Sonja, Austin, Taylor and Chris Noskowiak and Cayce Crews

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Secoond Day House Hunting

As excited as I was, I was just too tired to get up and go too fast. Somewhere around 2:00 we got out the condo and decided to go look at this house I had been talking to a guy about. It was a one story rancher about 1000sq ft. It had 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. It had 15 acres and a nearby stream, close to the lake and an advertised fenced in ring for animals. It also had a basement.

When we arrived, Austin and I were totally disappointed. The house looked so much smaller than it did in the picture. We called the guy since he worked nearby and want us to call when we got there. By then, Austin and I had checked out the fenced in place in the back yard. The grass was not cut at all and was very unimpressive to me. He got there and showed us around the house and the first thing I noticed was the stove was missing. We'd have to buy a stove. When asked who lived in the home before, he said he did and had just moved out, hence the reason the stove was probably missing.

He took us to the basement and showed us around. It was really nice, then we found out we were in a county that didn't allow signs out on the roads by the driveways. He offered a very small place in town the size of an office for Chris to setup the sign shop but I let him know it would take more than a tiny office space to work a sign business. When asked about the rent, he let me know it was a month to month, no lease... It was 850.00 per month ... first and last months rent and a per pet deposit of 250.00 each.

Chris and Austin wanted to take a walk through the wooded area to the pond which was on the property so they did... I tried to go with them but the high weeds were eating up my legs as I had on capri pants and flip flops! I told them I would just stay near the truck. The pond consisted of a very small place with water in it and surrounded by lots of trees. Austin said it was pathetic! Although it was pathetic, they really wanted that house because they wanted it to hunt on. I immediately was not happy from the moment we got there seeing the house was so small and later learning it was a month to month... well... that did me in... that was NOT the house for us! I mean, he could have gotten all that money up front, rented it and then threw us out and there would not be an agreement. Forget that... I wasn't born yesterday! I think we've been through so much now we can't afford to take chances with people... if your family will mess you over, just think what others will do!
Here is a pic of the house













After we left there, I had another one on my list. It was a home I had seen on Craigslist and there was a video of it. It is 4BR 2 Baths Fireplace, garage which had been closed in and looked like a Florida room. We looked at this one... the guy told us where to find the key. I really liked this house. The only thing is, it had a very steep drive and Chris surprisingly didn't like that part. I laughed cause I'm the one with the scared of heights thing going on. It had a nice wrap around porch on it too. But the view really was of the woods. I'm sure once all the leaves fell, well... there would be a view. The guy was very nice to us on the phone. He had an application he wanted us to fill out. Chris explained our credit situation with the past bankruptcies and he said, fill it out anyway cause they look at things differently. I really liked the house. It had two rooms which could have been used for my pottery room and sewing room, but then there was no room for me to set up the sign shop. I still would have loved it. It was 950.00 a month. A little more expensive than I planned on.  So we left and called it a day... went and got something to eat and went back to the condo. (Forgot to take some pics of it)

What an interesting day! No luck on finding a house yet.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Looking for a house in TN

Today is the big day.. Oct 2, 2012.  We decided to take us a trip to Gatlinburg, TN and stay a few days there while we look for a house. We rented a condo on ITEX barter and will stay a few days while we are looking. We didn't arrive here until around 10:30pm. That seems to be the magic time for us getting to TN anymore... can't seem to get out the house in the early mornings hours so we can get here on time. We stopped in Spartanburg at Firestone where Cayce works and got our oil changed in the truck. Cayce was not working but he got us a huge discount on the oil change. We had hoped to visit with him on the way through but since we were late getting on the road, we decided to get the oil change and go on.

One reason we were late getting out of here is Chris had done a huge job for Brenda and Nate at Tommies Auto and Diesel. We were told the sign was bending up on one side, so Chris and Austin went and fixed it. We are so thankful for this job. It was enough money for us to go on this trip and even have money for a down payment on renting a home up there if we find one.

So it's 10:30pm.. too tired to do anything, so we'll see what tomorrow brings! Hopefully something good!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Update on Us

I'm not sure where to start.... since I have alot of back dating to do and lots to still write about. My computer jack went out so I had to get another laptop. I don't like this cheapy as much as I liked my other one. They are having a hard time getting a part for it so I don't know when I will ever get it back. The bad thing is it held a lot of my notes about our life. So sad I didn't back up my drive. I didn't expect anything like this to happen and not be able to fix it though.

So for now... here goes!
Taylor will finish school June 11th. We are excited about this and she hopes to get into Cosmetology school right here in town. She has a boyfriend and is planning to go to his prom the end of this month, so it's a time of looking for a prom dress :)  She was diagnosed with Diabetes back in July 4th 2010 and she has been trying to watch her diet to keep her sugar down. She drinks lots of pickle juice and according to the doctor, whatever she is doing they want her to keep doing it. Her blood test were recently good. We are still trusting G-d for a healing for her and I know she is too :) She just turned 18 might I mention and she thinks she is already grown up. Boy do I remember thinking the same thing at 18... boy was I wrong. I believe that's when all my troubles started. Taylor has been an awesome young lady. She has just started to go places with her boyfriend. I have been trying to teach both my children the difference between courting and dating. I tell them the day they ask me to go out on a date with someone is when they are telling me they have met someone that they could live with the rest of their lives. She hasn't asked to date yet.. but she has asked to go bowling with him and we let her ride with him there, so I guess that is sorta like a date, huh? We love her and we are proud of the young woman she is becoming.  Well, that's it for an update on her for now :)

Austin is bored!(You'll read that statement almost any given time on his Facebook Status) Anyone who knows Austin knows he is so laid back. I recently put a Potter's Wheel on layaway for him and I to learn how to throw clay. I took some lessons recently on "Pinch Pots". I tried to get him to take some too, but he wouldn't. He say's, "Mom, you take the lessons and come home and teach me". When asked what he is going to do when he gets out of school, his answer is, "Be a farmer". I tell him farming is a HARD job... so he better get started getting up early, cause farmers have to do that.  He has very few friends. We don't go very many places anymore so he doesn't really get the opportunity to make many friends. But even if he did, I'd still be strict about where he went. I will always be that way with my children as things are just not the same as they were when I was growing up. In fact, this town we live in is so bad, you'd not really trust your child to even go into a department store by themselves, if you really cared about your child. I am funny with Taylor as well, although she is 18. He skipped the 8th grade and is in 9th this year. He is having a tough time with Algebra so I am about to get him a tutor. He is a very sweet young man though... I love him very much and I'm proud of the young man he is becoming :)

My oldest is Cayce. He just turned 25. We just celebrated his birthday at home here. He lives in Spartanburg, SC. I don't get to see Cayce very often cause he works for Firestone. He works alot and doesn't get to come home often nor do I get to go up there too often. He has a good career with Firestone and he recently bought himself a house. He will be going to the closing sometime in March. We are very proud of Cayce. He went to college 4 years and never came back to live here. He seen much potential there and has made a good life for himself. He has a beautiful girlfriend of about 5/6 years now and I think wedding bells will be ringing soon. She has been to nursing school for 4 years now. She will graduate this year. We are proud of her as well. I really miss my son... and I wish I lived closer. Someday I hope to live up there closer to him and enjoy holding some grand children. For now he says he will get married and wait a few years. Wise Choice, I'd say :) He also is into race cars and has one of his own he is about to put on the track. I'll sure be doing a whole lot more praying for him :) I love him very much and I'm very proud to be his moma, he turned out to be an awesome child :)  That's the update on Cayce.


As for Chris... he was recently diagnosed with Arthritis in his legs and is now on medicine. I feel so badly watching him in pain. The medicine seems to be helping but then during the day he gets these feelings like he is going to throw up and gets fatigued. I think he needs to talk to the doctor about a new medicine, but he says it takes a while to get into your system. I hope something is going to help him. I can hardly sleep with him now and I have to sleep on the couch many nights cause he can't keep his legs still. Oh, he has restless leg syndrome so that is the other problem. During the day you can find him working on small projects. He recently got himself a scroll saw, built himself a table to put it on and he is looking to make some wirligigs (I probably spelled that wrong). He has been building some shelves for me for my sewing room, and has recently made me a new table for my new Janome Horizon 7700QCP. It's a really nice table and we ordered a table top for it to match my room. He really enjoys wood working. I am happy he does, everyone needs a hobby. Between him and I, the kids should be multi talented and never bored! I'll post a few pics soon of his work. He is a wonderful husband and I think he would do anything in the world for me :) I'm lucky!

As for me... I've been playing around with Clay. I've been learning how to do "Pinch Pots". That is making a bowl using your hands and fingers. It's been so much fun. I need a kiln now so I can fire our pieces but that will have to wait. I do have a Potters Wheel on layaway as I mentioned above and hope to get that soon so Austin and I both can get started on throwing clay. It's such a relaxing thing to do and I was looking for things to do with my hands that would relax me. I've been having problems with anxiety in my sleep. Last night was the first night I have slept over 5 hours in about 2 mos. Could be pre-menopause (geez, I couldn't even spell it w/o the spell checker, hehe) . I've been on the C25K program for 4 weeks now. I've lost around 12 pds since Jan 28th. I was learning to really watch my carbs and now I am being bad. I need to get back doing that again. I also have been drinking vinegar, water and honey. You can read about the effects of drinking this at www.bragg.com . This is a raw vinegar and the honey I use is raw as well. I believe it has kept me from being sore after a run cause I've not had to worry about being sore since I started. I have also learned about doing oil pulling.  The mouth is said to be the culprit for many diseases we get in our bodies and doing oil pulling gets out a lot of bacteria from our mouths before it goes in. It is said to make your teeth white, get rid of an abscess tooth (which a friend of mine testifies to), makes you sleep better, and so much more. You can read about it at http://www.oilpulling.org/oil-pulling/ .  I've basically been trying to learn how to feel better by the means of natural things that G-d made and intended on us to use.
I got a new sewing machine about 2 mos ago and I'm busy trying to organize all my fabrics so the room is not messy and I can find my fabrics, lol. I love my machine and appreciate my hubby getting it for me. It's sure going to make Quilting a whole lot easier. Well, that's it for now... I'll update again soon :)

 













Thursday, August 19, 2010

3 Week Vacation (Barter Vacation Stop 1 on the way)

We left today for Wisconsin to visit Chris's parents. On the way, we stopped off in Gatlinburg, TN. We stayed at the Gatlinburg Condo Management in Gatlinburg. That night we went to dinner at the The Smith Family Dinner Theatre .  The Condo and the Dinner theatre was on barter. The entertainment was excellent, the food was awesome and the condo was just as nice as it always is. This was the first stop. See Stop 2.

The Stage
We are having such a great time
And another pic of us
And here are some of the Smith Family

Another Stage Pic




Fantastic Group of Gospel Singers

Father and Son

Great singer and imitator





Friday, August 13, 2010

Contractors are finished

Finally.... the contractors are finished. There were still a few things I was not satisfied with, but Chris went back over the house and gave them the go ahead that they were finished. I don't think they did 16000.00 worth of work, but.. my husband told them to fix the house as cheap as possible cause we were gonna rent it out. I do not know why he would tell a contractor that when if he did rent it out, and something messed up, he still would have to fix it!!! Oh well....

Here are the pics of the house, after they started fixing it.
Laundry Room

Laundry Room


Laundry Room
Laundry Room














Here is the Den painted Seafoam Green

Here is my Seafoam Green Den









Mirror wall surrounding Jacuzzi




Here is the Kitchen




Here is the Living Room

That beam was falling apart before the fire
Bathroom Closet
Hallway to the kids room
My old quilt room
Hallway after it was finished
Austin's Bedroom the one that was the worse
Austins Room
My bathroom
Taylors Wall
Taylors Room
Austins Room
Taylors Room
New Floor in Hall
Taylors Closet Door
Kids Bathroom
New Quilt Room
New Quilt Room
Quilt Room Ceiling
Kitchen with new floor
Den with new floor
Den with new floor
Ceiling in Den
Love my Den and wall colors
Den and Kitchen
Ceiling in my room
My Kitchen
Looking from the Den to the LR
Living Room
Living Room
French Doors from LR to Den
LR looking to Kitchen

Molding in my house
My bathroom w/Jacuzzi Tub
Jacuzzi tub
Toilet and cherry flooring
Double Sinks in Bathroom
Shower in my bathroom
My Walk In Closet
Hallway

Here is my bedroom
Light in my bathroom