All is well that ends well

Ev's first week as a sophomore at White Station High School started off a little rocky, but things smoothed out quickly.

Even though we registered Ev on the Friday before school started, he was not enrolled when he got there Monday morning. Apparently his file was stuck with files of other transfer students who could not be enrolled until they were withdrawn from the school from which they transferred. Ev was never registered anywhere else, so that was a mistake. So, unbeknownst to us until he got home Monday, he spent the entire day sitting in the gymnasium.

But, all was well Tuesday. He was able to get the office to put him in the system in the morning, he got his schedule and he was on his way. He likes most of his teachers (based on the first week's impressions anyway). He was very happy to see some of his friends he hadn't had a chance to see yet since we got back. He seemed pleased with the first week over all.

A friend of Scott's who lives a few streets away from us has a daughter who is a junior at WSHS. She drives to school everyday, so she gives Ev a ride. That means I don't have to drop him off and pick him up everyday, so I am happy. Ev likes it too. He would be happiest if he could drive himself, of course, but since he can't do that yet, riding with a friend is still several marks higher on the cool meter than catching a ride with mom.

Citizen Petra

My very good friend in California, Petra, became a US citizen last week. Congratulations, Petra!


I was vary sad that I was not there to witness the ceremony, but only until she told me it took place in a room filled with 3,000 people with no air conditioning. Sounds delightful.

Petra is from Snina, Slovakia, small town near the Ukrainian border with a population of just over 20,000. Isn't it beautiful?


Petra came to the United States the first time in high school when she was an exchange student in Minnesota. She returned to Snina to attend law school and eventually came back to the U.S. to stay, arriving in California on July 4th - such a little patriot! She and her boyfriend, Krasen (who is from Bulgaria), plan to move back to Europe in a few years, but for now she is an American girl. Welcome to the club, PP Magee!

Ev is officially a Spartan!

We found out yesterday that our son, Everett, was accepted by White Station High School. We do not live in the WSHS district, but Ev went to White Station Middle School before we left Memphis and most of his friends (including his cousins, Cody and Zach) went on to WSHS. It is also the number one high school in Memphis City Schools system. We are very happy, but it was much more of an ordeal than it should have been to reach this point.

We were told initially that Ev was 26th on a waiting list to get in White Station. We kept up our hopes about WSHS, but we also began contemplating what looked like a very likely plan B, which was going to Central High School (the high school for the district in which we live). Now, I moved to Memphis my senior year of high school and I spent that year at Central. It was probably the worst year of my life. I do not have pleasant memories of Central and my first reaction was "There is no way he is going there." However, once I looked into it and talked to a few people about Central, I calmed down and realized I was making a decision based entirely on emotion. It is a very good school and Ev would get a great education if he went there. So, Ev tackled the summer reading list for Central and I met with the principal to be sure we had our ducks in a row to get him in the classes we wanted. All the while though, we kept jumping through the many bureaucratic hoops presented to us along the way in our attempt to transfer to WSHS.

In the interest of brevity I will spare you the rest of the long story. Suffice it to say most of the hoops we jumped through turned out to be completely unnecessary. The important thing is that Ev is in the school he really wanted and we are pleased. Unfortunately, Ev busted his butt to complete the reading list for Central (he finished three books in less than two weeks) and now he has to three more books to attack. Luckily the teacher has extended the deadline by a month for Ev. He is already half way through the first one (in less than a day!) so he will be fine.

Go Spartans!

Missing California...just a little

We are very happy to be back in Memphis, but I must say there are some things I miss about California.

Mostly I miss our friends. We didn't make a lot of friends while we were there, but the ones we did make were amazing and I wish we could have brought them with us. I speak specifically about Julio and Fabienne (and their daughter, Morgane, of course) and Petra and Krasen.



I think of them everyday. I hope they will all visit us!

I also miss how beautiful California is. The weather was wonderful and the scenery was beautiful. We could admire it from almost every window in our house. My favorite was the view from one of my bedroom windows.


I would lie in bed and imagine I was on vacation somewhere tropical and this was the view out my hotel window. Nice.

Of course, there are many things I do not miss about California. The crowds and the traffic are the first things that come to mind, but I don't have any pictures of those to share with you. However, I do have a picture of my least favorite thing about California: SPIDERS. The place was lousy with them. I found this one just outside my back door one night.


I think he was about to let himself in and help himself to a beer and the remote, but I scared him off. (If you look closely you will see he is on his way to devour a slug. This guy does not limit himself to insects and he does not wait for things to get stuck in his web!)

So, if Julio, Fabienne, Petra and Krasen can stay safe from the enormous beer drinking spiders, we will hopefully see them soon and then I won't miss California so much.

Time for an update

Wow! I have been very lax in my duties to keep everyone updated on our activities. Here is a brief review of our life since June:

June 6 - The buyers who made the offer on our house backed out less than two days after we accepted their offer. We were very disappointed, but got over it quickly. We decide to go ahead with our plan to move at the beginning of July, even though the house in Cali has not sold.

June 13 - My last day at work. Yipee!

July 1 - Scott picks up the 26 foot Penske truck, the largest truck Penske has, that he and Ev are going to load and drive to Memphis. After loading some boxes on the truck Scott is feeling smug because he is confident we will have more space than we know what to do with, despite the fact I insisted, over his objections, on getting such a big truck. I fly out of San Francisco that night with the dogs along in their crates in the cargo hold.

July 2 - We (me, Archie and Jammer) arrive in Memphis. We are picked up at the airport by my good friend Ann and we spend the evening with my sister, Margaret, my nephews, Cody, Zach and Austin, and my friends/cousins, Susan, Bill, Erin, Joe, Karen, Greg, Kevin and Zeke. I receive a few concerned calls that evening from Ev and Scott. After a day of loading the truck they have realized the truck is too small and everything will not fit! No worries. It's just stuff.

July 3 - After half the truck is unloaded, rearranged and reloaded, and several more calls are made to determine what we can and can't live without, the truck is packed. Scott and Ev take off Thursday evening, leaving fewer items in California than we feared we would have to.

July 6 - Scott and Ev arrive in Memphis mid-day. They park the truck, take showers and decide to spend the afternoon visiting friends and family and leave the unloading for the next day.

July 7 - The truck is unloaded. I get busy unpacking.

July 8 - After furniture is arranged, some boxes are unpacked and we can take a breath, we realize that we LOVE our house and are very happy to be there.

July 12 - Zeke and Meredith get married! Yay!

July 14 - Scott begins working from home. He enjoys it, particularly after the camera and sound are set up and he can see and hear his co-workers in California and they can see and hear him.

August 6 - Almost everything is unpacked. Remaining boxes are all collected in the otherwise empty dining room where I can conveniently forget about them until I am ready to deal with them.

That pretty much brings you up to date, except for the fact that our house in San Jose has still not sold. But it's okay because I keep it in my mental dining room where I can conveniently forget about it until I have to deal with it.

One more hurdle jumped [UPDATED]

We accepted an offer on our house on Tuesday. Yay! It was a low offer and we will write a check at closing. Nonetheless, we are very happy and relieved. We knew we weren't going to make money on the house here, so we are just fine with how it turned out (and it helps that we got a good deal on the house in Memphis). Now we can focus all our attention on planning and preparing for the actual move.

We close on the house in Memphis on June 30 and on the house here on July 1, so we need to be packed up and ready to go by the end of this month. Ev's last day of school is June 12 and my last day of work will be June 13, so he and I will have about two weeks together to devote to packing. This will be the third time in two years I have packed up all our stuff. Once we settle in the house in Memphis I do not plan on leaving there for quite awhile. The next time we move, we'll be doing it to be near our grandkids (and Ev knows he is not allowed to have kids until he is 30).

UPDATE: We found out the last night the buyers are backing out. We are very disappointed, but we are trying to keep a positive attitude.

More pictures of the house

I thought I would share a few more pictures of our new house. All the decor you see is the previous owners', not ours. Here is the backyard:


The kitchen:




The living room:


The dining room:


and the master bedroom (it opens up to the stone patio in the backyard):

Our new home

I went to Memphis on a house hunting trip last week. I saw 25 houses in two days, narrowed it down to three favorites and saw those three again on my third day. After I got home Scott and I talked about it and made an offer on the one we liked best. There was already an offer on the house, but it was contingent on the first buyer selling their house. Once the sellers accepted our offer, the first buyers had 72 hours to set a closing date or withdraw their offer.

We just found out this morning that the house is ours (once we close, of course). Here it is:


It's in the historic Evergreen District of Midtown. It's a great house and we are very excited.

Scott is in Memphis this weekend for a conference, so he will be able to see the house in person on Sunday. I'll let you know what he thinks!

Jill's for Jospeh

Our house in California has been on the market for about a month now and we haven't had an offer yet. We found a house in Memphis and made an offer on it, so we are REALLY ready to have this house sold. We decided it's time to look to a higher power for assistance and ordered a St. Joseph statue online the other day from buryjoe.com.


For those of you not familiar with the tradition of burying St. Joseph (the patron saint of the family and household needs), it started when Sister Teresa of Avila (now known as Saint Teresa) and her fellow nuns started burying St. Joseph medals in ground they wanted to attain for their convents. The practice has in more recent times evolved into the tradition of burying a St. Joseph statue which, with a few moments of prayer, is called upon to help sell property. So, we buried the statue in the yard tonight with all the requisite pomp and circumstance, plus our own special touch for good measure.

First, we dug a hole near the for sale sign in your yard.


Next, we placed the statue of St. Joe in the hole according to the directions: head first, feet toward heaven, facing the direction of the street. The directions didn't mention this part, but we decided to toss in our own special offerings to St. Joe. Ev gave him a cookie, in case he got hungry, and I poured in a little of the gin & tonic I was enjoying at the time, in case he got thirsty. Can you see the ice cubes down there?


Before covering the statue, we said the following suggested prayer: "Remember, O most chaste Spouse of the Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who implored your help and sought your intercession was left unassisted. Full of confidence in your power, I fly unto you and beg your protection. Despise not, O foster-father of the Redeemer, my humble supplication, but in your bounty hear and answer me. Amen."

Then we carefully covered him up, sprinkled him with a little water to help the grass grow back, and went about our business.


After the house sells and escrow closes, we'll dig up St. Joseph and give him a place of honor in our new home.

My celebrity look alikes

People used to tell me all the time that I looked like Jamie Lee Curtis. She didn't show up here, so maybe people said that just because my hair used to be so short.



I did it a second time using a different picture of myself and Julie Andrews and Julia Stiles were the only two that showed up again. Robert Downey Jr. showed up on my second one as well.

I did one with a picture of Scott and Magic Johnson popped up as one of his look alikes!

To bark or not to bark

When Karen the stager was here, she said our goal is to get people to say "Wow" when they walk in the house and when they walk in each room. Well, the photographer came today and he said "Wow" three times when I gave him a tour of the house. I am hoping that's a good sign.

Now that the pictures are taken, I think all we have left to do is have the carpets cleaned and figure out what we are going to do about the back yard. You may remember that our back yard is covered in sharp, ugly, white rocks.


The previous owner used to live in Las Vegas where residents get discounts on utility bills if they remove grass from their yards. By the time the lady moved in here, she had developed such a distaste for grass she ripped it out of the back yard and replaced it with the rocks. We would put sod in if we were going to stay, but doing it now would not get us the most bang for our buck.

Karen the stager suggested putting a layer of bark pieces over the rock. Not my first choice, but it will definitely be more aesthetically pleasing than the rocks. As it is now, you are blinded when the sun shines on the rocks and it detracts from the pretty things in the yard (rose bushes and other plants). I think the bark will blend in a little more. And the dogs will certainly like it better (what dog doesn't love bark? har har). The rocks hurt their their little feet.

Successful Staging

We had a very fruitful meeting with our stager, Karen, on Wednesday evening. After looking around a bit, she complimented our decorating taste and then went on to explain the difference between decorating and staging. As I mentioned before, I de-cluttered quite a bit before she came in, but I learned there was much more to do. I knew a large part of staging is to make everything more spacious, but I didn't understand that it was okay (and necessary) to sacrifice some of the decorating in the process. We didn't quite have the right balance yet. I felt a little overwhelmed with the list she left us, but our realtor, CJ, said Karen usually takes a day to compile the list of "to dos" for her clients. She was able to generate ours before she left our house, so I told myself we got off easy.

We worked extra hard on Thursday and Friday evening getting everything crossed off our staging list. We wanted to be ready for the photographer who is coming Saturday to take pictures for the websites and the virtual tour. When Karen was here she took "before" pictures and she'll come back next week to take some "afters." I think she will post them all on her site later, so I'll put up a link here if she does. It should be interesting to see the difference.

Home for Sale

We chose a realtor last week and the house is officially going on the market this Thursday. Our agent is bringing in a "stager" on Wednesday evening who will look around and give us tips on how better to present the house and (particularly) make it look more spacious than it is. I moved many many times as a kid and watched my mom get houses into shape to sell and I have sold two houses FSBO, so I feel like I have done a pretty good job staging this house, but I am anxious to hear her suggestions.

Our realtor is also giving all the agents in her office a tour on Wednesday morning. Their comments I am not so anxious to hear.

When people come to see the house during the day, Jammer and Archie will be outside in the backyard. I really hope they behave themselves. Quite often if Archie is outside and wants to get inside because he thinks something exciting is going on in there, he will belt out a high-pitched, ear piercing howl. He also does this if Jammer starts playing through the fence with Coco next door and won't include Archie. It sounds like someone is squeezing his tiny pigfoot in a pair of plyers and I could see where it might be a turn-off to prospective buyers. We thought about sticking our dogs next door with Coco, but then the prospective buyer would hear three spastic dogs next door, one of them probably screeching like a banshee, and would surely decide quite quickly that ours is not the house for them. Let's just hope most people visit in the evening so we can remove the dogs from the area entirely.

Making a Move

Hello, everyone!

As most of you know, the Browns are moving back to Memphis. I don't know what to say about it except that California is just not for us. Well, not for Scott and me anyway. Ev loves it. When we talked to him about the possibility of moving, he wasn't thrilled with the idea, but said he would be willing to do it as long as we moved back to Memphis where he has lots of friends. However, he is feeling much more enthusiastic about the move now that he has spread the word among all his old friends that he's coming back. I think he is looking forward to an enthusiastic welcome home. Our goal is to leave in mid-June when Ev gets out of school.

We have decided to sell our house here, even though the market is in the crapper. If it does not sell by midsummer we will probably hire a property manager and rent it. We have been working diligently getting it in shape to sell. And we have been interviewing realtors to find one we like. I think we are just about ready to list it. Wish us luck.

After the move, Scott will continue to work for Microplace, the company he is with now. He had offers from companies in Memphis, but when he told his current boss about our plans, she completely understood and said she wanted to do whatever it took to keep him as an employee -- even if he is in Memphis. So, his job responsibilities will change a bit, but he will still be working with the same team (which he loves) and he will keep all his benefits, stock options, etc. Needless to say we were pretty happy. This does mean we do not have a relocation package, but the other perks we keep will more than make up for it. I am not sure what I am going to do in Memphis. I probably won't decide that until we get there and get settled.

Things should be interesting over the next few months. I'll keep you posted.

Everett is wounded [UPDATED]

Everett suffered his first wrestling injury today. During a semi-finals round at his match (a round which he was winning) he hit the mat hard and ended up with a fractured collar bone. At least we think it's fractured. The emergency room doctor thinks it is, but the x-ray was unclear. She wants us to have it x-rayed again in a week. If there are calcium deposits showing on the x-ray, that will indicate a fracture. If not, it's a bad bruise.

He has it in a sling right now, but he won't have to wear that for very long. He is in some pain, but it is not too bad. He is more troubled by the fact that wrestling is over for him this season. He has really been enjoying it and has been working very hard.

Just a few minutes before Ev's injury occurred, Scott and I noticed a sweatshirt one of the mom's was wearing. It read, "Once you have watched your child wrestle, everything else in life is easy." We certainly appreciated the sentiment. It has been difficult to watch many of Everett's matches and those of other kids as well. Their necks, arms and legs are twisted and contorted in ways that look completely unnatural and unbelievably painful. Next thing we knew, we were there with him as he lay on the mat with coaches, refs and trainers surrounding him. It was unnerving, to say the least. Thankfully, he is fine. If this is the worst we have to deal with in his wrestling career, we will consider ourselves very lucky!

UPDATE: Ev is feeling much better. So much so that we feel pretty confident that we are dealing with a bruise rather than a fracture. Of course, we will still take him to the doctor later this week, and we are expecting good news when we do.

Anyone else working on Christmas Eve?

Hi again. I am writing this on Christmas Eve, from work! We were required to work a half day today. It's really quite ridiculous. I drove a half hour to get here and work four hours and then turn around drive a half hour back home. We are located in a large office complex made up of about 8 or 10 buildings and we are the ONLY one with cars in the parking lot today! Ah well, what can you do (besides go skiing in Tahoe, which is what the boss is doing today)?

We had Brownmas yesterday and it was just wonderful. On Brownmas Eve (Saturday night)I ended up letting the boys open one present, which was their Wii. Everett was completely shocked and very excited. He had NO idea they were getting one -- probably because I told them there was no way we were getting one. But the Wii was the only thing Scott asked for for Christmas, so I caved. We opened most of the other presents Sunday, but left one each to open on Christmas morning. We were lazy all day, except for the time it took to cook dinner (prime rib, yorkshire pudding [a success again], roasted asparagus and mashed potatoes).

The boys are home today playing the Wii and Guild Wars (Everett's new computer game) and have probably not noticed yet that I am not there. Just kidding. Scott knows I am gone because I woke him up before I left. I was grumpy that I had to be up and wanted someone else to be up and grumpy with me.

I will post a few pictures from Brownmas on Flickr later, so look for those. I will be missing my family today and tomorrow. Please know that I love you all very much!

It's Brownmas time again!

Hello again!

As usual, it has been way too long since my last post. Sorry!

We are all well and ready for Christmas. Some of you may remember that we celebrate Brownmas now, which is actually a few days before Christmas. It falls on whatever day suits us best. It was going to be Saturday, December 22, this year, but Ev has a wrestling tournament that day. It looks like instead we will have it on Sunday (although the boys are trying to convince me to let them open everything Saturday night).

Our friends Julio and Fabienne invited us to spend Christmas Eve with them and their 16 year old daughter, Morgane. I am looking forward to that. They are a lot of fun and we really enjoy hanging out with them.

Other than Christmas Eve, it looked like nothing special was going to happen this year for the holidays, but that changed last night. We found out yesterday that my sister, Margaret, is going to fly my nephews, Cody and Zach, and their step-brother, Austin, to Michigan after Christmas to spend time with my folks and my sister, Lisa, and her family. So we decided to fly Ev up there too and got him a ticket last night. He leaves on December 27 and comes home January 1. I am glad he is going, but I am jealous. He is going to have a lot of fun!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your families. Hug them all tight and give them lots of kisses under the mistletoe!

Love to you all!

Happy Birthday, Ev!!

Ev turned 15 on Tuesday, September 25! Can you beleive it?!

He got a guitar for his birthday, which he loves. He said, "it's probably the best present I've ever gotten." I'll put some pictures of it on Flickr soon. He also got a Ramones and a Marshall amp t-shirt from Archie and Jammer and a Guiness beer mirror for his bedroom.

Scott's company had the internal roll-out for it's website on Monday and it was a HUGE success! Yeah! They will do a roll-out for the general public in October. I'll post the particulars prior to that roll-out so everyone can check it out and make some investments!

That's it for now!

Anyone out there?

Considering it has been three months since my last post, I would understand if no one bothers to check this thing anymore!

We had a pretty quiet summer. Ev went to Memphis for two and a half weeks in June/July. He had a great time and got to see all his family and friends. The rest of his summer was spent sleeping in and hanging out at the local community center with Tommy, the kid next door. Scott had a very busy, stressful summer. The website launch for his company is next week, so his team worked diligently all summer getting ready for it. Testing has gone smoothly though, and it looks like we are gearing up for a successful launch! My summer was quiet. Lots of work. I had another flare up of back trouble in July and missed a week and half of work, but other than that, things were quiet for me.

Ev started High School (!) on August 28. He seems to like it so far. He and Tommy have become good friends, which has helped make the transition a smooth one. Ev has also made friends with a pack of Juniors, which he thinks is very cool. When he discusses his freshman friends, he refers to them by first name ("Kyle said...", "Tommy went..."), but if a conversation involves one of the Juniors, he is much more specific: "My friend Greg, he's a Junior, he said..." or "David, one of my Junior friends,...," etc. It cracks me up.

That should catch you up on the general goings-on of the Brown Family. I will strive to be better about posting regularly. I also have a TON of pictures to add to Flickr, so check that soon to see what we look like now! :)

Welcome to the world, Maddox Milo Morton!!

Meet the newest Morton! Congratulations to Shawn, Amy, Mahlon, Miles and Mira on this beautiful addition to your family!