On the Other Side

We are finally on the other side of our packing, moving, and house selling activities! Hip-hip-hooray!!! It has been grueling for the past couple of weeks, but we’re ecstatic that we have reached this point and can now begin a new chapter in our lives!

We have settled in pretty well at our rental quarters. We still have a bit more unpacking to do in our offices. The place is starting to feel like home and we have acclimated to an entirely different layout. We are very grateful to find a comfortable place for our “camping” period while we build our new cottage. Next week, we will purchase the lot and sign the contract with the builder.

But for now, we’re taking a much needed little vacation for the remainder of this week. We’ll be returning to Kentucky’s Beaumont Inn for another Thanksgiving celebration. This time we will be sharing the holiday and relaxing with two dear friends of ours. Thanksgiving 2009 will have a special meaning for us.

I greatly appreciate everyone’s good wishes during this lifetime milestone experience! It means so much to both of us. And I promise to catch up with all my blogging friends next month!

A Moving Experience

It took a day and a half, but the moving service got us over to our new, temporary home! They did a fine job and everything went well. We lucked out with good weather too. We moved many household essentials ourselves over the past week, so that helped streamline the work by the pros. The two big rooms in our rental’s basement also proved to be more than adequate for warehousing the majority of our furniture and long-term storage boxes.

The past month has been chaotic and tested our physical endurance. And we’re not over yet! Yep, we’re facing the dreaded “aftermath” of the moving experience! We still need to unpack everything for our two offices and set up our desktop computers. (I’m using a laptop right now.) We also have to make more trips back to our country cottage to clear out the garage, empty a few more cupboards, and complete tidying chores.

My knee has suffered some in the past few days, and I can sure tell that my current stamina leaves a lot to be desired. My poor hubby has been gotten some wear and tear on him too. We’re hoping that we can recharge our batteries and get some needed rest during the Thanksgiving holiday.

I appreciate all your good wishes and prayers. Our next milestone is the house closing next week. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts!

Dog Tired

Are we getting dog-tired yet? We’re getting there! It sure would be nice to veggie out on the couch and take some well-deserved naps.

ZzzzzzzZZzzzzZZzz…

But NO, we can’t rest yet! The movers are coming next week! So we’re still shaking our booties and getting ready for the big event.

Veterans Day

God bless our service men and women
who have protected us and won our freedoms.

Life is Getting Weird

Every day, it’s getting weirder than the day before. Nothing is where it is where it is supposed to be. Things have been rapidly disappearing into boxes, transported to another dimension of time and space. We wake up, go into rooms, and see stacks and stacks of boxes. We add to the piles during the day. Then some of the boxes get carted off to a new location. It is getting especially surreal now that we rented our temporary home this week. We have one foot in and one foot out of both places. And, we’re mentally trying to figure out future routines for everyday living in a vastly different configured space, while 90% of our possessions will remain packed away until next summer.

Numerous phone calls and visits are required to take care of countless moving and selling details. To-do lists are being updated. Address notifications are also underway. In the midst of all of this activity, we signed a contract for purchase of the new lot and are working on a draft contract with our builder. Despite the moving chaos, we have to focus and make firm, long-term decisions.

Through it all, we’re staying pretty calm and collected, except for a few temporary breakdowns with frustration and pain. We’re glad to be retired now so that the transition isn’t as daunting. We think back to 17 years ago and wonder how we did the last move along with job responsibilities. Of course, we were younger then and had more energy, so maybe that is the big difference!

November - A Look Ahead

What a difference a month makes! I would have never dreamed a month ago that my October plans for hobbies and relaxation would get completely altered! Who knew that Grey Havens cottage would suddenly be sold after many months of waiting? October turned out to be a surprise whirlwind of activities and emotions. November will shape up to be even busier! But no matter what, we will be taking countless moments to be thankful that our life plans are now becoming a reality. This Thanksgiving holiday will take on a whole new and special meaning for us!

Monumental changes are in store for us in the days ahead. We will continue our daunting job of packing. In a few weeks, we will be moving into a rental condominium home and assume a “camping campaign”, with most of our possessions stored in the basement of the rental home. With the sale of our property, we will say goodbye to our dear cottage which we built 17 years ago and the lovely country acreage that we reshaped. And, we will embark on the building of our new Grey Havens cottage in a villa subdivision just a few miles away. The new cottage will be ready for us in the May–June timeframe. We’re ready for the next life journey in store for us!

In the midst of all of this activity, there will be a little time for rest. Before all of these sudden changes happened, we made reservations to stay again at Kentucky’s historic Beaumont Inn for Thanksgiving. And this year, we will be joined by two dear friends of ours! It will be a glorious Thanksgiving celebration!

I will be posting as time permits this month and give you a few updates as we achieve our milestones. Thank you, my sweet friends, for your patience and support!

Photo Challange: Anything Halloween

Time for a new Brenda Photo Challenge! The theme is Anything Halloween.

I took this photo in the little cemetery of the Bruton Parish Church at Colonial Williamsburg. The church building dates back to the year 1715, and its services were attended by many of our famous Revolutionary founders. One of the crypts in the graveyard is carved with a cherub face. It assumed a creepy appearance with the deep shadows created by strong overhead sunlight. I modified the image with multiple applications of special effects text. The camera settings were f/5.6, 1/200 second, and ISO 200.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Flurry of Activity

I really appreciate all the wonderful comments that my friends have left for me, and your concern to not overdo my bionic knee. I am holding up just fine, and working through a few aches and pains associated with the increased activity levels. I really regret that I do not have much time these days to visit your blogs. There is just not enough time in the day! However, I promise that to catch up with everyone later on in December!

We have had a flurry of activity here. We’re making good progress on the packing. It looks like a train wreck inside, but we have a system going! We have secured our condominium rental home and did a walk-through this morning. Utility arrangements have been completed. The mover and cleaners are scheduled. We have been having discussions with the builder for our new home, and we are currently reviewing a draft contract. Additionally, we have been donating excess furnishings and selling some antiques.

For two retired folks who have been living in the slow lane for a couple of years, we are managing quite well! Thank goodness we haven’t forgotten a few organizational skills from our career days.

Thank you so much for all of your good wishes, and please keep praying that everything continues to proceed smoothly for us! Marty, my furry blog greeter, is blowing kisses to you! (He's such a flirt.)

Hanging in There

It’s only a week before Halloween, so I thought I would show you a picture to creep you out, LOL! This praying mantis critter was crawling on the door to the garage the other day. It was huge – probably a good 6 inches long! We have a lot of them in our gardens and they especially like to stay in the lavender bed. In fact, hubby just found an egg case on one of the daylily stalks, right next to the lavender. This is one of the few bugs that don’t make me scream. But I had to admit, zooming in on that face in my Photoshop program did give me a little bit of the willies! Geez, it’s got wings and could have flung itself on my face! See how my wee noggin wanders?

Anyhow, we are “hanging in there” this week. We have a long to-do list to make our move next month a successful one and we’re achieving some progress! We’re making arrangements and packing boxes with some semblance of organization. We have been cleaning out and selling things for a couple of years now. But, we still pause and question our sanity about how many things we have accumulated. Despite our best efforts, we know we will be unpacking boxes next summer and won’t be able to figure out where to put everything.

Our backs are getting a workout, and we’re sore in places where we haven’t been sore in years. So don’t pay those fitness centers for your exercise! Come on over and we’ll give you a free workout! If you can’t make it, please do yourself a favor and clean out one of your closets or cupboards. You’ll thank me for it later!

Grey Havens is Sold!

It’s time to spill the beans! Our Grey Havens cottage and property have been sold!!! Our former contingency buyers came back after unexpectedly selling their home. We’re still waiting on the satisfaction of all the contingencies, but we expect to close on the property in late November.

So we’re getting it into high gear to get everything packed! Yikes! We’ve found a terrific condominium rental for us to “camp out” while we build a villa home. We are already in the process of finalizing design plans and details with the builder.

As you can imagine, it is a whirlwind of activities for us right now! We will greatly miss our rambling country cottage. But it is time to make a switch to a smaller place that will be kinder to us in our senior years. We are ready to finally begin a new chapter in our lives!

This blog may be rather neglected for a little while, and time will be limited for visiting with my many blog friends. Please stay tuned because we are going to have a lot of adventures to share while we build our new Grey Havens cottage. And I welcome all your good thoughts and prayers that we get through this major move smoothly, preferably with our bodies and sanities still intact!