How many times have I asked .."Is this one "it"?

Yesterday evening, we went to see a house in Missouri. (We live in the NW corner of Arkansas, so crossing the state lines of Missouri and Oklahoma are pretty frequent happenings.) This place is about 10 miles east of Jane, MO., where we do most of our WalMart shopping.

After having seen the house online, and doing two 'drive-bys' on it, we were stunned to learn it is a modular home. They have rocks that go from the ground up to meet the wood siding. (My 'dream house' would have rock and cedar exteriors!) It has a 2-car garage attached to the house via a covered passage mud room/ small solarium. The house, internally, has light beige carpets throughout, and white countertops. The place sparkled. My house would be ashamed to be seen there on its cleanest day. We didn't see any flaws in the house... and we usually look really close. I think we were overwhelmed by the showroom clean of the place.

The yard is so heavily tree covered, we would have to search for a spot to garden. There is a small wooden deck on the back. In the yard are two storage sheds, and a pole barn. Leaving the garage in the opposite direction from the house is a huge workshop, which is not only heated and air conditioned, but has two smaller rooms built into it that could be put to use as a bedroom if needed. The house, garage, and shop are all rain-guttered. Concrete sidewalks connect the garage, shop, and house.

The house belongs to an elderly couple, who retired there over 20 years ago. You can tell they really love this place. We spoke to the owner as we were leaving- he and his wife both have had recent surgeries and just can't keep up with the place anymore, he said. Tom is supposed to talk to the bank today and perhaps make them an offer this afternoon.

It was almost 8 before we got home. We went ahead and had the steaks for supper. At that time of evening, I didn't drag out the good china, or make the twice baked potatoes I had intended to serve. I don't have energy left to hand wash dishes at nine o'clock at night. So we had our anniversary supper on TV trays watching a silent movie on TV. (1928, "The Patsy").

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Oh, I failed to mention Matthew. He was remarkably good, for his first day back. He arrived with a gallon of neon green Hawaiian punch, an assortment of kid cereals, and a box of pop-tarts. I was going to pour out whatever was in his sippy cup (yep, four years old and still sucking from a sippy) and make sure he only drank real juice or water. He happened to have real juice in the cup... so that was his juice for the day. When he was thirsty, he got water, and at lunch he got milk.

I removed the lid from the sippy and made him use it like a regular glass. It wasn't until he was ready to leave for home that he was given the neon green poison in the sippy, with the lid on. (I have asked several times that he not bring this stuff, but every week he shows up with a gallon of it. So I wait until time for him to leave to give it to him... Mom and dad can deal with the side effects all evening.)

He has quit calling me "Mom", and settled on Tammytammytammytammytammytammytammytammytammy (while tapping me on the arm). His overall speech has improved enough that Daniel and Sam could understand several things he said. (I would say he is speaking almost as well as an early two year old now.)

If we get the house, I won't be able to keep him any more... it would be way too much of a drive for the parents every morning.

Well, that's about all for now. I hope you have a blessed day!