Easy New Year's Eve Appetizer

These little guys will be one of two ingredients in a great New Year's Eve party treat.

Button up.  Yep. That is all you need to do to have a tasty, nutritious, low-calorie and thrifty treat for your family and guests on New Year's Eve.  This delight requires only two ingredients.

Marinated Mushrooms

1 or 2 cans of button mushrooms
1 small bottle of low-cal Italian dressing (I prefer Wish-Bone, but use your favorite)

Drain mushrooms and place in a bowl.  Add enough dressing to cover them.  Put in a storage container and refrigerate for at least four hours to allow the ingredients to marinate.

Serve in a pretty dish. I put some cocktail picks beside them to make picking up easier.

Everyone will think you worked much harder than you did to put this recipe together.  It will be our secret.

As Julia would say, "Bon appetite!"

Unfortunately, Wishbone did not pay me to mention their product.
Photo provided by Google Images.

The One

This is a springtime photo of  the home we have lived in for 16 years and are moving from next week.


We all know about "The One".  Like when you meet the perfect life partner, you tell your friends that you have found "The One."  It also applies to wedding dresses.  You can try on different styles for hours, but when you have tried "The One", no other dress will do.

I think the same applies to the place where you live.  Whether it is your first apartment or your dream home, you get a certain feeling when you walk in the front door, and you know it is "The One."

We started talking about down-sizing and moving from the suburbs to a downtown townhouse about 18 months ago.  Since then I have looked at about 15 townhouses in search of either the perfect place or the place that could be remodeled into our perfect place.

We had certain criteria that were non-negotiable.  For instance, it had to have a first floor master bedroom, dirt (instead of a condo with a balcony), room for our out-of-town family members to come and spend a few nights, a two car garage, and be in a good downtown neighborhood.  We felt everything else that didn't fit this description could be added through remodeling.

Last December on a sunny but cold afternoon, we found "The One."  The trouble was we had a busy year ahead of us with our daughter's wedding in April, four months of traveling and some big business projects to tackle.  We would not have time to put our house on the market until the fall, and we weren't about to buy a property before our current house had sold. 

So, we had to just cross our fingers and hope that no one would buy our number one choice.  Lucky for us, the owner had priced the unit much higher than it was worth.  Meanwhile, we continued to look at townhouses and found two that we thought could be our second and third choices.  We felt that maybe one of the three would still be on the market by the time our house sold.

When October arrived, we were ready to put our house on the market.  We had it professionally appraised so we could price it properly, we had it staged so that its beauty could be enhanced, and we hired a top-selling realtor.  Our house sold in just three weeks time.

Meanwhile our second and third choices had sold during the year, but "The One" was still available.  After an afternoon of negotiating with the by now motivated seller, we settled on a price that satisfied us all, and we signed a contract to buy.  We will close next week. 

Keep coming back to see where we are moving and to follow the process.

Homeless, No More

This is part of the lake we will see when looking out the window of our temporary rental property.


A few weeks ago I blogged about the hunt for an apartment to rent on a month to month basis while our new digs are being remodeled.  At that time I was looking at unfurnished apartments in the downtown area.

 I looked at several, including a house over 100 years old, a second-floor condo, an apartment in a busy shopping area, and some studios.  Based on what I saw in my first session, I was able to compile a priority list of what we needed to live comfortably in a temporary dwelling for just a few months.

The most important item was to have two bedrooms.  My husband works from home, and he needs his own space so that we don't get into each other's way during business hours.  The second bedroom would serve as his office.  We also knew that finding a rental with two covered parking spaces was not going to happen, so that became a low priority item on our list.  We decided that finding a furnished place would save us from packing and unpacking twice. So, a furnished dwelling moved up to number two on the list.

We then knew which key search words to enter when conducting our on-line hunt:  two bedroom, furnished, and month to month.  When entering these three requirements, we were able to narrow down the list that presented itself to us, and immediately we found an intriguing ad.  It was promoting a large, clean, furnished, lakeside duplex available to professionals on a month to month basis.  It had two features that weren't very appealing to us:  no garage, carport, or parking structure, and it was located a few miles out of town.  But, when we visited the duplex and saw its new, clean furnishing, numerous windows, very high ceilings, and completely equipped kitchen, we knew it was our perfect temporary home, and we were homeless, no more.

Depression....

These are five of the depression glass patterns that I currently own and use frequently.


Depression glass, that is.    In case you aren't familiar with it, depression glass is a generic name for dishware that was used as promotional items in products during the Depression Era of the 1930's.  Pitchers, dinner plates, saucers, cups, bowls and glasses could all be found in various products for free or purchased at low prices.  Businesses and theaters gave the dishes away to their customers as incentives.  Quaker Oats is a well-known company that distributed the glassware.  Twenty companies manufactured over 100 patterns in the United States. 

The glassware is translucent and comes in a rainbow of colors including green, pink, gold, amethyst, clear, ruby, blue, black, and white (milk glass).  It was not considered a high-quality product.  The well-to-do families probably did not own these dishes.

Thanks to my mother, I have sets of eight dessert/salad plates in seven colors.  I love them because they go perfectly with our wedding china which is Moonspun by Lenox.  By adding depression glass to that beautiful creamy colored china, the table setting takes on a more vivid appearance.  If I add flowers, and napkins in matching or complimentary colors, the table pops even more.   They also go beautifully with some other vintage sets of china that I have collected over the years.  The colors I own are gold, clear, green, pink, blue, white, and amethyst.

The color I use most is green.  Added to our Moonspun china at Christmas with red napkins and candles on the table, they give our table a holiday look.  In the spring I team the green plates with pink or yellow flowers, candles and napkins, and the table takes on a fresh spring look.  In the autumn, they work perfectly with brown, gold, or rust colored accessories to have an instant fall color theme.

People started collecting depression glass in the 1960's, but it still can easily be found at garage sales, flea markets, auctions, and on ebay.  Each salad plate is usually under $10.00.  Why not start a collection of your own in your favorite color to enhance and easily change-up your year-round table settings?

My Christmas Doll

I found this doll while packing up our guest room today.  She has been stored in a dresser drawer.


I might have just found my big Christmas gift this morning.  Let me explain.  When I was a little girl, an elderly friend of my mother's gave me this antique bisque doll which had been restored.  Realizing how delicate the little doll was, I kept her on a shelf in my bedroom and didn't really play with her. 

When I left for college, I stored her away with my other childhood memorabilia.   And then my mother gave her to me about twenty years ago along with other belongings from my past.  I stored her away in a guest room dresser until today when I was clearing out drawers for our upcoming move.  I had forgotten she was there.

Since we are downsizing, I decided to sell her on Craigslist for $100.  First, though, I decided to check on Ebay to see what these antique bisque dolls are going for, and wow, was I surprised.  The prices of the recently sold dolls range from $500 to $8,000.  So, forget the $100 bargain on Craigslist, everyone.

Meanwhile, I have contacted a doll collector in California to look at the photos and let me know if I have indeed found my early Christmas gift.  (Cha-ching!)

Do you have a personal treasure stored away?  Tell me about it in the comment box below. 

Holiday Simplicity

Learn how to make a simple holiday pillow by shopping in your jewelry and sewing boxes.


Running out of time, and you haven't done your Christmas decorations yet?  Here is a simple trick that I did to "holiday up" a plain yellow pillow.  I went to my jewelry box and found a vintage looking silver brooch with a faux sapphire stone.  I then took some lime and white polka dotted ribbon from my sewing box.  I attached the ribbon to a creamy yellow brocade pillow with a  hidden safety pin, and attached the brooch.   Presto!  I had a decorative and original Christmas pillow.  I then tossed the pillow and a big red throw (actually a comfy piece of fabric from JoAnn's), onto a chair in our library, and the whole room came alive.

Maybe you can create your own unique pillow from your jewelry box.  What do you have in mind?  Be sure to share with me and others.

Have a great week-end!

Unfortunately, JoAnn's Fabric did not pay me to use their fabric.

My Mr. Big

Here are Mr. Big and I surrounded by Vietnamese children during our bicycle trip from Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) through Cambodia to Bangkok.  These village children had a parade for us because they were celebrating Tet, the Vietnamese new year.


Carrie Bradshaw has nothing on me.  Well, hmmmm, maybe that's not exactly right.....She does have the designer clothes, the beautiful shoes, the great New York apartment, the dream job, and the big city lifestyle.  But, I have Mr. Big - the Real Mr. Big.

My Mr. Big earned his name - he is seven feet tall.  Yep, that's right  - seven long feet tall.  It has been great for him, though.  He earned a full basketball scholarship to a Division 1 school, played pro basketball in Europe, and always has an instant conversation piece.  And when we  travel in Asian countries like China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia, it is as if I am with a rock star.  We travel to many remote areas of these countries, and the people are fascintated to see someone as big as he is.  Mothers line their children up to be photographed with him, they want to shake his hand, do high high-fives, and just joke around.  He is very good-natured about it and plays right along.

Being seven feet tall does have its negatives, too - like when buying furniture and cars.  We have to try them.   It is like trying on clothes, but we don't have to get undressed.  As the Cambodians would say, it is "same, same but different."  The sales people always take us on as a personal challenge and work really hard to find something that "fits."  When there is success, we are all happy.  We do our own little session of high-fives.  We will be buying some new furniture for our upcoming move.  We need some new chairs for television viewing in the great room and possibly a new sofa. 

Mr. Big and I have had our discussions and are on the same page with what we are looking for.  We want our chairs to be sturdy and firm, rather than the big plush ones that you sink into.  We want our sofa to be long enough so he can lie down and maybe take a nap when watching a Saturday afternoon basketball game. 

So, if you are in a furniture store in the near future and see a tall man and his wife carrying a sofa to the dressing room, it might just be us...

Do you have any furniture shopping needs for 2011?  Please let me know in the comment section below. 

Bourbon Slush, Anyone?

Here in Kentucky, we know our bourbon.  In fact 90 per cent of the world's bourbon is made within a 50 mile radius of  where I live.  With the holidays approaching, I thought it would be fun to share a recipe that I received from my sister-in-law who grew up, ironically, in Baltimore - not Kentucky.  But the girl really knows how to make a good slush.

This is a great drink to serve with an appetizer before a meal or to serve as your featured cocktail at a party.

I told you in a previous blog that I am a one-drink kind of girl, and this cocktail is worthy.

Bourbon Slush

Prepare the day before serving.

6 cups water
1 cup bourbon
1 cup sugar
2 cups brewed unsweetened tea
12 ounce can  frozen lemonade
6 ounce can frozen orange juice

Mix all of the ingredients until the sugar dissolves. 
Put in freezer.
Stir after 6 hours.
Put back in freezer for a few more hours.
Spoon into high ball glasses and serve with a short straw.

Remember to make sure none of your guests - or you- over indulge.

Which brand of bourbon do you prefer?  Share in the comment section below.

Image taken from Google images.
Unfortunately, the bourbon industry is not paying me to promote their product ):

Boxes Day

The English call the day after Christmas "Boxing Day" because they box up the food left over from their  Christmas feasts and go to each other's homes to have a second and more casual celebration.  Some people enjoy Dec. 26 more than Christmas day.

We are knee-deep in boxes and packing here, so I am having a "Boxes Day".   Working my way through the house, one room at a time, progress is being made, and the boxes are stacking up. 

Needless to say there is no time or need for a Christmas tree this year at our house.  But don't worry.  We realized back in October that we might be in the middle of packing during the holidays, so, we made plans then to take a road trip to the next state over and go to Grandma's house for the holidays.  We will meet up with the family there. 

Our big move will start when we return home and be complete by New Year's Day.  And then I get to have more "Boxes Days" when the unpacking begins.

And The Winner Is

Josie!!!  Congratulations Josie on being the winner of Down-sizing Boomer's first give-away.  You have won (drum roll, please) a box of Old Kentucky Chocolatess. 

Old Kentucky Chocolates have been a staple in our family for years as the perfect hostess and/or thank you gift.  They have a huge variety of chocolate delicacies but are best known for the bourbon balls.  Yummmmm.  Enjoy.

Thanks to all of you who have become followers, have made comments, or have contacted me privately through email to tell me how much you are enjoying this little blog.  I have said that I have tens of readers and hope to make it hundreds, than thousands.  Be sure to add this blog to your "favorites" and check back regularly.  Or, become a follower and get the updates automatically.

Stay tuned to see more before and afters, recipes, our temporary home, our new digs (yes, we have signed a contract), decorating at the Newlyweds' home, and our travel experiences.  Have a great week-end.

Unfortunately, I am not being paid by Old Kentucky Chocolates to mention their blog.

Let There Be Light

When the Newlyweds moved into their charming bungalow, they had a rude awakening.  Like many older homes, the number of electrical outlets are limited, and there are no overhead lights.  So, they needed lighting, pronto.

The first thing on my "Mamma-do" list when I arrived for my week of decorating aid was to help with lighting.  Like most young couples, they are working within a budget. So, the first place we went was to a local thrift store and bingo, we hit pay dirt.  We found four lamps, and with my (ahem) over age 55 discount, we snagged them all for around $10.00.  One of them was  cream-colored ceramic and only needed a new shade.  It was perfect for the guest room.

  The next three were brass and dated, but the wiring worked just fine.

 We decided that one of them would be perfect for the black buffet in the dining room. But first it needed a pop of color.  Mrs. Newlywed decided a bright apple green would be perfect.  She selected leafy green by Rustoleum.

We gave the lamp two coats of paint, and bam, it was perfect.  The next addition was an adorable white shade from Target.

The final two lamps were also a tired-looking brass.  We decided to spray paint them both with oil rubbed bronze.  It worked perfectly, and afterwards, they looked as if they just stepped off the store-room shelf.

With the addition of two new shades from Target, they were ready for center stage in the living room. 

And just like that, there was light.

Unfortunately, I was not paid by Target or Rusoleum to use their products.

Stockbridge at Christmas

Norman Rockwell, anyone?  This late, great artist of Americana spent the end of his career and life in Stockbridge, a bucolic little burg in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts.  He is known for painting everyday scenes of American life, including families, the military, lovers, and animals, all going about their day to day lives.  But his artistic interpretation coupled with some flair and whimsy made him one of America's most beloved painters.

Rockwell's most famous painting is a Christmas scene that appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1967.  He actually began painting the scene, called "Stockbridge at Christmas" in 1958 and put it away.  When rushed to meet a magazine deadline almost a decade later, he pulled the picture from his storage area, added some snow and some mountains and sent it in to the editors.  They loved it and put it on the cover of their Christmas issue.

The residents of Stockbridge know they have a good thing going.  Their town still looks the very same as it did in 1967, and for the past 21 years, they have been creating the scene in the painting on the first Sunday in December, closing down the street, and selling tickets.  Thousands of people flock there to spend an hour or so walking down the middle of Main Street, taking photos, and imagining they have stepped back in time.

A visit to Stockbridge is something I do every year.  It just makes me feel good.  So, one of the items on my bucket list was to go there during their Stockbridge at Christmas celebration.  Since I have been visiting the Newlyweds this past week, and they only live three hours from the Berkshires, it was the perfect time to make the trip.  The atmosphere wasn't quite the same when you take the scene and toss in all of the visitors taking pictures, but with the carolers, vintage cars, historic buildings, and horse-drawn wagon, it was a good interpretation.

What is your favorite Norman Rockwell painting?  Respond in the comments box below.  Remember, I will be giving away a prize at the end of this week to one of my followers or commenters.

Reprint of the Stockbridge at Christmas painting taken from Google images.

I Kissed A Girl....

And I liked it.  You know that line, right?  It's from the Katie Perry song that put her on the map.  Well, the girl I kissed is named Margarita as in the popular Skinnygirl Margarita.

 Skinnygirl Margarita is a company founded by reality star Bethenny Frankel.  (I know way too much about this.....)  She didn't actually invent margaritas, but she was smart enough to make a low-cal version and put it in a bottle.   It is so different from the margarita mixes we usually can buy because it absolutely tastes as if you just squeezed your own fresh limes and mixed them with some tequila and orange liquor.  I promise you, it is that good.

A regular margarita is loaded with calories.  Skinnygirl is loaded with taste.  It is made with agave nectar,  and  Blue Agave clear tequila and has only 100 calories.

I am a one-drink kind of gal.  So, if I am actually having a cocktail, I would like it to be one that tastes good.  If I can get the taste without all of the work, even better.  But, there is a problem here.  Skinnygirl Margaritas are not available in Kentucky where I live.  I had my drink in Syracuse while visiting the Newlyweds.  And with the three-ounce rule on airlines, it's not as if I can sneak a bottle through my carry-on when I fly home.

So, I guess the next time I want to sip a margarita and pretend I am in Cabo, I need to fly to Syracuse.

What's your drink of choice?  Please leave your answer in the comment section below.

Unfortunately, I was not paid by Skinnygirl Margarita to write this blog entry.

Chocolate or Vanilla?

When the newlyweds bought their house, they weren't in love with the living room fireplace.  It is on an angle in the corner, which they like.  They will position their seating area at an angle, also, to take advantage of the room's main focal point.  The fireplace is brick with a nice big white mantel.  Above that is a large mirror trimmed in molding that is about four inches wide.  They plan to lean art against the mirror and use it as  a backdrop.  Below is a before picture of the fireplace.  Excuse the photography.  In the midst of unpacking, we couldn't find a camera and had to use the phone camera.

What the couple wasn't crazy about was the color.  The previous owner had painted the brick a chocolate brown.  It was the exact color of a Hershey chocolate bar minus the almonds.  The newlyweds are young and energetic, and the brown just didn't fit them.  It wasn't ummmmm sexy enough.  (That is my word - not theirs).  The fireplace needed to be fresh looking, and the drabness of the brick was pulling the entire room down.  One of my projects upon arrival was to select a color from the color cards we picked up at Home Depot and then to paint the brick white.  They wanted the white to be in the same hue as the mantel and trim, which is a creamy white - like vanilla.   Being new at this, they were surprised by all of the shades of white that are available.  We finally settled on Snow Fall by Behr in a flat latex.  Even though all of the below swatches are considered whites, you can see the definite color variations.

After removing the wood logs and screen, I coated the bricks with Kilz, which is a primer.  It is available in both oil and latex base, and because we wanted an easy clean-up, we used the latex base.  The primer dried several hours while we worked on some other projects, and then I painted the first coat.  It looked even, and I thought the job was easier than I had expected.  But the next morning when the sun was shining in, we noticed that some brown shades were still showing.  So, I quickly gave it a second coat of paint.  A few hours later, we could tell that the job was complete.  

The fresh, white bricks changed the personality of the entire room.  The walls are a great taupy green, and the fireplace pops now.  We have one project successfully completed with many more waiting, but first we are going to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate in front of the fireplace.

  

 

I have to add this disclaimer letting you know that, unfortunately, Home Depot and Kilz are not paying me to use their products.

The Newlyweds

Greetings from Syracuse, NY, where I am visiting the newlyweds in their new/old house.  My daughter and her new husband moved to Syracuse three months ago for his new job and moved into their 2000 square feet 1928 updated bungalow two weeks ago.  Lucky for them, all of the updates (kitchen, baths, hardwood floors, windows, landscaping) have been done so that they can concentrate on painting and decorating.  That is where I come in.

I arrived yesterday, and we promptly went thrifting where we found some great lamps that can be modernized with ORB (oil rubbed bronze) spray paint, a chair with a padded seat that we will paint and reupholster for seating at a make-up vanity, a mirror to be painted for the foyer or guest room, and a bulletin board to be painted and covered for the kitchen desk area. (Watch for photos in upcoming blogs).

We also bought a soft celery green paint for the study which is now a deep red.  We will first have to prime.  The newly weds have never painted a room before, and it is my mission to make sure they don't learn any bad habits.  We also bought a soft blue for the master bedroom.

The weather forecast for tonight is not pretty.  The folks up here talk about the lake effect which often makes snow become a snow storm.   Supposedly the temperature, which is now hovering in the low 50's , is going to drop to 28 degrees, and we are going to get a lake-effect snow storm.

We are fine with that though.  There is plenty to keep us occupied on the inside.

If you would like to continue receiving this blog, please subscribe or become a follower.  Next week I will have a give-away, but you must be a follower to win.

The photo was taken by professional photographer Eric Graff.

Loving Lexington

December will mark the twenty-third year that we have lived in lovely Lexington. We moved here by choice because we thought it was beautiful. That's right.....We sold the Dutch Colonial home we had built, uprooted our kids from school, quit my teaching job, and relocated my husband's office because we thought it was pretty. We didn't know anyone, nor did I have a job lined up. We simply thought it was pretty. Case closed.

Any regrets? Not one. We love it more now than we did then, and we still think it is beautiful and the absolute best place to raise a family.

After being here so long, it is easy to come up with my ten favorite things about Lexington.

1. Horses - not just horses but everything associated with them. I love the horse farms and cycling past them on a spring day when the foals are nursing. I love Keeneland, and the Three -Day Event, the Kentucky Horse Park, the Keeneland sales, the Derby and all of its festivities, and frankly, I love the way horses smell.

2. University of Kentucky - It's great to live in a town that offers top-quality NCAA Division 1 sports, world- reknown guest speakers, the opportunity to continue and upgrade your education, a great teaching hospital, a beautiful campus, and a world-class opera program.

3. The Arboretum - Started by a group of volunteers, the Arboretum is the best place to take a walk and get away from traffic while enjoying whatever is in bloom or in season at the time.

4. The Kentucky Theater - Walking into the Kentucky is like walking back in time, in a good way. The theater offers a great selection of independent and big-budget films, and the Summer Classics series is still going strong. And, you can get in the door for just $5.00!

5. The Opera House - Even though we might have to wait a few years after making their debuts on Broadway, popular plays and musicals come through here every year to mostly sold-out audiences.

6. The Carnegie Center - We moved here the year that the "new" public library opened on Main Street. But, without missing a beat, the former Carnegie Library became a learning center offering a full range of classes - from beginning reading to advanced French - and all at affordable prices so anyone who wants to take a class can do so.

7. July 4th - Does any town anywhere do the Fourth of July better than Lexington? From the pie baking contest, ice cream social, Philharmonic concert, parade, vendors, race, fireworks, and top country music recording artist concert, the city officials have it planned and orchestrated perfectly. Plus, all of the events are free.

8. Philharmonic Orchestra - We are very lucky in Lexington to have such a gifted orchestra and conductor who offer a variety of concerts both here and in outreaching areas while still operating in the black. Many orchestras around the nation are constantly fighting the bottom line, but not here.

9. Farmers' Market - Once again, this is an endeavor that was just getting started when we moved here. But, it is still going strong and has a new venue and a new shot of energy. The Farmers' Market offered an alternative to farmers who no longer could make a living while growing tobacco, and it offered a dependable venue to farmers who were already produce growers. And those of us who eat food benefit from it three times a week April to November.

10. The People - Last but certainly not least, one of my top ten favorite things about my town is the people. They are friendly, energetic, creative, artistic, athletic, empathetic, sympathic, hard-working, community-minded, forward-thinking, opinionated, polite, diverse, and wonderful.

Thank you Lexington for being all that we hoped you would be. You are our home.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Spinning - In More Ways Than One

I am a cyclist - a serious long-distance cyclist. So, I have spent many hours on my bike going many miles. This hobby has prepared me well for the spinning I am about to do.

First, I am headed to spinning class at the "Y" to get rid of the second helping of my mom's Thanksgiving dressing. And after that, I will start spinning another way. Since we are unofficially homeless, it is time to find a temporary place to live. Our house is under contract and by January 1 we need to be packed and out of here, my beautiful home.

Since the reason for this move is to relocate downtown, I am going to look at some apartments in the middle of the city. One unit is in a high-rise apartment building above the public library. That means we will not ease into city living but be smacked in the face by it everytime we go out. That might be a reality check for both of us.

Another is a free-standing apartment in the oldest and most historic part of downtown. Mr. Big wants to live temporarily in an apartment rather than a house. He feels there will be less time spent on outside chores and will give us move time to concentrate on buying and remodeling our yet to be found townhouse or condo.

Another apartment I will look at is located on the edge of the city about a stone's throw from some quaint two-lane country roads. It is a beautiful place that welcomes people like us who need to rent month to month while between homes. It will be the polar opposite of the two other spaces. It provides tennis courts, swimming pool, exercise room, game room, and enclosed parking spaces. The downside is that it is a long and traffic-laden commute to get anywhere.

We have a "wants" list for the apartment. We must have at least two bedrooms - one for sleeping and one for an office - , two baths would be nice, two enclosed parking spaces, and a nice expanse for lounging and entertaining. A third bedroom for storage would be a bonus because I have lots of things I really don't want to put in a storage unit for several months.

I plan to take photos, and maybe you can help me decide.

Pending

Will our new place have a ledge for a window box like this one that I saw in France?

We have a contract!! Just three weeks after putting our house on the market, all of the i's have been dotted and all of the tees have been crossed. We're pending!! The negotiations have been going on for over a week, and I have been walking around with my fingers crossed, but all parties agreed this morning!!! Yippee!!!

Now it is time to start the dirty work. I need to locate boxes, find a temporary apartment where we will live while our new place is being remodeled, find a new place, and pack, edit out stuff, and pack some more. (Insert deep breath here).

When we made the decision to down-size, we decided to not buy anything until we had a contract on our current home. In this iffy market and economy, we didn't know how long it would take, and we didn't want to have the pressure of needing to sell. So, we will move into a temporary place on January 1 and live there while our new place is remodeled. We already know that we will put our personal stamp on the new place with new or updated baths, kitchen, paint, etc. Dealing with an architect and builder could take months.

Also, we will be in southeast Asia from mid-January to mid-February doing a building project (more on that in later post) and riding our bicycles from the capital of Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam (more on that in a later post, too). That will slow down the process.

But it is time now to focus on the holiday and spending some quality time with my family. We will start visiting townhouses this coming week-end. We have seen a few in the area where we want to live. This process is going to be a lot of fun.

Give a Little and Get a Little

When we decided to downsize, we knew we would only be willing to give up the square footage we don't actually use now which is around 1,000 square feet.  That space will be coming from the library, turned music room, the dining room, and one bedroom.  We have also to decided to go more casual with our lifestyle.  We are going to give our formal dining room furniture and one set of bedroom furniture to our newly married daughter, sell the baby grand piano, and repurpose some other furniture.  What we don't use will be either donated to Goodwill, sold at a furniture consignment shop, or passed on to the newlyweds.

Based on the townhouses we have looked at, we will have a combined dining room/family room, a bigger basement, which we will finish for my husband's office, and three, rather than four bedrooms.  One of those bedrooms will be on the first floor which is a feature that we don't have now.The kitchen will still be roomy with a walk-in pantry.  It will be open to the entertaining area so I won't be sequestered when we have guests.  We will have one, instead of three fireplaces, and a walled-in courtyard will replace our lawn.  I told Mr. Big that I have to have dirt, and that eliminated all high-rise townhouses with balconies.

We know that whatever we buy will need to be remodeled and are looking forward to making those decorating and design selections that make me feel all giddy.

Staging

It's true what they say about staging a house to sell.  Whether you live in a castle or a cottage, your potential buyers' first impression  is so important.  You want them to be embraced when they walk in the door -  not by clutter, personal photos, and mementos, -  but by an inviting home they can see themselves living in.

We have worked with a redecorator a few times, and our home was in pretty good shape.  The OCD part of my personality doesn't like too much stuff in closets and drawers, so, that was all under control.  The redecorator, my friend Beth who is known as The Lone Rearranger, is a genius at seeing your things in a different way.  For instance, we had what is typically the eating area of our kitchen set up as a sitting/reading area for me, and the kitchen table was in the family room bay window overlooking the pond.  I love to use rooms in different ways which are not always expected. 

Before we listed our house, I called Beth for a staging session.  This girl hits the floor running, and with the help of my husband and son, our house was ready for the For Sale sign in less than two hours.  During that time, we eliminated  three chairs, two ottomans, a loveseat, a sofa, and all personal photos.  We changed up the sitting area in the kitchen by returning the table and chairs to their expected location, making it once again an eat-in kitchen.  We made the floor space of the bay window into a sitting area, and put the sofa at a better angle for enjoying both the television and fireplace.  We even tweaked one bedroom by putting the double bed on an angle which instantly made the room appear and feel larger.

When house-hunting, I prefer to see houses vacant, but most people can't visualize what a room will look like unless it is already furnished.  Now when people enter our home, the thinking has been done for them.  All they need to do is imagine their own furniture placed around the rooms instead of ours.

We are taking the plunge!

We have been thinking about it for two years.  We have delayed the tough decision as long as possible, but we have decided it is time to go for it.  We are moving, but not just moving....We are downsizing from our 4,000 square feet, four bedroom, four bath home in the peaceful suburbs to a townhouse downtown.  We have done the dirty work,  the house is now on the market, and we are waiting............The For Sale sign has been up three weeks, and even though it is the worst time of the year to sell, we have had tons of traffic and even one offer.  We now know what it is like to live in a model home with everything shining and smelling good every time we walk out the door, and we will be glad when we can let a day go by here and there without making the bed!

They say life begins when the kids leave home, and the dog dies.  Well, unfortunately, our beloved greyhound died last spring, and the kids have been on their own for ten years plus.  We have heard many baby-boomers like us say they need to get rid of the stuff and get something smaller, and we agreed and did something about it.

I love decorating, and I love change.  Even though it is an emotional one, I look forward to this next step in our lives.  Want to see what we are leaving?  Here is the link:  http://www.lbar.com/mls/details/residential/1022084.html

This pond that we partially own was one of the factors that motivated us to buy our home 16 years ago.  Remember the movie "Funny Farm" with Chevy Chase and the way he hired the local townspeople to play certain roles when potential buyers were visiting his house?  Well, when we walked through the living room, a pair of geese floated past the windows just as I walked past the windows on the inside.  I chuckled because I could have sworn that some director somewhere yelled, "Release the geese", and as if on cue, they played their roles brilliantly.  We bought the house!