Moved In and Loving it All......

I'm still in a dream. Thanks to Hannah, Kim, Karl and Chris I am moved into my new/old home in the country. I love the peace and quiet...soft breezes through the trees, happy birds singing, and lots of soft quiet. The move was engineered by Hannah and went so well I could not believe it. Since we already had the kitchen stocked and ready to go, the bathrooms stocked and ready, everything was put in the room it belonged to and then Karl and Chris put together my bed and Hannah made it up...all was ready to live in. Thank you all more than I can ever say in words.

Oh, I cannot forget Mia. She did very well even though her arthritis caused her to be very stiff after spending over an hour in her carrier. But with a full week living in the new place she now has full control and has made it her domain. Yesterday, she came running to great me at the door when I arrived from work. All is well.

I still have boxes and bags to go through. Karl is coming out Monday to cut the yard and will do so for a little while. When he has to stop, I'll check with Carrie to see if she will recommend a person. I have to add the hand tools necessary for caring for the yard along with a little rolling stool I found that permits me to sit at just the right angle to weed and still be able to get up and down. Thank Heavens for this little invention. I've decided I can trim my own hedges after testing for light weight electric trimmers. Come fall a few friends will help take some of the split and thinned Cannas, Callas, Peonies, Elephant Ears, Day Lillies, Iris and Gladiolli. That will be fun. It has been years since I tended to and made grape jam/jelly so with the wonderfully loaded grape arbor, I want to get back to that. Will be learning, asking questions, and researching history, care, and what to do with all the plantings in the yard. It is wonderful!!! The big Hydrangea bush at the back of the house has beautiful blue blooms and makes the most wonderful bouquet. There are two Bradford Pear trees near the front deck that I may eventually want to take down and replace with Dogwood trees. I will also want to put one or two Magnolia trees in the back...cannot be a Southern Home without at least one Magnolia. Ever since coming to Tennessee in December 1959, I learned to love placing one Magnolia bloom in a cut crystal bowl of water and enjoying the intoxicating lemony scent throughout the house. Beats the little plug-ins bar none.

Joy and Paige came over on Monday after the move-in bring gifts. Joy had brought a bread maker....looking foward to learning the technique and the smells of fresh baked bread in the oven. Paige painted and brought a beautiful blue lamp that is perfect for the front window table, with its lovely wide-spread shade. She also came with fresh out of the garden tomatoes and cucumbers. I enjoyed delicious sliced tomato and mayo sandwiches and seeded and chopped cucumber side dish. Also make some thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches....very good! Thank you both ever so much.

It will take several months to really get into the groove of it all but, I am going to enjoy every minute and hope to have friends and family to enjoy it with me. Since I love to cook and see people enjoy the results, maybe I can entice a few to come over. Guess I best get to practicing in the kitchen again and brush up on a few old recipes. We have some very good restaurants (old and new) in the Dickson area so whenever I tire of cooking there is an easy fix nearby. Joy, Paige and I have talked about getting together for games, talking, and wine. Hope that begins to happen soon....and that Tina will be in on it also.

Now, I'll have to come up with a name for home.

My Home....finally

It has happened! I closed on my home Friday July 10, 2009 at 10:45am in Dickson, Tennessee. Was not able to get the keys until 6pm that evening and Joy and Paige had to wait outside in the heat until we gave up and they left. Will have to have them over after I move in.

There are three neighbor cats that are great...visit regularly. Mr.Tux is a black and white...adventurous and very loving; Ms. Ava, the Siamese model chooses to grant us her presence occasionally; and the new neighbor is Tex the large pale creamy/yellow tabby who sits next to a tree watching all and meowing his agreement and welcoming us to the neighborhood. I'm not sure how my Mia, Siamese Diva, will react to all these neighbors. Mia is an inside house cat 18.5 years old and ails from arthritis. Maybe she will ignore them after a while as long as they don't come into her territory. One can hope. :>)

My daughter, Hannah and her friend Kim are at the house cleaning while I'm packing at the apartment (took a break to jot this down). I am so fortunate. I'll pack today and tomorrow and Monday Hannah will load her car and I'll load mine to unload at the house while the carpet cleaners are doing their thing. Then back home to pack some more. We both return to work on Tuesday. I'll work Wed and Thurs, packing at night. Friday I'll meet the propane gas rep for him to read the meter, check tank, appliances, etc. and also educate me. I'll also unload another car full and return to finish packing and making ready for the move on Saturday morning. I'll sleep at the house Saturday night of the 18th. Sunday back to the apartment and clean, then home. Monday back to meet with the apartment managers, turn in keys, and settle up money. Then to my new home. I'll go back to work Tuesday and back to a new normal routine.

Hannah has a friend that may come to lay laminate flooring. He will do that one room at a time beginning with the master bedroom and bath (think I'll go with vinyl in the bath). This home was built in 1996 and has carpet in the master bath!!! Ugh and eeeew!!! After that is finished, we'll set up my bedroom (it will temporarily be in one of the guest rooms).

I may have to keep Mia in one room for a little while in order to let her ease into the new home place. Once we have our bedroom finalized, that will again be her main nest. Our bed is actually her bed that she shares with me.

There are so many wonderful flowers! I can hardly wait for next spring. Found we have Japanese beetles that love the grape arbor and other flowers. I set out two of the bags that have the little scent attachment and wow do they work! There are probably couple 100 beetles in the bags. Now, how do I appropriately dispose of them? I don't like killing anything but, if I just dump them out they will come right back or go to neighbors' yards. Hummmmm.

I love the poem Joy posted on her Blog "My Home" by Nikki Giovanni, also Joy's comments. It says so much how I feel about my home. Think I'll print it and have it copied to some nice paper and frame it to hang in my home.

Thank you to all who have helped me get this far and are still helping to make this my home. You are always welcome in my home and I hope you visit often.

And the Pursuit of Happiness: May It Please the Court by Maira Kalman

I hope I'm not breaking any rules in posting this article from the NY Times for others to read. I love it and found it so fascinating I want to read it over and over again. Her illustrations along with the writings are fun and interesting. I hope some of you will enjoy it also.


OPINION April 23, 2009 And the Pursuit of Happiness: May It Please the Court By Maira Kalman After a visit to the Supreme Court, and the office of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Maira Kalman thinks about law, decision-making and women breaking barriers.

1. Op-Ed Contributor: End the University as We Know It 2. Personal Health: Paying a Price for Loving Red Meat 3. The Caucus: Specter Switches Parties 4. Verizon Said to Be in Talks for the iPhone 5. A Tiny Hominid With No Place on the Family Tree » Go to Complete List

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Sealed Records....

I am very curious as to why the Tennessee State Legislature wants to pass a ruling that would have the records of gun permits issued in Tennessee sealed? I have not been able to find any back up information or reasoning for this action.

Also, I'm still puzzled as to why it would be reasonable to allow people to carry guns inside our parks and inside restaurants? Nashville, in particular, already has a high incident of gun related crimes. It seems to go against all that has been done to address our crime rate in Tennessee. We are one of the highest in meth labs across the state and adding the potential for "more" gun related crimes is just amazing. Our law enforcement agencies are trying their best to control and reduce violent crimes and this legislature seems to go against their efforts.

I hope someone can explain the background and reasoning related to these rulings.