Sunday, September 30, 2007

I'm borrowing this from Elisabeth...Friday's Feast on Sunday

Appetizer
How are you today?

I am feeling much less stressed about a lot of things. However I am feeling full of grief as of late, over the loss of my mother 1 1/2 years ago. I can't figure out why I have been missing her so much these days. Hmmm. I'll have to think on this and let you know. Actually...I have an idea. I'll share someday soon.

Soup
Name 3 television shows you watch on a regular basis.

I absolutely adore Boston Legal. I love the characters that James Spader and William Shatner play. I have always loved Candice Bergen. And for me, the jury is still out on John Larroquet.
I miss West Wing. That has always been my all time favorite. Now, I program my DVR to record Brother's and Sister's, Oprah and of course, Boston Legal.


Salad
What’s the scariest weather situation you’ve experienced?

I am not bothered by weather. I love storms. I love the sound and the smells. I don't think I've ever been scared in a weather situation.

Main Course
If you could wake up tomorrow morning in another country, where would you want to be?

I think Africa. It's next on my travel agenda.

Dessert
What do you usually wear to sleep?

Well, I've been experiencing hot flashes as of late, so I wear next to nothing. Perhaps just a t-shirt.

Friday, September 28, 2007

I know it's been a while

I know it's been a while since I've written. There really isn't much going on. No, I have not sold, nor have I rented out the other house. I have been working quite a bit, which is nice since I'm earning enough money to pay the bills. I've been eating healthy and walking a lot which is paying off, since all my fall clothes from last year are fitting me better then they did previously and folks are asking me if I'm losing weight and telling me I look great. I love that!

I've had no sewer trouble since I had the pipes replaced and everything seems to be going smoothly.

Last weekend I went up north with my best friend and her 3 little ones. We had a great time. They have a very lovely "cottage" although I would call it a gorgeous house. In fact, if it were in my neighborhood, I would love to live in it. It reminds me of my Lansing house. The bathrooms are great and I love the kitchen. It has a wrap around porch, which is sublime.  Anyway...we had a great time. My friend and I stayed up late both nights talking and catching up. She used to be my next door neighbor when I lived in Lansing. She and her family moved to a bigger house about 3 years ago just prior to the birth of her twins. When we lived next door, we would often visit each other late in the evenings. We'd get our pj's on and walk to the others house and stay up late drinking wine and talking. I miss those days.


Saturday, September 08, 2007

Update


Since I haven't written in a while, I thought I should and provide you with an update as to what's been going on in my life the past few weeks.

As most of you know, I've been trying to sell the house I just recently moved out of. It's been on the market for well over a year and still has not sold. I finally decided to hire a new Realtor who advised me to also try to rent it. So, that's what I'm doing. I'm trying to sell and rent my house. Whichever happens first, I will be relieved. I hired a property management company, the one that my new Realtor recommended. I feel comfortable with both the Realtor and the owner of the management company. I've also told my neighbors, well the ones I was friendly with anyway. They understand and of course hope, if I have to rent it, that I have "good renters". And, so do I.

Last Sunday was the unveiling ceremony of my mother's headstone. It was a very sad day for me. I had not been wanting to have this ceremony take place because I realized I was denying that my mother was dead. I imagined that as long as there was no headstone, or that as long as I didn't see the headstone, then she must not be dead. We could not put the ceremony off any longer. And of course when I saw the headstone I knew I couldn't deny my mother's death any longer.

My older brother and his family came into town and were staying with me for the weekend. They usually stay with me when they come to town. And just as it happened during the week of sitting Shiva when my mom died last summer, the sewer backed up in my basement this past weekend. My brother was in the downstairs bathroom having just used it when my nephew came running up the stairs yelling to me that his dad wanted me and that I should come right away. I could hear my brother yelling to me to bring towels. Lots of towels. So I did. I brought all the towels I could find...which meant my good ones as well as the not so good ones and we used almost all of them to sop up the not so clean water.

You might recall that I have just recently had my basement nicely finished and fully carpeted. Needless to say, as I was last year when this happened, I was incredibly distraught again this year. Especially since I had had the drain snaked out in April as the plumbers had previously advised. So, here they come again to clean the drain, yet another time. And, I decided to have a clean out put in in the front.  (Elisabeth, in case you haven't decided to buy a house yet, don't let this be a deterrent for you. I still am glad I own this house and have a beautifully finished basement...sewer problems and all!) Well, those plumbers came over to my house yet again, yesterday and put a camera down my sewer drain at which time we saw (yes I was looking too!) that the pipe leading to the main sewer had a large crack running down it, and we also saw lots and lots of tree roots. So, I decided to have these lovely plumbers replace the pipe. Which they did. It took them all day yesterday and they left me with a very large pile of dirt that runs the length of my front yard and is about 3 feet wide and 2 feet high. I have to let it sit over the winter so it will settle. So, for the next 8 months or so I will be looking at dirt. What a lovely view from my front window.

Now that I've spent just over $2000.00 dollars to have the pipes replaced, I'm feeling a tad stretched financially. Paying 2 mortgages really puts a crimp in my spending habits. So, I've put off replacing all those lovely towels that I had to throw away since they sopped up sewer water. Luckily, I have a cousin who works for a fire and water restoration company. He came over on Sunday and cleaned up all the mess for me, and checked to make sure that the walls and carpet didn't get wet. Whew! was I lucky. The pad under the carpet by the bathroom and laundry room did get wet, but sopped up the water enough so that the carpet didn't get wet. Now I just have to have someone come out to replace the pad, relay the carpet in those areas and get the carpet cleaned in those same areas. That I can live with! I can't imagine how I'd feel if I had to replace all of the carpet, or if I had to have the walls ripped out because they had gotten wet, which meant, contaminated by the sewage.

I am so lucky! Poor, but lucky!

---I'm going to stop here, even though there's more to write. I want to get back into blogging again. I think I'm ready and if I tell all now, there'll be nothing left to entice me back tomorrow.