Are you there, blogger...It's me, Randa

Well.

Sooo...

Holy smokes it's been a long time since I've blogged!!!

I'm so sorry. Just after my last blog post I was off work for the summer and on the 2nd of July, Kevin and I made the big move. And yes, I do mean B-I-G. I don't think either of us has ever worked harder in our entire lives than we did preparing the house to move into, and then actually moving.

I've told everyone that this was the most difficult move we've ever made. The difficulty was not because of the emotional circumstances of moving into the house, but in the sheer magnitude of 'stuff' that we moved. It wasn't like a typical move in that we didn't move into an empty house. Because we kept some of mom and dad's furniture and home goods (not to be confused with Home Goods, Deb and Vicky - don't get too excited ;o), we basically had to take everything that we'd kept out of the cupboards, combine it with our things and *then* put everything back where it belonged. It was something of a monumental task, especially considering we'd put a lot of work into the house before we moved: stripping wallpaper, painting, refinishing the hardwood floors, adding carpet to a couple of rooms.

BUT. Now that it's done, let me just say this: It's AMAZING! Not only is it a darling house, it's our home. It's our *family* home where everyone is welcome and surrounded by love. Mom and dad are definitely both here with us and it's such a nice warm, comforting feeling. More than once we've said 'Well, George (dad) helped me with this', or 'I could just hear mom laughing when I did that'. It's ... good and right. Pat said 'it's a good mix of Grandma & Papa and Aunt Ran & Uncle Kevin' - I think that about says it all.

As for the 'hood, well, it's wonderful. A couple of people asked me how it felt to move back into this house since it was the house I grew up in. I said it felt normal. Many of the neighbors are still the same, several of the kids I grew up with in the neighborhood now live in their parents and grandparents homes, and the new neighbors who've moved in over the last couple of years are great! There will definitely be lots of fun times in our neighborhood in the years to come. In fact, we've already had several neighborhood get togethers over the last couple of weeks and it's we've had a blast. There are lots of kids around so it will be fun watching them all grow up. We hosted a neighborhood movie night this past weekend (more on that in another post), and it went really well. On Monday, my boss asked how the movie night went and I told him it was great. He said he'd love to do those kinds of things in his neighborhood, but he didn't think it would go well. As he put it "not everyone lives in a golden knoll like you." Ahhh, so true =)

I know I said this a few months back, but I really will post some pictures of our new home very soon. We've got nearly everything put away and spruced up - just a little bit more to go. WooHoo!!