Real Estate Blues

It's now a tangible fact: we're moving. As of Monday, I gave up keeping the house pristine for the benefit of imaginary potential renters/buyers. The house became a jumble of boxes, tape, and emptied-out closets as we sorted, packed and loaded our red pickup and the car of my parents-in-law with stuff for storage. Lunch break involved pizza, which was appropriate on CP's birthday. (I can't count how many times he's paused over a slice to remind me, "I love pizza.")

Today, my dad-in-law was back with the empty pickup to help with spackling wall holes. CP took him home with another load of boxes and came back with supper, compliments of his mom.

Next on the agenda: repainting and installing a washer/dryer stack unit. As it turns out, most renters/buyers in this part of the world seem to consider a dryer an absolute necessity. This evening when I fretted about a new scratch on the less-than-a-year-old range, CP reassured me that he wouldn't not buy the house because of a stove top scratch.

"I wouldn't not buy this house because it doesn't have a dryer," I countered.

CP lamented, "Too bad you're not the one looking to buy this house."

"The problem," I said, "is that I already did."

Back in the Saddle

Make that "back in the computer chair," meaning it's been a while since I've had a chance to write. Now that NS has quietly fallen asleep lying in her crib (a grand new phenomenon), I could spend this pre-bedtime hour catching up on the bazillion posts on the blogs of all my family members and friends. But this time, for a change, I'm going to throw my own post into the virtual stew.

Since all my sisters have already written about brother DH's recent wedding, I'll limit my commentary to the following: CP and I got to play the dinner music, which was fun. It was a lovely celebration, and I was (and am) thankful and happy to witness the joy of the newlyweds and the promise of their beautiful, faithful life together. Next week at this time we'll be practically neighbors. Hooray!

Below: The brand-new Mr. and Mrs.


Here are few more photos from recent history.

Three generations at last weekend's H family reunion: Mom, Grandma, sister CJ and me, baby NS. It was NS' first H reunion. She was quite the little celebrity, being the youngest (ex utero, that is) in attendance.


NS spends quality time with her closest-in-age cousin, AG, at their grandparents' house.

While we were at Mom and Dad's last week, Ms. T came to see us and meet NS. She taught third grade for thirty-some years in the little township school where my two older sisters and I attended. She taught all her students to knit. Each day after lunch and recess we would get out our knitting projects while Ms. T read aloud from the X-Bar-X Boys series or other cowboy adventures. If we dropped a stitch and got stuck, we could take our yarn and needles to her desk. She'd fix it and hand it back without missing a word of the story.


Mom and Dad bond with NS during wedding rehearsal.
NS reads with Auntie CJ.

Six and a Half

That's how many consecutive hours I got to sleep last night. This morning I felt like a million bucks. Well, maybe only a thousand. But that's way better than the usual hundred. On top of that, I got to sleep for an hour this afternoon.

The secret? No idea. But it does seem significant that NS cried herself to sleep on both occasions. We'll have to try that again.

Books I've Enjoyed Recently, Part III?

Nursing a baby makes a great excuse for styling oneself as a bookworm.

Grandmere: A Personal History of Eleanor Roosevelt by David B. Roosevelt: I'd always felt a vague admiration for this historical figure, but knew very little of her story. Learning about her personal and family life along with her far-reaching political influence and global contributions added to my esteem of Eleanor Roosevelt. One piece of trivia: Did you know that Roosevelt (Dutch for "field of roses") was both Eleanor's maiden name and her married name, and that Theodore Roosevelt was her uncle?

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: Set in 19th century Europe (mainly France and Italy), this suspense novel starts off at a gallop from chapter one. At times I was confused by the complex interrelatedness of all the characters, which formed the backbone of the plot. Despite the abundance of melodramatic scenes, the intensity kept me turning until page 1,095. It's a tale of revenge, but also of deception, suffering, loyalty, cruelty, love, mercy, and change . Don't be daunted by the thickness!

A Limited Menu

Meal times at our house have taken a new twist as the youngest member of the family has graduated from toys-only to tasteless rice mush from a chewable spoon and water from a plastic cup. These are the sole items on her menu so far. She was slated to try butternut squash puree this week. But because those dreaded immunizations were postponed thanks to an even more dire trauma, her budding tastes will have to wait until next week to expand their horizons.