Freezing Hot

Last week I saw a program about how to keep your food fresh in the refrigerator. 

I was just barely listening to it because I have heard some of it before and because I was doing other stuff at the same time. 

They talked about how to store veggies and fruits.  Never put them in the same drawer because fruit releases gases that affect veggies.  Make sure the humidity level is on high for the veggie drawer.

Leave eggs in their original container because they are designed to keep them fresher.  Eggs are porous and can absorb smells from the fridge.  The egg carton helps prevent that.  Never keep eggs in the door of the fridge.

I have heard most of that info before.  But then I heard something that was new to me.

They said that you should keep milk in the middle of the fridge.  (They were using a side by side fridge to demonstrate what they were talking about.)

They said that the middle is the most consistently cold place in the fridge.  I thought it was interesting and that it kind of made sense but then I was off to my next task.

The next day I went grocery shopping.  Once I was home and started putting away the groceries, I remembered what I had seen on TV.

So I made a few rearrangements in the fridge.  I moved the veggies to their own drawer, adjusted a shelf and placed the milk in the middle.

                   

Not to hard. 

And probably not going to make a big difference.

We had a day off of School on Friday and enjoyed a much needed lazy morning.  Paul was working from home that morning.  I came down the stairs and saw him finishing up breakfast.  He looked up at me and said,

“This milk is so cold! It’s awesome!”

It was so surprising to me because once I had made the changes in the fridge, I dismissed the subject from my mind.  I hadn’t even mentioned it to him.

Well, there you have it.  Proof that it’s true.  For Paul to notice and comment about it really says that there was a noticeable difference.  Even Kara noticed too.

So if you want your milk to be ‘’Freezing hot’’ like Coop and Cass say, try moving the milk to the middle shelf!

Round Two

Cooper and Cassidy had to wait about a week after the ‘sisters’ started school until it was their turn. 

They had seemed reluctant to the idea of going to preschool when we started talking about it 6 months ago.  Over time and because of seeing some of their friends starting to go, the idea grew on them.  We were able to go to a meet the teacher day and a picture day before school started.  This was really great because they got to see the space and figure out where things were while I was still there. 

So by the time it was the first day, we were very excited.  (note the use of the word we- yes, I was VERY excited too.)

I just love how 3 year olds try so hard to smile!

Oh!  They are so big!

Coop make sure to tell me that he didn’t cry at all.  He is so brave! (when he has his sister around.)

It is still hard to believe that my babies are in preschool!  Because of the hectic month of moving, it really came in handy that they got to go to school a couple of mornings a week.

And I am so happy that they have each other!

First day of School

(This, of course, happened a while ago.  Life has been a bit out of order for a while and so these posts will be too!  These kids are just to darn cute not to talk about them, so order or no order here goes some more stuff about us.)

Kara was the first to head out the door this year.  She is our only elementary student this year and her school actually starts before Allie’s.  It is so nice that we have been going to the same school all these years because it makes first day’s much less scary.
Here is my cute, confident 4th grader.

Allie jumped into a whole new world this year- Middle School.  I wanted the first day for her to be as less scary as possible so we went to every function the school had during the last few months of the previous school year and over the summer.  Allie and I even volunteered to help out the PTO a few days before school started.  Each time we went to the school, it helped Allie get the feel for where things were and how things worked.  By the time it was time for school to start, she was feeling really prepared.
And here’s my cute, confident 6th grader!

I am happy to say that they both had fabulous first days and this school year has been really great so far!

They love to strike a pose for the camera!

Change of address

I am back at it once again.  This time from a whole new house.  During the last month things have change drastically for us.  Everything happened so fast that I am just barely starting to recover.  Here’s the breakdown of the last 30 days or so.

Monday August 20th- Our house was officially listed for sale.  (this happened while we were still in Utah for a mini Johnson reunion and then a mini Garvin get together.)

Wednesday August 22nd-  By Wednesday, the house had been shown three times.

Paul had flown out of Utah on Sunday for a trip. I returned home from Utah with the kids late Wednesday night.

Thursday August 23rd-

8:30 am- Call from Marci letting us know that someone wanted to see the house in 30 min.  It was someone wanting to have a second showing.

Mad dash to do a quick pick up before flying out of the house.

9:00 am- Dentist appointment (filled with nerves about someone seeing our house and anxious about the possible outcome)

3:46 pm- Offer received for our home!    

Saturday August 25th- small counter offer

Monday August 27th-

8:50- Kara’s first day of school

9:05- Allie’s first day of school (more on the first days of school soon)

10:00- Buyer excepted counter offer.  Home is officially in escrow!

The next 10 days is called the ‘due diligence period’.  This is when the buyer does inspections and appraisals and checks to make sure there are no problems or liens on the home.  This 10 days for me should have been called the ‘denying reality period’.

Up to the point of listing our house, I had been on the fence.  One day I would think it was a good idea, and the very next day I was convinced that we could never live anywhere else. So the fact that the offer was excepted on August 27th and they wanted to close on September 28th was kind of shocking for me.  I was sure that this couldn’t really be happening.  Something was going to get in the way of it actually closing.  I didn’t want to tell people until after the 10 days just to make sure it was really going to happen.  Shortly after the 10 days was over,  the buyer requested another walk through so they could measure for new flooring.  That is when it became real for me. 

Now I had a new set of worries.  Where will we live?  Is it possible to find a home to buy and then close on it in less than month?  Should we rent for a while?  How am I going to get the house all packed up?

The month of September was absolutely crazy for us.  School had just started, I  had a few weird health things going on and then had a really bad reaction to some medication that left me feeling pretty terrible for more than a week,  Paul had to have a very deep suspicious mole removed that required internal and external stitches, and he had a very tight travel schedule for work as well.

But some how we managed to find pockets of time between field trips, auditions, retreats, friend birthday parties(which I mistakenly packed the presents and after an hour of trying to pin point which box they were in, went with the lame old cash in a card gift instead), line leader and snack provider, picture days and lots more fun everyday life stuff- to pack up our belongings. 

We had help from friends, church friends and family members that made things all the more bearable. 

Monday September 27th- Went to the title office to sign away our house!

Tuesday September 28th- fabulous friends from church came over for several hours in the morning and packed up the entire storage room and kitchen.  Its amazing how much stuff just kept coming out.  I thought it would be a small job and thankfully because of the many hands that helped it wasn’t too bad.  It is a humbling experience having other people go through your stuff and help you pack it away. 

-My mom and dad arrived late Tuesday night.  I was feeling particularly overwhelmed and tired.  Just the sight of them walking in almost brought me to tears.  Nothing like having your parents around to bring you comfort, no matter how old you are.

Wednesday September 28th- the crunch is on!

My dad and I moved all of the kitchen and storage room boxes over to the rental.  My cousin Heather kindly brought us dinner (one of the THREE she provided for us during the move! Amazing!) and moved over the kids hanging clothes to the closets at the rental.  Mom worked through the boxes in the kitchen finding new homes for all of our items.  Dad and I continued making trips from the ‘old’ house to the rental.   Marci, our multi talented realtor, helped me bring over the entire master closet and bathroom boxes.  She then worked with amazing speed at unpacking, organizing and even slightly decorating the closet and bathroom at the rental.

We got so much done that there wasn’t much else to really move except the big stuff and the stuff that was going to storage.  So Dad talked me in to moving over all the beds.  That hadn’t been my plan at all.  Now having done it, it was totally the right move.  Thanks for that Dad! 

I left to pick Paul up from the airport around 7pm.  We went to the old house and put our king bed and small kitchen table into Dad’s truck and then drove away into the night.  My ‘last night in the nursery’ (peter pan reference) had happened and I didn’t even know it until it was over!  But we are moving on to new adventures now.

The kids have been real troopers during this whole experience.  They loved to ‘help’ how ever they could.

(cell phone pics :()

Thursday September 29th- I don’t even know it was just a blur!

We worked all day doing last minute things.  We thought we were prepared.

And then the men from the ward (the geographical area that makes up the people who attend our church) came.

Wow! 

It was absolutely amazing to see them in action.  And like I said, I thought I was prepared.  They worked so fast, that I would turn around and someone would want to know what to do next.  We ended up moving the fridge with food in it because I couldn’t keep up.  We actually had the last load of bathroom rugs in the dryer that we snatched out so they could pack up the washer and dryer!

This full trailer (and truck with the washer and dryer) went to the rental.

This full truck went to storage.

Yes, it blocked the whole street.  And yes, it is 53 feet!

It is truly wonderful and hard to receive help from so many people.  But the truth is, no matter how much I had prepared I could never have done it in this tight of a timeline with out the help from others.

I am so humbled and grateful for all the help that we received this last month.  I can’t even begin to thank everyone enough.  Especially my parents. 

The rental is awesome and really working out perfectly.

The only damper on this whole experience is the fact that we will be doing this again sometime again in the near future!

Oh well, for now we are happy, healthy and grateful for a place to live.

I have learned some good tips and things from this move so next time should be a breeze! :)  So we’ll just cross that bridge (moving again) when we have too.