That's A Wrap

Well, today I am 59....a wrap on my 58th year. Not sure how I feel about this....Tony says it's just a number, but for me, it's a passing. A passing from the 50's that went too fast, a passing into the unknown. I feel 59, and that makes me sad. I feel old and used up and I wish I didn't But I am. ARG..life goes too fast.

But, at least this was a good passing. I had a wonderful birthday with lots of cards and gifts and good wishes from alot of people and a phone message from Jenna, Jon and the kids. How cool is that!!

Tony and I used the gift card that we got from the kids to go to Pickwick and Frolic for dinner. It was a great gift. We saw Dina Costas, the owner of Pickwick's daughter. She used to work at our favorite wine bar and it was from Dina that we learned so much about wine. She is a wonderful person and made our night even more special by taking us to the comedy show after dinner and treating us with not only the show, but dessert and more wine. We laughed until we cried and had a wonderful evening.

Before dinner we walked around downtown and saw the film crew from the Avenger's movie. That was fun. We saw our favorite downtown buildings "reduced to rubble" that was really just plywood and plaster board. We took pictures of cars that were destroyed in the movie and stood by and watched huge craines with lights set up for scenes.

It was a good day to be in Cleveland. And after dinner and the comedy club, we just walked. There was a breeze and in our own way we said our first goodbye to Cleveland. We will be back. We will see Dina again. We will walk around East 4th and pass by the places we have been. But really, for us, this is a wrap....we are Wilmington bound now and Cleveland will be where we were from, not where we live.

I will miss it.

More Firsts!!

Not to worry future visitors, the house does have bathrooms, the porta potty in the front yard is only temporary!!

The bath tub in the master bath

The fire place in the living room...view from the kitchen

The "back" window is the guest bedroom. The windows near the back patio will be the office.

Tony's future domain....the kitchen. On the right is the start of the bar. You are looking at where the stove will be.

View from across the street. We are on the left. Our neighbor, Bill and his wife live in the house on the right. To the left of us will be the Ferrows and to the right, the Zeno family.

The garage is sticking out. The area in the back is the front door and front porch.

This is the back patio, you can see where the fireplace will be (on the right.)

Our house will be framed with trees in the back.

So much is going on in our lives. I joined Weight Watchers and went to my first meeting last night. For the first time in a long time I felt like I could do this program and achieve the results I want. And so I am committed to it. This is indeed a life style change and that is exactly what I need.

Tony went to see our house in Wilmington as you can see from the photos. I didn't realize that they were so far along in the building of it. I think it's going to turn out well. Look at the picture where all you can see behind our property are trees. WOW. Talk about the view from our window.

It's interesting to see a house "being born." We walked through the model of this home many times, but this is ours. The beems will keep us safe. The windows are where we will watch the world go by. This is like watching an ultra sound of a new life.

So, enjoy our new home and we hope you all visit very soon.

THE SHOWER

I posted some pictures on another blog page because I haven't figured out how to successfully mix text and photos, so read this and then enjoy the pictures.

It was a beautiful day for a shower...not too hot, no rain. The shower was at the Rose Cafe in Lorain, so we had a great view of the Lake and beach. Unfortunately, there was a volley ball tournament going on so parking was an absolute mess, but we all got through it and had a great time.

Marie's bridal party did a fantastic job of decorating and having all kinds of special details. The printed menu's had little sea shells on them and the entire shower kept to a beach get away theme.

We met Marie's entire family. I especially enjoyed meeting her brother, John. He was very nice and came over to talk to Tony (Sr) about sports and "guy stuff" in the midst of all of this "girly" stuff. Everyone was "Aunt" somebody and I teased Marie later about her gigantic family.

The cake turned out well. I carried it on my lap from Lakewood to Lorain. It had a sand castle on it with two flags--one said Swegle the other said Phillips. In front of the castle was a beach with sea shells (made of chocolate) and then water with a dolphin swimming by. The "cake lady" even drew a heart in the sand.

People were very generous and Tony and Marie got some great gifts.

The mothers were asked to speak. I was asked to give the opening toast. I have to say, most times I can come up with a theme or know exactly what I want to say. This time, I had trouble. Maybe because I wanted it to be nice, but as I approached the group, with Tony (Sr) at my side, I have to say, I had nothing. There are so many things you CAN say about Tony and Marie, I was lost in a million thoughts. But I got through it. I started talking about the cookbook and life lessons that Tony and I made the kids a few years ago. I referenced the lesson about when you get married, you don't just marry your spouse, you marry their entire family. I went on to talk about the qualities you hope your children find in their life partners and from there, it's a blank! But, I think I did OK. Tony (Sr) also did a wonderful toast, by adding "ditto" after I finished. Ha ha. Imagine how everyone laughed when all of the gifts were opened and Marie and Tony (Jr) stood up to thank everyone. Marie gave a wonderful speech about how they loved everyone and appreciated their support. She turned to Tony (Jr) so he could also add his thanks, and he said, "ditto" and later thanked Tony (Sr) for helping him with his speech!!

But I think the best toast came from Mona, Marie's mother. She read a bible verse and told Tony and Marie that she loved them. Then she told us that she tried to "talk Marie" out of it. We all laughed because what she meant was she tried to talk Marie out of moving to Charlotte, but was happy that Marie met Tony there.

I was pleased to see how well Tony fit in with Marie's family. He honored "the four most important women in his life" with beautiful flowers, so Marie's grandmother, mother, me and Marie were very surprised and touched. He gave me mine first, which made me cry.

And so, another milestone has passed and we are that much closer to the wedding. I can't wait.

THE SHOWER!! Photos Only

Our very own Prince William and Princess Cate!!

My flowers!!! Beautiful roses from my son, the groom and a mother's wrist corsage!!

The cake!! Sandcastles on the beach in Hawaii...check out the neat dolphin

The invitation

The happy couple in hula skirts!!

Tony and his women!! My sister, Fritz, my niece, Sarah and my sister, Lynn.

What a great time we had.

A Sunday Showing

Our house has been on the market for two weeks now. We've had a lot of "traffic" through the house, but no offers yet. Today was the first Open House our realtor has had so we headed for Hermes Vineyard, one of our favorite places. The wine was more "minerally" than we are used to, but it was good to get in the car and drive and see the country side. We took a side trip to the restaurant where Marie's shower will be and were very impressed by the view and location.

But now we're back. It seems odd to know that people were walking through your house and commening on your decorating and things about the house that are no longer an issue for you. We know people were on the upper deck outside of the master bedroom and that they were in the "kids" bathroom. We could see footprints on the carpeting, so we know we had "foot traffic" we just don't know how the house went over. But, it's still funny to me to know that strangers were in our house when we weren't. Oh, I know when our kids were growing up, there were probably alot of strangers in our house when Tony and I were out of town...but somehow that's different. We smelled cigarettes after the last visit and I was very offended that "guests" to whatever degree might think it was OK to smoke in our house. Wrong. It is not. But, the house is on the market now, so I guess some of this comes with the territory

I went to "Sister Lunch" yesterday with Fritz and Lynn and Sarah joined us. We had fun poking fun at Lynn this time. We are all going to Marie's shower next week. I can't wait. I hope Jenna can come and bring Ellie.

We have more showing scheduled and I know that at some point, this one will be THE ONE. I have ragged on this house for 22 years, but the thought of leaving it is harder to take than I thought it would be. So much new stuff and so much unknown.

Must be a sign of age....change is getting harder for me. Even good change.

She Was Ours Before the Gavel Sounded

Today was a wonderful day. We were invited to go to Columbus to be present at the adoption hearing that would make Ellie ours for good. But, to Tony and I, Ellie was our grandchild well before the gavel sounded. The judge, who was wonderful, went through the proper proceedings, he read all of the appropriate material and let the court appointed attorney do her questioning. He let all of the "parties of interest" give their testimony and then, after some laughing and pre-celebration, pronounced with the banging of his gavel that Ellie was Elizabeth Purdum, our grandchild. Except, from the moment she was born, Ellie was ours. Ellie was a Purdum, through and through. She has two brothers that love her unconditionally and two parents who do the same. She has aunts and uncles and grandparents who would literally fight anyone who said she is not part of our family. Ellie has always been part of our family. And so today, the court system said she is too. And maybe we needed that...maybe for tax purposes or other legal things. But, from the heart, Ellie has always been ours. We didn't need a gavel to tell us that.

Once again, Miss Elizabeth Rae Purdum, welcome to your family. The people who will love you all the days of your life.

Lunch With My Other Son

If any of you have opened your cooking and life lessons cookbook, you may recall that I put in a life lesson that says, "when you get married you just don't marry your spouse, you marry their whole family." As all of you now are either married, or about to be, I'm sure you can see the truth in that statement.

You walk into different traditions and make new ones with different people. Sometimes you mesh very well and other times you feel like a catus in a sea of babies breath. You have to try very hard to fit in--but the family has to try equally hard to let you in.

It occurred to me this past Father's Day, that I needed to do a better job of this with Jon, my son-in-law and one of the best fathers I know. So, this past Saturday, we went to lunch at Salmon Dave's in Rocky River. We just talked. There were no long pauses or wishing the time went by faster. We talked about a million things and I learned things about Jon I should have asked 7 years ago when he entered our family.

I learned that besides being a wonderful husband to my daughter and father to their children, that Jon is creative and funny. We talked about his childhood health problems and how he didn't let that stop him from swimming competively. We talked about the inequities of the working world and things that he wanted to be when he grew up. I found out that we share the same dislike of country music but we both love the Lakewood area because of the small shops and hometown feel it has to it.

We talked about Jon the person who sometimes gets lost in the hustle and bustle of the kids and making sure Jenna is feeling OK.

When your children decide to get married, you hope that their spouse will love them, treat them with respect and care for their well being as much as you have. In this, Jon has far surpassed my hopes.

I went to a fortune teller a long time ago. She told me I was going to have 3 children--a girl and two boys. Well, I had the girl and inherited the two boys. But somewhere along the line, in the halls of National City and in a church in Berea, I gained another wonderful son. We had lunch on Saturday and I hope we do it again very soon.