Thanksgiving weekend is drawing to a close, and as I type the only sound I hear is that of Max's rollers (bike training). Gone are the Thanksgiving days of sweet squeals of laughter from my niece, the vibrant vibrato of Leslie and I's rendition of
Climb Every Mountain, and the familiar voices of my family in our new house, like they've always been here. I always have much to be thankful for, but having all of my family here at our new home for Thankgiving is truly the icing on a most delicious of cakes.
Of course, you know that nobody could have stayed in this house without the help of my most wonderful friends and family, and I want to close this Thanksgiving weekend by thanking them personally. So here goes (if I forgot you it doesn't mean I 'forgot' you, it just means I have too much on my mind. Please forgive me if I do!):
Grandma - For calling me for our Sunday phone visits instead of waiting for me to call you. I think she knew it may never happen if she didn't call. :) That extra bit of money didn't hurt either!
Jeffe Perkins - Thank you for your Xtreme staple removal! Jeff spent over three hours with me, removing staples from the guest bedroom floor. Who knew removing staples could be such fun?
James - Thank you for your unending use of her car, island assembly (we got it to work, BTW), and delivery of Home Run Inn pizzas and vino.
Buck and Jen - Thank you for your extreme wallpaper removal in both our bathroom and kitchen.
Jen (again!) - Thank you for coming over twice this week, to help get the house ship-shape for guests. Jen and I were roommates in three different places together, so we are on the same wave-length when it comes to setting up a room!
Mike and Eva - Thanks for snacks and fun with Walteress on our first weekend here. You had to know we were starving, because we were too busy to remember to eat. Oh, and that gin is sooo good.
Jean and Kevin - Thank you for turning what I thought was an almond refrigerator white and essentially being at our beck and call. At one point Jean said something to this affect, "if you need something just text me the word, don't even bother saying you need it." And let me tell you, she meant it!
Laura - Thank you for taking my teary calls and providing the support and understanding I needed. That was rough week.
Laura and Les - Thank you for planning an improptu 'let's help Erin' visit, taking days off work, painting kitchen, and working tirelessly for an entire weekend. Our kitchen looks beautiful because of you two.
Lisa and Patrick - Thank you for removing more wallpaper and keeping me company on a lonely Sunday afternoon.
Tony, Jill, Katie - Thank you for working with me through the difficult decision of which toilet to buy on a Saturday night in Chicago. You might never have heard such deep conversation between four people in the toilet isle at Home Depot. Together, we team-lifted that thing back home and into our non-existent bathroom.
Garrison - Thank you for being generally awesome and helping us with just about everything: fixing walls, cabling a tree, Home Depot runs, just to name a few.
Tony - Thank you for the use of your sander. Without it, the money we would have spent on renting it would probably been equivalent to an actual sander. Thank you also for all your advice, encouragement, and introduction to The Magic Eraser. You are the best!
Meagan - Thank you for that voice mail you left me when you explained to me that pretty soon house stuff was going to feel overwhelming and not fun, but that I shouldn't worry because it would eventually be all right. I can't tell you how many times I listened to that over the past month and a half. Also thank you for the lovely Lemon Verbana Mrs. Meyers cleaning products; they smell so good!
May - Thank you for tearing down that weird wall and putting a new one up the very next day!
Mary - Thank you for offering up your bathroom while my sisters were here.
Lisa (our new neighbor) - Thank you for letting us use your shower for two weeks. I've never had a shower that felt so good, as that first one at your house. Ahhh!
Eleanor - Thank you for making me lunch the week of the move, you knew that otherwise I would be eating crappy chicken sandwiches from the school cafeteria. Also, thank you for letting me dominate our lunchtime conversations with our successes and tribulations at the house.
Mom and Dad - Thank you for coming to Thanksgiving in Chicago with work clothes and seemingly endless energy to do jobs around the house.
Penny - Thank you for taking kindly to your new home, and reminding me that I need to sit down and take a rest so you can sit on my lap and take a cat nap.
Yeah, no kidding, pretty amazing friends, huh? I have so much to be thankful for. I love you all!