People tease me about how I’m always prepared for anything, mostly because I make up things in my own head. Ok, so I’m super proactive and maybe have a little too much time on my hands, but I don’t see that as a bad thing.

FGH planned to live to be 117 so that she could see a third century with the love of her life, RS. (It was his idea to live to be that old, not hers.) While she didn’t make it to 117, she lived life fully and had a lot of life in her years.

FGH is preceded in death by three grandparents she got to know well until her adult life. Her late paternal grandmother, MR, taught her how to sew, how to fix any mistake that was worth fixing, and that dessert was a necessary component to every meal. Her late maternal grandfather, JY, shared her love for cheese and funded her childhood arcade games by purposely losing quarters in his recliner for her to find. And, FGH inherited her love for travel and adventure from her late paternal great-grandmother, LR.

FGH is outlived by her parents, LR and RR. Her mother, LR, was an inspiration to her and always made time, even if it was just for an evening chat to catch up, regardless of how busy she was or how many things she had committed to. Her father, RR, gave her the stubbornness to accomplish anything in life she set her mind to, which she exercised often. FGH was equally her mother and father’s child and was blessed to possess good and bad parts of them both.

FGH’s soul mate and best friend was RS. He found all the good in her and made sure that FGH could see it as well. He taught her self-love and true love, and supported her in her many adventures. You can bet she’s waiting impatiently in heaven for him to arrive as she enjoyed every moment she spent with him.

BMR was FGH’s older brother. They grew to be close friends in adulthood and would share many secrets, trusting in each other for support and advice. BMR gave FGH a nephew, GR, that would be the spitting image of him.

FGH’s younger brother was BJR and was her closest friend as a child. He had a sensitive side to him that FGH always felt the unnecessary need to protect and took on that duty until he married his wife, SR. SR became like a sister to FGH and blessed her with three little nieces, ER, AR, and LR, which she cherished.

FGH’s youngest sibling and only sister was KS. KS was the tormented younger sister during childhood, but never let that affect their relationship in adulthood, and proved to be a solid friend. KS met her husband, JS, and had two beautiful children. KS gave FGH the gift of experiencing human life with the birth of her son and FGH’s Godson, BJS, followed a couple years later with her niece, BAS.

Also surviving are FGH’s maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather. Her grandmother, MY, kept herself young by annually taking all her grandchildren skiing and camping, keeping up with them along the way, while instilling the value of family. Her grandfather, RR, always had a patient smile and compassion and took on both the traditional grandmother and grandfather duties too soon in life, baking desserts and sending birthday cards.

FGH’s greatest passions were: spending time with friends and family, laughing, exploring, traveling, writing, challenging her mind and body, baking, reading, and cuddling with her KISA.

In lieu of gifts, it is asked that you take your entire family on a trip to the ocean or mountains to treasure the sacred gift of life, family, and love…and make sure to mix in a little adventure.

I’m bouncing off the walls today! Why, you ask (in my head)? Because I got my KISA and I tickets to the Packers game on Sunday!! Whoop, whoop! They play the 49’ers, so we have no choice but to go. I made the mistake when I left this morning of not wearing my Packers t-shirt. To be honest, it never even crossed my mind. I got into the office and found most of the guys were wearing 49’ers apparel, so I had to improvise and sew a Green Bay Packers logo onto my shirt. Shortly after that I realized that I wasn’t sure how I was going to sit with it on my stomach, and not wrinkle it. Then I remember that I have a new stand-up desk! Check it out, folks! (Aaron Rodgers would be proud of my devotion. Since I’ve changed my phone number since last season he doesn’t know my new number to contact me and congratulate me.)

I wanted you all to be the first to know that we’ve FINALLY received the information on our air date for House Hunters.

Before: Living Room

To back up a little, for those of you that are new friends, my KISA and I bought a house in Madison a couple years ago. It was 3 months and a few weeks after we met, so nothing like jumping in feet first. (If you know either of us very well, it’s what we do. We worry about the details or learning how to swim later.) The house was a steal financially, but needed a lot of work. For starters, the couple smoked in the house for 16 years, so not only did the house reek like cigarettes, but we have to rip up 100% of the carpeting. It was no small feat. Neither of us were very handy at the time, but we quickly learned the value of YouTube videos and the helpful staff at Home Depot. We proceed to spend the next 16 months fixing up the house, with the enormous help of my mother and siblings. In the end we both fell more in love with the house than we’d expected, but since we bought it as an investment we knew the time would come to get our return. Our grand plan the entire time was to buy the house, fix it up, and rent it out to make an income after we left Wisconsin. We learned that the housing market actually softened during those 16 months and we were able to cash in sooner than expected and sell the house. We then used the money from the house to fund our big cross-country move to San Francisco and have some additional money to start on the next chapter of our lives.

After: Living Room

Shortly after we accepted an offer on the house we were approached about having our house on House Hunters. Confused, since we’d obviously just accepted an offer, they explained that the show’s essentially a scam and the people had already accepted an offer on another home; they just wanted houses comparable for them to pretend to view as well. I was already out in San Francisco when they did the airing, so my KISA was in charge of both packing up the house, but also keeping it tidy for them to do their recording. I’m hoping that since they didn’t pick our house they were easy on some of our handy work.

House Hunters will be showing the episode on September 17th at 10:00 pm EDT/PDT and 1:00 am EDT/PDT. Feel free to tune in and take a look at our work! For all the before and after pictures, you can view my Facebook album, entitled “Work in Progress…”