Just Say Yes

Last night I went to a cabaret style concert featuring Jason Robert Brown.  Never heard of him?  Neither had I.  But my friend Sara was soooooo excited to learn that he would be coming to a small musical theater near us and teaching for a week that ended with a fund-raising performance.  She knew all about him and bought six tickets as soon as they came available.   Sara generously asked me if I'd like to use one of the tickets and my first thought was "Oh, it's a Monday night and I don't even know who the is."  But I've learned that sometimes it's better to take a risk and just say "yes."  Sara was so excited and her offer was so generous and really, why not try something new?

 So I did, and am happy to report that it was a great evening.  Turns out that Jason Robert Brown is "one of Broadway's smartest and most sophisticate songwriters since Stephen Sondheim" and his performance was quite fun to see and hear.  I was so glad I said "yes."

Here's my friend Sara (right) and her student, Emily, right before the show.  We had front row seats!

We've had quite a few showings of our house these past four days.  It is an unusual house, "small house, big yard," as a book I read once described the perfect house, and I guess it's attracting some attention.  Don't really know since I have nothing to compare it to.  I just know we are busy keeping the house clean for a parade of visitors and making ourselves scarce when prospective buyers come through.  

We've loved living in this house.  But of course, all houses require compromises.  For this one, it's "Where are the walk-in closets?"  Sorry, guys.  Head on up to Daisy Acres and see what's for sale.

Someone came today and stayed longer than the showing appointment time --guess that's good but we had to get the groceries in the house --and there's two showings on Thursday, one of which is a second visit, with a young couple bringing the parents to see and comment on the property.   That's a good sign and reminded me of when my parents came out to see this house before we bought it.  My mother and I sat on the steps and looked at this big yard and she said, "Why do you want to live way out here with all this yard work to do?"  And I said, "Because it will be fun." I was right and many years later she agreed with me.

All this has me thinking about what attracted us to our new house in Boulder and how you know what house is the one for you.

 Along those lines I loved this post over at Clover Lane about House Love.

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My brother had emailed me urging me to sign up for Social Security benefits, especially since Paul (being young and having older parents) might qualify for the next couple of years.  So today I figured out that you could apply online and did it in about 15 minutes!  Whether or not this will yield any results remain to be seen since I'm retired from the Federal Government, but friends have told me that I am eligible so I thought I'd give it a try.  If nothing else I came away with a great respect for the Social Security web site.  They should have hired its designers/coders for the Obama Care site.   

If I (and Paul) do qualify for benefits I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Surely I am too young.  And surely others need it more.  On the other hand, if I qualify because of what I've paid in over all those years of non-government work, well, then I should say yes to what I'm due, right?  I can always use it for a good cause. 

Aren't these beers pretty, all lined up and different colors?  They were a lunchtime sampling Ben and I enjoyed today after a morning of painting woodwork.  It was great to say "yes" to some couple time after a morning of making the trim "gleam."