Over All Too Soon...

I am home to my little house-on-a-slab in Plainfield after driving the grandchildren to Zion, IL, to move them into their new house, new neighborhood, and new school. I was there almost a week, trying to help out as best I could. Daddy Nathan and Kendra (stepmother) were both involved in their jobs, and since school didn't start until Wednesday of this week, I mostly watched all three of the kids, grocery shopped (a little), helped to get meals going at the end of the day, and did a little laundry.

Since all three of the children came home from family visitations on the same day, there was some re-establishing of pecking order that took place. (I used to observe this in the classroom whenever I got a new student. It's normal and annoying as the dickens!) The kids got a tour of the new house, bottom to top. It is an old house--built in 1906, I think I was told--but it has been remodeled and taken care of, so it is charming--and big. The house is set back from the street on a long gravel drive with a wooded front yard. The attached two-car garage is in the back. If you enter the house from there, you come in to a mud room--down a few steps to the basement/laundry or up a few steps to the kitchen. The kitchen has updated cabinets (white wood), granite counter tops, heavy-duty stove/convection oven, dishwasher, double ceramic sink with updated faucet hardware, relatively new double refrigerator with drink dispenser, lots of lighting, and hardwood floors.

Next to the kitchen in a sort-of hallway to the living room is a little butler pantry with built-in shelves, drawers, etc...and just off of that is a half bath with all new "appliances" and a mosaic-style floor. The living room is large with a fireplace. Between the living room and kitchen is a nice-sized dining room, and around the corner from the dining room are the stairs to the second floor. (Sixteen steps. I counted. Got my exercise!)

Off the living room on the other side is a hallway and a step down to a very large bedroom/bathroom suite that was remodeled for a handicapped child. No walls...huge shower/bathroom area. That has become the master bedroom suite for Nathan and Kendra.

Upstairs, there are two large bedrooms, a smaller bedroom, and a bathroom. Robin and Wednesday share the biggest bedroom. (Plenty of room for both, with two closets, and their own separate desks and shelves, etc.) Ryan's room is the next largest. Lots of space for a little boy! It includes a closet and a hidden cupboard in which he can stash a lot of toys. The smallest bedroom has been established as a toy room. (That's where I slept on an air mattress.) All of the bedrooms upstairs are carpeted.

There are so many levels in the house that I determined early on that they needed an intercom system. When Kendra and the children and I were out shopping on Sunday, we found a Radio Shack that had a three-unit system that I got as a housewarming present for them. Nathan and I checked out the units when we got home. As a test, we put one unit in the basement, one in the living room, and one in Ryan's room on the top level. They all worked fine. The family will have to determine exactly where they want the units to go, but at least we know they will produce on all levels. We did use the one in Ryan's room a number of times. He thinks it's fun!

I was less than impressed with the physical plant of the children's school. Although it looks great on the outside, and the staff seems really on the ball, the building is NOT air conditioned. The bathrooms look old. The classrooms are small with no built-ins. The hot lunch program is brought in (TV dinners) because there is no kitchen, etc. Since Zion, IL, is only a couple of miles from the Wisconsin state line, I expect that the heat of the season will change within a couple of weeks. Hopefully, the no AC status won't be important too much longer...

On the trip up and back, I drove on interstates I had always managed to avoid until now. The Dan Ryan Expressway through downtown Chicago is one of them. The Eden's Expressway is another. In the past, I have taken 80/94 across the bottom of Lake Michigan to the Tri-State Tollway which goes around Chicago in the suburbs. This time, because it is a more direct route, I ventured downtown. Can't say that I enjoyed it much, but the delays were somewhat minor compared to what would have awaited me on 80/94 which has been under construction for years and years...

I will have to finish this later. It is late and I'm tired...
Tomorrow!