A Week of Goodbyes

This week is bitter-sweet for us. We are getting more excited to get on the road to Seattle and see our friends and family in between. But we have had and are going to have to say goodbye to friends here.

Two weekends ago was my last concert set with the COC. My soprano friends took me out after the Saturday concert to say goodbye.

This past Saturday, John's work friends threw us a going away party. We played "Guitar Hero" (which I realized I am too snobby (more like classically trained) to appreciate) and were surprised with gifts of wine, a gift certificate to a Sushi restaurant in Seattle, a bike rescue kit, and John's favorite game: Settlers of Catan.

Sunday our small group at church gave us a wonderful surprise brunch and gifts to help us on the road. It was really unexpected and so nice of them all. They are also going to help us load the truck on Saturday. We love being in a church that is so real, caring, and involved with each other. We will really miss that. We also met the Griswolds for lunch at Red Robin. Andrea has been such a great friend to me here. I will miss our monthly lunches and having someone close by that I can really talk to.

Tuesday I met my COC friend Debbie for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Yum! We had a really nice long lunch and dragged out the goodbyes. I will never forget the first time I met Debbie. It was my first concert at Blossom with the Chorus. She was about 8 months pregnant with Adam and as soon as the concert was over, she elbowed me and said "Get out of my way, I have to go to the bathroom!" It's funny now, but kinda wasn't then. John played his last raquetball game at Case. After, he brought his 2 friends home for burgers, dessert, and to play his Settlers game, which he of course won.

Wednesday we met a couple from our small group at The Melt for dinner. Joe & Patti treated us, although they had never been before. It was the only place we wanted to go for one last time, so we introduced them to it. I'm sure they will be back, since they loved it.

Saturday morning we will get our truck and various friends will be in and out to help us load it and help us clean out our fridge. We are making pizza, which is a great inducement by itself!

Then Sunday we hit the road. We will be stopping in Ann Arbor, MI and Coon Rapids, MN to see some of our friends. Then Billings and on to Seattle by April 1. We will have come full circle and finally be in the proper time-zone.

Packing Helper

We decided to stop with the renovations, as the work we have been doing is worth more than the house. So now it's on to packing. I had already packed up and sorted through a lot of things. The Salvation Army came last week to get most everything we need to get rid of. It's amazing how much junk one (or two) can collect in just 3 years. I'm trying to pace myself now so that we don't end up sitting for a week in boxes with nothing to eat off of and no clothes to wear, etc.

Icky likes to think he's helping by jumping into the next box I was about to use. At this rate, I'll never be finished!

What's Going on Over There?

We've been absentee bloggers for a while now. Since our last post we've been quite busy.

February 25 snowed us in.

We had three wonderful days of 60 degrees and then this. I know it's still winter, but really, that's not fair. We didn't go anywhere for a couple of days. The roads were really bad, lots of snow and ice. We had to walk down to Whole Foods for a few necessities and to get us all out for a bit, the dogs were going stir-crazy. I looked like a bag lady all bundled up, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Then, I started tackling the wallpaper.

This room had 3 layers on the walls. I was able to pull the first layer off easily in sheets, but the other layers would not budge. So, I broke my vow and just painted right over them. It's a nice antique white and looks so much better. The doors in each bedroom are all wallpapered too, which is just weird. We took them down, de-papered, and painted them the same color. I've been in the second bedroom for nearly a week removing it's four layers of paper. It will take another week to texture, prime, and paint. Hopefully I will be able to get to our bedroom before we leave. The gold flocked wallpaper is screaming to be thrown away. Of course, there is still so much more we could do, but it's just not going to happen. I have also done most of the packing; we're down to the last minute necessities. Less than 3 weeks to go. I fluctuate between feeling like I have all the time in the world and panicking because there are only 18 days (and counting) until we load the truck.

We are pretty sure we have found a place to live in Seattle. A nice townhouse about 2.5 miles north of John's office. A major draw is that it is in a residential area instead of in a busy downtown area. We all will be much happier there.

This week is the last concert week of my tenure with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. We are performing Dvorak's Te Deum. It is the only thing I will really miss about living here. What a privilege it has been to sing in one of the best choruses in the world with, arguably, the best orchestra in the world. We will be wrapping it up Saturday night with my going away "party" at NightTown.

John is finishing up his experiments and papers at Case, working part-time there now and full time for General UI. I'm amazed he's still standing with all the hours he's been putting in these last six weeks. The purple bags under his eyes are giving him away. Soon he will be working a "normal" 40 hour week.

In conclusion, sorry for the sporadic posts. I will try to be better about keeping you all up to date with everything as we head West. FINALLY!!!