Realtors, farewells, and an answer to prayer

The realtors (mother and son team) were here yesterday. They went through the house here in Kansas, and made a few suggestions, said we have done a great job getting the house ready to sell, and we discussed price. We were pleased with the asking price we all agreed on … and they think we can sell fairly quickly. The house will go on the market on May 16, the day we leave here.

The goodbyes continue. The group from my dog rescue work took me out to dinner on Monday night. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and just felt so strange to know it was the last time. There were some gifts, some cards and more tears than I wanted to have to handle. The tears were theirs, not mine. I was wondering why I am so detached from the emotions of this ... Protecting myself perhaps?

Last weekend was dinner at my son and daughter in law’s house across the border in Missouri. So many things now are "last time" events before we leave. Yesterday several of the ladies from my water aerobics class took me to lunch before class. More goodbyes...

The work continues on the house, and we are (I hope!) in the home stretch now. Most of the renovation is winding down, the house looks pretty good, and things are a little behind schedule, but we are getting there.

*****

Mostly … this has been a grueling week for us; we have been working on the upcoming move for about 16 hours a day and by the end of every day we are beyond exhaustion. At some point yesterday I realized we had nothing for supper, and I breathed a tired sigh and said, “Oh God, what am I going to do about supper?” Not five minutes later the phone rang and it was my friend Ginny from Curves. “I have dinner to bring over to you.” She was at my house about 20 minutes later with two big homemade chicken pot pies, a huge tossed salad, two loaves of homemade bread ... and a package of Oreos because she ran out of time to make dessert. She also brought disposable plates, napkins, dressing for the salad and Promise for the bread. There is enough food to last us for several days! John said it was so much more than he would have ever expected anyone to do for us.

Ginny hugged me and told me how much I have meant to her and how much she is going to miss me. John’s cousin is here from New York helping us out this week, and he said "I didn’t think people still did stuff like this." We had a feast for our supper…..and I had the joy of knowing I have a very special friend and that a prayer was answered.

God willing, we leave here one week from tomorrow. New Mexico beckons.

The long, long goodbye

We are down to less than two weeks before our departure to Santa Fe.

This has been a long goodbye here. There is family here (my son and daughter in law) and many many friends. And the goodbyes are tough. Tougher than I was expecting. Every now and then a troubling thought enters my mind: "Are we doing the right thing?" But it is too late now to change anything even if we wanted to ... and we shall find out.

We know we will be coming back here at least every year to visit family, but I also know when we do there will not be time to see everyone we would like to keep in touch with.

On May 5, I will have my final weekly Monday night Whine & Dine dinner with my friends from Heart Bandits American Eskimo Dog Rescue. We are going to the Cheesecake Factory, and I know it will be a sad time and I am not sure I am ready.

This coming week will be my last visit to Curves and to my water aerobics class at the pool. On Weds. my pool friends are taking me out to lunch before class.

I am seeing doctors for the last time, and taking my dogs to the vet for the last time for their annual immunizations.

Tonight we go to my son's house for a last dinner with him, my daughter in law and her parents. I know it will be fun but the underlying sadness will be there.

And meanwhile, the endless work of getting this house ready to sell goes on and on and on. John's cousin was here from New York to help out a week ago for five days, and he is coming back this coming week for 5 more days. There is packing to do, getting old furniture picked up by the Catholic Charities folks, and getting the trash company to come for an old recliner and our old refrigerator. And packing packing packing cleaning cleaning cleaning.

Then, on top of all the working on the house, saying goodbye to our family and friends, and squeezing in appointments...my computer crashed and burned the other night, and I was not able to save it. So I have had to say goodbye to it, too, and start all over with a new computer. I am gradually getting back my favorites to bookmark, my email program, etc. The new computer has Vista ... so far no problems ... seems user friendly enough... neat graphics! All of my pictures and my emails/email addresses are on the hard drive of the old computer. IF there is a way to save them all, I haven't had time to figure it out.

BUT! With all of the hard work and mixed feelings, I KNOW THAT New Mexico is waiting up ahead, just down the road....and that makes all this stress and distress okay to go through. I am SO READY for the laid back, quiet, renewing life in the Land of Enchantment. I think I am going to become one of those New Mexico "mañana" people!

More great Santa Fe restaurants

According to our usual custom, every time we make a trip to Santa Fe, we try out more new restaurants…new to us, that is.

This past week we were only in Santa Fe for a couple of days, but we went to three new places:



1. The Blue Corn Café and Microbrewery. I had cheese enchiladas smothered in green chile (very spicy!) and John had soft tacos with beef and jalapeños ~ I think he found them too hot for his taste. Drinks were good: he had their pale ale and I had a house margarita with an unusual flavor … I think they used a lot of fresh lime in it. We liked the place, great décor, and we will go back.

2. The Flying Tortilla. This restaurant is the southside location for The Pantry; I think the menu is identical. Always on the search for great green chile, I got a breakfast burrito with cheese and green chile on top and I was not disappointed ~ another place with very spicy chile. The burrito was huge, too big to eat, and their home fries are just excellent. Another great Santa Fe restaurant. Judging by the crowd in there early in the morning, it is a popular place.

3. Home Run Pizza, Eldorado. We were running late on Friday, so we stopped in this little place at the Agora, and as soon as we walked in I said, “Ohhhhh! A real pizzeria. In New Mexico!” What an aroma! It was quite a surprising discovery for us easterners. We got subs ~ meatball for me and Italian sausage for John. They came on great bread and were delicious. And when we move to Eldorado, we can stop in and pick up one of their pizzas whenever we get the urge.

We also went to two of our old favorite restaurants: Diego’s and La Choza. They are always consistent with friendly service and wonderful food. La Choza is my number one favorite restaurant in Santa Fe. It is a little bit off the beaten path, near the rail yard, and I don’t think the tourists know about it … the clientele there seems to be locals … and locals always know where to get the best food in town!

Still snowing in April!

We had snow every day we were in Santa Fe this past week...from a heavy snow shower as we arrived in the city Wednesday night ... to flurries along with high wind on Thursday and Friday ... to about three inches on the ground on Saturday morning. It gave us a little preview of how our new house will look in the winter when we have snow.

Here are some pictures John took at our house:

It's finally official!

It was a busy weekend, and we accomplished everything we were in Santa Fe to do.

The closing was on Friday at Rio Grande Title Company. Everything went smoothly and we are now the owners of a home in Santa Fe!!!

We spent a lot of time at the house, measuring every inch so we can plan furniture placement, checking all the storage areas so we know where we will put things, taking many pictures. The previous owner stopped by to answer some of our questions about the house and gardens. He is a quiet man who obviously is saddened by selling this house where he and his family have lived for 14 years as the original owners.

We visited the PNM office to get the gas and electric started, went to the post office to have our mail held, visited the Eldorado water company to open an account, went to Comcast for information about cable TV and internet service, stopped at the branch bank in Eldorado and talked to a nice banker about checking accounts and a safe deposit box. We also visited the Eldorado Animal Clinic, where we were given a tour of the boarding kennels. We even had time to go to Sam’s Club and buy paper products (Kleenex, paper towels, toilet paper, trash bags) and coffee to leave at the house.

We also spent some time with the man who is going to do the radon remediation at the house, and the woman who runs the property management company and who will be checking our house during the time it is vacant.

I had a little bit of time to wander around the lot, looking at lots of cactus and little chamisa plants and the juniper and piñon trees which dot the property. And … on Friday night we were at the house during sunset, so we got to have a preview of the gorgeous New Mexico sunsets we will enjoy in the future.

It was a very busy three days and we got a lot accomplished. We got back to Kansas on Saturday afternoon and now begins the BUSY month leading up to the move.

We're almost there!

Just a quick update here. We are flying to Albuquerque this evening, and then will drive up to Santa Fe.

Tomorrow is the walk-thru prior to closing on the house, then on Friday we will close, get the keys and the house will be ours ... and the adventure enters a new phase.

Our move is scheduled for mid-May. Just a month and a few days! This is really an exciting time!

Looking forward, but looking back

We’re into April now. We are planning to move in May. So we are down to one month left before we actually make the long-awaited move.

So why am I consumed with mixed feelings? I WANT to move to New Mexico, I have dreamed of it for years now, and it is finally really going to happen.

But what I am feeling these days is a mixture of joy and excitement …. with some bittersweet thoughts and memories intruding.



We have lived here in Kansas for almost 29 years. 29 years! That is such a huge portion of my life. This is the longest I have lived anywhere. I know every inch of this house and yard, every part of this neighborhood, I know where all the good stores and restaurants are. All my doctors and dentist and the vet and most of my friends are here. My son and daughter in law live here. This is the house where my little kids grew up, where we lived through all the wonderful times and the difficult times and the sad times. Christmases and birthdays and Easters and proms and graduations and visitors.

My daughter is having a very hard time with the fact that she can never come home again, she can never show my grand-daughter the house where our family lived for so many years. I understand her feeling about it. I am feeling some of that, too, these days.



I am thinking it is normal…. a part of this process…..but one I forgot to expect in all the plans for this move.