made some money,

I got sun burned, and a lady stole a fifty cent necklace.

That about sums up the day.

Look for Yard Sale Day 2 tomorrow :-)

Halloween 2000

So thanks to Vim we now have documented proof that Chris has an evil twin brother... we will refer to him as Devil Chris. Apparently, Devil Chris was very unhappy with the towing situation in the hood.

Take that Roam Towing!

And for those of you who know him, that is Rishi's head in the bottom right.

Thanks for the proof Vim!

101 reasons we know I have control issues...

So we survived the 1st open house. However, Chris and I spent the week leading up to Sunday's open house cleaning, organizing and stressing (that was just me) over every detail. Obviously Chris's participation in the weeks activities were purely out of obligation to me. I don't know what it is but the thought of strangers in my home totally freaks me out! I want everything to be perfect, so I refolded everything in the linen closet and sorted things by color, I made Chris clean out the cabinet under the sink, I cleaned out the bathroom cabinets and I even sorted my dresser drawers! OK, I am painfully aware that people do not open dresser draws while looking at houses but I had this internal drive to clean them and could not stop... I think we all know I have some controlling personality (thanks Marshree Chastain for your expert insight and diagnosis... I will never consider therapy again!) things going on, however, I think that this is boarding on compulsive. Who does things like this?

Now, the good thing in all of this hard work... our house looks immaculate! We make the bed everyday and do dishes right away. The closets are organized and it is amazingly easy to find everything we are looking for... unless of course it is something that I mistakenly gave away to Goodwill or trashed! The yard sale is this weekend so we have a heaping pile of stuff in the basement (which I made Chris organize prior to the open house!) It will be nice for that to be gone but I have realized that once the big move gets closer we will likely have to have a second sale! I am pretty sure we will sell most of our furniture. The more we think about it the less it makes since to store things. We will have to store some stuff... my iron bed and others pieces that are antiques and family heirlooms... but why store things that we can "easily" replace.

So back to the Open House... it was Sunday from 3 to 5. The good news: we had visitors. The bad news: they were all neighbors! The realtor says that anyone is better than no one but I was hoping at least one serious looker would come and give us hope. Apparently, we got some good feedback from the fliers that were emailed out to all agents which is good as well. Chris keeps reminding me that we have had the house on the market for 2 weeks only but I am just anxious for it to happen. I think it is partly because I am sad to be selling the place so I want it to hurry up and happen... kind of like removing a band-aide; we all know it hurts less if you just rip that sucker off as quickly as possible . However, I think the real reason I am stressing is because... what for it... I can not stand things being out of my control! I know... shocker! We can't really set a true move date until the house sells so not only is selling the house out of my control but so is the day we are moving! For the love of all things good in this world, please let this house sell quickly before I need medication or hospitalization to help me cope!

And then there is the work issue. I try to be nonchalant about what my employment situation will be once in London. However, the truth is that I am a little freaked out. I have been doing this child welfare stuff for so long that I am worried I won't be able to find something else. I really want this to be an opportunity for me to expand into the "business" world. But I have no real idea of what I want to do. Event planning is what I keep saying but I am not sure I even know what that means. Remember that test we all took in the 8th or 9th grade that said what we would be "good" at? Well, if anyone has a copy of that test please send it to me because I need some direction! Almost 30 and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up! And yes I said almost!!

One last thing.... Chris received the official and correct offer in the mail. He has signed the offer letter and accepted the position but we have not returned it yet. We have also planned a scouting trip to London for mid July.

Until next time.....

I am a handy woman!

I made an upholstered headboard! Chris and I pretty much dedicated our Sunday to this endeavor. We only had to make one extra trip to Ace because we bought the wrong caliber staples. And we initially put the legs on the top instead of the bottom but in the end it is perfect... if I can figure out how to post pictures on this thing I will show everyone! OK, I figured out how to upload the pictures but I don't have a picture of the head board so be patient! The sole purpose of the headboard was to bring color into our otherwise tan room... well, mission accomplished!


I must say it is a little depressing that our house is looking the best it ever has and not for us but for the potential new owner. Oh, well... I keep reminding myself that I am going to be living in London!


So the next little project has nothing to do with London or selling the house so I am straying off the blog topic a little... I am planning the 89th Annual Crick family reunion! That is correct... 89! Now you may be asking yourself "how on earth did Jen get herself in to this?" The answer is simple... I can not master the art of saying "No." Two simple letters that make a simple word that I can not seem to use when I am asked to do something... therefor I am the president of the HOA, president of the Crick Family Reunion, Special Project Girl at work and I am organizing a neighborhood yard sale... Saying No seems so much simpler than all this work. But I digress... back to the reunion...


If anyone would like to meet a Crick from Texas, California, Georgia, Florida, Alabama or Arizona I would strongly encourage you to be at Henry Horton State Park in Chapel Hill Tennessee on July 27th at 12 pm... and don't come empty handed because this is a covered dish reunion! Now you may be asking exactly what is a Crick. Well it can be several things. A small stream running through the woods that some might call a creek. Or it may be a muscle tenderness in the neck from sleeping at a awkward angle (i.e a crick in the neck). Or it is a group of Southern (even those from Cali have a sweet twang in their voices) kind relatives that I call family. Here is a picture of my immediate family... all Cricks.

I used to attend these reunions every summer but only a few stick out in my memory. They used to be outside at Henry Horton State Park and always in July or August. The temperature always at 95 degrees or hotter and my grandfather's twin sister were always dressed alike. So as the reunioners have aged, the festivities have been moved in doors to a more hospitable climate. So Chris and I went to the reunion last year. We walk in the door and as I am walking to sign in I am swept up by a cousin and the next thing I know... I am in charge of this years reunion. My immediate family finds this to be funny... they have worn themselves out making jokes and laughing at my misfortune. My father had one request which was to move the event to an alcohol friendly venue... he was promptly shushed by his mother (my sweet Mema, sitting next to Chris in the picture). Then my father announced he would not attend the reunion as his fear was he would inevitably wind up in my same position for number 90! The good news in all of this is that I have the perfect excuse for abdicating my throne... I am moving to London! (And with that the story comes full circle!)

So now I am no longer fighting the "Can't Say No Battle." I don't have to say no... I say "I am moving to London"


Here is another "Crick" picture just for good measure!


Until next time!
Hugs and Kisses!!