The end of an era

In 2001, Ed and I purchased our first home together. Ed quickly went about making some important improvements. First, he wired the entire house for sound, so that he could pipe his beloved Grateful Dead in both bathroom, basement, living room, kitchen, outdoor deck, and office - pretty much anywhere he might find himself. Then he added some nifty glass racks to the existing bar to hang our wine and beer glasses. Then an acquaintance of his game him a carbon dioxide tank which encouraged him to take his beer brewing to the next level and install taps and keg his beer rather than bottling it. As it turns out, the tank was probably stolen from a restaurant and Ed could not get it refilled. We returned it to the restaurant we thought it came from, and Ed purchased his own tank. At some point, we had a house naming party, and from then on, the basement was known as "Grateful Ed's". That basement bar was host to many a good time and most notably, it was where both of my children were born. (OK - for every customer of Grateful Ed's who had no idea where the kids were actually born, I will give you a moment to shiver and shake the image that is in your head.)

Alas, our house (and Grateful Ed's) is under contract and will have the home inspector coming through on Friday. In preparation, Ed has taken down the taps which will not be conveying with the property, and filled in the holes he drilled into the refrigerator for beer lines. We're not quite sure where the new "Grateful Ed's" will be, but as our friends pointed out, it's more than a location.

Come January, we'll be trading our current crap shack in for this older home a few miles away. It's got the charm that our current house lacks, better layout, and the most incredible hang out space. Oh - and a kitchen that has an oven larger than an EasyBake oven, unlike our current kitchen which is host to the "Caloric Ultramatic" oven. This move is saving us from a renovation that we had planned, and were ready to go through with until Ed and I became overwhelmed with the thought of living in a house under construction. We're looking forward to the next several years.


Elaine

I am so glad we rented the moonbounce

Last year, I promised we would get a moonbounce for Oktoberfest and I am so glad we did! I picked the moonbounce up on Friday, and we had a test run with it Friday evening. Connor and Zoe (with a little bit of Helen) bounced on Saturday morning, and then from 4:00 until after dark Connor and party guests bounced, and finally, on Sunday morning Connor and I had one last bounce before I had to return it. Possibly the best $85 I have ever spent for a party. Brilliantly, Ed had purchased a glow-in-the-dark necklace a few weeks before the party and he dropped it on Connor once it got dark. Connor and Brennan bounced in total darkness, but we could still see Connor from the deck, where we were busy consuming beers. Admittedly, Oktoberfest almost didn't happen this year since we had just decided to renovate our home, and every brain cell we had was devoted to that process. But, the brewmaster kicked it into gear and we sent out a rather last minute invite. Our friends drank a respectable 10 gallons of homebrew and the kids went through nearly as much bubble goo.

As it turns out, this was the last party Grateful Ed's will see. After deciding to renovate, we reopened the search for a home one more time and as luck would have it, we found one. I fell in love with it and Ed decided to buy it for me. The only thing holding up the contract now is selling our current home, which went on the market today. Cross your fingers that someone in the area needs a lovely, light-filled 4BR brick rambler, conveniently located near a metro. That way, I can move into this completely fabulous home before Christmas - that holds the distinction of being the second weirdest house our home inspector has ever been into.