Going to "Neverland"?!?

Yesterday I went to the Credit Union after work. I asked the woman that was helping me if they do international wire transfers. She made a phone call to find out and while on the phone she asked me what country I would be in....I told her "the Netherlands" and she told the woman she was making the inquiry with on the phone I would be in "Neverland"!  I said, just tell the person on the phone "Holland"!

After I left the Credit Union I went over to the Second Harvest Food Bank to donate several bags of food I had taken out of my pantry.

When I got home I had two painters scheduled to come to the house to give me estimates for painting the family room.  It's going to cost $250, and he will do it Saturday. There will be an Open House Sunday!  We just lowered the price of the house again......let's hope it sells now!

Windy day this past Sunday!

Sunday there were some Realtors that wanted to come through the house with their clients after I got home from work on Sunday, so Sammy and I went for a walk in the Sports Park.  It was chilly and windy that day...but not raining, so we were able to walk a bit!

Sunday evening I was invited to go to a nearby church to see Joni Eareckson Tada. She has been a quadriplegic since the age of 17 and speaks all over the world about the power of God. The room was filled almost to capacity.
She was very inspiring! Joni runs a ministry called "Joni and Friends".

This past weekend I started going through the kitchen cabinets and cleaning everything out and packing! Most of my spices I brought to work and gave to Sally.

Yesterday Eileen came over and I gave her a lot of cleaning supplies and some Brita filters. Eileen and I went out to Chilis for dinner. It was nice to spend special time with her!

Today I have a carload of canned goods to bring to Second Harvest. Tracy and Sally are going to go through it to see if they want anything before I bring it over there though!  I  also brought some shampoos, conditioners, etc. for them!  It's amazing how much "stuff" I've accumulated!

Andrew and I have decided to lower the price of the house (again)....sooo hopefully it will sell. Today I have two painters coming to the house to give me estimates on painting the family room a lighter color. Sunday I was able to get the day off, so Ingrid will be holding an Open House again. I am packing, but trying to keep the house looking staged. After Sunday I will start taking things off the walls. We are moving everything out April 3rd!

Reuben sandwiches for lunch!

Soooooo, yesterday I had the crockpot going with corned beef. I put 3-4 bottles of beer in the crockpot with the corned beef and some pickling spices and simmered it all day. Oh my, it's yummy!  Today, I brought the corned beef, some dark rye bread, butter, swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing to work and we made Reuben sandwiches for lunch (we started cooking at 0945hrs, since my lunch is at 1015!).  Oh myyyyy....it's good!!!

I took a picture of one of our work stations here at work......Weird to think I'll only be here a couple more months......

When I got to work today I heard about a fire that occurred a couple of days ago where one of our Fire Engineers was severely injured when he fell through the roof of the burning structure. He is lucky to be alive.....
When the City of San Jose Mayor and City Council talk about taking away our benefits it makes me so angry. Firefighters and Police Officers put their lives on the line to take care of the citizens....and the 911 dispatchers take the citizens calls for help and send the help....and they want to take away the benefits promised to us over the past 22 years!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today as I was driving through Dublin, CA the streets were blocked off and there were people everywhere! There is a festival in the City of Dublin every year to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!  

Today would have been my first husband, Roland's, birthday...he would've been 57 years old today. He will always hold a special place in my heart......he died at the age of 30, when our children Jackie and Christopher were just 2 yrs. old and 3 months old.

Today I started clearing out the kitchen cabinets. I've taken all the food items out and separated them. One pile to bring to work to share with my coworkers. Some of the girls are quite the cooks and would like to take some of my spices. Another pile is to bring to church to donate and the third pile is to bring to the Blue Star Moms storage locker to donate to the troops.

Two Realtors came to look at the house today with their clients.  Four or five days ago a couple came through and said they were putting an offer on the house, but we never heard anything back from them.  This week I have a painter coming in to give me an estimate to paint the family room a lighter color. People have trouble picturing it the way they want it...I'm hoping it'll help!  The house has been on the market five weeks now. Anytime I've sold in the past the houses were gone within a few days at most. This market is challenging to say the least!

Yesterday Linda had some of us "girls" over for breakfast. Janet, Eileen, Nan, Barbara, Linda, and I had a wonderful breakfast prepared by Linda!  Nan also brought a yummy quiche!  As we were talking we realized that most of us at the table would be leaving the area in the next few years.  Janet and Roland just bought a house in Colorado and will be putting her house on the market soon; Barbara and Bill will be staying till her husband retires, then will probably move somewhere out of state; Nan and Mike are looking at Idaho; Linda and Dave are going to Montana to look for a place in a couple of months. Eileen and Tommy have also considered moving out of the area, depending on where their kids land and the health of their Moms. It's difficult to make a go of it in CA, especially with the economy the way it is now.

I can eat again!!!

Tuesday night was my last meal till late this afternoon because I had to prepare for a colonoscopy today. My sweet friend Eileen drove me to Kaiser in Antioch and waited while I had the procedure done. All went well....they told me I have diverticulitis, so I'll have to read up on it.....They put me to sleep during the procedure...when I woke up I felt as though I'd taken a good nap!

After I got home I had a Lean Cuisine somewhat bland meal...didn't want to shock my system by eating what I really wanted (a spicy burrito!).  A little while later, my hairdresser/friend Norma called and asked if I was going to make it to my hair appointment. I guess there was some miscommunication, I thought we had scheduled it for Friday. Since I felt fine, I drove over and was able to get my hair cut today, which always makes me feel better!

When I was done there I went to the yogurt shop downtown and treated myself to a frozen yogurt with chocolate chips, blueberries, chocolate sauce and caramel sauce....a little bit of heaven!!!

I received my order from Amazon.com of the "china keepers" I had purchased, so I have started packing all of the china and other dishes. It's nice to pack them in these containers.....they will stay clean and "safe"!  I didn't order quite enough of them, so I placed another order tonight for just a few more.

Change in plans!

So now we've decided that Andrew will fly home Friday, March 30th to help move everything out of the house!  The move is scheduled for Tuesday, April 3rd. Then we will both fly back to the Netherlands with the pets April 5th.  Because of these changes I have to bring the pets to the Vet on the Friday Andrew is coming back to the States.  I have an appointment for the morning. That afternoon I have to bring the paperwork I receive at the Vet to the State Department in So. San Francisco, so Andrew and I will do that together in the afternoon. At first I was concerned about the timing, but it will actually work out perfectly so I only have to make one trip up there!

It seems as though God's hand has been there the entire way ever since we started planning this move. There have been so many things that have happened that the Lord has guided us through!

Last night my friend Kristen and I went to dinner to celebrate her first day as a Tour Guide.  She did a tour in San Francisco and had a great day!  When she was telling me about the tour it made me want to go on one myself...there's so much to see in this area!!!

Tomorrow my friend Eileen will be driving me to Antioch for the colonoscopy....not looking forward to that, but it'll be good to get it over with....and it'll give Eileen and I time to chat in the car!

We had two offers on the house a week and a half ago. They both pulled out of the deal, and now there is supposedly another offer in the works. We lowered the price last weekend after having it on the market for a month. This certainly is a different market than I've ever dealt with when selling other homes.......we just need to be patient, and I need to trust God that it'll all work out....

My piano has a new home!

Taken in front of the house!  God's artistry takes my breath away sometimes!

Yesterday, my brother-in-law, Dan had a piano mover come and pick up my piano and had it brought to their house.  It was a bittersweet moment watching it go, but knowing it is going to a home where it will be enjoyed for years to come.

My in-laws invited me over to watch my niece play basketball and then have dinner with them last night!  What a pretty drive to the other side of the Bay!

On my way over I was thinking about the value of this property! Wonder if anyone's ever considered rebuilding the prison elsewhere and selling this property?!?!?  I would think the State would make a killing on this real estate!!!

My niece and her team played a great, fair game of basketball!  She scored 2 baskets (the only 2 they scored!!!). The other team did a few unethical moves (elbowing, pulling on shirts, etc....)

My piano's new home!

We had a delicious meal of lovingly prepared lasagna! After dinner, my youngest niece set up a store. She provided "money" for myself and her Mom, Michelle. We were able to purchase several items at the "store" including a jump rope, a book, etc!

Afterwards both nieces put on a concert for me with their fiddles!!!  The youngest has just started playing....They both played very well!!!

This morning Daylight savings time began. For the first time ever, I forgot to set my clocks ahead! Soooo, I was about 30 mins. late getting to work....oooooops!  When I got to work I noticed there was an abundance of staffing (which nevvvver happens!), so I decided to use my vacation time and leave for part of the day. I was able to plant the flowers I've had sitting there for a week and get the rest of my laundry done.  At around 1000hrs, I took Sammy out of the house so that some realtors who had called the night before could come in and look at the house and yard without the dog barking.  Sammy and I went to the park, where we both took a nap in the car! We went for a short walk around the park after that.......It is such a beautiful park and so well maintained......Every time I walk through the memories come flooding in of the kids playing soccer, baseball and football there!  The sounds and smells come back to me and makes it feel like just yesterday even though many years have passed....

At noon I brought Sammy back home and left for work where worked the rest of my shift and then some overtime on swingshift.