Yodle-ley-hee-who!

The kids are watching Spongebob in the next room. Sandy (the astronaut squirrel character) is singing a mournful, twangy song about how much she misses life on the land in Texas. She is tired of fish food. I feel pretty empathetic this morning. While I'm not yodeling a lonesome tune about Lake Bluff, there is certainly much to miss. The Bubble send-off was great. The children's friends made them beautiful mementos. There were dinners, coffees, parties. We laughed, we cried, (some of us even got sick in the bushes). Folks went out of their way to make us feel loved and support us in this huge adventure. But I can't look back just yet. Gotta keep movin' forward for now. Embrace the fish food! And let me tell ya', there is plenty of it.

When we first arrived, the house was empty, partially painted with the first floor torn apart, damp smelling and gray. Ugghh. But when we came into the kitchen, a little Seattle fairy had left us a picnic, champagne, balloons for the kids, biscuits for the dogs....it was extremely kind and took the edge off of a very long and emotional month of goodbyes.

Almost three weeks later, the house is getting more and more like a home. I'll actually miss my family of tradesmen. My mom came out for a week to help me get things in order so everyone has a room and the kitchen is in order. Not that we use it. We've been eating out constantly.....I love the variety of restaurants. (Once the floors are done, I'll probably start cooking again.)

It is going to take a long while to get the house in order. After eight years in one place, we've accumulated a lot of crap. I am now, officially, a reformed consumer. Which is unfortunate timing since the variety and abundance of cool boutiques is astounding. But no more, man! It's minimalism -ish-ness- for me.

Every time you crest a hill, you are confronted with an amazing view of water and mountains. I haven't rear ended anyone yet but it is distracting. You run to the grocery store and the mountains are just standing there. And they call to you. "Come and play!" they say. "Leave behind that house of cardboard boxes and climb us, explore us!" Sometimes we leave for the store and we don't come home for hours. Then we don't have milk for breakfast.

I'm thinking February will be a good time to unpack.

The kids have been amazing. They are curious and open. I'm astounded. Knock wood.

We've already had a lot of company. People are passing through all the time. It's awesome. Keep it comin' people. That is, if you don't mind take out and sitting on the floor.

So, I have to go now. The floors are getting finished today so we're clearing out. We are going to the EMP or the Experience Music Project which is a rock and roll museum designed by Frank Gehry. We are members, of course. The kids can play instruments, go into recording booths, play on stage. Check out it's website....www.emplive.org ....it's pretty interesting.

That's all for now. Address cards are coming..... Feel free to write, call, stop by....Toodle-loo, L.