It happened at 7:40 today! I signed the counteroffer on the house we had picked out! It's in Paris, MI, which is immediately north of Big Rapids. It's on the south side of the Muskeegon River, where it flows from east to west, before it bends south again. And here it is!
We struck a mutually good deal for the house, and everyone is very happy. We have nearly no furniture for the house, so we'll be doing some serious shopping over the coming weeks. We also have to have inspections done on every aspect of the house, within the next 10 days. Closing will be on 8/10, and we get to move in on 8/24! We are so excited!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Some Fun!
Things have been going great for us here in Big Rapids. Over the past week, we've done lots! On Thursday and Saturday, we participated in the Tucson/Michigan party, put on and attended mostly by those of us who live in MI in the summer, and at Far Horizons in Tucson in the winter. Dinner was at Donna and Al's on Thursday, and it was great. There was pork brought in, and we all brought food, too. Jack and I played that game with balls tied together and flung over a small goal-post. Once I got the hang of it, I won handily!
Saturday, the second half of the Michigan party took place. We kayaked down the river to Harold's new dock, which worked wonderfully. Then we celebrated the beauty of the day with a pig roast at Pete and Janet's house. It was good to see everyone, and the mood was merry.
Meanwhile, we got word that my bid on the house in Brownsburg, Indiana had not been accepted. There was another offer which had been accepted, and so ours was not even considered. Down? You bet! Out? No way!
We decided to look at houses in the Big Rapids area, and look we did! We looked at a bunch of them, spending a couple of Sunday afternoons with Doug at Canadian Lakes touring some neat houses. And we looked at some around Big Rapids and a couple in the Paris area.
We found one that we liked in Canadian Lakes... and then another. And then our realtor here found one for us on the Muskeegon River, in Paris, which we really liked. Sunday afternoon, we took Luanne and Dan with us and walked through the house again. They were helpful to us in giving their opinions and we had a great time looking around with them, and imagining it as our house.
Today we met with Judy from Big Rapids Realty, and made an offer. Tomorrow we'll know if they accept it as written, or if they have other ideas. I really hope this one goes through!
If this doesn't happen, we've decided that we'll go back to Brownsburg, IN and look there again! Jack and I are the kind of people who are just plain happy, so I know that we'll be happy wherever we are.
I will treat you all with photos and a link when the deal is done. For now, I don't want to jinx things. I will say that the house has mostly hardwood floors, beautiful hickory cabinetry throughout, a great kitchen, open floorplan, a separate guest area, quality construction, and fine fixtures. Its style is what I'd call Contemporary/Mission, which is clean and sleek and very me. Oh.. and did I mention the views of the river right outside the windows?
Because I have given away just about all of my things, we'll be doing quite a bit of shopping for furniture and other furnishings. I'm very excited about starting all over like this! And, what's more, we'll be doing our part to boost the local economy. What are you doing for your local economy?
And, while all of this excitement has been going on, we have been continuing our work on -the house-. We have now taken 84 bags of mostly clothing and shoes to Goodwill. And we've loaded up Chuck's truck with yet another bed full to go to the dump. We can now walk down the hall! And the Master is almost cleared out, and Bedroom #2 is cleared, except for a monstrous pile of stuff from this and other rooms that is to be sold at Jack's yard sale.
Having cleared a bit of floor, I've actually been able to vacuum some of the carpeting! I wanted to take recycling today, but we didn't get there in time, so we have the van packed full of our recyclables.
But progress is happening on that house front, and it's visible, finally.
Saturday, the second half of the Michigan party took place. We kayaked down the river to Harold's new dock, which worked wonderfully. Then we celebrated the beauty of the day with a pig roast at Pete and Janet's house. It was good to see everyone, and the mood was merry.
Meanwhile, we got word that my bid on the house in Brownsburg, Indiana had not been accepted. There was another offer which had been accepted, and so ours was not even considered. Down? You bet! Out? No way!
We decided to look at houses in the Big Rapids area, and look we did! We looked at a bunch of them, spending a couple of Sunday afternoons with Doug at Canadian Lakes touring some neat houses. And we looked at some around Big Rapids and a couple in the Paris area.
We found one that we liked in Canadian Lakes... and then another. And then our realtor here found one for us on the Muskeegon River, in Paris, which we really liked. Sunday afternoon, we took Luanne and Dan with us and walked through the house again. They were helpful to us in giving their opinions and we had a great time looking around with them, and imagining it as our house.
Today we met with Judy from Big Rapids Realty, and made an offer. Tomorrow we'll know if they accept it as written, or if they have other ideas. I really hope this one goes through!
If this doesn't happen, we've decided that we'll go back to Brownsburg, IN and look there again! Jack and I are the kind of people who are just plain happy, so I know that we'll be happy wherever we are.
I will treat you all with photos and a link when the deal is done. For now, I don't want to jinx things. I will say that the house has mostly hardwood floors, beautiful hickory cabinetry throughout, a great kitchen, open floorplan, a separate guest area, quality construction, and fine fixtures. Its style is what I'd call Contemporary/Mission, which is clean and sleek and very me. Oh.. and did I mention the views of the river right outside the windows?
Because I have given away just about all of my things, we'll be doing quite a bit of shopping for furniture and other furnishings. I'm very excited about starting all over like this! And, what's more, we'll be doing our part to boost the local economy. What are you doing for your local economy?
And, while all of this excitement has been going on, we have been continuing our work on -the house-. We have now taken 84 bags of mostly clothing and shoes to Goodwill. And we've loaded up Chuck's truck with yet another bed full to go to the dump. We can now walk down the hall! And the Master is almost cleared out, and Bedroom #2 is cleared, except for a monstrous pile of stuff from this and other rooms that is to be sold at Jack's yard sale.
Having cleared a bit of floor, I've actually been able to vacuum some of the carpeting! I wanted to take recycling today, but we didn't get there in time, so we have the van packed full of our recyclables.
But progress is happening on that house front, and it's visible, finally.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
What's the Weather Like Here?
I thought that was a good question, because.. it's been everything today. We awoke to chill and fog, and then it was cloudy and then it was sunny and warm. Then it clouded up and rained .. hard! And now it's partly cloudy, cool, and lovely.
Progress continues on the house. I took yesterday and today off from working. Jack worked on it ydy, but not today. We have cleared out much of the stuff from bedroom #2, but there's lots of "garage sale" stuff left in there, which will remain till we're done with said garage sale.
Yesterday, we also worked on a dock for Harold, to make it easier for us all to get up out of the river when we come kayaking up to his place! It's very cool.
One reason that I have taken some time off from the house is that I'm concerned about my health. I've been suffering more with asthma since we've been here, and it doesn't seem to be getting much better. I have been using a dust mask, using Zyrtec (allergy pill which works well for me) and using rescue inhaler as needed. I think that I really need to be back on the inhaled steroid, but that involves a prescription. I miss Michael like crazy when I'm well, but even more when I'm not feeling perfect!
Paris Park has been good, though, with the weekends, we've been getting inundated with loud campers. That's typical of "campgrounds," as opposed to RV parks, though the latter are also wilder on weekends.
I have not heard further on the Brownsburg, Indiana house deal, except that the bank has the offer and another offer. And "patience" is evidently the watchword when it comes to short sales. I really want it.
I'm including some photos with this posting! These were some flower shots I took down at Oliver Winery's fabulous gardens, when we went to southern Indiana in late June:
Well.. this is obviously not working. I've uploaded twice, but the photos are not coming through.
Progress continues on the house. I took yesterday and today off from working. Jack worked on it ydy, but not today. We have cleared out much of the stuff from bedroom #2, but there's lots of "garage sale" stuff left in there, which will remain till we're done with said garage sale.
Yesterday, we also worked on a dock for Harold, to make it easier for us all to get up out of the river when we come kayaking up to his place! It's very cool.
One reason that I have taken some time off from the house is that I'm concerned about my health. I've been suffering more with asthma since we've been here, and it doesn't seem to be getting much better. I have been using a dust mask, using Zyrtec (allergy pill which works well for me) and using rescue inhaler as needed. I think that I really need to be back on the inhaled steroid, but that involves a prescription. I miss Michael like crazy when I'm well, but even more when I'm not feeling perfect!
Paris Park has been good, though, with the weekends, we've been getting inundated with loud campers. That's typical of "campgrounds," as opposed to RV parks, though the latter are also wilder on weekends.
I have not heard further on the Brownsburg, Indiana house deal, except that the bank has the offer and another offer. And "patience" is evidently the watchword when it comes to short sales. I really want it.
I'm including some photos with this posting! These were some flower shots I took down at Oliver Winery's fabulous gardens, when we went to southern Indiana in late June:
Well.. this is obviously not working. I've uploaded twice, but the photos are not coming through.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A Fine Day
What a fine day this was! It began with the pitty-pat of rain on our roof, and that's always fun. But then, it cleared out, leaving us with a cloudy day, but dry.
I used my day to work on clearing stuff out of the master bedroom at Jack's house. I filled 9 bags for Goodwill and 3 bags of trash, just from the stuff on the floor. Tomorrow.. the bed and the closet! Oh.. and the laundry.
While the job is daunting, I am hopeful that it's going to get done. This is because I'm doing the big part of the work by myself. Jack's just too emotionally wrapped up in the house and he has a hard time getting rid of things. If the bags are closed, however, he has no trouble hauling them down to the car!
I am well-suited for this job, because, while I care that his ex and his family get the things that are meaningful to the family, and I care that Jack keeps the things that are truly meaningful to him, I also see that not everything is meaningful, and not everything is useful. And, even useful things are not always practical to keep. For example, how much of a person's storage space should be allocated to bandaids? Do we have room for one box? Well, sure. But two? ...Thirty? So I keep one and give the other 29 to Starburst.
So, in this process, Jack is able to help others with his gifts. And I'm helping others, too. And I'm helping Jack. And I'm feeling good to find floors and walls and furniture under the mounds of excess.
I used my day to work on clearing stuff out of the master bedroom at Jack's house. I filled 9 bags for Goodwill and 3 bags of trash, just from the stuff on the floor. Tomorrow.. the bed and the closet! Oh.. and the laundry.
While the job is daunting, I am hopeful that it's going to get done. This is because I'm doing the big part of the work by myself. Jack's just too emotionally wrapped up in the house and he has a hard time getting rid of things. If the bags are closed, however, he has no trouble hauling them down to the car!
I am well-suited for this job, because, while I care that his ex and his family get the things that are meaningful to the family, and I care that Jack keeps the things that are truly meaningful to him, I also see that not everything is meaningful, and not everything is useful. And, even useful things are not always practical to keep. For example, how much of a person's storage space should be allocated to bandaids? Do we have room for one box? Well, sure. But two? ...Thirty? So I keep one and give the other 29 to Starburst.
So, in this process, Jack is able to help others with his gifts. And I'm helping others, too. And I'm helping Jack. And I'm feeling good to find floors and walls and furniture under the mounds of excess.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Posting again
I have had a little brown-out spell in my blogging, because I've been unable to post! I was getting an error message from Blogger when I went to the New Post page. Anyway, here I am, at long last.
The past month has been eventful! On June 16, Jack and I took Ruby (the RV) and Eddie (the cat) down to Brownsburg, Indiana, and parked Ruby in front of Annette and Steve's house. Annette's my sis, for those of you who have not figured that out, and we had told them that we'd build them a deck. This was to be a thank you for their having helped me with moving my stuff out, and for their keeping my things in storage all this time.
So that's what we did! On Tuesday, we drove down, Wednesday we completed the plans and ordered the wood, and on Thursday, we got the delivery from Menard's at 7 am! Jack and Steve and I worked on digging holes for posts, putting concrete blocks down at the bottom of these holes, putting in posts, backfilling, installing beams and then joists, and finally the deck boards.
This was no simple deck, but included also a full pergola with beams, joists, and lattice, 3 staircases, railings, a bench, and a little corner table. It's 16' x 18'. It took us 2 weeks to build it. Then we took a couple of days to go to Bloomington to visit a couple of people and to conduct some important business. Then we returned to Brownsburg for the 4th of July. We got to visit with Annette's son and daughter and their kids, and that was fun.
While we were there, we did a little house-hunting, too. We found one that we really like, and we actually put an offer on it. There's another offer on it, and it's what they call a "short sale," so it's far from a sure thing for us. But it's a great house and I really hope that we get it! Brownsburg is just west of Indianapolis -- a city that I've loved forever. It's where Annette lives, but, other than them, we don't know anyone else, so we'd be starting fresh.
I got my RV licensed while we were there, too. Michigan wanted all sorts of proof of residence in order to do that, and I didn't have the documents. So.. whatever. I'll just be an Indiana girl.
The past month has been eventful! On June 16, Jack and I took Ruby (the RV) and Eddie (the cat) down to Brownsburg, Indiana, and parked Ruby in front of Annette and Steve's house. Annette's my sis, for those of you who have not figured that out, and we had told them that we'd build them a deck. This was to be a thank you for their having helped me with moving my stuff out, and for their keeping my things in storage all this time.
So that's what we did! On Tuesday, we drove down, Wednesday we completed the plans and ordered the wood, and on Thursday, we got the delivery from Menard's at 7 am! Jack and Steve and I worked on digging holes for posts, putting concrete blocks down at the bottom of these holes, putting in posts, backfilling, installing beams and then joists, and finally the deck boards.
This was no simple deck, but included also a full pergola with beams, joists, and lattice, 3 staircases, railings, a bench, and a little corner table. It's 16' x 18'. It took us 2 weeks to build it. Then we took a couple of days to go to Bloomington to visit a couple of people and to conduct some important business. Then we returned to Brownsburg for the 4th of July. We got to visit with Annette's son and daughter and their kids, and that was fun.
While we were there, we did a little house-hunting, too. We found one that we really like, and we actually put an offer on it. There's another offer on it, and it's what they call a "short sale," so it's far from a sure thing for us. But it's a great house and I really hope that we get it! Brownsburg is just west of Indianapolis -- a city that I've loved forever. It's where Annette lives, but, other than them, we don't know anyone else, so we'd be starting fresh.
I got my RV licensed while we were there, too. Michigan wanted all sorts of proof of residence in order to do that, and I didn't have the documents. So.. whatever. I'll just be an Indiana girl.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Rising Stars
It is a sad day today for me, with Farah Faucett and Michael Jackson both dying today. I loved Michael Jackson's showmanship and music, his dancing, his look. Of course, things got weird for him, and maybe he got weird, too, but I believe still that the world will miss the music that he had yet to make.
While Farah's death was expected, it still reminds us of our own mortality. She was once so beautiful and so strong. I respect how she journaled very openly till her death about her feelings.
Ed McMahon's deaths also came this week. So while everything else is going well for me, this is kind of a sad day.
While Farah's death was expected, it still reminds us of our own mortality. She was once so beautiful and so strong. I respect how she journaled very openly till her death about her feelings.
Ed McMahon's deaths also came this week. So while everything else is going well for me, this is kind of a sad day.
Monday, June 15, 2009
A beautiful day
Today is a gorgeous blue-sky, birds-singing day! Jack and I are busily getting the RV ready for another journey! We will be leaving tomorrow for Indiana to visit Annette and her family. One cool thing that we've done is that Jack built cabinets for the cabover area of the RV. Here are some photos, starting with after we got the bed taken out:
He built a cover for the "nose" part of the floor, so that our stuff wouldn't get sucked into never-never land!
He wired up a new plug for me, using the old plug that's now behind the cabinets:
And here are the finished cabinets. They are made of maple wood and birch plywood doors. That's aluminum flashing trim between the cabinets and it goes well with the trim that we have on the other cabinets! I'm amazed at how well the wood matches what we already have.
We went to the Blessing of the Boats party at Harold & Kathy's on Friday afternoon. It was great fun, with 10 of us going down the river from Harold's to Paris Park in kayaks and canoes. The river was high and fast and the day was, while not sunny, also not too hot or cold and not rainy. :) There was a wonderful picnic afterwards, and music around the fire.
We've been parked at Jack's house for the past few days, while he has been working on the cabinets. As he's done that, I've been working in the house. I got one countertop in the kitchen cleared and cleaned. I've cleared out the buffet and part of the dining table. Because we don't know yet what to do with all the stuff, I'm making piles, organizing the randomness a bit, and tossing the outright garbage, outdated food, and things that have been chewed up by rodents.
He built a cover for the "nose" part of the floor, so that our stuff wouldn't get sucked into never-never land!
He wired up a new plug for me, using the old plug that's now behind the cabinets:
And here are the finished cabinets. They are made of maple wood and birch plywood doors. That's aluminum flashing trim between the cabinets and it goes well with the trim that we have on the other cabinets! I'm amazed at how well the wood matches what we already have.
We went to the Blessing of the Boats party at Harold & Kathy's on Friday afternoon. It was great fun, with 10 of us going down the river from Harold's to Paris Park in kayaks and canoes. The river was high and fast and the day was, while not sunny, also not too hot or cold and not rainy. :) There was a wonderful picnic afterwards, and music around the fire.
We've been parked at Jack's house for the past few days, while he has been working on the cabinets. As he's done that, I've been working in the house. I got one countertop in the kitchen cleared and cleaned. I've cleared out the buffet and part of the dining table. Because we don't know yet what to do with all the stuff, I'm making piles, organizing the randomness a bit, and tossing the outright garbage, outdated food, and things that have been chewed up by rodents.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Fun on the Muskeegon
What a great day today was! We awoke to -- get this -- SUNSHINE! First sun we've seen in several days. After Jack got back from his morning meeting, we loaded up the truck with more stuff and then drove it up to the Osceola County dump off 2-mile road. While it was $10 more to dump there, they are much easier to get to, and the access to the site was easier. Yucky job, nevertheless.
We took the truck and gassed her up, washed it, and returned it to Chuck and Kay. What a really important and wonderfully thoughtful thing they are doing, letting us use their truck! (And the answer to "why not just get a dumpster?" is this: It's over $300 for the first WEEK, and then a daily charge thereafter. As long as we would need it, it just wouldn't be practical .. not for this job.)
After that, we came back to Ruby, changed and gathered some provisions, and headed back out. This time, we were off to Paris to meet some friends, and arrange logistics for kayaking!
We set sail and kayaked from Harold's house near Hersey down to Paris Park. Great fun on a fine day. While there were clouds, the temperature was perfect. The water was high and fast, and there actually were some small rapids in places. How I do love kayaking!
We made our way back up to Harold's with the kayaks on trailers, and then set up food for our feast. Brats on the grill, potatoes, salads, pie and cookies left us all happily full. The Tres Amigos (3 of the guys) played and sang, and a good time was enjoyed by all!
We took the truck and gassed her up, washed it, and returned it to Chuck and Kay. What a really important and wonderfully thoughtful thing they are doing, letting us use their truck! (And the answer to "why not just get a dumpster?" is this: It's over $300 for the first WEEK, and then a daily charge thereafter. As long as we would need it, it just wouldn't be practical .. not for this job.)
After that, we came back to Ruby, changed and gathered some provisions, and headed back out. This time, we were off to Paris to meet some friends, and arrange logistics for kayaking!
We set sail and kayaked from Harold's house near Hersey down to Paris Park. Great fun on a fine day. While there were clouds, the temperature was perfect. The water was high and fast, and there actually were some small rapids in places. How I do love kayaking!
We made our way back up to Harold's with the kayaks on trailers, and then set up food for our feast. Brats on the grill, potatoes, salads, pie and cookies left us all happily full. The Tres Amigos (3 of the guys) played and sang, and a good time was enjoyed by all!
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Should I Retire?
I got this question from a fellow in my Navion Yahoo group. He was wanting to hear opinions on this topic as he considers his own path. Here is my response:
Hi, JD!
I am writing from the other side. I mean.. I wish that I'd been able to convince my dear husband to retire and hit the road with me full-time sooner. Now, don't get me wrong; we had lots of travel time together. Michael and I traveled together for 25 years, going on month-long journeys across this country every year, in various RV's. We saw all four corners of the country, spending at least one night in every state of the union, except Alaska.
He'd promised that he'd retire when he was 59 1/2, but that day came and went and he did not retire. 62 came and went. Finally, he said that he'd retire on October 10, 2006. He was 63. But on August 15, 2006, we found out that he had a brain tumor. A malignant brain tumor -- the sort of thing that does not get better.
We had 14 more months together, full-time, since he was no longer able to work. We did continue to travel, although I was now doing all the driving, all the hooking and unhooking, and making all the arrangements. Just 6 months before he died, we traded our 38' RV in on our little Navion, and he and I traveled 8,000 miles in that, before he became too incapacitated to travel.
Now, don't be sorry for me, please. :) Michael and I had 25 wonderful years, and, while it was shortened, his life was happy and good. We were fortunate in so many ways.
My point in sharing this is to say, without hesitation, "DO IT." If you have things that you want to do, do them. Dance like no one's looking, because no one is. Say "I love you," more. Laugh all you can. Learn something new today. Look at each other more. Love each other. And, yes, retire. No one ever lay on his death bed saying, "I wish I'd spent more time at work.
Of course, we all are going to die. But don't die before reaching for that dream for yourself.
Retirement's like a long weekend. I daresay you don't get to the end of the weekend with relief, because you were bored over the weekend! The only people who are bored in retirement are those who are bored with work and life in general. Bored = boring. If you're interesting, you'll be interested, no matter what you do.
Good luck to you!
Hi, JD!
I am writing from the other side. I mean.. I wish that I'd been able to convince my dear husband to retire and hit the road with me full-time sooner. Now, don't get me wrong; we had lots of travel time together. Michael and I traveled together for 25 years, going on month-long journeys across this country every year, in various RV's. We saw all four corners of the country, spending at least one night in every state of the union, except Alaska.
He'd promised that he'd retire when he was 59 1/2, but that day came and went and he did not retire. 62 came and went. Finally, he said that he'd retire on October 10, 2006. He was 63. But on August 15, 2006, we found out that he had a brain tumor. A malignant brain tumor -- the sort of thing that does not get better.
We had 14 more months together, full-time, since he was no longer able to work. We did continue to travel, although I was now doing all the driving, all the hooking and unhooking, and making all the arrangements. Just 6 months before he died, we traded our 38' RV in on our little Navion, and he and I traveled 8,000 miles in that, before he became too incapacitated to travel.
Now, don't be sorry for me, please. :) Michael and I had 25 wonderful years, and, while it was shortened, his life was happy and good. We were fortunate in so many ways.
My point in sharing this is to say, without hesitation, "DO IT." If you have things that you want to do, do them. Dance like no one's looking, because no one is. Say "I love you," more. Laugh all you can. Learn something new today. Look at each other more. Love each other. And, yes, retire. No one ever lay on his death bed saying, "I wish I'd spent more time at work.
Of course, we all are going to die. But don't die before reaching for that dream for yourself.
Retirement's like a long weekend. I daresay you don't get to the end of the weekend with relief, because you were bored over the weekend! The only people who are bored in retirement are those who are bored with work and life in general. Bored = boring. If you're interesting, you'll be interested, no matter what you do.
Good luck to you!
Monday, June 08, 2009
Pitter Patter
This is the color of the grass and leaves where we are, in Paris Park, just north of Big Rapids. This was a lazy day for us, as we awoke to rain, falling heavily onto Ruby's roof, creating small lakes in the grass around us.
We've had a good weekend. On Saturday, we participated in the church's "work day," and stayed busy till about noon. I mostly trimmed trees and tore out vines around the edge of the parking lot. Today I can feel this in my arms! After the work, we all went to Pizzeria Vivo -- that new Italian place! It was fabulous again.
After that, we went out to "the house," where we did more work in the garage/workshop. Jack was flattening out the rails and stiles for the cabinet that he's making for Ruby's cabover area. I also did a load of clothes, and pulled stuff out of one of the cabinets in the kitchen. Urf. There were some VERY old spices in there. At this rate, it'll take me another 3 weeks just to get through the kitchen.
Sunday was church and then a potluck to honor Pastor Jon's 30th anniversary of his ordination. He is much-loved here and it was a happy occasion!
It was beginning to look rainified, so we decided to go to a movie in downtown Big Rapids. Night at the Museum II was playing, and we heard it was good, so off we went. $12.50 for matinee tickets. And ... are you sitting down? LOL it was $13.00 for 2 bags of popcorn. Just popcorn. And it wasn't even all that good. Sheesh. Jack says "That won't happen again!"
Last evening, we played dominoes till we were tired of it. We both love Mexican Train. :)
Thank goodness the rain held out till today, when it's been coming down in buckets nearly all day! We've just hung around here, mostly. Jack made a plan for Annette's deck and then we put together a materials list. Then we went shopping at Lowe's and Menard's to see who's got the best stuff and the best prices at this time. (they vary.) Looks like Menard's is gonna win, Annette! You DO have a Menard's down there, don't you? (Yes, looking at Menards.com, I find that there are a couple that are close! :))
We've had a good weekend. On Saturday, we participated in the church's "work day," and stayed busy till about noon. I mostly trimmed trees and tore out vines around the edge of the parking lot. Today I can feel this in my arms! After the work, we all went to Pizzeria Vivo -- that new Italian place! It was fabulous again.
After that, we went out to "the house," where we did more work in the garage/workshop. Jack was flattening out the rails and stiles for the cabinet that he's making for Ruby's cabover area. I also did a load of clothes, and pulled stuff out of one of the cabinets in the kitchen. Urf. There were some VERY old spices in there. At this rate, it'll take me another 3 weeks just to get through the kitchen.
Sunday was church and then a potluck to honor Pastor Jon's 30th anniversary of his ordination. He is much-loved here and it was a happy occasion!
It was beginning to look rainified, so we decided to go to a movie in downtown Big Rapids. Night at the Museum II was playing, and we heard it was good, so off we went. $12.50 for matinee tickets. And ... are you sitting down? LOL it was $13.00 for 2 bags of popcorn. Just popcorn. And it wasn't even all that good. Sheesh. Jack says "That won't happen again!"
Last evening, we played dominoes till we were tired of it. We both love Mexican Train. :)
Thank goodness the rain held out till today, when it's been coming down in buckets nearly all day! We've just hung around here, mostly. Jack made a plan for Annette's deck and then we put together a materials list. Then we went shopping at Lowe's and Menard's to see who's got the best stuff and the best prices at this time. (they vary.) Looks like Menard's is gonna win, Annette! You DO have a Menard's down there, don't you? (Yes, looking at Menards.com, I find that there are a couple that are close! :))
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
