A new home for the Loveless Cafe

I love seeing pictures of the inside of people's homes. I shouldn't admit that because it shows just how nosy I can be. I love to see how different homes are set up, and it gives me some great decorating ideas. Since we moved in I have realized just how inadequate my decorating abilities are, and I need lots of help--any ideas? This is the view from our bedroom doorway, four bedrooms and a kids bathroom that John and I don't have to use, YAY.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this house has a lot of arches. I counted them today as I was taking pictures. Here is one leading to the master bath.

Another in the master bedroom. (the quality of these pictures isn't that great, sorry.)

Then 5 more that you can see in this picture with one just above the view of the camera. All together that makes eight. The people who built this house really liked arches, and I am beginning to like them too.

Here is a better view of the entry way.

The two doors behind the big arch are the laundry room, leading out to the garage, and a half bath. In the next few years we want to move the T.V. downstairs. It wasn't the center of attention in our last house so we weren't in any hurry to make in look nice. It will probably be a while before it looks nice here, even though it is the center of attention now.

Here is the beautiful view though the back windows, it will be even prettier once we have a yard. You can see our ward building in the middle. Unfortunately, our neighbors all have a beautiful view of us right now too, because we don't have window coverings for these windows yet.

I have a love/hate relationship with the kitchen and dining room. I love the kitchen, but don't quite love the dining room yet. There is no real place for a table, so our temporary solution is to just have the table straddle the carpet and the tile. We are not quite sure what to do with this room, and have thrown around the idea of trying to find more tile that matches or tearing out the carpet and some tile and laying a wood floor. This is where we need ideas. We haven't come to a conclusion about what to do with the couch. It is such a big room that we will probably just leave it here for now, but I am thinking it will probably be a basement couch once we finish a T.V. room down there. In the mean time it is a great place to sit and read to the kids after breakfast. We are in the process of having a computer hutch made for the nook, that should make it flow a little better. Someday, after our kids grow a little more, we will probably do away with our diner furniture, so just imagine it with a beautiful, elegant table and bar stools.

Over all, we feel so grateful to be in this home and feel like it will be a great place to raise our children. It will be fun to see how things evolve in the next few years.

I'm not as computer illiterate as I thought :)

I figured it out, I had to do a bit of creative thinking, but I finally figured out how to get our pictures onto our Internet compatible computer. I don't know if you would consider burning the pictures to a disk creative thinking, but for me it was. I am happy that I can now share what we have been doing the past two weeks with pictures, because, after all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a picture of some of my very dear friends, I will miss experiencing all the in's and out's of everyday life with them--but am glad that we are still close enough that I can visit often.

They were very sweet and held a moving away party, I felt so loved, thank you!






Hannah got a little teary eyed while saying good-by to her friends, it was so heartbreaking to watch. As you can see, Johnny wasn't quite as sentimental in that area.

This is the cat that we left behind. He wasn't our cat, but during the last two days that we were packing, we were in and out of our house so much that the door was constantly open. He came in and made himself at home. He was a very nice cat, and our kids were sad to leave him behind, they got so attached to him that they even named him--Dumpling. Sorry kids, one cat is enough, and I am pretty sure he had an owner already.

On Friday the 5th John left early in the morning with a loaded moving van with one of our nephews. At the new house, he met up with 3 more of our nephews my mom and one of our nieces. They unloaded one truck and headed back to Kearns for the second load. Thankfully they brought my mom and niece, Hailey, to Kearns also. They were such a big help with the cleaning jobs that I thought would be so easy, but turned out to be more than I bargained for. Luckily, Vera let Maddie spend the night at her house, so it was just me and Lucy while Hannah and Johnny were at school. Hailey was more than happy to entertain Lucy while mom and I cleaned the fridge, mopped the floor, and finished up the bathrooms--things you can't really do while the house is occupied. When it came time to pick Hannah and Johnny up from school, we were nearly done. I will never forget loading all of the cleaning supplies into our van and telling them it was time to say goodbye. It was so sweet to hear them run through the house one last time and yell, "goodbye kitchen....goodbye, bedroom....goodbye, garage." Strangely enough, no tears were shed. We were so tired that I didn't even think of getting one last picture of us in front of the house, plus it would have had to be without John and Madeline, and that just didn't seem right.

We made it

We have officially moved into our new (to us) home, and we are so happy to be here. We haven't had Internet until yesterday and we have been here since the 5th , so we have had plenty of time to do things besides sit at the computer. We have spent that time cleaning, unpacking, meeting the neighbors, and cleaning some more. I have a feeling that the cleaning will never stop. We are in love with our neighborhood. There are so many young families, and friends for our kids. We feel a little bit out of our element, though, I guess you could call it culture shock. John and I were just talking this morning about our lives and how everything happens at just the right time whether we know it or not. It is only in hindsight that we are able to see how much we have learned in each place we have lived. I am so thankful for the experiences that we have had in each place and excited, and just a tiny bit nervous, to see what there is for us to learn here. I want to show pictures so badly, but our computers are being funny right now. The only computer that has the Internet doesn't have a working picture card drive. John has some business trips coming up so he won't be able to fix it for a little while. In the mean time, I will have to do really well at just describing things.

What have I done!?

I showed John this recent purchase of mine, and the first word out of his mouth was "Blasphemy!" I agree, I can't believe I broke my bread making streak of almost 6 years yesterday. Call me crazy, but I just didn't feel like making bread while we were trying to pack things up. I made sure to get my favorite kind of bread though, Grandma Sycamore's. It did make me feel better when Hannah told me that store bought bread was gross, thanks Hannah :)

We're still here

Yes, we are still here. Things are moving along, but they are moving more slowly than anyone anticipated. We are very anxious to move, but we are glad that we didn't jump the gun and pack everything up yet. We are just waiting on paperwork and for the banks to transfer money from the sell of our house. Now we are just focusing on enjoying our friends and our ward and even our house--all of which we will miss dearly.

In the mean time I have been trying to take some time for a walk after dinner every night now that the weather is nicer. Hannah usually comes with me so that she can ride her bike. It is during these one-on-one times that I realize how completely random and sweet are the thoughts of a seven year old. Here are the topics we covered in our time together:

*a complete inventory of each friend who has broken an arm and how.

*How the name Beatrice looks like Beet Rice.

*what kinds of gross foods you could serve at a scary Halloween party

*what it means when somebody says you are HOT.

*how funny it would be if instead of having shirts labeled XLG for extra large, they were labeled RLG for ridiculously large.

*how much more fun it is to say the word "sclap" instead of the word "scalp."

...and many more that I can't even remember. I sure love these times with her--she makes me smile.

Here goes nothin'

On Saturday we started packing up all of our non-essential items. John taped the boxes together and packed up the garage supplies while I packed our storage rooms in the basement. On one occasion, I came out to find this tower of empty boxes waiting for me. flabbergasted, I asked John how to get a box. "Like this" he said as he pulled one from the bottom of the pile. The whole tower crashed to the floor, and of course he got a huge kick out of it. Why do I get the feeling he was just waiting for me to ask?

To end a long day of packing, we decided to fire up the fireplace one last time to roast marshmallows. We are going to miss the bonfires John makes for us here. We are pretty sure that there won't be as much tolerance for John-style fires in our next neighborhood. There will be a few trade offs, but it will be worth it. I am sure we will have a fire pit again, but we will try to keep the fires a little more modest--we don't want everyone knowing that we are hicks at heart.

We all had a great time, we live for nights like this!

We ain't afraid of no ghosts!

We had a visit from a real ghost hunter yesterday. Actually, he was the house inspector that our buyers had hired to make sure all was well with our house before they moved in. I'm not sure that they knew he was a ghost hunter. It was only after visiting with him for a little while that he started talking about his ghost hunting experiences. He was a pretty, uh....interesting guy--fun to talk to though. He didn't mention if we had any ghosts in our house, though he didn't bring his ghost hunting gear either:) He did say that John was very thorough and did a great job with fixing up our house. I think his exact words were "over-kill", that's my John for you. He said that this house was one of the better houses that he had inspected (as far as the internal workings go). That's saying a lot for a house that was a hazard in so many ways when we moved in. Great job John!

The day started out with a visit from my two sisters, Marilyn and Valerie. Marilyn had driven in the the night before from Mesa, AZ, and Valerie flew in yesterday morning from Taos, New Mexico to attend women's conference with her. I had such a great time visiting with them, and wished that I could go with them. It just wasn't possible this time, maybe in a year or two. We watched some old movies of my parent's wedding that have been sitting around my Aunt Nita's house for years. It was awesome to see. My parent's were so young, and my grandparents were real people!

Later that evening I went to our enrichment activity/dinner. I was able to taste a very tasty dessert from Africa. My friend, Araik, made it, she is a new member in our ward from Sudan, Africa. It was kind of a sweet, salty mush--I have never tasted anything like it. Delicious, and very filling.

Halfway through the speaker, I got a phone call from John. He was ready to be picked up from the airport. He spent last week in Heidelberg, Germany on a business trip. We are so glad to have him home again. I gathered my flock of kids from the children's class and we headed to the airport. We spent our evening together eating Kinder Eggs, German Chocolate and Gummy bears from the "der shop". We are so glad to have him home again.

I don't think I have ever had so much culture crammed into one day. What a small, diverse world we have.

Could This be it?

We heard back from our Realtor and he says that our buyers have iron-clad financing, so we are starting the closing process. They want to close around the middle of May, but that seems really fast to get all of the paper work and stuff out of the way. We are extremely excited, but trying to reign the excitement in a little bit until the deal is completely wrapped up on both sides. We know that housing is a fickle market sometimes.

Here are some pictures of the house that we are in the process of buying right now. It looks like a nice humble home from the outside, and it needs a little TLC on the inside. Nothing compared to our Kearns home though. I am sure a few flowers and grass, a bit of Johns handyman magic, and some elbow grease will do wonders. It was such a screaming deal we just couldn't pass it up.

These pictures really don't do the house justice. I was a little concerned about the all of the arches, but in person they just feel right. When we move in (hopefully), I will get better pictures. Overall the house is everything we wanted and we have shamelessly fallen in love with it.

Johns requirements were: A three car garage (check), a big plot of land (1/2 acre--check) an efficient newer construction house (built in 2007--check), Unfinished basement (he needs plenty of work to keep him happy--check)

Cheryl's requirements were: A family friendly neighborhood without a high crime rate or drug dealing neighbors (Kaysville has a low crime rate and we have no neighbors on the culdesac yet--check) A good kitchen (check) 4 bedrooms (check).

My little lesson on counting blessings

In light of this whole suspenseful housing situation, I learned a little lesson from Maddie. I was working in the kitchen when Maddie came inside and asked for some goldfish crackers. I gave her a handful and she took them outside, I was curious so I followed her. She set the goldfish down on our little path and said "okay, eat up ants." I asked her if those ants were her pets and she said "yeah". Then she proceeded to point to other things around the yard and say "my swing, my grass, my sand, my toys, my house, my ants, my feet, my wings (she thinks she has wings), my dressed (clothes)--That's a lot of things Maddie" (she also talks to herself). I sure love that little girl, she is always grateful for the little things.

House Update

Here is one of our "clean up the house fast and get out for a showing" outings. This was on Tuesday, and I didn't have time to pack sunscreen. Actually I didn't even think about it, now I feel bad every time I look at Lucy's little sunburned arms. Nobody else got sunburned. Luckily it was a perfect day for riding bikes at the park.

It is painful to even write about our house selling/buying situation because the suspense is killing me. We have been very lucky the past two months to have a lot of people come and look at our house. I think it is because of the monstrous garage. Though, after about 10 showings, making the house spotless and leaving the premises (just to get absolutely no offers) started getting a little old.

Well, this week we got two offers on our house--one of them about $15,000 below our asking price the other $17,000 below, but probably the best we can do in our location. We went with the highest bid, but found out today that they cannot qualify for a loan, we are waiting to find out about the other bidder's eligibility.

In the mean time, our bid was accepted on a home that we love in Kaysville. We think it would be a great place to raise our children, and it has everything we need, plus a few of our selfish wants. We really, really, really want it. "Really" doesn't seem like a strong enough word, but I really can't think of another one right now. We are praying hard that this will happen for us, but I know that if it doesn't we will be okay--just sad for a while.

A more palatable dining room

Here are some pictures of our more neutral dining room. I had a chance to tidy up while Maddie was napping, so I thought I would take the opportunity to capture the moment. It's kind of funny, with all the happiness that bright colors bring me, I felt this strange sense of relief as my sea-foam blue was covered up by "oats". I was a bit surprised by this and tried to make sense of the feeling. I came to the conclusion that it must be like skydiving, it is an extreme sport and gives you a rush of adrenaline, but I am sure skydiver's wouldn't want the feeling to last forever. I have never actually been skydiving, but now I don't have to --because I have experienced extreme painting. I can check that off of my list of things to do in my lifetime.

Johnny was so excited to help me paint, and I just couldn't say no (one of my many weaknesses). I decided a good safe spot would be under the computer counter. He was more than happy to, because it is his "favorite hiding spot". I gave him a paint brush and let him go to town. He did a pretty good job, but I did have to touch up a bit with the roller when he wasn't looking.

Hey, anyone want to buy a house?

A few weeks ago we made the bitter-sweet decision to sell our house. For a while I have been wanting to move to a little more of a rural place, and we found one (thanks Lori and Matt for the idea). We are planning on finding a place in Kaysville as soon as we sell our home. I am such a small town girl at heart, and this is about as close as I will get to a small town close to John's work. It will actually be a better commute for him, something that we are both looking forward too--fewer city streets. We bought our home 5 years ago, for super cheap, when John decided to take a break from engineering and try his luck at flipping houses. We held on to this house for our own enjoyment even after he started his job at L-3 because we just couldn't beat the price of living in it. We refer to this house as our fun house because there was no possible way we could ruin it when we moved in. It was hideous, and we have learned so much about how to fix and remodel and what is really important in a home and family. John built the garage of his dreams, we completely demolished and rebuilt the kitchen with an added dining room, and so many other little things it is hard to count. We feel like we are ready to graduate from "home remodeling 101" so now the time has finally come to flip our house!

We plan on moving into a house that is not a fixer-upper this time.

Here are a few "before" pictures:

Our scary partially finished basement

Really gross downstairs bathroom

Old, worn out shingles. There was a hole (the size of an inspector) in the roof at this time.



carpet with cigarette burn marks the size of hockey pucks and who knows what stories these walls have to tell.


Kitchen--need I say more?

As I said this was our fun house, so please don't pay attention to our bright dining room, I painted it that color to look like a retro 50's diner (and also to impress my kids of course). I will be repainting it a more neutral color this weekend. Also we were kind of in the middle of a landscaping project when the photographer came by, it is nearly finished now.

Click on the link below to see the after pictures.


www.obeo.com/522568

Enjoy!