Rest in Peace, Danda Smith

Ever since we moved into the new house, we have been receiving phone calls for Danda Smith. I've rather enjoyed telling telemarketers that Danda doesn't live here. It keeps the calls short and sweet, and I don't have to listen to the salesperson's spiel. Thank you, Danda.

Even the USPS is delivering mail to our house for Danda. Dandy! We are the first and only people to have this address, so how does Danda get mail before we do? I'll bet she didn't even have to fill out a change of address form.

After making a few phone calls from our land line, I learned that even our phone number/identity appeared as Danda Smith on other people's caller ID. Our family and friends were confused as to who was calling. Danda is everywhere.

We FINALLY figured out who Danda is... Thankfully, she is NOT a deadbeat. I'm quite sure we'd like her, if we ever met.

When Mr. Smith and I set up our phone/internet/TV with Verizon last month, the phone company representative asked how we would like our name to appear in the directory. For twenty-plus years we have always had it listed as D and A Smith with no address. We went with this option again; HOWEVER, it came out like this: DandA Smith! Ahhh -- Danda!

I contacted Verizon and learned that they cannot add spaces or ampersands to their listings, so we will no longer be listed as D & A Smith or D and A Smith. We opted to "kill" Danda while we were at it, so now we will be appearing as plain ol' D Smith. Gee, I wonder how many D Smiths there are in the greater DFW area? Maybe we should have gone with A Smith instead, or Smithlings...

I'm already starting to miss hearing the phone ring for our dearly departed (imaginary) friend. It's kinda quiet here.

I just might have to come up with a new approach for dealing with telemarketers now that Danda is gone. Oh, I'll likely stick to my favorite response of very politely saying, "Thank you soooo much for your call. You have done a masterful job of explaining this AMAZING opportunity to me. You do your job really well, but I am sure that you hear compliments like that all the time. I would certainly be a fool to pass up an offer as wonderful as this, but I must decline... Good bye!" Click.

Busy, Busy, Shockingly Busy...

It's been a very busy time for all of us, but we are not complaining. Busy is good.

I have not had time to post any updates because I am either painting, unpacking, sorting stuff, or running to Lowe's or Ace Hardware. Sitting at my computer does not fit into the daily routine right now, but I am going to take a few minutes to share what's been going on in Texas.

We have been going to bed at midnight (or later) and the alarm jangles at 6 AM. There is no rest for the Smiths. We are pooped, but happy.

Here is a photo update of what we have been doing over the past few weeks:

June 26th -- Ruth came to visit Liesey, or maybe she came to help us work. We certainly appreciated her help... :-) No, she didn't ride this chopper all the way from CA. We made a quick trip to OK to clean and sort things at Grandma Florence's house, and Mr. Smith's cousin dropped by on the big kid's version of a Spiderman bike.

Two trips to the dump barely made a dent in Grandma's basement & attic...

June 27th -- I had a birthday somewhere amidst all the sorting, packing, and moving stuff. Mr. Smith baked a most excellent German Choc. cake for the occasion. :-)

June 28th -- For a belated b-day gift, I got keys to our new home. Hooray!!!

As soon as we had the keys, Mr. Smith and I stopped by the new house to pray over every room.

The empty canvas awaits...

Everything looks so clean! There is no window treatment, no wall color, and no moving boxes -- yet! Oh, there is soooo much work to do, but where do we begin?

We have to install a few more light fixtures, that is, if we can find them packed away with all of our stuff. We currently have a few keyless fixtures in the house -- although they are quite attractive in their own right, we want something a little more interesting looking than a bare light bulb. HA! Who knows, maybe we will start a new trend in lighting design. Less is more...more or less.

Benjamin Moore to the rescue. I think we have 44 gallons of paint to get started with. We will definitely need to purchase Moore.

We were treated to a nice thunderstorm while we were painting. We have not had many storms since we moved to Texas, so the dark clouds were photo-worthy.

Frog tape is invaluable.

Child labor?

Ruth got to help paint, too. The girls decided to have fun painting Scripture verses on the wall before the main color was rolled on. These verses are now hidden under the paint in the guest room. Love it!!!

Hooray for new furniture! We purchased a sectional for the family room, a mattress for the guest room, and office furniture.

Katie and Millie tried out the sectional & confirmed that it's comfy.

July 1st -- We didn't make Ruth paint the entire time she was here. Really!!! The ballerina girls took time for a photo shoot -- something like 250 images were captured. These are a couple of my favorites.



July 3rd -- Mr. Smith had to climb up on the ladder to heights that I didn't care to try. My limit is about 12 feet up, so he got to do the dangerous part.

It was nearly 100 degrees, but the storage unit had to be emptied -- first the furniture, then the boxes. It took six trips in the U-Haul truck, but it is under two miles from All Storage to the new address. We definitely have tooooo much stuff.



Independence Day was spent with our new neighbors. They didn't mind that we were all sweaty & gross from moving, or at least that's what they said!!!! The Thomsons hosted a barbecue & swimming party. All of the kids from the 'hood willingly posed for this photo. Look at all of those beautiful smiles.

July 11 -- We took a break from unpacking, shelf lining, and painting to take the ballerina girl to the UT campus in Austin. Liesey will be gone for a month as she is participating in American Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensive program.

Who knows what today's moving adventure will be! There will be a lot going on, I am sure, but I doubt that I will have much time to blog about it. :-)