Weekly Wrap Up 4/29/22 -- Retirement

 After working in the US government for over 35+ years, my husband retired the end of January.  It all happened so fast due to the mortgage company wanted certain paperwork to come thru before closing (we all know how slow the government can be sometimes)  on the new house that he had to retired about 3 months earlier than planned.  

Because of the ongoing pandemic his retirement ceremony had to be virtual for all attendees except for immediate family.  Our oldest was in college and unable to attend (if the original plans for retirement had been kept we would have done the ceremony over her spring break). Not even my Mother was allowed to attend in person.  Instead everyone was giving a website link and could log in to watch it.  My husband requested that it also be recorded and a copy given to us in case any one who had computer issues on the day could still get to see it (we have several older family member who still struggle with technology). Also I wanted to have a copy for ourselves.

Because of the speed in which things happen my husband's last day of work was 4 weeks before his retirement ceremony.  So when he entered his work building on his retirement day, he did so as a visitor not as a government employee.  I think that was a strange experience for him.  The only photographs taken that day were done by the government photographer and I had to wait to until I had receive copies of them before I could do a post on his ceremony, which was weeks ago!  Better late than never I guess.

Presented with a flag

I was given a letter of appreciation for being a supportive spouse for all the times my husband was away on business and time he had to spend away from the family

A NGA medal for 35 years of service to the United States

Although very small it was still a nice retirement ceremony and the guest speakers had lovely words to say about my husband and everything he has accomplished in his very disguised career!  I am very proud of him.  

Weekly Wrap UP 4/22/22-- old house and new house

 We did it!  We sold our house in one day!!  The housing market is absolutely crazy right now.  While we were away in Kansas City we were told by our Realtors that we had 10 scheduled showings on Friday, 8 scheduled for Saturday and then an open house scheduled on Sunday.  By Friday evening after 22 showings we had a contract that was perfect and we saw no need to continue showing the house or doing an open house.  We accepted the contract and continue on with our couples weekend (we did have a celebratory dinner and a glass of wine while away).  It was great to come home and see the sign "Under Contract"

It is such a relief not to be showing the house and too finally have a little time to just relax and finish up my son's last year in high school.  We have about four weeks and then the craziness begins as we finish up packing up the house and move.  

Our new home is being built and we get weekly pictures to see the progress.  We now have siding on the house and they are putting up the dry wall inside.

the color is Robin's Egg Blue with white trim and we will have a RED door 

Dry wall going up inside!!  

To say we are excited to be moving is an understatement!  We can't wait to get closer to family and back on the EAST coast!  Only a little over a month to go

Weekly Wrap UP 4/15/22 -- Trip to Kansas City -- Couples get away

 The weekend of the OPEN house we had to vacant the house.  Prior to heading out our Realtors said we had 18 showings scheduled in just 2 days.  MarioFan's friend invited him to spend the weekend at his house, while my husband and I headed off to visit Kansas City.  

Once we dropped off the kiddo and the dog we headed out.  It is about a 3-4 hour drive.  My husband wanted to visit the Negro league baseball museum so that was our first stop.

My husband favorite lead singer Geddy Lee donated baseballs that have been signed by some of the greatest Baseball players.  I understand Geddy Lee is a huge baseball fan and collect memorabilia 

posthumous golden gloves that should have been given to the great baseball players of that time.

One interesting fact I learned was there was a black women's baseball team.  Most people of heard of the film a  "League of Their Own" that emphasized white women in the baseball sport.  I hope someone does a movie one day about the earliest black women's baseball team as their stories are equally amazing!

Right next door was the Jazz museum so we swung by to see it as well

Next day we stopped by the World War I museum.  There was a group re enacting many of the soldiers and explaining the way of life for the men in the front lines and behind the scenes.  It is aways fun to see these groups and set ups.

Soldier explaining why fresh baked bread was not a good idea for those fighting on the front line.  It was pretty disgusting.  

French soldier explaining why his red pants were not a good idea at the beginning of the war.

Scottish solider 

German soldier hats

German soldier

American solider explaining how the back packs were used and how inefficient they were on the front lines.

hob nail shoes 

gas masks used later in the war

earlier gas mask in which the soldier would need to soak them in urine in order to activate the chemical inside to protect them.  

American Red Cross nurse.  

YMCA -- they had to dress in uniforms and were in the back  and were there to help soldiers coming up from the front lines to relax and troops rotated every couple of weeks.

Just some of the things they provided to the soldiers in order to help them relax and have some down time.

The hotel recommended a barbecue restaurant that did not disappoint!  Wow was it good.  If you are even in Kansas City visit Jacks Stacks!

On our way home we picked up Luna from Petropolis dog boarding.  the pictures we receive during her stay showed she was much happier.

If we were staying in the area I would definitely use them again.  We did find out they are only in our local area here.  While I don't use kennels often if I need to find one again I hope I can find one as cleans and as well run as this one was.  

Weekly wrap UP 4/8/22-- A day out for Mom and Dad

 With our house on the market the realtor wanted to do a huge opening weekend so we had to vacant the house but first we needed to find a pet hotel for our older sweet dog, Luna.  We rarely leave her in a kennel as I am not a huge fan of them.  I prefer to have a dog sitter come to the house however since we can't leave the dog behind for the open house, I needed to find something else.  I call so many places, even made a reservation for one, but cancelled it as soon as I toured the facility as it was not where I wanted to leave my dog.  I am pretty picky about who cares for my pets.  

However we finally stumbled on a place  (that several people recommended) that was quite a distance from the house.  After calling them and setting up a reservation they asked us to bring in the Luna in to do a Doggy orientation and make sure she wouldn't be too stressed out in the facility.  We had to drop her off at 9 and pick her up at 3 pm. I also wanted to do a tour of the facility before committing to leaving her there.  

I have to say I was pretty please with Petropolis, it was clean, the areas for the dogs were large and they had plenty of activities for the dogs.  While Luna was very stressed out when we arrived (as was I) she sure seemed happy when we came to pick her up.  Petropolis sent us a progress report and several pictures of her while she was there.  

She was very nervous when she arrived

She will be staying there for next weekend while the family goes on a trip when the open house is scheduled.  

Since this Petropolis was aways from our house my husband and I made a day of it to explore Daniel Boone's house.  I have taken the kids there for homeschool day, several years ago,  however,  my husband has never been to it. 

Nathaniel Boone's house is in Defiance MO.  Daniel Boone lived with lots of his children but considered this one his final home, according to the guide

The back porches are original to the house but the stair cases are not.  

The view from the back porch which the Gide said was the front of the house as it is facing the Osage river which was how people got to the property in those days.  The River is at the second tree line.

the tour guide was excellent and gave a lot of information about Boone and his family.  The picture over the fireplace is a copy of the only known artist painting done, when he was around 70 years old.

The bedroom he reportedly died in.  According to the guide Boone got sick while visiting his daughter and requested he be brought back to his son's home and died peacefully in this room surrounded by family 

A replica of Boone's rifle called the tick licker supposedly because Boone was so good a shot he could shot a tick off a bear's nose

this painting is of his daughter and 2 other girls who were kidnapped by Indians. Boone (along with others) rescued them, according to the guide this is the basis of the movie "The Last Mohicans". I have no idea if this is true or not, but since it is my husband favorite movie it was a fun tidbit to learn

Nathaniel and his wife's bedroom 

Kitchen and dinning area

The only thing in the house that they know is from the Boone era is this butter churn that has his initials in it. 

It was a gorgeous day for a tour and we enjoyed ourselves.  We still had some time to kill before picking up our  dog so we headed to St Charles historic district. 

We stopped for a late lunch at a barbecue restaurant and did a little window shopping.

Then we went to pick up our little dog.  She was so happy to see us.  According to staff she did great after her initial anxiety.  

she slept a lot that evening because she was so tired!

Weekly Wrap UP 4/1/22 -- Pre-dry wall inspection of New Home

 We got back a couple weeks ago from our pre-dry wall inspection of the house.  It was a quick trip where we met the realtor and project manager for our new build.  It was the first time we have seen the house in person.  Our house is the first to be completed on this street but there are several homes in various stages of build!

We hired our own house inspector to do a thorough walk thru with us to point out any issues.  He was very good.  Most of the things he spotted had already been spotted by the project manager and were being address.  

It was very exciting to drive to our soon to be new home!

this will be the living and will have a gas fireplace 

I might do a stain glass window with our house numbers on it in this window:)

Only real surprise was walking into Firedrakes bedrooms and finding no window!  

It was put in the very next day by the builder!

the area that will be my new stain glass studio it is about the same size of what I have now.

The inspector originally was not happy about the structure around the French doors leading to the back yard.  The next day the builder redid the framing and adding additional header board as the inspector requested. 

While there we got to see our front porch being poured.  We thought about putting our initials or hand prints in it but decided not too:) 

Why ruin a perfectly beautiful porch:)

It was so tempting though :)

While walking around the house our realtor kept mentioning how clean it was, which surprised me.  She said when she had a house built she had to go every two days or so to clean up the soda cans and cigarettes
buttes everywhere around the structure because she worried they would leave them in the walls.  (she had a different builder then us) 

Then we discovered this sign in the window, which is why our site was so clean.  Hope it wasn't just for our visit and that this is a requirement for the entire build 

the color scheme of the inside of our home

outside colors of the house although we will have a white trim instead of a pewter trim.

Everything went super smoothly for the walk thru and I am really happy with the builder and project manager as they seem very responsive to our questions and the items our inspector wanted fixed.  We weren't able to stay long so our realtor will be checking up to make sure all the items are fixed before the dry wall goes up.  

I had a fencing company stop by to do a estimate for building a back yard fence and we need to submit that to the homeowners association.  I am hoping to get that done before we close so we can get a fence built as soon as we move in for our dog, Luna.  I am also thinking of adding an irrigation system but didn't have time to meet with a company so I will be doing that soon.

Builder is still predicting a Mid to late May completion date.  We are very excited to be moving back to the East coast!