Sorry for Not Posting

Sorry for not posting to my blog in a couple of weeks, I've been in major denial. That is usually how I cope with change and stress - denial and lots of carbohydrates! Those of you that have seen my hips know I'm not kidding!!!! Anyway, not a good example for my now grown up children, but I do the best I can. I guess I could have worse coping skills! The big news is that we are headed to the Moline, Illinois area at the end of July. I was hoping for the southeastern United States to be closer to the kids, but Moline is only a couple hour plane ride away or a very, very long days drive.

I was born and raised only about 45 minutes from Moline, and after living all over the world it seems strange to me to be heading "home." I have many bittersweet memories, as I'm sure most people do. It will be wonderful to reconnect with family.

Ed and I have been looking at real estate sites in the Quad Cities area (Moline, Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Bettendorf, Iowa) for houses. Housing prices seem to be more affordable than they were in North Carolina. It's hard to tell since we are not checking out the whole neighborhood though. It has always been a dream of mine to have an old house. Now, I know that is a relative term, old to me is 100 years old, I know that is nothing over here in the Netherlands, but that is old enough for me. I love the craftsman style prairie houses of the early 1900's. They have such beautiful wood work in them. I haven't found too many Victorian houses. That's ok, I think I saw too many horror movies that had Victorian houses in them as a kid and I think they are all haunted! Ed is really drawn to brand new homes, which are fine, they definitely have their pluses. I'll let you know who wins!

So it looks like the end of July we will be headed out of here with our three cats. It will be crazy, we will have to buy 2 cars, a house. I don't think Ed will want to ride his bike to work in the States like he does here!

We are planning one last mini trip - "mini" due to the costs of the above paragraph!!! Ed wants to go to Normandy and I want to go see Giverny where Monet lived and then spend a day or two in Paris. Looking forward to it!