For Sale

Our house went on the market Thursday morning and we had people come to see it this weekend. I'm still tired and sore this morning from the long week of getting the house ready. Starting this past Tuesday morning (Monday I rested up from the Big 40 weekend), I weeded, trimmed the bushes, spread two truck loads of mulch, replaced our wheelbarrow wheel, replaced the outdoor light bulbs, cut the grass, power washed the house front & back including the deck, scraped and painted the front porch posts and the front & back door trim, organized and cleaned the basement, and helped Lago clean and organize all rooms from top to bottom. I am wiped out.

Yesterday, we were cleaning and getting ready right up until the first appointment at 11:30 a.m. We left just as they arrived and were off to some much needed down time. We went out to lunch then took JP Stinker to the park for a long walk. We returned home after the last appointment and found one of our grey cats running around and playing downstairs. Not uncommon, but she usually hides when we have visitors. Our other grey cat napped in the guest room through everything, but we couldn't find our youngest cat Ella Bella. She is another cat that hides, usually upstairs, when we have visitors. We scoured the house from top to bottom and I even took a quick look around outside. We posted signs about not letting the animals outside or in the basement on the front door, inside the front door, the basement door and the back door. Ella Bella is not one to try to escape outside either, so it was a matter of finding her hiding place. We usually keep our bedroom door closed so the cats can't come in, but we had left it open for the viewings. I eventually found Ella Bella squeezed behind some storage bins in our closet. I didn't see her at first because I thought it was far too small behind the bins for her to hide. As I pulled the bins back from the wall I saw a shadow move and it was Ella Bella. She came out and she was happy to find all the cat toys we found under the sofa while we looked for her. She rolled around on her back in the middle of the toys and all was well.

We then went out to the movies to catch "The Break Up" with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. Lago and I both liked it... STOP READING if you don't want to know the ending... but I thought the ending was kind of sad because they don't get back to together, but she thought it appeared like they would get back together at some point in the future. I thought maybe they left it that way for the chance to make a sequel? The movie had a lot of funny moments and a great cast of what are becoming Vaughn regulars – John Favreau, Justin Long (Dodgeball, Ed, Apple computer commercials), Jason Bateman (Dodgeball, Arrested Development) and Peter Billingsley (A Christmas Story). Lago thought the movie should be required viewing for all men because of its real-life relationship issues.

After the movie, we treated ourselves to dinner at L'Italia an excellent Italian restaurant here in town. The meal was fine as always. We started with the calamari, and Lago had the Veal Sorrentino and I had the Shrimp Marinara. We paired the meal with the Santa Magherita Pinot Grigio, one of our favorites.

Tomorrow I'm off to Charlotte for my first day of work for Time Warner.