Moving!

 It's so hard to get back to finishing up a post and adding pictures after I hit "Publish" to get a blog entry.  I know I'll be glad of the details ones day, but sometimes I spend hours on getting just one day's worth of memories written down.  

For more than a year now, I've had so much time for just myself, something I've never had and do appreciate.  At the end of almost every day, I wonder where all that time went.  I'm sure not bored.  It seems like the older I get, the more I want to explore new things and learn, and it doesn't help that there are thousands of blogs written just for me.  After all this time of turning up my nose at TikToc, I accidentally found it and just have to limit myself sometimes when I find an interesting subject.  Granted, you do have to scroll past a whole lot of junk, but there are some really creative people out there who make me laugh and make me cry and make me think.  I just have to find a way to find some filters to keep me from wasting time.  Favorites?  I don't know.

So back to things I do know.  Unless something goes wrong with our plans, I'm finally going to be able to move into a first-floor apartment.  It's just a matter of about 50 steps from my garage to the new one, but I'm hoping it's just what I need.  I do love my bright and cheerful second-floor apartment with the balcony, but I don't love the 20 stairs I have to go up and down several times a day.  Right now, I have to park (outside my garage because it's too full) and walk around the corner in all sorts of weather and then up those 20 stairs.  Add groceries or numerous things for the girls, and it's always the worst part of my day.  Luckily, when they're with me, I load them down with their own stuff and mine, and they skip right on past me with all that energy.  I know they'll be so glad not to hear my voice on the way down begging them to hold onto the banisters and DON'T RUN and watch the flip-flops and long skirts.  I guess I'll never get over the trauma of my fall and drive everybody else crazy with it.  Even though stairs had nothing to do with it!

I'm going to rent an extra storage space and hopefully will be able to park inside my garage and walk directly into my laundry room out of the weather and without climbing even one step.  I can't even imagine that.  From the video of the floor plan, it looks like almost the same space minus one bedroom and with the windows placed so that I have more flexibility in placing furniture - such as high windows by the fireplace instead of the ones that stretch almost from floor to ceiling.  No sliding glass door but just a plain old door and window.  I guess the least attractive thing about it is the lack of sunlight, and that might not be that much of a problem.  I'm not allowed to go inside for a walk-through because the folks who live there aren't moving until June 19th and then COVID rules.  

Another best thing is that Noreen's porch is right next to mine, and we are the only two occupants of the first floor - just us and six garages behind us.  She's H101, and I'm H102 (moving from K).  The big circles are all maple or cherry trees, but I'm not sure about the smal circles in the alley.  

Amazingly, I've never lived in a place where I've had upstairs or downstairs neighbors, so having two different neighbors overhead will be something to get used to.  I have to thank our sweet maintenance guy for scouting out changes and being so excited to find me a place next door to my friend.  Yards are hard to come by in an apartment, but this means we share a stretch of grass between our apartments for all five of our grandchildren to play on, and she has that sunny patio for when things get too cool for comfort.  

I will now face a street now instead of an alley, and not being awakened by garbage trucks every Tuesday will be another bonus.  The alley sometimes gets a little noisy, but it's usually just conversations and kids riding bikes or scooters. We do have some new neighbors who like to spend a lot of time on their balcony, so it's kind of awkward being within hearing distance of them, even though they're quiet. It will take some getting used to also to see people walk down the sidewalks right out front, and it is a busy street, more for walking dogs than driving, but I probably won't be sitting outside in my pajamas any more.  Bad news.  I'll still be two blocks from the haircut place, 3 blocks from the library, 1 block from the school, and a 5-minute walk from my family, so I couldn't ask for any better location.  

After looking at all my options, I think this is the best things for me.  I don't want another house to have to take care of.  I would like 3 bedrooms still, but there are none on the first floor.  There are no nicer apartments in town, and the condos have a really high ROA fees and are not in walking distance of the places I like to go.  Finding a house to rent is always difficult, because they're snapped up quickly, and they almost always have that second floor!  So, I've decided this is the best thing for me and am getting excited about making some changes.

As to those sunny warm days, they went away temporarily, and I was shivering all day yesterday.  Even the girls were chilly at gymnastics and opted to stay inside instead of going to the park while waiting on each other's classes to finish. 

Elise got them some surprises last week, the favorite of which was this scratch-off set.

It is surprisingly satisfying to scrape away at the black and have color appear.  I noticed a friend sitting behind me yesterday and told her I didn't know she was there.  She said, "I noticed you were coloring and didn't want to interrupt."  I'm trying to talk the girls into leaving some black spaces, but they don't seem to want to take my advice.  Graysen does color every little space very deliberately, but Katherine says, "I just like to scribble over the whole thing and see what happen."  No right or wrong way with art!

More Aunt CeCe gifts and a picture of the windows I'll be giving up.

Second graders have been growing butterflies from the egg up, and they had the Butterfly Release last week.  I walked over to watch, and Ali brought Harper and Graysen over.  I think my expectations were higher than they should have been, since each class had maybe one or two butterflies to release.  It was cute though.

Ali almost stepped on one, and we decided it must be Mrs. Duncan's class butterfly, so we watched over it until it got used to the wind and the outdoors and found a flower to land on.

Most of the kids are back in school, at least part of the day, so it did Harper and Graysen good to mingle with their friends and have a little outing.  Hopefully, this fall will see them ALL back in third grade.  I can't believe I typed that.  Seems like Graysen just started to kindergarten yesterday.

We have no picture of it that I received anyway, but Katherine lost her second tooth within days of losing her first one.  Almost 6 and losing teeth.  That seems strange to me too!

This was last week on one of those perfect days at the little park near gymnastics.  It's not kept up very well.  It just sits at the end of a row of office buildings, but Graysen and Katherine think it's the best park ever.  There are 3 different kinds of swings, 3 slides, 2 forts, a sandbox, a basketball goal and basketball, picnic tables and chairs and, best of all, a little roofed platform back in the trees for lots of pretend play.

Trying to eat an apple with two loose teeth.  The man in the background brings over his little boy who has a screaming aversion to watching his sister in gymnastics.  The dad didn't show up yesterday, and his mom wasn't allowed to watch his sister either!  She did several laps around the waiting area chasing him.

Last Wednesday we walked to the slushie place and got a mixed one, mango and something blue.  Best one ever, they declared.

Family is headed to South Dakota this coming weekend to see Grandma and Grandpa Bindert.  So glad they're getting to go.  I'll be watering the garden and flower beds and feeding Miss Luna.