KRIS

HAS

LEFT

THE

BUILDING!

(HEE HEE HEE)

I have become a creature of habit. It's not so uncommon I guess for people to eat while they watch television. I just never thought I'd be that
person. Not being a big fan of the tv table, I didn't purchase any when I moved. I have a dining room table but it's so far away from the tv!! I wanted a high top table but was going to wait for awhile before investing in one. That is, until we came upon this nice high top, square table at Ikea for just the right price.

The selling point really was that it was high enough that I could sit there and eat my supper and have the television in plain view. It couldn't have worked out better! I didn't want to eat on my new furniture...and it's tough to juggle a plate of food on your lap while the dog is snuggled into your side as close as he can get. So I got the table. And yet again, my wonderful brother in law stepped up to the plate to help and got it put together for me in no time flat!

Things are really coming together now!

(Yeah, I know Dot, the counters are really cluttered! I've cleaned them all off now!) :D

Here is yet another pic of the house (you know, the house I love owning?) :)

This is what I've done with my bedroom. It's been so much fun decorating...I just never knew! I bought this queen size bed to match my dresser. I've done up my room in a somewhat beachy theme. The colors I've chosen whack mom out of her frame - chocolate brown comforter and sea foam green sheets? You want to paint your walls THE SAME COLOR?!

FINALLY!

Here is a picture of my family room with furniture in it!!!!!

It's been about a week since I last posted. Although it's only been 7 days I feel like the house has evolved yet again!

I got in the new furniture and am loving it. I spend most of my time sitting on the far end of this couch with the footrest up and the dog nestled in beside me.

Have I mentioned how much I love my house? It's awesome.

"Good morning, my friend!"

What a pleasant surprise this morning. I awakened, put the dog out and the phone rang. I was happy to hear the light and friendly voice of my friend, Miss Melanie. Always an early riser, she informed me that she was already on her way to memory lane, pa to take two classes today. Her husband was on his way to play volleyball. I had written her an email on the fly and she has been so busy she hadn't had a chance to write back so she thought she would call. I was so glad that she did! It was a great way to start the day!

The picture above is like several we have in our possession. Mel and I planned a day trip together to New York City every year. Our sole purpose was to go and see the tree in Rockefeller Center. More recently we've started to visit Macy's, Lord and Taylor and this year we even made it as far as Barney's. I lived in Pennsylvania for 10 years and all but 2 or 3 of them I lived with my friend, Melanie. Life is funny. I was transferred up to the EB headquarters in 1996. An aquaintance of mine from the Va Beach area had a three bedroom townhouse rented with a girl named Melanie. They were looking for a third roommate and I was in need of a room. Jean said we'd meet up and see if we got along and then decide from there if it would be a good match. A year and a half to two years later Melanie and I were moving out of the townhouse away from Jean and into an old farmhouse we had rented. It's funny how life can be sometimes. You never know who your friends will be until you look up a couple of years later and realize they started out as a stranger and ended up as part of your family.

These are the people you want to remember in your life. Snap some pictures and write things down. People like Melanie leave impressions in your heart for all the days to come. Make sure you cherish those impressions and keep those people close.

Here is a simple and funny post.

What do you do if you are in your mid to late thirties, it's raining to beat all outside, and you're trying to be together and kill a little time?

Do what we did tonight! Go shopping at Target and bring along your digital camera!!!!

This is the best picture I have taken in a very long time. Sure, the lighting is atrocious and the background is busy and my subjects, well, I can't say much for them.

This is my very serious and very no nonsense brother in law. I pulled out all the stops in the sunglass aisle at Target trying to make my sister laugh. In the process, I made my brother in law laugh out loud once or twice as well. By the time we had snapped a few pictures of our own, he wanted to join in the fun.

The picture above is by far, the best one of the bunch. He was trying on a cowboy hat and a pair of Aviator knock off sunglasses in bright gold. He was having such a great time hamming it up for the camera - it was something that I was both surprised and happy to see!

It just goes to show you that it doesn't take much to make a person throw it all to the wind and just let themselves go; even for only a short while. We must have all tried on 10 pair of sunglasses and several hat and purse combinations. I know it might sound silly, but I felt like a kid again romping through that accessory section of Target! When was the last time you thought about being a kid again? Try it sometime!

Pull out the crayons, color outside the lines! Finger paint a picture and tack it to your fridge door! Cut out some colorful paper and glue it all together...stop for a minute and pick at the glue residue on your hands...play with some play doh and let your imagination soar. Sure, you might be in your early or late thirties or even older - the world will be there when you come back. Take some time out and be a kid again!

What a handsome little devil I have!
My JoePaw.
My Joe Joe.

I was a cat person. What the heck happened to me? This dog, that's what happened to me. He came into my life and made me a different person. People who have kids have baby talk. People who have dogs have doggy talk.

"Whatcha doon, buddy?"
"JoeJoe wanna treat?"
"Where'syer Grammy?"
"Who's da baby?"
Iiigh...how lame is THAT???

I know. Pretty lame. I can't help it though. He is a great dog. He just turned 2 this past weekend. *sniff* My little baby is growing up! And although he LOOKS tiny, he can take up a lot of real estate. We have nightly wrestling matches in the queen size bed that he is so kind as to share with me. Sometimes I try to turn over and can't because he has come along in the night and has snuggled in so close. It's then that I have to wake up a little and realize that he is just trying to keep warm just like me. I have told him many times that by rights, he only owns half the bed and the covers, not all. And I have had to remind him that while he is sharing his space with me, I still pay the bills and he is still lower on the food chain.

But seriously folks, who could possibly get mad at that sweet face???

I have four bedrooms in my new house. I am one person and even though I've probably had more guests stay in the last six weeks than I ever anticipated, I have two guest rooms set up for my visitors.

I took one for myself besides my master "suite" as I like to call it. I have created a room away from the rest of the house that contains my computer and my scrapbooking stuff. I have added a television and a Tivo for my viewing pleasure as I scrap or surf the web. I decided early on it would be my Buffett themed room. I'm not much into the whole theme thing myself but I have collected a few things here and there that are Buffett related so I wanted to display them. I created the Paradise letters with tropical themed scrap paper and several little embellishments that I had in my stash.

The house is a bit "stark" and plain with the white walls and open space. I know that by living here through time I will put my own personal touches around to make it feel more like home. I'm dying to paint and give the place some personality. It's such a different feeling in this life now...it used to be that I couldn't wait to get to Michaels and spend my hard earned money on crafts and scrapbook stuff. Now I can't wait to save enough money to put track lighting over the short wall in the kitchen.

I never thought owning a house would change my thought process as much as it has...

"I find the great things in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving - we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it - but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

Things are coming together at the house. It might not look like it in these pictures but I'm giving you a glimpse of what life was like in the house for the first couple of weeks.

I have moved many times in my life. When I was offered a job in Texas, although I struggled with my decision, it didn't take me long to say "I'LL TAKE IT!" At some point in everyone's life, I think we sometimes feel like we are sailing against the wind. Working our asses off to get somewhere only to look up and we're 10 feet from the shore. And sometimes life goes by us so quickly that we don't even stop to look at the scenery around us and it quickly passes us by without us even noticing - it's then that we're sailing with the wind. Like the quote above, I had felt for some time that I had been lying "at anchor." I hadn't gone anywhere, I hadn't sailed...I felt as if I had been drifting along and not making progress with anything. Going to Texas was my opportunity to sail. And ironic as it is that I don't care much for boats, I chose to sail.

I was sad to leave behind family. Knowing my mother's penchant for restlessness, I know she would come visit often. And although my sister is content to stay put and live her life, I know she will come to visit as often as she can. I was also sad to leave behind friends. Much of my life was spent moving when Dad got new jobs with DuPont so it wasn't often in my life I was able to stick around and lay roots anywhere. Just when I would find good friends and get close to them it seemed it was time to move. I am grateful now at 34 that we lived the way we lived. I know that I would not be the person I am today without the opportunity to start new. Those experiences early in life allowed me to gather my strength and decide that I was moving to Texas.

For the first time in a long time I feel content. I know that I'm gushing when I say that I wake up and face each day as a freshly cleaned whiteboard. I am having a good time....

just sailing along on my little boat...

Well here it is. My humble abode.

Welcome.

Not much in the way of furniture stores down here - but mom and I hit pay dirt! I paid a mere $750 for the living room set you see here ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

;)

No, I'm joking. However, this WAS my family room furniture for six weeks. By Monday or Tuesday of that first week we added to our living quarters here. Dot and Winston had given me nearly half of their furniture...okay...MOST of their furniture...mom and I grabbed up the patio chairs from the set they gave me and carried two of them inside. They were high backed chairs with nice cushions on them. We put them in place, put these fold up chairs in front of them and VOILA! Instant ottomans! Pair all of this with a tiny, lone decorative table mom had found me in Williamsburg YEARS ago and we have instant living room furniture. There wasn't anything in the house strong enough for the new 32" tv I bought so it sits on the floor. Elaine and Mike were so kind as to give me an entertainment center they had at their Pa. house before they'd bought their current big screen tv. Once they dig that out of their garage it will fit nicely in with my new furniture.

I feel so lucky. I feel so good about life these days. I'm making it on my own for the first time in a long time. The house is nice, the neighborhood is nice, the weather is nice and I like the area. I went out this morning to the gym and to pick up my brother in law, Venu. He's living nearby in Euless working the job. We went to Wal Mart and I spent way too much money. It's all worth it though - I don't have to feel guilty anymore. I bought food and a couple of nice new things for my house. *My* house.

It has such a nice ring to it....

MOVE IN DAY!!
We arrived around 5:30 on Sunday, January 29th. Mom drove 18 of the 21 hours from Virginia. She gets bored just sitting there watching the world go by. I had about an ounce of guilt one or two times as she drove..but it was only after I had woken up from a lengthy nap in the passenger seat! :)

For having done away with most of my stuff when I moved in with David, I sure did end up bringing a lot of crap. Mom got out of that car and true to form we started hefting stuff into the house and putting things together. What funny stories we have to tell about that first week here in Texas. We figured out early on why this house was so cheap - there is a very active train track about a 1/4 mile behind my house. When you aren't hearing trains you're hearing the jets fly overhead. There is an airport not too far from me here in Justin. Some nights they fly so low over the house I can feel the house shake. I want to wander out back and hold up my hand for a bag of those little tiny peanuts.

Within two days we had the garage nearly cleaned out. Now it stands almost empty and I can park my car inside. Is that ever nice? I thought it was going to come in handy those nights when it was so cold frost forms on the windshield. I only hate one thing more than mornings and that's having to scrape my windshield when it's covered in frost.

I'm starting to like mornings more now. I've had to scrape my windshield a total of one time since I moved here. Sure, I park in the garage now but the weather is such that it doesn't get too cold now. In fact, as I sit here in the front room of my new house I bask in the sunlight of the 84 degree day.

In the immortal words of Beezlebub - it's only gonna get hotter!!! ;)

Wow.

I left Pennsylvania on January 27th to move to Texas. I can't believe that I have already been here for 6 weeks.

Life here in Justin is...different. I thought living in Coatesville was way out in the middle of nowhere. At least there we had buggies and the Amish people. Here we have nothing. Although there are several brand new neighborhoods going up around me, I feel like my neighborhood is a planet all of its own.

I've been so busy since we arrived. Mom was here for 3 weeks and that seems like eons ago! I have had no shortage of visitors - my friend Cindy has come up to visit on two weekends already. My new job is amazing. I have met some really neat people since moving down. It's comforting to me to sit and listen in to the relationships that people have around me in the office down here - in many ways the dynamic is the same as when I was at EB. I'm enjoying myself here.

Of course I miss my family. I miss my friends at home. I miss the Good family - I miss not being part of the new baby that has arrived from Guatemala. I miss the every day of life up there. The life of being able to walk down a hall and know everyone that passes me by. I feel like a stranger in a strange land. I feel somewhat comforted by emails and phone calls I've received from the people back home.

Most of all, I finally feel like a real adult now. I bought my very own house. I have come a long way since living in the Olsens basement. I am not nearly old enough to sit in my rocking chair yet and reminisce but gosh...I lean back, get that far away look in my eye and smile a warm smile as I gaze into space...

Those were the days....those were the days....