babybloomr

#10  OK, about the garage. It’s a lovely three car garage, but you probably can’t fully appreciate that because it currently contains– how can I say this delicately?– A WHOLE LOT OF CRAP. Quasi-organized crap, but crap nonetheless. There are several good reasons for that (have you MET my husband, Russ?), but the best one is that I can’t really tear into it, sort things out and start the messy process of preparing for the Mother of All Garage Sales when we keep having showings every dang fifteen minutes! (OK, I exaggerate.) (But not by much.)

#9   About the attic storage area: See #10.

#8  Who in the wide world of sports wants to go house-hunting at 8:00 a.m. on a SATURDAY or SUNDAY morning, for crying out loud? Apparently quite a few of you! I totally understand that if your work week is over and you are looking for a new place to live, it makes sense for you to schedule a nice full day of looking at lots and lots of houses on the weekend, but we are not 9 to 5-ers around here. We are artistic, creative types with delicate sensibilities who stay up until all hours writing songs and blog posts, and need our rest… (Read: We are lazy slugabeds who like to sleep in on the weekends, plus we stayed up too late watching documentaries on Netflix and we are not possibly going to be able to whip this house into shape until we have had at least two cups of coffee and a hot bath.) At any rate, seriously, chillax– the house will still be here at noon. Book your early showings with normal people, save those afternoon spots for people like us.

#7  Yes, I know my decorating style is a little… shall we say, ‘eclectic.’ I understand that not everyone wants giant folk art paintings in their entry hall, or monkey lamps in their den, but trust me– you are seeing the “After.” The “Before” had a lot more crazy art, and the dining room had a black wall and big giant harlequin diamonds painted on the other three… Frankly, I really beige-d this house up compared to what it usually looks like. But none of this should give you a moment’s concern, because the good news is we’ll be taking all of the really weird stuff (including the teenager) with us! So even though Charlotte’s room is still painted a shade of ‘Kermit the Frog In A Blender’ green, now it only kind of looks like circus folk live here. You’re welcome.

 **EDITED TO ADD** OK, this is hilarious! Someone just sent me this picture from an old People magazine– apparently I am not the only one with questionable taste in lamps! (I switched out the original shades with another lamp!)

#6  We have safely ensconced our two little yappers in the garage while you are perusing our house. Yes, they are indeed adorable and will be ridiculously happy to see you when you open the garage door because they are shameless doggy-treat whores and will be trying to charm you into giving them any kind of food item you might possibly be carrying around in your pocket, preferably a porterhouse steak. Do not buy into their “OH MY GOSH, we have been trapped in here for hours, SAVE US!!!” act, because they are lying. They have only been in there for about 30-40 minutes tops, and they have their nice cosy dog beds in there with them as well as a fresh bowl of drinking water. And if you see a suspicious looking puddle on the floor, please just avert your eyes. They have tiny little bladders, plus I think they totally do a ‘revenge pee’ every time we put them out there just to embarrass us.

 

#5  I don’t want to be bossy, but I feel compelled to tell you that you really should be buying this house for the backyard alone. Seriously, it is JUST THAT GOOD. You’ve not only got your honking big “outdoor living area” (that’s what all the cool kids are calling decks these days) what with the gazebo and dining table and lovely ‘sitting stairs’ and wisteria arbor and fenced doggy yard with a custom designed cattail iron gate and all– you’ve ALSO got a sweeping view of the acre lot and more importantly, the next door neighbor’s yard. This is key. They are retired, with green thumbs and a lot of time on their hands, so it’s like a dang botanical gardens over there. Bonus: There’s not a house directly behind us, so if you need to run out on the deck in your underwear for any reason, chances are no one will call the cops. Hello, SELLING POINT!

#4  This is a traditional house, with a traditional layout. Every room has a function– you cook in the kitchen, eat in the dining room, sleep in the bedroom, watch TV in the family room, etc. This should not be a hard concept to wrap your heads around, people. It has a lovely flowing floor plan, but what it *does not* have is a one great big room with everything open to the kitchen. To each his own, and far be it from me to tell you how to live, but I’m just saying, it’s all well and good until you wake up one day and realize you are frying fish in your living room, and then it’s too late. (This has actually only come up a couple of times with the younger clients, who have apparently been looking at a lot of new construction with their fancy schmancy “open floor plans” and all. What-EVER.) ( I blame HGTV.)

#3  Yes, that is indeed a putting green in our back yard. And no, we do not technically live on a golf course. But that aforementioned neighbor with too much time on his hands? He singlehandedly put in (and maintains) a 9 hole, par 3 GOLF COURSE behind us– the rest of the holes are spread out over a couple of other big back yards and the common area that backs up to the Little Harpeth River. It doesn’t really make any sense, but I was too nice to tell him no when he asked if he could put one hole in our yard because he’s just so sweet and he was all excited about it with his big ol’ retired puppy dog eyes plus he brings me roses from his gorgeous yard and he is out there mowing it and meticulously grooming it all the time and he bought those little flags and everything… And no, we have never actually played it. In the three years since he put it in, only about 5 people have actually played it. And if you buy the house and decide you don’t want it to be there, POOF, it’s gone, no problem. But look at it this way, Potential Buyer– hello, private golf course for free with your own groundskeeper! (I bet he’d even caddy for you, if you asked nicely.)

#2  I truly appreciate all of your kind comments about our house, I really do. It is so nice when you realtors leave us feedback that says things like, “Lovely home, showed beautifully!” and “Didn’t work for these clients, but I will definitely be back!” And it has been so encouraging to repeatedly be told, “You won’t have any problem selling this one!” and “It’s certainly priced well for this area!” Every time we hear that we are “In the top three on their list!” or “They really loved everything about it!” it gives us the will to go through the whole ‘getting-the-house-show-ready’ process one more time– (also known as the ‘how-the-#*@%-can-the-house-get-this-trashed-in-2-days?/didn’t-we-just-finish-showing-it?/you-people-are-slobs!/where-did-we-hide-the-toaster?’ process). I understand that this is the slow season for real estate, I understand that in many ways it’s a buyers market so people can afford to be picky– I get that. But this brings us to the number one thing I would really like to say to everyone who has traipsed through our house and peeked in our closets (yeah, I know I have an inordinate amount of nightgowns, what’s your point?) and tracked mud on our carpets and told us they were “SO impressed with the house, but we’re just not quite sure yet…”

#1 FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, BUY THE DANG HOUSE!

We’re ready to go to Bell Buckle!

I never actually intended to take a ‘blog break.’

I didn’t sit down with a calendar and decide how many weeks I would wait until I posted again (who am I kidding, when have you guys EVER known me to be that organized?!) But I have never gone this long without posting since I started this blog, so after a while it was starting to feel weird even to me. And to tell you the truth, I don’t have a real good reason why it happened. I mean, I could guess at a few contributing factors, but since I never really “made a decision” to walk away for a few weeks, I don’t have anything definitive to point to.

I was not burned out. I didn’t suddenly decide I hated blogging. I didn’t have writer’s block. I don’t have some HUGE MYSTERIOUS THING going on in my life that I couldn’t talk about, or that kept me from being able to write– although I might make one up, because that would be a WAY better story!

I do know that the holiday season was a little sad this year, because it was the first time ever in my life (and the girls’ lives, too) we didn’t spend Thanksgiving and Christmas waking up in my parent’s house, since Mom moved into Fox Ridge. BUT–  big sloppy blessings from heaven were poured out all over the Taff family in the form of our ‘family of choice,’ Momma June and Daddy Bud Smedley. We always spend Christmas Eve with our thundering hordes of Smedleys, but we have never actually just moved in lock, stock and (prone-to-accidents) dogs, before. June has my undying gratitude for the loving, gracious welcome we experienced. It lessened the finality of ‘it will never again be the way it used to be,’  and turned it into “what a rich, wonderful new chapter we get to experience.” So while there was a bit of a bittersweetness to this year’s holidays, it was waaaaaaaaaay more sweet than anything else, and it certainly wasn’t a reason to stop blogging for a while. Nor was the fact that we are showing the house every dang time we turn around (which is a good thing, I know, but seriously– SOMEBODY BUY IT, ALREADY!) which means we spend an inordinate amount of time getting it show-ready (fresh flowers, spotless surfaces, Windexing the crap out of everything in sight) and then another inordinate amount of time looking for all of the things we can now no longer find because we crammed them somewhere while getting the house show-ready. Annoying and time-consuming? Yes? Rendering me unable to blog? No.

I know, I know. I totally need a better story.

One time at a blogging conference, someone asked Scott Stratten  (he’s one of the gurus of the marketing and blogging world), “How often should you post on your blog?” and his answer was, “When you have something awesome to post.” He’s a big believer in blogging with passion, and I guess I am, too– so maybe the answer is, if I was going day after day without feeling strongly that I had something to say, maybe I needed to step back, recharge myself a little bit, and see if I could rekindle some of that passion. All I know is that for a few weeks, I would wake up in the morning, look over at the computer and say to myself… Not today. I knew that sooner or later I would wake up and really want to start this conversation again– and then I would. And apparently this is that day!

If it makes you feel any more kindly towards me, please know that I have felt ridiculously guilty every single day I didn’t post. I mean seriously guilty. Which is a little presumptuous when you think about it– because surprisingly you guys apparently managed to continue to find the will to live, the entire blogosphere did not band together and in one voice demand my return, and the world continued to turn on its axis. I’m shocked and appalled.

So, here we are. Not sure how much of THE AWESOME I have to offer right now– I figure I’ll step into the shallow end of the pool first by just posting a hodge-podge of photos from the last month or so…

(And, btw– thanks for still being here. I missed you.)

(And I fully expect you guys to catch me up on what YOU’VE been doing in the comments!)

 

In no particular order:

**Phoebe sitting on Charlotte’s head at Momma June’s house.

 

**Yeah, I made The Cookies again.

 

**This goes all the way back to Thanksgiving, but it needs to be seen–Remember the Great Brach’s Candy Corn Shortage/Panic of 2012? Well, sweet reader and friend ‘carsmith’ TOTALLY hooked me up — and taught me the joy of throwing in peanuts, as well!

 

**Yes, Finley– great-uncle Russ’ DOES have a big ol’ mouth…

**A little sneak peek of a little corner of our Bell Buckle house: I was visiting sweet Donna and her husband (they are renting it while they build a new house around the corner and we are selling our house in Brentwood), and wanted to check out what was behind the fabulous cast iron cover of the coal fireplace…

**And here’s one of our Bell Buckle doorknobs!

 

**Russ at his new favorite place to eat in Eureka Springs:

 

**White Christmas in Arkansas– you’re never too old to build a snow fort:

 

**One of my favorite presents:

 

**Mom and Pandy

**Talking to Mom with Madi:

 

**And last but not least: Last week, for two all-too-brief songs, my personal favorite Imperials line-up reunited in Nashville!