I was having problems with the pictures earlier. Here's a view of the entire front yard.
Here is another view of the living room!
Here's a view from the stairs looking down.
More later!
Mark
Sunday, April 27, 2008
More Pictures!
I was having problems with the pictures earlier. Here's a view of the entire front yard.
Here is another view of the living room!
Here's a view from the stairs looking down.
More later!
Mark
Clyde Would Like To Welcome You To His New Home
Yes, Clyde keeps a close watch on me as I am busy readying the latest pictures showing our remarkable progress. Or, should I say, Mary's remarkable progress... Clyde, however, seems to believe this is HIS home.
Ah, check the perfectly manicured lawn! I thought it was time to get a more springy view of the Brady home.
The sidewalk to out front door. We have already done a fair amount of weeding!
Another view of the front lawn with the beautiful flowering something tree out front. It needs a good pruning...
Here's the first view of our living room. The main floor is sort of a "U" built around the kitchen in the middle. To the left of the kitchen is a small family room, behind the kitchen (the bottom of the "U") is the living room and to the right is the dining room. It is almost as hard to describe as it is to photograph.
Here is the first view of the all-new, improved Chicago Bears room. As you can see, to the right, I have yet to hang the Brian Urlacher picture. We were hanging pictures like crazy today; nine alone in the Elvis bedroom.
Here is a new view of the Elvis bedroom with some pictures on the wall...
It's coming together!
More later,
Mark
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Here's The Story...
Well, we're making progress on the new home – and getting to meet some cool neighbors. Plus, Sunday was the first mowing day of the season! I borrowed Todd's mower and started to get acquainted with my weekly ritual.
When I say "we're making progress," by the way, I really mean "Mary is making progress." She has emptied the majority of boxes that we are going to empty for the immediate future. Rooms are getting organized, closets are getting filled. Albums are going up on walls. Tiki gods are finding their ways into tiki bars...
So, here are some pictures of our progress...
The dining room (with four of the five packs of Coke I got at Target for $15 and I received a $5 gift card!) is looking very cool. Once again, we have a home where my parents cool dining room furniture fits nicely.
Here's the deck right outside the sliding door off of the dining room. Our outdoor bar, table and six chairs all fit perfectly. Citronella tiki torches will soon grace the deck, too.
Here is a view of our expansive backyard taken right off of the deck. There is about 300 yards and a protected wetland, a creek and wildlife between us and the closest neighbor behind us. Speaking of wildlife, a giant groundhog lives at the base of our backyard, neighbors say, and deer are allegedly frequent visitors. All we've seen so far is a white cat who was hanging out by our deck.
We are morphing the Illinois "Rat Pack Bar" with the set up from our Florida family room for the all new, improved, "Rat Pack Tiki Bar and Den." Or something like that. Think: Tiki meets plasma TV. That's Clyde, by the way, in the lower left corner, saying "Hello!"
Framed albums and original Rat Pack autographs are back on the wall!
My parents had this neon sign made for us for our Illinois bar and it now has a special place on our wall here!
One guest room is complete! The Elvis bedroom features (for now) yellow walls! All we have to do is hang a few pictures and then take them down when we repaint. The point is, we can have guests!
Here's another view of the Elvis bedroom and the cool light we always put in a special spot.
It's all coming together. Me? I get to go back to work Monday and relax while Mary gets busy on the new, improved Bears room!
More later,
Mark
When I say "we're making progress," by the way, I really mean "Mary is making progress." She has emptied the majority of boxes that we are going to empty for the immediate future. Rooms are getting organized, closets are getting filled. Albums are going up on walls. Tiki gods are finding their ways into tiki bars...
So, here are some pictures of our progress...
The dining room (with four of the five packs of Coke I got at Target for $15 and I received a $5 gift card!) is looking very cool. Once again, we have a home where my parents cool dining room furniture fits nicely.
Here's the deck right outside the sliding door off of the dining room. Our outdoor bar, table and six chairs all fit perfectly. Citronella tiki torches will soon grace the deck, too.
Here is a view of our expansive backyard taken right off of the deck. There is about 300 yards and a protected wetland, a creek and wildlife between us and the closest neighbor behind us. Speaking of wildlife, a giant groundhog lives at the base of our backyard, neighbors say, and deer are allegedly frequent visitors. All we've seen so far is a white cat who was hanging out by our deck.
We are morphing the Illinois "Rat Pack Bar" with the set up from our Florida family room for the all new, improved, "Rat Pack Tiki Bar and Den." Or something like that. Think: Tiki meets plasma TV. That's Clyde, by the way, in the lower left corner, saying "Hello!"
Framed albums and original Rat Pack autographs are back on the wall!
My parents had this neon sign made for us for our Illinois bar and it now has a special place on our wall here!
One guest room is complete! The Elvis bedroom features (for now) yellow walls! All we have to do is hang a few pictures and then take them down when we repaint. The point is, we can have guests!
Here's another view of the Elvis bedroom and the cool light we always put in a special spot.
It's all coming together. Me? I get to go back to work Monday and relax while Mary gets busy on the new, improved Bears room!
More later,
Mark
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Our New Home
We will wake up tomorrow morning in Boardman, Ohio, in a great home in a fantastic neighborhood on a street with culdesacs at either end and a backyard literally as big as all outdoors. Essentially, as a new neighbor explained, it is like having a park as a backyard.
Our realty team at Real Living Volpini Realty Group, featuring Joyce Kissinger and Patti Mika found the house for us after our visit back in February. Patti is an inexhaustible bundle of energy and she locked the deal down and gave us plenty of help along the way. We are forever in her debt, not unlike the bank...
The house needs some Sweetwoodian touches: The kitchen will be gutted eventually, as will one of the four bedrooms (which will be combined with the master bedroom for a SUPER bedroom). The bathrooms will be redone as well. But overall the house was a perfect find and a great deal and Mary and I are as proud and happy as we can be!
Everyone has been terrific during this transition from the leadership team at The Vindicator to our new friends at banks, title companies, insurance agents, the sellers and even pest control companies. And I need to give a shout out to United Van Lines, the official mover of Mark's World, for another great job.
Now, allow us to share our new home! Enjoy the views!
We call this the Brady Bunch house. It was built in 1973 and it resembles, well, the house that Mike Brady designed. Don't believe me? Check this out...
Here is a picture of the actual Brady Bunch house. Now, the front is kind of a reversal of ours, but the similarities are clear.
Here's a shot of our new front yard.
Here is what one side of the house looks like. Note the big trees.
Here's a view of the backyard with a view of one of the decks.
Here is a view from the deck off of the master bedroom toward the backyard which faces a park-like area and a protected wetland.
This is a picture of the living room area. It was taken with some of the items in the home left to stage it for sale. These will be replaced by our stuff (though we really liked the big, silver lamp!).
Here is the dining room (before our stuff arrived).
This is the future site of the world's next, best, wildest tiki bar!
More later,
Mark
Our realty team at Real Living Volpini Realty Group, featuring Joyce Kissinger and Patti Mika found the house for us after our visit back in February. Patti is an inexhaustible bundle of energy and she locked the deal down and gave us plenty of help along the way. We are forever in her debt, not unlike the bank...
The house needs some Sweetwoodian touches: The kitchen will be gutted eventually, as will one of the four bedrooms (which will be combined with the master bedroom for a SUPER bedroom). The bathrooms will be redone as well. But overall the house was a perfect find and a great deal and Mary and I are as proud and happy as we can be!
Everyone has been terrific during this transition from the leadership team at The Vindicator to our new friends at banks, title companies, insurance agents, the sellers and even pest control companies. And I need to give a shout out to United Van Lines, the official mover of Mark's World, for another great job.
Now, allow us to share our new home! Enjoy the views!
We call this the Brady Bunch house. It was built in 1973 and it resembles, well, the house that Mike Brady designed. Don't believe me? Check this out...
Here is a picture of the actual Brady Bunch house. Now, the front is kind of a reversal of ours, but the similarities are clear.
Here's a shot of our new front yard.
Here is what one side of the house looks like. Note the big trees.
Here's a view of the backyard with a view of one of the decks.
Here is a view from the deck off of the master bedroom toward the backyard which faces a park-like area and a protected wetland.
This is a picture of the living room area. It was taken with some of the items in the home left to stage it for sale. These will be replaced by our stuff (though we really liked the big, silver lamp!).
Here is the dining room (before our stuff arrived).
This is the future site of the world's next, best, wildest tiki bar!
More later,
Mark
A Preview of Things to Come
Poor Clyde. There's no place left to hide.
After 10 days in three different hotel rooms, Clyde and Louie want to go home!
OK. Well, you are going home all right. However, "home" has moved. To Boardman, Ohio.
Now, given the peculiarities of moving these days, our moving truck actually arrived the day before the closing. The sellers generously granted us the opportunity to move into the house the day before the closing. So, we today featured 10 hours of non-stop fun, punctuated by phone calls from the bank, the title company, the insurance company, etc.
The move from the front door looked something like this.
We close Thursday at 8:30 a.m. By Thursday night, we'll unveil – right here! – where the Sweetwood bunch will live from now until ... forever. Outside of retirement, we have vowed this: We are never moving again.
Ever.
Put it in the bank.
Put it on the board - yeeaaaah!
You'll pry this house from my cold, dead hands...
OK, that's a bit dramatic, but it is a cool, 2,200-square-foot, quad-level house on about an acre of land with breathtaking views, two decks and the wildest tiki room you've ever seen! To be honest, the tiki room is mostly in the planning stages, but it's going to be awesome!
We feel very fortunate to find ourselves stewards of this fine home and we pledge to continue to care for it and maintain the high standards of the neighborhood.
So, be back here in 24 for details on the next Sweetwood abode!
More later,
Mark
P.S. Enjoy this musical interlude:
After 10 days in three different hotel rooms, Clyde and Louie want to go home!
OK. Well, you are going home all right. However, "home" has moved. To Boardman, Ohio.
Now, given the peculiarities of moving these days, our moving truck actually arrived the day before the closing. The sellers generously granted us the opportunity to move into the house the day before the closing. So, we today featured 10 hours of non-stop fun, punctuated by phone calls from the bank, the title company, the insurance company, etc.
The move from the front door looked something like this.
We close Thursday at 8:30 a.m. By Thursday night, we'll unveil – right here! – where the Sweetwood bunch will live from now until ... forever. Outside of retirement, we have vowed this: We are never moving again.
Ever.
Put it in the bank.
Put it on the board - yeeaaaah!
You'll pry this house from my cold, dead hands...
OK, that's a bit dramatic, but it is a cool, 2,200-square-foot, quad-level house on about an acre of land with breathtaking views, two decks and the wildest tiki room you've ever seen! To be honest, the tiki room is mostly in the planning stages, but it's going to be awesome!
We feel very fortunate to find ourselves stewards of this fine home and we pledge to continue to care for it and maintain the high standards of the neighborhood.
So, be back here in 24 for details on the next Sweetwood abode!
More later,
Mark
P.S. Enjoy this musical interlude:
Friday, April 04, 2008
One For My Baby...
...And One More For The Road...
My parents and our Aunt Judy met Mary and I for one last Melbourne luncheon at Smokey Bones Barbeque and Grill a week ago Friday. Wow. Has it been a week already???
Since then, we've emptied the condo in Florida, driven nearly 1,100 miles north in a Chevy Cavalier with two cats, spent three different nights in three different hotels, and the whole fam-damily is reunited at the fine Residence Inn where John and Colleen and others take great care of us.
This coming week will prove to be a challenge: The moving van will arrive. Our new home will be revealed. And you'll be able to watch the whole shebang right here!
It will be must-see Internet, I promise.
Can I make up for two months of no posts in one week?
Don't miss a single moment beginning Tuesday, April 8.
Until then, here is a clue to our new homestead:
More later,
Mark
My parents and our Aunt Judy met Mary and I for one last Melbourne luncheon at Smokey Bones Barbeque and Grill a week ago Friday. Wow. Has it been a week already???
Since then, we've emptied the condo in Florida, driven nearly 1,100 miles north in a Chevy Cavalier with two cats, spent three different nights in three different hotels, and the whole fam-damily is reunited at the fine Residence Inn where John and Colleen and others take great care of us.
This coming week will prove to be a challenge: The moving van will arrive. Our new home will be revealed. And you'll be able to watch the whole shebang right here!
It will be must-see Internet, I promise.
Can I make up for two months of no posts in one week?
Don't miss a single moment beginning Tuesday, April 8.
Until then, here is a clue to our new homestead:
More later,
Mark
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