It was 10 years ago today that Bobby and I had our very first date. What a great guy he was and still is. On the next date we had a nice motorcycle ride down by the intercostal. He still wow’s me and I’m so thankful for him each day.

We always had great times together and he always made me feel special. Those times never faded as he makes me feel like I’m the most important person in the world.

Since our move, he’s been calling each day just to see how I’m doing. His whole desire is to make sure I’m alright and he’s doing whatever he can to make this transition is as easy as possible.

The three day holiday weekend is coming and I’m so blessed to be spending it with the man of my dreams.

The house hunting is going pretty good. There are a few places I want Bobby to see so we’re scheduling time to look this Saturday. Bobby has put me in charge of the house hunting while he’s at work and wants me to narrow it down and then he gets involved after all the homework is done. We both like it that way and we work really well as a team. I’ll continue looking and hopefully we’ll find something we like. If not, we’re entertaining the idea of building.

I keep wondering when we’ll feel at home and I don’t think it’s going to feel like home until we get settled into a place. Patience is key, one day at a time and we will be all settled into our home sweet home one of these days.

On the bright side, we’re learning the area more and more each night and discovering our new favorite places to eat. Our realtor has given us a list of restaurants she recommends and we are certainly making our rounds. Our cars should be here by next weekend and I look forward to spreading my wings a little more.

Our computers should be here tomorrow and it will be so much better with all my programs.

We keep chipping away day by day enjoying our stay until we can call it home sweet home.

I wake in paradise each day and I’m so in love with it here. I’m still unable to fathom that we are in the middle of this beautiful place. I’m in awe of the land surrounded by gorgeous rolling hills. Bobby is such a sport as I’m constantly saying “It’s so beautiful here”.

I’ve been keeping myself busy house hunting and finding plenty to do to keep busy. I’ve also settled into an afternoon nap each day this week. It’s not like me to nap daily so perhaps my body is just trying to catch up.

Each evening when Bobby comes home (that sounds funny, home) we figure out where we want to go for dinner. Then we take our own sweet time chatting over the dinner table, catching up with each others day.

The other night after dinner we made a visit to Wal-Mart and I was totally blown away by the size of the one here. I’ll just say it’s the biggest one I’ve ever been in ‘seriously’ and I’m so in love with it! My only problem is that I want to feel home, I want to feel like it’s ‘my’ Wal-Mart, I want to know it like the back of my hand. Believe me, this Wal-Mart and I are going to become pals and I’ll be so acquainted with this place before you know it.

Side note: While Bob and I were in line to check out, a group of college boys were behind us chatting. I got so tickled when one of the guys asked the other… “What do you think is gayer, a robe or pj’s.” The other guy responded quickly, “A robe” Hmmm said the guy who asked the question “Why a robe”. Well said the other kid, I have both a robe and pj’s but if you must know… “When I think of a robe, I think of someone who is cold and snuggling to keep warm, they have a cup of coffee in their hands and they have slippers on their feet”. This kid made me laugh right out loud. I used to think of college students as adults but really they are just grown up cute kids. Ya just gotta love them. Living near college town is another perk, it will keep us young at heart.

We are off to a great start and looking forward to calling this our home.

I’ll take just a moment to say we had such an easy move and made it here Sunday evening around 7:00 PM. Yesterday I unpacked and got all the clothes on hangers and went to the mall. Today I’m leaving in a few to head out with the realtor.

I’m using our lap top and just making due until my computer gets here Friday. I’ll be back to elaborate later.

P.S. – I’m totally in love with this cooler weather. We left HOT Texas where we were having temps in the high 90’s and even into the 100’s all summer. I think that’s why I abhor summers so much, I’m just not a heat seaker. It’s currently 61 with an expected high of 81. Now I can handle that! Bobby warns me about this cold northern region though so stay tuned to see if I change my tune several months from now.

Thank you, I was wondering where I was. Things are really beginning to happen quickly and we’ll be out of here this weekend. The good thing is that things are getting crossed off the list and happy to report that we’ve come a long way baby.

Today was Bobby’s last day of work here in Fort Worth. He said his day was so busy that he hardly had time to think about this being his last day. He and his buddies went out for a last lunch date and he made his rounds saying goodbye. He turned in his badge at 5:00 pm and drove away from the plant for the last time.

My day started off by getting a phone call from the realtor to show the house this morning. I quickly straightened everything and got out of the house. I went and had my nails done and also got a pedicure and massage while I was at it. As I was on my way home I got a call that the realtor wanted to reschedule for tomorrow morning instead. I ran a few errands and was home by around 3:30. By 4:30 I was feeling so very sleepy and was able to squeeze in an hour and ½ nap. Talk about recharging my batteries that was just what those worn out batteries needed!

So, Tomorrow is Bobby’s Friday off, and the realtor will be here to show the house first thing in the morning. While the realtor shows the house, we’re taking off to pick up our rental car. Then our cars will be picked up tomorrow and we won’t see them for a couple weeks as they will be making the journey to NY. Bobby plans to pack up our computers and a few other items that we can’t fit in our luggage and we will be making a post office/UPS run either tomorrow or Saturday.

Believe it or not folks, I have not even started to pack. Furthermore we have not even retrieved the luggage from the attic yet. On the bright side, it will not take long as I already have a running list of things I want to pack as we don’t plan to forget anything. If I run out of luggage space, we’ll just ship the other items by mail. Believe it or not, we are right on schedule.

Our one way ticket to NY is Sunday morning and Bobby’s first day at his new job is Monday. This whole thing feels so surreal.

It seems that I’ve been having a little bit of difficulty wondering what I was going to do once we moved up to NY. I’m already missing my studio here at home and I can feel the urge growing to get dirty again. I was thinking how nice it would be to find a studio where I could come and go at will to do my pottery. Sure a class would be nice, but that’s not long enough to last me through the week. My dream of working in a studio sounded a little too good to be true, but still I had that desire.

This afternoon I was thinking about an e-mail Jennifer sent right after our trip this past April. Jennifer provided a couple pottery studio’s/galleries in the area where I could call and at least get my feet wet once we arrived. Don’t you know, this one place has everything I was looking for as far as the studio goes and they’ve agreed to let me use their facility for just $65.00 per month! How exciting is that!!! They even offer day classes teaching handbuilding, wheel throwing and sculpture. It just doesn’t get any better than this my friends! I’m so thankful Jennifer shared this place with me, I’m one happy lady!

I made plans to visit with my buddy Monika yesterday afternoon. So I did just that and we had a wonderful little visit out in her sunroom. Her Little Nicholas is the cutest little guy and has me wrapped right around his little finger. I asked her how he was doing on his potty training and said she has not had dirty pants in 3 months!

I took my plants to her as they need someone to give them that special love and care. The plants will not survive the move and I don’t want to bother anyone with watering all the house plants while we’re away. I also wanted Monika to have a piece of pottery so I let her pick out a piece she liked. She was at the studio the day I glazed this purse and I remember how she loved the hummer (hummingbird) as she calls it. So this purse seemed to be the one she wanted and I wanted her to have it.

Glazed purse with hummingbird and a picture of what it looked like before I glazed it

It seems like I’ve been away from pottery for such a long time and I’m thinking it might be a very long time until I’m able to get my home studio all set up again. I would like to start searching for studios in NY that offer classes or maybe I’ll even check into the colleges around. The mud is calling me!

Our goodbye party was well attended and what a great time we had with friends. We had the people who came for visiting, the food part and karaoke which lasted many hours and then we had the party crowd who stayed long after the others left. The party crowd stayed for poker and we all sat around the table playing cards until the wee hours of the morning.

I woke Saturday morning with lots to prepare so I started in with the desert. Then I moved along to cleaning vegetables for the vegetable tray. When I wrapped up with my food preparation, I carried on getting the house ready. By the time company came, I was all relaxed and felt like a guest as my work was all done. I had one of my counters set up with drinks and another big counter set up with all the food. By 5:00 PM, all I had to do was pull trays from the refrigerator and bingo my job was done.

Bobby started the grill and the guests kept on a coming, the guys filtered out on the porch with Bob while the gals stayed inside and carried on with important conversation.

After dinner, Bobby got our karaoke set all lined out where many of us enjoyed singing and letting it all hang out. One of the guest’s favoritesongs was singing the YMCA and standing to their feet and really getting into it.Cute little Nicholas (Al and Monika’s little man)adding his vocals with the other mike while others were singing. Everyone was laughing at this little man while his little voice carried through the speakers. It was so fun and everyone from the youngest to the oldest had a blast.

Monika and Baby Nicholas enjoy the music.

By the time some of our friends started leaving, it really didn’t feel like goodbye. Rather it felt like, goodnight, see ya soon. Goodbye, I really truly was not prepared to say goodbye and I don’t know if we’ll ever see some of our dear friends again. But I know these friends will always remain close to our hearts and we’ll treasure the friendships we’ve made along the way.

Lori and Ken, Sue and Mike & us – Long time friends

Robert & Brenda

John & Theresa

One of the things that I keep kicking myself for is not getting pictures of everybody. But, I keep telling myself that it’s ok as I was enjoying every single min. visiting with my buddies and having fun. If I were running around getting all the pictures I wanted, I would have missed out. But I still wish I would have taken more pictures… One thing that can’t be taken away is the memories of our wonderful evening with friends.

My dear friend Monika, I’m having a rough patch here saying goodbye. She and Al and Al’s son Alex and their little man Nicholas stayed until the very end. Little Nicholas was the best baby and then later he fell fast asleep in the other room and they were able to stay and party with us until the very end.

It was Bobby’s first time to really spend time with Monika’s husband Al and they really hit it off. Al is an engineer too so maybe their minds think alike. All I know is, we had a wonderful visit. I’m going over to Monika’s this afternoon for yet another visit with her as we neither one felt like we truly said goodbye. Will it ever feel like goodbye? We definitely have already made plans to get together with them when we return for our final move. So even though I’m having another little visit today, I know I’ll see her again. That last visit sounds so final. (gulp, tear)

Beautiful Painting By Monika – This is a very special gift that Monika gave and I feel honored having this beautiful piece to remember my dear friend. (Big Smiles)

Mike and Sue gave us this wonderful hand towel. It’s really funny as Bob and Mike are both from St Louis. Mike just didn’t want us to forget Texas.

We know that there are a host of friends waiting for us in NY and we’re thankful our friendships will not end here.

My buddy Monika just sent pictures of her little guy. I thought these pictures were just too cute and wanted to share. We get to see them this Saturday evening at our going away party.

I’ve been going through so many motions that I’m practically motion sick. Actually, it’s hard to believe that things are really coming together and we’re staying right on schedule. When I look back, it’s hard to believe we have come this far already.

• Hotel reservation for two months ~ Done
• Our final ‘one way’ move flight for August 26th ~ Done
• Reservations for our cat to fly ~ Done
• Reservations to have our two vehicles shipped ~ Done
• Car rental reservations ~ Done

Now I need to carry on with the list of things we need to take with us on the trip. I’ve also started a folder with all of the important phone numbers and important information we need to have with us.

Folks, we are really leaving here in a week & ½. I’m pretending we’re on vacation in a bed and breakfast somewhere in Texas and that we’ll be home soon. It will be so good to find our way home.

Dear Friends,

I’m just now catching up from the last blog and so much has happened it seems between now and then. I’ve decided to write in letter form and start from where I left off last week.

Last Wednesday I was finally able to get in touch with my neighbor Sadie who planned the going away party. She was such a doll and so understanding with my mix up. She planned to just go on with the party since she had already sent out the invitations. She said she would take pictures for me and I know the ladies had a wonderful time. Sadie and her hubby are out of town all this week and she said she would like to plan another coffee for me sometime next week. I’m just not so sure with my schedule if that will work out.

Wednesday evening Bobby and I were able to wrap up plans for our going away party for Saturday the 25th. We were able to get the invitations all sealed and in the mail box sometime after midnight.

Thursday came early as we were up with the sound of the alarm at 4:00 AM. We left the house in good time and had a nice smooth commute to the airport which was wonderful. For those of you who don’t know, we have the huge mix masters around these parts and traffic can get quite busy and stacked up at times. See Below. We arrived in Binghamton in good time and had a nice restful morning and afternoon.

Fort Worth Mix Master – These areas get crazy in the early morning and evening rush hours. We plan all of our flights such that we never leave town around rush hour.

Friday we were up starting our house hunting trip early. We looked at houses until around 6:30 PM looking at a total of 9 homes that day. It was a successful day but we didn’t quite find our home.

Saturday we took the day off and drove to Ithaca. It was such a beautiful drive and the scenery and lake was so beautiful. We also found the huge farmers market and look forward to some more visits there in the future! Oh and the weather was absolutely gorgeous as in not too hot!

Bobby and I slept in Sunday and looked at 3 homes in the afternoon. We still didn’t find our home but we’re not giving up. We’re also entertaining the idea of building, who knows…

Monday we made our way back home and had a nice flight. We had just arrived in Dallas when our realtor called and asked if they could show our home at 5:30 and again at 7:00 PM. We went out to dinner and drug our feet a couple hours during those showings and finally got to settle in around 7:30 last night.

Today I’ve been working with our relocation company and working on getting our temporary housing lined out. Unfortunately they didn’t have any more company apartments available so they are putting us up for 2 months in a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom penthouse in the Residence Inn. I’ve also been calling airlines getting details on what all we need to transfer our pet kitty. Those details are finalized and I’m on to the next detail which is to get our tickets for Sunday the 26th. The relocation company has already set up the flight that we want and I’ll be making one last call to confirm that our flights were booked and to get the details of that flight.

We’re on a roll and we can finally begin to feel this move hit home. It’s finally sinking in and we’re both enjoying the adventure.

P.S. I had the camera with me the whole time and did not take a single picture. What’s up with that?

Debbie

If ever there is anyone in this world to make it all better, it’s my Dearest Hubby. He felt really bad this morning that I got my plans all mixed up. Around 11:30 I received a call from Bobby teasingly saying “there is “NO” fork in my lunch.” Then he said “I’ll just “HAVE” to go out to lunch, why don’t you come join me?”

He didn’t see it but a tear trickled down my cheek as I joyfully replied “REALLY?” “Of course, really, come meet me for lunch” he answered, “and call me when you get to HWY 820”. HWY 820 is the point I call such that he leaves work and we meet at the restaurant close to the exact same time. When I reached 820 I gave him a call and we got our connections right and met for a special lunch.

We met at Soda Springs, one of our favorite little BBQ restaurants in Fort Worth and had such a lovely date. He makes every day special and I’m so happy he cares about the tiniest details.

The window where customers place their orders

Bobby had the BBQ brisket and I had the fried catfish

My Dearest Bobby

That’s it, I’ve officially LOST IT!!! I had my calendar marked for my little going away party this morning at 9:30 AM. I got my darlin’ off to work and I got ready for the special little ladies brunch.

I left the house at 9:29 so that I would be walking up to her door right on time. As I was walking down the sidewalk, my neighbor Phyllis passed in her car and we waved and I thought, aw, I’m going to miss her, sure wish she could be here. I got to Sadie’s door, rang the door bell and I stood there for what seemed like an eternity. Then I rang the bell one more time. No answer.

I walked back home thinking I got the time wrong and convinced myself that she was at the store. I also convinced myself that Phyllis was on her way to the store too and the party surely must start at 10:30.

10:29 came and I was on my way back over to Sadie’s house feeling much better this time around. However, I got the same response. No Answer. My heart dropped and I felt so sad. How could I get this wrong? I got home and called Mary Beth, one of my other neighbors and asked her what was going on when she said, “Oh Yes, I’m going to the brunch tomorrow at 9:30!” Tomorrow??? 9:30??? I thought, I’m not even going to be here, we’re flying to NY tomorrow! And then I had to explain to Mary Beth how I goofed it all up. She was so sweet and let me know she understood as we have a lot on our plates right now. I feel so terrible, everyone has planned to come to the little coffee/brunch and I won’t be there.

I sat at my desk pretty much all day. I called the corporate travel agent to confirm our trip to NY this week and to make sure I received the confirmation via e-mail for our e-tickets. Made arrangements for our hotel and rental car. Called to make reservations to have Magic (our pet kitty) boarded while we are gone this weekend. Looked into several different carriers for our pet kitty to transfer him from TX to NY the end of August, our final move. Made arrangements with Allied, the moving company. Worked on party invitations for our party on the 18th and started a list of guests to invite.

We are taking our house hunting trip this week and have lined out quite a few places to see. We will be gone from Thursday through Monday evening. I don’t expect to be back here blogging much if at all between now and next Tuesday.

We have just decided not to move all of our belongings to NY until after our house sells. We plan to take what we need with us in our suitcases and leave everything else behind. Jennifer so graciously agreed to accept some boxes for us through the mail which will help out tremendously. Bobby plans to box up our computers and ship them such that we won’t be without once we get moved into temporary housing.

I feel so much more relaxed leaving everything right here until after our house sells. That truly takes a huge load off as we can concentrate on other things. We keep checking things off the list and before we know it, we will be checking out of TX.

I do well when I have that normal day to day routine goin’ on. But when things start to pick up speed and more than one thing needs to be juggled at the same time, I get just a wee bit frazzled. I’m not one of those people who can juggle more than one thing very well. So, Bobby and I sat down this afternoon and made a schedule of things that need to be done before we leave. I told Bobby the concerns I have with us leaving for NY 3 weeks from today and that I’m worried my stress will kick in soon. He’s always patient with me as he knows me better than I know myself. Bobby looks at the big picture and is able to break things down task by task and tells me, “we are right on schedule”. Thank goodness hubby puts up with all my frets and worries as it seems I’m constantly thinking about one detail or another. Things are starting to take shape and I can say I’m stress free at the moment.