Our house is starting to look very messy and empty. We filled up a ten-by-ten storage unit with bins full of books and just plain stuff. Our dumpster (which used to be empty a few days ago 
) is now filling very quickly. Many trips to the storage unit and to WalMart for more bins.
Below are some pictures of our chaotic house
Enjoy
!["Shelves in the closet, happy thought indeed."](http://blog.thewilli.com/wp-content/gallery/packing-up/p1060093.jpg ""Shelves in the closet, happy thought indeed."")
Okay, I know some of you have probably noticed the lack of quality in some of the pictures we’ve posted (not mentioning any names…:). Let’s face it: I’m not the best at photography. Walter’s very handy with a camera, and Aunt Frances is a superb photographer, but me, well… let’s put it this way; I’m notorious for covering the flash, and somehow my photos commonly turn out blurry, too dark, or too bright. What gives?
Well, I’ve decided to repair this dilemma of constantly producing poor pictures, and improve my skill. Practice makes perfect, does it not?
And so, I have practiced my photography, and though my pictures are not perfect, they’re decidedly better, and I think that’s improvement worthy of notice. What think ye of these flowers?
And these Autumn leaves?
Water reflections
I think that’s a bit better, don’t you?
-Kasie
This past week and weekend have been an absolute blast! My brother Brian drove down from upstate N.Y. with his family, sister Joy flew out from Colorado with hers, and Sharon (my only sister who lives nearby) and her kids visited almost everyday to be with everyone – almost all my family were together again!
We had a full house most of the time (ten grandkids to be exact), but it was great! Many a game of extreme Boggle were played, games of Spit, Aggravation, and ERS. (we’re big on card games, especially fast ones) We had movie nights, a wedding to attend, the Farewell Concert on Sunday, a walk through the woods, knitting (I taught that to Joy, who mournfully related to me that she was the only one in her Mom’s group who couldn’t knit), and lots of laughs.
Brian and Tina left us Monday evening, and Joy and Kenny, early Thursday morning. I was sad to see them go, but we had a splendid visit together. God blessed us with such a wonderful, lovely time of fellowship and fun. Check out the pictures!
Last Sunday, the Willi held a “farewell concert” for all of our friends and family! We’ve been so blessed by all of them over the years, and we wanted to give them one last gift before we go. I believe it would be safe to say that the concert was a smashing hit!
We debuted many of our own songs, with titles like “After Your Heart”, “For You”, “I Am Unworthy”, and “The Blues Song”, just to name a few. Maybe sometime we’ll cut an album.
After the concert, Mom and Dad got a surprise “roasting”! They entered the “Twighlight Zone”, Dad got arrested by Inspector Holmes of the NYPD, and both of them received “Homeless” posters! It was great.
Now for the pictures…. Before you start the slideshow, click the little blue play button next to “that tattered old flag”. That way you can watch the images and hear one of our songs at the same time for optimal audio/visual experience. (Sorry the images appear dark, and that some the heads are chopped off! These are bugs that I’m working on….. For now though, you might want to click “view as picture list” to avoid chopped heads, lol!)
that tattered old flag COPYRIGHT Walter Willis 2007 (lyrics and music)
Thank you Aunt Frances for the pictures! (Good captions coming later… when I find the time)
In a Shoe is putting on a blog contest courtesy of Vision Forum. What do you need to do? It’s simple. Just post a list of your “dream” VF order! The order must be less than $150 $250, and you must give VF a link.
So, me and my siblings got together, and hammered out a near perfect box of goodies.
Return of the Daughters $20
Best of the Film Festival 2005 $35
Best of the Film Festival 2006 $35
Outside Hollywood $15
Sacred Fire $24
Pouch of Ancient Coins $18
The Best of the Film Festival $35
Providential Battles II $25
League of Grateful Sons $20
Verses of Virtue $20
That’s a total of $147 $247.
As a side note, this contest is pure brilliance. (I’ll have to remember this for any future businesses that I start). Not only does Vision Forum get their name and products plastered all over the blogosphere, but they get hundreds of quality links, which are worth their weight in gold. I’m no expert, but I do know a little about SEO (search engine marketing), and all these links will help VF a lot in their google (and especially yahoo) rankings.
Day 7
There are exactly 7 days until the closing date on our house. After the 2nd of November, the Willis family will be officially ‘homeless.’
We most likely won’t be leaving the North for good until around the 15th of November. Between now and then we’ll be living with my sister’s family, and visiting friends on the weekends It’s happening in just 7 days.
Wow. Reality is starting to sink in for me. We really are moving, and we’re moving soon! This Saturday will be our last church service we’ll be attending; any one of these Fridays or Mondays could be my last working at the stable. It really and truly is happening! We have our storage unit, and we have our dumpster. Now we have to pack like mad.
It’s going to be an interesting week!
Katelyn: my little niece from Colorado. She’s grown so much since last I saw her!
“Kasie, doing?”
“I’m eating dinner, Katelyn.”
“Daddy, doing?”
“He’s eating dinner too.”
“Walter doing?”
*smiles* Can you tell what her favorite question is to ask?
Love the shades, Katelyn!
What an expression!
“Walter go?”
“I think Walter’s on the computer.”
“‘puter?”
“Yes, he’s writing an email.”
“Oh.”
“Kasie doing?”
“I’m playing Boggle.”
“Kasie doing?”
“I’m still playing Boggle.”
“Kasie, doing?”
“I’m still playing Boggle. What’s Katelyn doing?”
“Play ‘n Boggle!”
Hands in the pockets – love it!
Yummy bagel?
No thanks Katelyn – I’ll pass.
Isn’t she such a cutey-pie?
-Kasie
Just a little part of the “roasting” given to Mom and Dad a few days ago.
I know; the play took place almost two weeks ago – pictures should have been posted soon afterwards, but with one thing and another, I just haven’t gotten around to it until now. I know some of you have been anxiously awaiting these , so I’ll delay you no longer.
And so, without further ado, I present to you our Pride and Prejudice play: the pictures.
!["Thoughtless, thoughtless Lydia!"](http://blog.thewilli.com/wp-content/gallery/pride-and-prejudice-play/p1050712.jpg ""Thoughtless, thoughtless Lydia!"")
Hello everyone! What a weekend it has been for us! A farewell concert, a “roasting”, family and friends – it’s been great. (And is still going on!)
We’ll have pics up on the blog in a few days, for your visual enjoyment!
(I know, I hate multi-topic posts, but here goes…)
We would appreciate your prayer, as this is the day that the mold remediation will be done. The buyer is also coming to watch I believe. We’re just praying that the mold would go away smoothly, with no bumps or glitches to get in the way of the closing!
For those of you who are more technically inclined, I’m looking to buy a laptop before we move. (YESS!) The trick, though, is picking one out that is good quality, without burning a hole in my bank account. This one is my favorite so far – click it for more details:
It’s a Toshiba Satellite a215-s7428, with 160gig hard drive, 2gig RAM, 15.4 screen, and of course, the bloated Windows Vista Home Premium. It’s not a super-dooper laptop by any means, but I think it has its fair share of computing power, and will be sufficient for me for a few years.
Any of you have any experience with laptops (or any computers for that matter)? What about extended warranties – are they worth it?
- Walter
