Author: Sharon

My new home town is such a cute place in many ways, that I thought I’d take a few photos and share. This is the Babylon Building on Main Street.  Built originally in 1896 as the Babylon Hotel, it is a symbol of the rise of the merchant class. This building and the Wantz building were the most impressive of the towns Victorian style commercial buildings in the late 19th century.

So, the daughter called and said, “Mom, did you just cut and paste that description?”, and I had to admit that largely I did. Then she says, “You are a nerd.”

Is she new here? Duh!!

I mean I read the whole historical document on this building on file with the historical trust and truly the only thing I gleaned from it was that this building was something that was built by a local merchant to show his wealth and pride in his accomplishments. Nothing wrong with that in the slightest, and the building’s more significant value is it’s architectural style.. so… yeah… thus the copy and paste.

Maybe next time I post something like this I’ll write some kind of juicy fake history for it. Then I can track it 50 years later and see if it’s become part of the buildings “history”. Is that wrong, lol?

As I was digging through my boxes and unpacking, I found this journal that my daughter and I had used to help us understand one another during the “difficult years” of 13-17. Whenever one of us had an issue that we were having troubles sharing or expressing face to face, we would write a letter to the other in our journal.
When I pulled it out of the box and opened the cover, this is what I read.

To my Ma Dukes on her 41st Birthday…

Reflection:
The title of this book is Reflection
And in it
We will place a collection
of the memories
the good, the bad
and sometimes the ugly
Through tough times and arguments and fuss
we come out fine
The time we spend together
is cherished in my mind
Because I know you’re my mother forever
Even though I’m not perfect,
you’ve never given up on me
It makes it easy to see
That like mother, like daughter
we are a reflection
A reflection of each other

What a gift that was to find today. A piece of past, written for me to revisit and realize how wonderful my little girl is, how wonderful all my children are, and how blessed I’ve been by having them in my life. No matter what.

Years ago, when I was but a young thing, I was petrified by an ABC made for TV movie by Dan Curtis called, “Trilogy of Terror”, starring Karen Black.

As I recall, the lead character was given a little tikki doll as a gift, but the sweet little guy wasn’t exactly inanimate, had some sharp teeth and liked to play with knives.  He skittered around this woman’s home, attacking her from under furniture and kitchen tables. Eventually, she caught the little bastard and threw him in the oven. (something I’ve always dreamed of doing to the Pillsbury dough boy, btw) As I recall, while he bakes his “essence” or spirit is released from the little doll he’s been in and eventually makes it’s way into the female character, thus converting her to a bloodthirsty killer with jagged teeth.

Nice story, eh?

Well, today, a friend of mine presented me with a gift as a housewarming present. She’d asked what I wanted and I told her that a gargoyle would be good. I have a kitchen gargoyle, but since I have two flat surfaces at the bottom of the steps, I thought a gargoyle might be a good thing to go there or in the garden. My friend excitedly presented me with a white bag this morning and asked me to open my gift.

I opened the bag, drew out the box and opened it to shuffle around in the pink tissue paper and found a small doll whose mouth was stretched into a grimace and his teeth were razor sharp and plentiful. He had beady eyes and little horns on his head and while his tongue was rolled out and waiting for you ashes, he immediately took me back in time. ACK!!

Luckily, my friend knows me well enough to understand that while I loved the fact that she bought me a gift, the one she’d chosen because she thought he was “cute”, freaked me out a bit so she removed him from my presence. She wasn’t offended, but didn’t see the same need for my reaction. ( I even went in to the kitchen to check the box and make sure that little sucker was still in there. )

With the help of our friends, we’ve done it. All my belongings have been successfully reclaimed and are scattered about the house awaiting attention from me. However, some of them will just have to wait a bit.

The weekend before settlement, three angels came to my house, rolled up their sleeves and asked, “What do you need done!”  I can’t express my thanks and love enough to these ladies. Between that day and the next, the ladies, my husband and my eldest son managed to stuff a truck full of 25 years of our lives. Pizza and doughnuts may have been involved, but I’m not confirming any rumors of such! :0) By Sunday afternoon, I was saying farewell to the old house and thanking it for all the good times we’d had and heading off for the walk-through of the new home.

Even though it was a near herculean effort to back the truck up the driveway – it’s VERY steep – hubby did it. We made sure all was in order and then it was off to a hotel room for the night. The next day we sold the old home and awaiting settlement on the new one. When the appointed time arrived, we all gathered at the realtors office and politely waited for the title company to arrive. And waited. And waited. Seems the title company forgot our settlement and had to reschedule for later that night at 8pm. It was ok with us but it meant another night in a hotel.

Tuesday we were up and out early, eager to begin unloading at our new abode. Our old neighbor came to the rescue and helped us relieve the truck of most of the contents. (Thank you, Jesse!)

The rest of the week was a blur of boxes and people. The new house is like a new baby in our family. Everyone wanted to come by and take a peek around, which is great. We loved sharing our new home with our friends.

Truck is in the driveway and Sr. and Jr. already have it half filled. Furniture, bags and boxes are being regularly assessed for size and placement. Sr. swears this 28 foot truck will hold all our stuff, but Jr. keeps looking around dubiously.

Piper is being a really good girl. She’s sitting at the top of the steps on her carpet and staring out the wide open door. There really isn’t anything stopping her from bounding outside with her people, except years of training. I wonder how she’ll behave with a new front door. She’s going to go live with Jr once we empty the house so we can go to settlement and then unpack a bit. We thought that might decrease the stress for her.

This morning was one of the first mornings I slept in. I thought I’d be up with the crack of dawn, but I was so relaxed that all the hard stuff was done and this was just the fun part, that I took advantage of a few extra hours of sleep.

Even though we purged before setting the house for sale, there’s still just so much STUFF. I think I’m set for the second purge, which would be when I unpack. I mean, do I really need this that or the other? Especially stuff that’s been in the barn for a few months. We’ll see. I think I’ll be “unpacking” for a while.

I can’t believe that this time last year, I had written a blog for every day in the month of February.. or was it January? Ha! See, it’s been so crazed that I can’t even remember… or maybe it’s just being blond that does that to me? {It was March, btw}

I’ve surely been an absent blogger of late, both here and over on What Andy Does, which is a shared blog with my Hubby. No doubt you’ve seen that we are all in a tither because we’ve sold our house in which we’ve lived for 25 years and are embarking on a new adventure in a new home very soon. Everything comes to a head on February 27th, and then… just like that… it’ll be done. I’m hoping to have internet back up during next week, but that will depend on the cable company. Doesn’t it always?

Aside from all my worldly possessions either being stored in a barn or my living room, there have been a few other things going on.

1. I got a raise! Yep… I got a raise. I’m so happy about this.

2. Bessie passed away. I don’t think I wrote about this, but we had to put my sweet kitty down right after Christmas. Christmas was always her favorite time of the year. She’d sit on packages under the tree, or amongst the holiday greenery, the entire day. She had stopped eating and near the end and was shunning contact with people. I cried and cried, but then I remembered all the cuddly love time I had with her and I was better. From a tiny little ball that didn’t have her eyes open when she was given to me and I was her pseudo-mom, to the 18 years of kitty love and cuddles she’d given back, I was blessed to have had her in my world. She’s absent, but not really gone.

3. Paris planning has been a big thing lately. Even though I still haven’t finished my videos from Italy – and I know everyone is as sick of hearing they are coming as I am in saying they are coming – I’m now in negotiations for a tour of France, centering mostly in Paris. About 6 months after getting home from Italy, we started discussing the possibility of going to Paris. Immediately after that, I started seeing the Eiffel Tower EVERYWHERE!! In one day, at 5 different stores, I turn around and BAM! there would be another reference to France. Ok, Universe, I hear you… I have no problems with planning another trip.

4. Elijah and Carmina Burana – Because we can’t have a Spring without some kind of extra something going on. No complaints at all, since I like the bustle, but we are looking at a new cloning machine. We have Spring Concerts and guest performances in Elijah along with Carmina Burana all in one weekend, with times overlapping. Let me just say a HUGE thank-you to the volunteers in advance!!

So, the next time I check in, I’ll probably give you an update on how the move went and what changes are in store for the new house. It’s living in the 80’s and I’m coming to drag it into 20??, while I listen to music from the 80’s. Lol.

A bit ago, I did promise to write about 5 C’s and 2 F’s.

I got through the first 3 C’s about Carnegie Hall, Concerts and the Contract and 1 F, which was Franklin Institute, so that leaves me with Christmas, Cleaning and For Sale, which I think I’ll combine into one post so I don’t drag this on any longer than I have already. (I can hear the applause and sighs of relief already)

Besides, I have other blogs festering in my head that want to come out, but being the silly person I am, I feel I need to stick to my original plan.. even if it was dumb.

Without further ado:

Christmas – Nothing like talking about Christmas when you are almost to Valentine’s day, eh? Let’s just pretend I wrote this about 3 weeks ago. We don’t have to tell anyone otherwise.
This year was a bit different, since we were desperately CLEANING (that’s next) the house to put it up FOR SALE (and then that one), the holidays ended up being condensed into three days or so.

The day I baked – and loved it. I gave my kids the choice of cookies they’d get this year thinking I’d only have to make a batch or two because SURELY out of the 5 options I gave them, they’d all agree on a few. WHAT the hell was I thinking?! Of course they all wanted something different! So, I ended up making all 5 kinds and tasting all 5 kinds of batter and then all 5 kinds when they were fresh out of the oven and then all 5 kinds when they cooled, and then all 5 kinds as I packed them up, ’cause everyone knows that you can’t tell if it’s a GOOD cookie unless you taste them through every step.

The day I decorated – which amounted to minimal lights outside, about 5 figurines that were placed here and there, and our little faux tree. Mind you, I’d already packed the decorations, but I did have some little white lights on the tree. Looking at my sad little Charlie Brown tree, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went to the store to find plain balls.

Granted, it was a few days before Christmas, but you can always find balls, right? Wrong. Well, kinda wrong. I went to 3 different stores, but the balls I could find were either huge (We’ve got big balls…lol) or black, (WHO puts black balls on their Christmas tree?) or expensive. I wanted none of these. I was starting to become a bit disenfranchised, when I saw a package of gift tags that looked nice and large and had glitter. (who can resist glitter? certainly not moi!) Hanging next to the sparkly tag were two other packages of large and fairly matching gift tags, so I bought them. Since they were on clearance already, I think I paid about $2.00 for all three packages, each with 12 tags.

Then I found some iridescent do-it-yourself clear Christmas balls and had an idea. I could put a bit of water inside each ball, some glitter, swish it around and voila!- sparkly balls! (the best part is that actually worked!) So for under $10.00, I brought home my goodies and promptly decorated my little tree and I’m glad to report that it looked FANTASTIC!! It was one of the most coordinated and together trees I’d ever decorated and I was really proud of how it turned out.

Then on Christmas day, I had the kids over – the local ones at least – and it was the most chill Christmas morning ever. Maybe that had something to do with the Mimosas and Bloody Marys (is that an ironic drink on Christmas morning to anyone else, or is that just sick and twisted me?) we were partaking of, but either way, everyone was calm and happy and we ate while we opened gifts. It was really just perfect.

So there! I think I can officially say that my 3 days of Christmas were perfect.

CLEANING
Ok – after having lived for 25 years in the same place, and having raised 4 kids in that same place, packing up to leave can be a bit of a chore. Luckily (?) my parents had passed away a while ago and a neighbor had also passed away and both left me their houses and all their possessions to distribute and clear out. Thus, I’ve gotten pretty good at looking at what is necessary and what is cherished and what can just GO!

Hubby isn’t as blessed with this gift. He likes to keep everything and laments at giving any of it up. Packing for him was more like disowning old friends rather than the freeing feeling I was getting. He did a pretty good job of reducing his stockpile of ‘need to haves’, so I’m not complaining. I felt bad for him on most levels and on others I wanted him to understand that most of it is just stuff that you never look at, never use, and collects dust. Knowing where he came from, I understand his reluctance to let some things go, so I was really proud of him for getting as far as he did. The new house has lots of storage and space, so hopefully, while there will be plenty of room for him to keep what he has, he will focus more on the stuff he uses and enjoys.

FOR SALE
We put our house up on the market on the last day in December. In fact, on New Years’ Eve, we had the flooring guy finishing the last bit of sealant and poly coat on our freshly refinished floors at 11 pm. We spent our NYE on the couch, in coats, with all the windows and doors open to clear the fumes and let the poly dry. I don’t think we really needed the beer and we were all a bit dozy after spending so much time cleaning and packing.

It didn’t take long for us to get our first showing on Jan 2nd, and our first contract on Jan 5th. We were so grateful that 15 showings later and some negotiating, our house is now under contract. We have home inspections to do at the new house and for this one, but I don’t foresee any issues with either place. Currently, we are set for a late February settlement. How’s that for awesome? On the market and sold in about 3 weeks. I’m really thankful to Hubby and #2 and #4 for all their help in making this place shine the way it does!

That’s it!

My youngest moved to Pittsburgh today. We had moved her big items to her new apartment back in October so it wouldn’t be a hazard for her to be moving and trying to get bulky beds and such up exterior stairs during a snow storm. It was supposed to be a joke, but last night Pittsburgh ended up getting nearly a foot of snow, so I guess it was a good thing we did it the way we did.

Even with her big items gone, we still stuffed her little Kia full to the brim with clothes, personal items, cookies, holiday gifts and a toy box she saved from a fateful trip to the dump.

Things here have been rather manic, in that we have put our house up for sale, so all manner of things have gone on. For #4, this has been very difficult. Not only was she planning on moving to another state, she realized that when she walked out the door, it might be the last time she was in her childhood home. The other three have been out and on their own for a bit, so while sad to see their “home” sold, they are established elsewhere. She hadn’t set those roots yet. This meant she needed some special attention, which I was all too willing to give. And honestly, I needed special attention just as much as she did. My baby – MY LAST BABY – was leaving the nest.  I guess I can take off my bells now.

When I was a little girl, my mother tied bells to my shoes so she could find me when I wandered away, which I have a tendency to do – look! a sparkly thing OOooooo  This is a behavior that has persisted throughout my lifetime and I still wander off. Hubby is so tall, he can practically spot me aerially, but #4 is a small girl and she would panic when I wasn’t in sight. Thus, during this time when she needed attention, some of which was retail therapy, she brought me home a pair of bells for my shoes so she could find me while we were shopping. I still would hear her calling “MA!”, but she knew I wasn’t too far because she’d hear me jingling.

Now that she’s in another state, I guess I can take of my “training” bells, but maybe not just yet. Somehow they seem to help me know that wherever I wander, someone will come looking for me.