Time to make room!

So much to do in such a short amount of time... Emily with her apartment over in the heart of Glendale, me with my house nearly in Burbank --- and I'm the one with air conditioning --- so we have to make room for us both to fit into my house. A 1920's home with very limited closet space (only 2) is tough, given how must stuff most people have these days. And (as Emily has told me) I'm a bit of a pack rat. But Emily is the queen of consolidation, I've never met anyone who can condense items into small spaces so well. So far the items she's brought over have fit nicely in with what will shortly become "our" house.

In addition to moving things around, there's lots of home repair stuff that needs tending to: the shower needs to be fixed, we have to replace the stove (lightning strike killed it, don't ask), the bedroom wall has water damage that needs to be repaired, and the bathroom needs new tile, paint and fixtures and so on. It's a work in progress. But, considering out nicely our Tiki room project turned out...

Seriously, who doesn't want their own Tiki Room? Mai Tai anyone?

...I'm sure we'll have our house whipped into shape in no time. But the indoor theme will be a little less "tropical".

Emily and I just returned from a trip back to the Midwest (where I grew up). We were in Rock Island Illinois for most of the trip. While there I was able to introduce Emily to a local favorite, Whitey's Ice Cream.

Only in the Midwest could there be a place called "Whitey's"!

Oh sweet, creamy, fatty, yummy, calories! I didn't want to share.

In addition to gorging ourselves on Midwest delights we searched for fun things to do. One stop was a place called Bishop Hill which is now a historical town that was once a Swedish commune. We were warned by nearly everyone in the Quad Cities that visiting BH would be a waste of time and "the most boring place imaginable"... but we found it quite the opposite. We were only there for about 90 minutes and had a great time.

One of Bishop Hill's preserved buildings,
with the original working clock in the tower.

Emily outside the colony store.

It was a really nice trip despite the naysayers. We could have spent most of the afternoon there, but what we did get to see we enjoyed.

But now the vacation's over and we're back to the rush-rush of LA, and plenty of packing and throwing out of things, and moving left to do. I could really go for a Whitey's Butterfinger malt right about now.