So, in the midst of moving madness, some brilliant news arrived. Please RUSH over to chou chou’s blog to share her joy. More from middle America in a few days…
Hooray!
I’m so happy it’s the 23rd. At this point in the holiday shenanigans, if it isn’t done, it probably won’t be. A little baking left, but the focus is really on enjoying the next few days.
Tonight good friends will join us for dinner, and it will be the last time we see them for quite awhile. The evening, like much of this past month, will be bittersweet. So appreciative of the riches bestowed, so sad to watch them trickle away…
We drove to a favorite spot yesterday—-Pt. Bonita, where the bay joins the ocean, and snapped picture after picture, trying to capture it all. The daffodils planted by the original keeper’s family have naturalized along the hillsides, along with the cabbage that was planted by the same family; it makes for a pretty picture along the rocky crags.
Today, the gentlemen are back in the city for the trip to Alcatraz while the ladies prepare for the dinner guests. In my case, that means tidying and finishing the menu; in Astrid’s, it means two good naps (oh please, oh please) so she’ll be jolly tonight.
Tomorrow promises a trip to Tilden Park, some last minute shopping for some (not ME!), sticky bun baking, lots of holiday books, and a late–evening viewing of It’s a Wonderful Life, while we scramble to place packages in stockings and under the tree. A year’s worth of good fortune, distilled in its purest form, in 48 tiny precious hours. I can’t imagine a better life…
So, a few updates…..
We are now landed gentry once more. Mary Poppins is officially ours. The former owners will depart on Thursday and on Friday, big men with big tools will arrive to remove wallpaper, rip out carpet, sand floors, and repaint. Our packers arrive in nine days–I’m a little anxious about it all.
Astrid M. has not (as of yet) recycled the battery. The ER doctor we saw thinks it was passed unnoticed; the battery ingestion hotline doctor calls every 2 days and has urged us to return to the influenza factory ER for another xray. In the meantime, Astrid eats well, sleeps well, yodels well, and still reads French fluently, so I think we’ll continue to muck through her diapers and hope for a Christmas miracle.
Beloved Pops arrives in about 20 minutes to make merry with us. Elliott has big plans for the days they will spend together (he’s eager to play chess on the giant board at the usually forgettable Bayfair and other whoop-de-dos that are fun only to Pops and the boy). I hope these plans include a Goodwill run and an oil change, because we really want Pops to take care of those items while he is here.
Last weekend was a busy two days–we managed the visit to Fairyland, some hiking in the redwoods and dinner at our 2nd favorite Ethiopian restaurant. The Alcatraz tickets (for Pops, Elliott & Albert) have been purchased for this coming Sunday and we host a dinner party later that evening. If all goes well on Saturday, we’ll head to the beach one last time and I think we’ll save Cafe Colucci for the 26th—-it will be nice to end the day of packing and de-Christmasfying with a visit to a happy place.
In the midst of all this change, my laptop just quit. We bought a desktop to use until HP decides what they’d like to do about the laptop (it was still under warranty but they want to see the actual receipt, you know, the one we sent in for the rebate, so we’re still waiting for resolution). This could make posting a bit tricky in the coming weeks, but I’ll try to update as often as I can. In the meantime–enjoy the pretties of the season, and if you can, make a visit to the ocean. I can’t think of a nicer place to celebrate.
If, like me, you have a huge list of things to accomplish in the next week, you should (unlike me) not allow your youngest child to consume a lithium battery while she toddles around. 47 phone calls, a 4 hour trip to the ER and several grey hairs later, we are home, she should be fine, (but we’ll be back at the ER in 2 days so they can check on the battery’s progress). Just a reminder from your friendly neighborhood negligent mother…..
Lest you think me lying in bed these last four weeks, be assured that much has been going on in preparation for THE MOVE. I’ve hacked my ‘to–do’ list down to a respectable 423 items, with more accomplished each passing day. I think the biggest challenge lately has been how little we’ve been in California. We were away for 22 of 29 days. The week between our house-hunting trip and our trip to Florida was crammed full of phone calls, laundry, holiday shopping, hair appointments for 3/4 of us, packing, more phone calls, and tons of internet research–I had to create a spreadsheet in order to choose our homeowners insurance–it was that complicated.
Once we returned from our Thanksgiving travels a week after T-day (and did more laundry), we began decorating for Christmas, in spite of the movers who will arrive on December 27. I’ve tried to tone it down a bit—-usually, our house is North Pole-worthy, but the tree is up, the mantel is decorated, and if all goes well, the children will have matching stockings made for them by the end of the week.
With all of that, and 104 Christmas cards in the mail, we can turn our attention to California and its many charms. We’re grieving big losses (the splendid weather and planned adventures to Yosemite and Hawaii), medium losses (no time for a whale-watching expedition, or a return to Zeum) and as with every move, the loss of all the little things that make this feel like home right now. 2 more weekends to pack full with trips to Fairyland, Cafe Colucci, the ocean, and Alcatraz (for Elliott, Albert & Pops). 2 more weekends to share dinner with good friends, ride the carousel at Tilden Park, and hike. Excited as we are to return to Cowtown, we have a lot to cram in to two more weekends.
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