Our new house ...

We did our final walk-through yesterday and closed on the house today ... yay! I was surprised and so thrilled to see that the previous owners actually planted flowers for us -- is that a generous gesture, or what? They planted beautiful petunias in the front beds. Also, the azalea bushes are starting to bloom, and a rose bush on one end of the house is in full bloom. I am just totally jazzed -- the house looks so nice.

Here's a picture:

Cleaning the refrigerator ... ugh!

So I’ve been busy today cleaning the fridge. And I mean taking the drawers out, cleaning inside the little grooves and rubber gasket thingies all around it, scrubbing down the shelves and door compartments, etc. Deep cleaning. And you know? For someone who felt reasonably good about her housekeeping abilities (not anywhere near perfect, mind you, but not living in a pigsty either) – this is a shock. My refrigerator was disgusting! “Eeeeeuuuwwww” is the first word that comes to mind. It has taken repeated, and I mean repeated, spraying and scrubbing to get it clean. Sheesh……..how long has it been since I deep cleaned the fridge? I mean, besides just swiping it down? Hmmmmmmmmm….. Well, Bush was in the White House, although I couldn’t swear it was his second term. Sad, isn't it? …so sad.

Packing continues. Good Lord, where did all this stuff come from and how did we have it all inside this small house?

My eating has been clean this week. Low carb, plenty of protein and the majority of my carbs coming from low-starch veggies – broccoli, cauliflower, greens, cabbage, green beans, etc. We’ve got a busy, busy ten days coming up, and I hope I can keep this kind of eating throughout the moving and settling-in process.

I've been busy!

It’s been a nice evening. I made roasted chicken leg/thigh quarters and turnip greens…very tasty and low carb. I’m back on the wagon, so to speak, and trying to do better with my eating. Things are in a state of disarray and upheaval here at home, with packing boxes and crates up to our eyeballs. I hate the mess and feeling of chaos, but I know it’s an inescapable part of the moving process.

I’ve been calling all the people and companies who need to have our new address: utility company, internet provider, homeowners insurance, satellite company, newspaper, bank, and on and on… It’s a long list!

We’re getting really, really excited. Two weeks from tomorrow we will spend the first night in our new house. Remember Jeannie (“I Dream of Jeannie”)? Wish I could blink and we would be all moved in and settled!

Here's a shot of my azaleas blooming.

What I've been reading lately ...

If you’ve been a follower of my blog for very long, you know I’m a big reader. Well, I’ve been reading some really good books lately and thought I’d share them.

I discovered Sandra Dallas several months ago and have enjoyed her books so much. The one I read most recently is called The Diary of Mattie Spenser and it is a fictional diary that a pioneer woman in the 1860’s writes, telling about her life – the hardships and joys – in the Colorado Territory. From the first page, I was completely enthralled by Mattie; the story seems so real and true to what life must have been like in those days. I have felt this way about every Sandra Dallas book I’ve read, and I look forward to reading more.

I just finished a really fun book by Marjorie Ford, The Diary of an American Au Pair, which is sort of The Nanny Diaries goes to Scotland. It was funny and very escapist – chick lit at its best. Another “diary,” but a completely different kind.

I’m in the middle of A Lion Called Christian by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall. This is the story behind that youtube video that was going around a couple years ago about the guys who raised a lion cub in London, then set it free in Africa, and their reunion with the lion in Africa a year later. I loved the video when it arrived in my email inbox. And I just happened to catch a documentary on Animal Planet a couple weeks ago that gave a lot more background and information about Christian and the two guys who raised him and loved him enough to set him free. Anyway, this book makes me feel good. I love animal stories and I love when people do the right thing. So it’s a win-win.

I also have to admit, I’ve been on the Janet Evanovich website, and she has the first chapter or so of her latest Stephanie Plum book, Finger Lickin’ Fifteen. I love, love, love the Stephanie Plum books and cannot wait for this one to come out in June. I also love how she puts “teasers” on her website, which totally suck me in and make me want the book even more.

I’ve read the first book in the Twilight series and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. So, I’ve ordered the second one off half.com and will start down that road.

I have the latest in the Diane Mott Davidson series about a caterer (Goldy Schultz) who cooks up a storm and also solves murders in her spare time. It’s called Fatally Flaky. I love those books and actually made a couple of the recipes in some of the early ones.

Guess that’s it for now. Oh, and Steve says half the moving truck will be filled with boxes of books. (He’s as big of a reader as I am.)

A quiet Sunday evening

I’m sitting here on a quiet Sunday evening in my big recliner with my laptop, window open just a little, enjoying a cool breeze. It rained earlier and will rain again tonight, but it’s not at the moment. Boxes and crates are piled up next to the chair and in front of the rolltop desk that sits in our living room. We’ve packed about a dozen large boxes/crates this weekend and have a lot more to go.

Boots, my sweet and skittish kitty, is not at all happy about the addition of all these boxes and all the activity surrounding them. He knows something is up and hates change. In fact, change scares him to death. (I sort of know how he must feel.) I probably won’t be able to find Boots for about a week after we get him moved into the new house.

Chance, on the other hand, has been a little hyper (more than usual), which is his typical reaction to any sort of hoopla. He loves any and all activity and will love our new house. He will love his new yard and sniffing all the new smells out there and will love putting his scent on top of all those smells. It's a dog thing.

Here are shots of both of them tonight. Boots is sitting on his kitty perch with his nose stuck under the window sill. Chance’s is a little blurry, but it’s hard to pin down a moving target…

Happy Easter

Have a happy and blessed Easter, and to my Jewish friends, a joyous Passover.

It's been a long time ...

Sorry, Vikki (and everyone else); I know I’ve been AWOL for a long time.

Things have been busy in my little corner of the world. My biggest news is: we bought a new house! We close April 30th and will move the first week of May. It’s in a really great neighborhood and we’ll have a lot more room and a lot of nice extras. It’s got a beautiful Bradford Pear tree in the front yard and a huge oak tree on the side. Then there’s another flowering tree in the far corner of the back yard; I’m not sure, but I think it’s a cherry tree. How cool is that? Speaking of trees, I will miss my big pecan tree in our back yard; it has kept me supplied with pecans for all the years I’ve been here.

I spent today packing. It’s amazing how much we have accumulated in 12 years of living in this small house … and that with us remaining very conscious of our space limitations. I hate a cluttered house, so it’s been an ongoing effort to minimize. But even with that, we have a lot of stuff.

My health issues are better. I’m on two different medicines for fibromyalgia, and they have made a big difference. I’ve also gotten several massages, which help my neck and shoulders, and feel so good and so … indulgent. I love getting them.

I am so far off-track right now in my eating. I have nothing to say for myself... I hope to get back on track soon. But probably not until after the move.

Here's a picture of the new place.