Back to "Neverland"

A quick "run down" of the past week......

Saturday afternoon Amanda, Dan, Michelle, Katherine and Clara came over. We got pizza and had some wine, beer and champagne. What a nice relaxing day!

Last Sunday, April 1st, Jackie, Allen and Dillon came to the house in the early afternoon. They had rented a truck to pick up the couches (they decided to take all three of them) and the small patio set from the back patio.  Andrew went with Allen back to their condo and storage unit to bring the couches while Jackie and I stayed at the house with Dillon.  Jackie and I ended up taking a nice walk to the park with Dillon where we had a great time!

Sunday evening we had dinner with Pastor Dave and his wife Sue at P.F. Chang's.....what a wonderful evening!

Monday we spent the day packing the rest of the house up to ready for the movers....

On Tuesday, April 3rd, we had movers (2 men from Bekins) come to the house to remove all of the furniture and move it to our storage locker. We had two other storage lockers (a 10x10 and a 10x15) on hold thinking we would need more room.  The movers were amazing!  We had already packed up all our "stuff" in boxes, and they packed up all the large furniture very nicely by wrapping up some of the larger pieces in blankets and plastic.  They loaded everything into their truck in about 4 hours.  When we got to the storage unit they restacked all of the things we already had in there neatly and used up every inch of space. By the end of the day, they were able to fit all of our belongings into the one storage unit! Yippee! Saves us over $100 a month for a 2nd unit. Needless to say, they received a very nice tip!

Tuesday evening we went out to dinner with our friend Steve in Pleasanton.

During the day on Wednesday we spent the day packing our belongings into three piles!  One pile to go to Europe on Thursday, one pile to stay to go with me the next time, and one pile for me to use when I get back...and that went in the shed or my car so it won't be poisoned from the house tenting that will happen while I'm gone!

Wednesday evening we went to our friend's (Mike and Nan) house for dinner. Bill and Barbara, Janet, and Dave and Linda were there also. We had a great time!!! Great food and great friends.......We had received a nice bottle of "Markham" wine from Kevin last Christmas and decided to share it with friends!  Thanks Kev! It was gooooood!

The next morning we had to prepare the pets for shipping. The Pet Travel company was to arrive for pick-up between 0700 and 0730hrs Thursday morning.  Sooooo, I took Sammy for a walk...his last walk in the park in Pleasanton!!!

Before I left, I put Socrates in his crate in the entry way. He hates being in there.... While I was walking Sammy, Andrew was getting his crate ready in the garage.

Thursday morning at 0700 hrs the Pet Express people came to pick up Sammy and Socrates. The flight to Schiphol airport didn't leave till 1400hrs so we didn't have to leave the house till 1000hrs.  That gave us a few hours to make sure everything was cleaned up and put away. While we were waiting I made sure all of the doors in the house were operating okay by spraying them with WD-40.....I was looking at the spray can and saw this "POINT NOZZLE TOWARD MARK":   What I want to know is, who in the heck is Mark!?!?! (poor guy.....!)

When we got to the airport we checked in and gave them our luggage and we went through security. It took over an hour! Busy day at SFO!  When we got to the gate we watched for the Pet Express van and we were able to see them put the crates next to the plane!  The pets are always last to go on and first to come off!

The trip overseas is about 9 1/2 hours on a good day (over 10 hours coming back to the States!).... When we arrived we picked up our luggage and went to the house, which is only about 15 miles from Schiphol Airport.  We had enough time that we were able to drop off our luggage and have a little lunch before we had to go pick up the pets at VCK Logistics which is located close to the airport. Around noon we left the house.  When we got the pets out of their van they were so happy to see us!

We took Sammy out of his crate and had to take the crate apart to fit it in the car. Socrates stayed in the crate till we got home.  When we got home we took Socrates out of his crate and showed him his food and litter box. The first thing he did when we let him go was find a place to hide (next to the water heater) and he didn't come out of there till late this morning.  We took Sammy for a walk and he has adjusted pretty well.

While we were out walking we stopped by the new Gelato place downtown and got a combination of dark chocolate, Haarlem by Night and Mistero Latino.......a little bowl that came directly from heaven!

Last night I was up at around 0100 till 0330hrs.....jet lag.....Andrew was able to sleep all night. Today we took Sammy for a couple of walks downtown Haarlem, and got Socrates more comfortable in the house by letting him walk around with the dog outside in the "garden"!

This afternoon we met our neighbors, Bruce and Linda, for a drink. We went to a restaurant called "Stempels". We enjoyed some "bitterbalen", beer and wine!

It feels right!

We were able to meet the new owners of our house a couple of days ago...That was very special! They seem like a very nice couple and they love the house, the yard and the neighborhood. We told all the "special" things about the house....and all the indiosycracies!

Sunday, Jackie and Allen came over and picked up the couches and patio set from the back yard. Sunday night we went out for dinner with Pastor Dave and his wife Sue. What a wonderful, relaxing dinner we shared together! We met our realtor, Ingrid, at the title company yesterday to sign papers on the house.....wanted to get it done while Andrew is here. I was able to open an account at the financial facility we had discussed....five minutes before they closed! I shut off the landline at the house earier in the day......was on hold with AT&T for almost an hour....one less thing to do later. Tomorrow the movers come to take everything to the storage locker(s)! We had to get a second locker.....too much "stuff"! There seems to have been soooo many times in the past couple of months where things didn't seem like they were going to work out....and they have......so many what people would call coincidences. Feels like the hand of God has been with us the entire road. My faith grow stronger and I believe this is the path the Lord wants me to take. It feels "right".

Spring in Pleasanton and packing it up!

Looks like we've sold the house!!!  We got an offer, we countered and they accepted our counter offer!  Tomorrow they will be coming to the house to take measurements. I'm glad we'll be here so we can show them some things we feel they should know about the house. They want to have inspections done, which is fine...it'll be at their expense....

Yesterday after work I went to see my good friend Maria. She and I have known each other since our kids were little. Her son Andrew is the same age as Christopher and her son Robert is the same age as Kevin. Her ex-husband and I taught Sunday school together many years ago-that was how we met!  It was good to see her......It's getting more and more difficult to say my good-byes the closer I get to retirement knowing I'll be leaving the country.

After I left Maria I went to "The Brit" in downtown San Jose for retirement party for Ellen. She was so surprised--it was very cute seeing her walk in!  Sue and Jim were there, as well as Ted/Stacy/Tracy D.  It was good to see Sue and Jim...I hadn't seen them in quite a while!

This morning I got up at 0500hrs. I had to color my hair-yiiiiikes!  Too much gray showing...can't have that!
At 0730 I put Socrates in his crate and put him on the front seat of the car.  Then I brought Sammy out to the car and tied him to the back seat. I had never transported both of them together before. It actually worked out pretty well!  The Vet, Dr. Demi Tanner, and I have known each other for years too!  We met when our sons (William and Kevin) played baseball together. I didn't know she was a vet until another friend of mine was talking about where she worked as a vet technician and mentioned Dr. Tanner's name!  Dr. Tanner did a quick physical on both Socrates and Sammy and finished filling out all of the paperwork for shipping them to the Netherlands.  It was very hard for me to say good-bye.....She has taken such good care of our pets over the years....

After I left the vet's office, I came home and did some packing. Around 1100hrs I left the house and picked up medication for Socrates to bring overseas (for his heart condition), went to the drycleaners, then headed for the airport to pick up Andrew!  His flight landed at 1220hrs, he got through customs around 1315.  It's sooooo nice to have him here!  We had a 1400hrs appointment with U.S.D.A. for the pets' paperwork in So. San Francisco, so we left the airport and drove right over there.  They were impressed at how well the vet had done preparing all the paperwork.  The woman who certified all the paperwork was a kick!  She was telling us about her ranch property in Wyoming!  After we left there, we had to go to Brisbane to drop off all the certified paperwork with the pet transportation company. Ahhhh, then we headed "home"!

I decided to take a few pictures of the yard....and some of the progress I"ve made packing!

Our sweet Sammy!!!

Packing it up:

Red Solo Cup....

So, why is it everyone knows what a "red Solo cup" looks like?!?!?  There's a new Country song (sung by Toby Keith) with the title!

The other day I got the oil changed in my car at:

While they were working on my car I walked over to the new grocery store in town. There are no checkers at the store, you scan your own groceries and bag them yourself:

I've got the kitchen all packed up. After the Open House Sunday I took all the pictures off the walls while talking with Mom and Dad on the phone. All the nail holes have been spackled and painted over.  Now I'm in the process of washing all the towels that I had hanging (for staging the house), comforters and blankets from the beds not being used and everything else I can find that will need to be packed. Want everything clean before packing it away!

I've been bringing things in to work almost daily to give to my coworkers.....paper products, cleansers, candles, spices, etc. I don't want to throw anything away, so trying to make sure the things I can't keep get a new home!

Last night Nan and Mike had me over for dinner and more IPAD lessons!  So sweet of them!  I have learned a lot about how to make the best use of the IPAD.  Nan had made a delicious meal of "Moroccan Lamb Tangine".....I will have to make it!
Today I will be stopping by Tullio's to make sure his billing gets transferred to him since I'm leaving the area.

So, my first day of work after my last vacation (Sunday, February 26th) I took a 9-1-1 call from a woman whose husband was unconcious/not breathing. I provided CPR instructions to her over the phone, the Fire Department got there and "shocked" the patient and he was transported to the hospital by paramedics. Later that day we found out from the paramedics that he was still alive. Several days later we got updated information that he walked out of the hospital with no deficits!  What a great feeling to have had a hand in saving a man's life........kind of mind boggling.......


Dinner: Chuck Norris roll!!!