It's About Time for a Tim Update

Remember Tim? The rather overwhelming remodeling project we have going on here at Woodhaven? The one we started in March? The one that we left the country for two months to escape?

Yeah, he’s still here. But he’s starting to pack his bags to finally leave. YAHOO!!!

Ugh. And that was with a dust barrier.

I haven’t posted much about Tim because, well, we weren’t here. And blessedly, there wasn’t much to write about.

While we were frolicking about, Randy very kindly sent us progress photos, and Mel texted a few updates. Largely, we went on the “no news is good news” theory and correctly assumed that our implicitly trusted contractors were handling any minor questions that arose.

Tim (and Randy) in late May right before
we left for the 33-day cruise.

I spent a few panicked weeks from afar after the walls were painted. The warm yellow and soothing blue that we so carefully chose suddenly looked BOLD and BRIGHT in the photos. I kept telling myself to trust the process and our decisions. To trust the extensive time I had spent with the "La Luna Amarilla" and "Vast Sky" paint chips placed in so many locations in different lighting at different times of the day.

It's crazy how different the color is even in
different parts of the room. Regardless, it's
a lot of yellow. Or, rather, La Luna Amarilla.

At times the blue is even bluer.
But this was bluer than I expected. 

The very late night we returned to Woodhaven, I tried to sneak a peek at the yellow to calm my nerves. But our back door wouldn’t open. I was too tired to sleuth (it was an over-achieving floor trim piece that has since been replaced), so I waited until the next morning to look. I sort of freaked out. The yellow and blue were indeed bolder and brighter than the little one-inch swatches had promised. I cringed.

Even more yellow. And you can see a VERY
blue wall of our breakfast nook poking around the 
corner. Also note the first 4 panels of the cabinetry
compared to the second 4 panels. We call this
foreshadowing.

I told myself again to trust the process and our decisions. And thankfully, as the swirly quartz countertops arrived and black appliances were installed and the next round of protective floor covering was pulled up, the colors – and my nerves – calmed. I now love the yellow and blue, even though we still have another week or two to go before I see all the decisions come together.

It’s been hard being home the past few weeks. Our wisdom to leave for 2 months was confirmed quickly, as we had multiple contractors flowing in and out, a driveway filled with construction trucks, so much noise and dust, and the need to deftly bounce from decision to task to conundrum. By Day 2 of Re-Entry, we were pretty fried and longing to be back on a cruise ship. Jet lag didn't help.

Countertop installers. I think the 
electrician was also there that day.

On Day 6 of Re-Entry, we got new carpeting in our master closet. We had quite a bit of surplus from the recarpeting of our dining room, so it seemed genius to replace the 22-year-old stuff in our closet “for free.” Genius until we realized we had to completely empty the closet to avoid covering all our clothes, shoes, and accessories in carpet dust. Fabulous.

Still jet-lagged and trying to quickly regroup to fly to Southern California for a family situation on Day 5 of Re-Entry, we interrupted laundry and breathing to relocate our closet to the only surfaces we have access to: our bedroom. We stayed in a hotel for two nights until we put the newly carpeted closet back together. It looks fantastic! And it is so delightfully squishy! So as the frantic Closet Relocation memories fade, I can say that the effort was totally worth it. Especially since we will not have to do it again for another 20 years. 

Not shown: the source of me finally
conceding I perhaps have a lot of shoes.

I’m profoundly relieved to say that Tim has behaved quite well throughout this adventure. The biggest surprises have come from the cabinet maker, and all since we have returned from our travels.

One wood panel was stained incorrectly and had to be removed, remade, and reinstalled. I felt sorry for the uninstaller, as that panel was never supposed to budge. 

When we were texted the photo, we hoped it was
just a cell phone lighting thing. Nope. Not only was
the stain different, the finish was different, too.
We're all mystified how it got as far as being
installed without anyone noticing.

We also discovered a section of the toe kick under the wall oven was strangely stripey. That fix is still in the works, along with some missing hardware and a few other decorative pieces. I was starting to lose faith in the cabinet folks, but Randy assured me they are very good and are making fewer mistakes than average on a kitchen remodel. Yikes!! I clearly have high expectations, which I thought were just normal expectations. Sigh.

The best guess is the stain wasn't dry when the
board was put on a rack.

In MUCH better news, there have been significant signs in the past couple of days that we are nearing the finish line. YAHOOOOOO!!!!

Melissa (BLESS HER!) started the “post-construction deep clean” today. She will be back tomorrow. And probably a third day. So. Much. Dust.

We got the green light to schedule Yury to come next week to move back all the heavy furniture he Jenga-ed into our living room back on March 26. Almost exactly 4 months of using our living room as a storage unit.

Our Amazon account has been re-awakened with deliveries arriving soon of curtains and chair pads and placemats. I will get to nest and decorate soon!

And today our bedroom door to the rest of the house was unsealed! We are free to move about the cabin!! We don’t have to traipse through the backyard to leave the house, go upstairs, do laundry, answer the front door, or get a snack out of the garage fridge! The freedom is heady!!! I can retire my extra house key and flashlight!! The exclamation points are not an exaggeration! This is a GLORIOUS DAY!

I never appreciated how awesome
this door is when it is open.

With any luck, we will have Woodhaven largely back together by the time my beloved Fair starts on August 7 (FAIR!!). I’m already having chats with my eager, goal-oriented self about the importance of balancing what my heart wants with what my body can do. Prayers needed and appreciated!

The painters are coming tomorrow to deal with all
the little blue tape markers.

Here’s the Story – Part 2

Back in February 2020, right before the world got super duper weird, Rob gave me one of the best gifts EVER. He drove me to North Hollywood to see the Brady Bunch house.

I won’t go into detail – my February 6, 2020 blog about that visit can fill you in. Suffice it to say, I am a HUGE Brady Bunch fan. HUGE. Enormous. Big Time Brady Fan Girl right here.

Back in 2020, the best a superfan could do was drive up to the house and gaze at it from across the street. There was a security guard positioned in the driveway preventing any lingering, and absolutely no approaching the front door. But that was good enough, since visiting the interior was completely incomprehensible.  

Fast-forward to September 2023. HGTV decided it had gotten all the ratings it could from totally renovating the house’s interior to match the studio sets the series had been filmed on. The network put the iconic house on the market and a fellow Brady Bunch Superfan named Tina snatched it up for a groovy $3.2 million. Reportedly Tina’s husband, the former CEO of HBO, had only one question for her: “Have you lost your mind?” Apparently he thought his Gen X wife wanted to live in the house.

Oh, to be so lucky!

So what did Tina actually want to do with the house? Well, first she got it designated as a Historical-Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles. Then she decided to share it with fellow Brady Superfans.

The Bradys' house is the first property in
Los Angeles to get this protection
as a filming location outside of a studio lot.
The designation protects the outside AND
the inside. How groovy is that?!

WHAT?!?

Yes, you can buy tickets – with proceeds going to Tina’s favorite animal shelter – for a one-hour visit inside the totally furnished Brady Bunch house!! Truly! Yes, I pretty much bounced off the couch chanting, "Take my money!" when I learned this.

When I first read about this opportunity, I thought for sure it was only for fancy people. Connected people. Industry people. Not for a 58-year-old woman whose only Hollywood connection is once posing for a photo with Ted Danson and an alpaca.

Back in 2011 when we were all
much younger.

Because I have the most amazing and supportive husband EVER, today I was a passenger princess as Rob drove across the trafficky Los Angeles metro to make my dreams come true.

Yes, we spent an hour INSIDE the Brady Bunch House today! IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!

I was just a few yards ahead of Rob out of 
unbridled excitement to GET INSIDE!!

When I knocked on the front door as instructed, it slowly opened to reveal a friendly woman in a blue maid’s dress welcoming us inside. We were asked to take off our shoes, wear provided socks and booties, and not touch anything or sit on the furniture. “Treat it as a museum.” We could, however, take photos with abandon and wander on our own.

The door knobs are PERFECT!
It felt surreal just standing there.

Fortunately, all of this information had been provided ahead of time via email. Because once I was inside The Bradys’ house, my listening ears turned off. Instead, I heard the voices of my adopted TV family speaking a mishmash of dialogue from 117 memorized episodes. I spent the next hour walking around with an enormous smile, wide eyes, and a couple of times, tears.

OH. MY. GOSH!!!!!!!!!

I was not expecting to feel so emotional in The Bradys’ house.

I gasped at the sight of The Staircase. I smiled at the couch in Mike’s den where Jan sat and lamented, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” I stared at the groovy 1960s rectangular art at the foot of the staircase, realizing how it is instantly identifiable by any fan. It was all absolutely perfect.

I wanted to touch EVERYTHING!

There it is!! Every Brady fan knows
that paneling!

The tears came when I entered the Brady girls’ bedroom upstairs. I stood in the middle of the room, taking in the three pink bedspreads, the giraffe stuffed animal in the corner, Kitty Karry-All on Cindy’s bed. It was so familiar, so comfortable, so nostalgic. Suddenly, it struck me.

“Oh my gosh. I grew up in this bedroom.”

This was after the tears. And please ignore
the fashion booties.

And that was it. That was the emotion. The Brady House was home. My home. I grew up there. I watched multiple episodes every day after school for years. When I told my mother-in-law a few days ago that we were going to see the inside of the Brady Bunch house, she asked if there would be a tour guide. My reply? “I don’t need one!”

It was fascinating to me which rooms I felt the most drawn to. The girls’ bedroom was the strongest. The kitchen, too. And Mike and Carol’s bedroom. And the dining room table. And the couch in the living room.

I hate to cook and yet, I totally
wanted to hang out in this kitchen.

The screen behind us really got me. I have
no idea why. But wow, it was important
to me to see it.

Sadly, the best photo I have of the
dining room table. It was hard to balance
being present, being in awe, and being 
a photographer.

I wasn’t as emotionally drawn to Greg’s attic bedroom or the family room or the boys’ bedroom or the backyard. I have no idea why.

It took me about 30 minutes to take my first lap. I then sat on a step in the entryway and tried to be fully present in one of the most surreal moments of my life. It sort of worked.

I still can't believe I was there.

On my second lap, I tried to notice all the little Easter Eggs that were scattered around the house, each a reference to a well-known storyline.

The architectural drawings of Beebe Gallini’s powder puff-shaped factory. Marcia’s drawing of George Washington that was mistaken for Mrs. Denton. The box of Safe Detergent in the laundry room. The egg on the pylon at the front of Mike’s convertible. The stack of letters to “Dear Libby.” The book about Jesse James that got Bobby in trouble. The typewritten gossip column written by Peter. The silver anniversary platter. Alice’s white sneakers. Jan’s wig.

Mike's drafting table in his den!
The powder puff is on the left, the
plans on the right are HGTV's plans
for renovating the original structure.

Marcia drew George Washington.
Then Paula found it and added the unflattering
note about Mrs. Denton. Marcia was in 
BIG trouble when the teacher found it.
Luckily, Paula fessed up and all was well
within 24 minutes.

The letters each of the kids and Alice
wrote to an advice columnist.

Alice's Keds!

The recreation of the Bradys’ house was astounding. The attention to detail was incredible. I kept forgetting the series was not actually filmed in the house. It was so real, so perfect, so complete. I was even more incredulous when I was told that there was only one original item in the entire house; everything else had been tracked down through antique stores and online searches to replicate what had appeared on the show. The Love of Brady runs deep.

The red sleeping bag is the only 
original item. It was in the episode
where Marcia has a slumber party.

Rob and I were the last to leave. We found out that Tina allows a maximum of 8 people to come inside the house each day from 12:30-1:30pm. There were just two other couples walking around with us, equally mesmerized and lost in memories. We all looked about the same age, all giddy and appreciative. We were mostly quiet, with whispered, “OH, WOW!” and “Come look at this!” One woman softly laughed and asked, “Why are we so quiet?”

I smiled at her and answered, “Reverence.”

My 8-year-old and my 58-year-old
brains are both utterly flabbergasted
by this photo!!!

A Bumpy Re-Entry

We’ve been home for a week. It feels like a month. Re-entry from a great vacation is always challenging, but this one has been especially hard. We were in Airplane Mode for over a month (seriously – it’s how we didn’t spend a fortune on internet access). It was a bit shocking to be fully connected again. Literally and psychologically.

After about 36 hours back at Woodhaven, we remembered the wisdom in having left. Living in a construction zone is exhausting. The noise, the disruption, the decisions, the lack of privacy. When Rob first floated the idea of being on the other side of the planet while our kitchen was being remodeled, I questioned whether we should be so far away in case something went sideways with Tim. Now I believe escaping the chaos was one of the smartest things we've done in a long time.

The past two months of travel have been incredible. I’m still stunned by all that we saw, ate, drank, smelled, gawked at, and thought about. We went places I never imagined I would love (Sweden). We ate food I never considered touching my lips (octopus). We touched parts of Earth I thought were off-limits (Namibian sand dunes).

Yep, I tried it. The taste wasn't bad -
it was in a tomato-based sauce. It was
the texture that got me. It was very
spring-y and snappy. It was impossible
not to think of it being an octopus.

Living on a cruise ship for a month was surprisingly easy. We fell into a much-needed routine pretty quickly. It was fabulous having access to food whenever I wanted it; without a kitchen since March, eating has been ridiculously complicated. It was also nothing short of heavenly to be able to package up our laundry on a whim and have it returned clean a few days later (brand loyalty pays off). No trudging outside. No remembering to bring my house key. No checking the weather report first. Sending out our laundry was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip!

Not a lot fit in each bag, so I handed
over a bag every couple of days.
Keeping track of our laundry orders
became a hobby. Only lost one t-shirt!

Rob and I were both surprised that we did not want our part of the cruise to end. We longed to stay in D423 and continue on to Iceland and across the Atlantic to Canada. We loved the escape, the way of life, the constantly changing scenery, the “free” drinks, the built-in exercise of climbing multiple flights of stairs each day, the mostly daily ice cream cones, the seemingly endless hot water for showers. Our eyes and minds are now open to longer cruises. This is an exciting and dangerous discovery!

Us on our last bus tour. Pretty much summed it up.

We didn’t make any new friends during our travels, other than Itzi who guided us around Spain. We kept to ourselves, eavesdropped, stayed anonymous, and deftly flew deep under the radar. We love people, but peopling takes a lot of energy. At least the all-in, fully-engaged way we do it. We needed the break and it was lovely.

Us blissfully alone not meeting new
people. I asked Rob to stop and take this
photo in Stockholm after telling him
I was going to miss wandering European
cities with him. 

While we were gone, life still happened. Tim plugged along (update coming soon) without too much drama. Bills arrived electronically, making me grateful for online banking. A jury summons was deferred. A nephew was born. The January arrival of another family member was announced. Rob’s dad died.

Dad was suspicious of social media. Out of respect for his memory, I will simply say that we knew his passing was a possibility when we left, but it was still incredibly hard to be so far away when it happened. But, as He does, God showed up at just the right time in just the right way. The day before Dad died, Rob and I were in Visby, Sweden. We had no plans for the day, so we just wandered around and fell in love with the small, Nordic island of Gotland.

Along the way, we found a 13th century stone church. It was simple, beautiful, quiet, peaceful. Without planning it or discussing it, Rob and I each talked to God in that church, thanking Him, trusting Him, and releasing our hearts to Him. Between that and our last visit with Dad shortly before we left, Rob and I both have peace. And we unequivocally know that Dad does, too

St. Mary's Cathedral in Visby, Sweden will always
have a very special place in my heart and memories.

So we are back.

A number of people have asked where we are going next, what’s our next cruise, what travel plans are on the radar. Normally we’d have an answer. And we will soon. Right now, we’re trying to bask in the incredible memories of two trips of a lifetime, 3,049 photos, 30 blog posts, and a meaningful collection of magnets that will eventually make their home on our new fridge in our new kitchen.

Thank you for coming along for the ride. 

Each magnet was carefully chosen
to reflect what resonated with me in
the various cities. The duck magnet
was found in a hide-and-seek game
on the cruise ship.

 

My first visit to Amsterdam!

I have wanted to visit Amsterdam for a number of years. There was a vague interest, and then I saw a segment on one of those Sunday Morning news shows about the Dutch capital. The reporters did a remarkable job painting an incredibly romantic picture of a city famous for its canals. I was SUPER excited to have it as our last fun port on this epic cruise journey. (Fun because our last port is actually Dover, England – noted for its White Cliffs – and where we bid farewell to the Crown Princess and head directly to the airport. Sigh.)

So did Amsterdam live up to Jane Pauley’s hype (yeah, it’s been a minute)?

Maybe.

We started the day with an hour bus ride from the port of IJmuiden (I have no idea, and the capitalized J is not a typo). We toured Amsterdam via a canal boat, and then we just wandered around for a couple of hours before heading back to our ship in I-Town. We had a whopping 5 hours to explore, which was both a long day and far too short.

Jane did not lie. Amsterdam is beautiful.

This is just what I imagined it looked like!
Thanks, Jane!

The canals indeed lend a romanticism to the urbanity. We spent about an hour in the Canal Museum (highly recommended) and learned that in the 1600s, Amsterdam’s popularity and population were growing but the city was running out of land. The city is about 3 feet below sea level, so it is naturally swampy. The Men in Charge at the time concluded the best way to expand Amsterdam’s footprint was to dredge up silt and sand and relocated it to make land where they wanted it. Canals would be used to divert the water that was left behind.

Lots of bridges, lots of bikes, lots of trees

The canals are mostly in concentric horseshoes
around Amsterdam's center, which means they 
softly bend around the city.

Some of the boats on the sides are
personal vehicles; others are houseboats
that people live on or rent out as Airbnbs

Even today, the canals in Amsterdam are dredged regularly – not just of silt but of about 10,000 sunken bicycles every year (like Copenhagen, bicycles are EVERYWHERE!). And the windmills outside of town are used to pump water out to the canals. To be honest, I never stopped to wonder what the famous Dutch windmills were for, other than postcards!

Tons of bike parking lots are scattered around
the city.

A bona fide Dutch windmill!!

The system of canals and bridges was actually pretty easy to follow on foot. You could sense the planning and forethought. There was even a helpful map! If you’ve ever been to Venice, their canals are a spaghetti bowl of confusion. Amsterdam was very easy to navigate without fear of getting lost. Especially since Rob was in charge of the map.

I was honestly disappointed by our canal cruise. Although the boat was wooden and charmingly old-timey and had windows on the top, it was hard to see much. Especially since the woman I was sitting next to spent most of the time hogging the window.

Me wistfully wondering what I'm 
missing beyond all the wood beams

My view most of the ride.
She got some really nice photos.

I tried going outside, but I was too short to see over the boat’s canopy. And a busy social media influencer had commandeered the prime seat in back for perfect posing. So, I concluded the best I could do was enjoy the choppy scenery, hope that Taller Rob was getting better photos when the influencer was editing, and note the rival tour company that has open air boats (Flagship) for our return visit. Because yes, it was already clear that Amsterdam requires a second and longer exploration.

My photo of this really pretty building

Taller Rob's photo of the same 
building, plus others I didn't know
were there

The scenery was much better and delightfully unobstructed once we started walking around. But romantic? Depends where you are.

Amsterdam is gritty. It’s touristy. It’s crowded. It has FAST bikes that are not required to yield to pedestrians, so you have to be on alert at all times. Amsterdam definitely felt like a big city. But it also felt safe, despite the bikes. Even in the Red Light District.

Yep, we went there. But it was by accident. Honest!

We were wandering down a street and the vibe changed considerably. Lots of bars, some adult-themed stores, and an overall essence of “hangover.” Lamp posts were plastered with a zillion stickers, the asphalt was worn from repeated hosing, and the general aroma was the pungent smell of legalized pot occasionally overridden by the odor of doorway pee. People in various states of alertness were adhered to the canal walls, seemingly waiting for it to get dark again. It was very Vegas-esque.

And yes, we did see a leather bikini-clad, unnaturally buxom woman displaying herself in a “store” window, chatting on her phone. She was all kinds of distracting. I didn’t take a picture, for any number of reasons. Prime being: it’s illegal (the photo, not the display).

There really are red lights!!

It took me a while to shake the ooky feeling of seeing that woman in the window. I reminded myself that it’s legal and entirely her choice and probably very lucrative. But it just made me sort of sad. I’m not sure I needed to see that legendary part of Amsterdam.

I decided to be fascinated instead by noticing that many of Amsterdam’s stone houses are listing worse than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Given the swampy foundation, and 300+ years old construction, I guess it should not be surprising that some of the old buildings along Amsterdam’s canals are moving. But it was startling to see, and even more startling that it appeared the buildings are still in use.

If you look closely, you can see the
top of the brick building leaning 
towards the tree

Notice the black material on the left
side of the building in the center. It is
filling in a gap between the buildings
that is much narrower at the top
than at the bottom.

The bottom right side of this
building is totally wonky. And there
is a business in it!

One day in Amsterdam was simply not enough. By the time we were back on our bus, I had a list of Next Visit Must-Dos. Things like going to the Anne Frank House. And the Rembrandt Museum. And the private museum of classic art masterpieces but featuring cats. And the Floating Flower Market. And taking a train to Haarlem where Corrie Ten Boom lived (referenced SO often among my church friends). And heading out to Gouda to learn about and eat a lot of cheese. And taking a canal cruise on a boat without a roof.

Doesn't that look lovely? Pretty flowers,
beverages, unobstructed view. I shall
ride a boat like this someday.

So now we head home to Woodhaven. I’ll write a final blog once we are back settled in. It’s been a cruise of a lifetime! Thank you for coming along!

Looking forward to seeing you again,
Amsterdam!