House Beautiful

We (well, mostly Joni) did a great job cleaning, staging furniture, and de-cluttering the condo over the weekend. Henry spent Saturday with his Nanni, Bubbie, and Sarah. Honestly I cannot recall what they did together all day. After we spent the day cleaning, we called to see how they were doing and got clearance for us to stay out late and go to the movies! We saw Pirates and picked up H around 10:30. Liked the movie.

We got a good unintended laugh at one point in the movie when a sea monster called the Kraken is summoned to attack a ship. I have a surf music CD that has a song called The Kraken that starts with a sound byte from a B-movie where a mad scientist calls out "Let loose the Kraken!" We adopted the phrase and use it when we wake up Henry or turn him loose in the clean house. The Kraken in the movie causes only slightly more damage than Henry can. It breaks an entire ship in half and pulls it underwater.

Friday night I got to Jim's birthday celebration late due to traffic on 128. Everyone was having fun with Henry. Cousin Jake was chasing him around and then being chased. Jake thinks H is the coolest little kid, and with Jake's influence he probably will be. Sarah and Nicole stayed for a sleep-over.

OK, back to House Beautiful. Sunday we worked on cleaning and more de-cluttering. Paul came over at 3:00 and to the photos for the MLS listing. We only had to shift a few things around as he went from room to room. Even he was shocked to see how much we had cleared out and "staged" for viewing. It was like doing a photo documentary for Home and Garden, Southern Living, or House Beautiful. I felt like we should have been dressed up and posed as well. Henry slept through it all, even when we moved him from one bedroom to another during the photo taking.

After all the work, we decided to enjoy a dinner out Sunday. We both felt like having seafood, and since it was still late afternoon we took a scenic drive up to Gloucester. We ate at The Rudder in the Rocky Neck artist colony section. I think M,D,B and I went there when we spent the week at Long Beach a few years ago. We had a table next to the open windows overlooking the outside dining area and the cove.

During the meal we took Henry out to the dock off the outside dining area. He divided his attention between 2 swans swimming in the water and a 2 year old girl who was just as interested in him. We both enjoyed our dinners (fried calamari appetizer, haddock fish & chips for me, baked tilappia for Joni, and a shared hot fudge sundae) and the atmosphere. As usual, Henry got special attention. He had been "talking" with the family at the table on the other side of the window during part of dinner. When they left, the father came back to our table and offered Henry a candy. The hostess fawned over him, and the owner commented on his eyes and gave him packs of oyster crackers.

Today I have a small bookcase, a blue bin, a boxed cookware set, and a gym bag full of work clothes in the car for delivery to Ashland. There will be more bins coming as Joni continues to clear the closets.

I hope we get some action when the post goes up. I would like to have a busy broker showing on Thursday and plenty of follow-up from potential buyers.