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Saturday, April 6, 2013 @ 9:37 am
Good morning and welcome back. It’s been now almost 2 weeks since we’ve actually written in the blog. Last time was before the movers got here, and then just now we added to the blog the pictures that we took on moving day before and after the move, and then we added a picture from about five days later of the sewing room put together. We’re at day 12 AFTER the move and we’re almost done with the exception of Rich’s room which is only half done. We should finish the rest today. It would have been done before that, but I got a 48 hour flu, and then Rich got a 48 hour flu – we’re thinking stemming from Bud who was in the hospital, because he had the flu and was dehydrated. Fortunately, we’re now back in shape and ready to move on past that.
I wanted to write after we got everything done, but I’m not so much into working at this point before lunch. Just half days – then we’re not so stressed. Plenty of things have happened to fill the time. We talked to Dr. Marvin on Monday on the phone as scheduled at 3 pm, and then we had to cancel on Thursday because of the flu. We only had one appointment the week before when we had moved, because about 30 minutes out on Tuesday, we realized that we hadn’t brought our money for parking, so then talked to him on the phone, and then on that Thursday we went in. It was a long trip and we were a little tired, but I think it was just because we’d been working so hard at unpacking.
CS didn’t end up coming down Easter weekend, because we asked her not to. She had written that Mark had to take her to Milwaukee because of the pump and she said she’d drive herself down and that if she had pump problems, she would drive herself back to Milwaukee. We weren’t going to take responsibility for that. Afterward, she said she would have been ok, but we couldn’t make her medical problems the center of attention with Rich’s mother and Maury and his family coming and we couldn’t handle the thought of her driving herself 2 ½ hours with medical problems. I’ve never understood the deal with being on morphine … just wasn’t accepting that it felt like my problem with her here as my guest. I had felt if she were more able to handle it … she would have driven herself to Milwaukee the first time over having Mark need to drive her. I suppose the problem is mute now because it is over. We said we could try it in a couple of weeks after she could affirm being well, and then she suggested getting together closer to the beginning of May to celebrate Mark’s birthday. I wasn’t sure then if that meant that they would both come down and sleep over, or whether it was just a day trip up to their place to take Mark and CS out to dinner. By including Mark in the arrangements I’m pretty sure that CS wouldn’t be really staying over as originally planned. We’ll have to check into this further.
We have also had in this last period of time – an outing with MOST of our sewing sisters. Linda and us continue to talk several times a day - most days, but she wasn’t with the rest of us on our first Saturday (which by the way was actually this time the last Saturday so we could reserve the room). It was a great amount of fun, but not as much as some of the other times. We did well with most of it and the girls had fooled me by having a surprise housewarming party. It was at the time past my comprehension. I hadn’t even focused on the stuff they had brought in the room that turned out to be mine. I had just thought they were using the table for their extra stuff. I mean who studies other peoples’ stashes!?? After we had had lunch, one of the twins handed me a stack of towels, and I felt confused, but then thought CS must have brought them, because she’s always bringing something, but then through the conversation it became apparent that everyone INCLUDING the missing Linda had brought gifts. I just couldn’t have been more surprised.
Afterward I thought I wouldn’t have put something like that past them, just hadn’t focused on it, especially because Maury and Nikki are advocating we have a housewarming party in June, and I had talked to the girls about coming down. It seems possible, but we were afraid to ask them, because I felt it would be a big imposition on having them drive all the way down – for what would most likely be just for the day. I know I go up there often enough, but we’re a little more prepared for those kinds of travel hours. Plus, everyone always have so much to be doing. It’s just a huge request. I don’t know we will have to talk to Maury and Rich again as to their available hours, but it seemed for the girls that later during the month of June like June 22 or 29th would be the best. We’ll just have to wait until some more confirming is done. It would be pretty much the girls, some of Rich’s fishing/card friends, maybe a few officials, and family. We’ll have to check some of their schedules as well. Just can’t have it interfere with a fishing outing or perhaps Herbalife outing for Joe and Cari. We’ll talk to them tomorrow when they are over.
There … we just changed a load in the washer/dryer. We’ve been looking almost forward each day to washing some kind of laundry load which not only includes clothes, but as well rugs, curtains, blankets, and linen. Just seems that everything we own has gone through the washing machines. I can’t tell you how thrilled to death we are at having the machines just feet from where we are folding in the kitchen (on the pass-through counter) and how close that is to the appropriate rooms WITHOUT stairs!!! It’s just the most mind-blowing thing ever.
We’ve been really good about the “new rules” we’ve made for ourselves. Like there is no naked stuff and we’re getting dressed every day and doing most the normal routine stuff before 8:30 am which is our bewitching hour with the fireplace. Rich and us made up a rule that it goes off between the hours of 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. Sometimes we have it on for less time, especially if we are in the LR watching TV or whatever else might happen there. Some of the new routines that are happening is that clothes are put in the washer, dishes are done, we are showered and dressed to the shoes, the bed is made and the rooms, are picked-up of any late night stuff including blankets are folded and curtains are all opened. It hasn’t seemed like too much and we’re thinking Rich has been the biggest problem. He’s been taking showers after 8:30 am and sometimes eating breakfast later than that too which puts a little havoc into getting everything washed. We’re trying not to make a big deal out of it, but it’s been a little problematic.
We’ve had a few difficulties with the house that caused us to get a hold of the warranty insurance people. We had one roofer out for leaks who said that it would take about $7,500 to repair the roof, and then one of the warranty roofers came out and fixed it at about a $300 level. I’m sure the repairs are somewhere in-between, but it left us unsure of being able to trust professionals. We have to pay the first $100 for each incident and the warranty has paid for the other, but nothing happens that they don’t direct or approve. We also had trouble after the first time with the dishwasher. The pump taking water out of the dishwasher wasn’t working and there was a problem with the ring. Rich didn’t want to believe at first the policies of the warranty people because he was used to doing something different so even though I pointed out and read in writing – he still held a negative opinion which cost us time and an additional $65. At this point, the warranty people are giving us a new dishwasher – the other one was ten years old, and it’s supposed to get her on the 10th. I’m not sure if Rich will have to call the person the warranty people gave us to schedule an install date, but hopefully, it will go in this week. I’ve been pushing Rich. Because I’ve washed all the dishes, I don’t think he’s feeling the push as much as we are. I did ask Nikki to help us on Easter which she did kindly, so that was a big help.
That was another event that happened. Maury, Nikki, the girls and Rich’s mother came over for Easter. I felt that had mixed reviews. Having Rich’s mother made things more awkward, but it turned out fine. Again, we were grateful for the kids being patient. Rich’s mother wouldn’t talk about anything other than herself and Bud’s ailments. But again was in the hospital, because he didn’t drink enough fluids when he had the flu. Rich’s mom used whoever would sit down with her and us as someone who hadn’t heard her stories before. I was again grateful of Nikki for going through it with me. The girls came in and out of it, but didn’t say much. Noone ever does, because for the most part the conversations don’t include us.
Rich’s mother was funny in asking which of the girls was the mother. She didn’t recognize Nikki as being the older woman. But, then she told everyone she wasn’t going to remember their names so made no point of it or in getting to know anyone … there weren’t any questions to them. It left me feeling a little depleted and empty. I had hoped if she at least saw my family she would be able to have some kind of a reference point, but she just blew it off. Maury really never sat in her general area and eventually after dinner, and after Rich had taken her out to the sunroom for a couple of smokes, she joined the rest of the family in the living room, but at that point she didn’t say anything and when dessert was served she held the plate perilously causing me to worry about her cheesecake ending up on the floor.
I felt embarrassed about not giving her anything to drink, but I thought it was in Rich’s domain to ask. I did show her the two bottles of alcohol we had (Rich had gotten for gifts), and then she had a couple of glasses. I was really grateful after she left, so that I could talk to the kids, but they didn’t stay long either. They had decided to hunt for Easter eggs the night before so they weren’t going to do it that night, and on the way out, they’d stopped and found a couch at a saver’s place, and they had to go back and claim it or lose it.
I was so exhausted that I could barely stand up. I’d done all the good Ann stuff before like sweep and Swiffer the floor, get the table ready and make sure the house was all in place. Rich did all the cooking and again Nikki helped me clean up after dinner. Rich took his mother to visit Bud, and then after the kids left we fell out in sleepiness on the recliner. I don’t have much more recollection of that day. I do know that nothing was as bad ‘feeling-wise’ as the moving day itself. We were in tears we were aching so badly. I thought we’d kept more still, but there was still a lot of movement. Our back ached as well as our legs, ankles and knees and Rich coddled us to bed and gave us extra medicine and an icepack. It was a very shaky night. Fortunately, I don’t see that as going to happen again.
Jade is the first one to claim an overnight and that’s probably going to be arranged, most likely it would be better the weekend Maury’s girls aren’t there. Jade wants to bring a friend, and we thought that would be ok. We had originally thought two weeks making it This next weekend, but Rich is going to be fishing from Thursday to Sunday, and I don’t think I could handle all the cooking for the girls while Rich was out. It just be too much. I know that Jade needs a lot of attention and we’d have to go overboard in making sure she was comfortable with the house and her options here. One of the things that made Easter go well was that Jasmine had gotten a long board crossed between a surf board and a skate board, and she kept dragging people out to watch her. That got the girls outside and more familiar with the area, and some took the walk around the block. The kids hadn’t brought Lady and Max, but when they had before the dogs stayed out in the sunroom and then the kids also took them for walks. I’m thinking the same will go for this weekend with Joe and Cari. I told them to feel free about inviting Ramsey and that we’d hope he’d stay out in the sunroom to give our cats some space. It’s really nice out there and I think it helps that you can look out three sides of the room PLUS into the house through the sliding glass so everything would feel more in order. Ramsey won’t have company over, but we’ll see how it goes. Maybe the weather will be nice enough that we are all out in the room. I think though he will settle in and like Max and Lady – enjoy the trips around the block. There are others as well from the neighborhood that walk their dogs and it’s a nice friendly gesture, as is this morning when Rich is out on the street working on his boat. It gives others a chance to know us and say hello.
As mentioned, Rich’s office is the last room to be done and it is already half way through. We did two loads of clothes today (rugs too), so that we are giving ourselves a little bye here in the morning. It still seems that we’re very weak as to standing up and getting things done. We’re ok after we start, but need frequent breaks. Again we’re doing real well at following the Flylady so are not as concerned about taking breaks and working for shorter periods of time. There is in unpacking both the physical, and as well the mental part of trying to find place for all your things for the first time. It takes some kind of patience we sometimes have to work through. We have the confidence that if we just keep moving that it will get done in a manner that we like, just maybe more than patience some courage to be moving without feeling pain. The pain part is always the hardest.
We’ve given ourselves some breaks this week in that several days after we’ve done some kind of work/movement during the day – to be at night spending time in the sewing room pulling together ironing restacking projects. We’ve opened a few of the bins and found a lot of disorder. I’d like to have most of what we’re doing stacked in either the scrap piles (bundles), or the 6 x 6’s, or the regular fabric fold with the larger fabrics. There still seems some kind of calm in ironing and folding fabric – and just looking at all the great fabrics.
Hmm, Rich just came in here to mail a check and neither of us knew where the stamps were. That can’t be good. Maybe this is a problem of not having finished his office. I just wish we had more stamina. Even writing today is somewhat difficult in that our arms and fingers and mind are a bit mushy. I suppose from being out of practice. I will admit that a lot more has already happened then used to happen when we lived in the apartment. I’m up and down all the time, like a few moments ago I got up to see where Rich was at with the boat, and stopped by the sink to catch a few morning dishes. I think it’s the same for getting up and down to change loads, fold and then put all that away. It’s just that kind of movement in the past wouldn’t have been made. I should like to think then that we are getting better. Maury has commented each time out this last couple of weeks what bad shape I’m in and how we need to regularly exercise.
I know that if I were to walk around the block, I would need to use the walker and rest. I’m hoping that we will become involved in some of the outdoor work. We’ve been toying also with getting the lawn mower. We think it would take at least 4-5 efforts of being up and down to get it all done, but that would help with the exercise and give Rich more support for not having to do everything. We’re especially thinking for those weekends like this next upcoming one where he has to be away or spend more time getting the boat ready. I used to mow and enjoy it though definitely was when we had the physical stamina to be always on the go, especially at work. Just I’d like to build ourselves to at least that strength again.
Anyway as to the sewing room, we found that we could pull the ironing board out in a triangle angle to the 90 degree tables and that we’d still have room to move and we could be listening to music, though it’s pretty impossible to bring the ironing table out to the living room. Maybe on the plus side it will give each other a little private time within the house since we’re both here so often. I did miss Rich by the end of last night and found ourselves happy to join him even if we weren’t interested in his shows. We haven’t really been watching TV for the shows, we’ve been just listening to the Sirius channel called, “The Coffee House.” Really nice. Maybe we’ll turn it on again now … we need to take a few moments to fold the towels J
Ahh that’s done now and they’re all put away … we decided to put on some 60’s music to help us find a little more up-music. Maybe that will inspire work J … the last trip wasn’t bad. We put away dishes, emptied the garbage and washed the container, and then folded and put away things. It’s pretty much the extent of what we can do for one up. I am sure we’re building some endurance points. I have to give ourselves credit … while it looks like we’re not doing much … stuff is happening under the seams. Just doesn’t happen all on its own. I’m afraid that Rich is already taking things for granted … If things are being cleaned everyday am I really doing anything? Blah … that kind of thinking would be wrong. We ran into a little problem while being sick. I was the first and he thought we were just sloughing, because all we wanted to do was sleep … he pushed if we were going to earn our house money we’d still have to get up and dressed and do “our stuff.” We did, but shoes and everything we were sleeping on the couch. After he got what we had the next day he was singing to another tune. He got in about 18 hours of sleep. All we could do was shake our head. He knew he was sick, but assumed we’d just be cheating. That really doesn’t seem very fair.
Mmm, 11:30 am – lunch time AND we have good Italian leftovers from eating out last night. It was our second date night! The first was a Mexican place, and now this one … the latter was more expensive, but the first one there wasn’t any leftovers. We’re having Fettuccine Alfredo – WITH broccoli which might sound redundant, but it is still good! Rich is probably going to be down on me for not saving it for dinner, but he didn’t say I couldn’t have my food! HMPF!
AHA! He’s come in and seen the food AND didn’t say anything as he took some hamburger out for dinner. He said he’s been at ACE twice already and is now on the phone with Marine batteries at Walmart. Good to check that out before taking the trip …. He’s been out on the boat and has a long ways to go … whoops … no luck there. Oh still on the phone. OK … he’s gone again … going to Walmart. They have one of the batteries he needs … he had planned on buying an extra. Guess not. Then he called his son and said he’d be there life 4 pm to see his Grandson. That means he’s leaving at 3 pm. In the meantime he was saying how he couldn’t get everything done in time. He hasn’t finished loading his boat, or fixing his lines, or even checking out everything by getting it in water before the contest tomorrow. We gave him back-up thoughts … worse thing is that you’ll figure out your boat tomorrow and might be fishing on your own and not in the tournament. He’s just not allowing himself time enough to be having fun with it. Sigh … that’s about being Rich though and we’re much more into being Ann.
My self-imposed deadline would be that it would be nice to have the house done before Joe and Cari get here tomorrow. We did talk to Thom, and we messaged with Laura. April is pretty busy for their family – she and Mike are now engaged!!!! I believe they are getting married in August. We’re pretty excited for them. She also said that we might be able to get together on a Sunday in May so we’ll go for that. Where’s Thom? That’s a good question. Again we talked to him and he’s back in DC as his brother learned first from Thom’s Dad. It seemed appropriate in that he was staying at his Dad’s. Thom is going to try working it out with Duyen and he, she and her sister have moved in with her Uncle. It is reported thought that the uncle is getting a divorce and his wife is now out of the house – which makes it easier to get through this next transition. I hope it works for them. There’s not much else we want to say about all of these moves, except to say that life will work out as it tends to do if you wait long enough and participate in-between. Right?
We’re back though to hoping that we can get together with Laura, Mike and Austin as had been happening before Thom was in the area. Thom hadn’t been receptive to always returning calls so we missed opportunities to share time with he and Austin. I think Austin loses out the most, but Laura said he’s handled the first weekend with his Dad being gone again pretty well. I just don’t like that part – that of Thom not being there for Austin. Time will tell.
I’m not sure if we mentioned it before but we have another thing that we wanted to mention before we sign off. We figure we have a few more moments before the dryer stuff is ready, then we’ll close and head toward the back room. BUT, Rich and us have a deal … we are going to be collecting a “miniature house collection.” This is the blurb and pictures we left as markers in FB. J
“This morning we've got everything in household order including dressed to the shoes. We're back into following Flylady. We've got a lot of Domestic Goddessing to do ahead of us and figured we might get a head start. The super fun part?Rich says that we can start a relatively inexpensive collection for doing well with "our chores" at the new place. We're looking at the Lemax Harvest Crossing collection and our first piece will be the "General Store." We are talking mostly under $30, but it's going to be so much fun ... we've got ledges separating the kitchen from the LR and we're planning on building a village there and throughout the house. That's right us ... keep your eye on the prize! Hehehe Life's so gosh darn fun!
OK, better get going … buzzer is going off J
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