A VISIT WITH LIZ AND JOHN

US Journal

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

https://plus.google.com/photos/105096135818321367223/albums/5912124963483725857?authkey=CMzb_KX0uqvs_wE

Visit with Liz and John

We had such a pleasant visit in Knoxville with our dear friends John and Liz. They had been to visit us twice while we were in Italy, and we enjoyed reminiscing about our splendid time in Bra, Italy.  John and Peter always enjoy cooking together, and Liz and I are very happy to do the cleaning after their very talented presentation of beautiful meals! Thank you so very much, John and Liz, for the invitation. It was a special time with VERY special friends!

Love you both,

Colleen

JILL'S BIRTHDAY SUNDAY SUPPER

US Journal

Sunday, August 11, 2013

JILL’S BIRTHDAY SUNDAY SUPPER!

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How much fun can you have with most of the family together, celebrating Jill’s birthday! We always enjoy being together, but this was extra special because we were celebrating Jill’s birthday. We did miss Victoria who had a migraine and Cati’s family in San Francisco. We enjoyed including Monica who we have long since thought of as family, though. So glad you could join us, Monica!

Peter prepared the meal that Jill ordered with caprese, roasted veggies and lamb…all were FANTASTIC! Then, Jill started cutting the birthday cake that she had wanted to make and bring. It looked gorgeous, but we were all surprised when she cut into…a WATERMELON cake! We were very impressed with this unusual cake and especially glad that it was tall enough for everyone to get a generous helping! Great job, Jill. We hope you enjoyed your birthday celebration because we REALLY enjoyed your cake!

Happy Birthday today, Jill! We’re glad we could start your birthday celebration a few days early!

Buon Compleanno!

Colleen

GRANT PARK FARMERS' MARKET

US Journal

Sunday, August 11, 2013 Part 2

Grant Park Farmers’ Market

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Monica went with us today to Grant Park Farmers’ Market, and it was splendid. We went to the Spotted Trotter booth for meats, to the Global Growers to get all sorts of vegetables, to a bakery stall for breakfast and to Le Tre Lune for more veggies. Many Fold Dairy had saved us 2 containers of ricotta. It was all very fresh, wonderful and delicious looking. We were introduced to a leafy delicacy called Roselle. You bite into the leaf, and suddenly you have a burst of almost citrus tasting flavor. If you ever get a chance, you have to try this! Nick, we were sorry that you and Amanda couldn’t join us. We’ll see you tonight, though.

Thanks for going with us, Monica. We always enjoy sharing our farming experiences with you. And wasn’t that meal at Farm Burger in Decatur just delicious…not to mention our affogatos, across the street at the Dancing Goats Café! See you tonight at our house to celebrate Jill’s birthday.

Love, Colleen

WITH MONICA TO OAKHURST GARDENS

US Journal

Sunday, August 11, 2013

With Monica to Oakhurst Gardens

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 Nick’s girlfriend Amanda told me once that her stepmother had started Oakhurst Gardens, a community garden center where people can rent ($65/year or 16 volunteer hours per year) a small (5 feet x 9 feet?) plot to garden. Many other activities go on at Oakhurst. A few years ago, Peter and I attended a Slow Food dinner there that was splendid. Also, there are chickens, beehives, a Kid’s Earth Hut, a picnic area, fascinating and different pieces of art and many other things to do in this very interesting place. There is a reference to the Wylde Park, named after Amanda’s stepmother. Although, her stepmother died several years ago, Amanda is very honored to have a connection to the heritage of such a wonderful community center.

We took our friend Monica there today and had a marvelous time. As Monica said, “This is the way it should be done!”

The Gardens are near Agnes Scott College, where Cati went to college. NOW THAT WE HAVE A CONTRACT ON OUR HOUSE (!!!!!) we plan to move to Decatur. I could already envision taking our grandsons to enjoy this wonderful space. Get ready, Hugo and Harldur!

Love, Nonna

DINNER AT ASPEN'S

US Journal

Friday, August 9, 2013

Dinner at Aspen’s

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It was such fun to join Brenda and Heidi at Aspen’s Restaurant at the West Cobb Avenue for an early supper yesterday. They have a great special IF you order before 6:15, so we made a reservation for 5:45 and had a wonderful, reasonably priced meal. As usual, we thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

Today was a different kind of day. We received our 3^rd offer to buy our house and ended up making a counter offer on one of them. Our realtor Cathy has been on vacation this week, but her assistant Kimberly has been marvelous. When we first listed the house, Kimberly walked us through the whole process. Then, as the offers came in, Cathy called and emailed us about the details, and we came to an agreement about what to offer back. Then, Kimberly and another co-realtor of Cathy’s wrote up the agreement, sent it to me to sign,  and then sent it on to the other realtor. The buyers have until tomorrow afternoon to answer. Then, we’ll take it from there! It’s all very exciting.

Onward and upward!

Colleen

SPRUCE UP THE OUTSIDE

US Journal

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Spruce Up the Outside!

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What did I tell you? The condo listed one day, and the next day we accepted one of the 5 offers! Now, maybe there weren’t 5 offers, but Tuesday of this week we listed our house to sell. Yesterday, a couple came to see it, and…YOU GUESSED IT! WE HAVE AN OFFER! We have to respond to that one by 5pm on Friday. And, we have another couple coming today and another coming tomorrow. We’re looking forward to at least a 3-way war of who wants this house the most! Peter and I are just settling back and watching it happen. It’s really quite entertaining!

PLUS, Peter advertised his Porsche on Auto Trader this morning http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?searchRadius=0&listingId=352336475

and within an hour, he had someone to call with interest in it! We’re definitely on a roll here! Actually, as I write this, he just got a second call, and that person made an appointment to come and see the car! Yippee! Go, Thelma!

So, yesterday we received an invitation to have a fabulous dinner at Paul and Linda Parisi’s house in Decatur and discuss further their plans for a splendid wedding trip in Italy. We took that opportunity to go to Decatur a few hours early just to look at the advertised condos in the area. That was great fun and gave us an idea of where to start WHEN we have both the condo and the house sold. Now, we might consider that we will be homeless if we’re not careful! We’d rather rent with money in hand while we look for a place to buy than to risk buying a house without the cash.

It will all work out for the best. Still, keep your fingers crossed for us!

Colleen

FOR SALE!

US Journal

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

For Sale!

http://www.estately.com/listings/info/181-lake-somerset-crest

Today was the day that we listed our house for sale. Here’s the realtor’s link, with all sorts of pictures. We have a lock box that we put outside for realtors to use to get inside after they call to say they are coming and we leave. I like having forewarning that someone is coming in. We have a short list of things to put in Peter’s backpack to take for safekeeping, and we have a list of last minute things to do to make sure it is staged perfectly. It’s a good thing neither of us is working at a job outside of the house. We both have full time jobs trying to get everything done here!

Now the fun starts…and the waiting. We told our realtor that our condo sold in 1 day, so the pressure’s on. We’ll give her a week! She looked a little frantic!

Cut and paste the url if it doesn't open. We’ll keep you updated!

Colleen

CASEY AND AQUAGUARD

US Journal

Thursday-Friday, August 1-2, 2013

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Casey at Lake Somerset!

I was ecstatic to run into Casey on my walk through the neighborhood this morning! He grew up in this neighborhood, and now he lives next door to Cati in San Francisco…what a coincidence. He had come to his parents’ house to visit his sister Leslie, who has just given birth to a son (Casey’s nephew!). We had such a pleasant walk, and he and I solved ALL of the world’s problems on our way. Welcome home, Uncle Casey, and congratulations, Leslie!!!

Sump Pump Rules

Well, if you’ve never had a sump pump installed in your house, you really have missed a “fascinating” experience.

Yesterday, Evan showed up to take out the bottom 5 stairs (including a landing) of the staircase from the house to the basement. We locked the door and put blue tape over the locks because Nick was coming to spend the night, and we didn’t want him to “miss” that bottom step and drop 5 feet on his way down to the car early in the morning. After the sump pump is installed, Evan will come back and install our new stairs and landing, hopefully including putting the carpet back on the new stairs!

Then, early today, Ken and Patrick came to start their demolition by cutting an 8-inch wide trough in the concrete floor around the perimeter of the basement and one side of the garage. They were very thorough in helping us understand exactly what would happen, and they worked hard all day today so they could finish tomorrow. There was jack-hammering and shoveling of busted concrete rocks all day. I didn’t mind it, but I noticed Peter taking headache medicine by midday. He just tried to stay gone most of the day, which was probably best for him.

If all goes as planned, Ken and Patrick will install a tank that connects to the trough where all the water in the trough collects when it rains a lot. The pump, that will switch on automatically when there is water in the tank, will then pump the water through a large outside tube that will release the water in the backyard to flow away from the house. The beauty of this plan is that the whole process is guaranteed for the life of the house and is transferrable to any new owner. Cha-Ching! It’s a winner!

Thank you, Aquaguard, you’ve done a great job. I feel confident that these water problems are over!

Muchas gracias! Colleen

THE SHREDDER

USJ THE SHREDDER

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The SHREDDER!

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One of the true treats of life is witnessing THE SHREDDED at work!

Since we ONLY had 12 LARGE bags of paper that we wanted shredded, we couldn’t dream of using a small home shredder, so we started the search for a shredder that would do the job. We only had two requirements: 1) Watch it being shredded and 2) Cheap!

Although we had the wrong mindset…we needed to find a company that shredded…we ended up with just the right company…a company that needed the shredded paper to use in their gardening after composting it! I watched it being shredded, AND it was FREE! I only had to take the paper to the company, about 12 miles away…NO PROBLEM!

THE SHREDDER man was in the workroom when I drove up, and when I spoke to him, he said he would be right there to get the bags out of my car. I was surprised when I told him Thelma was for sale and he said, “I don’t want that car! I could never go hunting in that!” Anyway, he took the bags directly to the shredder, opened each bag, spilled the contents onto the belt that took the paper through a shredder and up, up to spill onto a pile of shredded paper. Just that easy, and I stood next to him, watching the whole thing.

When I left, HE thanked ME for donating the paper for use in their gardens. Now that’s the way shredding should be done everywhere! Thank you, Austin’s!

Colleen