I had a great time in Virginia visiting Mom for Mother's day and seeing everyone (but Debbie!). I hope Kevin and Brian are feeling a little better now - both had some surgery right before I got there. (Poor Lisa!)

Pat and Marcy came too with the boys and we planned a visit to see them September 6th. Keith and I will be in DC that weekend and Ann, Mom, Maureen, and Lisa are all planning to go with us for a visit.

After leaving Newport News, I headed to Kansas to attend a big quilt show with Debbie. Here she is getting ready to go shopping - there were lots of vendors at this show.

And here she is with the quilt she entered which won 2nd place in the Theme category. She designed and quilted it for her guild's raffle - it was pieced by her guild members.

Heather I guess you won't see this for a while but I'm thinking ofyou and wish you the best of luck.

It is 4 ish in the wee hours of the morning. Kurt and I have to be at the hospital by 6am to start our (really my) induction. So hopefully by this afternoon or so...there will be a new member of the family! Pray that my delivery is quick and on the painless side!

I'm sure Mom and Dad will pass the word when "he" (shhh! Kurt doesn't know the baby's sex still) arrives!

That's Chesty at the kennel - we're in San Diego until Sunday and then I have to head home and unpack more boxes.

and Chesty is hiding under the bed. I had them pack our bedroom up first so I could let him out of his crate but he's very unsettled by the activity and disarray.

Comcast is coming Monday to hook up our cable/internet/phone at the townhouse so as of now we don't have any of the above at the apartment.

We physically move on April 16th.

If you need to reach us in the next week and a half it will be best to call via cell phone:

Mary - 404-431-0509

Our new address is:

Mary & Keith Johnson
41 4th Ave N. #103
Minneapolis, MN 55401

We will keep the same phone number:
612-208-0717

We spent last night and today at the townhouse cleaning - ugh, my least favorite thing to do. We did take time out today to walk to a local bike shop and bought bikes. I think it's been 15 years since I've ridden a bike and I'm lucky someone didn't run me over on the road near the bike shop. Luckily, we can ride right out of the townhouse onto the bike paths and go for miles without going on another road.

So now that we've got the bikes should we invest in some lycra??

We had the closing today so the townhouse is ours (well, ours and the bank's). I'm standing on the back deck and you can see the city behind me. We'll officially move on April 16th but I'll be back and forth with some remodeling before we move in.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter!

Congratulations on the new job Jamie, good for you! Enjoy the time before you start working, especially since it's on Airgas!

Congrats to you too Erin.

Mary and I were reminiscing about our quilt challenges yesterday. Wouldn't it be fun to do it again?

I was thinking maybe fabric postcards to start
...they are small, and don't require a big time commitment. I know Ann, you don't have a lot of time, and Maureen you're still working too, but I think this would be doable for everyone.

I would love it if we could do one each month...no other rules. Just one based on whatever strikes your fancy for that month.

Mother, Mary, Ann, Maureen...what do you think? And Nancy you and you're girls could participate too if you like. Let me know.

Deb

Happy Easter everyone I hope everyone has a great day.

Mary the snow is beautiful in all the pictures.

Erin I'm glad you got the job, good luck to you

I know it probably feels like spring to you all but we're still having winter here. We had a wonderful snowy day and spent a good part of it walking outside enjoying it.

Congratulations Erin on the new job.

I offically have a new job. I start Lowes on Monday [March 24]. I am very excited.

Hope you had a great birthday Adam. You were such a cute little boy, and so sweet! And as a man, you are very handsome and are still so sweet! Love you!
Deb

Good luck with the new job Jamie. Hopefully it'll be a good situation for you.
Deb

Best of luck in your new job Jamie. I wish you all the best. I hope you don't have to work quite so hard in this job.

After 23 years with Air Products/ Airgas, I have accepted a new position with GTS/Praxair. I will be the Plant Manager in Jessup MD. It is still considered local (22 miles from home).

I don't have a new company cell phone yet, however the 240.417.0611 phone/number has been given back to Airgas. I do have a personal cell phone now, 301.832.2092. When a new company phone is issued, I'll pass that number along.

I start on April 1 with GTS. Airgas escorted me from the property when they learned I was going to a competitor so I'm still technically on their payroll until March 31st. Not to worry, Ann already has a "honey do list" ready for my idle hands.

Erin it was good to hear from you. I wish you good luck finding a job that you can get the hours you need.

Grandmom

hey everyone. it has been a very long time since i have posted.

for those that don't know, i moved into an apartment at the end of December.

and then i moved out of that apartment last week and am living back with the family. it's nice to see them almost everyday again.

i am also trying to leave Toys R Us for a job with more consistent hours. Better pay doesn't help either. I have applied to Lowes and Home Depot and have been through the first interviews and drug tests. So the last step is the final interview. I have not been able to return a missed call from Home Depot. The HR manager has not been in. However, I do have a final interview for Lowes, so I am very nervous, yet quite excited!

That's really all the new news that I have available. But I hope that everyone has been doing well!

I'm in Virginia visiting Mom and Aunt Dot and Talbert came today to visit. Look at the beautiful quilt blocks Talbert made for us! We already found the perfect place to hang Mom's.

How cute! I think Jelly is the perfect baby name.

Did Aunt Rae make all of the girls outfits? I'm thinking she did....



We are doing well in Pa. I'm getting very big (ALL belly)...I'm 31 weeks and counting. The last 2 months can't come fast enough. Kiera wants to name the baby "Jelly" because for whatever reason...I tend to call her peanut butter ( it started when she was just a "peanut" and has evolved to peanut butter). We haven't picked a name yet....we are tossing a few names around. They are mostly on the different side...ya know....not Michael or Sue. So, if the oddest of the names wins....don't tease too much!



Happy Birthday to Jamie and Keith! I hope you both have a great day!

I hope you have big plans for today Jamie because Keith left for a business trip and won't be home until Saturday afternoon.

I decided to squeeze in a quick trip before the move. I'll be in VA from March 12-16. anyone want to come visit then too?

He always finds one spot where he can watch what's going on outside - hopefully he'll find a place at the townhouse. Today was cold but the sun was shining so it was warm if you found a patch of sunlight.

Keith doesn't help so much with the cleaning anymore (unless we have company coming) but he does still help with the grocery shopping and laundry.

He shouldn't be traveling the world without me - he's in Denmark now and I was supposed to go with him but his schedule got to busy and he didn't have time to coordinate our flights. Bummer.

He's supposed to go back in April and says he'll take me then but I'm not holding my breath he's been saying he's going to take me back for 2 years now.

That's a good size.

It's less for Keith to clean when he gets home from all his world travel!

We're still waiting for signatures but they've accepted our offer. Here are some photos. It's not a huge place - just barely under 1800 square feet but we really wanted this location close to the river and downtown and did NOT want to be in a condo. It has a one car garage which is fine because we only have the one car now and it's about the same distance as the apartment to Keith's office so he'll still walk.

If we get the paperwork signed and all goes well, we'll move in the end of March.

We'll use the dining room as a sitting area - you'll see the kitchen has a big bar area.

Not thrilled with these countertops but we can replace them with the money we saved - this unit was less than the first one and we got a good deal.
Living room with gas fireplace - not a big room but we've gotten used to smaller living rooms both at the GA condo and here at the apartment and it works fine for us.
This is the family room - my longarm will go in here but it would be too crowded for me if my sewing machine and fabric shelves were here too.
So the 2nd bedroom will hold all my sewing stuff other than the longarm and longarm supplies.Here's the master bedroom - it's fairly spacious and it's big enough for our bedroom furniture.

A previous contract that had a contingency offer....the other buyer got 72 hours to remove the contingency and they did. We placed an offer on the unit next door so we're back to waiting.

Here's a satellite view of the community - you can see it's right on the Mississippi River although our unit would have a view of downtown, not the river.

There are bike paths and walkways all along the river with multiple state and local parks nearby. Restaurants and shopping downtown are all within a close walking distance too. In fact, these townhouses are just 1.5 miles from where we're living now.

You can click on the photo to see a more detailed view.

The beauty of a townhouse is that the yard work and exterior maintenance is done by someone else!

Not many photos available but it looks like we're getting the first townhouse now although they do have a contingent offer they have to take care of first. It probably won't be a problem because they had to sell their condo first and they'll only get 72 hours to either commit to a closing or the owners can accept our offer.

Here's the kitchen - Adam should like this - it has a gas stove and stainless steel appliances. The community is right on the river - although the unit we're looking at is NOT. We do have a view of Downtown from the kitchen and back deck.

I like the yard.

Not many leaves or too much grass to cut.

When will we see pix of the inside??

Yes, they are lucky aren't they?? I've been giving Becky a hard time - she's been decorating and making the house her own this last year but I told her NOW she will have the debt that comes along with it too!

She pulled down photos of OUR family and Chris didn't say anything - I had Kevin give her a hard time because she replaced the photo I had of Dad, Debbie, and Grandmom and Grandpop with one of her family. She said she didn't even know who those people were!! It was one I'd printed from the slides and placed in a colored frame that matched the chest I was leaving for her......otherwise I would have taken it with me.

It is VERY strange to be a guest in my own house and she laughed and said it was strange to have me visiting here too - but as of tomorrow it will be their house. I cooked dinner tonight and I told her it was really odd to be in my kitchen and have everything be in the wrong place!

Thanks to the equity we have in the house, we're helping them with their downpayment but we benefit too - they've watched out for the house the last year and paid rent so we haven't had to worry about it.

Mom, I'll miss the quilt show and seeing you too but I'll plan a visit in March.

I'm still here too. I check every day to see if someone wrote. My life is so uneventful that I don't have much to write about, however Nancy and Mary Ann will be coming to see me next Wednesday and we will go to the quilt show. We'll miss my girls this year but maybe next year will work out.

I didn't know they were buying your house. They are sure getting a nice home, especially the kitchen!

Keep in touch.

Usually, I'm the only one writing...

I'm still waiting for photos of Brian's graduation.

I head to GA tomorrow to see the boys and to close on the Marietta house. Chris and Becky will be buying it will a little help. Who know, the next post may be us buying a townhouse here in Minneapolis - we're planning to check one out on Sunday when I get back from GA.

2 weeks and no new entries??

Is anyone out there? Any new fire stories Brian?

Way to go Ben! Congratulations!

And Sarah, hope you get well soon.

Mary and I had a great visit! Too bad you all didn't come. But if you get the urge.... it's nice and warm here...80 today after a cold snap in the 70's.

Ben that's great news. I'm proud of you, after all this is your first year.

Sarah I hear you have been sick I hope you feel better real soon.

Ben's wrestling career got a boast last night when he won his first match. He pinned his oponent in 56 seconds of the first period.

Way to go Ben!!

Lisa, can't wait to see photos of Brian - remind Kevin if he doesn't get them posted!

I've added the info for Myrtle Beach on the side of the blog. We won't make it - we leave for Vancouver (and our Alaskan cruise) on July 10th so that will be our big vacation for the summer!

I'll get Kevin to download the pictures of Brian's graduation. He is at Station 7, which is at Briarfield Road and Marshall Ave. He's glad he got that station. I have made reservations from June 28 through July 5, in North Myrtle Beach at North Shore Villas, Unit 807 (located on the 8th floor) through Grand Strand Resorts for Ann & Jamie and Kevin and I (with children). If you would like to vacation with us, go to www.northmyrtlebeach.com and make a reservation for your place. You need to reserve as soon as you can because the units go quick for 4th of July week. You can also call at 1-800-367-6515. Mary - please put this info on the righthand side of the blog so people can see it when they log in. I hope you'll come vacation with us. We have a blast. No need to go to the fireworks, they come right to you on the beach and you can watch from the balcony or on the beach! North Shore Villas is located right on the beach, all units are fully furnished, they have a pool, lazy river and exercise room, or you can just walk on the beach. They also have lifeguards on duty everyday.

No one posted any photos of Brian's graduation for all of us to see.

Which station did he get assigned to?

Good Luck tomorrow. Make us proud!! I want to hear all the stories.

Hope that everyone else is doing well!

I hope all is well with everyone. We are well.....I'm in my 6th month and can't wait till May!! The swelling has started already in my ankles and this time I'm getting low back and sciatica pain (after walking too much).

Kiera is a piece of work! We are definitely in the terrible twos. She really knows how to put up a fuss. Most times she fine, but when she doesn't get HER WAY.....oh boy!

It's raining out and as soon as it hits below freezing, we should be getting a couple of inches of snow tonight. I really hope it does snow, but the forecast is in the 40's tomorrow....so it won't last. We haven't gotten ANY real snow this winter. I would love a BIG storm!!!

Have a good week!
Heather

Doesn't anyone have photos to share of Brian's graduation?

Yes I'm still reading Mary just don't have anything going on to write about

Just wanted to congratulate Brian on his graduation - WAY TO GO!

Also, Lisa - sorry that your birthday slipped past me....I guess we're at that age when time gets away from us. Hope you had a wonderful day.

I'm going to visit Debbie...anyone want to join me? End of January probably around the 24th.