Busy days!

We have been busy little bees lately!  After months of prayer, we finally sold the condo last month.  It was a bittersweet day for me, since the condostead, as I affectionately called her when I lived there, was my first home.  It was where I brought Tabbie Hoffman home as a one-pound orange fluff, where he learned about Mama's love and freedom and boundaries and where he taught me the same things.  It was where Larry and I first lived as a married couple.  It was where we brought Banjo home, too, where he turned from a scared, skinny little Banjo to a rambunctious bundle of pure joy and love.

So yeah, I was a little sad the day we signed the papers and let her go.  Lots of wonderful memories between those tiny walls!  But it was the right thing to do.  For us, for our little family and for the condo, too.  The guy who bought her is an investor and he's going to remodel her and "flip" her.  I pray that the person who buys her will find love, comfort and "home" there like we all did.

The first thing we did was GET OUT OF DEBT!  We paid off everything except our mortgage and whew!  That feels awesome.  Then we put a chunk into our savings account.

And then we went on a few shopping sprees!  We got a few things we'd been wanting for a while.  A new lens for my camera, a welder, some new shutters for the house...  Our biggest investment so far has been Larry's workshop.  We bought a steel building from H&H and Larry's been working so hard to get it just like he wants it.

Here are a few before and so far pictures.  This was the day after they delivered it.  Larry has added steps and a lattice skirt around the bottom now.

This weekend, he put up insulation and walls.  We had an electrician come out and wire it up and put in lights and electrical outlets.  It's really looking good!

He's going to build a work bench and put in cabinets and shelves.  Stay tuned for a big ALL DONE reveal!  We got an air conditioner for it and will get a little heater in the fall.  I'm so excited for Larry to have his own place to work!  He's so talented and makes such beautiful things for our home and for others that he deserves a nice place to plan and dream and work.

We got a couple of super comfy matching recliners, too. We have a hard time staying out of them!

Banjo has claimed his spot beside me while we watch TV.  

We welcomed a new family member, too!  Rosie!  She's an iRobot Roomba and we LOVE her.  She does such a great job for us.  She leaves "vacuum marks" on the carpet, too, and I LOVE that.  I love to see vacuum marks on the carpet.  Always have.  Call me crazy.  It makes me think the floor's cleaner.  Ha!  We are going to take up the living room carpet and put down some hardwood laminate and just have carpet in the bedrooms.  Rosie does so well going from carpet to tile and onto throw rugs and then back to carpet that I look forward to her being a part of our family for a long, long time.  She helps Mama a LOT!!  She's so much fun, too.  We've had lots of laughs.  I downloaded the iRobot app on my phone and I get updates when she's running.  If she gets stuck, I get a message.  She's only gotten badly stuck once, underneath the entertainment center.  The gap there is EXACTLY the same as her height so she got really stuck.  I had to move the entertainment center off her and she has some battle scars to show for it.  Little scratches on her top.  Oh well, if you don't get hurt, you ain't working!  And she works hard.  We love her.

The boys are still getting used to her, though.