The Next Chapter

After thinking about, talking about, and then planning a move to Oregon it has finally happened. It was not an easy decision considering I would be leaving Collin, Denise and Dylan, 36 years worth of friendships, and the sunshine and beauty of Colorado.  Having grown up in upstate New York it is like coming back home with somewhat similar weather and with the lush green trees and flowers. I will be near my brother,  a cousin, and of course Megan, Damian, and Avery.

The original plan was to put the house on the market in the spring after storing things that would not be needed for staging the house. I had gotten a bid for painting the downstairs and one room and hallway upstairs and I planned on putting new carpet in downstairs.  In the middle of February I received a call from Charlotte, an old friend, who said she had a couple who were looking for a ranch house in Eaton and would I be interested in having them take a look at mine. (Charlotte and her family lived in a duplex next to us when we were first married so we go back a long way--we lost touch as she moved around quite a bit and ended up in New Mexico until about a few years ago.)  I really didn't think anything would come of this but I was wrong. The name of the husband sounded familiar --he just happened to be a student of mine in 1990-91--and a very nice boy.  He and his wife and 2 year old girl had been living in a one bedroom condo since June and loved the  house.  The deal to sell was made by the end of that week.
Staging the house was going to be stressful for me and I was happy that I did not have to do all the upgrades. Plus I knew that this couple was going to take very good care of the house and yard and that made me happy. The house where my children grew up would now have a nice young family to repeat the process.

Collin and Denise arranged to have a going away party for me at the Eaton Country Club on the 17th of March. It was a beautiful day and there were many people who took the time out of a busy Saturday to come and wish me good luck on my next chapter--The Next Chapter is the title Denise put on the invitations. There was cake, coffee, and lots of hugs.

The going away party cake

The moving van situation was a new one for me and fascinating. The huge Allied truck arrived on March 20th around 9:00 (after having backed down 2nd Street instead of 2nd St Rd--I warned him about that mistake) backed all the way down the cul-de-sac and went perpendicular to my driveway to load up on the side of the truck. There were two men who took until 6:00 to load all of my things, carefully wrapping furniture and packing boxes into the van. Things were piled to the top of the van and put in just like a jig saw puzzle. A week later on March 27th the van pulled up to Megan's house at 11 and left around 2. There were 3 movers this time (including the driver that packed it in Eaton). Megan had marked the floor of the garage with blue tape designating where everything should go that would allow them to still park 2 cars in the garage. We were all doubtful that it would all fit but these moving guys are clever. I had numbered each box and had written in a notebook the contents beside each number. Before the movers came I made a list of the boxes that I wanted to have access to and a list of what should in Megan's house. Megan brought out a white board from Avery's room and listed all that information. The movers put boxes that we wanted easy access to to the side and at the end they were distributed around the outside of the 'pile' (which was at least 7 feet tall).

It doesn't look like a lot but it is!

As for my part of the actual move, Megan arrived at DIA the afternoon of March 19th and we drove to Eaton to finish up the last minute packing. Katherine had dinner for us and we stayed with her Monday and Tuesday night.  Collin and Dylan came down to have dinner with us on Tues at the Morehead bed and breakfast.

Wednesday, March 21, Megan, Barkley and I left with a car packed to the brim and a dog who had the whole back seat. At first Barkley was unsure of this as he has always had the very back of the car but after about an hour of standing up he settled down and was a very good rider for the rest of the trip. The weather was great for the 2 days it took us and I enjoyed the scenery as Megan chose to drive all the way from Cheyenne.  Katherine had made us a box lunch which we ate while driving as we missed the rest stop she suggested. Megan called ahead for a reservation in Twin Falls, Idaho where we had a ground floor room as Barkley does not do stairs. Not wanting to leave him in the room alone we went through McDonalds drive thru for dinner. He was not happy with the room--he wanted to be outside --or the room was just strange to him--we did not know what was bothering him but he whined for what seemed like forever but finally settled down so we could sleep.

Thursday, March 22, we got an earlier start than on Wed. and made it to Megan's around 4. We stopped again at a McDonald's for a late lunch. We listened to Bossy Pants by Tina Fey and had some really good belly laughs.

The first five days the sun followed me here but has now gone on to greener pastures. I knew the rain would be coming but thoroughly enjoyed the sun while it lasted. Barkley has slowly adjusted to this new life. He will not go up or down the basement stairs.  He does not like hard wood floors as they are slippery. He has come into the kitchen by walking from the deck onto the small rug and then across the only wood floor he will step on to get to the living room carpet.  From there he can watch us eat and also can join us for TV. He will not walk into the house from the garage even though there is a small carpet by the door. But--I have walked him every morning for an hour, most of the time leaving around 6:30 (unless I am able to sleep in which is rare). We walk a short way through the neighborhood and up to a cemetery where there is a view of the city below. It is a hilly walk and I was huffing and puffing at first and my legs were sore but it keeps getting better. (And Chrissie, I am still doing The Five Tibetans every morning)

Megan, Damian, and I went to see The Hunger Games on Sunday night after having a very nice vegan dinner--yes this is Portland! The movie followed the book and was not as violent as I expected.

So here I am now in my very comfortable quarters. More on that tomorrow or whenever--I am retired.

Winter in Colorado

It hit over 70 in my sunny backyard today. When I walked this morning at 6:30 it was 17 degrees.  I have windows and doors open and have been outside as much as possible. I swept the dusty and leafy garage, added to and turned the compost pile, played with Barkley and even went for a short bike ride. Snow is forecast for next week.

Syracuse, NY, where I lived for 5-6 years has had 113 inches of snow so far.  We really could use some of that snow.  A friend posted on Facebook a picture of a sign in front of a Long Island church that said "Whoever is praying for snow, please stop!"

Barkley

After being groomed

I can see his eyes now

"Aren't you going to share that graham cracker with me?"

I love my dog. He is now three years old and we have bonded. It took awhile.
There were two times that I really considered giving him away but that was  before I understood his personality. He is territorial about his house and garage.  He is a little protective of me around other dogs especially if he sees me giving them too much attention. He does not seem to want to protect me from people. 

He was the cutest little puppy on the website I was looking at and I thought --what a great combination-Greyhound and Great Pyrenees.  Denise, my daughter-in-law had a beautiful Pyreness with a great personality and a very loving dog. Greyhounds are known to be couch potatoes.  How could I go wrong with this puppy?

After having lived with labs for many years I expected Barkley to behave like a lab.  Labs love the water, love to be near you, and love to eat. They love to bark and chase squirrels. They also shed continuously. Barkley did not fit this description.

It has been a slow process but we are now like an old married couple, keeping each other company, taking walks together and occasionally having a conversation.

I took him to the vet today to have his teeth cleaned! I never thought I would say that. The vet told me a couple of years ago that Greyhounds were susceptible to teeth problems.  On the  last visit to the vet she showed me how stained they were and if not taken care of he could loose them.  Since he would have to be anesthetized the cost is higher for an 85 pound dog--estimate $375-$750.  The higher estimate is in case there are problems. That was a shocker! I checked the internet and talked to a few people trying to come up with a less expensive solution. One of the women in my book club  gave me information about a vet in Windsor who has a man come in once a month and can clean the teeth without anesthetics.  I signed him up!  It was truly amazing.  It took about 15 minutes and cost $150 (still unreal to be paying that much but he is family now). I was able to peek in the window to see  the vet--he was on the floor with Barkley's head in his lap and his arms wrapped around him.  Barkley was very calm. The receptionist told me that this man (I don't even know if he is a vet) travels to many states and just came back from a month in Hawaii.


Those who have children are always so proud when someone compliments them. The same with dogs. Everyone at the clinic marveled at how beautiful and well behaved he was.  (That was even after he marked (peed) on the edge of the chair in the waiting room--he had never done that before!) The man doing the teeth cleaning asked how much I paid for him ($60) and said people would pay a lot of money for a dog like Barkley. I was beaming inside. I just had to share this and it also gave me a good excuse to post some pictures of the star of this blog.



I had only intended to write about the clinic visit today but got carried away.

Christmas in Portland--pictures

Henry loves glue-and volcanoes

Three friends decorating cookies

Avery's BD cake with ornaments and flowers as requested by Avery

Birthday friends

Girl friends

Elise brought Avery a leaf

Mike loves Vic and Megan is happy they make the trip to OR

Rachele with Nolan and her mom Cam

Jay and Nolan wearing the sweater his mom knit him

Beautiful Daisy

Matching jammies from Dad

Megan's surprise BD dinner-Stacey, Christie, Megan, Sara, Amber and Rachele

Same group with Amber missing and me in.

Christmas pictures with Dylan and Avery 2010

Dylan with Mr. Potato Head

His new bike without wheels

Dylan quickly learned to play the harmonica

Avery and Nain at Messy Dinosaur Art

Avery loves ballet

Avery and Megan with teacher Erica

Avery loved her birthday cake

"Come in and play in my new nook, Elise"

"We can turn the light off in the nook because I have this flashlight!"

AVERY spells Avery -yummy sugar cookies

Dylan donning his helmet before riding his new bike.

I don't know why this last picture of Dylan is not with the rest of his pictures but I can't move it.

Christmas 2010 Portland

 You are welcome to read this but be I must warn you that this is basically for me so that I will remember this trip.

 Portland welcomed me with rain on December 14th as I flew Frontier from Denver. The wait in the security line was about an hour and I was so glad to finally board the plane.  It was a great flight and even better after I found out later that there was a tornado near Portland just about the time I landed. So glad I did not know about it during the flight.  We picked Avery up from school and then went to a Christmas party at the Children's Museum. The long day had me asleep by 8.

The next day we met Christie and Henry at a community center for  Dinosaur Messy Art Day. Avery and Henry played with that wonderful sand --probably called Magic Sand but I call it Steve Spangler Sand--painted lava on paper volcanoes and glued pom poms on a dinosaur.  We then headed over to Amber and Josie's for a delicious lunch.  Pretending that Josie's bed was a boat, having a parade, and dressing up kept the three toddlers quite happy.

Thursday was sunny and cool.  We went to Avery's dance class in the morning at a different community center and I never stopped smiling the whole time.  Those little children were so cute!  Avery loves to dance and is very good at following directions. We had lunch at Burgerville-yummy shakes--however on the receipt each item is printed out with how many calories, fiber, fat and carbs with a total at the bottom of your whole meal. There is also a suggestion as to what you can do to lower those numbers such as asking for non-fat frozen yogurt in the shake.  Very interesting concept.
Megan and I had our hair cut in the afternoon.

Another sunny day.  Christie has a cookie exchange every year and this year Megan co-hosted it at her home.  I made chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered Ritz crackers with peanut butter filling. There were 6-7 other mothers with very delicious cookies.
Elise and Nolan came for the evening while Rachele and Jay had a date night.

Saturday Megan had a brunch for Avery's birth mom, Nikki, her birth grandmother Janet and Avery's brother Garrett. It was a very nice visit and it was fun to see how well Avery and Garrett get along and how similar they are in so many ways. Megan made blueberry french toast and Damian made salmon hash.
Sat. evening Avery stayed at Elise's house while Megan and I had a date night and Damian went to a basketball game. The movie was at the Living Room Theatre and was a documentary called Waste Land about the largest landfill in the world. It was an excellent movie.

Happy Birthday Avery!  You are 3 years old today. Avery has been talking about her BD for 6 months and what she really was excited about was blowing our her own candles.  The party was at Little Gym with about 10 other little 3 and 4 year olds. It is a little gym for little people. They can run, climb, and jump without fear of getting hurt. There were also some group activities--the parachute, the bouncy thing, the scarves. Megan had a fruit tray, a veggie tray, goldfish crackers, small sandwiches (peanut and jelly and turkey and cheese) and milk.  Then there was the cake -decorated the way Avery wanted it with ornaments and flowers--it was a beautiful cake and delicious too. And of course there was ice cream.

Monday was cookie making day for Avery and me. We made sugar cookies (Mercy Watson's favorite cookie) with frosting and sprinkles.  Avery stirred the flour, rolled the dough, cut out trees, bells, stars,  and  angels and tasted the frosting. While the cookies were baking we put together the floor puzzle that Henry gave her for her BD.
In the evening the whole family went to see The Nutcracker. Avery wore her new tutu and really thought she was going to be able to dance with the dancers. It was fun watching her move to the music.

Tuesday--a very rainy, cold and windy day. Elise came over and played with Avery while Rachele took Nolan to the doctor.  They changed into tutus and had a grand time playing in Avery's new nook.
It was a good day to stay inside and putter around the house.
I finished reading Unbroken: A WW II story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand.  An amazing story-hard to put down and very well written. She also wrote Seabiscuit which is also highly recommended. I am now reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Also a good book but not as spell binding as Unbroken.

Wednesday--We ate lunch and shopped at New Seasons and then went to Michaels for crafty things.  Megan wrote Avery's BD thank you notes and then we proceeded to clean the house to get ready for the arrival of Mike and Vic. They were on their way from Denver with Daisy the dog and had hit some bad storms and road closures in Wyoming. They finally made it here around 11:00 PM.  Dinner was roast chicken and Amber's recipe for spinach souffle.

Thursday Avery went to the doctor for her 3rd year check up. We then went shopping to pick up a roast and a turkey for the holiday meals. In the evening Avery and I enjoyed the evening together while Megan, Damian, Vic and Mike went out to dinner and a movie.

Christmas Eve--I made 3 pies in the morning -apple, pumpkin and pecan--so that Damian could have the oven to start the evening meal.  He made a traditional English dinner --prime rib, roasted potatoes, roasted Brussel sprouts, steamed cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce, rolls and wine.  It was delicious!! Nine adults and 3 children enjoyed the evening: Damian, Megan, Avery, Mike, Victoria, Rachele, Jay, Elise, Nolan and Rachel's parents Wayne and Cam---and me.

Christmas Day started with sharing all the great things that were in our stockings. Santa came through with a Cinderella dress and shoes for Avery-she immediately took off her pj's  and put on the dress. Mike and Vic cooked an English breakfast for us--tomatoes, sausage, bacon, toast, beans, eggs. Megan and Avery separated the gifts into piles and we dug in--one at a time. Avery spent time with each gift, changing clothes as new ones were opened and playing with each toy.  It reminded me of Christmases past and how much fun Christmas is with children. Damian gave Megan a sewing machine so I will be expecting to see new pillows and curtains in Avery's room the next time I visit.

Megan's 35th birthday and Boxing Day! Mike, Vic and Daisy left for the long road trip back to Colorado. Mike had a bad case of the stomach flu last evening but was feeling a little better in the morning. I made pancakes for Megan's BD breakfast and we left Avery with Damian to go out in search of Christmas bargains. Megan bought a couple of Christmas decorations for the mantle (50% off) and plenty of wrapping paper for next year. We had lunch at Kornblatts Deli and stopped at a paper store where Megan became enthralled with the craft of embossing. Everyone is getting homemade embossed thank you notes this year.

Monday--Avery had a dentist appointment where she had her teeth cleaned-everything is A-OK. We spent the rest of this rainy and cloudy day inside reading and napping. At 6:00 Megan was surprised when one of her friends  came by to take her to dinner for her BD. Damian and I knew about it and did our best to keep it a secret. I was invited also and there were 7 of us who enjoyed an Italian meal-good company and good conversation. To help Megan celebrate were: Amber, Christie, Rachele, Sara, Stacey, and myself.

Last day of my visit. Avery has been sick on and off for the past few days so she did not go to school as planned. We all went to lunch at a sushi place where the different sushi dishes came around on a track and you picked the ones you wanted. We then went to Target and to Michaels where Megan bought more 'stuff' for her new creative adventure of embossing.

Flight to Denver on Wednesday at 11:00 to arrive  DIA at 2:22. Katherine to pick me up.

PS
A few observations about Avery:
*She loves to dance-especially ballet-and watches Angelina Ballerina where she copies almost exactly what Angelina does.
*She loves her milk! And she loves broccoli.
*Be careful what you say as she repeats everything.
*She loves to be read to-and she loves to read the books by herself.
*She changes her clothes many times a day.
*She has a beautiful smile and laugh.