Saying good-bye to Malden

I didn’t get emotional about moving out of Malden until late Sunday night, we were tired and the house was empty and finally it hit me we were moving. I gave Carole a card and watching her read it I couldn’t hold back the tears. But there wasn’t too much time to be emotional and I moved on to cleaning. A little later I sat in our empty bedroom and thought some more about it and that is when it hit me how much that little house means. As much as I complained about the size, living in the city and noise of the neighbors, I think ½ the reason we put off preparing for the move in advance was the emotional/denial that it was actually time.
We found the empty lot in Malden after months of open houses, houses that were priced over 400k that needed at least 20k in work. It was early 2005 and the market was still crazy. Finally I came across the house plans on MLS and we checked out and liked the neighborhood. It was a townhouse, which we weren’t too psyched about but it was brand new, in a nice neighborhood, and affordable. We signed an offer in February and went off on vacation. Now the part that makes it so special, when we returned home from our cruise we went to see the progress of our new house. The house wasn’t totally what we expected but it didn’t matter because right in the framed kitchen Jeff got down on one knee and proposed! This really was the house we were going to start our life together in. Fast-forward 3 years and it was like déjà vu, we signed an offer on a house (Kensington), and went on a cruise with friends but this his time the big event when got home was to move.When we moved in we didn’t think the 3-5 years we planned to be there would fly by like it did. Lots of memories were shared in the short time but the highlights of course were the engagement, making a great new friend, Carole, our wedding and bringing home our pup, Jett. Jett only lived there for a year but he is going to miss Carole the most, she was a great dog nanny/walker. The good news is we are closing one chapter and starting the next, building our dream home. I hope that in 29 years we still talk about Malden the way my parents remember their house on Strawberry Lake Rd. Every time we drive by it is always a remember when…

Memorial Day Weekend

To most the long weekend means an extra day to sleep in and a short week to follow for us it meant moving out of Malden and into Chester/storage. So when we say it was a LONG weekend it really was. It started Thursday afternoon when I took the day off to go home and pack but like most other times I went to pack I found much better things to do. It started with a sushi lunch with Alyson and then a drive down to Weymouth to visit the Cole’s and their newest family member Ellis. I finally made it home at 6:30 to pack. Friday was an early morning, Jeff went off to work and I got up to really get packing knowing he would be home at 10 and I would be in serious trouble if stuff wasn’t done. Soon enough it was noontime and Jeff, my dad and I were in full moving mode. The only glitch was after the 1st trip to storage it was clear we didn’t have enough space. Saturday morning it was my turn to go to work for the morning and Jeff took Jett up to his new house so we could continue to move out with him out of the way. We got a lot out of the house and then the hard part…moving from the 2nd floor storage unit into the new 1st floor drive up. Good news is it only took us 2 hours and we got another month for free bad news is we wasted 2 hours removing everything we did the day before. Sunday we got up and figured we would finish up and be out by 4. We were ambitious around 2pm we realized we would be there a few more hours but managed to get the garage corner and 2nd bedroom cleaned out. We knew Rebecca and Brian (our tenets) were moving stuff in after 3. They came and went, I made a few more trips to storage and Jeff cut a good chunk of his thumb off but finally at 11:05pm we did a final walk thru and rolled out of Malden but not for the last time. Monday while most were out enjoying the holiday at BBQs we settled into our temporary housing (aka my parents house) and went back to Malden. We had one more load in Carole’s basement and a bunch of trash to pick up. Monday we finally said our goodbyes to our 1st house and to Carole. Now the fun part…after all there is a reason we are doing all this! On our way home swung by Kensington to find a house with a level front yard most the electric and plumbing roughed in and both showers in place. I am very excited for all the new space. However after seeing all the stuff we had in our 2-bedroom townhouse after 3 years I am scared to think about what we can accumulate in a house 3x the size. One thing is for sure, next time I am hiring movers!

Update

We've been busy lately and finally made it out to the house today for the 1st time in about 12 days. Over the past two weeks we enjoyed Jennie and Rocco Olean's wedding at Larz Anderson, had a wonderful time in Lakeville last night at Doug and Richelle LaCamera's nuptials and I enjoyed seeing my girlfriends at Laura's bridal shower. Today Jeff assisted his brother Rob while he put in the surround sound wire in our family room and also wired for speakers on the back deck. Thanks to Uncle Brian for the supplies and to Rob for driving up to help us out. I don't have any pictures to share that show the progress of the house but the rough plumbing and electricity are in and the roof is shingled.

This week we will be very busy packing up the townhouse in Malden and moving everything into storage. Saturday night will be our last night as Massholes!

Happy Birthday Dad

My Dad's birthday was Friday which means we celebrated all weekend. It started Friday morning when I picked up Amy from the airport at 5:30am. She flew in on the red eye from Denver to surprise Dad. On Saturday Jeff went to Providence for Rocco's bachelor party and joined the rest of the family in NH for the weekend. Saturday we spent taking the dogs for walks in between rain drops and then had a BBQ dinner and cake to celebrate Dad's birthday.



Sunday Jeff joined us for brunch in NH and we took Amy, along with the rest of the Hoepf's, to check out the new house. They continue to frame the inside and it looks like they will start roughing in the plumbing and electricity soon.

End of an Era

With the big move approaching we had to adjust to the gas prices. Jeff traded in his beloved Yukon for a much more fuel efficient vehicle, a Pontiac G5. The car is very similar to his 1st ride he got when he was 16, a beautiful Chevy Cavalier.