Here's To Life!

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  Paul and I began our holiday on Wednesday with breakfast at a nearby diner and in the afternoon we saw the new James Bond movie Skyfall .  Great scenery and great movie.  On Thursday, we all - Paul and I, John and Sasha, Kristin and Jason - traveled to Rock Island and had Thanksgiving dinner with Paul's brother and family, and his mom.  Weather was good, food was good, company was good.   Both Logan and Jacob have girlfriends, so we were a nice size group. The kids stayed overnight and came home on Friday - Paul and I stayed until Saturday.  Before they left, we all enjoyed breakfast together.  We did a little shopping in the afternoon.  We came home by way of Bishop Hill, a place we used to go to the day after Thanksgiving for many years when the kids were growing up but haven't been for awhile.  The first time both of us went to Bishop Hill was when we were in college and there wasn't much there excep...

Our house sale was completed a month ago.  We spent the two weeks prior to the sale packing, moving, cleaning, and working.  It was very stressful, but the end result was worth it.  Everything seemed to move very fast.  We had to find a place to live, and then continue the process of getting rid of things and organizing for the move.  Apartment shopping was interesting and we found a townhouse in Oak Park which has been very comfortable so far.  The nice thing about the townhouse is that it is big enough to hold all of the furniture we wanted to keep and has storage plus a two car garage (and we only have one car) - two bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a family room on the third floor.  We are pretty well settled, most boxes unpacked and feeling at home here.  I have been walking to work almost every day.  It's kind of nice having an attached garage.  This seems like home for the year.   It wasn't too hard to leave our house.  I th...

Have been meaning to write - but that often seems not to be the priority of the day.  There is lots going on and lots to think about and keep on track.  Posting on a blog that not many look gets pushed to the bottom of the list too often. So, on Saturday, August 18th, on our way home from Cape Cod, we finally got an offer on our house.  The offer was from a couple in Oak Park who had expressed interest in the house all summer but needed to sell their house first before they felt comfortable making an offer on ours.  After a couple of days of negotiating, the contract was signed.  We arrived home from vacation knowing that we had a lot of work ahead of us getting ready to leave the house that we have been in for almost 16 years.  We have been packing again, sorting through things and getting rid of stuff.  We have been pushing the kids to come and get what they want.  We also needed to find a place to live.

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.