It was a Pinterest Inspired 50th Anniversary Party!

Saturday was my parent's 50th Anniversary and I utilized Pinterest to the max for the anniversary party that my three sisters and I organized. Below are photos of what we did, along with the Pinterest links that inspired. My area of contribution was designing the invitation and figuring out decorations.

First we used this fun photo for our invitations:

I spent a lot of time looking for an online invitation/website service that would allow using our own photo image and have control over the invitation text (font, size, etc). We ended up using RSVPHQ.com and were fairly happy with the service. We could see who had opened the email, who had opened the web invite and the RSVP results were customizable. There's a number of subscription/purchase options. We paid about $22 because we planned to email more than 100 people. Other online services had lovely templates (RSVPHQ does not), but the space for text was quite limited/restrictive or had terribly small print--which is not idea for my parent's generation.

Many, many people said they loved the photo-- we did too, which is why we used it!

Pinterest is full of ideas for anniversary party ideas You can just search varieties of "50th Wedding Anniversary" and you'll find lots of pins and/or boards that you can pin or follow.

At my parent's 40th anniversary party (held in their home), my older sister modeled my mom's wedding dress, wrinkles and all. My younger sister even modeled the bridesmaid dress that my aunt had saved from all those years ago.

Wedding Dress
This year, Pinterest inspired the idea of again having my mom's dress on display. I unsuccessfully posted on Facebook that I was looking to borrow a dress form. I was running out of hope until about a month ago, when one of my mom's neighbors had a dress form for sale at their yard sale. I told them, if it doesn't sell, we'd love to borrow it or rent it. Unfortunately it sold, but another neighbor found out that we wanted to borrow one and she offered her antique one. So below is a picture of my mom's 50 year old wedding dress on that form. My mom sewed her own dress and at least one or more of her bridesmaids' dresses. It's held up well for not having been professionally preserved.

 We found some neutral colored fabric to cover up the dress form which was a dark brown. The form was a little thicker around the waist (it was not adjustable) and a little smaller in the bust line, but we made it work!  Because the room was very white (floors, walls, ceiling), we found a carpet mat at the church to help add a little contrast under the dress. Here's one of the Pinterest links that inspired me. People seemed to enjoy seeing it. We also put a picture of my mom in her dress on the table adjacent to the dress.


Memory Table


I also made a gigantic 50 out of four sheets of posterboard on which I stuck photos of my parents (and pics of them with children and grandchildren). I would recommend using form-core instead, as the posterboard had a mind of it's own and my dad had to add fishing line to keep the '5' from sagging funny. We hung each number with string and used three removable 3M hooks each (afterwards four came off fine, two pulled off paint from wall). It took a LOT of photos to cover these large numbers, but it turned out well as it had a nice big effect on the large blank wall. It was a lot of work to engineer and affix the photos. Also, we did not want to use original photos, so we scanned and printed photos to use for this. Here is the Pinterest Pin that inspired me (we even incorporated the balloons). It's hard to tell here, but there are white Christmas lights under the Memory Table that shine through the ivory table cloths. Yes, that was Pinterest inspired as well.

Those same photos on the big 50 were also put into a looping slideshow on my laptop and run through my flat screen TV (Pinterest link here). On the table we also had misc. family photos of our family and wedding photos of my parents, their wedding album and the scrapbook from their 40th wedding anniversary party. 50 years ago two family friends painted (watercolor) scenes on to their actual wedding invitation and gave them to my parents for wedding gifts, and those were already framed, so we displayed those. Plus I put some gold colored candies in dishes on this table.

I really wanted there to be several focus areas so that the guests weren't all clustered in one area of the room. We knew ahead of time that the main focus areas would be 1) wherever my parents where, 2) the memory/photo table, and 3) the dessert/beverage table.

50 Fun Facts

We were expecting about 70 people, some of whom did not know any of the other guests. I knew there might be some who would enjoy themselves more (and feel less awkward) if we gave them something to DO. So when I saw some Pinterest Pins (here and here and here) for 50 Fun Facts, I knew I wanted to attempt it... not only as something for guests to do... but also as a fun way to share interesting or silly information about my parents, our family or 1963.

We started with the first six Fun Facts at the memory table (see above photo) and then hung them - in order- on the walls of the Fellowship Hall. The room was so big and so white, that having these little black/white cards on the walls helped to define the room a bit better and utilize the space. The guests said they REALLY enjoyed walking around and reading the numbered fact cards. As my sisters and I bumped into guests during the party, they'd often mention that they enjoyed going around and reading the cards. Some even mentioned that it gave them something to talk about with other guests. Coming up with 50 facts that were relevant, mostly truthful and coordinated with a numbers 1-50 was not easy. The first thirty went fairly quickly, but then it took some creativity! I'd guess that it took me over a month to gather data, with long-distance help from my sisters, subtly questioning my parents about details--who were a little confused initially as to what we were doing... but we finally nailed down the final three around 11pm the night before the party. We were stuck on numbers 38, 42 and 44. We had to fudge a little bit. :)  I will give examples at the bottom of this post of some of ours.

Dessert Table
My older sister was responsible for planning and coordinating details for the dessert table. We had decided during the planning conference calls (between sisters) that we'd do a cake and punch reception since it would make things a lot less stressful the day of the party and keep costs low. Plus that's exactly the type of reception that my parent's had 50 years ago!  My mom requested lemon pound cake (my dad's favorite) and that we serve the same punch they had at their reception. A lady at my mom's church made the wedding cake. We also had dishes with nuts and those pastel buttercreme mints, which is what my parents had at their original wedding reception. We served coffee in insulated carafes so that the table didn't need to be near an outlet.

We used texture gold table cloths that my mom already owned (easily found at Target/Walmart at Thanksgiving/Christmas time) and then used the family punch bowl that my mom had given to her church awhile back. We ripped up some ivy from my mom's yard--as that what was done 50 years ago--and placed it on the dessert table. And as you can see in the above photo, we placed a wedding photo of my parents with their cake. At their 40th anniversary party we used the original topper from their wedding cake, but for their 50th, we decided to go with a flower topper which turned out quite nice and added a nice bit of color to the table!  (Be sure to note the 50 Fun Facts on the wall.)

And here's the happy couple! They don't look like they've been married 50 years do they? They've been vegans for over 10 years, so we think that's what keeps them looking so young!

I wish I had thought to move their wedding picture so that it was included in this picture.

Here's a couple of my sisters, my mom and my nieces working on the dessert table before the party started.

This is where the guys were during the final prep. This probably kept them sane and on their best behavior. ;)  Notice that the table in the background is littered with pizza boxes and drinks. This was probably the stroke of genius of the entire day. Our family in notoriously late, so in order to make sure everyone, including my parents, were at the church ON TIME for the party we decided to have a pizza lunch AT the church an hour and a half before the party was scheduled to start. This allowed for any last minute preparations/decorations, food prep to be done at the same time we were eating lunch.

My niece modeling with the punch. It was so good. The punch was a mix of cider, tea, pineapple juice, miscellaneous spices and Sprite (and probably other stuff, I never saw the recipe)!










Here's my sister and I trying to figure out how to cut the cake. (I'm in the orange sweater). The down side to having a wedding cake at an open house reception is that you kinda have to start tearing the cake apart the moment that guests start to arrive. We had an open house type of party, so that people felt free to come/go when they needed to. This meant there was no actual program or anything to organize.





My first cake-cutting endeavor. It stressed me out, so I turned over my knife to my sister's guy friend, who did a much better job! ha!



**I should note here, that each of the four daughters is wearing a gold/mustard colored name tag. My mom asked that the girls wear name tags and designate our birth order. And because no one wants to be labeled "#2 daughter" the sisters came up with an additional descriptor for our name tags just for fun. Here they are:

Laure,  First Daughter, "Best all-around"
Donna,  Second Daughter, "The Favorite"
Joy, Third Daughter, "Most Anticipated"
Rachel, Fourth Final Daughter, "We FINALLY got it right!"

The space wasn't ideal for candid photos. The space was so white and light, that the cameras couldn't decide if flash was needed or not. Candids were often blurry.  My sisters and I were busy greeting people and making sure the dessert table was in good order, that taking pictures was often an afterthought. Most of the pictures here were taken at the very beginning of the party with my camera, so there aren't as many guests in the shots. We did have a great turn-out! My aunt took pictures during second half of the party but I haven't seen any of those yet. I might add those in later if she has better or more detailed photos. We did have a photographer from my parents church take more formal group photos towards the end (he wasn't able to come until the last half hour of the party). We had hoped for some outdoor photos but it was simply too windy.

 Because adult sisters are still sisters. This is my "They Finally Got it Right!" sister.

My dad and my uncle.

This is my "Best All-Around" sister talking to my mom's Maid of Honor and my mom's sister.

I have three sisters, and somehow "The Favorite" wasn't in any of these pictures. It might be she was the one taking pictures with my camera??? If I could do one thing differently, I think it would have been to be more conscientious about having a non-family member take some photos. We didn't want the expense of hiring anyone, but these days there are so many people with fancy cameras, that we surely could have asked a friend to come and take photographs.

Afterwards we encouraged out of town guests (majority family members) to join us for an early dinner at the buffet restaurant that was less than a 1/4 mile from the church. That gave us more time with family and we didn't have to worry about figuring out meal preparation at my parent's house. Then afterwards we all went directly back to the church and cleaned up. My brother-in-laws and nephews swept the floors and reset the room with tables and chairs according to how the church wanted it left.

Consensus from everyone is that things went really well, looked great, and was enjoyable.  Guests kept commenting that mom my was just beaming and she obviously was enjoying every moment! That's exactly what we wanted! 

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Okay, here's a sampling of our 50 Fun Facts:

3 - Number of Virginia cities they've lived in as a married couple
4 - Number of daughters
6 - Average US household income in 1963 (in thousands)
7 - Number of cats and dogs owned in the past 50 years
8 - Month when J & V were engaged (August 23, 1963)
10 - Number of different mailing addresses as a married couple
16 - Age of oldest granchild, Z----.
17 - Year of marriage when they kept their Christmas tree up for an entire year
23 - Age of V when she married Jess
24 - Number of years J was in school
30 - Years of marriage when they sent their youngest child off to college.
39 - Age of third daughter, Joy (we did this for all children, grandchildren)
42 -  Number of hair appliances J has repaired in past 50 years
43 - Number of years V has planted a vegetable garden
44 - Number of tomato cages V uses annually in her garden
50- YEARS! or 600 months or 2,609 weeks or 18,263 days or ... hours... minutes

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This year I decided to attempt one Pinterest Project per month. I've been fairly successful. This Anniversary Party easily covered my October and November Projects! :)  I'm hoping to go back at some point and document my 2013 Pinterest-Inspired Projects. But that will need to be another day.

Six Months In

Just realized I've been WORKING as a nurse for six months. Crazy, how time flies!

The most common question that I've gotten over the past six months is "So are you loving nursing?" It's a really tough question, 1) because the asker really wants to believe that I do and 2) I really want to say yes, but I can't.  I'm too new and too inexperienced to say I love it. I usually reply "I have good days and I have bad days." I think I'll start to enjoy it more when I stop feeling anxious before my first shift. First shifts of the week are always hard because I'm getting all new patients. Day 2 and 3, I'm a bit more relaxed because I've already cared for several of my patients for at least one night and know their routines and behaviors.

Night shift isn't so bad. It's the sleeping during the day part. haha!  Actually MOST of the time I get at least five-six hours after my shifts, but after a particularly hard shift, I often can't sleep more than a few hours because I wake up and my mind starts thinking about work and it's hard to go back to sleep. It's those times that I wish I had some good sleeping meds. Ambien\helps me get to sleep, not stay asleep (when I actually take it!).  But honestly, I have no desire to work day shift at a hospital. On dayshift, the number of people on the unit seems to double at times with doctors, physical therapy, respiratory therapy, case management,administration, pharmacists, and of course, family and visitors! Plus patients often are coming and going from tests and procedures or are discharged or admitted. Night shift is generally much calmer! Don't get me wrong, it can still be busy-- there are nights when I don't get to sit down (except for my 30 minute lunch). What I like is that the night shift nurses really help each other out. Our busy times wax and wane, so as available, we can help each other out. I'm so new that I still ask a ton of questions or need help with something something I've not done before or done only a couple times (blood warmer, feeding pump, wound care, etc...) and it would be hard on day shift to get help. I'm not sure how new nurses cope on day-shift. Perhaps they just learn faster because they see more and are forced to figure it out. But I'm not wired for it - at least in the hospital environment. Certainly I'd prefer to work when the majority work and to sleep when the majority sleeps, but for now night shift is where I need to be (and it pays more). When life circumstances change (like going back to school), I'll have to rethink things, and maybe by then I'll be ready to move into a different type of nursing that will be more accomodating to a personal life. Twelve hours shifts are tough too, but I DO love that I only work three days a week!

I've been a complete slacker getting to the gym. After completing my three work days, I'm usually so exhausted and it's tough to get motivated to leave the house. Previously I found that I was most successful in getting to the gym when I went right before or right after work or school. But on the days that I'm working I don't want to go to the gym after my shift b/c I'm dead tired and just want to go to bed. And if I go to the gym before my shift, then I will end up not getting enough sleep. So that leaves my days off...and I don't have a regular routine for those days. Maybe that's what I need to figure out.

My goal this year is to do one creative project a month. So far I'm ahead. My January project was Pinterest inspired. When I was in Liberia, I saved a few bottle caps from the soft drinks. Liberia has it's own Coca-Cola bottling company, so all the caps have the price in Liberian dollars on them. Anyways, I turned them into refrigerator magnets by gluing craft magnets inside. I love them. Then the same weekend, I made what I hoped was going to be a case/tote for my new laptop which is super thin...but the tote is HUGE and was actually designed to hold a sleeve (from same pattern package) for the laptop. So I have this nice, new homemade tote and still nothing to hold/protect my laptop! Oh well, at least I don't need to carry my laptop to work or school these days. Guess I should pay more attention to actual dimensions than to what the photo on the pattern package looks like! Ha! So I guess my next creative project should be to make the sleeve and HOPE that it works, but the tote was soooo much work that I'm a little worn out and might have to push the sleeve to spring.  Other things I want to sew this year include: seatbelt covers, hairbands, flat sheet into fitted sheet, and maybe another totebag. Not sure about after that. Perhaps I'll re-learn to crochet. I did a little in highschool, but I've forgotten anything I learned. I tried knitting and that was a disaster. Perhaps I could try it again, but it's hard to get psyched up when "casting on" defeated me the first time.

Well, I probably should be thinking about going to bed as I'm back to work tomorrow. Somehow I was scheduled for four days in a row. Can't remember if I've worked four in a row before. This past week I worked two shifts and they were pretty miserable/crazy. So I'm hoping this weekend is much calmer!

Feeling Productive!

Thanks to seven straight days off earlier this month, I was able to spend time working on some projects I've wanted/needed to do since my move in early October. I painted some furniture, restored a piece of furniture that I inherited and made a Roman shade for my kitchen window.

I inherited an antique "bookshelf" from my grandparents over five years ago. It was falling apart because it's actually a modular shelf made of six different pieces (base, case #1, door #1, case #2, door #2 and top) and therefore had gotten a lot of abuse over the years. My dad and I spent a while working to restore the integrity of it (gluing, nailing, adding supports) and then I cleaned it up with some wood cleaner, added a touch of stain to scarred areas and then added a little polish to it. Part of the design is that doors slide up and into the case. The doors originally had glass in them, but as you can see, I put in plaid covered inserts (thin paneling). Now I have a nice little storage case. It's been done for about two weeks and I've yet to decide what to put inside. The doors are still a bit fragile because the grooved tracks have worn out. So whatever I put inside will be stuff I don't need on a regular basis. But I LOVE the plaid fabric- it really "crisped" up the design of this piece. I wasn't exactly sure where it was going to end up, but it fits PERFECTLY on this wall!

And here's the picture of the Roman Shade. Yes, it's plaid too! (I'm a bit of a plaid freak!) I was originally planning to use "ring tape" but the ring tape my mom had was irregular, so I ended up having to hand sew the rings on the shade. It was a LOT of work, but I'm so thrilled with how it turned out! I still need to hang a lift-cord anchor on the wall. Right now I'm simply using a clip attached to an adjacent flower pot. I keep forgetting to go by Lowe's.




...and tonight, in less than two hours, I turned a beloved sweater into a Christmas stocking! This is a thick, wool petite (hits just below the waist) sweater that simply was too hot to wear with a shirt under it and too itchy to wear alone. I've owned it for a number of years and dutifully pull it out with my winter clothes every year, but I'm hard pressed to remember the last time I wore it. So today, it's now part of my knit Christmas stocking collection. I think this makes either #4 or #5!!

The point is to use the hem of the sweater as the top finished edge of the stocking, so while I'm a tiny bit disappointed at the position of the colored areas (wish it was higher), it was VERY easy to do and I'm pleased with my first attempt to re-purpose a favorite sweater! Thanks Pinterest!

It's been years since I've done any pleasure sewing. It feels really good to use my creative side, and even better to produce something I end up loving!! I have some left over plaid fabric from the above projects, so I'm contemplating how I might use the leftovers along with a bunch of other plaid fabric I have collected over the years. Maybe my first quilt? or a quilted wall hanging? or a braided rug like this, or a fabric seat belt cover (I'm short, these are a life saver!) or perhaps one of these? Hmm?

Time and Patience

Today I stopped by my nursing school to drop off a couple things and as luck would have it there was a faculty meeting and so I waited a bit and got to see a handful of my instructors and the program director. It was really good to see them!  They asked about where I was and how I was adjusting. It made miss having people in my life that care about my success. The faculty do care, despite what students think.

There are days when I wish I was back in school and enjoying the slower pace and low pressure environment. I am far happier on night shift because things are a bit less hectic and whirlwind. I've had a couple doozy nights. On night shift, we are pretty much non-stop between 7 and 11p but after that the work ebbs and flows depending on our patient load, acuity and any admissions, but usually there's another nurse that can come help when needed. There are still plenty of things I have not seen before or dealt with. In those instances, I HAVE to find help. Last night I administered blood and it was my first time. I printed out the hospital policy and procedure and with help and coaching from my Charge Nurse, things went well. Last week I had my first NG tube-fed patient that required me to do flushes and meds according to hospital policy. Every week there's something new to learn. Obviously learning is good, but I really hate asking for help (but of course I do). It's inexperience, and I hate it. One of the instructors that I saw today said that it's usually at 9 months where you start feeling a bit more confident and less insecure.  Guess I need to start another countdown timer.

Those who know me know that I don't lack self-confidence or strength. I am strong. I am confident. I just HATE feeling out of control. And honestly, that's probably the hardest thing for me as a new nurse. I have NO actual control over my patients and what happens next. I can certainly plan how I will go about my shift, but hypoglycemia, fever, arrhythmias, delirium, vomiting, chest pain, stroke, bleeding, and pain can totally disrupt those plans and I must respond accordingly while also still managing to get everything done that I must get done. I will become more proficient - more efficient. But it will take time and practice. So daily I am practicing patience with myself and others. 

The BEST part of my job is the opportunity to make a difference for a patient. Just this week I had a patient who was having trouble sleeping because of his shortness of breath combined with claustrophobia. He was a handful at night as he was uncomfortable and needed to move around but was not physically strong enough to move himself safely. He rotated from in the bed, to side of the bed, to the chair and back around and around.  At one point he said, "I'm sorry that I keep calling and needing your help... can you tell me why is it harder to breath when I'm laying in bed and a bit easier when I'm sitting on the side of the bed?" So while he was sitting on the side of the bed, I just sat down on the stool and sat with him and took the opportunity to spend time with him and explain how positioning makes a difference for people with heart failure and/or COPD. He was so grateful for my explanation. No one had ever validated his feelings or explained this in a way that helped him understand. Fortunately, I was finally able to get him some medication ordered that took the edge off his anxiety and shortness of breath so that he could sleep. In the morning I came by to check on him before I left for the day and he said "I want you to know that I really appreciate you taking the time to  explain things and your help last night. Thank you." Yes, he was a lot of work for three nights, but it's so satisfying to come alongside a patient who is really struggling and to not only help them with their physical needs, but to also see the light bulb go off after providing just a little bit of education about their situation. 

When I look to the future, I don't see myself doing bedside care for the long-term, but rather I see myself in a patient education role or working in a clinic where I can spend more time with patients. Perhaps a cardiac device clinic? I think I'd be happier in a position that is a bit more predictable, consistent and is less "in the moment" acute care.  But who knows - maybe with time and increased experience, I will grow to love bedside care such that I can't imagine being anywhere else. Time. And. Patience. Oh joy!

Missed Me?

Yeh, well, returning to work full-time has certainly reduced my leisure time. And working twelve hour shifts has certainly taking some getting used to. Last week I switched over to nights and tonight is my last shift on official orientation. I still have so much to learn and there are plenty of things that I haven't seen before that I will need assistance with.

Last weekend I officially moved in to my new apartment. Well, I'm not exactly moved INTO my apartment as there are boxes and piles of stuff that I need to find homes for. I still have flower pots outdoors and a few things in the garage at my previous location, but the homeowners are not chasing me out - yet. It's nice to be in my own place and allowed to decorate and organize as like. But I have too much stuff and yet it's hard to let go of perfectly good stuff knowing that ONE DAY I might want it!

Two weekends ago I flew to Michigan for the 20th highschool reunion for the school I attended through 9th grade. Since I was in touch with most of former classmates they invited me to attend even though I didn't graduate from there. It was really great to go back and catch up with those friends!  A week from tomorrow I will drive down to South Carolina to attend my actual 20th highschool reunion. I've been to SC within the past five years and have seen a few classmates during those visits, but I haven't seen the majority of my graduating class since our 15th-- which was before my trip to Liberia (I think). My night shift brain is kinda unreliable with that sort of information. While I'm looking forward to my SC trip, I will be glad to have my big travel plans and events (moving!) out of the way for a while. I'm ready for normal for a while.

I will eventually get around to writing about my orientation in a very general way. Eventually. Won't promise when! :)

Until next time.

Back to School for Some

It's hard to believe that the buses are running again and that it's back to school season. Makes me very happy that I am not heading back into the classroom this semester.  One of the gals that I went to school with, who works in another department at my same hospital, has gone back to school this fall. I cannot imagine!  I am taking the advice that I got when I was applying for my job and I am going to hold off on going back to get my BSN until I've got my second year of nursing under my belt. My brain is on overload as it is after three twelve-hour shifts and it takes my four days off a week to recover and recharge for the next week. I cannot imagine trying to attend classes or studying on my days off! I need to build my confidence and knowledge for my day-to-day nursing practice before trying to squeeze more into my brain.  

But best wishes to my friends who are starting back to school- in whatever field they are in... but definitely to my friends who are starting their last year of nursing school! You are almost there!

RN Orientation: Week Five

Well, I failed to update as promised, but that's because as soon as my work week was over, I headed out of town! So I'm going to skip my Week Five update, because there's really nothing new to mention. Just continued to care for patients with my preceptor.

Thursday I drove up to Northern Virginia to joined my sister, my niece and some of her friends for a Kelly Clarkson concert that night. On Friday, I caught up with an old friend from C'ville and her VERY cute six month old baby boy! After that, I headed over to the highschool where my sister teaches and helped her get her classroom and other misc. things ready for the start of school (today). From there I went and had dinner with a blind date which we both discovered right away was not a good match. I ended up staying another night with my sister and helped her out again in her classroom on Saturday morning and then joined my sister to go watch my niece play in a travel soccer tourney (first of the season) in Germantown, MD. After dinner I made the trek back to C'ville. Whew! Full but great few days with my sister.

Next weekend my mom's family is having a reunion of sorts to commemorate what would have been my Grammy's 100th birthday. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, especially my sisters and my cousins who I don't get to see that often.

For the past four years I've been fortunate enough to be house-sitting and not paying rent or a mortgage --just utilities. This was so perfect for when I was fresh home from Liberia with no idea as to what to do next (work-wise). And then for the past two years I've been able to go to nursing school without having to worry much about my finances. If it wasn't for this house-sitting gig, I never would have considered going back to school. The original thought was that the homeowners would be gone five years, then possibly a sixth year, but last week they called and said that he is switching positions and they'll be returning to to C'ville next month. So now I am busy making lists and exploring housing options. Thankfully they are not pushing me out and I can take my time to find my next place-- even if it takes a couple months to find.

I'd love to find a place close to work, but it also needs to be inexpensive and somewhere quiet where I can easily sleep during the day (when I move to night shift). I totally expected that I'd be making transition to night shift while living where I am currently where I don't have to deal with roommates or loud neighbors. I really need to stay away from student housing/apartments as they come and go all day long. I also need to avoid basement apartments--unless the person(s) upstairs work day shift AWAY from home. The Lord has provided abundantly for me with my current housing and I can only believe and trust He has a good plan for me. The timing is amazing (done with school and I have a job!).  I'm excited and hopeful that my next home will be beyond what I could ask for or imagine!  I have my wish list that I'm praying about.