Friday, December 21, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Interesting day....
Yesterday was one of those days that just didn't turn out as planned....
Every Monday morning I head out to the local public elementary school to read with students. What can possibly be more fun than sharing something I love--books--with kids who are just starting out on the lifelong reading journey! As fall/winter in the Seattle area can get a bit chilly and as public schools aren't generally heated over the weekend, I normally dress pretty warmly on Monday mornings. I don't know if it was the anti-inflammatory/pain pills from the knee surgery or just getting older, but for some reason I forgot the extra layer of warmth when I left the house yesterday morning. And wouldn't you know it... the Reading Room's heater wasn't working (just blowing cold air, no heat)! Nothing like shivering through Fourth Grade Rats!
After shivering for an hour, I then made my weekly trip to Trader Joe's for Uncle Sam cereal (cheaper at TJs than at my regular grocery store). Hypothermia must have set in at school, or maybe again it was the anti-inflammatory drugs, because I suddenly felt the need to stock my pantry and came home with $98 of very cool groceries. That's a whole lot of cool groceries for two empty-nesters to eat!
No sooner had I gotten home and filled my pantry... I received back-to-back calls from realtors who wanted to stop by and preview our house. (Haven't posted an update on the house sale recently, but we are still listed as "Contingent"--waiting for our buyers to sell their house, but still marketing ours at the same time. Tell your friends we'll make them a great deal on a great house!) No big deal because I'm used to hobbling around sprucing up the house on short notice and then leaving for an hour or so. However, I'm not used to MULTIPLE realtors "stopping by" on the same day. Interesting.... Then just as I'm about to grill swordfish for dinner, I get call from another realtor who wants to bring a potential buyer for a showing.
Anybody who has ever had a house on the market knows that you can't cook fish right before someone comes to view your home, so the swordfish quickly swam back to the refrigerator. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to go out for dinner AND get some much needed Christmas shopping done, so we headed out to the local mall. Since one of our favorite restaurants just opened at the mall, we thought it would be a good time to try it out... Monday night, no wait, in and out quickly... right? Wrong! Upon entering, we were told there was a 35-50 minute wait. Since we couldn't go home and all of the other mall-vicinity restaurants were probably packed as well, we decided to wait. Great dinner and we hurried out without having any cheesecake--big victory!
(My precious son Erik, if you are reading this post right now, please STOP HERE!) For his birthday in October, our son Erik received a new iPod Nano from his lovely wife Krista. So for Christmas we planned on giving him an iPod case, AV cables and an FM transmitter--required iPod "accessories," I'm told. I swear that everyone else in the entire Seattle area was also out purchasing iPod/Mac gear because the Apple Store at the mall was packed! And believe me, two middle age adults don't get a lot of attention from staff at this store. We finally caught the eye of a young employee, made our purchases, walked back to the car, and escaped out of the mall parking lot.
When we arrived home, all of the lights were still on in the house just as we had left it (well-lit houses sell more quickly, our realtor tells me) and it looked wonderful. Made me want to buy it all over again. I love this house... our home for the past 16 years... where we raised Erik and Kara... where I learned to survive cancer... where we shared rousing pinochle games with special friends... where we first got to know Krista and Dusty whom we now love like daughter and son....
Yet, I can't wait to downsize to our new condo-without-a-pantry. (I'll have to learn to stay away from Trader Joe's.) Anyone looking for a wonderful family home in a terrific neighborhood?
Every Monday morning I head out to the local public elementary school to read with students. What can possibly be more fun than sharing something I love--books--with kids who are just starting out on the lifelong reading journey! As fall/winter in the Seattle area can get a bit chilly and as public schools aren't generally heated over the weekend, I normally dress pretty warmly on Monday mornings. I don't know if it was the anti-inflammatory/pain pills from the knee surgery or just getting older, but for some reason I forgot the extra layer of warmth when I left the house yesterday morning. And wouldn't you know it... the Reading Room's heater wasn't working (just blowing cold air, no heat)! Nothing like shivering through Fourth Grade Rats!
After shivering for an hour, I then made my weekly trip to Trader Joe's for Uncle Sam cereal (cheaper at TJs than at my regular grocery store). Hypothermia must have set in at school, or maybe again it was the anti-inflammatory drugs, because I suddenly felt the need to stock my pantry and came home with $98 of very cool groceries. That's a whole lot of cool groceries for two empty-nesters to eat!
No sooner had I gotten home and filled my pantry... I received back-to-back calls from realtors who wanted to stop by and preview our house. (Haven't posted an update on the house sale recently, but we are still listed as "Contingent"--waiting for our buyers to sell their house, but still marketing ours at the same time. Tell your friends we'll make them a great deal on a great house!) No big deal because I'm used to hobbling around sprucing up the house on short notice and then leaving for an hour or so. However, I'm not used to MULTIPLE realtors "stopping by" on the same day. Interesting.... Then just as I'm about to grill swordfish for dinner, I get call from another realtor who wants to bring a potential buyer for a showing.
Anybody who has ever had a house on the market knows that you can't cook fish right before someone comes to view your home, so the swordfish quickly swam back to the refrigerator. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to go out for dinner AND get some much needed Christmas shopping done, so we headed out to the local mall. Since one of our favorite restaurants just opened at the mall, we thought it would be a good time to try it out... Monday night, no wait, in and out quickly... right? Wrong! Upon entering, we were told there was a 35-50 minute wait. Since we couldn't go home and all of the other mall-vicinity restaurants were probably packed as well, we decided to wait. Great dinner and we hurried out without having any cheesecake--big victory!
(My precious son Erik, if you are reading this post right now, please STOP HERE!) For his birthday in October, our son Erik received a new iPod Nano from his lovely wife Krista. So for Christmas we planned on giving him an iPod case, AV cables and an FM transmitter--required iPod "accessories," I'm told. I swear that everyone else in the entire Seattle area was also out purchasing iPod/Mac gear because the Apple Store at the mall was packed! And believe me, two middle age adults don't get a lot of attention from staff at this store. We finally caught the eye of a young employee, made our purchases, walked back to the car, and escaped out of the mall parking lot.
When we arrived home, all of the lights were still on in the house just as we had left it (well-lit houses sell more quickly, our realtor tells me) and it looked wonderful. Made me want to buy it all over again. I love this house... our home for the past 16 years... where we raised Erik and Kara... where I learned to survive cancer... where we shared rousing pinochle games with special friends... where we first got to know Krista and Dusty whom we now love like daughter and son....Yet, I can't wait to downsize to our new condo-without-a-pantry. (I'll have to learn to stay away from Trader Joe's.) Anyone looking for a wonderful family home in a terrific neighborhood?
Friday, December 07, 2007
Bad Blogger!
I feel like I'm a bad blogger because I just can't think of anything to post right now! I have so much for which I should be grateful to God, but I'm having a hard time getting beyond the pain in my... KNEE! Arthroscopic surgery on my knee last week has led to a very longggggg week of pain. Here's hoping and praying for a better weekend....
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