Tag Archives: new home

Dreaming

Posted on May 4, 2012 | 6 comments

I’ve an uncanny knack for knowing when something’s “right.” Like my husband, dog…. I’ve found us a place to live and just look at a room (ok, it’s only 1,248 sf for the entire place) and see our furniture in it.

I see furniture we haven’t seen for the past 3-9 years! The black printer stand/night stand will be great in the guest bath to hold TP and towels, and the pink shower curtain with the retro hangers (nine years ago) will look great.

The quilts are another story. The 70’s one created by m-i-l Margie will probably hang in the living room or Jim’s office. The civil war-era hexagonal quilt will probably go over our bed.

Three things need framing: a card thanking Jim for providing balloon animals at a young neighbor’s sleepover birthday party; a photo of the Navy Captain, RIP, who married us; and a postcard from my dad with regards from famed chef Andre Soltner.

Since Jim’s taking the second bedroom as his personal office and guest room, it is incumbent upon me to figure out what to do with a 60″ wide and 43.5″ deep “niche” in the kitchen, called a “tech center.” I need a pantry and office and have one industrial utility cart on wheels to use, plus my 100 year-old English oak gate leg table that can be folded to 36″ square or have the sides pulled out. Plus my comfy office chair, better than the folding chair with two pads I’m sitting at now.

Also, we have a plastic table ($24 at Wal-Mart) that folds up, it is now my desk. I think it will be folded up and taken outside as needed, covered and used for grilling and serving food.

There’s a small area by the front door and I want to get a simple plant stand and bowl to place keys, leash et al. It may also be a home for the carnival lamp m-i-l so hates. Hey, it cost ten bucks and looks great with her quilt, picks up all the colors!

Missing our “stuff” for so many years is one thing, envisioning it with an awesome view of Lake Michigan is another. I looked at each room and could just picture it, a month from now, done and we will have a home with no one else’s family photo on the wall. That’s the goal. Usually my role is to support and “put out fires” but this time, I get to dream and decorate! Cheers, Dee

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On the Road Again

Posted on April 2, 2012 | 1 comment

About to be, anyway. I just want you to know that skiers everywhere enjoying The Greatest Snow on Earth need to thank me. We’ve had a dry winter but as soon as I sent six pairs of boots (hiking to rain to mud to snow and heavy snow) on a truck East, it started to snow and it hasn’t stopped. Last year whenever I wore my snowflake sweater, it snowed. But it snowed a lot last year.

Don’t tell anyone, they’ll just bring me back and make me threaten to move out of the State again! Wait, the State and ski resorts may pay me well for this service, I may look into it.  State seer. Oh no, that’s Brigham Young. State snow predictor? Who knows?

A neighbor called yesterday and said she has boots to borrow so I can take out our dog Zoe. Another neighbor is planning a going-away party for us Saturday night, at our place. They’re having painting done that day and I think this will be more suitable than a restaurant, cozier by the fire.

We have met some very good folks out here in the mountains, and they (and the mountains) will be missed. Our birds have let me know it’s OK to go, however, a lone Greater Sandhill Crane flew above my car last weekend en route to having the last best burger in the State. I think he showed up early to search for a date (they mate for life) as our couple will probably be here by the end of the month.

The male redwing blackbirds are calling out for a hot date. In my mind, that’s where uniform epaulets came from, as the brighter the red and yellow on the bird’s wings, the more likely he is to get lucky. I already know about buttons on the uniform sleeves, to keep them from wiping their noses!

Nothing’s changed. I just got a text to help with a sweet Lab pup. Luckily I’m a pro because there was no collar and I had to loop the leash to take him out. Then he tried to get my gloves and a pair of socks. True gentleman that he is, he dropped them when asked.

And it’s still snowing! They’re shoveling right now (we’re in a ski condo where HOA fees pay for plowing and shoveling).

So we’re off to the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan, on Sunday. Luckily we have a great car dog, who’s not allowed in my husband’s car but is in my SUV. She even has a 4″ orthopedic bed back there. Great sleeper, too, she only pops her head up on an off-ramp.

The wind has picked up considerably and I’m hoping we won’t have to drive through serious snow this weekend. All I can do is hope. The only place I control the weather is here! (Just kidding, of course).

Our stuff is arriving tomorrow or Friday and we’re not ready for it but my husband will get a truck and pick it up and place it in local storage until I arrive next week.

We have a very small, but nice place for three months with a city view on the 17th floor. I think Zoe’s walk schedule might change. Two really long walks and two short ones, like here but factoring in an elevator. I don’t think in eight years she’s ever been on one! Her nails are trimmed, I gave her a bath and she just needs a good combing and we’re good to go.

I feel as if I’m leaving you, and I’m not. I just may have to take a day or three off. With good wishes for you and your family, I say Cheers! from Dee

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News

Posted on March 22, 2012 | 2 comments

So much has happened in the past few weeks, I don’t know where to start. Well, I was pretty darn sick for two of them, including driving halfway across the country where my husband lost me and the dog in the dark and luckily smart gal Dee drove as close to Lake Michigan as I could and hoped my phone had a few seconds left on it to tell him I was between the Discovery Center and Art Museum/Calatrava.

We’re in a tiny place but making the best of it. I’m off the kitchen counter as of this morning and have my laptop, 24″ monitor and cordless keyboard set up on a $24 foldable plastic desk with a padded folding chair my husband picked up for me last night. The plan is to buy another one, keep it in storage, and use it if we have a big dinner in our new place. Throw a tablecloth on it, set it nicely and voila, we can seat 10-12!

The windows are open, the high today was supposed to be 67 and it’s perfect! Even though we’re on the 17th floor with seagulls wafting by, with an open window and glass corner that’s dog Zoe’s favorite spot today, so I moved her bed and pillow over there.

There are a bunch of dogs in these towers and we meet people every day at “dog time.” I haven’t met any non dog-owners yet and hope to meet some of husband Jim’s cohorts at a hockey game tomorrow evening. They have a private box and have invited staff/spouses to attend. Hopefully I’ll find something to wear and luckily I’ve been informed that all 60 of us will have name tags (easier on the newbies!)

I still fight my battles day by day, trying to keep it down to one or two. Today I couldn’t put a bag of trash down the chute because someone on one of 19 other floors failed to properly close it. That was easy. The cable company was more difficult as the first person I spoke with told me that my agreement with the building was set in stone and I couldn’t order or pay for any more channels. I asked “Are you telling me that your company is in the business of making money and I’m offering money and you refuse it?” She said yes. Sad.

Yesterday I called and just asked to upgrade my service and it took over an hour and four different agents from two companies but at least we now have basic cable, including NatGeo and Military because Jim likes to check those out on the weekends.

That beats five hours with our bank of over 15 years to change account addresses. Moving across country is not for the faint of heart.

I’ve been helped by friends as far back as the fifth grade. I guess we Great Lakes folks stick together. I’ve spoken to high school, college and post-college friends who all lend moral support.

Our next big thing is our friend’s burial with full military honors at Annapolis, where he will be interred. That’s four weeks out and we need airline tickets soon. He was a Captain in the US Navy (ret.) and married us nearly ten years ago. He and his wife were like family and while I haven’t seen him for a few years, I miss him nonetheless.

Other next thing is finding a place to live, and bringing the furniture we’ve bought and brought during this marriage up here from Texas where it’s been in air-conditioned storage for three years! I think we’ll get a two-bedroom place and have one as an office. Guests will stay in a hotel, or if it’s my brother-in-law and nephew they’ll bring cub scout gear and stay on the floor somewhere. Sorry J&J! Cheers and hope your weather was as nice as ours today, Dee

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Welcome Back!

Posted on March 10, 2012 | 1 comment

I’ve been dog sick the past week and had to pack and drive 1,500 miles to get to our final destination. Now Jim is sick. We really need a break.

Starting Sunday we drove out of Utah and across the great states of Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa en route to Wisconsin. Crossing the Mississippi we were in the home stretch but had changed to Central time so even though we left at 8 from Omaha, we were in the dark and Jim lost me.

I knew the further East I went the better, because I’d hit Lake Michigan and he’d find me (my phone was low and spotty) so I ended up in Milwaukee between the Discovery Center and Art Museum/Calatrava. He picked me up to go to our new temporary home, where the parking spots we pay for dearly were stolen. That was the last straw for me.

Now my husband knows how bad I felt packing and driving for three days and says we should have put his car on a transport and driven my car with the dog.

Anyhoo, I end up at the edge of Lake Michigan and a Sheriff pulls up opposite me. I can’t get out, even though I’ve been on the road three hours and need to stretch my legs. He doesn’t come over to see me. I wonder if I’m sitting in an abandoned area illegally. I wonder if he thinks I’m “soliciting.”

Here it is in a nutshell, I’m sick as a dog, driving a dirty “Mommy Car” from all the semi’s kicking up snowmelt and sand and dirt and rocks. There are boxes in the car and a dog in the back. I’m as much of a hooker as your favorite nun.

Once at the famed Grand Central Oyster Bar, I arrived earlier than my husband and said I was meeting him. They sat me immediately and said they’d show him to my table. On my left was a high-end escort with her john, on my right a tattered hooker with hers. That’s where they sat me. My husband says tonight that it had nothing to do with what I wore that day but what I said, that I was “meeting my husband” for lunch. Amazing things one learns on the road to enlightenment!

We ended up in Wisconsin, a block from Lake Michigan but no view from our tiny corporate apartment. Being sick, I’ve not finished unpacking stuff from our cars, and want to bring as little in as possible until we find out where we want to live. Neither of us has ever been here before so we want to get the lay of the land first.

One of the first things I did was buy a block of Wisconsin cheese, featured at Whole Foods. Hope to get into that tomorrow.  Did you know that Wisconsin provides 25% of America’s cheese and 50% of its’ specialty cheeses? I didn’t know until I read up on it today.

TripAdvisor can look to new reviews as can you. After we unload/unpack/move and decide where we want to live, I’ve a couple of project and one includes cheese.

Here’s to you from the 17th floor looking west from whence we came. Cheers, Dee

 

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