Half Way!!

 First I have to say how amazed I am by Paul’s drive to get things done! 4 U-Haul trucks and 3 storage sheds later...we have essentially moved out of our home in Avon and have moved in with Jenn and Dan until our new home in Waterville closes on the 5th of November. I can’t believe how he’s able to put himself in auto pilot and start early in the morning and work his ass off until the evening. 

Yesterday we were able to pack up 95% of the rest of the house. He got a 26’ truck this time. We have a 15’ reserved for Monday, when we go back and pack up the rest of the garage. 

I took a couple of pics of my favorite rooms in the house. 

I spent sooo many hours knitting, reading and watching tv in here. We do have an office in the new house and hopefully we can convince my brother in law to make us some more custom bookshelves. 

My kitchen! When we moved in my kids called it momma’s bitchen kitchen. That stuck for the 8 years we’ve lived there we truly had some amazing birthday parties, graduation parties and Christmases in it. ❤️

We just bought all new kitchen appliances in February. I was so looking forward to cooking and baking at Christmas time using my new double oven. I know Christmas in our new home will be magical though. 

As for the meaning of half way in the title, we just have to rent more U-Haul trucks and unload 3 storage units when we move into the new home and then we’ll be done!!! 🥰

As always..thanks for stopping by.

Radom!

 Hello,

Moving is progressing. It isn't really slow going, it just feels like it. Paul has moved quite a bit to storage in Whitehouse and we're gradually clearing rooms. The house is sounding echoey and I think it must be due to the high ceilings with all the paintings and pictures removed. 

Staircase before

Staircase after

Craft room before pics 

Craft room after

So I want to show you the socks I'm making for Debra. I think I mentioned them in my last post. When we went to Bunco on Kelley's Island, on the way are some really cool shops we like going to. One is this yarn shop where they actually have some sheep on the property!! Christi's Just For Ewe

 Anyway, I bought some really nice bamboo yarn for me and Deb picked up some and asked if I'd make her a pair. That was quite a while ago! So, I put aside the baby blanket I'm making for baby E to get these done. 

I got the toes and part of the foot done, yay! 

Look who turned 66 on Monday! Happy Birthday babe! 

Paul and I watched Ellie last week for a couple of days. I bought her this adorable kitty hat. At first she didn't want to wear it but when we went outside for a walk and it was chilly, she loved it! 

And, after not having hair for so long...

we have curls!! I could just kiss them all day long! 

She is loving reading!! This book was a gift from my friend Kathy.

Last week we had the inspection on our house (current) so Paul and I took Bentley to a local park. The first park we went to, Bur Oak was not what I remember when Lydia I went a couple of years ago. It smelled bad, like sewage. We did see a sign saying that there was combined sanitary storm sewers both above and below the stream?! How messed up is that?? 

Needless to say, we left and I took him to one of mine and Lydia's favorite local parks, Sandy Ridge. It was beautiful and peaceful and they even have a separate dog walking path I've never been on. 

I do miss my walks with Lydia. We used to walk every single day and got up to about 4 miles. Here's a pic of us after getting caught in the rain...

Fun times!! LOL

And on September 11th, 

We got Toby's ashes. I MISS HIM 😭

                Yesterday sucked (for Paul). I was upstairs playing on the computer and he asked me to come down to the kitchen. He said he'd packed the can opener and was trying to open a can of beans for chili, with our old bottle opener 😲. 

Needless to say he cut his finger pretty good and it wouldn't stop bleeding. I took him to the Wellness Center attached to our doctor's office. 

Steve said he'd need 2 stitches. Nope, he needed 3. And then this morning he was looking for something and realized we put things that were on the counter in different cupboards for showing the house and...

look what he found!  

Stitches for nothing! 😖

I feel bad for him. Playing in the yard and packing as well as loading stuff into the truck is going to be different for sure. 

Well, I guess that's it for now. Just want to keep ya'll updated. 

As always... thanks for stopping by. 
      

WOW, just WOW!

A lot has happened in the few months since I've posted. With the pandemic still raging in the U.S., Paul and I are still being pretty cautious, but we've made some serious changes to our lives.

A few weeks ago I asked Paul, "so what's keeping YOU here, from moving close to Jenn, Dan & Ellie?" He said "you". I realized, although in my heart I knew it all along, that he wasn't complaining or even hinting at moving an hour and a half away because he knew how important my friendships were (and still are). 

One of the things I do is once a month I get together with 16 ladies whom I'm close to and we play Bunco at each other's houses. We've been doing that now every month for over 6 years. We also play Left Right Center once a month, although there's usually just a few of us. We get together for lunch or dinner and go to craft shows together. We go to Kelley's Island together and play at one of the lady's houses on the island and party and have fun. I also have season tickets to Playhouse Square downtown Cleveland. And you know what? All of those things have not happened since February. Those things aren't happening but every other week we go out to the Toledo area and babysit the cutest, most precious grandchild ever!! We started doing that again in May or June. Every time we come home, my heart aches to be around her once again. 

So, I've given it a lot of thought along with much soul searching and I've discovered that if we don't move out there we will miss a hell of a lot! Ellie is getting a brother in January!! I've decided that I want to be there for their soccer games, their school plays and recitals. Their needing someone to pick them up from school because they aren't feeling well. I don't want to miss a minute of any of it. I was lucky and blessed to have Logan and Emmy living here for a few years and I got to pick them up from the school bus and watch them in their school plays etc., but they moved back to Virginia Beach in 2014. 6 years ago and they were only 6 & 8. We still get to see them for a week or two each summer and I'm very thankful for that. 

We've made the decision to move! At first we were going to have a house built but after discussing with the builder and not until we got the final plans (after putting a deposit on the lot) we discovered that it was just going to cost waaaaay more than we wanted to spend. Of course we didn't find that out until we gave them more money and then and only then was when they gave us the floor plans! We discovered several items we had on our list of must have's weren't in the plans and cost extra. We had no idea the kitchen appliances weren't even included!! So we nixed the idea of building and we did get our payment back for the plans although not for the lot. It was a small price to pay in the big scheme of things. 

We've sold our house which I LOVE and always will. In the same week someone fell in love with our home, we found a house for sale only a 3 minute drive from Jenn and family we bought it! The great thing is it has 3 bedrooms on the first floor! Yay! 

We close on our house on October 29th and our new house November 5th. It's been a whirlwind for sure! I'm going to miss our New Year's Eve parties in the basement with our friends and miss the barbecues, but we're only an hour and a half away! My friends and I drive further to play bunco on Kelley's Island every year. And I've also discovered since we sold our house, we've made many day trips out there. Like yesterday for instance we had the inspection at the new house. We met him at 10:00, went and visited Jenn and Elliott afterwards and we were home by 2:30. So it REALLY isn't that far. I plan on coming back for bunco and playhouse square plays etc. 

I'm hoping Stephen realizes that we probably won't see any less of him than we do now. Plus we'll have a king bed upstairs for guests (hint-hint). 

So, that's my BIG news. 

Small news is I'm knitting our future grandbaby a blanket. It's a surprise so I can't show it here. I'm also knitting my friend Debra a pair of socks with this scrumptious bamboo yarn she picked out when we went on our trip last year to Kelley's Island. We always stop at this adorable shop that has some awesome yarns. 

 

As always...thanks for stopping by. 

Project Life March 2020

 I really can't believe it's taken me this long to do these pages. Part of the problem is thinking about adding info etc. about the pandemic in it but not wanting it to take up too many pages. So, thank God Persnickety Prints has the Covid-19 Timelines so I printed one for each month so far and just added them. Since they are 4"x8" I'll have to think of a photo to put on the other side. 

 

As always, thanks for stopping by. 

Happy 45 Year Anniversary!!

45 years!! 

That's a REALLY long time! We've been blessed in so many ways!! 

Like the healthy birth of our 3 kids and 3 grandkids. 

So blessed to call these 3 mine! 

Wonderful grands and a new one on the way! 

New house purchases.

 

Traveling far and wide...

My favorite trip was to the UK and staying at the Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool. 

  

We've had lots of laughs. Scary times too! And fun!!! 

Ziplining in Hocking Hills with Joe & Diane

Our favorite winter getaway..Riviera Maya this time with Jenn & Dan.

We've run in a few 5k's together and we starting running again recently. Our hope is to run in 5k's when we travel to different places. 

Learning to take a selfie LOL. 

I could only find two pics of the two of us in running gear. 

We've had a great marriage! I mean REALLY great! I couldn't love him more if I tried. He's my rock, my confidant and my best friend. 

Here's to another 45 hon, (or at least 20).