Here's To Life!

Had a good week on Cape Cod, visiting my mother.  This was the first time that Paul and I went together, without the kids, and it was kind of nice.  We did a some walking trails and a bike trail, went to the National Seashore and ate fish.  It was a relaxing week.  We even enjoyed the drive.

We are empty nesters again!  John and Sasha closed on their house a week ago Friday and the moving van came to get their belongings from our garage and the piano from our living room yesterday.  In the meantime, they got the water working on Monday (it wasn't turned on and they didn't have water heaters), I helped John on Tuesday, bringing boxes over, wiping down cabinets and unpacking dishes.  John painted his living room and some of the upstairs and Sasha spent a few days in San Antonio with her grandmother who fell ill. Had a nice lunch with Laurie and Nancy on Wednesday at Hemingway's Bistro in Oak Park.  Good to get a chance to catch up with each other.  Hard to believe we've known each other for over 35 years. Paul and I spent a quiet Saturday cleaning and getting ready for a showing of our house this afternoon and an open house Sunday.  Hopefully, we will get an offer soon.  Tomorrow, we are going to Germanfest in Milwaukee with Kristin and ...

Paul's mother fell and broke her hip on Friday, July 6th so we traveled to Rock Island for the weekend. She had surgery on Saturday - they put two rods around the hip joint to strengthen it.  It seemed to go well.  They had her sitting in a chair on Sunday morning when we got to the hospital.  She was still in pain and a bit groggy.  Prayers that her recovery goes well. On another note, our realtor is holding an open house this Sunday - hopefully there will be some traffic. We have had the house on the market for just about a month - have had a few showings.  John and Sasha hope to close soon on their place.

Well, the house has been on the market for just about 3 weeks.  Some showings, some interest, but not much.  The market has kind of hit a flat point so here we sit.  In the meantime, John and Sasha are still waiting to close on their place but had to be out of their apartment June 30th.  So they have come to stay here along with their two dogs.  The empty nest lasted all of two weeks.  Thankfully we have the room for them to stay with us.  And hopefully, their closing will happen soon.

Since I work in the public schools, summer begins when school is out.  The last day of school this school year was June 1st - so summer has officially begun!  In fact, two weeks of the summer have already passed. Where does the time go?  The first week I spent getting my house ready to go on the market.  Kristin moved out June 2nd taking much of her stuff with her.  After she left however, I straightened up and organized the 3rd floor so that it looked neater.  Also continued to put away clutter from the first and second floors.  A cleaning crew came in one afternoon and now the house looks pretty good.  The tough part is going to be to keep it that way.  We had the brokers' tour this week and even a couple of showings.  So, the process has begun.

Enjoyed a great anniversary/Mother's Day celebration dinner last Saturday evening.  John and Sasha, Kristin and Jason took us to Maggiano's Restaurant in Naperville.  Paul and I have been married for 33 great years!  

Cleaning out the clutter has begun.  Plus removing personal belongings and extra pieces of furniture.  We are putting the house on the market - hopefully early to mid May and have to get it ready.  We went to UHaul to buy boxes.  So, today the CDs and DVDs got packed away as well as some cookbooks.  The boxes of stuff to get rid of grows and the garage is beginning to look like a storage unit.  Wall pictures have been moved and personal pictures need to be put away.  Furniture will need to be rearranged.  I think we're going to be busy for the next few weeks.