Seems we've piled up some Grouchies!

Thursday, February 28, 2013 @ 7:48 AM

Good morning.  You might have guessed we were a little concerned where we were with our new house in comparison to where the hospital is that Rich’s mother frequents so often.  The above picture is a look at the front door of the hospital, and the map shows at location “A” where the hospital is, “B” where our place is going to be, and “C” where Rich’s mother lives.  Yup yup.  Rich made another trip out there last night.  He got a call about 1:30 AM from the emergency phone number place.  They were sending an ambulance out and then Rich waited to talk to Bud, and after 10-15 minutes he called and stated that they had taken her to the hospital, and from there Rich was on his way out.  Again, from our old place HERE it takes about an hour to get out there.  BUT, the good thing is that when we do get out there AND closing is tomorrow – it is less than eight miles from Rich’s mothers to the hospital – 15 minutes and we are directly in-between her and the hospital, so that Rich can be out there when needed and he can do it quickly.  I think it will be a great comfort to all to have him so close. 

The only thing I worry about is that something could happen to his mother before she really gets a chance to appreciate the kind of care Rich will be giving her.  The most optimistic outlook is that she will settle down a bit more and perhaps not drink as much because she will feel more security of having family around, especially Rich.  I really hope we are some help in helping her calm down and have a better day to day quality of life experience, just because she will have someone close by to visit or be visited by that will give her a chance to talk and decompress.  I’m under no illusions that that will stop her from drinking, but we really are hoping to improve the quality of her life. 

I think of late we’ve been focusing on her visiting us, but as well, we have to start thinking of us visiting her.  I think it will be good for both of us to get out, but we are thinking she’s going to think it very inconvenient to be smoking only in our sunroom. I’m afraid that it will be the same for Rich’s brother and his family.  Mark and his two daughters Crystal and Brandy smoke and I think that some of Rich’s step siblings do as well.  It wouldn’t be fair though to make us live in a smoky house, and I would most importantly worry about falling back into the habit of needing to light up.  Nothing is worth that risk.  It’s not economical or health conscious.  I really have appreciated not smoking for the last seven years, and it was my understanding that it took 7 years of not-smoking for our lungs to return to their prestine pink selves.  I would be pleased to have that confirmed.  AHHH the Internet!  Hmm, one nice fact is that 5-15 years after we quit smoking our risk of stroke is reduced to that of a non-smoker.  But, it will take up to 15 years for the risk of coronary heart disease to return back to that of a non-smoker.  Best we keep on that path.  Hmm, that didn’t pan out and when we multiplied “pack-years” which was the packs per day times years smoked – we were close to a 50 pack-year and that seemed to be the cut-off toward some things never being fully returned to health.

BUT THEN, somewhere in the looking through information, Rich had to wake-up so we gave him a medium message and then poured him some coffee.  He had wanted to sleep until 8 AM.  We were having a nice enough conversation, but then he got argumentative with something easy to prove, but he kept yelling his points which weren’t logical.  That tells me he’s working on less sleep then we might want to be thinking of.  The argument was whether both couch sections will fit in the living room, and we had thought it through carefully and knew that the one couch into the room would be there by 9 feet.  Rich kept trying to say 6 feet and I couldn’t even get him to concede there were 6 – 3 foot sections.  It’s a simple matter of counting.  The way the couch was designed going from E to W and then south you have the right arm lounge, then the two-seater section with no arms, and then you have the fourth section which is a corner with backs at 90 degree angles so down the E-W there are four sections, but the fourth section pivots and two more sections are added at that 90 from the rest of the couch thus extending into the room.  This is another two seat section, but this time there is a left-arm. 

Basically then the couch is 12 feet wide (E-W), and 9 feet long (N-S) – it’s the odd number of 12 because the corner piece counts both directions.  So anyway if the 9 feet extends into the middle of a 15 foot wall, AND there’s needed about 3 feet for bar stools, then the LAST 3 feet have to be for the walkway.  BUT, Rich says there’s enough for all that AND his rocker, but it is WRONG!  However if you just put in the three couch – 9 feet along the E-W wall, then you skip about a section worth of where a couch might be, and then at the 6 foot mark you put Rich’s rocker, then you can get 3’ for his chair, 3’ for a walk-through AND 3’ for bar stools.  It also means that where there is enough room from the corner of the couch, skip three feet to the chair – as space in the “skip-space” for a light and or a small table for Rich’s chair.  ALSO you don’t cut up the room as much from the desk area that will be in back of Rich’s rocker, and there is only 9 foot of couch and not 3 so the distance between desk and couch/chairs is not so tight.  Rich’s point was there is no other place for that section of the couch.  Mine is that … there is room for it in the sunroom, but then he complained the couch would be ruined there, but we think he was using that as a bad supporting argument.  The other people keep real furniture out there and there is no problem with it.  It’s more a 3 season room, but it’s enclosed so there is buffering it from elements other than cold.  HMPF.

After Rich got out of the shower, we wanted him to at least affirm the 9’ couch which was measured, but he conceded to nothing just saying he had to go, but that left me feeling lousy like I have to carry the argument until he gets around to figuring it out.  I suppose the best thing to do would be to think this is HIS problem and not mine … he can connect the Legos for himself – just that he would have to move the couch back to the sunroom himself if he had to have it tested out instead of testing the numbers.  BLAH!  Stubborness … It just RUNS in his family.  It was like his stating that his mother while still drunk last night was argumentative the whole time she was in the hospital until she was put in her bed.  She was blaming other people for causing her to drink, thus fall.  It is just her own fault though.  AND, it would be MY fault if I let Rich’s argumenativeness get in the way of how I behaved toward the day as well.  Just doesn’t need to be there.  I think Bud does a lot of baiting Rich’s mom to be always argumentative, but it’s a game they both play.  My goal is to TALK with Rich, just when he sets in on wrong facts it is very frustrating getting him to see reality and that’s hard for someone like me who does her own fine job mixing reality with absurdity.  BUT 9 feet of furniture is always going to measure 9 FOOT!  BLAH!

Suppose then it is time to move on … That argument is done for now.  I can also say I will plan to have the couch in the sunroom, and Rich will have to figure out it is the only location it can go, unless he wanted to give up his exercise bike in HIS room.  BUT, I don’t see that as happening or the best move for the couch.  It will be nice in the sunroom.  The sunroom will also have two new kitchen chairs unless Rich wants to add one more to the LR in the corner between the pass through and our bedroom.  That’s plausible, The other one will go out to sunroom, UNLESS Rich wants to trade a bar stool in the bedroom for a comfy kitchen chair.  Actually, I can see that happening.  WHICH would mean that the sunroom would have a couch AND a barstool, plus 3 old kitchen chairs MAYBE.  One of the chairs of four has broken and needs to be glued or thrown out, and there is a possibility of two of those chairs going to the Breezeway.  If two chairs left, then there would only be the couch, the barstool, and one or two old kitchen chairs in the sunroom.  I WOULD THEN, think that could basically lead to space enough for the table tennis table.  Now that I’m thinking of it though, Rich is still in the thought that we should have lawn furniture out in the sunroom with a table.  Obviously, at this point I’m going to vote the other way, but this argument isn’t ready to be resolved yet.  It might need some measuring first.  I know the table tennis table is 9’ x 5’.  The couch would be 9’ x 45” (3 ¾ feet).  That means the couch and the table would directly sit across from each other so people can watch while the others play Say the couch is 4 foot, plus 3 foot walking, plus 5 feet width of table, the room would at least have to be 12 feet wide.  We won’t know until tomorrow if it makes it.  Also the room has to be at least 15’ long … because there is a double door at one side leading to the kitchen so that be the 9 feet plus 6’ … and if there was going to be full room for use of the southern door to the sunroom, you would need an access of another 3’ so now the room has to be at least 18 x 12 foot.  I think that is very probable, but we would still need to concern ourselves with the other seating and a place for Rich’s Mom and brother to sit on hard chairs to smoke preferably at a table.  YEEKS!  Maybe best wait at this point until we can measure the room tomorrow after closing.  Right?

Yeeks.  This is what Mayo Clinic says…

Will an air purifier eliminate cigarette smoke?

I'm thinking about buying an air purifier. Do any of them work on cigarette smoke?

Answer

from Richard D. Hurt, M.D.

If you're considering buying an air purifier, you have a multitude of choices. But if you want an air purifier that will eliminate cigarette smoke, you're out of luck. Most air purifiers, also called air cleaners, are not designed to remove gaseous pollutants, which are a major component of cigarette smoke.

Mechanical air filters, such as high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, and electronic air cleaners, such as ionizers, target particles, but tobacco smoke particles are designed to be small enough to be inhaled into the outer reaches of the lungs and, thus, are not trapped by such devices.

Other air cleaners generate ozone, which is actually a lung irritant. At levels that don't exceed public health standards, ozone has little ability to remove air contaminants such as cigarette smoke.

The best way to protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke is to not allow smoking in your home. If you smoke, this is another good reason to stop.

Shoot, the Government EPA guide to air cleaners in the home aren’t saying that air cleaners either built into the air ducts or moveable are really going to work for smoking contamination – especially odors.  Maybe this is something that is going to need be discussed with Dr. Marvin today.  I really am at a loss how to compensate having smokers in our world.  I don’t want to have a mobile home that smells like Rich’s mother’s … It’s just disgusting.  *whimper*

Hmm, a little on the worried grouchy side now.  I think we’re going to need putting this aside too like the argument with Rich on couches.  Shoot, shoot.  Why do people have to smoke!??

(14,178/2,747)

ALMOST TIME!!!!

Rich and Us 

CLOSING HOUSE IN SANDWICH IL!!!

Was this a rough start?

Monday, February 25, 2013 @ 7:14 AM

Good morning.  This is us.  It is now the day after the LAST weekend before we own a house.  Man-o-man is there a lot of excitement here.  I’m very appreciative of those on FB who don’t seem to mind us posting updated pictures of the move.  It’s all happening directly in front of us and we don’t want to miss any of the drama.  Mostly by that I mean the changing over of rooms from a place of love to a holder of “Stuff.” It is a bit of an adjustment.  BUT, officially the sewing room is done and we moved back into the LR.  Last night we packed up the desk drawers and some things around there, but mostly it was our wicker container that is holding our second big stash of pens, markers etc, and one box of electric stuff from cords to pencil sharpeners, and then there is one drawer for miscellaneous office supplies and then last there is one drawer of CD’s for computer programs and loose quilting stuff from the drawers of the drafting table.  We’re getting somewhere.  The next drawer packed will be the first drawer in MY lateral file.  WooHOO!!!  We are talking some major “dumping spots” of items not otherwise housed.  I will have to be a little more careful with that.  Chances are that we will also have a similar drawer set-up in the other place, we’re just hoping to get some of the garbage out.

Ok, we’re  back and we’re figuring the pain is pretty substantial … we tried doing several things while up this time.  We straightened the LR floor specially of light cords and extension things so we could vacuum in here, and then we put a few things in the dishwasher and did the litter box, and got the garbage gathered, and then we pulled together a laundry load and made the bed.  Oh my gosh it hurts so much.  I will have to sit down for a little while til it recedes.  I think we pulled it bad this time … just wanted to get one more thing and one more thing done.  The idea fully would be to vacuum the LR AND take down a load of laundry before Rich gets back.  He was meeting Bob for coffee this morning at 7:15AM and it is now 7:38AM.  I know I have about 30-45 minutes, but not sure I will be able to do both.  I also got pretty hot so now I have to cool down.  We cracked the window a little bit, it is only supposed to be 27 out there, but should warm up to 34 today – NO wind!

We are trying something with the kitties now that started last night.  We decided to try and get them not to act badly by scratching the bedroom furniture to actually change their feeding patterns.  With a cat this is not always easy to do – though they did show interest in being fed last night.  They didn’t wake us up and we slept until 5:30 AM and after we got past a few false starts they’ve left me alone with being fed AGAIN this morning.  Normally we only feed them when we wake up.  That is to say they have wet food AND dry food along with their water.  They eat the wet stuff pretty fast, and then dawdle over the dry stuff throughout the day.  Maybe it will work … just too early to tell.  Rich was very frustrated when looking through his dresser drawer to see how much the cats have scratched the new furniture.  Linda and us talked about declawing afterward, but I can’t make myself do it.  I know they are showing bad behaviors; just not sure I can take away what was God Given to them.  I understand neutering and spaying, and they both went through that, but it was to avoid pregnancy.  That’s a God given too, but between siblings, I thought it was unnatural and they were inside cats so would have eventually done it.  That seemed different and it was done at about 6 months before they had gotten used to life any different.  Now they are 14 and I think it is too old to go through that kind of trauma and ability change.  I know I know … there are other arguments for declawing, but this round no.  I would more likely though consider it for a much younger set of cats.

That’s about as much as I can do on that one for the time being.  It turns my stomach L  I found this picture staring at me this morning …

 Pictures speak volumes!

Back again.  Somehow we lost track, but then got back by thinking hmm. Someone hasn’t had their medicine and its’ now an hour late.  That can’t be good.  So we took that, got more coffee and vacuumed the floor.  Just have to do the wash AND take a shower and we’ll be good for the day other than writing and packing.  Yup yup, we run like that!

I didn’t stand for so long this time and so it didn’t hurt so bad when we sat down.  Maybe we can get down those stairs and back-up?  Then maybe there would be a chance that Rich would change the middle load AND bring down garbage.  We’ve been having a steady trail of garbage go down so that Rich said it’s only Monday, but between us and Roberto trying to fix up the downstairs we already have the trash filled, and it’s not due to be emptied until Thursday.  Oh well.  Better down there than packed and moved!  We’ll try to get to the wash in about ten minutes.  That’s a plan, right?  Have to remember now that the Landlord could bring new tenant candidates over from now on so that we have to start the morning by picking things up – though nothing can be done with the boxes.  That’s always good for new people because they know you are serious about moving out! 

I do wish we could move-up the moving date til the Monday before the 25^th on the 18^th.  The move is supposed to be a month from today, but I don’t see us as needing that time, though I realize that the building needs a couple of weeks turnaround to rent out the space.  It seems like where the tenant moved out on the first floor they spent days and days just taking up the old floor.  I think they pulled the old tiles, but not sure what they were going to do with that space instead.  Our tiles are worn out too so that some have been stripped of the top print altogether.  They just get old from a lot of usage – especially in the hallway connecting the living to the rest of the house.

I think Rich is pretty busy with business today.  He has a new job that he’s expecting the last delivery for so they can get started on the package.  I think they are putting together pool pieces and they are expected to do like 500 a day.  I think the parts are bigger, but I am not sure.  Rich also said this morning that we have to finish the last bag of his product so that we’ll be working on it again this evening.  Guess I better not plan on that time for packing. 

Are you noticing a common theme here?  Packing, packing and packing.  Rich said he’d call the insurance person when he gets back, and he said that he’d talk to his financial guy if the check for the house isn’t in today.  I think he’s got an alternative if that gets messed-up but obviously you want things to run as smooth as possible.  Can’t forget too that Dr. Marvin is at 1 PM tomorrow and 11 AM Thursday, and then house walk-through is at 9:30 AM Friday and immediately after that at 10:30 AM will be the closing/title transfer.  Pswhoo!  The week is going to go fast!

Hmm, I got to the back door with the clothes, but then we heard a noise in the hall and the guy across from us had his door open and then we got scared and came back into our apartment.  I didn’t want to run into anyone on the stairs or down in the laundry.  Grrrr….  We’re a scaredy cat!

Shoot shoot.  Maybe we’ll wait long enough for the medicine to take effect.  I would like to make another deal with Rich where if he gets it in and out we’ll steam it right away.  Then I wouldn’t have to go out of our apartment at all.  That seems like a good deal to me!  *finding our whimper*

Now just rocking fast.  Drat … Drat!

Shhh … girls … calm down!  I wish that Rich were back!   Maybe that is him we just heard on the driveway … we’ll go check.  Shoot it’s not him.  L  Feel like we’re closing down.  Maybe if I just laydown for a little bit?

(14,003/2,688)

Boxes and Boxes of Books!

 

Sunday, February 24, 2013 @ 10:12 AM

This is the pictures after Maury and Nikki and girls, AND Rich were here yesterday to pack.  We asked the kids if they’d help us with the books and that turned out to be an excellent decision!  Maury kept taping boxes and then stacking them and Nikki kept packing and they didn’t sit down until all six bookshelves were packed.  I was so thrilled though also in a state of shock.  I had a hard time keeping up with everything and there was a little bit of a meltdown later, and then again earlier this morning.  We helped label a few boxed and talked with Grandchildren, but nothing like the kids.  Rich also helped in that he was in the sewing room and he took down the last three shelves.  Mostly some fabric and CS’s quilt kits.  And then he took down the stuff on the wall primarily our shelves.  He did a lot of work, but it was left a little messy so today that will be my job to go in and organize that a bit.  I have some fabric to be putting away … He jumped the gun or more likely I fell behind.  *sigh*

UGH … so much for the good feeling I had to do cream on Rich’s feet and trim the nails.  The trimming isn’t bad it’s putting lotion on our hands.  We hate it!  Man-o-man … gotta calm down again.  *whimpering badly*  Shoot, shoot!  Shhh, shhh.  Let’s take it easy girls!  It will be ok.  Trying to take it down a couple of notches.  Shoot, shoot!

Ok, girls we’re going to have to get over this … we washed the hands several times.  We give Rich foot massages all the time.  It’s not that … it’s just we hate lotion.  There that’s better.  We just talked to Rich again … he is going out to do some small shopping for groceries and get us ice cubes and more packing tape.  He’s a good Rich.  Just gotta get back to normal.  Shoot, whiney again … he says he’ll do the shirt load, but we have to steam them.  BLAH BLAH!  This isn’t working out so well.  I like it when Rich goes and does HIS stuff and doesn’t give me stuff to do HMPF!

So far we woke up with the cats and then we went back to bed with Rich, but his alarm woke up at 6 am and we’ve been up with him ever since.  It is now 10:40 AM.  We talked and somewhere about 7 am we had a melt-down so took our medicine and then slept another half hour.  AND THEN, we watched the Sunday morning show.  It’s a long show.  But, it seems to calm us down.  We’re usually peaceful with it and get into it as much as Rich. 

Last night we thought we were going to get lucky, but Rich turned on the TV in the bedroom so he could get a backrub too – and that seemed to put us to sleep … DRAT!  I hate that when it happens!  I think honestly though he was tired, and it was a nice way of putting me off for a bit.  It was a hard day all around yesterday, but Nikki and Maury and the girls made it kind of fun too … just one of those shaky mental times for us.  The girls didn’t really realize we were moving.  So that was kind of interesting.  I guess we’re not getting it really published as much as we thought.  I suppose if you are not paying attention to Facebook, you are really not hearing all the  BIG news. 

Shoot shoot …. Rich was in here again asking for help.  That guy has to go!  Not trying to be the mean Ann, but we need some quiet time to ourselves and our thoughts where we aren’t whimpering and complaining.  This is the task we have in front of us today, but might be afternoon.  Again Rich beat us to the punch.  Oh no here he comes again.  Oh ok, that was good.  He just gave us a kiss … He be our smooch guy … I guess we can forgive him then.  He was getting a bit silly … he knew he kept interrupting our thoughts.  But, he’s like a school boy out for summer vacation.  He’s got tasks ahead of him today like the shopping, and then he was going to look at his drawers which are mostly fishy stuff, and he’s going to take his rods in to get fixed, and I’m not sure what else.  I heard him say something about dinner, but that was too much for our brain. 

Last night we made a list on the new Cozy calendar associated with FlyLady on what has to get done.  We realized though that it is MORE than a week’s work, but these are the things that are looming in our future.  We felt good about the cleaning up of clothes in that Nikki said they can get a 20% discount if we donate.  YAY!  That’s a winner all around.

Shoot shoot Rich came back.  He forgot his wallet.  He got our “you gotta be kidding face!”  We made sure to tell him we needed our own time too.  He does that by going out and we do it by staying in.  It works out evenly that way.  Silly Rich … I THINK he’s gone now!  Hehehe we’ll look forward to him returning just as much just wouldn’t mind if a couple of hours lapsed.  He knows we are behind in our writing and that really feeds our internal souls. 

Ok, ok … so does playing with Rich, but now is the morning!

AHA!  A couple of peanut butter rice cakes later AND breaking into the stash of diet coke from the pizza last night when the kids were over.  WALLAH!  Better times ahead.  We feel a little more stable.  As to the list … I think the moving parts cover most of what we have to do over the next month, besides the cleaning.  There will be other times of course, where we will want to be over at the new place, especially on the Friday after closing when some of the furniture comes in.  YAY!!!  Good deal there!

I know there will be some time too where we are taking better pictures and measuring things so we can figure out the placement of furniture and stuff proper.  I’m most worried about the double couches being in the living room together.  I seem to remember it being 12 feet wide and it’s only a 15 foot room.  We need to assure there is enough room for a walk way AND get in Rich’s chairs beside the pass through bar stools.  I think we’d do fine without Rich’s chair, but that’s obviously a big NO-NO!  He’s still King of his Castle, so we’re pretty sure it will get worked out, just would prefer to go in with some measurements.

We should probably try to figure out some of what’s been going on since Tuesday to Sunday where we weren’t writing.  I’m pretty sure something was happening.  Hmm, maybe one thing was for sure that we had problems with a cold – where the worst was that our throat was hurting.  I think today it felt a little better.  It feels fine right now and we DIDN’T take the cold medicine in the last 24 hours.  We’ve been taking Nyquil and Dayquil, trying to keep on top of it, which has produced a lot of sleepy behavior.  We had gotten 14 boxes packed in the sewing room before Rich went in there yesterday, but compared to what the group did … it seems like barely anything.  It was significant to us and some important things got packed like my immediate sewing things (other than fabric) and wine glasses and my Grandma Rasmussen’s China.  I feel pretty good about that.  I think you heard the hard part where we hadn’t gotten the wrapping paper, but that seems to have worked itself out, and yesterday we even got a box filled with pictures and nicknacks from the Living Room packed using the paper.  Rich was right as long as we had it we might as well use it for ANYthing breakable.  Usually we just do an open box for pictures, but this way felt more secure.

The one thing we did with consistency was to continue working on Rich’s Mulch job.  He says we have packed about 6,600 of the 11,000 piece order which has taken QUITE a bit of time.  It is good stuff to do between things, especially before things get otherwise started for the day or later in the evening when Rich wants to watch TV.  The scary part is that Rich says that after this order there might be more.  He says he won’t commit us to ALWAYS be doing this job, but we have to be prepared.  He’s been real good in that he suggests if I get tired that just he might work on it.  That helps a lot.  But, then he gets a couple of boxes ahead of me and then we’re knowing that we have to catch-up.  Most the time I don’t mind it, but I get a little grumpy thinking that we might be doing piecework so that his ex-wife continuing getting her $3,000 a month allowance.  That’s when we feel bad.  Rich gave us both a break from the work when he finished the last bag of product, and brought my finished boxes down to the car.  He cleaned-up the workstations and told us we’d take a couple nights off.  That was really nice of him.  The times I can think of the project as doing something that will help him, I feel better.  He’s hoping to get a couple more lucrative contracts, or enough so that we don’t have to do piece-work.  He keeps all the financial stuff in order.  I will ALWAYS feel good about just giving him my disability check to make the most of our payments.  I know that between us we’ve been able to keep our expenses way under what his ex takes.  It’s a start at least.  Just don’t think too much of her.  This morning Rich said she’s not doing anything to take care of a mold problem in the house and that he might end up paying for that.  He thinks she should move into something smaller she can handle, but she might always be helpless.  *sigh*

But, then again … we’re helpless sometimes too.  Just we’re happy with Rich … can’t say the same for her.  Ok, girls … let it go.  This would be another occasion of having the green-eyed monster to dinner.

So, moving on – we had a couple of Dr. Marvin appointments this week.  We did the last of the appointments where we come in at 4-4:30 PM on Tuesday and Thursday nights.  This next week we will see him during the day at 1 PM on Tuesdays and 11 AM on Thursdays.  It will be a bit strange getting used to the time, maybe in part by the change in his mood during these times of the day, but also in losing some special times we’ve had with him for a long time.  He looked in our records and I think he said we’ve been seeing him on Thursdays since 2005.  I knew the Tuesdays were newer, because we used to see him on Monday mornings at 8 am before work.  We’re much better at getting through weekends then then back before Rich was around.  Before it was our alone down time and it had been a lot to handle.  Life is sure as hell different with Rich.  And, MOST times I can appreciate it.  Just not if I don’t get to write!

We are both excited about the new changes coming although any change IS a change.  Dr. Marvin has been trying to help us bridge from one way of living to another.  Most of the talk is about the move or the new place.  We also though take time to go over medicines and being able to pay our bill.  Right now UIC is holding us up because they haven’t worked it out completely between Medicaid, themselves, and the medical collection company.  We’re only talking about $2-3000, but it is enough to be a problem, and we’re still not getting our Medicaid cards in time.  So far in 16 months, we’ve only gotten the card once in enough time so we could order our medicine with it.  This month wasn’t one of those months we had the card, so we had to go back to the MAP program.  I will admit though that Thursday was one of the fastest times we’ve been through there.  From what I could see we were working with different staff.  I don’t know if Dr. Marvin did anything in talking to them, but the wait was reasonable.  We’d planned an hour and a half of our Thursday life to be sitting waiting for them, but it was only like 20 minutes.  SWEET!  Fortunately, we knew we were going to be waiting so we brought our Kindle and continued reading the work of David Allen on his Getting things done.  Most of the waiting time then was done in front of Dr. Marvin’s office.  The amount of socializing his secretaries or the people in his outer office do is sometimes criminal, but the alternative would be to wait outside in the general waiting room and we’re not going near that with a ten foot pole.  Just too many variables.  I know we got a blessing in being able to wait so close.  It avoids some of the afraid time.

Probably because there has been so much going on concerning the move, there may not be as much to tell.  We do find ourselves reminiscing between one place and another.  It is like it is hard to get a grasp on it, but the closing will be in five days, and the move will be in 29 days.  It’s like living in a wishy-washy state of shock.  Rich tells us often enough of stuff that will happen that’s either the same or different and we find ourselves trying to be calm where calm isn’t as normal as nervous.  It seems to be a big deal moving “out to the country.”  Oh yeah we did a lot of phone/internet searching this week too.  We changed the address through the post office officially on March 25^th, our moving day.  We made a list of all the contacts we might normally do business with, but didn’t finish Rich’s business list.  Maybe we can do that tomorrow morning. 

We pushed Rich to get the insurance taken care of for the house, but he had to wait on his State Farm insurance guy who told him four days into the process that they couldn’t insure the place.  Our Realtor, Carolyn gave us an alternative person in town, but Rich put it off thinking he could get ahold of her on Saturday, which he then couldn’t, so it’s a big Monday thing.  I’m pretty sure you have to have new insurance at the time of closing – or title transfer.  The other part that isn’t done yet is that Rich’s accountant somehow screwed up in getting something signed proper so we are still waiting on a nineteen thousand dollar check.  It’s kind of a big deal.  It’s supposed to be here in time, but it was also supposed to be here by now, so it’s a little unnerving. 

I changed the utilities, so we now have gas and electric as of the first.  Water and garbage is being paid by the owner of the land.  The hardest part was getting some kind of cable service/satellite to replace Comcast who doesn’t service the area.  I think we ended up getting Dish.net for the TV and about a gazillion channels, but it’s not as dependable as cable.  And, the same we’re going to have some kind of dish for our Internet through a small local company called Airlogic.  At least, the Airlogic guy seemed nice and he looked at the exact specifications of our house and didn’t freek-out telling us they don’t service that area.  We went through about a dozen places trying to find something acceptable for the money.  We ended up paying like $80 and we’re only getting 7-8 mbps.  Comcast gives us 22 and is going up next month to 50 mbps.  That has been the worst part yet.  We have apparently thought the company for TV that gives us “the Hopper,” so we’re HOPING that works nicely.  It’s a matter of being able to record and view different shows at the same time.

Our big marker dates, are Friday, March 1rst, Friday March 8^th, Wednesday, March 12^th, and Monday March 25^th.  The first day is closing and the start of our new services, the second day is when we get most of our new furniture, besides the recliners, and we get our TV’s installed, then the 12^th we get cable, and on the 25^th we get everything else. 

That was one of the other things that happened this week.  Basically, Rich desided to go with a moving company called, Dibble Moving.  They came in about $650-700 under the other mover.  He said it should be an all-day job by four guys, and they will take apart some of the furniture like the desk, bed, and dresser from mirror.  Rich told him everything would be done in time and boxed, and that we would take things like the clothing and the dishes.  Those are things nice not to have to worry about.

Hmm, Rich is home again.  It’s now about 11:45 AM, so I guess he gave us SOME time to stablalize.  I’m not feeling bad, but hearing the door seems to make me a little defensive.  Just thinking he’s going to come in and say dear?  We need to be getting some things done!  HEY … we ARE doing stuff.  If I don’t remember our time, then who would, and then would have just passed us by and there would have been no marker for our turn spent in life.  Hmm, maybe we better go smooch him anyway ;)

Was afraid of that.  He said, I thought you didn’t want me.  NOOOO DEAR!  It’s just that we wanted some time to ourselves.  He said something then about having to work, and we said writing is one of our jobs, but then he said it was a hobby, and we reminded him we’ve made money as an author.  Well, it makes perfectly good sense to me.  Sometimes you just have to pause those few moments to get things down.  He said, Here! (rather gruffly) and handed us the rolls of packing tape.  They only have 50 yards on each.  He seems to think that’s enough, but I don’t know if he realizes that SOME people put more than one stream of tape on the bottom and top of the package!  I’m afraid we’ve made him a little grumbly.  Shoot, shoot.

Hmm, and then our she-cat comes in with an attitude.  Shoot, shoot, how did all this happen?  Guess not much to do there, except continue to find peace with ourselves while not disrupting the others’ space, but if they want me to do THEIR stuff, then THEY are the one’s at fault!  Ok, girl shhh, being defensive again.  There there … we had a nice talk with Rich.  He’s just hungry because he set his schedule off by eating pizza early in the day so he hasn’t eaten since then.  He’s having a pop and we’re back to turning off my music so he can use his TV.  It’s a matter of sharing space, hmm?  He says he’s only going to take five minutes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he fell asleep for twenty minutes.  And, then he’s going to look through his drawers to clean them up and gather his fishy stuff.  It’s a good Rich … It’s now noon.

Linda is going to be gone for several more hours.  She went to a coin show with Tpony and yesterday she went to a quilt show and met my sister, Emily and the Twins, though none of those had arranged time with her.  It turned out to the benefit of all like a nice surprise hey – there’s my girlfriends kind of time.  Linda got a few things, but not real lot.  She said she got the Triplets a gift.  WOW!  That includes me and our birthday won’t be celebrated for another half year!  She’s REALLY on top of things!  No word as to what the other four got, but Janet spent time with Linda at a meeting, and then she and Jean spent time sewing for Ann for promotional reasons.

Sometimes, it’s hard to miss Linda for a WHOLE weekend!

I suppose we’re getting close to the time we should be doing some work.  Maybe we’ll get to that now.  I’m feeling a lot better about having something down, but feel it be nice to get the room taken care of while there is still light coming into the room.  Ok, then catch-up with you later!

AHHHHH, our baby is sleeping ... why do they all look like angels when they do that?!

(13,924/2,669)

Thinking that work was slower, but our minds trying to catch-up

Good morning Linda. Did you get Emily's quilt loaded? Or, will that be first thing this morning? What's happening over at Lindaland? It's about 7:20 AM here. Rich just left to have coffee with Bob. We were getting a bit crabby. He was being negative and it was like ok, you can leave now! We have things to be doing.  Don't you want to go out with Bob? Soon? I was getting terrible. And, then after he hits the first step down we remember to tell him we love him BLAH! Sure couldn't have proved it this morning. We told him ... we're being crabby ... BUT, that doesn't really dismiss the part it is my responsibility to then get out of it. We did for the record then take our medicine. GOOD Ann’s!

Last night we packed a couple more boxes so we're up to 9! YAY! Moving guy for the estimate is coming by at 2:30-3:00 PM. I hope Rich is here because he always thinks I messed it up somewhere. Not a lot, but it will avoid him some stress to talk to the movers in his own language. Anything that saves some stress is good. For the record, we were ancy last night in that when we had to pause to let Rich catch up with the bagging of mulch, then we'd go back into the other room to see what could be done next. Rich is going to stop at the U-Haul place to get my wrapping paper on the way home from Bob's SOOO we're going to wait and then pack the china so we can gain access to the closet. We're pushing Rich for an alternative date in case the movers can't do the 25th. I want sooner, and he’s being indecisive ... hopefully he'll figure another date when he comes home and checks his computer. We'll see. Again, hopefully he'll be here.

When he gets back we get to place the order for the chairs. We both needed his credit card, then he'll pay from the savings account my mother's check is in. YAY!!! We figured out how much more we want to spend. We're still looking at the poker and table tennis. Together we've gotten it down to $800. The poker table is a board/felt/cushion thing that sits on top of the existing table. That saves quite a bit of money. And the Table tennis table is a little more because it is an indoor/outdoor table. I also like that it comes in two complete separate tables, so it is easier to move. I still want it in the sunroom, but the alternative would be the garage. One way or another I want it to withstand outdoor temperatures because I don’t think the sunroom is heated/cooled like the inside of the house. I'm so excited about it. Rich hasn't said no yet, but he hasn't said yes either. Both these would come from Sears and be delivered. The two leftover items would be that Rich wants an outdoor patio set for the sunroom and his bike. We're hoping that he goes with a recumbent bike because it's easier to sit in, and we're not so positive on the patio set, because it will compete with space for the table tennis table. PLUS we already have chairs for that room. It's a tossup.

There back again. Our Internet page was a little goofy so we posted so we wouldn't lose what we had. It's now about 7:44 AM. We told you the part that Rich has "left the building!" I was real appreciative that Nikki saw some of our posts over the last couple of days and has volunteered to come over and help. We had the one project in mind in putting up things in the sewing room - shelf by shelf, and then maybe helping us take down from this end and pack the books. Everything else i think I'm good for. Those other things I can do, but admit as to the shelves either packing the books from here, OR reloading onto the shelves from the sewing room, would best be a two person job. I'd like to take a walk-through with her too to plan on where the extra stuff goes. Rich is in charge of the kitchen, but it just be fun from a girl's perspective to think through some things out loud. Plus, I'd love for her to claim some ownership feelings in the place. Basically, I want her to be comfortable and for the girls to have sleepovers ... yeah you knew we were going there, right?

We had a good visit with Rich's family the other night. We're still dealing with angry issues from Bud, because he is so critical of everything. I only got in one of the disputes with him. He was saying that my windows were little and there was no light coming in. I knew he was wrong, because the windows were either double wide or regular wide, but they were almost down to the floor where his are higher. After a few skirmishes, we got out our phone and showed him the pictures, but he still wouldn't admit he was wrong ... BUT he was. He's just argumentative. He continues to tell people basically that they are not good enough. Nothing his wife does is good enough and he's very critical that Rich can't take care of property including the little space of grass we have. That's just crazy!

We talked about it with Mark and Rich on the way back to bringing Mark to his truck. He was going to sleep in it overnight, because he has been having trouble respecting Bud too. We asked him what the problem had been, and he said that Bud was jealous of what we were getting so it was his way of evening things out. Bud had told Mark too that we were getting something too luxurious. Excuse me? If it's in the price range - why not get the best of what we can? Do we deserve less? I don't know ... there's going to be some hot button issues if he thinks he's coming over to unload all that negativity on us after we move.

Mark though HAVING a truck driver's mouth was actually nice to be around. He tries to be a gentleman around me and we appreciate that he loves his brother like we do and although the family in general is competitive with their thoughts as being the right ones ... Mark is still a nice guy. We hope he takes advantage and does some of his sleepovers with us. It wouldn't be as much stress on him as being with his mother, and he's taking medicine to hopefully stop smoking. That would be the bad part of things. We've been talking about the smoking and it is still causing problems. I don't want to insult Rich's mother by making her stay out in the sunroom, but that will be our designated smoking space. AND she'll be by the window AND we'll get a smoking fan to draw the smoke odors. Hmm, shoot forgot that's on our shopping list too. We were thinking it be a good time to introduce her to whatever electric cigarette Jon, Rich's son is using so he can handle being in his mother's house without smoking. It would give her something of an alternative in the kitchen where she would I am sure prefer to be sitting. We'll have to see. I think we're going to ask Rich to get the information and then just provide it at the house, if she will try it. We'll see.

Seems like we are a chatty Cathy this morning; chances are we'll transfer this note over to the blog entry. We get started and writing to you feels so close to writing in the blog that it just merges as one. The difference is that when we address a letter to you, Dr. Marvin or the girls, then we feel as if we are covering your areas we talk to you about. On our end, I'm not really a private person, is that noticeable? Hehehe

Maybe at this point, we'll end here though and then go to readdress some other issues we're having in our thoughts that are probably more boring and better suited for the blog. See you soon! Is tony home today by the way?

LOVE YOU!
Us

Ok, ok … we’re back to our normal blog writing.  Linda you will have to catch-up from here J

This is by the way as far as we got with the moving last night.  It feels good to be this organized.

#1	Sewing Room – Shelves	Color scraps especially from ironing table and pink shelves
#2	Sewing Room – Shelves	Scrap fabric by size and irregular, stray pieces and Gramma’s boxes from shelves and table top, pens
Suitcase	New Sewing Machine	FRAGILE – rug upholster
#3	Sewing Room – Shelves	Tread, Gramma’s Brick-a-brack, odd pieces from shelves
#4	Sewing Room – Storage	Gramma’s White sheets/backing, free-stitch samples/learning, ironing sleeve, round turntable
#5	Sewing Room – Shelves	Batting, applique rolls & stabilizer, old cross-stitch, old calendars, and gorilla quilt
#6	Sewing Room – Shelves	Baskets, light box, rulers, stencils, Olfa, square cutting mat
#7	Sewing Room – Tables	Ironing pads, sewing table inserts, ruler holders, irons, thread catcher, drafting table supplies, markers, & pens
#8	Sewing Room – Shelves	Majority of quilting books, decorative fabric rolls, CD’s and pictures
#9	Sewing Room – Shelves	Magazines, flat books, stuffed animal, and red poncho from Roger
Canvass Bag	Old Sewing Machine	FRAGILE – Blue Bernina bag
Canvass bag	Sewing Room – Storage	CS fabric kits – heavy - red canvas bag that includes directions and fabric both loose and kits

Today, we continue in the sewing room, but hopefully we’ll start with my Grandmother’s china after Rich gets back with the paper.  I have probably gone over this before, but after the china gets packed and we move the baker’s rack from in front of the door, then we can take down the canvas shoebox holder from the closet and restack it in the empty under bed thingy from Linda’s scraps that have already been ironed and folded.  That should also clear up a little more clutter from the table.  I see next moving the fabric that is on the shelves or out in the open and then placing most of those plastic bins in the closet with the others WITH the goal of being able to shut the tops YAY!!! There’s at least one maybe more that has to be packed under the table.  Then we will move anything else under the table including some empty cases and our rolling bin, so we can move the table.  I’ll ask Rich to disconnect the TV first.  Then hopefully Rich will help us getting down the rest of the quilt kits on top and that is going to take a lot of boxes and I’m not sure we have that many, but we will see.  We have to remember packing the upper part of the closet too.  We’re going to assure that we have a separate stash of fabrics just for the ones’ that are used only as backings.  We really don’t have too much regular fabric, but the stuff we do have, we’ll make sure to fold uniformly. 

We see the kits as going on top of the shelves, and we see the linen closet being used for the regular fabrics and we’ll continue using the white canvas bags in the guest closet with bins underneath.  I think it is going to be a big enough closet.  Rich’s extra closet in his room will be used for extra coats and sports clothing for his officiating.  We had to do that to deal with there being no real closets toward the front or back door.  I think we’ll still have to get something for the breeze way.  Rich said we could put a couple of the old chairs so someone can sit down to put on or take off anything, but we see that as only a start.  I believe there is another linen closet by the master bath and that will fill-up soon enough with towels and ALLL that stuff we have in our regular linen closet like supplies and stock of assorted items.  We will want to check out those containers at the bottom of the closet to see if something can be done there to make them more useful.  Maybe there will be containers we can use to move the underwear and sock drawers.  Just they will be done at the end.  There might be some old towels and sheets and tablecloths down there that we’ve forgotten about.  We’ll have to check.  Rich also said something about finding or getting new linen for the spare bedroom.

Pswhoo!  That was a rough spell.  Rich called to say that the place I sent him for the papers was closed, so then we came up with an alternative and assured him they had stocked, but then he said it would take him a half a day, but when we looked it up it’s less than 5 miles away and it would have taken 13 minutes one way.  Damn he can make me crabby.  So he came home without paper and he stuck me as to not being able to pack the china.  Now as a second back-up plan besides being cranky again, we’ll move the china to the kitchen counter and then we’ll manhandle the baker’s rack on our own, AND we WILL get to that closet!  HMFP!

Ok, calming down again … we just took a few moments and we ordered the two chairs.  He’s going to send me an email to confirm the order, but it should be smooth.  We won’t however know the ship date yet, because the chair has to be made with our particular cloth and they can only give us an estimate and he said he was going to put the ship date LATER like 4-6 weeks, just to cover them.  He said they will get a date in a couple of days and then when it arrives, they will coordinate the delivery time.  We will look forward, but as to now not much to be done until things all happen in the right amount of time.  Can’t rush these things.  I’m glad we started a couple of weeks in advance.  Just gotta calm down … we’re looking to get that email in.  Again PATIENT right?  In the meantime, we picked-up the place including dishes, bed, and moving the clothes.  I should probably start a load of laundry … it is that time.  Sigh.

Ok, we’re good.  We started a load of wash clothes.  Roberto surprised me by sticking his head around the corner.  He said there is bad news and good news.  I thought oh my gosh there’s going to be a problem.  But, then he said the bad news is that we’re leaving and the good news was that we were getting our own place.  I’ll miss him.  We’ll check with him to see if we ever needed the help, could we pay him to come out.  He did say he did some work out there before and knows where it is.  That was nice.  I’m REALLY going to miss him.  He’s always taken care of us well.  I worry about Rich getting to things like hanging curtains and such, but we’ve both agreed to go with what’s there for the time being. 

There we took care of the chairs and now Linda is on line.  We got a lecture from her and it sounded like she was scolding me for not keeping Rich’s wishes in check.  And, then she made sure to note that our Grandchildren don’t come over often.  So, then our feelings got hurt.  But, we let her know that we heard her, but it didn’t feel good.  She’s ok, just that we’ve been grouchy. 

We’re back now.  We had to say good-bye to Rich because he said he needed a box packed in a half hour.  It turned out it took 32 minutes, but we were close.  He’s gone now and all the natives can calm down again.  That reminds me … we were going to take an extra stress pill this morning.  I think we’re due.

Good-good that’s done.  We’re finding the problem with Pandora … Damn commercials.  *sigh,* but it’s free right?  We emptied the dishwasher while we were out there.  That was a good deal.  I’m not sure if I took one or two pills.  I couldn’t remember if we took one when we first went out into the kitchen and then did dishes, or if we hadn’t done that yet.  I guess the worse possibility will be that we’re mega-relaxed.  *sigh*.  We’re going downstairs in 25 minutes to get the clothes.  Thankfully, Rich changed the load when he was bringing down boxes.  We were going to ask him, but he asked if he could do it for me … that was nice.  We’ll do that and fold the clothes, and then vacuum the living room floor, and then take our shower and get dressed.  That way we’ll be ready for the mover with plenty of time.  We caught up to Rich’s mulch product, so we’ve got nothing to do there. 

Hmm, then the next thing would be bringing the dishes to somewhere so when Rich comes home we can wrap them.  I’m thinking that if we cleared my cutting board table and put the fabric over on the sewing machine table, we’d be more comfortable doing the dishes from our sewing room chair rather than the kitchen table.  So that will be the plan after we calm down AFTER the shower.  Do you ever get tired of me piecing together moment to moment plans?  We’re thinking the organizing is a great part of us writing in our blog.  I don’t know what I would do without this avenue of thought. Shhh, it will be ok. 

Linda is out for a good part of the day.  We forgot to ask when she’s coming home, but she’s out to lunch PLUS with one of her old friends she hasn’t seen in a long while.  I’m hoping that she has a good time.  I think if I were out with an old friend, there would be a glass of wine too!  But, we’re thinking that’s not really Linda’s style.  Silly Linda!

We had something special happen yesterday in that an old friend from as far back as the second grade, LuAnn Sims, who lives now in Colorado shared with us that she also lives in a mobile home.  I was so glad to hear someone else talk about it.  The other one that mentioned it was Cathy Rainwater-Crowder.  She quilts AND she also lives in a MFG home – she says for 12 years now.  I guess I just didn’t know too many people before who had done it other than Rich’s mother.  Though to be fair, Sandy my Dad’s second wife had lived in a mobile home before they got their place.  Before they got their home, my father sold his place and they both lived in the mobile home.  I remember seeing it at the time and really liking that there was a sunken living room.  It doesn’t even begin to compare though to our new place. Just so proud of it.  I enjoyed seeing too the pictures of LuAnn’s home.  She gave us pictures of the outside and the kitchen before she moved in.  It was very nice to get her note.  Feel like we all have to stick together Hehehe. 

Ok, looking good.  We folded the whites and put them away, and then we vacuumed AND it’s still before noon.  As soon as we can we’ll move onto the shower.  Just need to let the back pain subside.  BLAH!  We also folded our couch blanket.  NOW the cats can come back out again.  They really never got used to the vacuum.  It seems to be their cue to skedaddle.  Eh, be the life of a cat. 

I have to say that I’m feeling better, less crabby.  I feel like things are in control again.  I wish I could be like this all the time, but I guess under the medicine we’re a mess L  Just have to keep working on it. 

In other news?  Oh yeah … we got a pop too!  It must be the afternoon!  YAY!!!

Well, I suppose that we are calmed down enough to maybe step in the shower?  Why don’t we get that taken care of right away.  BRB

AHA!  DONE!  We’re moving along this morning J  Just checked our email and FB too.  We also cleaned up the email a little in unsubscribing to several organizations mostly to do with looking at houses.  I don’t have to look anymore.  We also called Rich and asked him again to call Charlie.  He keeps putting it off.  Then he complained because he was working and about ready to be at the second appointment and then he complained about having to stop somewhere for boxes.  We told him right off Roosevelt and 20^th just down Maple … He’s just making life complicated.  It seems that as soon as we get ourselves calmed down we get riled up again.  Just a little one this time though.  We’re thinking that he is feeling a lot of stress with all the money and details that need to be taken care of.  We told him we’d do the packing … just needed the paper is all.  We’re not so liable to carry a 25 lb. box up those stairs.  *sigh* ok, ok … no use complaining too.  We’ve been working hard to get over that.  We have 2 – 2 ½ hours before the mover gets here for the estimate.  I’ve only really got a couple choices left.  We are either packing or writing.  Hey!  I have been working!  AND, writing is part of my job/life too, right?  Hmm, still defensive.  Girl, girl, girl – you got it bad!  I know that when Linda gets back she’s going to ask me if I’ve been packing.  *SIGH*  Shhhh.  You can do this, you know?  Maybe if I walked back there for just a few minutes and came up with our next plan.  That seems to have been working this morning so far.  Ok, grab a sandwich AND our powers of observation!

WOW!  It’s been a whirlwind.  We did go back in the sewing room, and we moved a few things around.  Basically, we grouped stuff that had been under the sewing machine table … SHOOT Rich is back and we’re already growling at each other.  Didn’t mean that to happen … just wanted him to put his chair back, so Thom had a place to sit, BUT, that was goo complicated, because he thought he’d bump his supply of product.  We like backed out real fast, but just don’t know why things are so escalated.  Rich is quick to raise his voice.  He DID bring home the paper though so we’re grateful for that.  Did you hear the part in-between?  Thom is coming over!  He had called yesterday or the day before, but we hadn’t heard it, so we called him back and because he has a holiday off for work (President’s Day), he said it would be easier to stop by then to talk over the phone.  That was a good deal for us AND fortunately because the guy was coming for the movers, everything is picked-up and we’re in good order.  Well as much as one can be with all the boxes.  LOTS of them. 

Anyway just to finish up in the sewing room.  We collected some stuff from under the table and grouped it, and then we did some more clearing of things like the table, and we washed it so that we could bring over the China and NOW Rich is home with the paper, SOOOO We’ll be good to go on wrapping that.  I might steal a peek through to see what that looks like!  Oh man!  It’s so cool!  It’s great big sheets like 30 x 18 or something close to that … it lays out on the table flat … and you just put the dish on top of it and then pull up the paper around it.  It’s a real nice weight AND it’s clean.  We’ll have plenty left over.  Rich got the 10# boxes and one should have been sufficient.  Cool cool wrapping paper for a long time.  We just have to use color crayons to decorate!  Wow … fun stuff!  We never had better!

Hmm, now we’re all confused again.  WELL, let’s see Rich came home, Thom is coming over, the mover is coming and we’ve been moving around the house doing one thing or another.  That’s some pretty exciting flood of stuff happening.  Thom didn’t know about the move, but the first thing was that he didn’t know that we were moving exactly.  He had heard something, but no details.  And, then he said why would we move from an apartment to a mobile home, but then we explained that it was paid for, and much nicer than our place, and on the first floor WITH washer and we’d own it, but the rent of the land.  Just have to show people for them to understand.  He also thought that it was a far way out, but I think that it’s doable, just that people have to push their comfort zone.  Our boys like never go toward the farming community, except when Joe lived out in DeKalb for his college. There … we put up the pictures from our blog so that he could look at them. 

We talked about him maybe looking for an apartment and then of course we suggested ours, or the one downstairs.  I can hear them now working on it.  Maybe Thom could stop by and ask about it.  Maybe just general workman in there though.  Thom was looking for something around $1000, and this one is less, and if the first floor isn’t rented, that should be less too AND on the first floor.  Our place is just 18 minutes or less than 9 miles from the center of Oak Park where he is working with Chris.  Eh, just an idea.  We like this place and it’s got a good landlord, just that it’s old (seventies) and I’m thinking that Thom will look for something more updated and that he would have a washer and dryer and all.  Eh, we can just put it out there.  I think he wants to be closer to Oak Park where his uncle lives and he’s still thinking about Villa Park or Lombard the two areas over where his father used to live that he’s still comfortable with AND especially because his son Austin is there.

Ok, we’re back and it’s about 12:31AM early Tuesday morning.  We’re still up and a bit hyper.  We’ve got a lot to do yet with the moving and after about 10:30-11 PM, Rich went to bed.  We had been working together on the piece work and before we’d take a couple of hours nap, so we’re thinking that is the problem … just maybe adrenaline from the day.  Having all this stuff happening, PLUS having a mover AND Thom!  Wow what a wonderful day to see Thom – the other was just like a lot going on.  We had a little problem before the nap because a younger part had been out that was overly tired.  She didn’t like so much either the crazy wind outside tonight. It went from 52 and rainy today to now it is 30 degrees with light snow and mist and the wind is at 19 MPH.  It’s supposed to get down to 16 degrees tonight with 30% chance of precipitation and tomorrow is a VERY cold day at 3 degrees and blasts up to 30 mph. But Sunday it will be 43 degrees.  Hey go figure?!

I think we’re going to get off those thoughts, although first a flicker of memory goes to the warm fire place at the new place.  Thom had said he hoped that it would be warm enough and those thoughts of the walls and insulation being thick enough is real enough.  I think they’ve come a long way from them being pencil thin and poorly heated, but we won’t know that until we actually try it out.  We’ve come too far to back out now.

BTW … Rich finally did call Charlie this afternoon.  That was nice.  He seemed ok with the news and Rich gave him the address so he could see where went to.  There was really no explanation why we’d gone to the other realtor.  Just a fluke really – we had seen the listing for the other place and so had called THAT realtor, and then when that got a different offer that night, we looked again and saw our place, but then you might recall that right?  Just figured that it be better to look at a mobile home with someone who was more familiar with them.  Think we made the right choice, just feel bad that Charlie didn’t make his commission.

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