News!

Big happenings here in the Mikkola household! John accepted a new job today at Brookstone. He'll be working two more weeks at Sears Holdings, then have one week off, then he'll work for one week in a local Brookstone store before finally starting his new job at the Brookstone headquarters in Merrimack, New Hampshire. Yep, that's right! We're moving to New Hampshire! This all seemed to happen so fast. Six weeks ago John got a call from a headhunter and things just snowballed from there. We are both so excited. It's a great career opportunity for John, and sounds like the kind of company that will be great to work for. And from what we've heard about NH and what John saw on his two trips out there, it sounds like exactly the kind of place we would LOVE to live. Very forrested, very hilly, lots of small towns. It's one hour from the ocean, one hour from Boston, and one hour from the mountains. There will be lots of snow, which we both miss. If you're going to have cold winters, you should at least have enough snow to play in! :) Actually, that area averages about half the annual snowfall that John's hometown does, so it won't seem too bad to him -- and it's probably pretty comparable to my hometown. And, the area also has a significant Vietnamese population (for New Hampshire, anyway). That was very important to us.

Now I just need to focus on getting this house ready to go on the market -- i.e. declutter big time. We're firm believers in "staging" a house to sell it, which means a lot of things will need to go into storage and all that yardwork I've been putting off will have to be done finally. I've already found a great resource for helping with the decluttering: Freecycle. There are groups in communities all across the country. If you have things around the house that you don't really want or need anymore, but don't really want to throw away because they're still useful, you post a message on a message board and people who could use it contact you to come pick it up. People also post for things they're looking for. Everything is a free give away, hence Freecycle. It's awesome! Check it out at http://freecycle.org/

Ok, second bit of big news: our agency had a referral this week! Hooray!!! After quite a few months with no referrals, things are starting to roll again. They have several prospective referrals in various stages of processing right now, so they believe that they will be coming at a steady rate for at least a few months, hopefully for much longer. I emailed with our coordinator today, and she said that we are now between #55-60 on the wait list, so we've moved up from the #70 spot we were at when we got on. I know that some families chose to leave FTIA during the referral drought, so I'm guessing that's how we moved up. She also estimated that our referral should come in late 2008, and we would travel in early 2009, which is right where I was thinking we were. So that's all good news.

I was so excited for Matt and Elaine and their family when I heard about their referral this past week. I actually teared up quite a bit. It's really good news for all of us waiting with FTIA.

So, lots going on here! I'll try to keep you all posted. :)

Tag, I'm It... Twice!

Oh, I'm so bad. Kathryn tagged me about 6 weeks ago, and Andrea almost 3 weeks ago. I just haven't been on, but I'll do my Blogger Duty now. :)

I've just been tagged by Kathryn!

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Unbeknownst to me, I was getting ready to meet my husband (John and I met on Nov. 8, 1997).
2. I was working for a classic car insurance company.
3. I had just moved into a townhouse I couldn't afford with one roommate and was looking for another.
4. I had just worn one of the three worst bridesmaid dresses in the history of mankind. (Imagine lavendar Marshmallow Fluff and you're almost there...)
5.

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Popcorn
2. Ice cream
3. nuts (especially cashews and pistachios)
4. Triscuits
5. Chocolate brownies and chocolate chip cookies

5 songs I know all the lyrics to:

1. Hush Little Baby
2. All the songs on the Laurie Berkner DVD in our car
3. Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin
4. I, too, am all over the 80's music, Kathryn and Sue
5. The Beatles White Album (and many others)

5 things I would do if I were a Millionaire

1. Put money away for the kids to go to college
2, 3, 4, 5. There's no money left after the kids go to college... :)

5 bad habits:

1. procrastinate
2. Spend too much time online
3. I could definitely be a better housekeeper
4. eat very late at night
5. watch too much TV

5 things I like to do:

1. spend time with my family
2. travel
3. try new foods/eat good food
4. read and write
5. scrapbook and design jewelry

5 things I would never wear again:

1. that lavender Marshmallow Fluff bridesmaid dress
2. jeans that are too short (flood pants -- adolescence was a VERY fashionable time for me... NOT)
3. pink or purple eyeshadow
4. spandex
5. anything neon

5 favorite toys:

1. computer
2. camera
3. My scrapbooking stuff
4.
5.

I've just been tagged by Andrea!

I am officially a part of the "Blog World". They have invited me to play their "Reindeer Games". I have been tagged by E. The details are, you have to post these rules before you give the facts. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged & to read your blog!

K - Kids -- I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being a mommy to Jack and Ethan, and can't wait to add more through adoption
A - Adventurous and Adrenalin -- I've traveled to foreign countries by myself, jumped out of airplanes, taken a bellydance
class -- I'm an adrenalin junkie
Y - Yesteryear -- I love cultural history -- old black and white movies, biographies, documentaries, etc.

Ok, so now I'm suppose to tag people, but I only know three people who have blogs, and two are the ones who tagged me! So, I'll have to wait until I make a few more contacts to pass it on.