We Are Moved!

Monday, May 25 - Memorial Day

Moving day has come and gone and we are happily ensconced in our new "digs" in Hamilton. Last week was an especially busy week for us. Chris took the week off to prepare for the move, while the rest of us continued the packing and moving of boxes to our new home. On Tuesday, the installers came and installed the hardwood flooring in our bedroom, and the carpeting in living/entertaining area in the downstairs. By Tuesday afternoon, we were able to start painting the downstairs area. We came in on Monday afternoon after the closing and primed some of the walls to get them ready to paint. C & K Painting was, once again for a short time, back in business. By Thursday afternoon, everything had been painted and was ready for the movers. On Friday morning, "Uncle Don" came in and installed a new door in the downstairs, and trimmed the other doors to fit after the carpeting was installed.

On Saturday morning the movers arrived to load the trucks and take everything over to the new house in Hamilton. Because Jen had done such a marvelous job of staging everything for this move, packing and labeling everything as to where, in the new house, it would go, the movers were able to do the whole job in 5 hours (which included 1 hour for lunch!). Once they were finished, all that remained was to unpack everything. We are still doing that!

Sunday was spent at the "old" homestead, cleaning and getting it ready for the "final walk-through" before the closing. This took most of Sunday to accomplish, but it was worth the effort.

Today, Memorial Day, was the day for the new owners of Ray Street to make their final walk-through before the close. I met them at 10AM this morning. I had dropped K off at Dunkin Donuts, where she met Aunt Gloria. They had coffee and then drove into Salem for a bit, waiting for a call from me to let them know that the walk-through was completed. That was done by 11:30AM, so K and AG returned to take some cuttings of perennials from our yard. AG wanted to do some planting at her condo in Revere, so we told her she was welcome to take some perennials from Ray St.

Finally, it was time for K and I to say goodbye to our home for the past 23 years. This was especially hard for K. Me, I've been ready to move on from here for the past 7 years, so I was psyched! I must say, though, that over the past few days I have been reflecting on the memories made on Ray Street. It's funny, but the good memories seem to be very easy to recall, whereas the "not-so-good" ones are really difficult to recall. In fact, I really can't say that I remember any of the "bad" memories. They seem to fade into insignificance over time, which is probably a good thing, eh? It's not good to dwell on the bad things or hard times.


So, tomorrow is the closing for Ray Street. The new owners seem truly excited to be taking ownership. They absolutely love the house, and I'm sure they will take good care of it during their tenure there. As for K and I, we, along with Chris, Jen and Aaron, are ready to start making new memories here in our new home, which, we hope, will become a FAMILY gathering place, just as 9 Ray Street was. We know we will be happy here. The house is beautifully restored; it has a great, big yard, and plenty of space for FAMILY gatherings.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for further updates from Hamilton. Also, K and I will be taking another trip to the Canadian Maritimes next month, so I will be blogging on that trip to keep you all informed.

Stay healthy! See you all on July 4th (if not before!).

Mother's Day, Moving, et al

Wednesday, May 13 - 10 days to "the move"!

It's been a while since my last post, eh? Things have been quite hectic here on Ray St. since then. This post will cover Mother's Day and a few miscellaneous items, so let's get started, shall we?

Mother's Day - We got the best surprise on Mother's Day from son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Lisa. I don't know if you can make out the cards on the right, here, but this is the card M & L gave Kathy for Mother's Day. The second picture, the open card, shows a "Pregnancy Test kit", which reads "Pregnant"! What a way to announce the coming arrival of our next grandchild! Leave it to Mike and Lisa to come up with this novel way to make "the announcement"! Lisa has an estimated time of arrival of Dec. 23, so it will be a Christmas present for all the family, that is, of course, assuming that the baby arrives as expected! Experience tells us that the birth of the first child rarely happens on the expected "due date". Anyway, we are all very happy for M & L, and Lisa's parents, Paul and Elaine, as this will be their first grandchild!

Next item on the agenda is "the move"! Ray Street is now officially a "disaster area", what with furniture and boxes stacked everywhere, ready for the movers to haul away to the "new house" in Hamilton.

It has been 23 years since we last moved, then from Salem to Beverly. Things have certainly changed over the years with regard to selling a house and moving into another one. For example, now the seller has to install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to code, then have the local Fire Prevention Bureau come in and inspect the premises to make sure that everything is "up to code". Did you know that if you have any smoke detectors 10 years old or older, they MUST BE replaced with new ones? I think I spent over $100 to purchase new smoke and CO detectors. The inspector came today, walked around and looked at the location of, and tested, every one of them. Then, he told me that the Certificate of Compliance was $50! Geez! Seems that every time I turn around, it costs me another $50 - 100. Oh well! It will certainly be nice to get into the "new" place. Actually, the "new house" is, in fact, 10 years OLDER than Ray Street. Some "new house", eh? But, it is in beautiful shape, well taken care of by the current owners. It also has a huge yard, fenced, and nicely landscaped. We are all so looking forward to the move.




Next week, C & J will take ownership at 2PM Monday. After that, we will start moving the tons of boxes we have into the house. The workers will arrive on Tuesday to begin installation of a hardwood floor in our "apartment", and wall-to-wall in our basement. The painter will be working in the main house in the living room, and in Jen's office on the 2nd floor. Meanwhile, K and I will be painting the walls in our bedroom and living room, once the workers have finished. Our move-in date is May 23rd. Hope everything goes as smoothly as we expect. Once we are moved in and settled, K and I will close on the Ray Street house on Tuesday, the 26th.

Check back in about 10 days or so. If I have any time, I will let you know how everything went with the move.