home at last

We're headed to Camden today! Finally! I'm so excited to get in the house for the first time in years.  I'm so excited to show the house to Dan for the very first time ever.  I'm so excited to just be there and get started.  According to my mom, there's so much to do and we might feel overwhelmed.  We'll see.  I've been waiting for this moment for months now.  I say, bring it on.

p.s. We aren't scheduled to get the Internet in Camden until May 6th.  Hopefully, I'll be able to "borrow" some from a neighbor until then, but otherwise, barring frequent trips to a local coffee shop with free wi-fi (if there even is one), I'll be a bit absent for a week....which stinks, because this is the week I've been so anxious for since post one.

a lesson in decisiveness

Wow.  I'm really indecisive.  I blame my parents.  I could probably digress for pages explaining this, but in an attempt at brevity, I'll refrain.

Today, Dan and I went out to a store, Pryde's Kitchen, in Kansas City.  The two-storey shop is jam-packed with pretty much everything kitchen/dining related you could possibly dream of, including an awesome collection of Fiestaware. I mean, how much fun would it be to serve coffee and tea with these adorable pieces?

While we were there, I had a really, really hard time picking out cooking utensils.  Dan and I wanted to buy an egg poacher.  I would really like to be able to serve eggs Benedict (in case you hadn't already caught on) at the bed and breakfast, since it is one of my favorite egg dishes.  But it was pretty difficult for me to poach the eggs with consistent accuracy/niceness.  So, I think an egg poacher is the way to go. (For now anyway--I'd still like to do it without the help of a gadget, but I think that will take a bit more practice.)  

Ok, back to the topic at hand.  Decision-making.  Dan and I literally stood in front of Pryde's selection of egg poachers for probably ten minutes as I debated the plusses and minuses of each poacher offered.  I mean, heart shaped? Eh, no thanks.  Covered?  Uncovered?  Silicone? We were honestly there for so long that one of the sales ladies came over to ask us if everything was okay.  With her help, I ended up choosing one that comes complete with a pot and cover (to ensure that I actually have a pot that's a perfect fit for the poacher...I don't want to leave anything up to chance) and poaches 4 eggs at a time, so I won't have to figure out a way to keep the eggs warm while guests wait.   It looks similar to this one:

                                          

To further my insecurity about my decision-making skills, tonight, Dan and I met up with his friend, Kyle, to talk about the website.  I was all set for buying the domain name thegoodhousebb.com, until literally 3 seconds before we clicked to make it final.  Suddenly, thegoodhousecamden.com came to me.  AH. What to do? What to do? thegoodhousebb is shorter, and I guess people looking for a bed and breakfast will know what bb means.  But, to be honest, I don't really like the sound of "bb." Adding "Camden" to the name might help in google searches? But, what do I know about that? After much deliberation and begging Kyle and Dan to pick the name for me, I went with thegoodhousecamden.com.  It's better, right? Right??? Please agree with me on this one so I can keep my sanity.  (Side note: the website should be up and running in a couple of weeks.)

All of my freaking out today is making me pretty nervous about decision-making to come.  Tomorrow I have to select a cable/internet provider.  Eek. At least this is good training for me to make more important decisions in the future.  And at least egg poachers aren't life or death. Even though they may seem like it to die-hard eggs Benedict lovers like me. 

on our way!

Dan and I are officially on our way to Camden!! Well, sort of.  We've made a stop for a few days in Kansas City, where Dan grew up, to visit with his family.  We're having a great time in Kansas, despite some pretty lousy weather.  Tomorrow, we're meeting with Dan's friend Kyle to get started on our official Good House website.  I can't wait to get it up and running.

Moving out always seems to go more slowly than you'd think.  I was still up at 1 am Thursday morning cleaning out the fridge. Ugh. Gotta love renting.   When we were finally on the road and making some progress, I realized that we had forgotten our bikes.  We had to go back and get them, which added about an hour and a half to our trip. Dan was, needless to say, not very happy...eek.

But we're in Kansas now and are finally able to relax a bit before we start working on the Good House.  We'll leave in two days and head straight to Maine, with perhaps a "research stop" at a bed and breakfast somewhere along the way.

Grammy Good

The Good House comes from my maternal grandmother.  My mom's maiden name is Good, hence the name of the bed and breakfast.  The house has actually been in my family for about 100 years.  It was built in 1840 and has only been owned by two families.  The family who built it, and mine.  There actually used to be a stone step leading up to the front door that had "Good" engraved in it. Pretty cool, huh?

The Good House wasn't always a bed and breakfast.  It just used to be our family's home.  But after my grandmother retired, she started renting out the extra bedrooms to guests.  She made some extra cash, kept busy and became famous for her blueberry muffins.  She absolutely loved it.

We called my grandmother Grammy Good and she lived up to the name.  When I was little, she always sewed clothes for my dolls.  I loved arriving in Camden and having new outfits to play with.  She also always cooked us wonderful dinners, roasts and lobsters, and pancakes for breakfast all the time.  She said she needed to "fatten us up."  How could you not love somebody who thinks everyone needs to be fatter??

Grammy Good passed away about 4 years ago now.  I miss her a lot.  Sometimes I think it might be pretty hard to live in her house in Camden without her there.  Memories of her will be everywhere. Not to get all Touched by an Angel on you, but my mom and aunt agree that if she could see me now, she'd be really proud of what I'm trying to do this summer.  I think she would be too.