I'm going out to new house, taking the dog and lunch. My DH is there with the chain saw cutting downed trees into smaller pieces for the dumptruck tomorrow.

We had a picnic on our newly poured concrete main level veranda yesterday. Enjoyed the view of the lake, geese and ducks with a great breeze. Saw a few wild turkeys with 8 babies. It's going to be great when we finally move in!

How far away does your DD goes to college? My oldest two in college go year round. There's no moving back and they finish early. It also gives us an excuse to go visit them and enjoy their cities!

DD attends school in Texas, about nine hours from here. This may be her last summer to spend with us, as she has internship plans before her senior year.

We had our first meal on the gazebo porch last weekend for DH's family/birthdays/mother's day. We had barbeque and paper napkins--not exactly my idea of entertaining, but it was a nice day. I have noticed that there is almost always a breeze coming off the lake--a nice bonus, except in the winter.

DH and I had "Sunday breakfast" -- eggs, bacon, danish -- all the stuff we don't eat every weekday. We read the Sunday paper; walked the dog; watched the manic bicycle riders who like our street. Today we sprayed the hawthornes for the last time -- copper sulfate against "rust" -- nice blue on your hands and clothes!

Now I'm watching gawkers come and go to the open house across the street. I haven't seen anybody who looks like they want to spend that kind of money yet, but who knows? House has only been on the market for a year, with one 10% price drop.

Tomorrow the workers will be back finishing the demo next door, so I'm enjoying the peace today. Have to amend that. Westie is rousting squirrels from HIS back yard; yesterday it was deer and rabbits. Nice to live along a creek and have dog entertainments.

Time to call DS and DIL to see what new grandson is up to and find out when I have Grandma duty this week. He's almost nine weeks now; seeing and smiling; looks like his daddy.

Sounds like a nice way to spend the day ladies.
Isn't the weather great?
I love this time of year.
I am getting ready to re-plumb my Mom's
trailer starting in the morning. Yesterday
& today was prep work. Have the water heater on
the back of my truck till I get the replacement
floor in. Gotta get it done by dark, so I
better get a move on!

Have a good week all!

I started a duct design. Watched the time trials, cooked the Sunday meal.

After church today I went birthday shopping with my almost-6 yo DD and my MIL. MIL drove and ran 3 lights. Every time it rained she turned on the wipers FULL speed (read very fast: whup, whup, whup), and she kept us out from 1:00 to 7:30. I'm tired. My MIL lets the kids pick out their own gift from her, which is something I've had to adjust to. DD picked out twin baby dolls with a double stroller. One of our stops was to see my 12 week old nephew ~ that was a good one!

Saturday: I went to Ikea in Emeryville and met with a dozen people doing either remodels or recovering from such. See our threads on the Kitchens or Cooking forums. I have spent the last couple of weeks in semi-crisis mode with my 95 yr old Mother, so this was wonderful diversion.

Las night my dear dear DH fixed dinner, grilled chicken.

This AM we got up early for the Castroville Artichoke Festival Volunteer Fire Dept pancake breakfast, then we strolled the vendors. I bought two great baskets and a couple of artichoe cookbooks.

We came home to pull weeds, cut back rapidly encroaching ivy, wash cars, search out poison ivy sprouting in the back acre where the dogs love to run, and watch the finale of Survivor.

So off to bed I go! (no wonder why!)

Here is a link that might be useful: NorCal gathering

Yesterday I returned home from chaperoning my 16 yo DD's library group to the Anime convention in Chicago. What a weekend. Mostly I had fun, but now I'm exausted. Stayed at the Hyatt with 6 under 18 girls to our room. These kids have some imagination. And the costuming was as good as any sci fi convention. So many teenagers! What a way to feel old.

Luckily I am off ths week to put things in storage and clean because existing house gets new carpet in the next couple of days prior to arrival on market slated for June 1! UGh! gotta get moving....not wanting to though.

chimera

The painters from the new house are here getting this house ready to sale. I don't want to sell...why can't we just keep it too?! We've lived her more than 20 years. Moved in with a baby and a 2 yo. Added another one 2 years later. We've gutted the kitchen and 3 baths, added a powder room, an upstairs (master suite) and bumped out the breakfast room...not to mention deck, brick retaining wall, playhouse and landscaping to the max! My unfinished basement walls are coverd with drawing and paintings my kids made from preschool on up. This is going to be harder than I thought...!!!

Allison, I had the hardest time leaving our old house,so many special memories. It was where my babies grew up and learned to walk. Every spring we sat under the snow crab trees, having a picnic and reading books and just enjoying the scent of the flowers on the trees. We spent our 10th wedding anniversary on the roof pulling off the old shingles and adding on a dining room, I cried and cried, along with the girls. But now our new house is home. We are creating new special memories here and when we drive by the old house, that is what it is now. We still have the memories and we miss some things about it that we don't have now, but we don't regret moving. It was hard to leave and we even visted after moving and went trick or treating there, but it wasn't the same anymore and that did help us to move on.

Your new home will be awesome!!! and living there will be even better!

I think that's what is so hard about it. Two are in college out of state, the last will go in the fall (but stay around here for a year since she's graduating high school a year early) and none of them are excited about the new house since it won't be home for them. I guess I can understand that, but feel bad at the same time for selling "their home."

And not to be gross, but I'm leaving two very much loved and still missed pets buried in the front yard. That's bothering me too. I feel like I'm leaving them...that sounds SO stupid! Don't worry, I'm not "digging them up" as my oldest DD asked me last week!

I know once we're gone, it will be fine. The new house is great and we'll enjoy being on the lake and it's not like I don't have 7 other pets! (Shhh...don't tell my HOA!)

Allison, I love the pictures I have seen of your house, care to share more?

The stone is awesome, someday I hope to build our retirement home using stone out in the country, but alas, to me lving in the country means snakes... just hate the thought of being surprised by one. We lived in town and the neighbors snakes infested our yard, memories of enjoying a walk in my yard barefoot and then seeing them slither away (just icky!) It's been two years and its still too fresh to think about that again!

Oops, forgive me for straying on that thought (and this thread), this board has been so slowy lately since, well you know....so I don't think I will get in trouble for straying.

Seven pets, you are my kind of woman! My DH has limited us to four pets with fur, can't say I blame him. Can you place some kind of "memory garden" for your pets at your new house? Maybe that is something you can incorporate into your landscaping plans to honor their memory at your new home. I know how special pets becomes and how hard it is when they are gone...building something special in honor of them may make it a little easier.

Thanks, llrothen. Here's a link to my thread in the BAH Gallery. There is a photo link on the first entry and another one farther down.

I live in town and kill snakes all the time. I keep a flat edged shovel in the backyard that's easy to get to. I only kill copperheads or rattle snakes. I don't kill "friendly" snakes.

Thanks for the good idea. I'll have some kind of garden in the backyard. I'm really tired of cutting back, pruning, etc. so it will be small. I'll devote my time to keeping large sticks and limbs picked up since the new house is on 4.5 acres.

You said "this board has been so slowly lately since, well you know..." What do you mean by that?

Here is a link that might be useful: BAH Gallery - House Photos

Fairegold--your reunion looked like fun! How long has the gang been corresponding? Did you just tour IKEA or go out to eat?

Allison, thanks for the link, it has been a while since I have looked at the gallery link!

Wow, I can't believe you take care of the those snakes! We had just the "friendly" variety but I still had to call the DH. I guess it goes back to being chased by a cousin with a snake when I was younger.

I was referring to some people who don't post here anymore, just different without them.

So back to the original post....

We spent Saturday driving to pick up our new puppy and getting her settled in on Sunday. She is a Large Munsterlander, which is basically a black & white Long Haired German Pointer. Last night was like having a new baby in the house, up three times to take her outside. She's just wonderful and it's a joy to have another dog in the family.

Here is a link that might be useful: New Puppy

It's hard to always catch the timing on building a home just right. We pulled a single wide mobile home onto our property for what we thought would be about 6 months. Eighteen months later, we are still there. It has really been the hardest on our two teenagers. The time they have spent literally on top of each other, coupled with the fact that we demolished their childhood home has really impacted them. I sometimes(no...make that "oftentimes") feel guilty. Like the other poster, I also wonder if they will ever consider the new house as "home". Our daughter will live there one year.

I was driving back home (400 miles) from Chicago (did I see you there chimera?) I had a weekend away with four friends. We had a lovely time. Even got away from the crummy, rainy weather we've been inundated with. Enough rain already!

Now it's back to reality. It seems all of our appliances need repairs, tweaking or warranty work. Ugh. You think when you move in a new house that everything will work better than what you had. Not necessarily!

Jodie-were you at the Rosemont Hyatt and convention center? I was chaperoning so that is the only place I was.

Where did you go? Glad you got time away.