Getting Our Maryland House Painted Inside

We hired a company to paint the entire interior of our house while we are still up in Maine, so we won't be around to see how they make the sausage. They were also repairing the many many many cracks in the walls and ceilings. They sent us a couple teasers to show their progress. They finished on Friday and we can't wait to return to see the final results. We are planning on driving back down again soon.

 

We Bought a Second Home This Year

When I started up this blog again recently, I mentioned one of the main things that happened with us this year is that we purchased a second home. It is in the town where I grew up, Rising Sun, Maryland. It is a small town in the northeast corner of Maryland, about halfway between Baltimore and Philadelphia. It is also where much of my family still lives.  Also, Rising Sun is just a couple hours from New York City, DC, and several other metropolitan areas where we can access restaurants, piano bars, theater, and other benefits of urban life. We love Maine and it will continue to be our main residence, but we will be spending more time in Maryland to be able to have more time with family and extracurricular activities. 

Here are some photos of the house, which we bought sight unseen. We did see photos, and my sister and niece did a walk-thru for us and sent us video and pics, but we didn't see the house in person until after we bought it. We love the house, but it needed lots of work that still continues. It had room air conditioners, but we put in an HVAC system. That installation caused us to lose a closet, so we had another closet built in the main bedroom. We had all the light fixtures replaced, bought a new dishwasher, refrigerator, and washer and dryer. We had to buy a bunch of furniture also. Monday, a company is going to start work on repairing the walls and painting the entire interior. Frankly, it is a money pit, but the result will be a pretty awesome place we hope. Will post some after photos when we return after the painting is done. 

The backyard is small but nice, and over to the right is the detached garage.

The fireplace is going to have an insert and a cleaning.

The living room from the opposite side. 

We bought this table for $45 and the chairs are on loan from my niece, Nicole. We also bought that awesome corner cabinet at an antique store in Strasburg, PA. 

One of the upstairs bedrooms. The house has three bedrooms (one downstairs)  and one and a half baths.

The back porch. We bought the rockers and patio set.

Overdue Update

It is apparent that I am fairly horrible at keeping a blog. The first clue is that I haven't posted since forever.

Since my last post, we got our puppy, Dinah, and she is awesome. We have continued doing our radio show... a three hour eclectic music show on Tuesdays. We bought a house in my hometown of Rising Sun, MD, which needed lots of work. So we have been busy. 

It would be impossible to do a complete update of everything that has happened in the last 7+ months, so I'll just leave you with those highlight right now. Above is Dinah at 8 months. She just had her operation to remove her lady parts on Tuesday, so she has been recovering from that. Luckily she has been doing extremely well. Yay!

Days 26 & 27 - More Mom & then Heading Home

We spent Saturday with my mom. It was really a rest day to prepare for our last leg of our trip. My niece Megan came over in the evening, and my sister Kathleen (her mom) visited and we made pork chops for dinner. Megan is getting married in the spring and it was great to catch up with her. Earlier in the day, my older brother, Gary, stopped by also.

Today, we left a little after 6 am from Rising Sun, MD, and we are heading north. I'm writng this on my phone in the car on the NJ Turnpike. We are hoping to get back to Stonington before sunset. it will be good to get home. I've had enough of riding in the car. The last few days with this cold has not been fun either.

Right now as I publish this it is 7:50 am and we are at mile 87.4 of the NJ Turnpike. We are streaming Sunday Morning Coffeehouse on WERU. Will update with news later.

Update: 8:10 am: passing NYC.

Update 8:45 am: As we enter Connecticut, we have returned to New England! Only about 7 or 8 more hours to go...

Update: 10:39 am

Update: 12:14 pm

Today's Final Update: WE MADE IT HOME!!! We left Rising Sun, MD, about 6;05 a.m. this morning and arrived home in Stonington, Maine at 3:45 p.m. That was record time for us... 9 hours and 40 minutes. We have never made it back from my mom's in under 10 hours before. It has taken more than 13 hours before when traffic was bad. It was a Sunday and there was no traffic, so we flew. Shane drove the whole way Thank God, cause I have this F'ing cold that makes me feel like crap. Below is us in our driveway with the Atlantic Ocean behind us. The journey is complete. 

Now we get to do the fun part of unpacking and we have loads of laundry to do, although we did do some laundry during our travels. We are so happy to finally be back home. Dorothy was right. There is no place like home. Below is the map of our travels today.

Day 25 - A Visit to My Mom's In Rising Sun, MD

We had a blast last night with our besties, the Deborah's. It was so great to catch up with them. Today, we drove from their place in Alexandria, VA, to my mom's house in Rising Sun, MD. It is only about a 2-hour drive north. My mom lives in the house I grew up in. We moved there when I was 4. Rising Sun is about half-way between Baltimore and Philadelphia. It is in the northeast corner of Maryland, just a stone's throw from Pennsylvania and about 15 minutes from Delaware. I am still a bit under the weather, so I haven't been taking pictures. Below is an old photo of me and my mom.

This is a picture of me and my mom from last summer.

We arrived at my mom's around noon and I've been resting... laying on the couch and coughing. Shane took my mom to the grocery store while I stayed home. He is the best. He helped her with her groceries for over 2 hours. She did a big shop.

Later on, my sister, Kathleen came over and we ordered Chinese food. Surprisingly, Rising Sun has very good Chinese food. We have missed good Chinese food in Maine.

This is an old photo of me and my sister, Kathleen. 

Here is the route we drove today. Our next route will take us back to our home in Stonington, Maine.