What?!?! Two posts in one day, and both with pictures? Somebody's bored...

And now for the pictures I know most of you really care about. They are a little off because I was taking them in a hurry, but you can get the idea. Here is our new home which we will move into on Monday! It's coming up so soon. We love this house. This first picture is the outside, obviously. The tree just to the right of the garage is a magnolia and we think the one to the left of the garage (really big tree hanging over the house) is a mulberry. Isn't the white fence so cute!

Here is the living room, and I'm pretty sure Chad is not aware that he is in this shot. You can see it is completely open to the kitchen behind it, which I think is my favorite room in the house. That door is to the backyard.

This is the front living area which looks out to the street. It's a really good sized room with a ceiling fan. It was probably once used as a formal dining room but we will put the piano and probably a couple pieces of furniture to sit on, and eventually the Christmas tree. Here is the kitchen. Chad really wanted a gas range, but we figured it was a lost cause until we found this house. It was literally the only one out of the 30 houses we looked at that had a gas range, and it turned out we loved the rest of the house so Chad will be getting his gas range...and it has 5 burners! The owners also are leaving us the chairs at the island and the pot rack. All the appliances in the kitchen are updated except the oven. Just to the right of the island we will put our larger dining room table that was my grandparents'.

Here's a close-up of the tile on the island, which looks a bit more understated in person without the flash of a camera. Mom bought me all new dishtowels for a housewarming gift, and those are blue, green and black. I'm glad the island is there, that way I don't have to figure out a color scheme for that room.

This is the view of the right side of the backyard from inside the house. Lots of trees and a shaded porch. They also have a hot tub which they are taking with them, so that will give us more patio room. To the left of the sidewalk is the other half of the backyard which has the workshop (really big, nice storage area), the "RV" parking that is storing the firewood right now (it's not very big), and some more grass. I don't think that gas lamp is connected to the gas line anymore but it looks pretty. This was one of the biggest backyards we saw.

I call these my "before" pictures. All the following rooms I would like to do something with once we move in. This is the master bedroom which doesn't look yellow in person, more of a neutral cream on the walls. We want to change the carpet in all the bedrooms, probably to wood that matches the floor in the 2nd living area. The hallway to the bedrooms is the saltillo tile which I think will look nice up against wood in the rooms eventually.

This is the second bedroom which I think is the biggest. All the bedrooms are about the same size, really. The paint is a faux finish which I think is okay but I think I'll want to change it eventually.

Yikes! floweredy border and lacy curtain overload. I'm sorry if you are offended that I do not like the decorating in this room. It will be one of the first things to go. It does not match the rest of the house at all. This is also a good sized room that has a corner built-in cabinet. I think we will use this as the office/Chad's drumset room, and have a bed in here as well for guests. This is the second bathroom. It is very big and very mauve. I will probably use this bathroom most of the time to get ready because the vanity area in the master bedroom is open to the bedroom and Chad won't like it if I've got the light on and am blowing my hair dry while he is trying to sleep. This is the first room I want to redo. We'll strip the wallpaper, texture and paint but leave the white paneling, and say goodbye to those curtains.

This is the decor of the master bathroom. I haven't decided what I want to do with it yet but the blue and yellow stripe is not my favorite. But it will probably stay this way for a while because I don't totally hate it. When I took this picture I was standing in the vanity area, and this room has the shower and toilet in it. Sorry for all the description but I'm trying to help you visualize it. Directly behind me is the closet.

Isn't this wallpaper awesome? This isn't actually in the house we bought, just another house we looked at. Yes, it is a metallic wallpaper located in the wetbar of a house that was straight out of the '70s. That house gave me the creeps because it was vacant but they had left some stuff, including three cats in the backyard. Just thought I'd share the awesomeness that is this wallpaper.
Well, I hope you like our new house. Stay tuned for the "after" pictures when we start updating the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Hey, what's up with none of you updating your blogs lately? I guess I have to be the one to do it. We will be in our new house one week from today and will close two weeks from today. How exciting! When we get moved in I'll have time to take pictures and post them to the blog.

I was able to go to my classroom today, which I'll post pictures of eventually as well. It is kind of like stepping back in time, with the chipboard cabinets and the chalkboards. It's a huge room though, with an office, a classroom with desks, a computer lab and a darkroom (aka storage closet). I think I'm going to like having my classroom there.

Today is going to be filled with going to DPS, taking care of utilities, and making more phone calls about loans, titles, insurance, and all that fun stuff. I still think I got the better end of the deal and would rather be here tying up loose ends than having to load the U-Haul. Chad likes it this way too, and don't worry, he'll have plenty of help. Although today is his birthday (happy birthday Chad!) and the poor guy is spending all day packing up the rest of the house. You're a good man, Chad Montandon.

All of you with the kids need to post some more pictures.

Inspection

Three hours long. No termites. Good house.

New update on the house

I know all these details are probably really boring for some of you to read but I know some of you like it so if you're not one of those people then you might want to check another blog, like someone who has kids and posts cute pictures. That ain't us. Anyway...to the point of this post. Things with the house are coming along rather nicely. After a counter-offer and a counter-counter-offer, the seller accepted and we are now officially under contract. Yipee! I have already made myself a list of the gazillion things I have to do in the next couple days, including dropping by my new school, moving my stuff into my new classroom and introducing myself to the fine gentleman and ladies who offered me this job. We've been so busy with house stuff that I haven't gotten a chance to do any of that yet. My official contract starts August 9th but the kids don't start back until August 27th, so I will still have a couple weeks to prepare which is why I haven't been worried about it. Okay, back to the house. In the contract we asked the seller if he could be out by August 13th so we could have a place to put our stuff and ourselves. We aren't closing until the 20th but he said okay and we will be leasing the house from him for a week. It worked out perfectly and now we don't have to find a place to store all our junk when Chad comes back from Arizona with all of it. So we will be official homeowners by the end of the month, Lord willing. He has definitely taken care of us so far! Tomorrow is the inspection and I am waiting on that to make sure there's nothing horribly wrong with the house and that it is not infested with termites. So for those of you who are interested in every little detail, stay tuned and I'm sure I'll blog soon about the inspection. This stuff is boring to people who have bought a bunch of homes but everything is interesting to me since we're first-time buyers. I can't wait for everyone to come visit! Bring your painting clothes!

Update

Most of the family knows that we have found a house and we put an offer on it yesterday. We are praying that all goes well and they will accept the offer and the inspection will go so well that the inspector will want to buy the house. Not really, but you know what I mean. Because of crazy stalker people of course I am not going to put the address on the blog but if you want to see a virtual tour and pictures, email me and I'll give you the link.

More details once we get this deal taken care of.

Home sweet home

I know some of you might read the title of this and think that we found a new house! ...But we didn't. I am just referring to being back in the Lone Star State for good, and I wanted to give you guys an update on our trip and how the house hunting is going. Saturday we left at about 8:30 a.m. and said goodbye to mom, Erin, Kellen and Bonnie, who were waiting until a little later to leave our house because they didn't want to be sitting at the airport with K & B for hours before their plane left. We had a great time with them. I was wondering how well it would work for them to be here until the actual day I moved from Arizona, wondering if I would be a good hostess or too stressed out to think about having fun. It worked out well. It actually gave me a great reason to see a lot of the really cool stuff in Arizona that I will miss not being an hour or two away from, like the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and Jerome. Most of you have probably heard of the first two places I mentioned, but if you ever get a chance to visit those, go to Jerome also. It's a really neat little eccentric ghost town that is full of artisans and literally built on the side of a mountain. We only got to drive through Jerome on our way back from Sedona because it started pouring rain on us. We actually had to pull over for a while so the rain would let up enough that we could drive in it on the curvy mountain road. Anyway, it was a good trip. We got Erin started on playing Scrabble and the last night they were there we made S'mores and played Scrabble and laughed a lot...a great way to spend my last night in Prescott. Anyway, I'm really glad they came, and now I'm really glad I'm back in Texas. At each state line I would turn around and say "Bye Arizona" and "Bye New Mexico," although I know I'll be back to New Mexico pretty often since that's where CBH is. But I didn't even cry when we left Prescott, which is a good sign because I bawled for hours when we moved from College Station 2 1/2 years ago. Luckily, Chad was driving the U-Haul then and I was driving my own car so he didn't have to listen to it.

So the drive on Saturday was bearable. It took us 11 hours with stops. Chad and I used to be under the impression that we shouldn't stop very often because then we would get there quicker and wouldn't have to be in the car as long. Now, we take a different approach: better to spend 30 more minutes on the road with snacks and an empty bladder than try and be a hero about it. So we stopped a few times (but only once to fill up on an almost 800-mile trip...a plug for hybrids) and were pulling into Lubbock at about a quarter to 10. First stop: Freebirds. Chad was so one-track minded about the burrito he was going to get that he was literally not listening to a word I said. Then he would make the same comment a few minutes later and I would say "I just said that" and he would say "Sorry, I'm thinking about my burrito." So we took our burritos to Celia's house and visited with Celia, Celia's son Kelly, and Kelly's girlfriend Mackenzie for a while. We will be staying with Celia and her husband Lynn until we find and close on a house, which will hopefully be sooner rather than later. If we don't find one in this first batch we may need to find a place to rent so we don't outstay our welcome. Anyway, they are very gracious hosts and Celia lets me use the computer to feed my blogging habit, so I'm quite happy right now! :)

By the way, on our way into Lubbock we drove by the new drive-in theater. It looks like a lot of fun and we'll have to check it out soon.

So on to what most of you really care about, the house hunting. We looked at about 11 houses yesterday afternoon. I'm not sure of the exact number because I lost count after a while and most of them don't really matter. We found a couple promising ones, but I still feel like the house we are going to buy is still out there and we haven't seen it yet. At least three of those 11 houses that we looked at looked pretty nice on the internet, but unless you have a scratch and sniff computer monitor, you couldn't tell that they all smelled really bad like cigarette smoke. Hmmm...maybe THAT'S why the house was vacant and the realtor had written "Seller motivated! Bring ALL offers!" on the MLS sheet. There was one really creepy house that reminded me of a house we looked at when my family moved to Austin in the early '90s...kind of a goth, dark feeling to it. This house was obviously built in the '70s judging from the wetbar with metallic wallpaper in it. They didn't show a picture of that on the preview sheet...I wonder why. It was vacant...kind of. They had left a mattress and box springs (ew!), a dining table, and their old nasty refrigerator...oh yeah, and three cats in the backyard. We're thinking about going for a second look today...not. So I've told you about most of the bad ones, which got me discouraged, but everyone who's ever gone house hunting knows there are way more bad ones than good ones, so I think we still have hope. We found two houses that we both liked. We both REALLY liked one that was a little above our price range (such is life, right?) but we wouldn't really have to do much to it at all besides a little paint, it's got a huge master bedroom with a double lavatory and big closet, and the other two bedrooms are a good size. Plus, the second bathroom also has two sinks. It also has a deck in the backyard and is in a really nice neighborhood. So, that one is one that we are keeping in mind. The other one has three bedrooms, and two baths with a bonus room which Chad and I were already thinking of things we could do with it. This one had more cosmetic issues...like there were 5 kinds of flooring in the house which really bothered me. We'd have to put new flooring in, and I would want to change the kitchen countertops and cabinets. But, this house was significantly less expensive, so that is also an option as well. It was also in a good area.

So was that too much detail? Probably not, for the loyal C & L's adventures readers. In a couple hours we will resume our search and I think we'll see about 20 houses today. Maybe we'll even put an offer on one! Keep us in your prayers. A lot of people have told me that I would just walk in a house and know it is "the one," but I'm not sure that's how I operate...that, or I haven't found "the one" yet. But I do know that the first house I talked about that we liked had to grow on me, and now I really like it.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Short update

Many of you have been asking me when we are leaving for Texas, etc. so here is our schedule for the next week and a half.

Tuesday mom, Erin, Kellen and Bonnie are flying to Arizona for a visit. We'll go to the Grand Canyon and do stuff around Prescott for a few days, and mom sounds pretty excited about helping me pack the kitchen so I think I'll let her...wouldn't want to disappoint anyone.

Then Saturday 7/28, mom, Erin, and the kids leave. Chad and I will also be leaving that day for Lubbock to start looking at houses. We'll start our search on the 29th, and Chad will fly back to Arizona on the first to work a few more days before he joins me in Lubbock with all our stuff around August 11th.

For those of you who don't know already, we are moving to Lubbock. We are excited to get back closer to family and friends and finally have a house of our own. That's all for now.

We are back. I would say look for pictures from Blue Haven soon but I don't want to get your hopes up. We are busy planning our move which is happening in about two weeks so blogging will be very sporadic. Anyway, we had a tiring but safe drive home and are glad to be back in our own bed, but Blue Haven was great! Being a teacher is the best job in camp.

Keeping you updated

In my constant quest to keep everyone updated, I have failed in posting new things to the blog. Most of you who we talk to on a regular basis already know that we have been super busy planning our move in between me teaching summer school, Chad working, both of us preparing for Blue Haven, etc. Well, that doesn't look like very much, but I can assure you that it is.

We are leaving for camp on Friday. We will be back a couple weeks later, so you can take us off your daily blog reading rotation for that time.

I don't have any new pictures but be assured that I will be posting lots of pictures after we get back from CBH.

By the way, here's our address if you want to send us anything during camp:

Chad & Lesley
c/o Camp Blue Haven
HC 81 Box 304
Las Vegas, NM 87701

Tonto Natural Bridge

Chad and I went to Tonto Natural Bridge on Friday. It was a really cool place. As the name suggests, it is a natural bridge that has been eroded over the years by water. You can walk below and above the bridge. Here are some pictures from our trip.

View of the bridge from further away.
Chad looking at the bridge
Underneath the bridge. It was HOT that day but the difference in temperature underneath the bridge was amazing. I guess that's the desert for you.
Inside looking out
Chad thought the graphic on this sign was funny

No rain and hot means fire danger.
This is called Waterfall trail or something like that
Me at the same spot
The waterfall...for some reason I thought it would be bigger, but still pretty.

A bit philosophical, if you're in the mood for it

I have been thinking about this post since yesterday. There is a man who lives in my apartment complex who asks me how I am doing when I see him. I usually give a typical response: "Great," "Well," etc., and I return the question. The interesting thing is he gives these pessimistic responses such as, "I'm here," "Just another day in paradise" (sarcastically), and yesterday, "It's better now that it's over." His responses to this question have made me come to the conclusion that he is a negative person that is not a Christian. Now, you're probably thinking, "Lesley, that is very judgmental and presumptuous of you," and you'd be right in saying that, but that is not the point of this post. I don't know this guy, but I do know what he says when I ask him how he is doing, and that is the only impression I have of him. My own judgments about this guy got me thinking about how other people, even perfect strangers see me, which IS the point of this post. Do I have an all-around positive attitude and outlook that others can see in their brief interactions with me? Do I focus on the negative, watching the clock pass the hours, always waiting for the next thing? Do my outward actions reflect my inward Christianity? Although this guy has no idea, he has made me think a lot about my own attitude and how I want others to see me. Can people who don't know me tell that I am a Christian? I think about that a lot. Hopefully, by the way I treat people I come into contact with daily, they can see that my hope is in something greater than "the daily grind." Elsewhere in our complex, someone has painted on the side of a wall, "You are here now...enjoy it." Although I'm not a fan of the trashiness of this graffiti, I think about the message everytime I see it, and remind myself to be content and enjoy where I am. I feel for this guy who, apparently, is not enjoying where he is now or what he is doing, and I hope that no matter what I am doing, I am enjoying my life. And, at the risk of getting too existential with you, I will end my post.

Silkworms, wasps, and dead pigeons, oh my!

We went on a hike last week. Here are some random pictures we took.

I like this picture of Chad. He is not making a goofy face like he usually does when I tell him to look at the camera.

This is a wasp carrying a dead caterpillar. They were both HUGE!
Here's a silkworm nest.
Here's the sign to the trail that we took.
This is Chad flipping a pancake for dinner. No, I don't ALWAYS make him cook his own dinner.
Here's a picture of a recent pizza I made. I don't really ever post stuff about food I make because most of it isn't worth posting about, but I am proud of my pizza. Mom gave me the California Pizza Kitchen cookbook for my birthday last year, and it has the BEST dough and pizza recipes in it. I like these pizzas better than anything you could order from Papa John's or Pizza Hut. Maybe it's because of that special ingredient...love.

In other news...

We had a bit of an "issue" last week regarding a dead pigeon which had placed itself on our second floor balcony. We have no idea how it got there. Chad had gone to the door to lower the blinds and all I hear is "You gotta be KIDDING me!" And lo and behold, I run to see what he's talking about, and here is what we see.

So although Chad will not kill spiders, he takes the initiative to be the one to remove the pigeon from our balcony. I was about to call the sanitation department. Here is Chad as he is preparing to remove the pigeon.
Here are the necessary materials. (Chad covered his hand with a wet one before he put his hand in the trash bag. One more layer never hurts!)
When Chad is doing this he says, "Ugh! Pigeon toenails!"
Mission accomplished. The worst part was that the pigeon had been dead for probably a couple days and was starting to stink.

This reminds me of a time when I was younger and my family was living in Austin. One day we heard a funny noise coming from the clothes dryer hose, and we found out later that a bird had built its nest in there. We tried all sorts of things like starting the dryer to blow them out, but that didn't work and only heated up the dead birds or eggs or whatever and made it smell even more. Eventually, I guess the mama bird got fed up with our pestering and decided to poke a hole through the hose with her sharp beak, and at this point we had a mad bird flying around our laundry room. So my mom decides to put a laundry basket upside-down on her head and enters the laundry room, I think with a broom, to free the captive bird. If you are not getting a visual of my mom in the laundry room trying to avoid this flapping bird while trying to get the window open to let it loose, let me tell you it was really funny. I don't remember what happened after that so maybe my family can fill you in. Chances are I got some parts of the story wrong anyway, but that's how I remember it. And the smell....OH, THE HORROR!

I got this idea from Ginny's Flickr site. Check it out to see all the beautiful jewelry she makes.

Caricatures

Over the past couple weeks some of my students, who are in a graphic design class here at school, chose to draw a caricature of me as their assignment. They gave me their finished products and I thought they were pretty good.

Flickr site

I decided since I have way more pictures than I want to post on the blog, and because I don't want to take up a ton of disk space on our computer, I have set up a site at flickr. Here is the address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesleymontandon/

You should be able to get on there and download anything that you like. The quality is sized at enough mp to make a small print out of it but for those of you who want to make posters out of my pictures :) you'll need to get one resized from me probably.

Are you getting tired of pictures yet?

Rebekah with all her former campers who were there (we were all counselors too)
The 2003 counselors who were at the reunion
Ten out of 16 2002 counselors came! We had a great time catching up and hiking.
Sweet little Josey.
Big Mouth Frog as read by Vance Crowe: a modern classic.
This is what the dining hall looks like now. Very different, but very nice!
The classic sign. Notice the fire danger sign says moderate. It rained every day we were there, praise God!
This wasn't BST either. The group of hikers.

A cool forest service sign. The Blue Canyon is where our little piece of haven (yes I meant to spell it like that) is located.
I love this picture of John and Jessica. John was the honorary CBH staff member for the weekend.
Sara and me.
Jessica, Mirm, Sara and me at the dining hall. Look how nice they all look. I had already changed into my hiking clothes and they were all still in their church clothes. Boy do I look like a scrub.
Another group shot.

Okay, I think that is it for the pictures. I have more but you get a good idea from these. We had such an awesome time at the Blue Haven 50th reunion and were so excited to see so many old friends. It was like being a camper again. We stayed in the campers' cabins and took showers in the shower house, which is one thing I don't really miss. We had a great time and can't wait to go back and teach 4th session later this summer. Enjoy all the pictures!