They have email in Alaska?

My dad, the outdoor adventurer (pictured left on last summer's family trip to Door County, WI) arrived safely in Alaska.

Steve jokingly asked my dad if he was also going to blog his trip. Instead - I have posted his first email as proof that they have email up there.

"The flight was good. The weather was beautiful the first day, sunny and 70s. We are staying at the Anchorage Guest House which is like an adventureer's bed and breakfast. We hiked to to top of Flat-top Mountain. It was beautiful and little more strenuous then I would have imagined. We were out of breath, but 9 out of 11 made it to the top. Peter a 65 year old retired engineer from Argonne will be my tent mate the rest of the trip. "


It sounds like this years summer trip will be more adventurous than last years! Although dad, Steve and Dr. Tony did attempt golfing -

Less than 1 month!

Yesterday (July 12th) marked the official one month countdown to the big day.

I am happy to report that we are in the final stretch and should be ready for all the big doings over the next few weeks.

Should we happen to deviate from my very well planned schedule - I am sure you will hear about it.

In the meantime, feel free to visit the wedding website for any details.

Steve and I both are getting really excited for the celebration!

Steve's Triumphant Return to the States

(Told in the third person, because obviously my body was overtaken by aliens when I inserted myself into this adventure...or perhaps just a little anxious to see my sweetie)

2 days prior to arrival

Tom W.: "Katie, I'd like to meet Steve at the airport what time does he get in?"

Katie: "Let me check - Steve sent me an email with all of the flight info. I'll call you back tomorrow. "

Katie sorts through numerous emails with no luck. She thinks to herself, "Hmm..which email did he sent it to? We definitely need to get better about subject lines. Ok - I'll just go to Air India's website. This is certainly no American Airlines - oh there it is. Flight AI127 with a scheduled arrival of 1605."

Later that evening....

Steve's mom: "Fred (Steve's dad) would like to greet him at the airport and take a picture."

Katie: "Ok - I think Tom W. also wanted to pick him up. I will call him tomorrow to let him know."

Steve's mom: "Well - he will probably just take a bus out there to meet. "

Katie (thinking to herself): "I wish I could leave work early - because I'd really like to meet him. Oh well, sounds like they have got it figured out." She talks to both Tom W. and Fred and have passed along the info. She is also posting/emailing Steve - so he will be on the lookout for them.

Day of Arrival:

10am
Katie looks at the Air India site only to see that the flight is delayed - but no time information is indicated. She calls a 1-800 number and they tell her that the flight is delayed until 4:55pm. She passes that info to Tom W. and tm's Steve to let him know that his dad will also be at ORD.

3pm
Katie sits at work - trying to focus so she can get her work done and get home to meet Steve. Since his flight is "delayed" she decides she may be able to take an early train home, pick up the pup and meet Steve in LaGrange at his parents. Sounds like a plan.

4pm
Katie wraps up her work and realizes what an odd coincidence it is that her co-worker is heading in a cab to ORD in a few minutes to catch her flight. Katie quickly packs up to see if she can catch her in the lobby and tag along.

Now 4:15pm
Katie thinks to herself, "Steve will be so surprised that I made it out to greet him and I am sure it will take him time to get off the plane and through security. I have plenty of time." She hops in the cab and throws out any ounce of common sense she has about 1. time 2. space 3. rush hour traffic 4. the reliability of Air India's phone rep. All she can picture is how happy Steve will be to see her.

4:30pm
Steve unboards the plane and calls his dad as he gets through security. The flight arrived on time and Steve does everything he can to navigate through the airport quickly. Once they meet up - Steve is anxious to go and does not want to wait to meet Tom W. He tries to call him and tell him to turnaround - they will just take a bus.

Katie enroute calls Tom W. and leaves a message that she is on her way. She then tries to get ahold of Steve's dad.

4:45pm
Fred answers the phone and learns of Katie's wherabouts. He passes the phone to Steve.

Steve, "Katie, I really just want to get home. Can you have the cab turn around or meet us at the O'Hare oasis?"

Katie feeling sick to her stomach, "Um, no I can't. I am in the cab with someone else. Can you just wait - the cab driver says it should be another 10-15 mins."

Steve, "Where are you? It's bumper to bumper traffic, isn't it?

Katie, "Near Foster, I think. Yes - it's pretty heavy."

In the meantime, Tom W. arrives to pick them up. They decide to get Steve home and come back for Katie at the airport. Fred ends up having them turnaround and drop him off so he can wait for Katie at the bus stop.

5:30
Katie's coworker gets dropped of at Terminal 3 for her flight.

5:40
Katie's taxi cab driver has no idea on how to get to the bus stop so she gets out at Terminal 5. Katie takes the tram over to the bus stop and meets up with Steve's dad. They wait for the 5:52 bus to LaGrange.

5:52pm
They take the bus to its final stop before heading to the garage. Apparently - this was the one bus that doesn't go the rest of the route. They transfer to another stop and wait for the next bus.

6:45pm
Steve greets Katie at 409. His right ankle is bandaged and swollen and his left is not much better. He has at least 3 days of stubble and smells of a man who has not showered for a few days and was camping in Berlin.

7:45pm
Katie and Steve arrive at 108 North. His flight from Germany took him 9 hours and his journey from O'Hare took 3.5. Steve is weary and worn - but exactly where he belongs. Home.

Free to a good home

One man's trash is another man's treasure? Or so the saying goes....

In the aftermath of yesterday's garage sale, we took two cars full of stuff to the Goodwill store. There were some remaining items that never made it to the garage sale because they were trash or broken and a few other items that seemed to bulky to be carted off in the car. We had a theory that putting these items out with the trash would allow them to go to good homes without the middle man of goodwill.

Mind you, many of these items were marked under 5 dollars. For the last hour, we said everything was 1/2 price. People still hemmed and hawed over paying $2 for a kids microscope set which still had its original price tag of $33. Needless to say, I believe it was donated in the end.

I fully expected that long before the garbage man came tomorrow morning a mirror, wobbly table and chair with a yellow flowered print cushion would be taken. Interestingly enough - the man who took the chair sat in it during the garage sale and wouldn't pay the "sale" price of $1.50 for it.

The most suprising thing was the number of items that were taken that we had deemed "not garage saleable" - an old box of Cheer (most likely from the early 80s), a mirror that had once been attached to a dresser and a rusted and dented dollhouse.

A teenage kid on his bike took a lawn chair that was riped only to have it open on him as he rode away. The girl he was with kept asking - "What are you going to do with it?" and made the observation that it was also a rocker and not just a regular chair.

I was annoyed with a few people who took it upon themselves to investigate one of the big black garabage bags by ripping it open - seriously, just untie the handles. No need to make a mess for the garbage man or me.

Even though we made a few bucks off the garage sale and were equally surprised at what people will spend their money on - in the future I plan to be sure and display more "junk" in my yard on garbage day...just to see if it gets taken. I know - I need to get a life. Not to worry - Steve will be home in less than 24 hours and he won't let me throw away anything.

If it's before 7am on Monday July 11th as you read this - feel free to stop by and pick through my garbage. There is still a metal bird cage, push mower, and an old chair with a crack down the middle of the seat. Just leave the rest alone. And don't bother with the canned tomatoes - best we can tell those are from the 60s.

Things I don't like doing....

1. Mowing the lawn*

2. Cleaning up after PT

3. Taking out the garbage

4. Washing dishes

5. Doing laundry

Come home soon......we need you!

*I did mow the lawn today for the first and last time.

A Little Haus History....

Steve has been asking me what I am doing to celebrate the long 4th of July weekend. I had little to say because I spent a large portion of the weekend finding homes for the new items we received at our wedding showers, unpacking the stuff we have been storing upstairs and prepping for a garage sale. I know sounds pretty exciting....

But wait - haven't you already had other garage sales this year? Yes, that's correct we are on to the final sale - #3 in 2006. We have had a total of 7 garage sales in the last 4 years and donated many items to Goodwill, Amvets, and of course the Naperville garbage and recycling.

I have mentioned previously that the house has been in the family for 90 years....and it is starting to feel as though we have 90 years worth of stuff. I thought it would be appropriate to explain how this all came to be and whose stuff we are sorting through. I am missing many details, which we are hoping to piece together as we rehab the house, but here is what I have.

In 1916, Elizabeth (Houser) Hein and her husband Emil Hein moved into 108 North with their 2nd son Ernest A. Hein and his wife Elizabeth (Thiel) Hein. These are my great, great grandparents and my great grandparents. The house at the time was a 2 flat with the younger Heins living upstairs. My grandfather Ernest R. Hein was born in 1918. The upstairs has a kitchen, dining room, living room, master bedroom and bathroom. It also has a very small room which until recently I assumed was a closet. It was my grandpa's bedroom.

In a one year span (Oct 1935 - Aug 1936) - Elizabeth Houser Hein, Emil and Ernest A. Hein all passed. This left my grandfather who was 17 at the time as the man of the house with his mother. When he married my grandmother, Rose Koretke, in October 1946, they continued to live in the downstairs apartment and raised 2 daughers (my mom and aunt).

When my great grandmother Elizabeth passed in 1979 (I was 1), time stopped in the upstairs apartment. I can remember going upstairs as a child and playing with my cousin. He had a train set up there and I remember all of the rooms set up as if someone still lived there.

Over the next 20+ years, my grandmother used that space as extra storage. Very little of my great grandmothers things were gone through or removed.

The summer before my sophomore year of high school (1993), there was a fire in the downstairs kitchen. Although it was late at night ( I belive around 2am) both of my grandparents were awake and made it safely out of the house. The kitchen was completely remodeled and there was smoke damage on the first floor. The fire fighters said that the space between the kitchen ceiling and the upstairs floor (the master bedroom) saved them from more fire damage.

In June of 1998, my grandmother passed away after battling pancreatic cancer. She was under hospice care for the last few weeks and was able to stay in a hospital bed at the house.

My grandfather was very ademant about remaining in the house that he was born in. He did so until December of 2002. It is easy to see how tied to this house he was given the history of his family and all of the memories he had from raising his own children there as well.

It has been quite an interesting journey as we sort through all of the items that have been stored and used at the house. On more than a few occasions we have struggled to determine what a particular item was, why anyone wanted it or how it ended up never getting used (still in original packaging, unfinished craft projects and many clothes still with the tags on).

I am really excited to see what the next phase holds for this house as we continue to sort through its history and return it to a single-family home.

So - Steve that's what I have been up to the last few days (oh and a little shopping).

Celebrating Germany in Naperville?

I swear I am not making this up.

Last night the Naperville Municipal Band's concert theme was "Celebrating Our German Heritage". I kid you not.

Steve's niece, Nicole, is in town this week from Iowa. So I decided to invite her out to Naperville for the concert to celebrate our German roots and Steve's trip.

PorTillo even broke out the lederhosen for the occasion. Ok - so that part I made up, because if he had lederhosen we would surely have a picture of him wearing them.

Nicole and I had a great time as the weather was just perfect. After a few songs, I realized hmm perhaps a band concert is not as exciting for an almost 6th grader as one would have thought. I think she was grateful to be relaxing and resting her feet after a long day at the Brookfield Zoo. We ended up chatting through most of the concert and eating the most chocolatey of brownies. It was good to get some visiting in with my one and only jr. bridesmaid.

Almost forgot - we also made a stop at Sts. Peter and Paul Church (where Steve and I will tie the knot in 43 days). I wanted Nicole to get a chance to see the long aisle we will both be walking down that day.

On that note, I guess I should get back to some of those wedding details.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Wetter aktuell

It looks like Steve is going to have better weather over there then is predicted in Chicago.
Break out the calculators - these temps are in Celsius.

Which means in Berlin it is?

Anyone, Anyone? Bueller?

23 Celisus = 73.4 Farenheit

This is as of 3pm Berlin time - which is 8am here. I believe. Too many conversions.

*WeatherChannel.com also has this info - but the picture won't copy. So I managed to navigate a website in German to find this picture. Click here to link to the site.

Master of the House

Even with his eyes half closed - the iron paw of PorTillo reigns!

When Steve is gone on camping trips, PorTillo is allowed to sleep with me in the bed as my protector. This is a big treat for him since he is not allowed in the bedroom at all under normal conditions, because of his ability to get under the bed in places I cannot reach.

So far, he is good once he is in the bed and doesn't use it as an opportunity to steal my socks and hide. Just in case I have taken to putting his Illini leash on him when he sleeps.

The past few nights I have found myself staying up later to organize things around the house and tidy up. PorTillo usually cashes out on the couch as this is when Steve would normally lay and watch tv with him.

In light of not getting that "snuggle time" on the couch, PorTillo has decided to set 10:30 as our new bedtime, because he starts whining at me (similar to the nagging I do when I want Steve to come to bed) until I go to bed. I was confused at first and thought perhaps he needed to go outside one last time - nope that wasn't it. His little tail wagged when I put the orange leash on him and walked towards the bedroom.

Last night, I put him up on the bed while I continued to get ready - brushing my teeth and such. He patiently sat there as if to say, I couldn't possibly fall asleep until you tuck me in under the covers. He stayed under the covers this morning until I gave a few raspberries to his belly (stole a page from the Lippoldthaus style of parenting). Hmmm - who is the owner in this relationship? He has so got me under his paw......

All I can say is, "Dog - you are in for a rude awakening when Big Head comes home!"

Remnants of the night out...

Hmm, since when did I develop a freckle in my ear?

Oh wait - that's purple glitter....

I wonder where that came from?



*Editor's note: In Steve's absence, I have NOT taken to talking to myself. This was all in my head. Although, PorTillo is a great conversationalist.

WOW - What a finish!

The game came down to a last penalty kick!

I can't imagine the excitement/disppointment that is all around Steve as they depart from the stadium.

As disappointed I am about not being able to shout "Go Socceroos!", I think that an upset over Italy would have created major havoc in the stadium. Just my sense - we will have to wait for the man to chime in with his experience.

I guess I better turn off ESPN 360 and get some work done.

I hope that quenched Steve's thirst to see a World Cup game - 500 euros ($650) is a lot of money and I am sure it will only go up as the competition goes on.

Game On!

Italy vs Australia (the socceroos !?!) starts in about 35 minutes.

To follow the game that Steve is at go to:

http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/liveblog-australia-vs-italy.html

As you will see, I am choosing not to predict the winner of the game on the comment section of this site. Instead I am hoping for Steve to be safe.

I will be cheering for the socceroos, because really it would be so much fun to yell!

-Soccer Mom in Training

Steve's Plan

This may be better info for Steve's Germany site, but here is the email he sent me with the tentative cities he is planning to be in:


This is a tentative plan for Germany
The cities listed are where I will be sleeping that night.
Friday July 23 – Frankfurt (due to time change I will be on the plane for Thursday night)
Sat.24 – Frankfurt
Sun.25 – Frank (maybe Nuremburg)
Mon.26 – Kaiserslautern
Tue.27 – Hanover
Wed.28 – Berlin
Thu.29 – Berlin
Fri.30 – Berlin
Sat.1 – Frank
Sun.2 – Hamburg
Mon.3 – Munich
Tue.4 – Munich
Wed.5 – Munich
Thu.6 – Berlin
Fri.7 – Berlin
Sat.8 – Berlin
Sun.9 – Berlin
Mon.10 – Frank*
Tue.11 – Home*
VERY Subject to change.

*I know this will change as Steve's plane ticket for home is on Monday the 10th not Tuesday the 11th - we looked at it before he left*

Girls Gone Wild - Part Deux

Brevity has never been my strong point - hence the 2 part post.

We all danced the night away to mostly 80s music. This is the 3rd bachlorette party I have attended at the Hangge Uppe and it is known for dancing and bachlorette parties.

Since I was last there - I noticed an increase in the number of "creepy old men" (read mostly over 40, unattractive and with mostly a stalker like expression). There were again many other bachlorette parties - but no other bride could match the interesting decorations I was wearing.

In fact - early in the evening, one bride's group used me as an example as "see it could be worse - we didn't do this to you". The girls were great though - no pressuring when I nursed a beer at the bar (most of my drinking was done on the porch at our house) and neglected to participate in any of the $2 shots. At about 10/10:30 I realized the alcohol was just making me sleepy - so I cut myself off and turned my attention to dancing on the stage and taking pictures with non-weirdo men.

Pictures would really help here and I will look to my girls to add in comments to shed more light into the evening's highlights:

One guy told my sister he wanted to take a picture with me and decided I was a perfect candidate for being put up on his shoulders. I fought back pretty hard and lost that battle. I can only assume that the look on my face captured the shock I was in.

Deanna - my dear friend from hs, started the evening refusing to dance because she was wearing a short skirt and managed to end the evening on the stage showing me her pole dancing moves (she also was bought a drink for her efforts).

Kate (aka Hot Momma) proved the childbirth has not slowed her down and was able to show off some of her belly dancing techniques.

Nothing could have been cuter than Jill and I dancing together in what Tony (Jill's husband) refers to as the Moylan girls moves - I guess we not only look alike but we also dance alike?

I am sure I missed something - but that is all I can remember. When I can get the pictures downloaded from my mom's camera, I will post the evidence.

Finally, a hearfelt apology to my future husband. I text messaged you early in the evening in the hopes that you would write back. My signal was not strong enough and the message never made it through. Somewhere in the evening, that detail slipped my mind. So in the cab back to Rachael's place, I was bemoaning the fact that you never wrote me back (nevermind the fact that it was very early morning your time). Sorry - I was just missing you and knew that you would appreciate knowing I was out and celebrating!

Girls Gone Wild - Part 1

The weekend started off great! Amy my bridesmaid a friend from UofI came in late Friday night. She was nice enough to allow extra time to finish the 4 loads of laundry (in the new washing machine and dryer) and running around trying to make the house more presentable. We also exchanged Xmas/Birthday presents. I love my new tee shirts - a custom made shirt that has a picture of a dachshund and says low rider and a Sixteen Candles "I Love Jake Ryan".

Saturday morning Amy and I ran errands with Portillo (breakfast, cleaners, farmer's market, Kohl's and Target). Our dog sitter (Amber from the cleaners) picked Portillo up for the night and we were on our way to wedding shower #2 at my parent's house.

My mom, Aunt, sister and Amy did an excellent job pulling everything together. The shower went off a hitch. In addition to showering Steve and I with love and gifts, I was touched by so many of their kind words that I was unable to read many of the cards (waterworks would have ensued). Jill (MOH and my favorite/only sister) had us all in stitches as she read back to the group the notes she had taken during the shower of things I had said when opening presents.

Taken out of context, things like "Ohhh, George Foreman" does sound pretty funny.

After the very tasteful shower, me and the girls headed for 108 North for pizza and drinks on the porch. Needless to say the churchgoers across the street did not appreciate the "very classy" and anatomically correct drink straws we were using (lucky they didn't see the plates from Lover's Lane).


Jill was able to get me to drink by asking me questions she had asked Steve and I had to match his answers. I think given Steve's propensity to embellish his answers I was going to have a difficult time with many of them. We then headed into the city to my friend Rachael's new place - it is goregous! She is getting married this October to another former PwCer in Indianapolis. We cabbed it to the Hangge-Uppe near Rush and Division.


Stay tuned for pics and what happens next!

Scooped!

At 7:05 pm last night, Steve text messaged to say they had boarded the plane.

"We are boarded and i have a window. There is a fussing baby in the seat in front of me - oh boy..."

Before he left, I had given my professional traveller's opinion on why window seats are preferrable for early morning or long flights where you want to sleep. The blanket makes a great pillow against the window and no fears of drooling on anyone other than yourself.

At 5:30 this morning I received a text message saying that they had made it and all is good.

Portillo convinced me to sleep a little longer and I thought for sure I would be the first to break the news that they had successfully made it.

No such luck - Der General scooped me already! He's at least one beer and a McDonald's down.

True American that he is - in the days prior to his travels, he went out of his way to have American fast food - a Big Mac from McDs and Chipoltle (who can pass up free burritos from the LaGrange Pet Parade).

As a side note - Portillo seems to be picking up that something is different. He's somewhat used to me being gone for business trips, but the big headed play toy that lives with us is always here :)

A Different Approach to Packing

I live by lists - especially when I am packing to go on a trip. Steve also lives by lists - his just aren't nearly as detailed as mine.

For the past month, I have been nagging him to create a list of what he is bringing to Germany for the World Cup. I wasn't sure I was going to be in town in the days before he left - so I knew I would feel better if I had some sort of evidence that he was getting ready.

I found out last week that I would be here - but I asked that over the weekend he have all his stuff together so we weren't running around the day before looking for stuff (note: the foreshadowing). I even had the ladies at his work on my side to bug him about "Are you packed, yet?"

Somewhere in the midst of my nagging over the course of the last month, I inquired as to the location of both Steve's passport and his plane ticket. Given the moving we did, I wanted to be sure he had adequate time to locate both. To which he replied,

"Yes, I have my passport right here and I know where my tickets are."

Evidence would have been key here.

So last night at 11pm (less than 24 hours prior to departure), we are tearing apart the office looking for Steve's plane tickets. He became convinced that he had them upstairs in with other misc stuff. Since the electrical is cloth wiring upstairs, we do not turn on the lights upstairs for any period of time and have no lamps up there at all. So at 11:45 he was fishing through boxes with a flashlight in about 90 degree heat.

I was sorting through the piles of papers and trying not to lose my mind. At 11:50 when it seemed Steve was ready to "give up for the night" and find it in the morning, I asked him if it could possibly be in one of the binders he has on the bookshelf.

AHA - we had found it! I cermoniously shook his head to indicate how crazy he was making me and went off to bed.

I made the final trip to walgreens last night for the calling card, asprin and a travel toothbrush kit. I laid out all of the items he had strewn around the house for his trip. I woke him up this morning to have him start packing (many hours before he is actually headed to the airport). I even have a list of the final things he needs to get.

I think I have done all that I can!

Der General

As many of you know, my lovely fiance (Steve) is headed for the homeland to watch the World Cup. He has decided to grace the world with a blog, which will chronicle his journeys during the 2.5 weeks.

Yes, that's correct. He is leaving me less than 2 months before our wedding to watch soccer and I think he plans to have a few beers as well.

A little background - Steve and I first started dating in December of 2002. From the very beginning he talked about going to the World Cup in 2006 and his love for soccer. He took me to Chicago Fire games and I must admit I had a good time. Not a good enough time to actually follow the game or watch it on tv - but as a person of competitive nature I could enjoy the sport. I also learned to enjoy the side bets that he and Dan would make at the games. Which corner would the next corner kick be from? How long will the person stay down on the ground? Who will score the next goal? Who will get the next yellow card?

I have never really picked up on the rules of soccer - but was able to follow the dollar bets game. In fact, when we went to a Bulls game a few years back - we were able to bring dollar bets into that game. Will Scottie Pippen foul or get a rebound first? I know we are so wild.

So back to soccer. In dating Steve, you learn to accept certain things. He likes to talk and he enjoys making things up or exaggerating. Going to the World Cup in 2006 in Germany was very clearly not an exaggeration nor was it negotiable from the very beginning. Which was fine for me - as 2006 seemed like a very far off time. Sidenote: He originally wanted to be there for the whole 5 weeks - but good sense and practicality not to mention $$ kept the trip shorter.

When we started to seriously discuss the possibility of marriage, I pushed for 2005 to avoid any potential conflicts with the World Cup. Steve pushed for 2007. We settled on 2006. An additional consideration was the timing of his annullment from the Catholic Church, which took almost an entire year. In the end, I realized that marriage and life require alot of compromise.
I am getting a wedding before 2007, but am going to be fianceless for a few weeks prior to the nuptials. *Note: We were originally looking at October 06 dates - but the Church and reception hall availability was better in August.

In the end, I know that I am not "letting him go" to Germany. He is going and we just happen to be planning a wedding around that time. He has been pretty good at getting his stuff taken care of before he leaves - so really do I want him around for my shoe shopping expeditions?

I realize to most Germany+ Selling Townhouse + Moving into a Very Old House + WEDDING = Crazy - but really it fits Steve and I just fine. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on how you look at it), we are both "pressure players". We work so much better under stress.

Given that logic - I am thinking everthing should go off without a hitch!

If you did not catch my link to Steve's blog hidden in this post - here it is:

http://dergeneral.blogspot.com/

Please note - all of his pictures will be taken on the cheapest digital camera I could find ($50 at K-Mart)!

When it rains, it pours!

I had my first Wedding Shower this past weekend with Steve's family. It really was a showering of love and support. Fortunately, I was able to spend a good portion of Sunday figuring out where all of our gifts were going to find a home. Right now everything has a spot - but as I re-organized I remembered that I have at least a few boxes of housewares that were packed in advance of showing the townhouse. These remain unpacked and will need to find a new home eventually. We also have 2 more showers - 1 with my family/friends and a "not a couples shower" with the MPU (Mobile Party Unit/Mobile Parenting Unit).

When I registered, I tired to be on the conservative side for a few reasons - we already have a few things from our townhouse and I was sure there were some items at 108 that I would inherit. What I failed to account for was a very small kitchen. I had planned on storing some of the bigger/non-daily use items upstairs in the kitchen's built-in cabinets. I was able to bring a piece in from the garage which will need to be repainted and have shelves put in. It was my mom and aunt's armoire where they stored their clothes. Pictures to come when it is all finished!

It is crazy to think that I feel like I am already "out of space" in a house that is way bigger than our townhouse. I think it will just take time to find a home for everything.

Can you ever have too many doxies?