Coming up roses

Our joints are creaking (ok, maybe just mine!) and a happy tiredness greeted us this morning after a long weekend of last minute packing, loading and unloading, and digging through our boxed-up life for our things. But we feel blessed with a beautiful new home that we have and will continue to work on for years to come, and one that we hope to fill with memories that will far outnumber our piles and piles of "stuff". Here's a peek at some of the flowers blooming in some of the corners outside, more photos to come! (I took some initial move-in pics yesterday but am still hunting for the cords so I can transfer them from the camera to the computer!)

Strange sayings

People (of all ages) say the darndest things, don't they?

Yesterday morning I walk into the new location of the yoga studio that I've been going to for a couple of years and want to take in the unknown surroundings yet I'm somewhat thrown in observing the height of the person ahead of me signing in at the reception desk - a younger guy with longish hair pulled back by a bandanna, and a hiker's backpack slung over his shoulder along with his yoga mat - not an uncommon sight at such an establishment. He half turns and says "good morning" and I reciprocated like a good fellow yogi should :). At a smidge over 5'3" I'm not really a great judge of height, but I'd have to guess that this particular gentleman was nearly 7 feet tall - I noticed when he stretched his hands up above his head in class he was mere inches away from the ceiling! And if that weren't enough, because we ended up in class next to each other, I couldn't help but notice that his toenails were painted - the same color as my own! (my color "Wicked" is in the pic, notice the packing materials in the background so yes I did get some house work done too!) The minute class was over he turns to me and says "well, that was lovely", and all I could do was smile demurely (I hope), grab my things and leave the room before I burst into giggles! Thank goodness I wasn't there with a friend or all hope would be lost. That was even better than the young couple at a previous class who felt the need to hold hands during a move called child's pose, seriously folks.

Other random sayings from the last couple of weeks:

-I'm in the checkout line of our local grocery Nino's, and when I hand over the latest weekly edition of Crain's Detroit Business to read over lunch, the young female cashier squeals "Oh, that's a funny magazine!". Say what?!?
-I'm at a meeting for church, and the person leading is going around introducing everyone around the table and he stops at me and says "I'm sorry, every time I look at you I want to say 'aloha'!" Turns out Aloha is the name of another Filipino woman who goes to our church, but from the puzzled looks on a few people's faces it was clear that not everyone knew that, LOL. Just another tidbit to add to all of the mixups and crazy Asian comments that myself, my sister Aimee and our friend Kim (holla cousin Kim Kim!) who all attend there get frequently.
-And my favorite: while volunteering at Central Detroit Christian several weeks ago the kids were practicing their songs and while I'm standing in between two second graders because they were having some challenges behaving (ahem), in the middle of the song one of them is poking my arm and I whisper "Stop it, what is it?" and he says "why do you smell like that?" and I reply "smell like what?" half horrified/half frustrated and he says, looking up at me with no small amount of wonder, "you smell like a banana split!!" Apparently thanks to my application of vanilla/coconut Victoria's Secret spray, I unwittingly unleashed the sugar-spun fantasies of a 7-year-old boy. Not exactly what I was going for, but I have done worse! :)

Christmas in June

We were telling some friends yesterday that over the weekend I spent some time re-opening some wedding gifts that have been hibernating in storage for a year and a half, and one commented that it was like Christmas in June! Indeed. Mostly they were items like platters and various kitchen items that we simply didn't have room for. Actually, in the picture you can see a long thin box sticking out in the background and that contained blinds that I was supposed to be installing (see small stepladder to the left) but I was getting really frustrated so instead I plowed through the gifts :). So thanks for the distraction, the gifts are lovely - again!

Counting down

These days my head is filled with numbers from my scribbles of "house notes" that I've been keeping on hand as I am continually drawn back again and again to our trusty local Lowe's store : 2 bathroom vanities, 4 mirrors, 12 switchplates, 14 light fixtures, 46 outlet covers, etc.   I even keep a mini-tape measure in my purse in case I need to quickly calculate whether new blinds or a refrigerator will fit into a certain space!  I've definitely learned some things through the process as well, like how to force my pen to the paper when writing checks for the plumber, painter, electrician, carpet guy, lumber place and general contractors :).  Trust me when I say that discussing different types of paint, toliet wax ring sizes, sanded vs. non-sanded grout, subtle differences between brands and models of new appliances and sound levels of bathroom exhaust fans are not things I normally chat about, but I have found that even in unfamiliar territory if the choices are fairly limited and explained plainly, I'm able to arrive at decisions pretty quickly (something that the hubs can appreciate about me - for better or worse!).

Our move date is now officially June 12th, a little later than we originally thought but finally on the horizon yet we're still scrambling to get everything organized and packed. I am grateful for the unexpected gift of time I have right now to do these things and coordinate the contractors we've had working on the new place, and soon enough it will be time to get serious about the job hunt.   But in the meantime I am enjoying my current home project manager position, and I promise I will post some before and after pictures of the changes we've made here and there to make the house our own, though of course that will be an ongoing and neverending process!

 

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The Fields I Used To Roam

Today is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. For most of my life this has meant one thing - watching or listening to the Indianapolis 500. I lived in Indianapolis from the ages of three to thirteen, and returned to Indiana for college. Living in Indy, the 500 was blacked out locally, so we listened to the 500 on the radio. Its hard to describe what the 500 meant for us back then. It was kind of like listening to Ernie Harrwell call the Tigers games on the radio - except that the entire baseball season happened on one Sunday.

I love the tradition of the race - the Purdue All-American marching band, the national anthem, the invocation, Taps, Jim Nabors singing Back Home Again in Indiana (not that I also have that song on my iPod), and a member of the Hulman family saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!"

It's been twelve years since I lived in Indiana, and as the years have passed and after the split of IndyCar and Champ Car, I no longer follow IndyCar racing, and I don't care very much about the actual race. But I still put the race on the DVR, if for no other reason than to watch the pre-race ceremony. I still love some Jim Nabors. I love my life in Detroit - I don't dream about the moonlight on the Wabash nor do I dream about my Indiana home. But I think I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the tradition of that Sunday in May.

Shop at Kroger??

Many of you know that I sit on the board of Judson Center www.judsoncenter.org, a local nonprofit that provides services in the areas of adoption & foster care, autism, mental health counseling, supported employment, family preservation, respite and residential living for children and families in 10 counties in and around metro Detroit.  If you shop at Kroger grocery stores and use a Kroger Plus card, please consider registering your account to provide Judson Center a percentage of Kroger profits from your purchases as a part of their community rewards program (see below for the easy instructions).  Thank you for your support!!

Register an existing card:
-Log into www.krogercommunityrewards.com
-Sign in at the top of the page right under the "welcome" link
-Click on the "my account" link near the top
-Scroll down to "Community Rewards information"
-Click "Edit community rewards information"
-Under "Find your organization" type in Judson Center or enter organization #90406
-Click the button (2) to select Judson Center then click (3) save changes

Register a new card (card must be used once before registering):
-Click on "register" at the top of the www.krogercommunityrewards.com page right under the "welcome" link
-Register your card under "New Online Customer"
-Complete registration and log back in following the directions for existing cardholders.

Lucky me

This is what I was thinking about this weekend, not just because we got possession/keys to our new house 3 weeks earlier than originally expected, but because last night after I had passed out on the couch after dinner simply beat from two days of loading and unloading a Uhaul truck (and that didn't even include anything from the condo, just stuff being stored in our friend Sarah's basement and a storage unit! luckily the movers will do the rest) I discovered that my equally tired husband had unloaded the dishwasher, washed the sheets AND remade the bed - as a bonus I woke up to him watching a Star Wars movie - boy, do I love this man! :) And this picture is from last week one evening when he offered to make the banana bread after I set out the ingredients because I was still feeling sick, this was his second attempt at following my recipe, and it was even better than the last time! Thanks, hon.