It's been a very busy last couple weeks. We've torn up the basement, and repainted everything from ceiling to floor. It's been a lot of hard work, and a lot of missed hours of sleep, but I think it's going to be worth it. Our house will be officially on the market Friday evening, just in time for us to leave for our trip to Costa Rica. It will be hard to communicate to our realtor while there, but we will try to touch base once a day or so to see what progress has been made. Our realtor seems to think we will get multiple offers fairly quickly. She also has said she thinks we will end up in a bidding war...which would be wonderful. The quicker we get this place under contract, the quicker we can close and not have to worry about a property in another state. We've already had to do that one before. It's really not that fun!
So Saturday early morning we will be flying from DCA to MIA. Then to SJO. Once we land in San Jose, Costa Rica, we will be meeting Jamie and the family at the airport, picking up our rental vehicle, stopping at Jamie's place to take a look around and then driving to the hotel. All in all after landing, we will probably be on the road for 5 hours. We will see if that estimate is accurate. Mike and I have no specific plans while there. I think it will just be nice to relax for a while after such a hectic last few weeks/months depending how you think of it. Jamie and the family will be joining us at the hotel starting Monday-Thursday for a little mini-vacation of their own. When I talked to her on the phone the other day, she seemed excited just to relax on the beach. I'm not sure how Allison will feel about this plan, but Jamie is all about it.
Once we fly back from Costa Rica the following Sunday early morning, we will be home for that day and then fly out to Beaumont, TX on Monday morning. We will be searching, and hopefully finding, our next home while away. Our goal is to have a contract before we fly back home the next Sunday. It's going to be another crazy couple weeks, but I think they will be productive.
The kitties are going to be boarded together away from home. It's the best idea for us at this time since the house will be on the market and this is really the only way the house can be shown while we are gone. I know they will be scared for a while, but they will all be together, and the room they will be staying in is HUGE! And it looks very comfy as well. There's even a cat tower already in there. Hopefully they will feel right at home quickly. I feel so guilty leaving them.
OK. There's my update. I most likely will not have another update until I return from both trips, but the cyber world may get lucky! Anything is possible!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Anniversary/Independence Day Weekend
On July 3rd, Mike and I had our 2 year anniversary. I had planned to surprise him with a day at the shooting range, but I was informed that he had made us plans to go away Thursday night-Saturday morning. Of course, he didn't tell me where we were going. All I knew was that I was to pack some hiking clothes, a bathing suit and something nice. So, we left Thursday late afternoon to travel someplace. Three hours later, we were in Staunton, VA near part of Shenandoah National Park. We stayed at what was labeled a "small" hotel which was several historic homes turned into hotel rooms. They also included homemade breakfast in the morning, so it was almost like a bed and breakfast, but with multiple houses. They upgraded us to a suite so our room was two times bigger than we could ever utilize with just the two of us. The building we stayed in was built in 1912. There oldest house was from 1809. Pretty neat and historic...and clean!
The city of Staunton was very small but had a very cute downtown historic district. Everything closed early with most restaurants only open until 9pm-ish. But we were both surprised to see quite a lot of places to eat for such a small city. And there were some pretty nice places too. Since the first night Mike didn't have any specific plans for us, we just went out to dinner to this very nice eclectic place that gets all their ingredients from local growers. They made me a special vegetarian dish of fried green tomatoes, beets, carrot puree, goat cheese, marinated trumpet mushrooms and small onions. These things were not all mixed together but plated in a nice arrangement. It was very yummy.
The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel. I ordered the buckwheat waffle with fruit and Mike got the apple and cheese quiche. My waffle was very good and Mike said his quiche was yummy too. We then made the trip out of Shenandoah to a swimming hole that Mike had found online. The drive wasn't very far, but some of the roads we were on were in the middle of nowhere. The directions said to "turn left at the neighborhood watch sign". Yes, that is where we were! After finding the trail head for the hike to the water hole, we got our stuff together, put on our bug spray and started out. The hike was only 1.7 miles so we knew it wouldn't take us too long. 35 minutes later we were at the "primo" swimming hole as the website called it. Since the temperature outside wasn't more than in the mid-70's, and the creek was shaded, I knew this water was going to be cold. And boy was I right. Just putting our feet in felt like they were going to fall off. But after walking around for a few minutes in the water you would get used to the cold. I estimated the temperature of the water to be in the 50's. It was quite chilly. My wonderful husband who had the plan to go swimming, decided against this when he made it into the water up to his thighs, and they told him not to go any further. However, his usually timid wife decided to go for it and swam in the water up to her head for maybe 5 minutes or so. This was definitely the coldest water I've ever been in. At first, my whole body stung. It felt almost like a burning sensation. But after a while, although I knew it was cold, I didn't feel cold. It's interesting how our minds work when we are in uncomfortable situations. I almost wanted to do an experiment to see how long it would be until I started feeling the beginning signs of hypothermia and started slurring my words, but I decided against it. After getting out of the water, that is when I started to feel cold. My jaw started chattering and I started shivering. So just like Bear Gribbell (or whatever his name is on that survivor show) I started doing jumping jacks. And then I put on the clothes I came in with. By the time we started walking back, I was warmed back up and fine. It was quite the experience. And I did something my Marine hubby was too chicken to do.
Once we returned to the hotel, we relaxed for an hour or so and then took showers and went to dinner at this Italian restaurant. It was good, but nothing too spectacular. Then we went to the Shakespeare Theater in town and saw Much Ado About Nothing. It was a cute show even though the first half was spent trying to translate what they were saying. By the second half, Mike and I both were able to understand their speech much better.
We were both very tired so we just went back to the hotel and went to sleep early so we would be able to get up early and make our way back to Springfield so I could take care of the Petsmart kitties around 9am. It only took us a little over 2 hours to get back, so leaving the hotel around 6:30am worked out fine. I was tired taking care of the kitties this morning, and it didn't help my condition when one kitty decided to bite me very hard and scratch up my hand when I put him back in his cage. Not a very nice cat at all. I bandaged myself up and kept on cleaning, although in my head I was wondering if I was going to need to go to the doctor for this one.
After my Petsmart escapades, Mike and I worked on the house after taking a well deserved 2 hour nap. Then we got ready to go watch the July 4th DC fireworks overlooking the city. We went to the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, VA which has a great view of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and the Capitol. Another 50,000+ people had the same idea. But even with that many people around, it didn't seem overly crowded. No one was pushing and shoving, and we even had space to move around a little bit once we found our spot. And, in my opinion, it was worth the effort. The fireworks display overlooking the National Mall was great. It was a different experience to see fireworks in our nation's capitol. I could picture the British troops burning down Washington in 1812. I'm glad we fought the people to be there. We went to a late dinner after the fireworks show to try and allow the masses to die down a bit on the Metro before heading back, but even after waiting over an hour, there were still Metro trains stuffed full of people. We probably waited to get on a train for 30 minutes before we lucked out and they opened up an empty train that wasn't in use to bring us home. We probably would have been waiting there a lot longer and would have been smelling the people's underarms next to us on the train, if they hadn't opened up the empty one.
Sunday was a work day. We got up ate breakfast and started painting. Around 1pm, a guy I have previously given a couple of my fish to, came over to get the rest of my fish. I figured it was time to break down the tank to get ready for the move. And this guy has 15 huge tanks so I know my fishies are going to a good home. After he picked up the fish, we painted some more and then went to Home Depot to try and set up our new carpet installation. We decided to try a few other places before we go with Home Depot because in my opinion, they have too many stipulations that we don't need. They have a warranty, but we are moving so we won't need the warranty. It costs an extra $0.56 per square foot for them to remove and haul away the old carpet. That will almost double the cost. Anyways, I wasn't convinced this was the place we could find the best deal, so we are still looking. We are getting to the point where we will need to find a place quick though, because we are running out of time. With our trip to Costa Rica coming up in a week and a half, and then our trip to Beaumont following that, we need to get this carpet installed by next week. We hope to get the house on the market by mid-July.
Oh, and my hand that was bitten by that cat, well, it started getting infected. There was a 2 inch diameter around the bite wound that was red and slightly swollen. It was extremely tender to the touch. I had planned to go to the doctor today to get on some antibiotics, but when I woke up this morning, the redness has significantly decreased and the wound is finally healing and not looking pussy. Thank you immune system for saving my hand!
The city of Staunton was very small but had a very cute downtown historic district. Everything closed early with most restaurants only open until 9pm-ish. But we were both surprised to see quite a lot of places to eat for such a small city. And there were some pretty nice places too. Since the first night Mike didn't have any specific plans for us, we just went out to dinner to this very nice eclectic place that gets all their ingredients from local growers. They made me a special vegetarian dish of fried green tomatoes, beets, carrot puree, goat cheese, marinated trumpet mushrooms and small onions. These things were not all mixed together but plated in a nice arrangement. It was very yummy.
The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel. I ordered the buckwheat waffle with fruit and Mike got the apple and cheese quiche. My waffle was very good and Mike said his quiche was yummy too. We then made the trip out of Shenandoah to a swimming hole that Mike had found online. The drive wasn't very far, but some of the roads we were on were in the middle of nowhere. The directions said to "turn left at the neighborhood watch sign". Yes, that is where we were! After finding the trail head for the hike to the water hole, we got our stuff together, put on our bug spray and started out. The hike was only 1.7 miles so we knew it wouldn't take us too long. 35 minutes later we were at the "primo" swimming hole as the website called it. Since the temperature outside wasn't more than in the mid-70's, and the creek was shaded, I knew this water was going to be cold. And boy was I right. Just putting our feet in felt like they were going to fall off. But after walking around for a few minutes in the water you would get used to the cold. I estimated the temperature of the water to be in the 50's. It was quite chilly. My wonderful husband who had the plan to go swimming, decided against this when he made it into the water up to his thighs, and they told him not to go any further. However, his usually timid wife decided to go for it and swam in the water up to her head for maybe 5 minutes or so. This was definitely the coldest water I've ever been in. At first, my whole body stung. It felt almost like a burning sensation. But after a while, although I knew it was cold, I didn't feel cold. It's interesting how our minds work when we are in uncomfortable situations. I almost wanted to do an experiment to see how long it would be until I started feeling the beginning signs of hypothermia and started slurring my words, but I decided against it. After getting out of the water, that is when I started to feel cold. My jaw started chattering and I started shivering. So just like Bear Gribbell (or whatever his name is on that survivor show) I started doing jumping jacks. And then I put on the clothes I came in with. By the time we started walking back, I was warmed back up and fine. It was quite the experience. And I did something my Marine hubby was too chicken to do.
Once we returned to the hotel, we relaxed for an hour or so and then took showers and went to dinner at this Italian restaurant. It was good, but nothing too spectacular. Then we went to the Shakespeare Theater in town and saw Much Ado About Nothing. It was a cute show even though the first half was spent trying to translate what they were saying. By the second half, Mike and I both were able to understand their speech much better.
We were both very tired so we just went back to the hotel and went to sleep early so we would be able to get up early and make our way back to Springfield so I could take care of the Petsmart kitties around 9am. It only took us a little over 2 hours to get back, so leaving the hotel around 6:30am worked out fine. I was tired taking care of the kitties this morning, and it didn't help my condition when one kitty decided to bite me very hard and scratch up my hand when I put him back in his cage. Not a very nice cat at all. I bandaged myself up and kept on cleaning, although in my head I was wondering if I was going to need to go to the doctor for this one.
After my Petsmart escapades, Mike and I worked on the house after taking a well deserved 2 hour nap. Then we got ready to go watch the July 4th DC fireworks overlooking the city. We went to the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, VA which has a great view of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and the Capitol. Another 50,000+ people had the same idea. But even with that many people around, it didn't seem overly crowded. No one was pushing and shoving, and we even had space to move around a little bit once we found our spot. And, in my opinion, it was worth the effort. The fireworks display overlooking the National Mall was great. It was a different experience to see fireworks in our nation's capitol. I could picture the British troops burning down Washington in 1812. I'm glad we fought the people to be there. We went to a late dinner after the fireworks show to try and allow the masses to die down a bit on the Metro before heading back, but even after waiting over an hour, there were still Metro trains stuffed full of people. We probably waited to get on a train for 30 minutes before we lucked out and they opened up an empty train that wasn't in use to bring us home. We probably would have been waiting there a lot longer and would have been smelling the people's underarms next to us on the train, if they hadn't opened up the empty one.
Sunday was a work day. We got up ate breakfast and started painting. Around 1pm, a guy I have previously given a couple of my fish to, came over to get the rest of my fish. I figured it was time to break down the tank to get ready for the move. And this guy has 15 huge tanks so I know my fishies are going to a good home. After he picked up the fish, we painted some more and then went to Home Depot to try and set up our new carpet installation. We decided to try a few other places before we go with Home Depot because in my opinion, they have too many stipulations that we don't need. They have a warranty, but we are moving so we won't need the warranty. It costs an extra $0.56 per square foot for them to remove and haul away the old carpet. That will almost double the cost. Anyways, I wasn't convinced this was the place we could find the best deal, so we are still looking. We are getting to the point where we will need to find a place quick though, because we are running out of time. With our trip to Costa Rica coming up in a week and a half, and then our trip to Beaumont following that, we need to get this carpet installed by next week. We hope to get the house on the market by mid-July.
Oh, and my hand that was bitten by that cat, well, it started getting infected. There was a 2 inch diameter around the bite wound that was red and slightly swollen. It was extremely tender to the touch. I had planned to go to the doctor today to get on some antibiotics, but when I woke up this morning, the redness has significantly decreased and the wound is finally healing and not looking pussy. Thank you immune system for saving my hand!
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